Jack Bourdain is a talented chef whose party lifestyle has effectively ended his career: too much wine, women and song has made Jack a has-been. But when he’s given a second chance and just 48 hours to open an upscale restaurant, Jack assembles a sexy, hilariously dysfunctional staff and things really start cooking, both in the kitchen and the bedroom!
From the executive producer of Sex and the City comes this fresh comedy that is “slick, sophisticated and worth making a reservation for” (TV Guide)…Bon appetit!
Yet another casualty of the cancel-happy Fox network, Kitchen Confidential was based on the book of the same name by Anthony Bourdain, why they changed his name to “Jack” in the TV series is lost on me. As the above blurb describes, he is given another shot at running a restaurant, and in the first few episodes you do see him struggle with his own inner demons, but he is a changed man, and determined to make a go of it this time.
The cast was fun, and had a wide range of varied histories. Bradley Cooper, best known for his role as Will Tippin on “Alias”, played Jack pretty credibly, and his early scenes where he fought his urges to drink were excellent. Fans of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” were happy to see Nicholas Brendon, famous for his role as Xander, playing the pastry chef Seth, though he did seem a bit TOO Xander-like to me a couple of times. Two actors I really liked, I wasn’t all that familiar with: John Cho as Teddy, the fish chef, and Owain Yeoman as Steven, the meat specialist. Mr. Cho has a long list of acting credits, While Mr. Yeoman’s is fairly short. Both were believable in their parts and had excellent comedic timing.
With the current landscape looking rather bleak for the sitcom genre, this was a welcome breath of fresh air, but you have to wonder if we are ever going to get a truly successful sitcom that lacks a laugh track. Sitcoms that seem to have an intelligence above boiler-plate scripts never seem to last, and it’s a shame. And for some odd reason they always seem to end up at Fox. Overall, it’s well worth your time to check out this short-lived series and, once again, question the sanity of Fox television executives.
No clue if anyone will even use this, but I have added a new static page to the site. As I am always confused about when DVDs I want are coming out, I started a page showing each weeks TV DVD releases. I will be updating it each week, and you can find it in the navigation bar at the top of the page all the time. Enjoy!
I’ve always seemed to have very sudden revelations about various aspects of my life. I will be extremely into something for what seems like forever, and the next day, I could care less about it. Well, I had several of them this weekend.
I think I’m done with video games. The games are getting way too long, the systems too expensive, and I simply don’t have the time for them anymore. As much as I would love to play Halo 3, I am not buying an Xbox 360 just to do that. And the PS3? Forget about it. No way I’m dropping the necessary money for that monstrosity.
So all this gets me thinking and… I think I’m done with video games. I simply don’t have the time for them anymore. I’m going to keep most of what I have, sell off some excess, but I have more than enough games in my possession to keep me entertained for years. And heck, if you wait long enough, you can pick up old games on eBay for a couple bucks. Heck, I bought a Super Nintendo game cartridge a few months ago for $.99 (yes, I still have my SNES, and I still play it).
Then I started sorting through my DVDs… why do I have half of these? Like I ever have time to watch them! And if I want to see an episode of Family Guy or The Simpsons, all I have to do is turn on the TV, so… I listed all those on Amazon and sold them off and will be purging more of my DVD collection this week.
I think I’m just realizing I simply don’t have time for the 5,000 ways I have to entertain myself, and especially those that require no human interaction. I’ve made a lot of new friends over the past year, and it is far more interesting talking to them then hacking through a demon in a video game or watching Bart Simpson get in trouble… again.
With the Fall TV season about to start up, and nothing on this weekend due to the Labor Day holiday, I decided to catch up on DVDs I had rented from Blockbuster Online & Netflix (more on why I belong to both in another post), and from ones I had bought it and not gotten to yet. I started on Thursday night and decided to keep a log of mini-reviews because…well, I always need blog material. Warning:Some spoilers for each movie, so skip any movie you plan on watching!
