Reviews and More

After taking a couple months off from watching my Without A Trace DVDs, I’m going to get started on Season 4 very soon. Now that the regular TV season is finished, I have plenty of time to catch up on shows that I don’t follow religiously.

At any rate, Without a Trace is going to be quite a change from Criminal Minds and Ghost Whisperer, both of which I’ve also been watching. I mean, sure Without a Trace features FBI agents like Criminal Minds, but on WaT, they confine themselves to New York, whereas on CM, the agents traipse all over the country for their cases. Of course, since the BAU has its own jet, they never have to worry about looking for cheap flight deals or anything like that. Plus, on CM, the agents are looking for serial killers, while WaT focuses on missing persons, which is a huge difference.

I have to admit that I’ve kind of been missing Jack, Danny, Martin, and the rest of the WaT team, so I’m looking forward to getting started on these DVDs!

Last night was the two-hour season finale of Lost, which was actually a continuation of episode 4×11, titled “There’s No Place Like Home”. As longtime viewers have come to expect from a Lost finale, a couple of questions were answered, but many more surfaced in turn. There’s no way I’d be able to recap everything that happened in the two hours, so I’m just going to post a few thoughts here.

– Desmond and Penny were never a favorite couple of mine (this just doesn’t seem like a show where couples or relationships are even important), but it was still nice to see them reunite. I didn’t swoon or tear up or anything like that, but was glad that at least someone got a happy ending — at least for the time being.

– So it was Locke in the coffin from way back in last season’s finale! Most fans guessed it was either him or Ben, so the reveal wasn’t quite as shocking as it could have been. Since I’m not exactly a Locke fan, I didn’t care that he was in there. It did make me wonder, however, why he ended up leaving the island. I guess he had to move it again?

– Speaking of moving the island, I’m sorry, but that was just about the dumbest thing I’ve ever seen on network television. Ben goes down a shaft, turns a frozen wheel, and causes the whole island to get swallowed up in the ocean?? WTF? Dumb.

– Sun’s reaction to Jin’s death (if he actually did die in the explosion) was heart-wrenching. The actress did a tremendous job of conveying her utter helplessness in that scene on the helicopter. Poor Jin… now that was one character that I actually did like. It figures he would get written off!

– Hmm, it seems that Charlotte has a bit more of a backstory than it appeared at first. I’ve read some theories saying that she’s actually Annie, Ben’s long-lost childhood friend, the one who gave him a hand-carved doll for his birthday. I guess that would make sense, since the producers of the series have said that Annie will end up playing an important role.

– So is half of the action next season going to take place off the island while the other half takes place on? That’s going to be weird. And now it looks like Jack’s mission will be to try to convince the rest of the Oceanic 6 to go back. Oh, and don’t forget that he and Ben have to lug John’s dead body around. Sounds like fun.

That’s about all I remember from the two hours right now. I have to say that most of the finale was pretty boring, but the few answers that we did get made the whole thing worthwhile viewing. I can’t believe we’re going to have to wait until February for new episodes! That damn writers’ strike cost viewers at least 9-11 episodes this season!

I finished all of my work early yesterday, so I decided to take advantage of my free afternoon by going out to lunch and catching a matinée with a friend. Since I’m probably going to go see the new Indiana Jones flick with my husband sometime in the next few weeks, my friend and I opted for What Happens in Vegas… instead. This has been the No. 1 comedy in the country for the past month, so we figured we’d have a good time despite the generally poor reviews the film has received from critics. The movie turned out to be okay, but I would have preferred to see it on DVD rather than at the theater.

Plot summary (with possible spoilers): Jack Fuller (played by Ashton Kutcher) is a 20-something slacker who recently got fired from his father’s furniture making company in New York because he doesn’t show the commitment necessary to follow through on projects and get things done in a timely manner. He and his best friend, attorney Jeffrey “Hater” Lewis (Rob Corddry), decide that the only way to recover from this setback is to head out to Vegas for a few days.

Meanwhile, Wall Street stockbroker Joy McNally (Cameron Diaz) has recently been dumped by her fiancé Mason (Jason Sudeikis) and is pretty distraught over the breakup. She and her best friend, bartender Tipper (Lake Bell), decide that they should go ahead and use the tickets to Vegas that Joy originally bought for Mason’s birthday. After all, Mason doesn’t deserve to go, and a few days in Sin City is just what Joy needs to help her get out of her funk.

A mix-up at the hotel desk causes the four New Yorkers to be put into the same room. After complaints to management, they get upgraded to a couple of penthouse suites, and all get VIP passes to a bunch of Vegas nightclubs and shows. Jack convinces Joy and Tipper to hand out with him and Hater for the night, which the women reluctantly do. Jack and Joy end up hitting it off, getting completely drunk, and getting married before the sun rises.

When they wake up, they realize what an embarrassing mistake they’ve made, so they both agree to get an annulment as soon as they return to New York. Just as they’re about to leave the casino, however, Jack plays a slot machine with Joy’s quarter — and ends up hitting a $3 million jackpot. Suddenly, there’s a lot more at stake in the marriage and a simple annulment will no longer suffice.

Back home in New York, a judge refuses to give them an annulment or a divorce, instead ordering them to give their marriage a six-month trial run while attending marriage counseling. If they refuse, the judge will tie up their money in legal proceedings and they’ll never see a cent. The rest of the film then focuses on how Jack and Joy each try to drive the other away so as to get the money all to him- or herself. During their six months together, they actually end up learning a lot about who they are, and come to a deeper understanding about their feelings for one another.

My Reaction: Once I got over the complete inanity of the premise (could a judge really force a couple married in Vegas to stay married?), What Happens in Vegas… turned out to be somewhat watchable. Granted, there weren’t as many funny parts as I’d expect from a comedy starring Kutcher and Diaz, but the film wasn’t a total loss, either.

Most of the scenes in this movie reminded me of other films, so there wasn’t a whole lot of originality to speak of. For example, when Jack and Joy first started living together and deliberately got on each other’s nerves, I couldn’t help but think fo the Vince Vaughn/Jennifer Aniston movie The Break-Up (which I’m sure was poached from previous works as well). And then the two best friends whose apparent hatred for each other belies their true feelings? Well, that has happened in too many other rom-coms to count.

The end was wholly predictable, so there weren’t any surprises there (or anywhere else, for that matter), but the journey wasn’t all that bad. What Happens in Vegas… is meant to be mindless escapist entertainment, and I guess it serves its purpose. I give it 5.0 stars out of 10.

