The Office

So, I have sort of stayed away from The Office ever since it came on the air. For some reason I was just never drawn in, and due to my insanely large number of shows I do watch (see previous posts) I never did get into it.

I had seen clips and whatnot of the show, but I never found it funny - at least what they were showing me. And so, I never watched it.

But, as many know I have gone back to school and I take one class per day during my lunch break at work - so I don't get to go out to eat for lunch anymore. But, I do bring a packed lunch and have some time to kill while I eat.

I had found this site that shows a handful of television shows past and present online for free, and I had watched all of the Scrubs seasons (repeatedly, plus I own them) and also watched The Big Bang Theory as well. So, I was sort of out of ideas and decided to give The Office a try.

I have to admit, I didn't really enjoy the first few episodes. But, I am now currently in the middle of season three and I am sort of addicted. I find the entire office hilarious in their own sort of way - especially Jim (John Krasinski) and Dwight (Rainn Wilson).

The lone down side of the show, which is odd to say, is Steve Carell's Michael Scott. I just don't find him all that funny and most of the time his jokes are offensive - basically I find him hard to watch, but like a train wreck.

I don't think I will start DVRing the show, but I will continue to keep up with it via the website. Like I said there aren't too many good comedies on television nowadays, so it's nice to find another that I can turn to for a good laugh.

The House Bunny

Shelley Darlingson (Anna Faris) was an orphan who developed late and ended up becoming a Playboy Bunny.

She spent most of her days living in the Playboy Mansion, throwing parties and doing yoga on the front lawn. After her 27th birthday she gets an odd letter from Hef, asking her to leave the mansion and so starts The House Bunny.

Having no real background in anything except posing and looking hot, Shelley stumbles upon a sorority house and finds that she may just have the qualifications to be a house mother. All of the major sororities already had house mothers, so Shelley took over at probably the worst sorority on campus - you know the one with the nerd and reject girls.

Of course, the sorority is also having a problem - as in if they don't get at least 30 pledges for the upcoming year they would lose their house. So, Shelley to the rescue right.

This movie played out a lot like a mix of Sydney White and She's All That to me

It reminded me of She's All That because of the so called major transformation of the women in the household - going from nerdy, funny looking and basically a joke; to some of the hottest most wanted girls on campus.

The Sydney White comparison is actually pretty darn close to the plot of the film. In the movie, Sydney is forced out of her house and has to live at the reject household with seven guys. Now, she doesn't actually make them cool or better looking - but she makes them fit in with the rest of the school - and helps topple the Greek life that is running the school.

Due to the comparison to the above movie, I have to lower my grade, but I did enjoy the film. Plus, most of the women in the film are pretty easy on the eyes.

Like most films of these type - there is an overall meaning to everything that is happening in the film - and everyone learns a valuable lesson. Which was actually pretty easy to figure out from the beginning - but it was fun to see it being played out.

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Quick Shots

I have had absolutely nothing to do at work this week after finally wrapping up a huge project the week before.

Luckily for me, I was able to watch a movie per day - except on Thursday as I actually had something to do - so instead of a large post of my thoughts for each movie, I thought I would give a smaller post which I am calling "Quick Shots"

Monday: Ghost Rider.

Starring: Nicolas Cage, Eva Mendes, Donal Logue, Wes Bentley and Sam Elliott.

Brief Synopsis: Johnny Blaze (Cage) in order to save his father, sells his soul to the devil. The devil makes Blaze his bounty hunter, which must be repaid when he calls upon him. Blackheart (Bentley) is the devil's son and tries to take over both hell and Earth - that is unless Blaze can stop him.

Opinion: I actually enjoyed this film, despite all the negativity I had heard about it. The backstory and plot were pretty enjoyable - although I would have to give the fight scenes and the overall look of the Ghost Rider a major thumbs down. Everything else that happened in the film, however, was very enjoyable and easy to watch.

Grade:

Tuesday: Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.

Starring: Jessica Alba, Michael Chiklis, Chris Evans, Ioan Gruffudd and Doug Jones.

Brief Synopsis: Susan Storm (Alba) and Reed Richards (Gruffudd) are getting married - if they can. An unknown phenomenon known as the Silver Surfer (Jones) is reaking havoc on the planet - and it is up to the Fantastic Four to save the day.

Opinion: Another film that I enjoyed despite what I have heard. Unlike most superhero films nowadays, Fantastic Four is obviously campy and doesn't take itself too seriously. However, it seems as though the filmmakers tried to shove everything into a 90 minute film, when it should have been a little longer. The Silver Surfer wasn't used nearly as much as it should have been - a reminder of Venom in Spiderman 3.

Grade:

Wednesday: 16 Blocks.

Starring: Bruce Willis, Mos Def and David Morse.

