thoughts on The Green Lantern

Well. That was better than I expected. Seriously. I went to see this movie simply because I felt like seeing a movie yesterday; I would have rather seen Midnight in Paris, but it was playing at an inconvenient time at a theater way across town. Fortunately, I wound up enjoying it quite a bit.

As superhero movies go, I tend to see about 80% of the ones that come out, even though I've never read any of the comic books on which they are based. My favorites so far have been the Christian Bale Batman movies and the Iron Man movies. I think I like those the best because 1) the heroes don't have actual superpowers, just skills, money, and gadgets, which make their feats both more plausible and more impressive and 2) those movies tend to be more...serious? Adult? Something.

The Green Lantern is nothing like those movies. It is, however, fun. I don't really have a strong opinion on Ryan Reynolds one way or the other; in fact, looking at IMDB, I realize that I have not seen a single movie that he has starred in (besides, of course, this one). He was apparently in Harold and Kumar go to White Castle; I don't remember seeing him in it. He was also apparently on episodes of Scrubs and My Boys, which I also probably saw but don't recall. However, I liked him as Hal Jordan in this movie, and I liked how Hal Jordan's main issue is that he can't commit to things because he's afraid. Relatable. I liked Peter Skarsgaard as the villain; I also found him very interesting/relatable. Tim Robbins is good in a minor role. I think Blake Lively does fine as Hal's love interest, Carol Ferris, but I will admit that I am such a Gossip Girl fan that I have a hard time separating Lively from the character she plays on that show, Serena van der Woodsen. Serena is such a great character and Lively does such a great job as her that it almost seems weird seeing her play someone else.

As for the plot...the explanation of how/why Hal Jordan must become the Green Lantern is sort of overly complicated, as far as superhero origin stories go, but at its core the movie is about Jordan accepting the responsibility associated with the role and overcoming his fear. It's entertaining; like in Thor, there is a fair amount of going back and forth between what's going on on Earth and the trouble unfolding on a distant planet, but I will say that this held my interest quite a bit better than Thor did. I should probably admit, however, that I had a terrible, terrible headache when I went to see Thor and thus spent a lot of the movie sitting there thinking, "Why does everything have to be so loud?" I did think the ending of this dragged out a bit. However, it was fun, and I enjoyed it, and the other moviegoers at the theater I went to seemed to agree: "That was a cool movie!" said one eight-year-old boy to another as we all walked out. "I thought it was a good movie," said a forty-something tattooed man who had attended the movie with a friend and their kids, one of whom was still wearing her 3-D glasses even after we had all made our way completely outdoors. "It had more of a storyline than I expected." Yes. Yes, it did.

Bottom line: entertaining story and performances that made it even more enjoyable. I had a good time.

thoughts on Scream 4 (mild spoilers)

I don't like scary movies. However, I didn't realize this until my mid-twenties, because some of the first scary movies that I ever saw and liked (the ones that came out during my teen years, a.k.a. my prime scary movie watching years) were, as I sensed at the time and would later confirm, not like other scary movies. Scream, its sequels, and even the not-quite-as-good-but-still-entertaining wannabe movies that followed it (I Know What You Did Last Summer, Urban Legend, etc.) were more fun than the average scary movie. They interspersed some funny moments in with the gore. They had entertaining characters. They (and I'm including both Scream and its followers, here) featured lots of the actors I liked from my favorite TV shows (including-- but not limited to-- Neve Campbell and Jennifer Love Hewitt from Party of Five; Courteney Cox from Friends; and Joshua Jackson from Dawson's Creek). So, I entered my twenties thinking that I liked scary movies, only to go on to watch "real" scary movies and find myself grossed out, disturbed, and well...scared. I stopped watching scary movies. I hadn't seen one in the theater since The Ring in 2002.

