Deutsche Version | CW 13-17 | CW 13-19

Chuck 3×15 Chuck versus the Role Models
Again, I’ve enjoyed this episode very much. Loved the tiger even without Mike Tyson.
I also liked the hint to an oncoming arc in the end. I strongly suspect that the Chuck gang and the Awesome family will soon cross paths again.

And I loved this little spoof of Hart to Hart (not to mention the blink towards LOST at the end) (warning: contains spoilers if you’re not up2date):

And here’s the original:

LOST 6×14 The Candidate
Just like with Supernatural they seem to be cleaning up the game board for the Grand Finale.
What disturbed me most about the Kwon’s death was not that it happened after they reunited after being apart for three years (bad things happen…) but that neither Jin nor Sun thought about their daughter at that moment, a child that will now be raised without parents. I understand that a little more from Jin’s perspective since he never saw his child and it was three years since Sun had been pregnant but Sun should have said something!

The Big Bang Theory 3×20 The Spaghetti Catalyst
I loved it how Leonard and Penny behaved like divorced parents (IMHO with switched gender roles – she takes him to Disneyworld and he has to deal with his nightmares afterwards) and how Sheldon – who loves them both – has a hard time deciding of whom to hang with.

How I Met Your Mother 5×21 Twin Beds
This story was not well constructed. I get that Barney and Ted might have regrets but how it played out was not well executed IMHO – especially since Don is basically an unknown to me. How often have we seen this guy? Three, four times? And now I should care about him?
I also didn’t like the twin bed story, it felt contrived.

Community 1×23 Modern Warfare
I can’t even count how many references this episode alone had – and still was able to tell a fully fledged story: First there were the named references to Friends and Cheers then it seemed like a post-apocalyptic movie, then Abed quoted The Terminator and fought like in The Matrix (including bullet-time at a later point), then there was this doomsday movie scene where people are warming their hands over a burning barrel in the midst of destruction (Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow), the mention of the Neutral Zone (Star Trek), The Prize (Highlander), the gun taped on the back (Die Hard) and I’m pretty sure Señor Chang’s golden guns were from some movie, too.
I’m also sure I did not mention every reference here nor do I think that I caught all of them. Two words: Absolutely hilarious.

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Categories: TV Season 2009/10 Diary
Tags: Bones · Cheers · Chuck · Community · Die Hard · Doctor Who · Friends · Hart to Hart · Highlander · How I Met Your Mother · Independence Day · LOST · Smallville · Star Trek · Supernatural · The Big Bang Theory · The Day After Tomorrow · The Matrix · The Terminator
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The “adventure” 3D is over for me for now. I my opinion it adds nothing to the experience of watching a movie or enhances it somehow.. In contrast to well-used special effects I don’t get the feeling that the movie is getting better just because there’s a depth perception now and then.

But now to the movie itself. I’m not naïve. When I’m watching movies like Independence Day, Armageddon or Transformers then I know exactly what kind of intellectual level I have to expect. I’ve got no problem with that as long as I’m well entertained. It’s like a ride on the roller coaster. You end up where you started but you had a lot of fun while riding it.

But that’s the minimum requirement: Fun. And this is where Clash of the Titans fails abysmally. The same guy who portrayed the hero in Avatar tried it again and failed again at this relatively trivial task.
One doesn’t bond with any of the characters – maybe with the exception of Zeus – especially not the main character.
So what’s left? Battles and CGI effects of course, they were the reason we went into that movie. But on that front, too: Oh, well. Only 2.5 things that one might call battles and once again they were cut so fast that one couldn’t really follow and at the same time they were not really spectacular. There’s a giant Kraken that comes out of the water and demolishes an entire city? Honestly, it didn’t feel that way at all. I also had the feeling there was something wrong about the fight against the scorpions. It seemed as if more warriors were involved that the group had heads and despite the casualties nobody seemed to be missing afterwards.
Nothing really worked for me.

You know the scene, in which William Wallace/Aragorn/President Mitchell gathers the troops and gives a speech, to motivate them one last time to hold the line against the darkness and to be the last line of defence against doom. Perseus tried that one, too. I can’t even slightly remember what it was about…

PS: And the worst thing of all: Two thirds of the time you didn’t even get the feeling to watch a 3D movie; just a 2D one while wearing sun glasses. Only in the panorama shots you got some depth. But you have to pay an additional 3€ because they don’t even play the 2D version!

Categories: Cinema
Tags: Armageddon · Avatar · Clash of the Titans · Independence Day · Transformers
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Yesterday evening I was in Avatar. I don’t think you have heard of it, it’s a little small-budget indie movie that only runs in arthouse cinemas. Or something like that.

Sorry, I am not overly impressed. Sure the 3D stuff looked fabulous – for about 15 – 20 minutes. Then I got used to it and it couldn’t distract me from the story anymore. And you can split the story into three elements: it’s either boring, melodramatic or cheesy – and not in a good way.

I had quite a number of *groan* moments, especially towards the end. For example when he tried to deliver a speech (and I love speeches!) that was a mixture of Braveheart (Unite the clans!) and Independence Day (Tomorrow we will celebrate our Independence Day! [or something along those lines]). Or when the evil guy drew a knife from his Mech suit(!!!) and then good guy says: “I hoped you’d say that” – Stallone at his best! – But wait, no Stallone in the movie!! And when she held him in his arms I waited for him to say: *Darth Vader rattle* “Only once I want to see you with my own eyes.” (he didn’t, but he might as well).

When I saw the chief warrior indian Na’vi I instinctively had to think of a Mohawk native American, I couldn’t help it.