I just have to say that the more I check out Buy.com, the more I fall in love with that site! I just can’t believe some of the amazing prices they’re able to offer on cool gadgets and home electronics products in their daily and weekly deals.

For instance, as I was browsing through Buy.com today, I saw a Norcent DCS-1050 10.0 mega pixel digital camera on sale for just $79.99. That’s a full $220 off the regular list price of $299, and is a tremendous bargain any way you slice it.

This Norcent digital camera comes packed with all the useful features I could ever want or need in a point-and-shoot model, including the following:

• 22 shooting modes
• 3x optical zoom and 4x digital zoom
• Custom white balance settings
• High-resolution images up to 3648 x 2736
• Large 3.0″ LTPS TFT LCD display window
• Anti-shake and face tracking capabilities
• Ultra-slim design

Even though I already have a digital camera, I’m seriously thinking about purchasing this Norcent DCS-1050 as a backup — or even as a full-time replacement for the Casio that I now use. I frequently have problems with my current camera, so it would be nice to have a spare around to ensure that I don’t miss anymore family photo ops. And really, at just $79.99 plus free shipping, it’s pretty hard to pass up a deal like this!

(Click image to enlarge.)

Eva Longoria has become one of my favorite television actresses over the past four years as I’ve watched her on Desperate Housewives. In fact, she’s probably the main reason that I still tune into the show these days, since I can barely stand any of the other characters anymore. So when I heard that she was starring in a new romantic comedy called Over Her Dead Body, I immediately decided that I wanted to see it — until the reviews rolled in.

The film was roundly trashed by critics when it was released in February, and didn’t fare very well at the box office, earning just $7.5 million during its theatrical run. Needless to say, I didn’t bother spending my money on tickets, opting to wait for the DVD instead — which I finally got to watch a couple of days ago. It actually wasn’t that bad!

Plot summary (with possible spoilers): Longoria stars as Kate, a strong-willed and somewhat overbearing bride-to-be who gets killed in a freak accident on her wedding day when an angel ice sculpture falls on her. Henry (played by Paul Rudd), the man Kate was about to marry, becomes heartbroken and can’t move on — not even after an entire year passes by.

Henry’s sister Chloe (Lindsay Sloane) decides to take matters into her own hands. She convinces Henry to go see a psychic named Ashley (Lake Bell) in order to make contact with Kate. Chloe’s plan is to have Henry believe that Kate wants him to go on with his life. Of course, Henry doesn’t believe in Ashley’s psychic abilities, so Chloe helps out by giving Ashley Kate’s diary so she can give Henry solid tidbits of information.

Henry ends up liking Ashley, and begins spending time with her. Seeing this, Kate becomes extremely jealous and resolves to drive the two of them apart. Kate makes herself known to Ashley (who really can communicate with the dead after all), then tells her flat out that she doesn’t want Ashley and Henry to date. Ashley bristles at being told what to do by a ghost, and resolves to continue seeing Henry no matter what.

The rest of the film then deals with the various means Kate uses to drive Ashley and Henry apart. This being a romantic comedy, you know that things will eventually turn our well in the end, with everyone coming out of the situation happier than when they went in.

My Reaction: I didn’t think Over Her Dead Body was as bad as the critics have been saying. No, it’s not going to win any awards, but it clearly wasn’t meant to be that type of film. It was intended to be a fun, light popcorn flick, and it delivers in that respect. Despite a few problems in the screenplay, I found myself laughing out loud at several of the lines and was happy to see the action move along at a quick pace, thereby making the experience pretty entertaining.

I have to say that the biggest surprise in this film was Lake Bell. I only knew her from Boston Legal before, and didn’t think she was all that great on the show. But she showed some terrific comedic timing in Over Her Dead Body and ended up being quite likable. I think she was one of the reasons that the film was tolerable; I can definitely see a different outcome had the role been played by someone annoying.

Eva Longoria was decent as well, though there were times when it seemed like she was simply channeling Gabby Solis instead of portraying a different character, but that didn’t bother me too much.

Overall, I thought Over Her Dead Body was much more watchable than it’s been given credit for being. I give it 5.5 stars out of 10.

I just got done reading an article about Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s latest purchase: a $70 million estate in the south of France. The place is called Chateau Miraval, and features a 35-room mansion, a 3-mile long driveway, a forest, a moat, and a private lake — all nestled on 1,000 acres of land.

As if that weren’t lavish enough, the article pointed out that Pitt and Jolie own several other properties around the world, including a $3.75 million home in New Orleans, a $9 million oceanfront property in Malibu, another home in Santa Barbara, a multi-million dollar home in Berlin, and a $4 million “converted farmhouse” in Buckinghamshire, England.

Now come on, how many homes do these two really need? I can understand having a couple in the U.S. and maybe another getaway spot in Europe, but six multi-million dollar spreads? That just seems so wasteful to me. I mean, obviously they’ve earned their money and are free to spend it any way they please, but still… this seems a bit overboard, doesn’t it?

You know how they say you should always carry good term insurance so your family can pay off the mortgage in the event of the main breadwinner’s untimely death? Well, I can’t even imagine what kind of insurance it would take to make sure the property taxes on these estates get paid regularly!

John C. Reilly is one of those guys who always seems to be cast in a supporting role. He played second fiddle to Will Ferrell in Talladega Nights, to Mark Wahlberg in Boogie Nights, to Richard Gere in Chicago, and has had bit roles in lots of other projects.

So how would he do as the lead? Did he have enough of a screen presence to carry an entire film on his own? Reilly sought to answer that question in 2007’s Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, a send-up of all the musician biopics that have hit the market in recent years, with the most obvious ones being Walk the Line and Ray.

Plot summary (with possible spoilers): The film opens with Dewey Cox (Reilly) about to take the stage for one final performance before accepting a lifetime achievement award. Before going out there, however, he takes a moment to reflect on his experiences up to that point, which sends us into flashback mode starting with his childhood in Alabama.

As a boy, Dewey spent lots of time with older brother Nate (played by Chip Hormess), a virtuoso on the piano who was surely destined for great things. One day as the boys were playing with machetes in the barn, Dewey accidentally cuts Nate in half, killing him. This traumatic event caused a rift between Dewey and his father (Raymond J. Barry), who from that point forward would proclaim that “the wrong kid died” every chance he got. But it also got Dewey started on his own path to music, as he started playing the guitar and exhibited some skills with that instrument.