Then, Scream 4 came out. I was interested in seeing it, but not as interested as I was in seeing other stuff that came out at the same time, I guess, because I didn't see it until today, after it had arrived at Showplace Cinemas South, a.k.a. "the cheap theater." I am happy to say that it didn't disappoint. The fun (including not one but two "fakeout" opening scenes)! The familiar actors (including the stars of the original Scream movies and actors from current TV shows, like Lucy Hale from Pretty Little Liars, Aimee Teegarden from Friday Night Lights, and Alison Brie from Community)! And a storyline-- and characters-- that expressed not only a knowledge of the horror genre, but a knowledge of current teen culture: a culture where, as one character notes, everyone lives their lives in public, and you don't have to achieve anything to be famous-- you just have to have messed up stuff happened to you. I don't want to give too much away here, but let me just say that not only does it not disappoint, but that I could totally get behind a new Scream movie coming out every five or ten years or so. I'd definitely recommend this one, everyone.

Friday Night Lights Season Five Episode Eight

You know what I love about FNL? I love how it's good enough that you don't necessarily miss the characters that have left Dillon, yet it's always so exciting to see those characters again. I love how the old Panthers are all making an appearance in the final season. I was especially excited when I thought that stupid Julie was turning her car towards Tennessee to see stupid Head TA Derek Bishop, but then who came to the door she knocked on but MATT SARACEN! MATT SARACEN! I also fully gasped during the preview for next week's episode when Julie tells Matt about her "affair." THAT is one conversation I can't wait to see. Stupid Julie.

(I've never cared for Julie Taylor all that much, in case you can't tell. I've thought she was pretty bratty since the very beginning of the series, with her whole "I don't date football players" business. And people let her get away with being a brat, is the thing. I have, however, thoroughly enjoyed this Derek Bishop storyline. Julie's really the only character who they could do this "fooling around with a married TA" storyline with and have it have any impact. Tyra and Lyla have both always acted a lot older than they are, so it wouldn't seem like nearly as big of a deal if the same thing happened to either of them.)

Anyway. I have mixed feelings about Billy Riggins being such a big part of this season, but I am enjoying watching Mindy and Becky be friends. Also enjoyed how the scenes with the girls getting ready for the pageant were cut and edited similarly to the scenes of the strippers getting ready backstage, yet all of the pageant people acted all uppity towards the strippers (though obviously the strippers didn't need to boo when Becky got second runner-up). Also, Luke Cafferty is pretty much the sweetest guy ever-- and I mean, he's on a show where like 90% of the guys are incredibly sweet, nice guys, and where even many of the guys who don't seem sweet are good guys deep down, so that's a bold statement. That said, Vince's dad is the devil.

Friday Night Lights Season Five Episode Seven

Okay, so Friday Night Lights is another show that I love but don't often blog about. However, just had to say how surprised I was at how happy I was to see Jason Street again. Also, when Luke was all, "Wait, you like it when I'm nice to you?," to Becky, I had to giggle. No one should ever take advice from Billy Riggins. Or I guess maybe they should, since it sort of worked. Anyway, I've been enjoying this final season thoroughly. Good show, FNL.

thoughts on Glee season finale

First off: I'm glad that Kurt put things in perspective with his conversation with Blaine. Dude. They are a bunch of high school kids who got to go to New York City for the first time. They placed twelfth out of the fifty best show choirs in the nation. Two years ago, their school didn't even have a glee club, and last year, they placed dead last at regionals. COME ON. They have nothing to be upset about or ashamed of. In fact, they should be pretty darn proud. That's some impressive stuff.

