Reviews and More

Desperate Housewives 6×09 — “Would I Think of Suicide?”: This was a so-so episode, as I liked a couple of the storylines but hated a couple others. First, on the hate side, I cannot stand what is happening between Carlos and Lynette. Carlos is clearly being made to look/act like a jerk, and what he’s doing is definitely illegal. At the same time, however, I can’t help but feel that Lynette is getting what she deserves. She’s been a conniving bitch about the whole pregnancy thing, and it just bugs me that she’s being made out to be the sympathetic one. She didn’t care enough about her friendship with Carlos to tell him about the pregnancy, but now she wants to bank on that friendship to preserve her job? Give me a break.

I didn’t like the Katherine/Mike stuff either. Yes, Katherine is crazy as hell and should not have a) told MJ that stuff about his mother; or b) picked him up from the birthday party after Mike expressly told her to stay away. But Mike should not have gone on and on about how he never loved Katherine and how she meant nothing to him. That’s not something you say to a clearly imbalanced person, especially with weapons in the vicinity. Now he’s gonna get framed for attempted murder.

The Bolen storyline is getting more interesting by the week. It sounds like Danny boy is sick of it all and ready to tell the truth no matter what the consequences might be. The mother killed a man and they’ve been on the run ever since? Somehow, I doubt the killing was in cold blood. Probably a self-defense thing, but Angie was too scared to go to the cops, thinking she couldn’t prove her case. In the end, the family will probably be cleared and won’t have to run anymore.

I also like Bree/Susan/Karl. It’s about time Susan found out, and though she was upset with Bree at first, I’m glad she has already forgiven her friend. After all, she has Mike, so she shouldn’t care what Karl does anymore, right? Sure, there’s a “code” about getting with a friend’s ex, but Karl and Susan were divorced like 15 years ago or something. Time to move on.

Here are this weekend’s top 10 movies at the box office:

1. The Twilight Saga: New Moon, $42.5 million
2. The Blind Side, $40.1 million
3. 2012, $18 million
4. Old Dogs, $16.8 million
5. A Christmas Carol, $16 million
6. Ninja Assassin, $13.1 million
7. Planet 51, $10.2 million
8. Precious, Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire, $7.09 million
9. Fantastic Mr. Fox, $7.02 million
10. The Men Who Stare at Goats, $1.52 million

I’ve been watching Desperate Housewives from the very beginning of the series. At first, I loved it because it seemed so different from everything else that was on at the time. The main wives on the show seemed to have real problems that viewers at home could relate to. Plus, actresses were all great, and really had a ton of on-screen chemistry with each other. It felt like they were all friends, which helped make the storylines resonate even more.

But the writing was uneven, and things went downhill from the middle of the second season. Fortunately, the writers decided to execute a time jump for Season 5, pushing the characters and events five years ahead. This worked brilliantly, and helped make the show watchable again. That’s why I want to add the Desperate Housewives Season 5 DVDs to my collection. I actually don’t have any Desperate Housewives DVDs, so this set would be my first.

Anyway,the box comes with all 22 episodes from the fifth season, as well as extras such as bloopers, deleted scenes, a table read, and creator Marc Cherry’s favorite moments. That sounds great, and considering the box set is on sale for just $42.33 ($17.66 off the original list price), it looks like I’ll end up buying this one soon. Or maybe Santa will see fit to make sure it’s under my tree on Christmas morning! Either way, I need this box set!

House 6×09 — “Ignorance is Bliss”: I really liked the patient of the week storyline this time around. I’d never heard of anyone dumbing themselves down with cough medicine and alcohol before. Interesting. But man, that patient was a complete jerk. He had to medicate himself in order to be able to stand his wife? WTF? She wasn’t stupid, just average. The guy seemed like a total ass.

I didn’t care about the personal stuff amongst the doctors, though. I have long since jumped off the House/Cuddy ship. Those two are so incredibly mean and spiteful to each other that it’s torture watching them have to play out this charade week after week. Do 40-year-old doctors really act like this?

Chase punched House, Taub takes credit for it with his wife. Meh.

Castle 2×10 — “One Man’s Treasure”: The case was really good this week. I kept trying to figure out what sort of angle the two women had, but couldn’t quite catch up to where the script was going. I thought perhaps the two were in on the murder together, but when there was no mention of a fat life insurance policy, I scrapped that idea. The jealous “other woman” theory was too obvious, too. So I just had to wait for them to reveal Wayne Palmer as the killer.

Not nearly enough flirting between Beckett and Castle in this ep. Come on, bring back the banter!!!

Criminal Minds 5×09 — “100″: I was never really interested in the Foyett case, but I have to admit that this ep packed an emotional wallop. That scene where Hotch talked to Haley on the phone, knowing that it would be for the last time… I could barely hold it together myself. To see Hotch, usually such a stoic character, completely tear up and let himself cry was gut-wrenching. Then, to hear the gunshots and see the team’s reactions as they realized that Foyett followed through on Haley… wow.