A few years later, Dewey plays at his high school talent show, and wows the crowd with his songs. He hooks up with Edith (Kristen Wiig), whom he soon marries, and leaves Alabama to try to become a star.

The rest of the film then follows Dewey’s career, as he rises to the top of the music world, sinks down to rock bottom under the weight of personal and drug problems, and makes another comeback before dying on stage. As this movie was intended to be a spoof of similar biopics, there are lots of scenes that mimic stuff from Walk the Line (ripping the sink out of the wall, for instance) or Ray (a band mate saying “you don’t want to get involved in this” — meaning drugs). Someone more familiar with those other films could probably pick out more parallels, but those are the ones that immediately come to mind.

My Reaction: I thought Walk Hard was an average film. I laughed out loud several times during the course of the movie, but felt that some of the running gags were just dumb. For instance, the whole thing about cutting his brother in half might have been ok if the screenwriters didn’t keep bringing it up every 10 minutes. Of course, I thought it was incredibly dumb that the brother kept right on talking after he was chopped in half, but I guess I can see how some people might find that funny.

My favorite parts of the movie were all of the “You don’t want any part of this” drug scenes, especially when the Tim Meadows character was talking about marijuana and couldn’t really find anything negative to say about it. That running gag worked fairly well, but the other one did not.

This film did a great job of showing how the lives of so many famous musicians are eerily similar. They rise from humble beginnings; put out a hit song; get into drugs, alcohol, and women; spiral out of control; hit bottom; and then climb back up to the top. Hell, I bet I could write a biopic screenplay of my own with this template, and then just insert a current star’s name in there. In fact, we’re watching it unfold in real time with Britney Spears right now. How long will it be before her biopic is released?

Would Walk Hard have been a better or more successful picture with a bigger star than John C. Reilly in the lead? It’s impossible to say for sure. I thought he was decent in this role, but not great, and I’ve never found the actor to be particularly charismatic in any performance I’ve seen him in. In other words, he gets the job done, but doesn’t bring anything extra to the table.

Overall, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story was a decent comedy with some funny parts and many jokes that simply fell flat. I give it 5.5 stars out of 10.

Most of the time, I don’t even think twice about watching a movie that’s based on a novel because screenwriters generally do a decent job of capturing the gist of the story in their scripts. Yes, I know that it’s exceedingly difficult to get an adaptation “just right”, and that people will forever quibble about what the screenwriter chose to include or leave out, but for the most part, you don’t have to be familiar with the book in order to enjoy the film.

However, I think the opposite may be true for The Golden Compass. I know that a lot of Philip Pullman fans were looking forward to this release, and many people felt that The Golden Compass would rival The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe in terms of broad appeal and popularity. But domestic audiences didn’t exactly flock to The Golden Compass, and I think part of the problem might have been the incomprehensibility of the story to someone unfamiliar with Pullman’s work.

Plot summary (with possible spoilers): The entire story takes place in a parallel universe where humans’ souls exist externally in the form of animals. The main character is Lyra Belacqua (played by Dakota Blue Richards) is a young orphan being raised by her uncle Lord Asriel (Daniel Craig) at Jordan College in Oxford. Lord Asriel is a controversial figure because of his beliefs about dust, a kind of dark matter that the ruling Magesterium denies even exists. After narrowly escaping an assassination attempt, Lord Asriel takes off on an expedition to the North in order to study dust more closely, thereby exiting for the rest of the film.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Coulter (Nicole Kidman), a benefactor of the college, comes for a visit and instantly takes a liking to Lyra. In fact, she says that Lyra would be perfect as her assistant, so she offers to take Lyra away with her. Lyra willingly agrees, but before she goes, the master of the college gives her a magical Golden Compass that can answer any question asked of it — as long as the questioner knows how to decipher the answer.

While Lyra is living with Mrs. Coulter, she learns that the woman is actually the head of an organization called the General Oblation Board, or “Gobblers” for short. The Gobblers are suspected of having kidnapped a number of Oxford children in order to experiment on them, so Lyra realizes that she’s in imminent danger. She therefore runs away from Mrs. Coulter, and joins forces with an aeronaut named Lee Scoresby (Sam Elliott) and a polar bear warrior named Iorek Byrnison (Ian McKellen) in order to find and rescue the endangered children.

The rest of the film then deals with Lyra, Lee, and Iorek’s adventures as they set off to find the missing kids. They get into a number of dangerous situations, fight an epic battle, and eventually emerge victorious as they save the children from harm.

My Reaction: As I said, I’ve never read the Pullman book, so I didn’t come into this viewing with an additional background information on the characters or the story in general. Because of this, I had a hard time understanding the significance of everything that happened in the film. For instance, I didn’t understand the whole point of having the action take place in a parallel universe. Was that just so there could be talking animal characters as well as humans? And what was the purpose of the Golden Compass? Did it actually tell Lyra any great truths that she couldn’t have otherwise figured out for herself?

Admittedly, I wasn’t paying as much attention as I could/should have while watching this film, so I might have missed the answers to these questions. Even so, the fact that I wasn’t compelled to pay attention means the story was less than interesting to me, which points to other shortcomings as well.

I was disappointed that Daniel Craig had such as small role in this film. I think his total screentime was probably about 5-10 minutes, which sucked. I like the actor, and would have preferred to see more of him than, say, Nicole Kidman or Dakota Blue Richards, who were both extremely grating and annoying after a while.

Overall, I just couldn’t get into The Golden Compass enough to bother trying to figure out what was going on. The story was boring and the entire effort just seemed a bit… lackluster. I give this movie just 5.0 stars out of 10.

Was there ever a doubt that Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull would debut as the No. 1 movie in America when it opened on last Friday? The only question everyone in the industry had was how much would the much-anticipated fourth movie of the series rake in. The answer turned out to be $101 million domestically and worldwide cumulative total of $126 million.

Crystal Skull has received somewhat lukewarm reviews from critics and audiences alike, as many feel that while the movie is entertaining enough, it’s not quite on par with previous installments in the series.

Last week’s box office champ, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, dropped to No. 2 with $23 million in tickets sold, while viewership for Iron Man remained strong as well. That film earned $20 million in its fourth week of wide release.

No other new films cracked the top 10 — not surprising, given the competition!