So. You all know that I've thought Glee has been pretty hit or miss lately, but I pretty much loved this episode. It perfectly captured the excitement of a first trip to New York City. Also, I don't really give a crap about Rachel and Finn, but I do love that they got so caught up in the song that they kissed onstage. I also loved that when Rachel was all, "I'm going to New York City after graduation and I'm never coming back," like that was a valid reason for her and Finn not to be together, Finn was just like, "Um, graduation's a year away. What are you doing until then?" I also still like Jesse quite a bit. I enjoy that he and Finn are about two seconds away from punching each other in the face every time they see each other, and I went "Aw," when Jesse told Mr. Schue, "I couldn't stay away," and Mr. Schue was like, "From the show? Or her?" I'll say it again: AW! This year is coming up ALL Rachel! Also love that Mercedes and Sam are together, and loved Brittany and Santana's conversation. I'll bet they become a couple for real next season, but I like that this isn't coming easily or quickly. Oh-- and I LOVED Kurt and Rachel's duet on the song from Wicked. For a nationals episode, I didn't think that this episode really had a lot of overly impressive musical moments, but that was great.

Even though I basically loved everything about this episode, it did make me giggle that 1) they didn't even start writing their Nationals songs until they got to New York City and 2) Mr. Schue left a bunch of high school kids unsupervised in New York City for what looked to be a full 24 hours and seemed to honestly expect them to just sit around in the hotel working on their songs. He's so dumb.

So...that's it! Most of the shows I watch either have already had their season finales or are having them tonight, but hopefully I'll find some TV shows on DVD or movies to blog about over the summer =).

thoughts on Something Borrowed (spoilers)

First off: when I went to see Water for Elephants a few weeks ago, I watched the previews and thought to myself, "Wow. I am going to be at the movies all summer. I would see literally all of these movies." Larry Crowne, The Help, Something Borrowed, and a couple of others that I'm not remembering right now but that looked at least okay. Today's previews were more of a mixed bag: there were two that looked awesome (the last Harry Potter movie and Crazy Stupid Love, starring Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Julianne Moore, and Emma Stone); one that looked surprisingly good given the concept (Friends with Benefits, starring Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis); one that could potentially be funny but also kind of crude and gross, which many of you know I don't really go for (The Change-up, starring Jason Bateman and Ryan Reynolds); and one that looked pretty dumb but had a good cast (Our Idiot Brother, starring Paul Rudd, Zooey Deschanel, and some other people). The thing is, even the ones that didn't look great looked like they would have some redeeming qualities, and let me just say, this summer's movie season looks like it has so much more potential than last summer's. I think last summer the only movies I was looking forward to seeing were Iron Man 2 and Sex and the City 2, and Sex and the City 2 wound up being Just Awful. So...yaay for Hollywood, I guess.

Okay, so...Something Borrowed. About once or twice a year, I feel like going to a romantic comedy. That romantic comedy usually stars Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Garner, or Kate Hudson, actresses who I became fans of largely because of their work in other genres, but who raise the level of pretty much any movie they are in. You may disagree with that. I think they're all fairly dependable; even if you don't love the movie they're in, they'll all usually make it at least somewhat enjoyable. Two of the romantic comedies I've seen in the past three years have also featured Ginnifer Goodwin. I don't think she's as likable of an actress; her characters usually come across as somewhat one-dimensional, somewhat shallow, and somewhat annoying. In other words, she's not exactly a major draw for me, but whatever. I wanted to see Something Borrowed. My verdict on it?

It was decent. All of the actors (including Hudson, Goodwin, and John Krasinski) do a good job, and they play characters who are like me and other people I know. However, those characters then do things that I don't entirely understand and probably wouldn't do myself, so I couldn't *totally* relate. For example: Ginnifer Goodwin's character, Rachel, often feels overshadowed by her louder, more vibrant friend, Darcy (Hudson); feels that she "wasted her twenties," I guess because she spent most of it in school (college, then law school) and didn't seem to have any serious romantic relationships; and lacks confidence: she missed her chance with Dex (Colin Egglesfield) largely because she couldn't fathom that a guy that good-looking would ever like her. She instead practically gave him to Darcy, who is now marrying him. This is all relatable. However, as someone who shares some of Rachel's qualities/problems, I can't fathom feeling overshadowed by a louder friend *practically every day of your entire life* without either making more of an effort to break out on your own or, at the very least, being more openly angry/resentful. She and Darcy rarely seem to clash, and not only does Rachel rarely have a bad word to say about her, she openly makes excuses for/defends her behavior. I wanted her to have more of a spine, I guess.

