Oscar Forecast: 2011 and the Actors

After going to see a  more serious film yesterday, I got to see previews for films that looked pretty good, and some that could even potentially get some consideration come Academy Award season.  I enjoy the popcorn movies of the summer, but come August I need movies that are a bit deeper and that don't ignore the screenplay, or just focus on the special effects.  The previews yesterday made me start thinking "Who will get nominated this year?"

Most journalists and pundits everyone is face with the pressure from outsiders to start the season and make some "predictions" but these "predictions" are are more like educated guesses. In their own predictions two of my favorite websites awardsdaily.com and goldderby.com have made predictions or started out potential contests but have also stated that making guesses at this point in the year is almost impossible!  However, I would like to highlight the actors who have strong potential to be nominated this year.

The year of the men from the Oceans films:  Brad Pitt, George Clooney, and Matt Damon all have major Oscar buzz films that will be released this year.  This trio of men has ten Academy Award nominations between the three of them and I think that nomination tally will grow this year.

George Clooney has the best shot at nominations.  Clooney is starring in, directed, wrote the film Ides of March, a political thriller that looks like that could have the potential to be an audience please and critically acclaimed.  Clooney is also set to star in the film The Descendants directed by Alexander Payne about a man who attempts to re-connect with his daughters after his wife dies.

Depending on how the Academy feels about The Tree of Life Brad Pitt could score a nomination for his best dramatic performance to date.  Pitt also has a film that will be a more crowd pleaser in the vein of The Blind Side, the film Moneyball where Pitt's character attempts to save a struggling baseball team (and its a true story!)

Matt Damon has three films released this year.  Contagion where he plays a man grieving the loss of his wife from a deadly virus.  Margaret (2011) the long awaited Kenneth Lonergan film about where a young women (Anna Paquin) witnesses a bus accident and caught up in the aftermath.  Damon's role doesn't seem like this could get him a nomination.   Damon is also going to be in the Cameron Crowe film We Bought a Zoo about a man who moves his family to California and buys a zoo.

Clooney and Pitt have a great shot to be back, I think Damon may have to wait another year or two.

The Streep Factor:  Meryl Streep will be playing the first female prime minister of the United Kingdom, Margaret Thatcher.  The role itself has the potential alone to score anyone a nomination, and with Streep attached it almost seems guaranteed. Phyllida Lloyd is attached as the director (which scares me) but hopefully she doesn't make this an over the top portrayal.  Streep is a great actress, and once the full length trailer is out I will be able to figure out if this film will soar or sink.

The Titanic Twosome:  Both Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet will be back in the Oscar race this year.  These two have become the most bankable and worthwhile actors to watch (who would have thought that after their performances in Titanic).

DiCaprio will star in the biopic about famed FBI director J. Edgar Hoover in the film J. Edgar directed by Clint Eastwood.  The film focuses on the controversy surrounding his career along with his private life as a cross dresser, and his gay relationship.

Winslet has two role this year, one in Contagion, which looks to be a smaller role and will not likely garner her a nomination; she will also be one of the foursome in the film Carnage based on the Tony award winning play God of Carnage.  Carnage has an amazing cast, and tony award winning plays of this calibre have done a good job garnering award nominations for actors like Frost/Nixon and Doubt.

The New Faces to the Oscar Game: Every year there are new faces that enter the Oscar game that come out of no where like Gaborey Sidibe in Precious who was an unknown before this role, shocking potential nominees like Mila Kunis (who would have thought Jackie from That 70's Show had it in her), or the great character actor finally getting their due like Stanley Tucci finally getting a nomination for The Lovely Bones.

Michael Fassbender is one of the character actors of the year and a lesser known actor who has a great shot of getting a nomination.  Fassbender has three even four roles that I would consider Oscar worthy this year.  Fassbender was  amazing in Jane Eyre as Rochester,  and helped give new life to the X-Men franchise as Magneto in X-Men: First Class.  Fassbender has the most potential playing Carl Jung in A Dangerous Method, and could also garner buzz for his playboy role in the film Shame.

The Overdue Factor: There actors in Hollywood that have never won an Oscar, or never even been nominated, and then suddenly late in life the academy decides to reward them with a nomination or a win.  Christopher Plummer never received an Oscar nomination until his role in The Last Station two years ago.  James Coburn won his Oscar because of a divided category, and the reward of a good performance that represents a career achievement.