Here’s the complete Top 10 for Memorial Day weekend 2008:

1. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, $101 million
2. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, $23 million
3. Iron Man, $20.1 million
4. What Happens in Vegas, $9 million
5. Speed Racer, $4 million
6. Made of Honor, $3.4 million
7. Baby Mama, $3.3 million
8. Forgetting Sarah Marshall, $1.6 million
9. Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay, $915k
10. The Visitor, $781k

I’ve been racing through Season 3 of Criminal Minds on DVR for the past week or so, and have now made it all the way through episode 3×17, which was called “In Heat”. That means I only have three episodes left before I’m caught up with the show and can start watching it as it airs next season. Not bad, considering I just started watching it a few months ago!

Anyway, here are some random thoughts and observations from the middle part of Season 3. This is not meant to be comprehensive at all, so please don’t take it that way.

– I don’t mind the Rossi character (Gideon’s replacement). From reading a few fan forums, I know he’s not the most popular member of the team, but he doesn’t bother me at all. Gideon really bugged, so part of my reaction to Rossi could be that he’s so different from Gideon — in a good way, as far as I’m concerned.

– So the Reid drug drama isn’t finished after all. I guess it’s good that the writers are more or less keeping the story in the background. I can handle an interrupted NA meeting every once in a while; an all-out addiction and recovery story, on the other hand, would annoy.

– Cody Kasch, the young man who played Zach on Desperate Housewives, played another psycho in “Elephant’s Memory”. Can that kid bring the crazy, or what? I didn’t like Reid’s whole “woe-is-me” take on the high school bullying stuff or the fact that he seemed to want to excuse what Owen (Zach) was doing. Other than that, the ep was pretty good.

– Why are the writers trying to make such a big thing out of Hotch’s divorce? They never really highlighted the marriage at all, so why be so intrusive about the divorce?

– I liked the whole reveal about JJ and Will’s relationship. I said before that I thought those two were great together, so I’m glad to learn that they’ve been in a relationship for more than a year. It was hilarious when they started kissing at the station and the other profilers were just like, “Oh, it’s about time!” because they’d known about the affair all along!

– I’m not sure how I feel about Morgan. Sometimes he’s just presented as a straightforward, uncomplicated guy who likes to bust down doors and knock heads. Other times, he’s presented as having a bit more depth, like when he said he has four residential and commercial real estate properties because he enjoys “knocking down walls” or whatever. I had no idea what that was supposed to mean, since knocking down walls is destructive. Wouldn’t it have been better to say that he liked raising walls instead??

– I thought the resolution to Rossi’s 20-year-old case was pretty lame. It seems like he could have put all the pieces together himself had he interviewed the kids a little earlier. I mean, the whole thing was solved after they mentioned that they’d been getting gifts, right? You’d think that at some point over the course of the 20 years that Rossi had been calling them, they’d have said a random thank you or something, which would have led to the discovery that the killer was leaving the gifts.

At any rate, I’m looking forward to wrapping up the third season in the next couple of days. Of course, that just means I’ll have to find yet another show to watch over the summer…. What should it be?

The basic premise of the 2007 James Gray film We Own the Night is one that has been used in Hollywood countless times. It’s the story of two brothers who end up on “opposite sides of the law” and who end up crossing and re-crossing each other’s paths. In the end, they both must make choices about just how far they’re willing to go for family.

Although this setup will be instantly familiar to moviegoers of all ages, We Own the Night doesn’t play out quite as predictably as you might expect. That’s what makes it worth watching at least once.

Plot summary (with possible spoilers): Bobby Green (played by Joaquin Phoenix) is the manager of El Caribe, one of the hottest nightclubs in Brooklyn. The place is owned by an older man named Marat Buzhayev (Moni Moshonov), who treats Bobby like family. The man acts more as an uncle than a boss, and Bobby feels like he has really found his niche.

Unfortunately, Marat is the brains behind a major drug dealing operation headed up by his nephew Vadim Nezhinski (Alex Veadov). Nezhinski uses El Caribe as his headquarters — a fact that the cops are perfectly aware of. Bobby also knows that this is going on, but he elects to turn a blind eye to to what Nezhinski is doing, preferring instead to just focus on running the club.

However, things get messy for Bobby when the cops decide to raid El Caribe one night. It just so happens that his father is Deputy Chief Bert Grusinsky (Robert Duvall) and his brother is Capt. Joe Grusinsky (Mark Wahlberg), the brains behind the sting.

After the raid, Nezhinski puts a hit out on Joe and the Deputy Chief. Joe is shot in the face right outside his home the night before Thanksgiving, which sends Bobby into shock. Although he didn’t have much to do with his family while he was running El Caribe, there’s no way he would choose to align himself with a Russian drug dealer and turn his back on his brother and father.

Things get even messier when Bobby is approached by both sides to join their teams. Nezhinski wants Bobby’s help distributing a particularly important drug shipment, while the police want Bobby to wear a wire and turn on Nezhinski.

The rest of the film then deals with Bobby’s choice, and the various consequences that follow. Although there aren’t any major surprises or plot twists, the story wasn’t as predictable as it could have been.

My Reaction: I thought We Own the Night was a decent film that I’m glad I saw. But at the same time, I don’t know if I would be willing to sit through the whole thing again. The film had a lot of positive characteristics, but the negatives dragged it down to an average effort at best.

One of the things I liked most about the movie was the way that the plot didn’t play out in a strictly formulaic way. For example, if this were a cookie cutter film, the Bobby would have had several close calls with Nezhinski before finally being “made” as a double agent. I was surprised that he was busted the very first time he carried a wire because I don’t think I’ve ever seen that happen in a movie before. Usually the writer likes to string this stuff out to build tension or whatever.

Another thing I liked was how Bobby’s girlfriend Amada (Eva Mendes) wasn’t the stereotypical club-owner girlfriend who was only interested in money. Nor was she a complete airhead who blew everything and cost people their lives, which is how these movie women usually are portrayed. It seemed that she actually loved Bobby, as evidenced by the fact that she showed up at graduation, and that was a refreshing change.

However, there were several things I didn’t like about We Own the Night. For one thing, I couldn’t stand Mark Wahlberg’s performance here. He was so wooden, bland, and boring, that I frankly didn’t care what happened to him at all. I usually enjoy his films and his performances, so I was disappointed by what I saw here. Same thing with Phoenix. He wasn’t wooden, but he mumbled so damn much that I had to turn the subtitles on just to make sure I caught what he was saying. Someone needs to tell that man that enunciation is a good thing.

