Lyn's blog

American Idol, Season 10

lynmarie — Fri, 20 May 2011 16:34:54 +0000

Really, America??? Why is it that the best is never the winner? This year they’ve made it fairly easy to vote by adding the online voting option. In the past, it was so difficult to get through on the phone and only AT&T customers can text a vote (that sucks!). If you have a Facebook account, you can vote up to 50 times. Not everyone has a Facebook account, but a lot of people do. I guess it doesn’t make that much of a difference because it still takes time and people who have good musical taste (i.e., they like the same singer as I do) don’t have as much time on their hands as people who vote continuously for two hours for the cute one.

I don’t know why it bothers me so much. I guess it’s because I don’t want the great ones, like Haley, Casey, and James, to think they aren’t better than Lauren Alaina. I’m not taking anything away from Scotty McCreery. I think he deserves to be where he is. Although I don’t, America does love country music and he’s very good at it. Lauren, on the other hand, needs to grow as a singer. She’s just not good enough… yet. She may win because young people identify with her. She won’t win because she’s the best. She stays in tune, but takes no risks. Her performances are boring. She doesn’t even know how to breathe properly when she’s singing and you can hear it. She needs more training. She’ll no doubt get more training, especially if she wins, but shouldn’t she already be great at this point? I loved the show this season, especially because of the judges Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler, but if they gave just a little more criticism where it was deserved (not like Simon), maybe things would be different… probably not.

There were actually at least five other contestants this season who should have stayed a lot longer than Lauren: Pia Toscano, Naima Adedapo, James Durbin, Casey Abrams, and Haley Reinhart. Hopefully, they will have good careers like other non-winners, Chris Daughtry, Clay Aiken, Jennifer Hudson, Adam Lambert, and Kelly Pickler, to name a few. I’m always wrong when I pick the winner (except for Kelly Clarkson and Fantasia I’ve been wrong every season), but between Scotty and Lauren, Lauren should not win. She probably will just because I don’t think she should. That’s right… all my fault.

Much Better, Oscar

lynmarie — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 08:46:21 +0000

I saw nine of the ten nominated movies of 2010 so I think I have a good handle on this year’s Oscars. The nominees for Best Picture are:

127 Hours (the one I didn’t see)
Black Swan
Winter’s Bone
The Kids are All Right
The Social Network
True Grit
Inception
Toy Story 3
The King’s Speech
The Fighter

Of the ten, Toy Story 3 was the most enjoyable for me. However, I liked all of them very much. I predicted The King’s Speech would win, but I wouldn’t have been surprised or upset if The Fighter, The Social Network, Inception, or Winter’s Bone won. I predicted Colin Firth would win best actor, and would have been disappointed and surprised if he didn’t. I predicted Natalie Portman would win Best Actress, but I wouldn’t have been disappointed if Jennifer Lawrence won. I predicted that Christian Bale would win for Best Supporting Actor and he’s the only one (possible exception of Geoffrey Rush) that could possibly win. And I predicted Melissa Leo would win Best Supporting Actress. I was perfectly happy with her win, but if Amy Adams, Hailey Steinfeld, or Helena Bonham Carter would have won, I would have been just as happy since they were all excellent. I didn’t really like how cocky Leo had become, but maybe that was just media hype. Her speech was humble enough (and I don’t care in the least that she used the “F-word”. I can foresee complaints about that.)

Last year I was so disappointed in the production of the Academy Awards and I blogged about it. This year was a thousand times better. James Franco was unimpressive, but not bad. Anne Hathaway was absolutely terrific! She could definitely do it all on her own.