Glenn Close has been nominated for five Academy Awards: The World According to Garp (83), The Big Chill (84), The Natural (85), Fatal Attraction (88), Dangerous Liaisons (89).  I would argue her nomination for The Natural was on name alone, but this year she will most likely garner her sixth and potentially seventh nomination for writing and starring in the film Albert Nobbs.  If this film is great and Close scores a nomination she could pose a huge threat because she has never won this award.

There are many other players in the Oscar game this year.  Ryan Gosling, Michelle Williams, Phillip Seymour Hoffman and so many more.  This year is going to be filled with a lot of younger talent, and new blood, and I looked forward to an exciting competition.

Crazy, Stupid, Love is a Good Escape from Summer Explosions

Crazy, Stupid, Love (3 out of 5 stars)

Directed by: Glenn Ficarra & John Requa (I Love You Phillip Morris), 

Written by: Dan Fogelman (Cars, Bolt, Tangled)

Starring: Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Julianne Moore, and Emma Stone

The film starts with Cal (Steve Carell) and Emily (Julianne Moore) out to dinner, and her pronouncement that she he wants Creme Brulet while she wants a divorce and she cheated on him.  Carell agrees to divorce and heads to a bar in his New Balance sneakers and clothes that don't fit.  While at the bar Jacob a regular at the bar and playboy notices Cal and decides that he wants to take him on as a project.  Jacob also meets Hannah (Emma Stone) at the bar and they have their own romantic story.  Like within most romantic dramadies there are moments that cliche (which the film points out cleverly in the screenplay) and moments that come unexpectedly.

This film did a great job of making me think a little deeper about love, understanding relationships, and the role maturity plays in decision making.  There are good moments that are incredibly funny as well.  The highlight of this film is Ryan Gosling; he is charming, funny, and continues to prove what a terrific actor he has grown into.  The ensemble is well used.  Carell, Moore, and Stone were great as usual.  The actor who plays Carell and Moore's son Robbie is younger actor to watch for. Some of characters were not fleshed out enough.  Kevin Bacon and Marissa Tomei's  characters were  plot devices that were not fully developed enough to be useful.  The film ran a bit long towards the end and felt like a merry-go-round, and the screenplay could have been trimmed.  

The film was solid, and I got down on my knees thanking the movies Gods that there was a solid film that involved no explosions to go to during the summer months.  I love and hate the sumer months because I feel people skip quality films like this where there isn't a robot that transforms, an adventure on the high seas, an action hero of some form, or that isn't a pointless sequel.  This is not the best movie of the year, but it has quality, and is somewhat original.  I am tired of the sequels they drive crazy and make me feel stupid, unlike this film

My Favorite Television Couples

After watching Pam and Jim get married in the episode "Niagara" it made me cry, smile, and just fell allwarm inside!  I made a list of my favorite film couples of all time, and now since my blog has expanded to all things pop culture, I figured I should pick my favorite TV couples of all time as well.  There is no surprise that Jim and Pam are easily my favorite on screen couple of all time, but the other interesting factors about my favorite couples is that most of them are from situation comedies.

1-Jim and Pam (The Office USA-NBC)  Their storybook romance is infamous to people who don't even watch the show.  In season one and two it was apparent that doe eyed receptionist Pam and the paper salesman Jim had eyes for each other, but their strong friendship, and Pam being engaged prevented this from happening.  After Pam and Jim kissed at the end of season two and Jim was rebuffed he moved to Connecticut.  Finally at the end of season 3 their was an offer on a date and my favorite couple started their courtship that would end up with their nuptials in Niagara Falls and then Pam giving birth to their first child.

Jim: [regarding Pam's father] What did he say? Is it my fault?

Pam: Yeah. He said that you told him how much you love me. About how you feel when I walk in a room. And about how you've never doubted for a second that I'm the woman you want to spend the rest of your life with. I guess he's never felt that way about my mom, even at their best.

Jim: You okay?

Pam: Yeah. [Cut to talking head] When you're a kid, you assume your parents are soulmates. My kids are going to be right about that.