Also, there were a few plot elements that seemed highly unrealistic to me. The main one that jumps out now is the car chase through the rain that resulted in the Deputy Chief’s death. Once again, we get movie bad guys that can’t hit the broad side of a barn when they’re shooting at the main characters. Of course they hit the driver of Bobby’s car in one try, but when Bobby takes over the wheel, the shooting skills suddenly disappear.

Despite these problems, I still thought We Own the Night was worth renting. I will never buy it and will likely never watch it again, but it wasn’t bad for a one-time viewing. I give it 6.0 stars out of 10.

Last night was the two-hour season finale of Grey’s Anatomy, and I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by what I saw! I have spent most of Season 4 complaining about the boring storylines and the uneven episodes, so I was very happy that the finale turned out so well. Did it redeem the entire season? Maybe not completely, but I’m not the kind of person who remembers every minute detail from every ep. That means the finale will be uppermost in my mind whenever I think about GA over the summer — not a bad thing in this case!

As usual with two-hour finales, I’m not going to recap all the action because that would take far too long. Instead, I’m just going to post a few thoughts and reactions about what happened.

— I have never, ever been a Meredith/Derek fan, not even in Season 1 when it seemed that everyone loved them. But I have to admit that I was actually pulling for them a little bit by the end of the ep tonight. Granted, I thought laying candles in the shape of a house was dumb (not to mention practically impossible for Meredith to pull off), but the sentiment was okay. God, I can’t believe I’m writing this…!

– Cristina is back!! I loved how Meredith gave her the sparkly pager and how she finally snapped at Hahn in the operating room. Moreover, I loved how she took charge and showed her skills as a surgeon for, what, the first time all season? I’m just thankful she won’t be sulking anymore.

– That boy encased in cement was incredibly sad for some reason. Can you imagine doing that just to impress a girl? And who knew getting stuck in cement ravaged the body so completely?

– I thought the girl who finally survived Meredith and Derek’s clinical trial was an awesome actress. It’s too bad she was paired up with Marshall Allman for the ep (I can’t stand that actor), but nevertheless, her scenes were fun to watch.

– Please let that be the end of Ava on this show. Just… PLEASE.

— I liked Izzie again this episode. She finally did what she had to do, even though it incurred Alex’s wrath just like she knew it would. And it’s also good to see her get the clinic to herself. That’s where she belongs, not surgery.

– Alex and Izzie at the end. Again, so sad. I liked those two as a couple during S2, but I don’t know how I feel about them possibly getting together now. We’ll see.

– Lexie thinks that George is “great” while his peers are just “good”? She needs a friggin’ reality check, stat. And their kiss at the end? I hope the writers don’t go there!

– Looks like Hahn and Callie are going to have a fling after all. Meh, not really interested, but whatever.

I really hope momentum from this finale carries into next season. This was the Grey’s Anatomy that I grew to love in its first two seasons, not the stuff I’ve been watching for the last year and a half. I’m keeping my fingers crossed until September!

I’ve been so busy this week that I haven’t had time to write up my usual TV series recaps. I apologize for that, but I still want to get some thoughts out there, so I’m going to post now even though it’s pretty late in the week. I watched the season finales of How I Met Your Mother, Bones, and House, all of which aired on Monday night. I watched HIMYM live, but TiVo’d the other two and didn’t get around to watching them until yesterday. Here are my reactions to each of the three very different shows.

How I Met Your Mother 3×20 — “Miracles”:

– I was underwhelmed by this episode as a whole, and was hoping for something much different. I didn’t like the hasty proposal to Stella (mostly because I don’t think she’s the mother anyway), but could understand that the writers wanted to put that out there in case the show wasn’t renewed. If it had been canceled, they could have ended the mystery on that note. Since it will be back next year, I’m sure the writers will go in a new direction. There’s NO WAY Ted ends up with her.

– Barney loves Robin!!! That was the best part of the ep by far for me! It’s so awesome that Robin is the one Barney thought of when his life flashed before his eyes…. I really hope the writers don’t back down from this relationship. I would love to see these two get together. (That look in the pic above is for Robin, after Barney realizes how he truly feels.)

– I liked that Ted and Barney are friends again, but wasn’t particularly moved by the reconciliation scene. I’ve read some message boards so I know most fans liked that scene, but not me. It just felt wrong that Ted finally started talking to Barney only when Barney was in traction.

– Marshall in a Kawasaki Racing t-shirt that he has worn before this season. I told ya someone in the wardrobe department is a motorcycle/motocross fan! (BTW, is Jason Segal gaining weight or has he always been a bit on the chunky side?)

– Can’t wait for next season and more Robin/Barney hotness!

House 4×16 — “Wilson’s Heart”:

– This was one of the best House episodes I’ve seen in the entire four-year run of the show. The pacing was excellent, and the last 20 minutes or so were absolutely heartbreaking. I hardly ever cry at TV shows, but I couldn’t help it here. Amber’s death was horrifying and sad all at the same time.

– Poor, poor Wilson. He finally found the right woman and look what happened. And how great was Robert Sean Leonard’s performance? That guy was crying in like three or four different scenes, and he looked like he was generating actual tears in each one of them. How many male actors would have been able to do that?

– Speaking of male actors bringing the tears, how about Hugh Laurie? I gasped when I saw House — misanthropic, I-don’t-care-about-anyone Greg House, crying as he realized what was wrong with Amber. Another “wow” moment for sure.

– Anne Dudek was terrific in her scenes as well. It seems like all the House actors brought their A-games for the finale. The look of realization that washes over her face when Wilson tells her what happened was just… shattering to watch. My God.

– This episode had me thinking long and hard about what I would want done if I were in Amber’s condition. Would you just want to stay in the coma and die peacefully, or would you want to be woken up so you could say goodbye to your loved ones? That’s a tough call because I don’t know how I’d be able to sit there for a few hours knowing that I’m going to die soon. Holy hell, what a choice!

Bones 3×15 — “The Pain in the Heart”:

– Bones is not a show that I expect a lot of quality writing or storylines from. It’s one of those shows that I turn on for an hour of pure entertainment and escape, where I can check my brain at the door and just sit down with a bowl of popcorn and take in the ep. Even so, I was extremely disappointed with where the writers decided to go with the finale. Zach as Gormagon’s apprentice? Really?? He was my favorite squint, so I’m pretty bummed that he’s no longer going to be on the show.

