Burn After Reading

Brad Pitt in a comedic role really had me wanting to watch this movie - and I have to say, Pitt was rather impressive in this role.

Burn After Reading is a bit of a roller coaster in terms of plot. There are tons of random characters that are thrust upon you - and you don't really understand where they all fit in until the movie picks up towards the middle and end.

I guess, technically, the movie revolves around Osbourne Cox (John Malkovich), who quits his job at the CIA after his superiors think he should be demoted. After quitting, Cox decides to start penning his memoirs - which his wife steals as leverage as she begins the divorce process.

Cox's wife, Katie (Tilda Swinton), is cheating on him with another married man, Harry Pfarrer (George Clooney) - and decides to divorce Osbourne and encourages Harry to do the same with his wife so they could be together. Harry meanwhile is also having affairs with a slew of other women.

The action, and most of the laughs, pick up when we are introduced to Linda Litzke (Frances McDormand) - a worker at Hardbodies Gym, an internet dater and someone who is looking for money to pay for four cosmetic surgeries. Pitt's character, Chad Feldheimer, is a co-worker friend of Litzke.

The pair of them find a lost CD, which holds Cox's memoirs (which they believe are government secrets) and Chad believes that if they return it, they should get some sort of reward. Litzke, however, decides to blackmail Cox in order to get the money for her surgeries.

The rest of the movie is pretty chaotic and fun - with some very odd suprises that I was not expecting, but I am not going to ruin it for you.

In the end, everything comes together and all the characters are connected in some way or another

I really enjoyed Pitt's character - and the small role of JK Simmons as a CIA higher up. His lines were very funny and pretty matter-of-factish.

Also pretty funny - the contraption that Harry was building in his basement. I never expected that and it almost floored me.

Grade:

Jumper

I have to admit, I have been pretty anxious to see this film since I first saw a trailer for its release like a year and a half ago.

I am not able to run out and see many films in the theater, so this was one of those that sort of got pushed to being watched on DVD. So, I was finally able to check Jumper out on Sunday.

I was a bit apprehensive, because of some of the reviews I have read from my fellow bloggers whom I respect. But, I was not disappointed. Sure, the movie wasn't Oscar-worthy or very deep - but it was very entertaining.

I think Hayden Christensen has been given a bit of a bad rap because he was Anakin Skywalker in the Star Wars prequels. Everyone believes that he is a wooden actor because of his dialogue, but I think those people should look at the original trilogy - most of Star Wars dialogue is wooden.

I think if people want to check out Christensen in a new light, perhaps check out Shattered Glass and to a little lesser extent Life As a House.

Anyway, back to the film.

David Rice (Christensen) is a jumper - someone who can jump to any point in the world (as long as he is able to see it - either through his eyes or a photograph). He first notices this when he tries to rescue a snowglobe he tried to give his crush, Millie (Rachel Bilson) that was on top of some ice. He falls through, and before drowning jumps himself into a public library.

Rice's homelife is pretty terrible - his mother (Diane Lane) left when he was five, and his father is pretty much non-existent. So he leaves home, starts robbing some banks with his new ability and starts living the high-life in a penthouse apartment.

However, due to his bank robbing and constant jumping - he appears on the radar of Roland (Samuel L. Jackson), who is a pladin, or a person who believes God should be the only person to have such abilities - and thus tries to hunt down and kill jumpers.

On a trip to Rome with Millie, Rice meets up with another jumper, Griffin (Jamie Bell), who is a little more experienced and tries to warn him that he is being hunted.

Like I said before, this isn't Oscar-worthy material, but the effects were pretty amazing. And it was highly entertaining for just a quick hour and a half film.

I sort of get the feeling that they were setting up some sequels with the whole mother situation - and hopefully that happens, or else the ending sort of doesn't really make too much sense.

Grade:

Scrubs: Interns

OK, so I realize I have been totally terrible in posting this month. The main reason is I have been overly busy at work with a job that is due next week. My hope is that once March rolls around that things will have died down a little and I can get back to daily blogging and a little more movie/tv watching. So look for that (hopefully) in the next few weeks.

As many of you out there know, Scrubs is probably my No. 1 favorite comedic television show of all-time. Throughout its run it seriously got hosed on NBC, as it moved multiple times to different times and even days. That being said, it was able to survive seven seasons on the network thanks to its loyal fan base. It was finally given the boot after last season, its seventh on NBC, only to be picked up by ABC for what was thought to be its eighth and final season.

The eighth season started in January, airing on Tuesday nights at 9 and 9:30 p.m. Apparently, from the get-go it was always supposed to move after a handful of shows to Wednesday night, where it will be paired with a new comedy, Better Off Ted, and a lead-in for both Lost and Life on Mars - which means Wednesday nights is now officially ABC nights in my house.

