22/50x2: Go

I really enjoy films (and even television shows) that show different points of view or different stories that all come together in the end in some way, shape or form.

Of course, it helps when the story is interesting and the conclusion comes together well.

Go worked in all of those ways. The film follows three different storylines, the one of Ronna (Sarah Polley), the one of Simon (Desmond Askew) and the one of Adam (Scott Wolf) and Zack (Jay Mohr).

It all starts with the fact that Ronna is about to get evicted from her apartment and so close to Christmas Eve. Ronna, Simon and Claire (Katie Holmes) all work in a local grocery store. When Simon hears of Ronna's need for extra cash, he offers up one of his shifts at the store. Of course, he has selfish motives at hand as well, as he wants to head to Vegas with his friends.

While working in the store a couple of guys, Adam and Zack, ask where Simon is. Simon is a drug dealer on the side and they are looking to score some ecstasy. Looking for some easy money, Ronna offers to help them out and agrees to meet them later with the drugs.

What Ronna doesn't know, though, is that Adam and Zack are actually a couple of soap opera actors who were busted for possession and are now helping Burke (William Fichtner) track down Simon.

Ronna, Claire and Mannie (Nathan Bexton) travel to Simon's drug supplier's house, Todd (Timothy Olyphant) to try and get him to allow her to sell this one time. She doesn't, however, have enough money o purchase the amount of drugs they want, and as collateral leaves Claire behind until she can make the deal.

This is pretty much the main storyline and the other two weave their way back into this one. So, I will leave it at that.

Let's just say that things sort of go wrong completely for each person who is the lead in each storyline. But, it is definitely interesting, and pretty fun, to see how things come together in the end and how things end.

I actually found it quite interesting that in a movie with so many actors that we have come to know, two lesser knowns actually have the lead roles. I can't for the life of me recall another Sarah Polley or Desmond Askew film. I didn't even mention that actors Taye Diggs and Breckin Meyer are heavily featured in Simon's story, and a much younger Melissa McCarthy and Jane Krakowski were featured Zack and Adam's story.

As I said, it was an interesting film and a great way to tell the story with three separate stories. I very compelled to see where everything was going, and it didn't disappoint.

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Guys of TV: Dempsey vs. Olyphant

Another upset for Jesse Williams, who knocks off Mr. True Blood Stephen Moyer and lands in the quarterfinals.

Last day of the second round begins today. I am not liking the turnout in voting the last few days, so if I don't get a good number today the rest of the bracket will unfold much quicker so I can stop wasting my time.

So, please vote. Enjoy!

(2) Patrick Dempsey

Dempsey took out White Collar's Matthew Bomer in round one to make it to this round. He is currently playing Derek Shepherd on Grey's Anatomy.

(3) Timothy Olyphant

Olyphant lands in round two with a win over Entourage's Adrian Grenier. He currently plays Raylan Givens on FX's Justified.

poll by twiigs.com

Guys of TV: Olyphant vs. Grenier

We have our first upset.

Jesse Williams narrowly defeated Zachary Levi as the first lower seed moves into the second round.

Will it be two in a row? Enjoy!

(3) Timothy Olyphant

Olyphant has been both a movie and television star. He was a star in Gone in 60 Seconds, Scream 2 and Live Free or Die Hard. Not to mention he starred in one of the best HBO series' Deadwood. He is now starring as Raylan Givens on FX's Justified.

(6) Adrian Grenier

Grenier has been in a handful of movies to start his career, including Drive Me Crazy, Hart's War and Celebrity. He is best known for, however, as Vincent Chase on HBO's hit series' Entourage.

poll by twiigs.com

Deadwood

During the summer I took a literature course at college that was basically using television shows as a form of literature.

The teacher was great and constantly said, "What makes good television?" The course was amazing and I came away with a number of new shows that I had never seen, but was now interested in viewing.

The first of those shows that I watched were all five seasons of The Wire and I curse myself for never watching it. However, I was very happy to be able to watch all five seasons consecutively without having to wait.