– I thought the opening with Booth’s fake funeral was kind of dumb. I knew that the death wasn’t real, but I was expecting it to be a dream or something. At any rate, that whole segment felt rushed, and lacked any real emotion as a result. I would have liked to see Bones grieving a bit more, too. As much as she compartmentalizes, I don’t think she’d be able to go on as usual like that if Booth really had died. That was kind of a stretch.

– I thought that Sweets was going to be revealed as the killer. I remember feeling that there was something up with that guy when he first came on the show, so I was hoping that I’d be proven right. I occasionally like Sweets’ banter with Booth and Brennan, but I would much rather have Zach around than him.

– I like that Zach protected Hodgins even though he knew he’d receive some type of injury from the blast. That belies Zach’s coldly logical approach to most things, yet is consistent with the character since we know that he was actually friends with Jack.

– That was a nice moment at the end with Booth and Bones, but it didn’t make up for the crap that went before it. I don’t want Zach to leave the show as a killer!!!

I bought my husband Jerry an 80GB iPod Classic for Christmas. This is one of the newer models that has the ability to play videos, and Jerry just loves the thing! He never leaves home without it, whether he’s headed to work, going for a jog, or simply walking to the corner store for a gallon of milk. I guess he’s one of those people that needs to be entertained at all times!

The only problem with the iPod is that it doesn’t play standard video formats like AVI or MPEG without first putting the files through a converter program. Jerry has tried a few free converters that he found online, but didn’t like the results he got. So I started looking around for some commercial products that could do the job, and came across something called Roxio Crunch featured in the weekly deals at Buy.com. This is software that was designed specifically to convert video files to formats that are readable by Apple products like iPods, iPhones, and Apple TV.

Roxio Crunch is an easy, hassle-free way to convert AVI, MOV, MPEG-4, MPEG-2, and DV files into an iPod-compatible format. The software allows for batch conversions, and also allows users to select which video and audio segments they want to convert from DVDs. For example, if you wanted to put only the bonus features from Transformers on your iPod instead of the whole movie, Roxio Crunch can help. If you want the Spanish or French audio track instead of English, that’s no problem either.

This sounds perfect for my husband, and best of all, it’s on sale at Buy.com for $32.99 — and includes a $23 mail-in rebate that brings the price down to just $9.99! Toss in free standard shipping, and this is clearly one deal that is too good to pass up! Father’s Day is just a couple weeks away, so the timing is perfect here.

If you’re stuck for gift ideas for Dad or simply love a great bargain, check out the Weekly Deals at Buy.com. There are so many choices available that you’re bound to find something you like!

The premise of the 2008 caper film Mad Money seemed pretty interesting to me: Three ordinary women discover a way to smuggle money out of the supposedly impenetrable Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. It was marketed, if I recall correctly, as a comedy more than anything else, and starred Diane Keaton, Queen Latifah, Katie Holmes, and Ted Danson. I actually wanted to see Mad Money when it came out in theaters, but I was scared away by all the negative and lukewarm reviews it received, so I decided to wait until the DVD release.

It turns out that most of the reviewers were way off base on this one. Although Mad Money wasn’t exactly laugh-out-loud funny, it was far more entertaining than I expected it to be. As a result, I had a good time and regret having put off the film for this long.

Plot summary (with possible spoilers): The story opens with scenes of the main characters shredding, burning, and otherwise disposing of huge quantities of money. The authorities are closing in on them, so they’re trying to get rid of the evidence as quickly as possible. Just when the investigators get the go ahead to move in and arrest the suspects, the film flashes back to the beginning of the saga.

Bridget (played by Keaton) and Don Cardigan (Danson) are aging middle-class people who were looking forward to their retirement in a few years. Then the unthinkable happened: Don got downsized, leaving them a couple hundred thousand dollars in debt with no income at all. They’re on the verge of losing their home, their cars, everything, with no relief in sight. Don has been looking for work for more than a year, but no one will hire him. Bridget finally decides that she must swing into action in order to save them from becoming homeless.

There are a couple of obstacles, though. For one thing, Bridget has been a homemaker for most of her adult life and hasn’t been a part of the workforce in ages. For another thing, she doesn’t have any marketable skills, and her degree in Comparative Literature isn’t opening any doors for her. The only job she can find is as a janitor at the Federal Reserve Bank, so she swallows her pride and takes it.

One day while shopping in a hardware store, Bridget happens to see a padlock that looks strikingly similar to the ones that the Fed uses on their money carts. She then quickly formulates a plan to steal money from the bank, money that is slated to be destroyed anyway and is therefore completely untraceable.

Of course, Bridget can’t do this alone, so she recruits two coworkers, Nina Brewster (Latifah) and Jackie Truman (Holmes) to help her out. Jackie’s job at the Fed requires her to move money carts from an accounting room to the shredding room where Nina actually feeds the bills into an incinerator, so both are perfectly placed for the scheme.

The rest of the film then shows how the women perfect their plan, execute it, and successfully steal money for three long years before anyone suspects what’s going on. Then, when the investigators move in, the women manage to get off on a loophole before a final twist leaves viewers with a satisfying conclusion.

My Reaction: Ok, first of all let me say that Mad Money is certainly not going to win any Oscars, so if you’re looking for that type of movie, you’re going to be extremely disappointed. But obviously that wasn’t the intention of the filmmakers here. They just wanted to make a fun, lighthearted caper, and they succeeded with that.

One of the reasons I liked Mad Money was for the solid casting choices. Diane Keaton was perfect as Bridget Cardigan, a meek grandmother type that you’d never suspect of operating a major theft ring. Queen Latifah was equally strong as Nina, the only consistent voice of reason among the women, and Katie Holmes was surprisingly fun as airhead Jackie. All of the characters were likable, an essential component to a film like this where it’s critical for the audience to root for a favorable outcome.

Another reason that I liked the film was that it was very fast-paced and didn’t have any boring parts at all. The running time is 104 minutes, but it feels a lot shorter than that because the script didn’t deviate into a hundred boring subplots that nobody cared about.

The one thing I would have chanced about Mad Money, however, was the way the film began with scenes of the authorities closing in on the women. I would have preferred to have that outcome be up in the air for the duration rather than a foregone conclusion.

Overall, I enjoyed Mad Money a lot more than I thought I would. Don’t let the major critics scare you away from this one. It’s a fun film that’s definitely worth watching. I give it 6.5 stars out of 10.