I may have The Office on the brain but I have several other favorite television couples here are the rest:

2-Buffy Summers and Angel-Buffy the Vampire Slayer (WB) I know most Buffy fans enjoy the Buffy and Spike pairing more (which was fun) and similar the relationship of Sookie and Eric Northman in True Blood, former enemies become lovers, but I love Buffy and Angel.  I remember watching their first interactions and realizing there was something more to Angel (of course he was a vampire), but their chemistry was white hot.  Buffy was tasked with killing vampires, but Angel was different and they fell in love.  There was also the season when Angel became a bad vampire and Buffy had to fight, kill, and send him to hell.  I think I remember sobbing when that happened.  In their epic battle Buffy plunges a sword into her beloved because she has to kill him in order to let him go, the tears stream down her face and she lives town on a bus without a word to any of her friends.  This was one of my favorite shows growing up, and my second favorite pairing.


3-Claire and Cliff Huxtable-The Cosby Show (NBC) Their chemistry was impeccable; she was this smart attorney who was well like by everyone and was put together while he was this goofy doctor who was great with young kids, and couldn't fix anything.  Throughout the the show they talked about their courtship and how everyone was amazed Cliff got Claire, but their love goes beyond what people think. These two characters show true deep emotional care for one another and Phyllicia Rashad and bill Cosby had some amazing chemistry.  In the last episode as the two of them looked with pride at their son graduating from college and danced on screen I knew these two characters would leave a lasting impact on television history and myself.  To this day (and when I was younger) I always said I wanted them to be my parents, and I think that is a testament to the proof that I understand their "love" for one another.


4-Kevin Arnold and Winnie Cooper-The Wonder Years (ABC) Young love at its best!  No show has
ever been able grasp what young love means as well as this show.  The turmoil of the 60s helps set up the back the story but this young love transcends the time period.  I loved watching their love grow and change throughout the years, and how adolescence and growing up can change love.  You want these two to end up together, but you realize that as they grow up or as young people grow up they develop, change, and become different people.

5-Monica Gellar and Chandler Bing-Friends (NBC)-Everyone always focuses on Ross and Rachel, but in the end the show did a much better job bringing Monica and Chandler together.  When these two accidentally drunkenly slept together at the end of season five, I was shocked!  Looking back there were some signs of chemistry, but the writers created this brilliant idea to construct this couple and it worked.  The flashbacks also made it worth watching, when Monica heard Chandler calling her fat and then one year later Monica's plan for revenge forced him to lose his pinky toe.  Their hilarious back story helped provide great context for their story. With their wedding and the quest to have a baby these two created a lasting funny and beautiful memory about how love is not perfect and how you have to work hard to be with someone.

Unlikable Television Characters Part 1: The Ruiners

I have recently been watching The Office (USA) again, and I am on the fifth season of the show.  I love the characters on that show for so many different reasons they each have their qualities that makes them an important part of the ensemble.  So you may ask who have I never like that is a part of this show?  While re-watching the fifth season I have been forced the re-live the the awful character Charles Miner played by the talented actor Idris Elba.  Charles Miner was brought in to tear down the economic walls of the company, and create the storyline that gave Michael Scott the chance to have his own paper company.  This plot device forced viewers to deal with a character that was just not funny or like able.  When a character hates Jim and taunts him you know there is a problem with them.  I was glad that this character did not last long, and I think the producers and writers knew he was not meant to last.Elba's character was a minor (no pun intended) character in the history of that show, but he still makes me dread watching the last part of the fifth season of The Office. 

Most of the time I think unlikeable characters can come in the form of characters leaving and new people stepping in, or re-casts of popular characters.  I remember when both Jean Smart and Delta Burke left Designing Women in 1991.  The women both left for different reasons but the show still went on with poor imitations who tried to play similar characters.  Now the replacements were played by the talented, Julia Duffy, Jan Hooks, and Judith Ivey, but those three women just could not fill the shoes of the beloved Charlene (Smart) and Suzanne (Burke).  When those two ladies left "that was the night the lights went out in Georgia!"

I was talking to my friend Eric about Buffy the Vampire Slayer the other day and it "dawned" on me (pun intended) that I loathed Dawn Summers!  Season five of Buffy the Vampire Slayer was one of my favorite seasons of the show, and Sarah Michelle Gellar just knocked every episode out of the park, especially in the episode where her mother dies (I cry every time I see it).  Dawn turns up at the end up of the first episode in the fifth season "Buffy vs. Dracula" and from then on her whining her my ears and left a bad taste in my mouth.  It could be the actress, I am not a big fan of Michelle Trachtenberg; she is the reason I stopped watching Gossip Girl as well.  The Dawn character was quintessential to the entire fifth season, but the character grated on me.