Thursday:
It Happened One Night – This is part of my AFI Top 100 Films quest. A 1934 Frank Capra classic starring Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert, is the standard all romantic comedies are judged by. It’s hard to watch in present day because you have the feeling you’ve seen it all before. Well, you have, because this film taught all the one’s that followed it. Girl marries man she loves, family tells her she’s wrong, she tries to get back to him, meets another man along the way, falls for him, stays with him when it’s all over. It also contains the famous “hitchhiking scene” where Claudette shows Clark how hiking up her skirt will get a car to stop for them, a scene parodied/copied so many times over the years.
Waiting… – Loaned to me by a co-worker…eh. It’s ok, but I think it’s funnier if you’ve worked in the food industry. Crass humor, silly set-ups, characters that go nowhere, don’t go out of your way for it.
I hate how modern comedies don’t know how to edit themselves. The writers will come up with a joke, in this case it was the Lesbian bartender, that they like, and they’ll just ignore they have nothing to do with the character past the one joke. She got her joke out of the way and then she was just kind of there, serving no real purpose. They went back to her couple times, but it felt more like was an obligation than any real need.
Running Tally:2
Friday: (Only one movie today due to other things going on)
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre – Another one off my AFI 100 checklist! A 1948 feature directed by John Huston and starring Humphrey Bogart. The plot of the film can be summed up in one word…”greed”. The whole story revolves around how the lust for gold can twist a man’s soul, even when they have been warned it might. Walter Huston, father of the director, serves almost as a Deus Ex Machina, he dispenses all the necessary info to the main stars, Bogart and Tim Holt, and to the audience, about how gold will twist you. “I know what gold does to men’s souls.” Well worth your time, but expect to see plot devices familiar to you now, but put it in context of when it was made.
This is also the film that gave us “stinkin’ badges”, a line used in so many movies and TV shows, it’s stunning. “Badges? We ain’t got no badges. We don’t need no badges. I don’t have to show you any stinking badges.”
Running Tally:3
Saturday:
Grandma’s Boy – *sigh* Another loan from a coworker, it seems he wants to kill me with sub-par, bathroom humor comedies. In the first 5 minutes you have a man masturbating to a doll…need I really say more?
Silent Hill – Ok, my coworker redeemed himself with this one! I was actually impressed! Well shot, somewhat logical (I stress somewhat), and the first video-game-turned-movie that I’ve seen that FELT like a video game! Finding useful items in drawers, clues coming from random sources, maps to memorize, tasks to do, and the entire story making sense when she gets to “the boss” level. Dark, disturbing, and a lot of fun. The images ARE very disturbing, so be warned this is not for the squeamish! If you think you can take it, it’s fun!
A Mighty Wind – Done in the mockumentry style of This Is Spinal Tap, Waiting for Guffman, and Best in Show, this one is brought to you by the same guys and focuses on folk singers. I loved Spinal Tap and Guffman, but I think the format was starting to feel stale in Best In Show, and it gets even more stale with A Mighty Wind. It’s cute, it’s still fun, but they seem to be too self-conscience now about what parts fans have liked and amping those up. The acting is superb, as always, but it just felt too “been here, done that”. I enjoyed it, but I’m not going to rave about it, if you feel the need for this style, just watch Spinal Tap again.
Bend It Like Beckham – Formulaic, but you know what, I didn’t care! There is just something about this movie that it sucks you in. A coming of age story, a culture clash story, a girl power story, it has so many things going for it, so much happening, and all with an under-lying sweetness that is just hard not to like.
Starring Parminder Nagra, best known in the USA for playing Dr. Neela Rasgotra on ER, and Kiera Knightley, both women turn in realistic turns as women who want to play football even when it seems like no one else cares about it. They have a love for the game and play for passion, not huge paychecks. It’s just plain sweet, warm, funny, and best of all, likeable. I highly recommend it!
Bring It On – A high school comedy about cheerleaders starring Kirsten Dunst. Silly, predictable, but yet fun in the way Clueless was. You feel guilty for liking it, but you like it in spite of yourself.
Running Tally:8
Sunday:
Seed Of Chucky – This one didn’t come from a DVD, but my Tivo instead as I need to make room for all the fall premieres. This is the 5th in Child’s Play series and….yeah, we didn’t need it. Cute reference to old Ed Wood movie, Glen or Glenda, but otherwise it was just mind numbing. There’s just so much you can do with a serial killing doll, and even the murders were boring in this one.