Since Bee Movie received mixed reviews when it first came out, I wasn’t in any kind of hurry to see it. My five-year-old son didn’t even express interest in renting it, which should have served as a big tipoff that the movie didn’t have much appeal to kids. Judging from the trailers, there wasn’t much about it that would appeal to adults either, but I recently decided to rent it anyway. After all, the running time is only 90 minutes, so even if it was terrible, I wouldn’t have to suffer very long!

As it turned out, Bee Movie was just average. It wasn’t a train wreck, but neither was it very funny or even very interesting. I like a few of the voice performances and thought Chris Rock was great; too bad he was only on screen for about five minutes.

Plot summary (with possible spoilers): Barry B. Benson (voiced by Jerry Seinfeld) is not a typical bee. After graduating from college, he can’t bear the thought of picking out a single job that he will then have to perform every day for the rest of his life. His best friend Adam (Matthew Broderick) has no such qualms and doesn’t give much thought to anything else in life, but Barry wants to see the world beyond the hive before resigning himself to a lifetime of repetitive work.

So one day Barry flies out on a mission with the so-called “pollen jocks” who pollinate flowers. He gets separated from the swarm, gets caught in the rain, and since bees can’t fly in the rain, ends up taking refuge on in an apartment. There he’s almost swatted to death by a man named Ken (Patrick Warburton), but Ken’s girlfriend Vanessa (Renée Zellweger) intercedes and saves Barry. Barry is so overwhelmed by Vanessa’s kindness that he breaks the cardinal rule of never talking to humans.

Once Vanessa gets over her initial shock about Barry being able to talk, the two of them quickly become friends. Vanessa owns a flower shop and actually likes bees, so they have a lot in common. Barry clearly falls for Vanessa, and this leads to even more indecision about his future.

Soon after that, Barry learns that humans have been buying, selling, and consuming bee honey for who knows how long. He’s outraged that humans think they can simply steal what the bees work so hard to produce, so he decides to sue the human race.

The rest of the film then deals with the lawsuit and the unforeseen consequences that arise after the verdict is announced and enforced. Along the way, Barry learns a lot about himself, about what it means to be a bee, and most importantly, how every job — no matter how small and insignificant it seems — counts for something.

My Reaction: I was a big fan of the Seinfeld television series, so I wasn’t expecting to be bothered by Jerry’s voice — but I was! His voice simply didn’t fit the Barry B. Benson character very well. I mean, Seinfeld sounds like an older guy, as well he should since he’s 54 years old. Sorry, but he just couldn’t pass as a college age bee (I know how ridiculous that sentence sounds; I mean in the context of the movie, of course!) and his voice distracted me to no end.

The other performers were pretty good, especially Chris Rock. His mosquito character was the only funny part of the film, and he got the best line. When asked how he could be a lawyer, Mooseblood replied, “I was already a bloodsucking parasite. All I needed was a briefcase!” Yep, that was the one laugh-out-loud moment in the movie and it came like two minutes before the end.

I know a lot of people have complained about the “bad science” in this film, but I didn’t care about any of that stuff. If you want to know how honey is made or why bees are important, would you go see a Hollywood animated film about it? Come on! That’s just asking for trouble. There were just too many other things wrong with this movie to focus on the lack of scientific accuracy.

Overall, Bee Movie doesn’t have much going for it. It’s not particularly funny, the plot doesn’t make much sense, and the lead voice actor doesn’t fit the character, which is why I’m giving it just 4.0 stars out of 10.

I was never much of a fan of summer TV programs until last year when I got hooked on USA Netowrk’s Burn Notice. That show turned out to be so popular with fans that it got renewed for a second season, and will be airing all-new episodes in a couple of months.

Another new show I’m excited about seeing is In Plain Sight, which is also going to air on USA. Here’s a quick description of the show from a press release I received:

Catch the new series premiere on Sunday, June 1st on USA NETWORK, 10pm/9c.

USA Network’s newest original series stars Mary McCormack (Private Parts and The West Wing) as Mary Shannon. Her friends and family think she’s just a glorified courier, but she’s actually a U.S. Marshal, working for the highly secretive Witness Protection Program. Her job is to help relocate federal witnesses.

Whether they’re career criminals, or just people who had the misfortune to witness a crime, they all share one thing in common — somebody wants them dead. Co-starring Frederick Weller and Lesley Ann Warren.

I think that sounds pretty cool, and I’ll definitely be tuning in on June 1!

In the meantime, I’ve got a sweet In Plain Sight gift bag to give away to a lucky reader. Check it out:

Enter to Win an IN PLAIN SIGHT GIFT BAG filled with

-In Plain Sight t-shirt
-In Plain Sight tank top
-TSA Approved Travel Kit (with 4 plastic toiletry bottles)
-In Plain Sight Luggage Tag

If you’d like your name entered into the drawing for this gift pack, simply send an email to contest[at]reviewsandmore[dot]net with “In Plain Sight Giveaway” in the subject line. This contest is open to U.S. residents only.

Entries will be accepted between now and June 9, so start getting those emails in! Oh, and be sure to tune in to USA on June 1 to catch the premiere of In Plain Sight starring Mary McCormack!

Last night’s episode of Desperate Housewives was the Season 4 finale, and as expected, we got a major time jump that will serve to change the show drastically beginning next season. The jump moved the action 5 years into the future, and gave us a glimpse at what the characters’ lives are like at that time. Some are gone, some are with other mates, and all have changed drastically.

Since this was a two-hour season finale, I’m not going to attempt to recap everything that happened last night. Instead, I’ll just post comments and reactions to what I saw.

– The Dylan mystery wrap-up was soooo anticlimactic! If the original girl died an accidental death, then why would it be necessary for Katherine to bury the body on her own? Wouldn’t that have been the perfect way to get Wayne off her back? The girl was the only tie they had, so if she had gone to the police immediately, she wouldn’t have had to keep running.

– Katherine got the replacement Dylan from a Romanian orphanage? Really?? That’s the explanation the writing team came up with?

— I loved the scene with Katherine and Bree discussing their catering plans at the shooting range. It’s been a while since we’ve seen that side of Bree, so I enjoyed it.

– I know a lot of people disagree, but I think Gabby is the best character on the show. Eva Longoria is the only reason I continue to watch, and she didn’t disappoint tonight. The whole thing about having an affair with the handyman was hilarious, as was her explanation to Carlos afterwards. I also liked that she warned Ellie about the raid. It’s just too bad that ended up getting Ellie killed.

