A Triple Feature Weekend… Can’t Get Better Then That!
When you work as much as Jenn and I do we don't always get a lot of opportunities to go out and just relax and enjoy living out in Orange County. So this past weekend we took full advantage of having some time to just R&R and went out and saw two movies and a play. On Friday night along with my brother Jake we went and saw The Other Guys staring Will Ferrell. Saturday morning we went out and saw The Expendables staring every action hero you can imagine, and that evening we went out and saw In The Heights at the Orange County Performing Arts Center.
The Other Guys
Both my brother Jake and I are huge Will Ferrell fans. I still can't stop laughing when I watch Anchorman and Talladega Nights and I have probably watched those each at least two dozen times. So my expectations going into this movie were pretty high and I have to say I was a little let down. One of my main complaints is that a lot of the funnier moments in this movie were seen already in the movies previews. My biggest problem however with The Other Guys was I just never got into it. To me there was just not the right pacing in this comedy that has worked so well in past Will Ferrell movies. Don't get me wrong its a funny movie but not on the top of the list of Will Ferrell movies in my opinion.
The Expendables
If you have frequented my blog at all you know I am a big Rocky fan. In fact that is my favorite movie/series of all time. I am also a big action movie fan so when I first saw the trailer for what looks to be the reunion of some of the biggest action stars of the last twenty or thirty years who wouldn't want to see it. And to my surprise and delight I came out of The Expendables pumped up and ready for more. The movie was pretty much a guys dream action movie. It had a little bit of plot, a ton of explosions, and non-stop action from start to finish.What could be bad? Heck even Jenn enjoyed it!
In the Heights (@ Orange County Performing Arts Center)
Jenn and I trying to get out of our comfort zone more and one thing we don't do enough and we want to do more is going out and see plays/musicals. So our first stop on this quest was at the Orange County Performing Arts Center to see the very popular musical In The Heights. Neither Jenn or I would be considered real "musical" fans, but are always open to something new. First off we had great seats, near the middle of the stage and in the second row. But secondly and more importantly the musical was fantastic. It was upbeat, the music was catchy, and the story was really good. Honestly it was one of those perfect date nights that you just hope for.
Office Space is a Great Movie
I had never seen the movie Office Space up until a few months ago, and I probably wouldn't have connected with the movie had I seen it before I got a full time job. Although its a bit over the top in its delivery the underlying message of making fun of the daily grind is sure to make any full time worker crack up. So I decided I should really post some of my favorite clips from the movie.
A Great Scene on the Daily Commute
Our Answer if we Honestly Told People What We did at Work
Office Gossip About Layoffs and of course The Petrock
My Favorite Scene: People Skills
Finding Out How Well I Use My Netflix Account
Today I was doing some surfing and I was reading some articles on Netflix's plan to raise their rates on Bluray subscribers. So one article pointed me to FeedFlix.com, a site that tells you how well you are using Netflix, and what value you get out of it. I am currently on the one at a time service which is $8.99 plus $1 for the right to rent Bluray movies. That rate will go up by a $1 next month which is kind of a bummer but then again I wouldn't even dare think about closing my account.
Let me get back on track though. FeedFlix offers a really cool look at your rental habits. For example it tells me that:
- You have been a Netflix member since March 2005 and have returned 392 titles to date
- You most recently returned a movie on 31/Mar/09 i.e. 1 day ago
- You keep titles at home for an average of 9 days
- You see 6.0 titles by DVD and 1.7 titles by Instant Watch each month
I think the stat that makes me the most uset is that I keep titles at home for an average of 9 days. I don't know why I wait so long to watch movies, but I guess life can get in the way at times. Here are some of the graphical views the site gives.
So all in all its a pretty cool service, and if your a Netflix subscriber you can see how good you are at using your service. FeedFlix also lets you know how your doing against other Netflix subscribers. I am in the 33rd percentile. i.e., 33% of FeedFlixers pay less than you per movie! Which means 67% pay more!!
Watchmen Ends Up Being a Big Disappointment
There are a lot of movies I look forward to, but Watchmen was a moving that I was looking forward to more then many others in the first half of 2009. I really enjoy comic book based movies and I was really impressed with all of the trailers leading up to this movie so needless to say I had high hopes for the movie. But boy was that a let down.
There is a really classic line in the trailer where one of the character movies says "The world will shout save me, and I will whispher, no" and it seems like it would be crucial line in the movie, but its just kind of thrown in a few minutes into the movie with no real effect to go along with it. The entire movie takes you along this long convaluted maze where your not sure really what the point of all these super heroes is. You never are given a backstory for many of the characters in the movie, so you have 0 clue as to why they are "super heroes". Not to mention the fact that many of these good guys aren't even all that likeable. I have to admit I liked 300, I thought it was a clevar, well stylized movie that had some great action sequences. I never got all that pumped about the action in The Watchmen, in fact a lot of it felt a bit forced, and I never really cared what was going on.
All in all I was more intrigued by previews for movies like Star Trek and Public Enemies then I was by the far to long Watchmen. If you haven't seen the movie, hold off and rent it.