Scrubs has aired 10 brand new shows for the eighth season, before going on a months long hiatus (which it is currently in) before the final move to Wednesdays.

Kicking around before the start of the season, however, was the fact that Scrubs may be given the ER treatment. If the show does well, ABC may decide to pick up the show for additional seasons - but creator Bill Lawrence and stars Zach Braff (JD) and Judy Reyes (Carla) have already said the would not be returning - meaning the show would go forth without many of its current pieces (hence the ER reference).

I have to say, I was very torn on the idea of Scrubs continuing on without Braff - and especially without its creator Lawrence. The show revolves around Braff, with the few occasions that someone else was thrown into the spotlight.

When the season started, we were given a handful of brand new interns - three of which appeared to be the new crew the show was hoping to continue on with: Katie (Betsy Beutler), Denise (Eliza Coupe) and Ed (Aziz Ansari). I was not immediately thrilled with the new additions - and despite the ongoing love that I had been hearing for Ansari, I have to be honest I wasn't that impressed. So my feelings were that in no way was this show going past this season - these characters have no chance of continuing on.

But, after just a few episodes, Dr. Cox fired Ed due to his laziness. And we were introduced to two new interns: Sunny (Sonal Shah) and H0wie (Todd Bosley) - Sidenote: you may remember Bosley as the funny little kid in Little Giants.

I have to admit, that with these two new interns and Denise becoming more of a character, I am starting to enjoy the interns. I am still torn on Katie, but she still has time to sway me. I have been watching their webisode: Scrubs: Interns on abc.com - it's brought to you by Sunny as she documents her first year as an intern - and it is pretty entertaining, and you get to learn a little bit more about your new Sacred Heart interns.

I am still not 100% sure that these four could carry a show by themselves - but I have a little more hope than I did when it was just Katie, Denise and Ed. Plus, the new interns aren't too hard to look at. And how about some Howie for the ladies?

The show has been very enjoyable since its return - but I am a bit saddened that so far we haven't had the entire main cast back together. Due to a budget, most characters have been missing some of the shows (I found out that each main character will miss at least two) in order to make the budget due to their salaries. But, we have been getting a lot more Ted, which is nice - and his cutie, ukulele playing girlfriend Gooch (Kate Micucci).

I will definitely miss my favorite show when it is gone - but I do hope that they give the new interns a chance, perhaps just with a new name - continuing on with Scrubs: Interns to show that it is in fact a different show.

March for Babies

I know that I have mostly turned this site into an entertainment blog - but I thought I would post a note just in case anyone that visits this site is willing to donate.

Every year my family walks in the March for Babies (March of Dimes) which raises money to help children and families of babies born premature or with birth defects - and also hopefully eventually stop both from happening in the future, so every child is born healthy.

This particular cause is very close to my family - my aunt and uncle have gone through a few premature births with their family, and sadly lost their son, Jonathan, due to birth defects.

We were hit even closer to home when my wife and I experienced it first hand. My son, Kasey, was born almost nine weeks premature. He spent four days with a breathing tube and a whole month in the NICU until we were able to bring him home.

It's thanks to the doctors, nurses and the support of the March of Dimes that so many babies that are born premature still have a fighting chance at a healthy and fulfilling life. My son, who is now two, has had no lasting effects from being born so early - and is a healthy, rambunctious boy.

I am posting two website links that lead you to basically the same site. The first is my link for raising money, and the second is for my wife. It doesn't matter which one of us you would like to donate to, because in the end the money goes to March of Dimes, and everybody wins. But, we always have a friendly competition each year to see who can get the most money - so PICK ME.

Thanks in advance to anyone who is willing to donate to this wonderful organization.

My site: http://www.marchforbabies.org/steel11kane

My wife's site: http://www.marchforbabies.org/elr6182

Steelers Nab Six-Pack!

The Pittsburgh Steelers captured the 2008 NFL Championship last night. The second in my lifetime, and sixth overall.

The game had me on the edge of my seat for the entire fourth quarter. I give my props to the Cardinals - who tallied the most yardage against the Steelers defense all season - but I am thankful to have players like Ben Roethlisberger and Santonio Holmes in Pittsburgh.

Amazing game - Amazing finish.


Also, sorry for being absent on here. I hope to be back up and running again shortly. My company just moved offices so I was without a computer until Friday - plus my second semester of school has started, and I am pretty busy at work - so I have had other things keeping me busy.

But, once I get myself in the groove again - I'll be back more often.