So does John Krasinski's character, Ethan, a friend of Rachel's who cheers her on; encourages her to stand up to Darcy; and encourages her to demand more from her relationship with Dex, who Rachel winds up having an affair with. However, Ethan also does things in this movie that I don't entirely understand. For example: he is constantly telling Rachel to stand up for herself more and be more forthright about her feelings and what she wants. However, there is this girl named Claire in the movie who he once had a one-night stand with, is part of their social circle, and who spends much of the movie actively pursuing him. He responds to her advances not by being as straightforward with her as he is constantly telling Darcy to be, but by...telling her that he's gay (which he's not, in case that was unclear). What? Who does that, especially to someone whose feelings they don't otherwise seem to be that concerned with hurting, and who, again, is part of their extended circle of friends and therefore will undoubtedly eventually learn that the gay thing isn't true? Stupid.

And then there is Dex, who...kind of sucks. He cheats on Darcy with Rachel and reveals that he's been in love with Rachel since they went to law school together. So, my question is...why get engaged to Darcy? Why never tell Rachel how you feel? I totally buy that, thinking that Rachel wasn't interested, he would date Darcy, who was blatant about being interested in him. But engaged? No. I can also buy that Dex and Rachel would like each other in law school and both be too shy to do anything about it. That kind of thing happens all the time. But given that they saw each other regularly for *six years*, what with law school and him dating Darcy, wouldn't you think those feelings would come to the surface before the time this movie begins? Also, Rachel flashes back to all of these moments from the past when she could have told Dex how she felt and instead just walked away. Yes. She should have been more forthright with her feelings from the beginning. But the thing is...he never goes after her. He lets her walk away again and again. If he's so in love with her, can't he take the tiniest bit of a chance or put forth the tiniest bit of effort? Similarly, he stays engaged to Darcy long after he tells Rachel he loves her. He just...sucks, like I said. We're supposed to want Dex and Rachel to end up together, but I just couldn't quite bring myself to want that.

There are also a couple of minor characters who are around a lot but never really developed, which I guess is probably a result of this movie being adapted from a book. One of them is the aforementioned Claire; I spent the whole movie wondering where I'd seen her before. Then I came home, looked her up on IMDB, and scrolled through her list of credits going "I never saw that...never saw that either...OH! Victoria! Ted's first season girlfriend on How I Met Your Mother!" So there's that.

So, overall, I guess I would say that while I found all of the characters and actors relatable and believable, I couldn't quite understand/approve of a lot of their actions. At least the situation and characters are somewhat complex, and like I said, the acting is good across the board. I guess if I were giving this movie a letter grade, I would give it a B- or C+.

thoughts on Glee: "Prom Queen"

I will preface my comments by saying that I enjoyed this episode quite a bit. Most of the songs were good, especially Rachel and Jesse's take on "Rolling in the Deep," and Sue and Artie's "torture" scenes were really funny: "You didn't spike the punch?" "No, I did." "With alcohol?" "Oh. No, then." And until all hell started breaking loose, their prom actually looked really fun.

That all said...I *do not* understand their school. Um, a bunch of jerks think it would be funny to write in Kurt as prom queen and Figgins...announces him as the winner? Wouldn't he just give it to the second place person? Or did he not realize Kurt would be embarrassed by that? And the glee club is supposedly so unpopular that *no one* shows up at their benefit concert and people throw stuff at them when they try to go Christmas caroling, yet everyone seems perfectly happy that they're the prom band? Just-- if they're going to have episodes like this, where everyone clearly enjoys watching the glee club sing, they need to never do another episode about how the glee kids are supposedly the biggest losers in school. They're clearly not.

Okay. So other than the stuff that made no sense, or would never, ever happen, it was a fun episode. Finn and Jesse get into a shoving match on the dance floor! Quinn slaps Rachel in the face! Prom! Whoo!