On the technical side: As I said it looked great except for one effect: When a real person was about one quarter “deep” into the picture I always had the feeling that the proportions weren’t right, they all looked to thin. It was OK when they were direct at the front or in the background, but in this section they just didn’t look right.
In the beginning I also had the feeling as if the persons were to small in comparison to their surroundings. I’m not talking about the Na’vi, I noticed it long before I saw the first Na’vi, I’m talking about real persons standing around their own research utilities. But maybe that’s both just my eyes.

I simply can’t understand why someone spends a couple of hundred million dollars for special effects but is too cheap to pay a decent story writer.

Categories: Cinema
Tags: Avatar · Braveheart · Independence Day
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Deutsche Version | Januar (Part 1) | February

January, 16th

The Negotiator

Director: F. Gary Gray

Samuel L. Jackson … Lt. Danny Roman
Kevin Spacey … Lt. Chris Sabian
David Morse … Cmdr. Adam Beck
Ron Rifkin … Cmdr. Grant Frost
John Spencer … Chief Al Travis
J.T. Walsh … Insp. Terence Niebaum
Siobhan Fallon … Maggie
Paul Giamatti … Rudy Timmons

Synopsis: Danny Roman is a negotiator for hostage situations for the police and he’s one of the best there is. One day he gets framed for stealing money from the police pension fund and it looks like he’s going to prison for it. He sees no other choice than taking hostages himself, to force the issue and to find out what really happened and who was involved. His negotiator is Chris Sabian from the other side of the city and he’s also very good at what he does.

My Opinion: A fascinating thriller with an excellent cast. I’m not a big fan of thrillers but this is a movie I watch regularly. It’s very powerful and still has its funny moments – like the scene where we get introduced to Chris Sabian. I also like the selection of hostages and how they contribute to the case.
Spoiler (mark to read):
An interesting thing about these kinds of movies is that – despite them ending in a happy end – they don’t actually have a real happy end, because if you think it through he still will be charged of taking hostages, destroying a federal building and other stuff. Even if he gets only a slap on the hand, it’s unlikely that he’s ever going to work as a cop again.
But I think that falls in the category of Fridge Logic.

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Categories: DVD / Blu-ray, DVD Marathon, Movie Watchings 2010
Tags: 24 · Die Hard · Hero · Independence Day · Men in Trees · Spaceballs · Speed · The Fugitive · The Girl Next Door · The Negotiator · The Proposal · Under Siege · While You Were Sleeping
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Categories: DVD / Blu-ray
Tags: Gladiator · Independence Day · Star Trek
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Deutsche Version | June | August

July, 12th

13 Going on 30

Jennifer Garner    …    Jenna Rink
Mark Ruffalo   …    Matt Flamhaff
Judy Greer   …    Lucy Wyman
Andy Serkis   …    Richard Kneeland
Kathy Baker   …    Bev Rink

Synopsis: It’s 1987 and Jenna has her 13th birthday. But it ends in disaster and she wishes nothing more than to be 30. And then her wish gets granted. When she awakes it’s 2004 and she’s Jennifer Garner and editor of the glamour magazine “Poise”. But she’s still 13 and she finds herself in a world where everything is different and – most importantly – where she’s different.

My Opinion: Jennifer Garner is a great 13-year-old. It’s funny to watch her react to things like a small girl would react. I also liked the fact that it turned out to be her that sold the front cover topics to their competitor and not Tom-Tom/Lucy because that would have been too obvious. What I didn’t care much about was Mark Ruffalo, I have nothing against the actor, I just don’t care about him in any of his movies.

And now:

‘Cause this is Thriller!

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Categories: DVD / Blu-ray, DVD Marathon, Movie Watchings 2009
Tags: 13 Going on 30 · Highlander · Independence Day · Kleinruppin Forever
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Deutsche Version

It wasn’t planned as such, but in the last few weeks I have watched quite a number of Science-Fiction movies and a good part of them were “Doomsday” movies, so I might as well write a few words about them. Most of these movies are very, very US-patriotic but when you can accept that and when you can ignore the scientific “inaccuracies” you can have a lot of fun with them.

Independence Day

Will Smith   …    Captain Steven Hiller
Bill Pullman   …    President Thomas J. Whitmore
Jeff Goldblum   …    David Levinson
Mary McDonnell   …    First Lady Marilyn Whitmore
Judd Hirsch   …    Julius Levinson
Robert Loggia   …    General William Grey
Randy Quaid   …    Russell Casse
Margaret Colin   …    Constance Spano
Vivica A. Fox   …    Jasmine Dubrow
Adam Baldwin   …    Major Mitchell
Brent Spiner   …    Dr. Brackish Okun

Synopsis: July, 2nd. Some aliens come in a huge ship. They place their UFOs all over the world and blow everything apart. July, 3rd. We try to strike back and fail miserably. July, 4th. We give them a cold and blow them apart.

My Opinion: Great movie. Love it. It’s so cheesy that falls out of the bottom of the scale and comes back from the top of it. The characters are so overdrawn that you can’t take them seriously and that saves the movie. Imagine you would have to look at this movie with a serious eye. The president that fights in the final battle, the drunken pilot that saves the day, the scientist that writes a computer virus for an alien computer and Will Smith in the middle of it.
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Categories: DVD / Blu-ray, DVD Marathon, Mini Marathon
Tags: A Knight's Tale · Armageddon · Daylight · Deep Impact · Demolition Man · Firefly · Galaxy Quest · I Robot · Independence Day · Star Trek · Star Trek TOS · The Day After Tomorrow · The Island · War of the Worlds
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