The Producers – This was the new musical version with Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane, and I have to say it was even better than I expected! I loved how they really captured the feeling of the classic musicals, and I can see why they were such a smash on Broadway. The only thing I wish is we could have at least had a small cameo by Mel Brooks, we heard him, but no sight of him.
Finding Nemo – Yes, I finally got around to seeing it. Cute, but that’s what I expected. I have to ask though…what does Disney have against mothers???? Ellen Degeneres was by far the best thing in the movie, it’s worth watching just for her.
The Crow – Salvation – I love the first Crow, but everything since has sucked. They keep trying to recreate the feel of the first movie and they all fail. This one seemed promising for the first 45 minutes, but then one of the worst car chases I have ever seen happened and it was all downhill from there. And what was Kirsten Dunst doing in this?? Even if you love the first movie, just skip this shamble of a movie. (I could go on for hours about all the plot holes)
Dick – Who would have ever thought you could make a comedy out of the Watergate scandal? Basically the movie revolves around Deep Throat was really two 15 year old girls who accidentally kept wandering in to portions of the scandal. Great cast, cute concept, just a lot of fun. And yes, I realize this is my third movie with Kirsten Dunst in 24 hours. No, I am not that big a fan of hers, she just happens to be in movies I haven’t watched yet.
Running Tally:13
Monday:
Ah, the last day of my marathon. I’m running out of movies I have on hand that I haven’t seen! I have a stack of foreign movies to get through, but I’m going for quantity right now, and they tend to slow me down.
Midnight Cowboy – The AFI 100 list strikes again! I imagine at the time this was released it was quite the shocking film, but now it suffers from what most early 1970’s film do, drug induced flashbacks as a method of storytelling. If you want to do silent flashbacks, fine, but give me more than 2 seconds to look at it, and don’t do color strobing effects over it! Never mind the fact I would like to have known a little more about what happened with Voight’s girlfriend back in Texas. Amazing performances by Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman though.
Memento – Interesting format with learning everything in reverse, but as much went unexplained as explained. If you’re going to do such a format, make sure all your bases are covered and everything flows logically. Oh yeah, and don’t forget the rule you set up about not being able to learn new memories…how does he never forget about his condition?
Revolver – What happened to Guy Ritchie? I loved Lock Stock & Two Smoking Barrels, and Snatch was ok, but this one…I think he just wanted to see how complicated he could make it. Was it a gangster film? An exploration of one’s psyche? A con film? A morality play? Who knows…skip it.
Lilo & Stitch – Okay, enough death for today, I needed something lite, so off to Disney I went. A lot funnier than I ever thought it would be. Pretty original and doesn’t beat you over the too badly with the message about family…well, maybe a little bit. Still cute.
Omen IV – The Awakening – Ok, I was really desperate! This came in a boxed set I bought of all the movies, which I love, but I have always avoided watching this one like the plague. The first three were always planned as a trilogy, this was a tacked on, made-for-TV follow-up. I have to say, it wasn’t QUITE as bad as I suspected…until the Devil’s Chorus randomly showed up in an alleyway and sang to the private detective…WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!? Rest of it so-so, that scene mind-blowingly horrible.
FINAL TALLY:18
So, in summary, the good ones are The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Silent Hill, Bend It Like Beckham, Bring It On, The Producers, Finding Nemo, Dick, and Lilo & Stitch.
Typically you can pick up a new movie in pirated DVD form within 2 – 3 days of it hitting the theaters anywhere in China. The quality isn’t the best, but it’s about a $1 for the DVD, and far cheaper than going to the theater. Warner Brothers has decided they will start releasing DVDs themselves within about 12 days for a $1.25. They figure people will wait the few extra days for the quality.
One part in paticular lept out at me:
Warner Bros. is one of the first studios to aggressively combat the losses Hollywood is suffering because of pirated DVDs. According to the Motion Picture Association, the organization which represents major Hollywood studios, piracy cost U.S. filmmakers an estimated $565 million last year. The study indicates that nearly 93 percent of all movie sales in China were pirated versions.
Shall we start to find the flaws in all this? Good, I knew you would want to!