Fashion-wise, most dresses were really nice. Everyone looked great. Jennifer Hudson, Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johanson, and Amy Adams were my favorites I can think of. Anne Hathaway changed several times during the ceremony and I loved most of her gowns. There was a really gorgeous red one in the middle of the show I think was my favorite of the night. Not too many for the “worst dressed list”. I thought Oprah Winfrey’s probably looked OK from a distance, but her bustline was too poofy… it could have been a lot more flattering because the neckline was nice. I hated Kathryn Bigalow’s gown. That was kind of a ”didn’t she look in the mirror after she put this on?” kind of a dress. There were no gowns that were what I would call spectacular, but nothing atrocious either.

All in all, I have to say I’m happy with this year’s Oscars: ceremony and results. Seeing almost all of the movies really makes it enjoyable. Only disappointment was the “Secretariat Snubbing”. I loved that movie and it wasn’t even mentioned. Well, they had ten movies nominated… I certainly don’t think they need to add any. I would say they could have replaced 127 Hours, but I can’t because I never saw it. I would say they could have replaced The Kids are All Right… I mean I am saying that. It was good, but eh, not that good.

The Social Network (2010) ***1/2

lynmarie — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 16:00:40 +0000

The Social Network is a very entertaining movie. The inventor of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, was an interesting young man. Very, very smart. I don’t think you have to be a genius to come up with an idea like Facebook. I mean, there was already My Space. I don’t have a My Space page, but I’ve seen it and I can imagine how someone would see it and want to tweak it to make it better in some ways. Mark took the idea of a social network website, similar to what Facebook is today, from a couple fellow Harvard students who wanted to hire him to write the code. Then, they sued him. I think it was rather ballsy of them to sue him, when he did all the work. Whatever… they got a lot of money by doing so… and it was a drop in the bucket for Mark.

I think what I enjoyed about the movie more than the story itself was the performance and the character played by Jesse Eisenberg. I’ve never seen an interview with the real Mark Zuckerberg, but Jesse’s portrayal of him showed him as one unique individual (that’s a little redundant, but it’s exactly what I wanted to say). I don’t know anyone with Asperger’s Syndrome, but I’ve seen movie and TV characters with it and the character of Mark was a lot like that. He rarely smiled. He frequently talked down to others… even his girlfriend, who dumped him in the first scene which was why this whole thing started. Jesse is a great actor. I’ve seen him in two other movies this year, Zombieland and Adventureland. Those characters were a lot different than this one, but a lot like each other. Even though Mark doesn’t seem like a very likeable person (kind of a prick, actually), I found myself liking him.

I want to see more from Jesse Eisenberg. I also would like to thank Mark Zuckerberg. I love Facebook!

Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010) **1/2

lynmarie — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 13:29:00 +0000

I love a good revenge movie. That was the basic idea of this movie, for the most part. That and a comeback for Gordan Gekko. Other than that, all the stocks and strategy is way over my head. Anyone who understands all that stuff AND likes a good revenge movie should enjoy this.

I like Shia Lebeouf and Carey Mulligan. I’ve mostly been on the fence about Michael Douglas throughout his career. I think he’s a very good actor and has been in some terrific movies, but there’s something about him that makes me not love him the way I love some other great actors. He was good in this movie and I’m really glad I saw it. Sadly, it could be his last. Being diagnosed with Stage 4 throat cancer, it seems unlikely he’ll be doing another movie for a while. If he survives… and I don’t know much about survival rates for Stage 4, but I hear probability is slim… any treatment he has to go through would probably require him to lose his voice. Even if he doesn’t lose it, he’d be foolish to use it more than necessary. I hope he lives many many years and beats the cancer. Regardless, I pray he has very little pain. Cancer fucking sucks.

Sorry I digressed, but now I don’t feel like writing anymore of this review. Go see the movie… it’s worth it.