I didn’t particularly like the skewed timeline here. I thought there would have been more tension if the scenes were shown in chronological order, so I didn’t get the reason for all the jumps back and forth. And I can’t say that I was particularly pleased to see Hotch lose his shit and go bestial on Foyett. It sort of played out like the end of Se7en, which essentially means that the bad guy wins. I wonder what long-term effects this will have on Hotch. Also, what’s going to happen now that Hotch admitted he relinquished control of the team just because he knew Foyett was watching? I like Hotch in charge. Derek is kind of meh as the team leader.

I just want to take a moment to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you get to celebrate the way you want to, with the people you love and care about most.

At my household, this means celebrating with family. We’ve fired up A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving for the kids, while the adults are watching football in the basement. We’ll all convene in about two hours for turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and pumpkin pie, and then will probably break off into groups again to finish the night. There will be ice cream and hot chocolate for the young ones, and some wine, champagne, and even Avo cigars for the adults.

So far everyone has been getting along and there haven’t been any embarrassing arguments or scenes that will cause me not to want to see these people again for another 364 days. Let’s hope the smooth ride continues!

HIMYM 5×09 — “Slapsgiving 2: Revenge of the Slap”: Well, I have to say that I didn’t like this episode at all. I hated the fact that a new family drama was created and new character introduced for no other reason than to give the regulars something to do on Thanksgiving. I hated it on Friends when Brad Pitt came over for dinner, and I hated it here with Chris Elliot/Lily’s dad. Had she even mentioned problems with her father before? How totally random.

I wasn’t even into the slap storyline all that much. As soon as Ted and Robin started arguing about who would get to deliver it, I knew it would be Marshall in the end. And when they started passing the slap rights all around the room, that simply confirmed my earlier suspicions and made me roll my eyes while waiting for the long, highly telegraphed joke to play out.

The only good part of the ep was the Slap Bet board game! That was a pretty funny tag to throw in at the end. Oh, and I suppose Marshalls videoconference family dinners elicited a smile as well. Other than those couple of moments, the whole ep was essentially wasted. Just more filler, which I don’t understand since we’re now almost halfway through the season and still haven’t been introduced to a new girlfriend for Ted yet. WTF? The part about the mother being in that first college class was last season’s cliffhanger. Let’s get to the story already!

Plot summary (with possible spoilers): James Brennan (played by Jesse Eisenberg), a recent Oberlin College graduate, is looking forward to traveling across Europe with his roommate before heading to Columbia grad school as a journalism major in the fall. But when his parents pick him up, they break the news that Mr. Brennan (Jack Gilpin), has experienced some setbacks at work and won’t be able to pay for James’ tuition. So now James can’t go to Europe, nor can he go to Columbia — unless he gets a job.

Having never had a real job before, James doesn’t get very far when passing out resumes. In fact, the only place that hires him is a local theme park called Adventureland. There James is assigned to Games, where he learns that most of the attractions are rigged and that part of his job is to make sure customers don’t win the really big prizes.

The work is tedious and boring, but at least James can make friends with the other young men and women who work there. These include Joel (Martin Star), Frigo (Matt Bush), Lisa P. (Margarita Levieva), and the ultra-cool mechanic-slash-musician, Connell (Ryan Reynolds). In addition, James meets Em (Kristen Stewart) and falls in love with her almost immediately — after she saves him from being stabbed by a disgruntled customer.

As the summer progresses, James and Em get to know each other better. They hang out, go out, and make out, with James falling for her more and more every day. But Em has her own issues to deal with, not the least of which is the fact that she’s sleeping with Connell, who happens to be a married man.

The rest of the film then shows the ups and downs in James and Em’s budding relationship, as they try to figure out what each one wants in terms of the other. If you’ve seen other teen comedies, then you already know there’s the inevitable breakup before the two leads eventually get together again. But even this bit of predictability doesn’t dampen the overall effect of the film.

My Reaction: I wasn’t expecting much out of Adventureland, mostly because it didn’t do very well at the box office. It only earned $16 million domestically, which was a far cry from what director Greg Mottola’s Superbad raked in. But I was pleasantly surprised at the depth of the story in Adventureland. It ended up being a very sweet film that I think most people can relate to in some way. Haven’t we all had at least on sucky summer job that was saved only by the fun we had with co-workers?

To be sure, there were a few problems with the film. First, Jesse Eisenberg totally reminded me of Michael Cera. They both play the same type of too-good-to-be-true borderline geeks who somehow are able to attract the hot girls. I mean, there’s no way James would have hooked up with the hottest girls from my school, no matter how sweet he was. But since this is Greg Mottola’s fantasy, I guess it can play out however he wants it to.

In addition, I thought the Ryan Reynolds-Kristen Stewart pairing was disgusting. Reynolds looked sooo much older than the rest of the cast (save for the park managers) that it was creepy seeing him get it on with Em. And even though everyone was supposed to be college graduates, they looked and acted more like high school students, which made the Ryan Reynolds thing even worse for me.