On another vampire related topic, I strongly dislike the Bill Compton and Sam Merlotte in True Blood.  In the beginning of the series Sookie Stackhouse was poised to be in a love triangle with vampire Bill Compton and shifter (can change into animals) Sam Merlotte.  Now I have only read the first book so my frame of references is mainly the show, but as a fan of the show I can't imagine watching a show that centered around those three characters.  Without giving away too many spoilers and Sookie's current romantic entanglements I will simply focus on these two men, the worst two characters on the show.  Bill is just boring, I find nothing interesting in his vampire character.  They have gone into his back story, but there is no charm or charisma.  On the other hand his counterpart Eric is just an amazing character, and glamours me into appreciating him.  I started out liking Sam, but his evolution into this dark character and his past has made him more unlikeable, and a character that I do not care much about.  I am not interested in his family, or what happens to him.  The only purpose of his character is the fact that he owns the bar.  I did however enjoy the homoerotic dream Sam had about Bill because Sam drank his blood.

I reached out to my friends on facebook, and there were a fewpeople  who talked about the characters on Everybody Loves Raymond.   I have to agree with this, this is one show that I can't watch in syndication.  I find all of the characters incredibly grating (except Frank played by Peter Boyle).  There have been some hilarious moments from this show and the characters have had many funny moments, but I just can't re-watch this show at all.  Many people have different taste in comedy, there are several people out there who probably loathe the characters on 30 Rock, The Office etc and love this show.  I love the characters on Modern Family, but there is just something about this ensemble that as Peter Griffen says "grinds my gears."

My friend Eric and several other people mentioned Kate from Lost.  Kate was probably my least favorite character on Lost; she was also whiney, irritating, I don't get what Jack and Sawyer saw in her character.  Like with many of these characters the likeability factor may be related the the actor and the way they play the character.  I think in this case Evangeline Lilly is the problem; she grew as an actress towards the end of the series and I became a little more impressed with her talent, but I ultimately think that this character could have been much more with a more capable actress.

Daytime Dramas: "Soap Operas" Are they Dead? Can they be Fixed? Will Online Work?

Today I read that Hayley Ripa and Mark Consuelos are making a reality television series for soap stars including General Hospital's Kelly Monaco and Kirsten Storms Days of Our Lives' Nadia Bjorlin and Galen Gering, One Life To Lives' Farah Fath and JP Lavoisier.  My thoughts are that a reality show can bring popularity back or increase popularity for stars.   Can a reality show increase the popularity of an entire genre of popular culture?  If I were asking the magic eight ball for an answer the dice in the ball would read "Outlook not so good."

As a young child I remember my mom used to be home during the day (work at night); she would be cleaning and taking care of the house and at lunch time The Young and Restless would come on, and we would watch that then The Bold and the Beautiful then As the World Turns.  My first soap memory was from As the World Turns with the character Emily in the shower about to be attacked by the villainous James Stenbeck.  As I grew older I continued to follow these shows, rooting for my favorite characters (sometimes the villains), hoping couples would end up together (that some would break up), and so on. 

When my mom started to work in the daytime, my grandparents would take shifts or different days watching me.  My one set of grandparents also would watch soap operas.  At 12:30 they would start to watch The Young and the Restless, but then at 1 my grandmother would want to watch All My Children.  So my grandfather would go into the kitchen to finish his show.  I always though that this was such a cute routine.  With this routine I would stay with my grandmother, and then I was introduced to Erica Kane and her manipulative ways.  Then I started to to watch One Life to Live. 

My sister and I also used to watch Passions, and I always wanted to say like my grandmother that I watched a show from the beginning.  My grandmother was a huge Guiding Light fan, and she did get to watch the show from the beginning to its end.  The end of Guiding Light was the beginning of the soap opera blood bath.  When I found out that Guiding Light had been cancelled, I was not as shocked.  Their ratings were low and the demographics they had were not great, then came As the World Turns (not shocked just sad), and ABC laid down the hammer of Thor and cancelled not one but two shows All My Children and One Life to Live (and rumor has it General Hospital is not far behind).  This would leave only The Young and the Restless, The Bold and the Beautiful, and Days of Our Lives as the the last three soap operas shown in a traditional manner on network television.  All My Children, One Life to Live (and most likely General Hospital) will all be online.