It Will Grow Back

lynmarie — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 22:25:28 +0000

It will grow back. It will grow back. It will grow back. Ever had a bad haircut? I got one yesterday. I don’t like getting my hair cut anyway. I usually just go get my grey roots covered and she gives me a little trim to clean up the ends and help me see below my bangs. My hair has been long most of my life. I got it cut short four times that I can think of. Second grade… hated it; grew it back out. Forth grade… hated it; grew it back out. Tenth grade… hated it; grew it back out. After the birth of my second child… eventually hated it; grew it back out. That was only about seven years ago. Since then, I said I wouldn’t get it cut short ever again. I didn’t get it cut short yesterday… well, not all of it. I know now (even yesterday) that I don’t like it short no matter who says, “Oh your hair would look cute short.” My problem with my hair recently was not that it was too long. I have very thick hair and to have it long, it has to have some layers to it or it is too full at the bottom and I look like a big triangle head. Somehow after my pregnancies, my hair changed from wavy to quite curly…mostly. The top layer of my hair (the part that grows from the highest point on my head) stayed pretty straight while the rest underneath is very curly at the ends. My hair dresser, also one of my closest friends, suggested cutting that layer. In order to do that, she had to blend the rest and made my entire head of hair layered all the way down. I still have long hair, but now that layer that wouldn’t curl… does. Sounds good, right? Wrong. My hair looks horrible. It has a mind of its own. She said before she did it, “You’ll look ten years younger.” I look at LEAST ten years older. She said, “You’ll look thinner.” I do NOT look any thinner. I look like a redneck who cut their own hair without a mirror! I have tried to style it to no avail. I put it in a ponytail and you can hardly tell I got it cut… except some pieces are too short to stay in the ponytail so now I have to go out and buy barrettes. I’m pissed off, depressed, embarrassed, and I don’t know how to face my friend because I’m all of those things and I want to blame her. I can’t help thinking she did this TO me. I’m sure she didn’t but I’m so upset that’s the first conclusion I’ve come to. I know it will eventually get better. It will take a while though, because now if I want to style it, I will need a hair dryer and curling iron, mousse and hairspray and those things cause damage so it will have to be trimmed more often before it grows out. Until now, I didn’t blow it dry, use a curling iron, mousse or hairspray (once in a while hairspray if my bangs got too long). It’s going to take an hour in the bathroom if I don’t want to wear a ponytail. Before, I could wash it, walk out the door, it would dry in the car on the way, and I could brush it when I arrived and ta-da… looked fine.

I’ll be OK. I just need to cry some more… and maybe kick my friend in the shin.

It will grow back. It will grow back. It will grow back…

Movies July 28 through September 16

lynmarie — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 20:48:53 +0000

Well, so, I did it again. It’s no big surprise is it? I neglected to write anything about the last eight movies I’ve seen. Of course I’ve been busy… isn’t everyone? Also, this computer really seems to be on its last leg. Even now, as I type, it’s acting up. So, I’ve been trying not to spend too much time on the damn thing in order to save my sanity. So far it doesn’t look too promising. Looney bin, here I come!

I guess the best and easiet thing to do would be what I did at the beginning of the year when I wrote about all the 2009 movies I’ve seen in one post. So here goes…

Salt *** – This was action packed and exciting. I’ve heard it compared to the Bourne series. I don’t disagree. If I was a guy, I might even like this one better, being that a gorgeous Angelina Jolie plays the heroine. And there’s definitely going to be more of Salt. I look forward to those.

Karate Kid (2010) *** – Of course I’m going to compare this to the original. I loved the original with Ralph Macchio and Pat Morita so much that I watched it countless times. That was the only problem I had with the remake. Too similar. That took away from it a bit for me, but I really enjoyed the cast, the setting, and the story line (again). I adore that Jaden Smith, but I thought the real standout was his little enemy. He’s an extremely talented young actor and I hope to see more of him… both of them, actually.

Charlie St. Cloud *** – This movie was good. Pretty predictable… not from the previews, but once the movie got going, it wasn’t as surprising as the movie makers probably anticipated. I expected it to be sadder… that would have been good. But, I liked it anyway.

