...just as embarrassed as I am. (Sex and the City review)

I have been torn all morning. Do I write about the fact that I watched Sex and the City last night? And worse, do I mention the fact that I like it?

Despite the endless ridicule I'm about to take, here we go...Bring it on.

Sex and the City. First a show, now a movie. I must say that I had never seen a full episode of it, however, I was fully aware of the show and its premise. 4 girls, running around talking about love live, sex live, woman life--not the show for me. And no one, not even Mr. Shmovies will be able to talk me into watching the premiere episode.

When the movie came out, I had already dismissed it as a movie that I would watch. Despite having decent reviews, I figured that it was only women who actually saw the movie, therefore it must have only been women that reviewed the movie. Lo and behold, I am dating a woman, and she wished to see this movie...

The good: You didn't have to watch the show to know all of the background. They do a gimicky intro at the beginning that introduces all the characters and backgrounds in a matter of minutes. The story is enticing, and the characters are interesting. There is something about the ridiculousness (is that a word?) of how the character's act that draws your attention. I usually don't like it if there are too many characters to keep track of, but they do a good job of it here.

Good RomCom. Lots of funny moments, I found myself laughing more during this movie than most other movies this year (except maybe Tropic Thunder and Pineapple Express). And for you emotional ones out there, it can choke you up.

The bad: There is nothing that POPS out at you. No great monologues, no great lines, no great jokes, no action. So basically, it is a good movie to watch, but not memorable in any way.

Rating: 7 out of 10

Please be gentle if anyone comments, keep it PG.

...love a Cylon (Battlestar Gallactica review).

Before you start reading this, do not think I will start watching Star Trek.

I must say that I'm pleasantly surpised. I had heard nothing but good things about Battlestar Gallactica, so I went into it with high hopes. Generally, I get let down when I go into things with high hopes--this show delivers.

The Good: The actors are good. The characters are good. The story is great. Just like The Terminator (although Battlestar came first): man builds robots, robots kill man. They don't show too much of the Cylons, which are the robots. Probably because of cost reasons, but on the other hand, it builds a lot of tension and curiosity about them. How are they evolving? Why do they want to kill the humans? Why did they wait 40 years? It adds a whole other dimension of mystery to the show by not seeing them. Lots of questions go unanswered, which is now making me want to watch more episodes.

I love the drum beat whenever they go into battle.

The Bad: Action sucks. I would have expected more in this department. But my guess is that there will be some better action later. Luckily, the storyline and mythology makes up for it.

This was 3 hours long... Set some time aside.

Thanks Mr. Shmovies.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10

...love some Ben Kingsley. (Transsiberian review)

So, I'm not into thriller/suspense films, but last night, my gf and I decided to watch Transsiberian. I normally veto movies like this, but for the sake of watching Ben Kingsley, I obliged.

The Good: Ben Kingsley. I can't really say enough about this dude. He seems to be able to play every role, and play it well. Unfortunately, he doesn't get enough screen time in this, as he plays small, but significat role.

Movies to See: Sexy Beast and Gandhi. (Honorable mention: Sneakers, Lucky Number Slevin and You Kill Me.)

The suspense in this movie was very low key, but enough that it kept me on edge while watching it.

The Bad: I'm not much of a Woody Harrelson fan. He's not funny, he's not scary and he's not serious. In this, he tries to play the "normal" nice guy husband, and I'm sitting here waiting for him to crack jokes (or maybe catch an alley-oop for a dunk). The movie drags for a fair amount. Until about 1/3 through the movie, I was pretty bored, just waiting for something to happen.

I wanted to slap the girl in the face the whole movie. Seriously, how many bad decisions can the main character make without it seeming ridiculous? There is a level of believability that this character should have, but she didn't deliver.

Several plot holes. I kept asking myself, "How did that happen?"

I can't really give a good movie formula for this movie since I don't watch too many thrillers.

Overall, I liked it, but I'll probably never watch it again.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10

...believe that if it's not 24, I'm not watching it.

BEWARE! SPOILERS!

Oh, Jack Bauer, how I love you...let me count the ways.

4 hours of goodness, in the books. If you didn't know, 24 has started up again. So far it has been action packed, good story (however unbelievable it may be), and some interesting character's--including who seems to be Chloe's arch-nemesis, Janeane Garofalo.

Everyone likes Jack, everyone likes Tony. But they always seemed to fly solo. FINALLY, Jack and Tony, side by side just going around kicking butt as they should. We are yet to see any good torture scenes, but they way they are building up the "legality" of torture, my guess is that we will be seeing some good stuff.

Few bad things though:

1) In order to understand a lot of the characters, you must have seen previous seasons. Which everyone should. But it makes it difficult for new viewers to get into it if every character that is introduced has background that they assume the audience already knows.

2) Also, need to go back and watch 24: Redemption. I originally thought that this "movie" was just way to show how Jack gets back to the US. Turns out that this is really the season premier.

3) WHY THE STUPID SIDE STORIES? I have a feeling that the president's husband has filled in the stupid, stupid void that Jack's daughter always had. Somebody just running around making stupid decisions, with stupid people, at stupid times.

On a side note, I will NOT ONLY be watching 24. I lost a bet to my "movies, shmovies" friend, and now I have to go back and watch Battlestar Gallactica. This is a show that I have heard very good things about for years, but I have avoided on the principle of not watching gay Sci-Fi...I have also never seen an episode of Star Trek. (If you are wondering what the bet was, he out-chugged me during an irish carbomb).

