Happy Holidays! I Guess . . .

I have no idea what to say about this . . .

Charlie Wilson's War Review

Charlie Wilson’s War has received quite a bit of reward pub lately. It always throws me for a loop when movies get reward pub yet don’t come out in theaters until shortly before the award season. I wasn’t quite sure what this movie was when I went to see it, but I can say it is defiantly worth the pub.

Charlie Wilson’s War chronicles the true story of Congressman Charlie Wilson’s (Tom Hanks) effort to fund Afghanistan’s war against the Soviet Union in the 1980s. Wilson uses his position on the Subcommittee of Defense to fund a covert war against the Soviet Union. Wilson enlists the help of the rich and beautiful Joanne Henning (Julia Roberts) and the rough around the edges Gust Avrakotos (Phillip Seymour Hoffman). The movie sheds some historical light on a subject that not many people know about, and it also sheds some light on how people like Osama Bin Ladin came into power in today’s age.

Tom Hanks plays a great Charlie Wilson, who is a scotch drinking congressman with an affinity for loose women. He perfectly manages take the edge of serious moments of the movie with some great comedic touch. Phillip Seymour Hoffman is superb in this movie. His character, Gust, is a rough around the edges, blunt secret agent who is basically the anti James Bond (as referenced in the movie). His comedic timing is perfect and every scene with Hanks and Hoffman in it will have you laughing at some point. The movie takes on a serious issue, but it also contains a lot of humor. It is written by the famous Aaron Sorkin, so the dialogue is pretty reminiscent of the West Wing and other projects he has worked on.

Overall the movie is funny, interesting and relevant. I would recommend watching it just for the scenes consisting of Hanks and Hoffman, just realize they don’t meet up until about halfway through the movie.

Grade: A

National Treasure 2 Review

I'm back with another great movie review! This time it is National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets. I, being a history buff, enjoyed the first National Treasure immensely. It contained a cool story, a hot girl and a funny dude. What more can you ask for? The 2nd one? Well . . .

I guess it can be satisfying saying that National Treasure 2 was exactly what I thought it was going to be. (I am going to pass at a golden opportunity to make a Denny Green jokes). It was a lesser, hastily put together version of the first and it was not very good.

The movie starts off with Ben Gates (Nick Cage) getting some shocking news from Mitch Wilkinson (Ed Harris) that his great grandfather, Thomas Gates, was the mastermind behind the assassination of President Lincoln. Ben Gates than sets out to prove his great grandfather's innocence. The movie seems like it is going to go into historical detail about Abraham Lincoln, but it doesn't. In fact this movie has pretty much nothing to do with Lincoln outside of the opening sequence. It ends up being a race to find the City of Gold (wasn't that the plot of the last one) that will help clear Thomas Gates' name, although they don't go into great detail how. Ben Gates returns with all his friends from the last one; Abigail Chase (Diane Kruger), Riley Poole (Justin Bartha) and Patrick Gates (the always awesome Jon Voight).

The movie lacks the charm of the first one, in fact it feels like a tired rehashing of the first one. For all the humor Riley brought to the first one, he really isn't that funny in the second one. Ben and Abigail are having relationship problems that predictably get solved during the treasure hunt (sorry I gave it away, but if you didn't see this coming anyway, you might have a low IQ). The plot is even less believable than the first one, and the final climatic scenes where they are navigating through caves seems like it was cut and pasted from a dungeon in one of the Legend of Zelda games. All the noble history references that were so cool in the first one seem so played out in this one. There are parts in the movie that lack imagination, as if the script was hurried out. It is kind of sad, but it is exactly what I expected.

Grade: C

I'm Back

With inspiration from Douglas MacAarthur, I say to you: "Readers to my blog, I have returned, Rally to me!"

Hey I'm back! It's good to be back and I hope that I did not lose to many readers with my prolonged absence. Hey, if a blogger writes and no one is reading, does it make a sound? We will find out. I went on hiatus because this past semester at school literally kicked my ass. I've never done so much work in my life, but that is over now. I went back to school to become a teacher, but ultimately I have chosen a different route with my life. I have taken a full time job as a content manager at the company I worked part time for. I wont bore you with the details, just know that I do a lot of editing now! I would love to get into writing or editing someday, but for now this is a good job that pays very well starting out. I also need to exercise my writing abilities more often, which means more blogging! Lucky for you!

There is a serious problem in this world I must address though . . .

The Writer's Strike

As past readers of this blog know, I love me some TV (that was incorrect grammar on purpose). When I've been going 110 mph with school work over the past few semesters watching TV was my escape. For an hour or so a night I could get lost in someone else's life, and not worry about what monster paper or project I had to write next. Well that has all come to a screeching halt with the writers strike, but don't worry I have a list of things you can do with all this free time you are going to have.

• Play the Wii. I guess this could be video games in general but I decided to stick with the Wii since it is more family oriented. Pick up a copy of a fun Wii party game, or even simple Wii sports, and have fun with people you like to hang out with. I am a little hypocritical saying this because I do not really play Wii all that much, or even own one (my roomate does), but it is a fun way to kill time. It also gives you quite the work out! Play Wii Tennis for a while and try not to sweat, it gets intense.
  
• Watch Bowl Games. Sure you may not find a game like the New Mexico Bowl pitting Nevada versus New Mexico interesting, but there is some intrigue in every bowl game. It classifies as reality TV, for you reality TV people (I hate reality TV if you remember). You might see a cool play or two, and there is always unique tradition when it comes to the bowl game or the teams. During the week after Christmas there is a game on every night! Including ASU vs Texas on the 27th! Hey if you are still bored by these games, bet on them. That always makes them more fun!
• Watch NBA Basketball. I wrote about this on the Tecmo Blog. The NBA has been a lot of fun to watch this year. Plus who doesn't love watching Shawn Marion halftime interviews, LeBron James be awesome, Chris Paul and Deron Williams become great point guards, Rasheed Wallace getting technical fouls or Vince Carter skate through another season without really trying? You never know when there will be another Truck Party or another drunk Boris Diaw appearance. The NBA, where amazing happens.
• Play trivial pursuit. Nothing beats a good game of trivia, especially when I am the one who is working you.
• Moves and DVDs. This would be a great time to see more movies or watch certain TV shows on DVD that you never got a chance to watch before.
• History Channel. The History, Discovery and Travel channel are all you really need to get you through life anyway.
• Do something creative. Write, sing, dance! Whatever it is you like to do start doing it.
• Read my blog. Yeah I'll update it more often, I am back ya know.
  

If all else fails, DRINK!!!!!!!!! We are no longer slaves to TV, time to live a little. Well I got my return blog out of the way and I have done quite a bit of rambling, so I guess I picked up right where I left off. I'm back and so are you.

Return is Imminent

Hooray for any of you still checking into the blog hoping the hiatus has ended. Well guess what? I'm coming back. There have been big changes in this blogger's life and there are gonna be fun things happening here. Until my official return, which will happen shortly, I will tease you with another Youtube cop out. Enjoy this classic bit from How I Met Your Mother, the Hot/Crazy scale: