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eviljanet
Favorites:
Horror - Halloween (the original), The Thing, Dawn of the Dead ('04), The Descent..
80's - Better Off Dead, Revenge of the Nerds, The Last Starfighter, Last American Virgin, The Monster Squad, The Goonies, Sixteen Candles, Heaven Help Us.
Foreign - La Mala Educacion, Habla Con Ella, Todo Sobre Mi Madre, Volver, Like Water For Chocolate, Under The Same Moon.
Adventure/Sci Fi - Indiana Jones (1-3), the ORIGINAL Star Wars trilogy, Ghostbusters '84, Big Trouble In Little China, Inception.
Drama - The Departed, The Descendants.
Wanna chat? I'm up for it. I'm usually bored anyway.
Reviews
I Love the '80s Strikes Back (2003)
Hal-arius!
Oh man. I loved the first "I Love the 80's" specials. I'd watch them everytime they came on VH1. When "I Love the 70's" came out, I was slightly disappointed, but fortunately, Mo Rocca, Hal Sparks and Michael Ian Black saved the day. Now that "I Love the 80's Strikes Back" is upon us, I am once again happy. VH1 left out "My Little Pony," "Eight Is Enough," "You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)," and of course "I Want To Know What Love Is" featuring Hal Sparks singing (quite nicely, I might add). While it does seem that they're just talking about the leftovers from the first ILT80's, it's still funny, nontheless. I just wanted to watch because of Hal, Mo and Michael. I especially loved it when Michael Ian Black said that Gene Simmons was a very ugly Jewish guy. My only complaint? Mandy Moore. She was born in what..1985? She wasn't even around when Madonna was rolling around in a white wedding dress at the first MTV Video Music awards. She was like the equivalent of having Jason Mraz comment on "I Love the 70's". They should've gotten Molly Ringwald, Judd Nelson, Anthony Michael Hall and others to comment instead.
My Big Fat Greek Life (2003)
Must..unplug..laughtrack..
What was the first thing I noticed wrong about the sitcom version of "My Big Fat Greek Wedding"...besides the obvious absence of John Corbett? The stupid laugh track. I cringed when I heard that damn repetitious laughing at every stupid joke. As many of you, I greatly enjoyed the movie..and I was in the process of watching it on DVD when I realized that the TV show was about to come on. So, I put the movie on pause.
It was only when I got to the part where the family said to 'Thomas'..."You look different!" (a painfully obvious joke about the different actor, a lackluster Steven Eckhardt who played 'Mark' on "Friends").
'Cousin Nikki' was noticeably rounder..probably because she was either pregnant or just had her daughter when the pilot was filmed. No matter. It wasn't TOO noticeable. Gus was too..I don't know. Whiny, I guess. Lanie Kazan was pretty much the same. As was Nick, but more nosy about his sister's life.
Now to Nia. First of all, I think it was just plain stupid to change the two main character's names. Why did they find that this was necessary? I personally liked the name Toula. It was cool. It was different. And I liked the named Ian. It wasn't cool, but he had the same name as Gandalf. Just because it was a different actor playing the part didn't mean that they had to change the character. Her acting in the sitcom was only sub-par. She seemed to be trying to hard.
Now about Eckholdt. In the movie, Ian was sweet and willing to go the distance to be accepted into Toula's (or NIA's) family. Are we to believe that Thomas said "To Hell with it!!" after they married? It's possible. Maybe he decided he couldn't put up with her family's crap. Well, it has happened before. But I just found myself disliking Thomas more and more as the minutes droned on, until I wanted Nia to serve him some poisonous souvlaki to rub him out. The character I liked was Aunt Voula. Andrea Martin is wonderful. Thank God "MBFGL" still has her.
I'm being too negative. As the show progressed, it grew on me a little until Gus pointed out that the house was across from the restaurant, not next door to him. Of course, I'm sure the show will grow..let the actors settle back into their characters, give them some material to work with that will ignite genuine laughs, not like the uncomfortable laughs derived from me during the pilot. Material that will not just give a cheap laugh. Material that would've probably been in the movie if it was a little longer.
My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002)
First cute, feel-good movie of the summer
Alright. I admit it. I really didn't want to see this movie. Why didn't I want to see it? First, because my mother kept pestering me about it. I would always make up excuses ("cough, cough, I'm sick," etc). So, she eventually wound up seeing it with my aunt (her sister). She enjoyed it and made me feel bad for not wanting to see it with her. The second reason I didn't want to see it is because Joey Fatone (from N'Sync) is in it. I had suspicions that they cast him not because of his acting abilities, but because of N'Sync's huge fan base of rabid pre-teen girls who would flock to the theaters to see him. Third, I just didn't think I would enjoy it much.
Well, yesterday, my friend Cathy and I decided to go to the movies, since we had nothing better to do. We were in the mood to see a good chick flick, so we went to see 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding'.
I must say, I was pleasantly surprised that I was totally wrong about the film. Sure, there were a lot of ethnic jokes, but they were all in good taste...and yes, the whole family acted a little old fashioned when it came to her (Toula's) choice of a husband, which I found a little far-fetched in this day and age. I mean, even my grandparents who are in their 70's (God bless them) and grew up in very traditional families that immigrated from Mexico, wouldn't/don't care about the ethnic background of any of their grandchildren's choice of mate. But I looked past those flaws. If the family were more accepting of non-Greeks, the movie would've been flat.
What did I love about this movie? The way Toula and Ian met: by making complete fools out of themselves. The huge lawn party for Toula and Ian's families to meet for the first time, complete with lambs roasting on a spit, much to Ian's parent's horror. Classic.
All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, as did my friend Cathy. At one point in the movie (hint: old lady ass-kicking), I had tears coming out of my eyes from laughing so hard. So if you're tired of the regurgitated action movies ('Men In Black II') and if you're in the mood for light-hearted, feel-good comedy, I suggest you see 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding'.