Reviews and More

I was very excited to finally sit down and watch Inside Man because I’ve heard such good things about this movie. Plus, I’d never seen a Spike Lee movie before (hard to believe, perhaps, but true) and I really like Clive Owen and Jodie Foster — not to mention Denzel Washington, too.

Inside Man starts out at a great pace. Owen plays a man named Dalton Russell who has orchestrated the perfect bank robbery. His plan mainly consists of having his team impersonate a painting crew, then walking into the bank and taking out the security cameras with an infrared light of some sort. Then, the would-be robbers make all the customers and bank employees strip down to their skivvies and don identical jumpsuits and masks. This is important because later no one will be able to say with certainty which are the innocent bystanders and which are the bank robbers.

Denzel Washington plays a cop named Keith Frazier, and he’s the one in command of the police force surrounding the bank. He and his team try to figure out who the bank robbers are and what they really want so the situation can be resolved with no loss of life.

Meanwhile, Jodie Foster plays a woman named Madeleine White, who’s hired by the bank president (played by Christopher Plummer) to make sure that certain incriminating documents don’t see the light of day.

As I said, the movie starts out very well. It’s smart, interesting, and well-paced. But then from the middle onward, it slowed way down and became pretty boring. Once it was clear that Russell and his team weren’t going to try to escape from the bank, I was ready for a stunning payoff. Unfortunately, that never came. Yes, the ending was something of a surprise, but it wasn’t big enough, know what I mean?

I thought Inside Man had a lot of potential, but was disappointed by the result. I give it 6.5 stars out of 10, and really wish there were some reason for me to give more than that.

I have a lot of devoutly religious friends who appreciate receiving gifts that reflect their faith. So whenever one of them celebrates a wedding anniversary, confirmation, baptism, First Communion, or other major event, I try to give appropriate Christian gifts to commemorate the occasion. I especially like to give jewelry, such as crosses, medallions, and pendants, or books that help recipients celebrate their faith. I feel good giving these kinds of gifts and am happy in the knowledge that I’ve provided my friends with something useful.

While I was filling out the form for the upcoming postie blog carnival, I had a quick look through the other offerings on BlogCarnival.com. I saw a couple that I would definitely be interested in doing, particularly a 24 blog carnival dedicated to the television show. The next one is coming up on January 18, which gives me plenty of time to sign up. This is especially relevant now that the season is starting. I’ll likely have a couple of 24 reviews to submit to the carnival, so I hope it works out!

My husband and I are going to make a concerted effort to spruce up our home this year. We want to get better furniture, decorate our walls, and make some changes to the exterior and yard as well. For example, we want to put a nice address plaque on the front of our house because right now the only identifying marker we have is a sticker on our mailbox. After that, we might call in a landscaper to do something with the space we have. But for right now, I think we’ll focus on small, cheap improvements that can be done easily.

I just got done watching The Manchurian Candidate starring Denzel Washington, Meryl Streep, and Liev Schrieber. I know it’s a remake of a 1962 movie and is based on a book, but I never saw or read the earlier versions and didn’t know what to expect from this one. I’m going to mention specific details here, so I recommend you stop reading if you haven’t seen the film yet!

I’d heard of The Manchurian Candidate before, of course, but had no idea what the plot was about. Basically, an evil scientist from an evil corporation called Manchurian Global brainwashed an entire U.S. army unit that was deployed in Kuwait during the first Gulf War. The men received implants that allowed them to be controlled by anyone who knew how to command them (”Sgt. Shaw…. Sgt. Raymond Prentiss Shaw…. Do you know who I am?”)

One of the brainwashed guys ends up as the candidate for VP of the United States, which was Manchurian’s plan all along. Another guy, Ben Marco (Washington) has a feeling that something’s up, and tries to figure out what really happened in the desert.