– I hate the way some married couples are portrayed on TV. Why would Susan be scared to tell Mike how she really felt about the name Maynard? If my husband ever suggested anything like that, I’d have no problem telling him my thoughts. Then we’d be able to, I don’t know, DISCUSS the situation like adults instead of immediately going into caper mode while hoping not to get caught.

– I like the time jump and am looking forward to seeing how the wives got to where they are in the future.

— A frumpy Gabby with two chubby daughters? Somehow, it actually fits.

– Susan is with a mystery man? I guess that means Mike is out of the picture. I wonder what happened to him. Is their child still around or is he gone too? Also, at first I thought Susan was with Adam Mayfair, but then I read that it was a completely different character. That’s good, cuz it would have been weird for her to end up with Adam!

– Bree as a high-powered cookbook author? I can dig it! Andrew in a business suit handling Bree’s affairs? Uh, not so much.

– The Scavo spawn turn into juvenile delinquents? Can’t say I’m surprised.

Well, here’s hoping next season is a good one!!

After holding on to the top spot at the box office for two consecutive weeks, Iron Man has been dethroned by Prince Caspian, the second film in the Chronicles of Narnia series. Prince Caspian opened with a $56.6 million weekend gross, which was about $9 million less than its predecessor, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe did in 2005. Iron Man dropped to second with $31.2 million in ticket sales, and has now grossed $222 million in just three weeks.

The only other new entry in the Top 10 list was the indie film The Visitor, which earned $687k. That should be enough to buy the writer/director a new house — or at least some new furniture and a mattress topper or two. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a movie crack the top 10 with just a six-figure weekend, but I guess I could be mistaken. This is actually the fifth week of The Visitor’s theater run, but it has just broken into the Top 10 now.

At any rate, here’s the complete list for the weekend ending 5/18/08 — and remember, Indiana Jones opens next week!

1. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, $56.6 million
2. Iron Man, $31.2 million
3. What Happens in Vegas…, $13.8 million
4. Speed Racer, $7.64 million
5. Baby Mama, $4.59 million
6. Made of Honor, $4.5 million
7. Forgetting Sarah Marshall, $2.54 million
8. Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay, $1.8 million
9. The Forbidden Kingdom, $1 million
10. The Visitor, $687k

Since I don’t have time to write individual recaps for all of the TV shows I watch in a week, I thought I’d post a few thoughts about each in a single roundup piece instead. This is my first attempt at a Weekly Roundup, and since most shows have their finales coming up soon, I won’t have a lot of time to see how well this approach works. Nevertheless, I want to give it a try, so here goes!

Bones 3×14 — “The Wannabe in the Woods”

– Booth was shot!! I know there’s no way in hell David Boreanaz is going to get written off the show, so I’m not anxious about his survival or anything like that, but still… I thought that was a pretty tense couple of minutes at the end when psycho girl pulled her gun on him. The slo-mo effects worked pretty well there, though I know some people probably thought it was cheesy.

– There are times when I’m grateful for Brennan’s coolness in any situation, and that was one of them. She was the only one who was able to react the right way.

– Wow, Zach has got some pipes on him!

– The mystery was kind of dumb, and I didn’t even realize the wannabes were American Idol contestants until later. I don’t watch that show though, so I have a good excuse for not knowing them.

– I’m liking the new dynamic with Sweets. The therapy sessions are boring, but it’s pretty fun when he helps profile suspects.

– Monday is the finale.

House 4×15 — “House’s Head”

– This was the first of a two-part season finale set to wrap up on Monday.

– I thought the beginning of the episode was too weird and trippy, but I started liking it as soon as more pieces of the puzzle began to fall into place.

– Fred Durst is still around? Man, does he look old! He is 37 though, so I guess that’s to be expected. It just seems like yesterday that “Nookie” was a hit song, doesn’t it? But I looked it up and it was almost 10 years ago. Yikes!

– I wasn’t too fond of the Cuddy striptease scene. I thought it went too far when they showed Cuddy undo her bra hook. Did we really need to see that?

– I need to know what the hell Amber was doing on that bus with house!!!

– The CTB was the only job candidate I liked back when House was doing his Survivor-like game, so I hope she lives. I was surprised the writers found a way to keep her on the show even though she didn’t win a job with House, and I think she’s pretty good as Wilson’s girlfriend/House’s foil. Please let her survive!!

Lost 4×12, “There’s No Place Like Home, Part 1″

– This was the first of a three-part season finale. Wow!

– The flash-forwards dealt with the Oceanic 6’s return to society, and those scenes were awesome! That was the most involved I’ve been in off-island happenings in a very long time.

– I usually come down hard on Matthew Fox and his character Jack, but I have to give him props for the scene where he learns that Clare was his sister. His pain and anguish shone through so clearly, and worst of all, he couldn’t tell Clare’s mom that he knew her daughter or that Aaron is her grandson. Well done!

– Ben is a complete psycho. I don’t like this character at all, but I guess he keeps things interesting by always having some kind of plan up his sleeve.

– Awww, it looks like Jin is a goner for sure. I don’t wanna see him blown to bits by all that C4 on the freighter….

– I still don’t get why only six people were able to get off the island. I’m sure that some, like Locke, Rose, and Bernard, want to stay, but there must be more than six that want to leave. What about Juliet? She’s wanted to leave forever. I wonder what happens to her to compel her to stay.

CSI 8×17 — “For Gedda”

– Well, there’s no question about Warrick coming back to the show, is there? I knew Gary Dourdan had been fired, but I didn’t think the writers would go so far as to kill the character. A shot to the neck, plus another one for good measure… yep, he’s a goner.

– The shooter was Undersheriff Jeffrey McKeen, for those of you who don’t pay much attention to the minor characters on the show. I didn’t know the guy’s name, although his face was definitely familiar. I had to look it up on IMDb.

– I’ve read that CSI is going to “replace” the Sara Sidle character with a new female investigator next season, but are they going to do the same thing for Warrick’s character? Will there be a new guy as well?

– It’s kind of funny how characters evolve during the course of a television series. I remember that Warrick used to be one of my favorites on CSI, and that I was actually hoping that he would get together with Catherine a few seasons ago when the writers had them flirting a lot. But this season and last, the character just went way downhill. Not much screentime, tons of personal problems, etc. He was annoying by the end, so I’m sort of glad to see him go.

– This was not a great season for CSI… I wonder if there’s anything left in the tank for a 9th year. They’re getting dangerously close to ER territory for me, one of those shows that goes on way too long. Maybe a new character will bring some energy to the team.