Anyways, watch 24. Don't be dumb.

...interested in Jekyll.

A friend once told me "movies, shmovies." Then went on to tell me how great the wonderful world of television was and that movies were a waste of time. My mantra for the past 8 years or so about TV had always been "if it's not 24, I'm not watching it."

Sure TV has some bright spots: Iron Chef, Poker After Dark, Flavor of Love. But I can't seem to bring myself to keep up with weekly shows, especially ones that have stringing story lines from show to show (again, except for 24). I have never seen a full episode of Lost--don't hate, I know there is some sort of island involved...like Survivor, right? It just takes too long to get the satisfaction of how the story ends.

Anyways, I stumble upon House. I know its been on for years, like 4 seasons or so. But it turns out that I love this show. I haven't really watched ER, Grey's Anatomy or that other hospital drama with John Stamos, but I just imagine that this is the funnier, more entertaining and better version of all of those shows. Now, I usually have no idea what they are talking about when they refer to all these symptoms, drugs and diseases, but I don't think that matters. Its like a "whodunit", except the "who" usually isn't a person (except in this last episode I watched where a wife was poisoning her husband with gold dust--not the wrestler). This is a good show.

So that brings me to my title "...interested in Jekyll." I didn't think I could just start talking about a TV show without the precursor, because people know I don't watch TV shows. Point being, House has inspired me to try some TV shows.

I was browsing through Netflix to find a show to watch, when I stumbled across this show called Jekyll. I feel as if I heard of this show before, but I don't know what channel it was on. Maybe Showtime? HBO? I dunno, but its a British show about the good ol' Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. I can't decide... When I started watching the show, I thought it was pretty dumb. Decent acting, but bad effects, bad story (so far at least) and not enough Mr. Hyde. The odd thing is that when the show ended, I immediately watched the 2nd. Then the 3rd. I finally call it quits at 3:30 am since I had to work today.

I am not convinced that this is a good show yet, although it had a 4-star rating on Netflix and an 8.3 rating on IMDB. But, does the fact that I want to keep watching it make it good?

...watch older movies!

So here is the question: Is it ok to review old movies? When I say old, I don't always mean black and white movies. At this point, I would consider a movie that came out in 2003 an old movie. This kind of reminds me of a stand up comedy skit by Jim Gaffigan where he talks about bringing up old movies in conversation, and how awkward it is (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHa8L8ORsu8 starting at 1:55).

I say YES! Its ok, there are too many good older movies that are left on the shelves. And shame on you, person that does not like to watch older movies! Based on my last 2 crappy visits to the theater, I may take a new movie hiatus until further notice (probably not, though).

So I will start with a few recommendations/non-recommendations...

Comedy: Zero Effect (7.5 out of 10)

I will be the first to say that I despise Bill Pullman. But in this movie, he plays an eccentric private investigator to near perfection. He's funny, awkward, and always grabs your attention. This also co-stars Ben Stiller, in a not-so-funny role.

Action/Comedy: The Big Hit (7 out of 10)

Who would've thought that Lou Diamond Phillips could make a movie? Sure, Marky Mark is the main character, but he's kinda boring. But everytime you see Lou, you are guaranteed to laugh. The action sequences are a bit cheesy, but fun to watch. This is about the best you'll ever get from John Woo...even though he is only a producer (I can discuss my hatred for John Whoo some other time).

Foreign: Nine Queens (8 out of 10)

Not sure, I think its Spanish. This is a story of con-artists trying to make a big sale of counterfeit rare stamps. Lots of twists, lots of turns, lots of goodness. Watch it.

So there are 3 recommendations, let me know if you ever get a chance to watch them. My guess is that you have at least seen The Big Hit if you are reading this.

...know that Ratatouille 2 (aka The Tale of Despereaux) is NOT a comedy.

Man...2 movies in a row that I have paid for, and throughly NOT enjoyed. Why is it that in order for you to have an animated movie about rats/mice, the main theme of the movie needs to be about food? This just proves, once again, if its not Pixar, don't go watch it. Instead of using voice over to try and cover up bad acting (like The Spirit), this movie uses big name actors to cover up a bad story: Matthew Broderick, Dustin Hoffman, Emma Watson, Kevin Kline, William H. Macy, Christopher Lloyd, etc.

Storyline: Town worships soup. Rat ruins soup. King outlaws soup and rats. Mouse tries to save town.

The Bad: The biggest thing that popped out at me is that this movie is NOT FUNNY. In fact, if I had known that this was not going to be funny, I may give it a slightly higher score. But this is an animated kids movie--it should be funny! I think my roommate said that he laughed once...I didn't laugh at all.

The story is very convoluted and full of unnecessary elements. And worse, almost all of the characters are boring (the chef is pretty cool). Movies can get away with bad stories if they have good characters to watch. I can deal with the talking rats and mice, but then there is a character made of vegetables and fruits. They don't really explain how he exists, but he just kinda appears. He seemed like the "Deus ex Machina" of the movie, where the story is coming to a wall, so they make this man made of vegetables appear to help get to the next point in the movie (you see him twice, I think).

Ratatouille + An American Tale - comedy - interesting characters = The Tale of Despereaux

The Good: The animation was very good. The intricacy of the hairs on the mice and rats was pretty amazing. Thats all I have to say..

Rating: 4.5 out of 10