So blah, blah, blah, everyone thinks Marco is crazy and paranoid, etc. But at the end, he receives an order (he’s still able to be brainwashed) to assassinate the president so that the Manchurian candidate will take over the Oval Office. Somehow Marco is able to shake off that order and kill Shaw and Shaw’s mother instead.

My question here is why did he kill those people if he wasn’t under the influence of Mrs. Shaw’s orders anymore? Doesn’t that just make him a cold-blooded murderer? Shouldn’t he have gone to jail?? Maybe the aftermath was explained more clearly in the book, but in the movie it just made no sense to me.

Note: This review first appeared on my Fire Pit blog, but when I transferred it to its own domain, I decided this post would be a better fit over here. - J.E.

What do you take when you’re feeling listless and low on energy? Diet Coke is usually enough of a stimulant for me, so I end up drinking about 3 or 4 small glasses per day. My husband prefers energy drinks like Red Bull, Monster, and Sobe. I’ve tried those, but couldn’t get past the taste. Besides one of the Sobe strawberry-banana flavors, I can’t imagine choking those things down day in and day out. Back in school, I knew some people who took energy pills, but that’s not something I’ve ever tried.

Any suggestions out there? I’m not a coffee drinker at all, so that’s not an option!

I’ve decided to start giving a weekly preview (whenever I remember, LOL) of the books and movies I plan to review in the near future, so here’s what’s in store for you this week:

Movies

• Inside Man
• Hostage
• Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
• Ladykillers

Books

• Of Human Bondage
• Partners in Crime
• Money

You’ve probably noticed a slowdown in the number of books I’ve been reviewing. That’s because I haven’t really been motivated to read. I decided to pick up an old favorite (Of Human Bondage) to help me get going again. I’m reading it on my iPaq Pocket PC, and the book is approximately 3500 pages long (as paginated for the device). I’m through 600 already, which is pretty good progress for me.

I’ve given up on The Ambassadors for the time being, but will try to get to it again at a later date.

I was so happy to have Grey’s Anatomy come back on the air! It felt like such a long time that I’d seen the show — I was suffering from withdrawals!! I don’t know how objective I can be in this review because I think I was predisposed to like whatever was put out there.

Here’s what happened with the major characters in the episode called “Six Days, Part I.” There are SPOILERS throughout, so you’ve been warned:

George — For the first time in a long time, George was tolerable and even likable. He was much better around his family, wasn’t snapping at people, looked like he was patching up his friendship with Burke, and kissed Callie!

Before George’s dad went into surgery, he (the dad) asked Chief Webber and Dr. Bailey to continue with the operation no matter how bad he looked inside. So that’s what they did, despite the fact that Mr. O’Mally’s cancer had spread to several organs. This will probably cause complications in the future.

Alex/Addison — Alex is back on the gynie squad and he and Addison have as much chemistry as ever. The strange thing is, I don’t want them to get together! It would be much more interesting to see how they deal with the tension than to see them fall into bed with together like every other couple ion the show. They almost shared a kiss, but thankfully it was interrupted.

Derek/Meredith — She snores, he has horrible morning breath. God, could these two be any more boring? I have to admit that they didn’t bug as much this week as they usually do, but I still don’t care one iota about them.

Burke/Yang — These two continue to be the most dysfunctional couple of them all. They’re engaged in some twisted game of “uncle” and each is waiting for the other to give in and apologize. Even though they’re not speaking, they haven’t broken up. In fact, Cristina sleeps on the couch in Burke’s hospital room and they just stare each other down in the dark.

Izzie — The writers were telegraphing her storyline the entire night. As soon as they brought the $8.7 million check up again, I knew this would be the time that she finally deposits it (she does). And it just so happens that she finds someone to spend the money on. Well, this hasn’t been explicitly stated yet, but is there a viewer out there who can’t predict that Spinal Problem Girl will be getting the gift of surgery and rehab?

Overall, I really enjoyed this episode. Again, I’m not sure if it’s because the episode was truly good or if it’s simply because I missed it. Either way, I’m just happy that Grey’s is back!!!