Eat, Pray, Love ** – Eh… it seemed too long. Some very enjoyable parts, but it didn’t get me to want to read the book. There were also some theater audience problems that ruined it a little… but not too much. I have a feeling I will forget about this movie very shortly.

The Switch **1/2 – I liked this one. I think Jennifer Aniston and Jason Bateman make a cute couple on-screen. I saw this exactly one month ago and don’t remember a lot about it, but I remember that it entertained me enough. I would watch it again… when it comes on HBO on Demand or Netflix.

The Other Guys ** – It had its good parts. Will Ferrell is always funny. I LOVE Mark Wahlberg, but … I know this movie was supposed to be stupid humor (the way most of Will Ferrell’s movies are), but a lot of it didn’t really make me laugh. There were definitely a few lines that made me laugh very hard, though. Only giving it two stars, but I would watch it again.

Last Exorcism ** – It was OK. Predictable. Not really very scary.

Going the Distance *** – I know Drew Barrymore is in a relationship with Justin Long and he’s kinda cute, but I wish this movie starred her with Jimmy Fallon again. They’re not that much different, but I just like him with her a lot. (Mostly her with Adam Sandler, but this wasn’t an Adam Sandler role at all). Anyway, this was a really cute, funny movie and I had an advantage over my friends because I did not remember any of the funny scenes shown in the trailer. I don’t know why… must be it had been a while and I just forgot. But, there were some definite laugh out loud moments for me that were right there in that trailer My favorite line: “Shut up and lick.”

Inception (2010) ****

lynmarie — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 22:21:19 +0000

Wow! That was weird! I’ve been looking forward to this movie for a while. It got great reviews in the past week since it’s been out. The theater was crowded… and they’re showing it in two theaters at the same cinema.

This movie started out very confusing. I thought I must have missed something in the five seconds…thirty seconds into the movie… that I was opening my box of Goobers. I was like, shit! I just looked down for a second and something really important happened and I freaking missed it! I just did not get it for a long time. I heard Pam three seats down from me saying, “I don’t get it.” Then, a few minutes later, Linda whispered, “I don’t get it.” From there, it started to get pretty good and I was thinking, “Boy, this is really, really cool… I wish I knew what the hell was going on.” By the end, I was like, Wow! That was one of the coolest movies I’ve ever seen… I want to see it again!

So, if you haven’t seen it yet, trust me, it’s worth the wait. Just pay attention because it gets confusing… but it’s really great in the long run.

What I can tell you that won’t spoil anything is that Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his team need to design a rich heir’s dreams to plant an idea in his mind: Inception… which is believed to be impossible, but Cobb knows it can be done… it’s just extremely difficult, and extremely dangerous. The team must “share” the dream with the man and each team member has a different important job to do for success.

Let me tell you, this cast was impressive! I love Leo, but everyone else was superb, as well. I didn’t even recognize Ken Watanabe… I don’t know why… he wasn’t disguised or anything. Just some good acting, I guess. Marion Cotillard is gorgeous and fantastic. Ellen Page was good, too. Although, I have this problem always seeing her as the smart-ass Juno in every role she plays and in this one she was smart, but not smart-ass. Joseph Gordon-Levitt was great… kind of Keanu Reeves-y. Michael Caine was in it for a really small part… I’d almost call it a cameo. Tom Berrenger was in it, too. It was funny, I didn’t realize it was him only because he has completely grey hair and he looked really short. I always thought he was taller. Anyway, everyone was great. Leonardo better win the Oscar this year… not necessarily for this movie, but either this or Shutter Island.

As someone who remembers their dreams a lot and frequently wonders their meanings, this movie was very, very interesting to me. I didn’t really learn anything though… oh well…LOL! I think when this movie comes out on DVD, people should make a drinking game out of it. Every time someone says the word “dream” everyone drinks. They say it A LOT.