Brief Synopsis: Jack Mosley (Willis) is a cop who is pretty much past his prime and down on his luck. He gets an assignment to transport Eddie Bunker (Def) to the court house in order to testify. Mosley, however, doesn't realize who Bunker is testifying against - and getting to the court house becomes a lot tougher than he realizes.

Opinion: Not a bad film. I got pretty annoyed with the sound of Mos Def's voice, though. His character never shut up - and the whiny voice he choice for him got me very annoyed. Willis' character was easy to get behind, however. And the action scenes were pretty entertaining.

Grade:

Friday: Blindness.

Starring: Mark Ruffalo, Julianne Moore, Alice Braga, Yusuke Iseya and Danny Glover.

Brief Synopsis: A man (Iseya) becomes blind out of nowere, and somehow the blindess begins to spread through the people that he meets - including his eye doctor (Ruffalo). In order to stop the spread, everyone is brought to an old insane asylum, including the eye doctor's wife (Moore) who never lost her sight. While there, they are treated poorly with little food and no medical attention - and some of them become very "Lord of the Flies"-like.

Opinion: I have to say this movie disturbed me, but it was very well done. I am a little confused, however, as the cause of the blindness was never revealed - and why was Moore's character immune to it? The film was disturbing, and gave you that question 'What would happen if everyone had to defend for themselves? Would there be anarchy or would everyone remain civil?'

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Cancellations/Renewals

It's that time of year again, when television networks begin to pick and choose as to which shows are drawing a large enough audience to keep and which ones are about to get axed.

I follow a great number of television programs, probably too many, but with the conclusion of this season many of the programs that I watch will be going the way of the dodo.

Already, ER and Scrubs are ending their runs at the conclusion of the season. ER has been on for a staggering 15 seasons - and although there has been rumors that another network may pick it up for a 16th season, I think it's pretty safe to say that this will be its last. Scrubs was rescued from a dismal farewell on NBC last year to give its parting shot on ABC for its eighth and final season. Another show that had rumors of being renewed if it developed more of a following on ABC - but I am guessing that with the departures of Zach Braff, Bill Lawrence and Judy Reyes that the show will end after the season. And Lost only has one more season remaining after this one.

A new show that I had gotten into was Life on Mars starring Jason O'Mara, Harvey Keitel and Michael Imperioli. It was an interesting show that was fixed in the year 1973, but ABC canceled the show this week. Luckily, we may be given a proper send off as the shows producers were given enough of a heads up.

The new Dollhouse and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles have been bordering on horrible ratings - and due to the cost of production could also hit the scrap heap.

It's not all bad news, however, as Survivor, The Big Bang Theory and Heroes have all been renewed - Survivor and The Big Bang Theory for two new seasons.

As of now that is all that I have found to be announced from the shows that I watch. I am excited for yet another Survivor and I am happy they are giving Heroes another chance - it seems to be picking up again in its third season, hopefully season four will be even better. I am very happy to see The Big Bang Theory return as it is one of only a few comedy shows that regularly have me laughing - and I am already losing one in Scrubs.

Pineapple Express

Have you ever witness a murder? Have you ever witness a murder on weed, man?

Pineapple Express is a pretty hilarious journey of a pair of stoners, one of which happens to witness a murder which sends the pair on this journey.

Seth Rogen stars as Dale Denton, a process server who likes to smoke a little weed and is also dating an 18-year old high school student, Angie (Amber Heard).

Denton has started buying his weed from Saul Silver (James Franco), a guy who lives alone and appears to be just a bit lonely. Anyway, Silver sells Denton a new crop of weed called Pineapple Express, which is very rare - so rare in fact that he is literally the only dealer selling it.

As Denton is staking out his next person to serve, Ted Jones (Gary Cole), he witnesses Jones and a female cop (Rosie Perez) murder someone. He immediately freaks out, tosses his joint out the window, and high tails it to Silver's apartment.

Bad news is, Jones is the supplier that Silver gets his weed from - so he recognizes the Pinepple Express and know immediately who to go after.

The remainder of the film is Silver and Denton trying horribly to escape from a pair of Jones' hitman, Budlofsky (Kevin Corrigan) and Matheson (Craig Robinson).

This all finishes with an all-out war between Jones' crew, the Asians and Silver, Denton and Red (Danny McBride).

This film is another Apatow produced movie, which was written by Rogen himself. Rogen actually wrote the part of Saul Silver for himself, but felt that Franco would do a much better job - and it was a great call because Franco nailed this part.

I wouldn't rank this film too high on the Apatow movie scale - it is most likely behind 40 Year Old Virgin, Knocked Up and Forgetting Sarah Marshall. But, this was a pretty enjoyable film as well.

I felt that Franco literally made the movie - as well as the small parts played by Corrigan and Robinson. The movie had some great laugh out loud moments - and also a pretty cool battle scene at the conclusion.

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