1) How did street piracy in China cost filmmakers an estimated $565 million last year if those people couldn’t afford to go to the movies in the first place? Answer is, it didn’t. That’s revenue they wouldn’t have gotten anyway.
2) This is the one that really kills me, Warner Brothers just basically told everyone it costs them pennies to make a DVD. Sure, we all know it, but they just confirmed it by selling them for $1.25 in China. They may not have all the extras, it may just be the plain-jane version of the movie, it still says that WB will be making a profit and they are wildely overcharging those of us in “first world” countries.
I went over to Amazon.com and found the cheapest version I could of Batman Begins, a Warner Brothers release. The Amazon price is $14.99, and that’s 25% off the list price of $19.98. Under this new WB policy in China, it would be a $1.25. How is this fair to consumers in other countries?
Here’s the other thing, I am sure Warner Brothers will copy-protect these DVDs, but there are tons of ways around that. So, within 12 days of a film coming out, there will be DVD-quality copies of them film out there in the world, meaning they will be on the illegal download sites within a day or so of that. If anything, the WB has just INCREASED piracy rather than fight it. And with high speed internet access spreading across China, they’re cheap copies they are using to “fight” piracy, will be spread world-wide in a matter of hours. What will their “estimated” losses be then?
I do not endorse piracy in any way, it is rampant in the Anime business, and it has a direct impact on my business. I am one of the few dealers in the community who can say that I am 100% bootleg product free, and it is something I am very proud of. That being said, I think this is one of those occasions where it would have been better for everyone to just turn a blind eye to it, because I think their cure is worse than the disease this time.
Shameless advert time! V For Vendetta comes out August 1st, I can not wait to get this! Best movie I have seen in the theater in ages! You can get a Full Screen (why do people still buy this format?), Widescreen or the Widescreen Two-Disc Special Edition. I’m going for the two-disc set, but because I’m wacky like that. And for the die-hard fans, you can always check out the graphic novel.
Course, I am going to be on a business trip the day it comes out so I will have to wait a week to watch it! GAH!
Yes! Finally Rent has a release date on DVD! February 21st will see both a Widescreen and a Fullscreen versions released. Although, I will never understand why anyone wants Fullscreen, but that may just be me.
If you didn’t get to check out this movie in the theaters, and judging by it’s $29,077,547 gross, you didn’t, you really should check it out on DVD. Great story, believable characters, fantastic music and stories & themes that we can all relate to in some way.
With time running out, it’s time to discuss my recommendations for the traditional Christmas movies I always watch.
A Christmas Carol – Patrick Stewart is a classically trained actor and he brings a powerful tone to the role of Scrooge. A fantastic version of this classic tale of Christmas spirit.
A Christmas Story – Set in the 1940’s does nothing to diminish the fun or relevance of this movie. Every kid has had that “dream” gift on their Christmas list that it seemed no one wanted you to have. Fun, cute and so many quotable lines. “You’ll shoot your eye out” if you miss this one!
It’s a Wonderful Life – Come on…do I even really need to discuss this one? Is there anyone alive who hasn’t seen this? Actually I did find someone this year…and I promptly pointed her out for the heretic she is. This is one of my all time favorite movies. Jimmy Stewart is amazing.
National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation – The Vacation movies have been a mixed bag (as has most of Chavy Chase’s career), but this film is so easy to relate to. We all have those dreams of the perfect family Christmas, just to have them dashed and never have them live up to our hopes. Plus, the Cousin Eddie scene is white sweater scene is worth the entire price of the movie!
The Nightmare Before Christmas – Not only is it a sweet story, and amazing to watch, how can you not love a movie that can make both the Halloween AND Christmas movie lists?
December 20th is the release of Serenity, the big screen follow-up to the short-lived Fox Television series, Firefly. (What is it with Fox and cancelling good shows??)
I have my Sin City and Serenity on pre-order, and so should you!
For those of you who have no clue why this is so ultimely awesome, you must see the movie Office Space…oh yes, YOU MUST!