Soap Operas were extremely popular in the 80s and early to late 90s.  I would call the 1980s to like 1993 the golden age of this genre.  There was a film Soapdish (hilarious) that mocked the day to day behind the scenes activities of the world of soaps.  Then there was one of the funniest films of all time Tootsie which centered around Dustin Hoffman's character dressing up like a woman and landing a role on a soap opera.  Luke and Lauras wedding on General Hospital was watched by 30 million people the highest watched soap opera episode ever!  Those ratings are better than most prime time reality television series. So where did this genre go wrong? Did they go wrong, or was it simply an evolution?

The evolution of media and the connection with online viewing has changed the way people watch shows.  More people are dvring, tvoing, watching things streaming on youtube, or hulu than ever before.  There are more networks than ever before and their niche programming has taken away viewers.  People can sit and watch the Food Network all day and watch people cook there more hosts more shows than ever before, and this is true with every niche channel.  Niche programming and reality television have become cheaper ways to get success for networks, and have allowed them to make money, cut costs, but they also push us further away from scripted television.

Culturally, society is in a different place women do not stay at home and watch the kids as much as they did in the past.  The number of women going into higher education has grown and is higher than men at undergraduate and in some graduate areas.  The audience is not there for a show five days a week for one hour.  Many EP (executive producers) and network big wigs talked about trimming shows down to a half an hour and not doing them five days a week, but for them it was easier to replace them all together, or so it seems.  The dagger to heart for these shows is that they are being replaced with bland knock off talk shows like The Talk and The Chew (two of the worst talk show names, ever!) 

Jesse Tyler Ferguson from Modern Family made a comment about the quality of daytime dramas on his twitter account, stated something to the effect of, I understand why these shows are being cancelled (he recanted quickly), but this is a valid argument.  Are soap operas still providing quality television, acting, story lines, are they relevant?  People who have watched shows for years upon years have started to give up on shows because of the quality.  The quality of a show matters!  You can just shovel out shit, and the five day a week hour long model has prevented writers from taking the time to truly listen.  The network executives have had too much control over shows as well.

Many shows have replaced talented older actors with younger prettier faces who can't act.  Acting within this genre is melodramatic and over the top, but there have a been a lot of famous people who have become bigger stars, after soap operas, which proves there has been quality acting.  There are also people who have stayed on shows for years and are some top notch actors/actresses: David Canary, Erika Slezak, Susan Flannery, Jeanne Cooper, Anthony Geary, and I could name so many more people.

Shows have moved away from core families families, and brought in new characters that make no sense to the storyline then what's the point (another recent trend). Are shows true to the shows history? Why get rid of the Quartermaines on General Hospital?  Or the Abbotts on The Young and the Restless?  If I know anything in this country its that people care about family, and focusing on the family is something shows just don't do a good of anymore. 

Writers, EPs, and network executives have created story lines have been unfaithful to fans and the the shows history. Taking away Erica Kane's abortion (the first abortion ever done on television) was a travesty.   ABC soaps have been the worst at this, but towards the end Guiding Light became a culprit of this as well to pull in viewers by "assassinating" characters and completely changing them out of nowhere. Writers who work on these shows need to respect the fans (and not just the teenage girl mentality of we need hot people), and listen to their audience and write for them.  The have also been several great culturally relevant storylines, but they have pushed out quickly because "the actors are difficult."  The recent gay storyline on One Life to Live got the show a lot of attention, and they got rid of it as quickly as it started.  Soaps need to stay true to their roots but push boundaries more like One Life to Live did.  Bringing in a famous person to guest star in your story can not save your show! James Franco!!

The fans are the life blood of this genre.  Am I happy AMC and OLTL are going online, possibly. Will this be the right solution, maybe.  I could write on this topic forever, and there are so many directions I could go with this, but for now I am still glad that there is still a some sand left in the hour glass.

Cougartown: Time for a Name Change

While at lunch with my co-workers we were talking about everything pop culture (like we always do) and I don't remember exactly how it came to be but I thought in my mind about Cougar Town and uttered the words "Cougartown really needs to change its name."  I remember at the end of season one series creator Bill Lawrence (Scrubs) had debated changing the name of the show, and word on the street was that it was going to happen, but in the eleventh hour the show stuck with Cougartown.

I have watched a few episodes of the show, and it is pretty funny.  I watched the pilot, and hated the show, so I gave up, then watched towards the end of the first season and was pleasantly surpised the show had become so much more than what originally aired.  I have also watched a handful of episodes in the second season as well.  The stars of the show Courtney Cox, Busy Phillips, Christa Miller are just great.  These are three funny ladies and Lawrence and his writers know how to work with them.  Many fans of the show are outraged that major award shows don't pay attention, and that it doesn't pull in more viewers.  I have to say after lunch today it hit me, the name of the show is so divisive and in my opinion awful it turns people away from the show.