Twilight Saga: Eclipse (2010) **1/2

lynmarie — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 21:33:14 +0000

I went to this movie because it was the only movie out that we hadn’t seen that the other girls wanted to see. Linda and I hadn’t seen the first two Twilight movies or read the books, so we weren’t sure we’d even follow the story… joining in the middle stinks. But, most sequels are able to stand on their own, so I wasn’t too worried.

There were a couple things that were a little unclear, but it didn’t make it too bad. I watched the movie and it was pretty good. Not great. But I could definitely understand why teen and preteen girls love this series! Nothing too gory and several very attractive characters. But I’m 40-something, so I didn’t get quite the same feeling as the younger crowd probably.

I have since seen Twilight… they were showing it on Showtime Movies on Demand. I don’t know if I liked that one as much, but it was helpful to see the beginning of the story. It cleared up a few things and I’m glad for that. It also kind of got me interested to read the books. I think I will do that. If I find New Moon on HBO or Netflix, I will watch that one, but if I don’t, I really don’t care.

I like all of those actors in these movies except Kristen Stewart. If they had cast a different actress for that role, I probably would have loved this. My son thinks she’s ugly. I don’t. But, I hate the way she always looks down and doesn’t seem to look anyone in the eye and never smiles. I thought it was just her character, but I’ve seen her elsewhere and she’s kind of like that. It’s creepy.

I didn’t really understand why she would go for Edward over Jacob. Jacob is really warm and Edward is really cold. I don’t know why they like each other… it doesn’t seem like they have any fun. Edward is so serious… well, vampiring and protecting the one you love is serious business, but Jacob seems more fun to me… and hotter, in many ways. After seeing the first movie, her attraction to Edward is a little more understandable too, but I’d still go for Jacob.

I don’t know when the next movie comes out, but I hear they are making the last book into two movies… it’s really thick! I’m going to try to read the books before it comes out. Sigh.

Splice (2010) *

lynmarie — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 21:11:55 +0000

If you look down past this post, you will see about four movies in a row with three stars. Well, that ends here.

They day before we went to see this movie I was talking to my nephew and saying that I was going to the movies the next day. He said, “Whatever you do, don’t see Splice! We saw it and it was so bad, we were laughing at how much it sucked.” He told me a few things about it, trying not to give too much away in case I did end up seeing it… I was pretty sure that Splice was the planned movie for that week.

Well, I will extend the same courtesy as my nephew did. Whatever you do, don’t see Splice. It was so bad, that we were laughing at how much it sucked. I won’t give anything away in case you do go to see it or rent it or whatever… but really, don’t waste your money… if you’re curious, just be patient and wait until you can see it for free and then all you will have wasted is a couple hours of your life (that you will never, ever get back.)

After the movie, there was some discussion of how (even though it was science fiction) the characters would not have done a few if the things they did. But one of our group argued that she believes that the science portrayed in the movie is very possibly going on in reality. Well, sure… that. But, there is no way a human being would do what that guy did in this movie… not that he couldn’t, he just wouldn’t. In science fiction writing, screenplay or book, I’m sure it’s tricky to be realistic inside a fantasy, but this was just bad. Sorry, I won’t be more specific than that, but when you see it a year from now (if at all), you will know exactly what I mean.

Adrien Brody, I love you, but I’m very disappointed.

Killers (2010) ***

lynmarie — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 04:56:07 +0000

It’s been a month and a half since I saw this movie and when I just looked at my list of movies I saw but hadn’t written about, I could NOT remember what movie this was. I had to IMDB it. As soon as the picture popped up with Ashton Kutcher and Kathryn Heigl, I said to myself, “OOOOHH! Yeah! Cool!” I really liked this one.

A little corny, but cute. It was pretty funny and everyone was pretty pretty, too. But, since it’s been so long, I don’t want to try write too much about it at the risk of forgetting something important or giving away something I remember that might be a spoiler. I just don’t know. At this point it’s probably too late to see it in the theater, but worth seeing on DVD or On Demand.

Sorry!