A Long Week Turns to Great Weekend
I started my new job at Southern California Edison at the beginning of December and boy has it been a wild ride ever since. I really enjoy my new job but I got put in part of a project that was already missing key dates and was put on the team to help get back up to speed and finish the project. Well this week marks the definite due date of this project and the last few weeks has been full of some really long hours. This is the second 50+ hour work week which is fine but it means I really have to maximize my weekend and this past weekend I feel like I really did.
Friday night I left work at around 9:45PM, I start at 7:00am and only had a 30 minute lunch through the day so as you can guess it was a long, long day. Saturday I spent the first half of the day relaxing and then Jenn and I headed out in the early evening to the local movie theaters and saw Slumdog Millionaire. I liked the movie a lot but I am one that thinks it might have been over hyped. The story was inspirational, and it was truly a well made movie but the way people talked about this movie I was expecting perfection and I just didn't see that in this movie. It is a movie I will want to buy but I just don't know if I would be so ready to give it the Best Picture nod for the upcoming Academy Awards.
So after the movie we decided to go for a little ice cream at this new place called Cherry On Top. It is a self service soft served ice cream shop where you can take your choice of toppings and you are charged on the weight of your creation. I had a chocolate soft serve with oreos, gummy bears, bananas and nuts. It was a really weird combination but it was really quite tasty.
After such a long week I just wanted to relax so Jenn and I decided just to drive, and of course we like to hang out down in the beach areas so we headed down to our favorite place, Irvine. We didn't even head out for the coast until 9PM (after the movie and ice cream) so when we ended up in Irvine we actually went down to the Irvine Spectrum which is a huge outdoors mall with a Carousel and Ferris Wheel. Jenn had the great idea of going on the Ferris Wheel which was really beautiful at night. It was one of the many times I regretted not having my camera along with me. It was such a fun night we were singing along with the radio, grabbed some hot cocoa and just enjoyed a really relaxing and enjoyable evening.
Yesterday we also had our first week of a six week Pre-Marital class at the church we attend here in Riverside, The Grove. This is a requirement for us to have the pastor we chose for our wedding to do our ceremony. So we got through the first week and so far so good, it should be interesting to see how this course goes. Neither Jenn or I like these sort of things but we both agree that it can't be bad for us. All in all it was such a great weekend I got to spend a lot of time with Jenn and just relax with her throughout the weekend. Now its back to the grind, another week another dollar!
Making the Switch to BluRay Movies
I have always been a little skeptical on whether or not I should start buying my movies in Bluray format instead of DVD. Well this past Christmas was when I kind of officially made the transition. I now have about 6 or 7 blu ray movies and I have started purchasing about half of my new movies on Bluray. My decision on whether to buy on Bluray or DVD usually depends on the movie. If it is a comedy then I will go DVD but if it is an action movie like Dark Knight or Iron Man then I would go with Bluray.
So far I have been really happy with the transition. I use my Playstation 3 as my Bluray player and my 37" LCD really does a great job with handling these movies. I think for the near future I will continue to purchase Bluray movies. I am starting to see more and more the big differences between DVD and Bluray and it makes it harder and harder for me to buy movies on DVD.
Am I The Only One Who Still Likes At the Movies
So I was reading over at TVSquad.com an article about At the Movies the movie review show that took over for the highly respected Ebert and Roeper. Well for the past year or two it has been Roeper and a guest, but regardless we all knew there was going to be a chance. Then came At the Movies with Ben Mankiewicz and Ben Lyons which takes on almost the same format as Ebert and Roeper just with a different rating scale. To me it seems like a lot of fans of Ebert and Roeper just weren't ready for a newer feel to the show, but for me I really like the Ben duo. I am not sure your supposed to be overjoyed by the reviewers but instead entertained and informed and that is why I still watch At the Movies.
To me I watch these sort of shows not because I am going to decide what to see based off there opinions because I'm not. I watch these shows to get a look at what the movies are about, catchup on some of the lesser known movies, and keep my Netflix Queue full. I for one and glad to see some new faces, and I hope they continue to gain an audience and thrive on the new At the Movies.
My 5 Favorite Christmas Movies
So I have been off and on, on my posting. I know, I know, I have said it a million times. I am going to get better. Well this time I am just going to say I am going to try harder. So I was flipping through the old television this past week and it seems as though the networks are airing their annual Christmas movies. I was thinking last night what are my 5 favorite Christmas flicks.
#5: Home Alone
I am a huge Home Alone fan. This is a movie I often forget about in terms of being a Christmas movie, but I was watching some clips of it earlier today and it really still stands up to the test of time.
#4: The Santa Clause
I am a big Tim Allen fan. I used to love Home Improvement. The Santa Clause was really a clever and entertaining Christmas flick. I just don't understand what the next two iterations in the franchise were about.
#3: It's A Wonderful Life
Ok yes I know it's a long movie, but boy does it have a great message. I love the message of this movie, and although it can drag at times I just love the old time feel of the movie. I have probably seen this movie at least 10 times in my life and seem to enjoy it more and more each time.