Using Shakespeare's famous words uttered by Juliet in his most famous work Romeo and Juliet "What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet."  Using this analogy the name of the show shouldnt matter,because it is still quality programming, but I believe it matters a great deal.  Most shows with unappealing titles changed their titles prior their pilot or very early on in the shows history before it could become popular.  Dynasty was called Oil originally.  After about 3 or 4 four episodes The Happy Days was changed to Happy Days.  There were also shows that changed their name in the middle of the series.  Two Guys a Girls and Pizza Place changed to Two Guys and a Girl because they dropped the pizza place.  8 Simple Rules to Dating my Teenage Daughter went to 8 Simple Rules after the death of John Ritter.  These shows all changed their names for functional reasons, but I think Cougartown should change its name to stay afloat because I can the axe coming down next year from ABC if it doesn't produce strong numbers.

I was opposed to the name change because I remember the options that Bill Lawrence floated around, and they were all worse of just too bland.  This show does have pizaz and its name should fit.  I think Cougar Town needs to go and a new name be considered for this upcoming season.  Now I am not diehard fan as say Aped from Community with this show, but I have to pose this question to all of you, what would you change the name of the show to?

August Movies: Movies to See and Movies to Avoid

Back a couple of months ago I talked about movies to avoid during the months of June and July.  I was right on some, and and wrong on others, it happens.  I will also add that many of the films I told people to avoid I ended up seeing like Transformers: Dark of the Moon, which is the highest grossing domestic film right now (scary)!  After seeing Captain America: The First Avenger this past weekend I heard a young woman outside the theatre state "I hated it.  What was the point?  I wanted some struggle from the main character.  I did not want to see a film where the main character just plows through villain after villain.  I wanted some struggle."  My personal opinion is that this girl's emotions are valid, but she was also going to see a comic book movie and should realized what she was getting into, and her complaints held less merit.  Yet the thing about film is that everyone has opinion about what they think is good, bad, ugly, or just not their style.  Here is what I will be seeing in August, and what I will be avoiding.

August 5th:

Seeing it: The Rise of the Planet of the Apes.  When I heard this was being released I groaned with

disdain, the Mark Wahlberg edition was terrible!  Then the preview for this film was released, and I was sold, great cast, interesting concept about how things start, and just looks pretty awesome.

Not Seeing it: The Change-Up.  Tale as old as time, another movie where people switch places, what's the point?  And, no Jason Bateman just because this is R rated does not mean it puts a spin on this type of a story it just means you can swear more and show more nudity.  This movie looks painfully unfunny.

August 12th:

Seeing it: The Help (August 10th).  The book was a bit dry and lacked the depth I wanted from the story, but with a great cast this film could pull off making the film better than the book.  I love Emma Stone and Viola Davis, and they are both reason enough for me to see any film (within reason).

30 Minutes or Less.  With Jesse Eisenberg, Danny McBride, and Aziz Ansari, where can you go wrong?  This comes from the director of Zombieland, another hilarious film so I am there (probably before I go see The Help).

Not Seeing it: Final Destination 5.  I thought the last film was called The Final Destination?  Enough already, the premise was clever in the beginning, but now you are just wasting money that could be spent on other films.

August 19th:

Not Sold Yet: One Day.  This film is based on a very popular book, and the director did an excellent job with the film An Education, but Anne Hathaway is not one of my favorite leading ladies; she has her strong and her annoying moments for me.  Going to see this film will be based on word of mouth for me.

Not Seeing it: Conan the Barbarian and Fright Night.  Two old concepts (as films) reimagined for the year 2011 and current audiences.  I have no interest in either of these films.  Sure Conan looks hot and Collin is sexy as a bad guy, but like I always say pretty people don't make me go to the movies.  I want good writing and acting, and it looks like these two films have neither!

August 26th:

Not Seeing: Anything! The wide realease films this week are Don't be Afraid of the Dark, a horro film starring Katie Holmes (nuff said), and Our Idiot Brother where Paul Rudd plays to schtick and not his strenghts.

August is when the summer movie season starts to slow down, there are less blockbusters and more smaller scales films.  I always look at August as the waste of the summer, the trail end.  August is is always a month where I do not see as many films, and it looks like this pattern will continue!