Nevertheless, I ended up liking Adventureland far more than I thought I would. The great ’80s soundtrack definitely helped in that regard, as did a relatively strong script, which is not expected in these teen flicks. I give the film 7 stars out of 10.

If you read this blog regularly, then you know one of my favorite new television shows is Castle. I simply love the lead actors, Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic, and think the show is genuinely entertaining. Castle and Beckett have all kinds of chemistry with each other, and their flirty moments are usually very well written. The murder-of-the-week storylines are pretty good, too, but let’s face it: I don’t watch this for the procedural aspects. This is very much a character-driven show — and the characters are awesome!

Anyway, I would love to own the Castle Season One DVDs so I can relive all the great moments from last year. The DVD set contains three discs that feature all 10 episodes from the first season (it was a midyear replacement show, which is why they didn’t produce the standard 22-24 eps), plus a few bonuses like a behind-the-scenes interview with creator Andrew W. Marlowe.

The Castle Season One DVDs are on sale at Buy.com for just $23.87. That’s not a bad price at all, and with Christmas coming up, I’m entitled to splurge a bit on myself, right? Or maybe I’ll print this post out for my husband to make holiday gift shopping a little easier on him! Either way, I’m sure I’ll have these Castle DVDs by the time December 25 rolls around!

After hearing people positively RAVE about the new Fox television series Glee, I decided to give the show a try the other night while at my friend’s house. She has all the episodes on Tivo, so I got to start from the pilot. Glee totally didn’t sound like my kind of show, because I’m not at all about singing and music. But to my surprise, I loved it!

I thought the Pilot was actually very good. I was drawn into the characters and their situations immediately, and liked all the people I was supposed to like. Sure, there are some stereotypes, what with the prissy girls in their perfect cheerleading outfits and Naot sandals and the jocks who seemingly live just to torture the less fortunate cool. But I’m so intrigued by the premise–and promise–of the show that I’m willing to overlook those things for now.

I’m thrilled to see that most critics like Glee too. So far the show seems to be enjoying good ratings; I just hope there are enough storylines to last for a few seasons.

Yeah, I know it’s a blatant ripoff of High School Musical (jock joins artsy group, thereby making it cool by default), but whatever. It’s enjoyable for now!

House 6×08 — “Teamwork”: Thank god House finally has his medical license back. Now maybe the show will quit focusing on all the nonsensical extracurriculars and just get back to what made me a fan in the first place: good ol’ medical mysteries. But that’s probably too much to ask, right?

Goodbye, Cameron. I was never one of the total haters, and in fact liked this character for the most part during the first three seasons or so. It seems wrong that she has to go while the ultra-boring Thirteen sticks around. And that wasn’t much of a sendoff, either. Just getting indignant in House’s office? Meh.

Four candidates for three slots. What kind of ridiculous hoops is House going to make everyone jump through now to prove that they belong? And didn’t we already go through this type of thing? God, I just hope the writers make the selection process quick and painless this time around. My patience with the show is growing thin.

Castle 2×09 — “Love Me Dead”: This was a decent episode, even though there wasn’t as much Beckett/Castle flirting as I would have liked to see. The case was pretty interesting, but I have to admit I saw the “twist” coming from a mile away. Still, it was handled fairly well and held my attention throughout.

I love the idea that Alexis is comfortable enough with Beckett to go to her for advice. I think it would be great if the writers developed that particula

Bones 5×08 — “The Foot in the Foreclosure”: Ok, I seriously could have gone my whole life without hearing about the “Feeders and Eaters” fetish and would have been perfectly happy with that. WTF?? Is that an actual fetish? I’m too scared to Google it because of what images might turn up. That just sounds so freaky and disgusting. Usually I’m all about the “to each his own philosophy”, but in this case? It sounds soooo weird!

I thought Booth was cute with his “Pops” and I loved how Brennan was included in a lot of their activities. It was as though she’s already family. And of course even the grandfather can see that Booth is head over heels. When will Brennan just open up and take a chance?

Criminal Minds 5×08 — “Outfoxed”: I didn’t really like this episode all that much. I didn’t remember the “Fox” character from whatever episode he appeared in a long time ago, so the impact from having him back was of course greatly diminished. And I totally didn’t understand how Foyet could have set up the whole admirer correspondence. How did he realize there was a serial killer on the loose when the BAU didn’t know until they took the case? There was something like a whole year between the first two killings. You mean to tell me that Foyet knew she was a serial killer right from the first incident and started laying out his elaborate plan immediately? Riiiight.

I did like two things in this ep. First was how the father just completely and utterly broke down after getting the news about his family. That was probably the most realistic reaction I’ve ever seen on one of these shows. It was heartbreaking. Second, I liked how Prentiss interacted with the Fox, and how she hated having to stoop to flirting with the guy and showing him crime scene pictures in order to have him cooperate. Again, that seemed like a very genuine reaction to me, and I liked the change.