Watch This!: Freaks and Geeks

The show that put Judd Apatow (director of Knocked Up, 40 Year Old Vrigin and the person behind almost every great comedy at the moment), Seth Rogen, Jason Segel and James Franco on the map. This show is my new love and it still puzzels me how it only lasted for one season. Set in the 80's the show follows two different groups of 'outcasts' (the freeks and the geeks) in William McKinley High School.
Watch this show....it is highly entertaining and somewhat reminds of 'Friends' due to the feel good effect it has. WATCH THIS!

Doomsday

I had first noticed this movie last summer while working at the video store and as we only had two copies of it, and the majority of customers who rented it were fucking morons, I decided to pay this movie no attention. However, it started appearing more often and I would see it staring at me in stores and on websites. I was intrigued and when I found out that Neil Marshall was the director, I was sold (the Decent and Dog Soldiers belong to my all time favorite horror movies). So, last night, I finally sat down and watched it...with high expectations.

Basically if Escape From New York, Mad Max, 28 Days Later and Timeline (that horrible adaptation of the Michael Crichton novel) had a baby...in some fucked up orgie...then Doomsday would be their offspring.

Britain is overrun by the reaper virus, infecting and killing millions. In order to to save humanity the infected are locked up in a giant prison (the whole of Scotland) and are left to rot. Years later the virus reappears in London and a cure is desperately needed to prevent history reoccurring. Satellite images show that there are survivors left in Scotland....meaning there is a cure. A small elite task force is sent in to retrieve the cure (including the hot chick from the Ali G. movie...not his girlfriend but the hot one).

The idea of the movie is nothing new, but yet I was intrigued to see what Marshall would do with the set up. I came out of it with mixed reactions...on the one hand this movie has some very good gore and action scenes which makes the movie very fun to watch with friends and a couple of beers...on the other hand there are some questionable scenes (such as the leader of the savages performing a 4 minute stage show) which make the movie rather laughable. The acting is mediocre/poor and the script generally isn't very great. Having Malcolm McDowell as a medieval king didn't help the movie but rather added to its randomness (A part of the movie takes place in a castle in Scotland). Don't get me wrong the movie is fun and I was definitely entertained and the film features some awesome gore scenes (shotgun to the face, arrow to the neck etc.) but this is nothing spectacular and going in with high hopes I was somewhat disappointed.

If you watch this movie watch it semi drunk with friends.

The Glory of a Scandal

"When the President does it, then its not illegal"
Ron Howard's adaptation of Peter Morgan's stageplay Frost/Nixon sees Michael Sheen and Frank Langella reprising their roles as David Frost and Richard Nixon.... and oh my god is it awesome.
If you don't know about Wateragate or Nixon you need to catch up on your american history and then enjoy, what I consider, one of the best movies of the year (and with the movies that came out in 2008 that is saying a lot).
After the famous Watergate scandal (catch up on that american history) Richard Nixon was granted a pardon by Gerald Ford and retreatet to his California mansion without ever standing trial or admitting any sort of guilt. So in comes David Frost, a semi-succesful tv-show host and playboy, whos "American fame" is just a distant memory. Frost, seeing Watergate as a chance to regain his fame in the States and to gain some credibility as a reporter, fights for an exclusive interview with Nixon, going into his own pocket to finance it. Frost soon realizes that this interview could lead to a confession from Nixon.
(I know this is an oversimplified synopsis of the film....and not very well written either, but deal with it.)
The cast...which includes Sam Rockwell(the guy is great in everything...even his scenes Charlies Angels are fucking entertaining)...is awesome and no one is overshadowed by the performance of a single actor.
Having watched some of the original footage from the Frost Nixon interviews it is amazing to see how accurate Michael Sheen portrays David Frost, everything about his performance is spot on (voice, gestures, movement even the hair).
Langella looks nothing like Nixon (there are about two scenes in the movie when the sun is shinning on him from an angle that sort of makes him look like nixon) but he takes certain aspects of Nixon (voice, movement) and plays them to almost caricature extremes, but rather then making a complete joke out of himself, he makes the role his own and, for 120 minutes, lets you believe that this is what Nixon was like. Langella is nothing short of spectacular in this film.

Bottom line is that if you want to see an entertaining, historically interesting film, with a great cast and a director who has finally directed a great film again (A Beautiful Mind seems like it was a long time ago). Go see this movie...Do It..Do It Now. Also, the movie will most definitely be nominated for a Best Motion Picture Oscar, so if you want to to discuss this years nominations you should watch it.

Sitting on the couch, watching a lame TMZ Vampire movie, I have decided to create a blog...basically writing about the one thing that I know a little about...Films (and HSV games later on when the season starts again.) So yeah....'Here...We...Go!'