“And I said, I don’t care if they lay me off either, because I told, I told Bill that if they move my desk one more time, then, then I’m, I’m quitting, I’m going to quit. And, and I told Don too, because they’ve moved my desk four times already this year, and I used to be over by the window, and I could see the squirrels, and they were married, but then, they switched from the Swingline to the Boston stapler, but I kept my Swingline stapler because it didn’t bind up as much, and I kept the staples for the Swingline stapler and it’s not okay because if they take my stapler then I’ll set the building on fire… “
I’ve always loved Halloween. A lot of it probably has to do with the fact that I grew up in the costume business. My dad’s mother owned the largest costume shop in the Southwest, outside of Hollywood. Some of my earliest memories are wandering through her shop looking at masks, and when she built a warehouse, I spent hours crawling through the racks, playing with swords and just marvelling in the wonders of costuming.
When I was 8, my mom opened her own costume shop here in Missouri and by the time I was 11, I was the only kid I knew with a make-up kit…stage make-up thank you. How many kids can tell you that they can make realistic bullet holes, chop off fingers and they mix their own blood capsules because “the commercially released ones suck”. Yep, you could say Halloween is in my…blood. Yeah, it was cheesy, so sue me.
Mom finally closed her costume shop several years ago, but there are still reminders of our past all over our house. Most horror movies do nothing for me because I am too busy looking at the make-up effects, visual gags and going “Oh come on, you could have at least blended the pancake at the collar!” No..I am not fun to watch movies with most of the time.
All that being said, I thought I would give you a list of some of my fave scary movies and TV shows.
Movies Halloween – You can not make a list of scary movies without listing this one. It rejuvinated the lackluster horror genre of the 1970’s and really put Jamie Lee Curtis on the map. If it hadn’t been for John Carpenter’s vision of Michael Meyers, you probably wouldn’t have Jason, Freddy, Scream or any of the other horror films that followed.
Funny side story. The mask of Michael is a Capt. Kirk, of Star Trek, mask painted white. It was the only mask Carpenter’s prop man could find in a hurry. Years later, when Don Post Jr. wanted to make a Michael mask, he already had the mold, so was way easy to do. One problem, he had to pay to license it yet again since it was now considered another character. Too funny.
Hellraiser – A little bit heavy on the gore, too many horror movies think gore = good, but it overcomes it with an intriguing plot and creepy concepts.
The Nightmare Before Christmas – One of the things I love about this movie is that it will probably make my Christmas list also! Great music, amazing visuals and a cute story adds up a fun, yet dark, film.
Psycho – Alfred Hitchcock was a master of subtle horror. He could scare you more with what you didn’t see, than with what you saw. Has there ever been a scarier scene than the shower with Janet Leigh? And the casting of Anthony Perkins as Norman? Inspired! This is one of the few times I have liked a movie better than the book!
Sleepy Hollow – Tim Burton rocks. Johnny Depp rocks. Christina Ricci rocks. This movie was destined to be cool. Sure, some of the legend of the Headless Horseman was changed, but it still was a great, fun ride.
TV Shows Kolchak – The Night Stalker – Sure the production values look horrible now, but this show had some top notch writing, great concepts and the stellar performing skills of Darin McGavin. If it wasn’t for this show, the X-Files and the new Night Stalker would have never come about. Well…yay for X-Files at least.
Tales from the Crypt – Based on the old EC Comics series of the same name, this show ran on HBO for several seasons and had some amazing guest actors and directors. The Crypt Keeper’s intros and exits were always amusing to.
I love DVD’s with alternate endings. It gives you a great insight into the thought process of the film makers. It lets you speculate what could have been and they are always interesting.
So, imagine my surprise while I was just watching Gilmore Girls (don’t laugh), and there was a Titanic – Special Collector\’s Edition DVD coming out. What caught my attention was “…with an alternate ending”. Um…excuse me? Is this the ending where the Titanic defeats the evil iceberg and discover it was a secret plot by a foreign power? How do you have an “alternate ending” for a story about…THE TITANIC? It is clear that James Cameron is insane. It also has 25 delted scenes, as if the movie wasn’t long enough already.
Everyone do me a favor, remember this will never be on my Amazon wishlist! If someone bought this for me…well…let’s just say you would need a doctor to remove it.