#2: National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
It is impossible to have my favorite Christmas movies without including National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. Cousin Eddie is back again, this time with his RV, ah its a classic. Jenn and I have made it a Christmas tradition to watch this every Christmas day, and I can't think of a better movie to watch, its truly a classic.
#1: Charlie Brown's Christmas
I have never been a big Peanuts fan, but Charlie Brown's Christmas is truly the ultimate classic when it comes to Christmas movies. Its twenty minutes or so of truly fantastic Charlie Brown animation, and may forever be my go to movie to get into the holiday spirit.
Isn't There Anyone Who Knows What Christmas is All About? Of Course Linus Does!
You Gotta Love Netflix
Did you know I love Netflix? If not, I do! I have been a subscriber to Netflix since 2006 and have only had one time where I had any gap in my subscription was the last 3-4 months since I graduated from college. You ever hear the saying you don't know how much you love something until its gone, well I really did miss my Netflix. Jenn not being as big of a movie buff as myself probably enjoyed the time away from Friday DVD night, but its back at least once in a while! So I am back on Netflix with a ton of movies to catch up on. But you may be asking why do I love Netflix? Here are the top 5 reasons I love Netflix and believe it is the best online service to date.
5 Reasons I Love Netflix:
#5: Netflix's Website: It is easy to navigate, it has a great simplistic design, and quite frankly I can get the movies I want in my Queue and move on.
#4: Instant Watching: I don't use this feature a lot, but I do use it and will more when the new Xbox Live experience on the Xbox 360 comes out which will allow me to stream to my TV. I am also really looking forward to seeing the service on my Mac!
#3: Selection of Movies: There is no way I can complain on the diverse lineup of movies on Netflix. Let's just put it this way I have never had a movie that I couldn't get on Netflix. I had some crazy Chinese Revolution movies I had to rent for a class I had in college and who had them Netflix, who didn't Blockbuster Online.
#2: Ease of Use: Netflix is dummy proof. I mean there is no real skill needed and the effort to get your movies is nothing. The worst feeling in the world is when you decide before you head out to Blockbuster what you want to watch that night and you get there and then they are out and you get stuck with some horrible movie that no one wants to watch. With Netflix that issue is gone.
#1: The Speed: How does Netflix do it? They are so dang fast. I have never seen a company pride themselves on accuracy and speed the way Netflix does. I never get a movie more then 2 days after it is shipped and 99.9% of the time it is the very next day. I very rarely if ever have a problem getting the Blu-Ray versions of movies either.
So all you need to know is if you love movies, you have to get Netflix.
Five Movies I Want to See Before 2008 Ends
So Jenn and I went to see Body of Lies this evening, and I liked it, it wasn't my favorite, but I enjoyed it. The previews were extremely solid though. Which gave me an idea, five movies I want to see in the 2 and 1/2 months left in the year. Can you believe 2008 is almost passing us by? Without further ado here are the 5 movies I can't wait to see, and can you believe Daniel Craig is in 2 of them.
#5: Yes Man
Dumb and Dumber is one on my short list for favorite movies of all time. So when I saw the trailer for Yes Man (which looks a lot like Liar Liar) I was extremely excited. Its great to see Jim Carrey back on the comedy scene, and I can't wait to see Yes Man as it looks really good.
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#4 The Road
So there is no trailer yet for this movie, but I read the book. Well I should say I listened to the Audible Version of it and I loved it. Cormac McCarthy wrote the book also No Country for Old Men which I didn't love as much. I really think The Road should be a great post appocolyptic movie and could tend to be on the intense side of things.
#3 Fireproof
Yes I know this movie has been out for a few weeks. I told Jenn about this a week before it went to theaters and how bad I wanted to see it. The showtimes have always been off, and its not playing in the many theaters so we haven't gotten to it yet, but we still are going to. I love the fact that Christian movies are able to go main stream. Kirk Cameron is someone that I truly respect, I think the transformation he made from the teen star to a evangelical actor I think is fantastic. Watch the trailer, it will hook you whether your married, getting married, or none of the above.
#2 Quantum of Solace
What can I say, Casino Royale was an amazing film. I really think Daniel Craig nailed Bond, and I can't wait to see him in Quantum of Solace. I was watching Leno the other night when he was on the show, and to hear him talk about how this is a real continuation of the last flick and how much it correlates it got me giddy excited in anticipation. There is nothing like a good heart pumping action movie, and I for one cannot wait to see this movie.
#1: Defiance
Like I mentioned on the onset, there are two movies I cannot wait to see this year from Daniel Craig, the second one being Defiance. I truly cannot wait for this movie. It just seems to me like a great WWII flick that tells a story I have never heard. I really think that this may be a surprise movie of 2008.The trailer since the first time I saw it really sold me on the movie and for that I cannot wait to go see it.
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Notable Mentions: The Time Travelers Wife (Another Audible Read), Changeling, Australia, and The Brothers Bloom.