Well, I tossed in the second series that I found interesting during the course and that was Deadwood. I have never been a huge western fan, but I have to say I was immediately drawn to the characters in this show. And there were plenty.

The show focuses on the new town of Deadwood, South Dakota in the late 1800's and for the most part tries to be pretty close to true events. The shows characters are based on real life characters from that time frame, including well known characters that pop up like Wild Bill Hickock and Wyatt Earp.

The main characters of the show are Al Swearengen (Ian McShane), Seth Bullock (Timothy Olyphant), Sol Star (John Hawkes), Charlie Utter (Dayton Callie) and Alma Garret (Molly Parker). The show, however, is very eclectic with its characters as they stretch out almost as much as The Simpsons.

This show only stretches three seasons of 36 shows. It is very unfortunate that the show was canceled after the third season. Deadwood was amazing right from the start, however, the third season really was a gem and was building to something special - but it ended without a real conclusion. I feel season four would have been epic.

It is kind of fun to watch a town build out of nothing with no real rules, but some of the men around camp take it upon themselves to police the town - as long as it is in their own best interest.

There were rumors of a pair of Deadwood movies coming out, but that report has been squashed and it now appears that the show is finished as it is. It saddens me now that I have seen all of the episodes because like I said, the final season was building to an all-out battle between the Deadwood camp and George Hearst.

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Die Hard Tetralogy

I had to watch Die Hard: With a Vengeance for a project I had to do in my math class. And I didn't want to watch the third movie, without at watching the first two.

I swear I had watched these movies before, but after I got through the three of them I realized, that I may have only seen the third one - despite recognizing a few scenes in the first two, I don't think I have watched them as a whole.

So, this week I watched the Die Hard Tetralogy - including last year's release of Live Free or Die Hard.

Instead of large reviews each film, I will do what I have been doing with smaller reviews of a handful of movies - but as a whole I would have to give this tetralogy an Excellent grade.

Title: Die Hard.

Starring: Bruce Willis, Bonnie Bedelia, Reginald VelJohnson, Paul Gleason, William Atherton and Alan Rickman.

Brief Synopsis: John McClane (Willis) is heading to LA to be with his estranged wife Holly (Bedelia) and his two kids. Holly had moved to LA for a job, leaving NY police office McClane behind. After arriving at her office during a Christmas party, Hans Gruber (Rickman) and his gang take over the building in an attempt to steal a large amount of money. And it's up to McClane to save the day.

Opinion: I have to admit I love a good, smart villain and Rickman's Gruber was outstanding. He had thought of basically everything to get away scott free with a ton of money, and it was fun to see everything play out. What he didn't count on was McClane - who is truly an every man's hero.

Grade:

Title: Die Hard 2.

Starring: Bruce Willis, Bonnie Bedelia, William Sadler, William Atherton, John Amos and Dennis Franz.

Brief Synopsis: McClane is visiting his wife's parents for Christmas and is currently awaiting Holly's arrival at the airport. That same afternoon, General Esperanzo is being transported via plane to the area. McClane becomes supsicious when he finds two men in the baggage department of the airport - but receives little help from Capt. Lorenzo (Franz). Col. Stuart (Sadler) and his men take over the airport and all the airport guidance systems in order to free Esperanzo. Of course, McClane proves to be a one-man army again to take down the villains.

Opinion: I still enjoyed this film, but it was lacking a lot of what the first one had. Plus, it almost tried to copy the first one as McClane was all alone in saving the day. Sadler was pretty good as the villain, but not as great as Rickman's character in the first film. Still a solid showing, but probably my least favorite of all of them.

Grade:

Title: Die Hard: With a Vengeance.

Starring: Bruce Willis, Samuel L. Jackson, Larry Bryggman and Jeremy Irons.

Brief Synopsis: A criminal mastermind, Simon Gruber (Irons) has stolen gallons of a liquid bomb which is set off in downtown New York. Gruber is also holding a grudge against McClane for killing his brother, Hans. So, he enlists McClane - and later Zeus Carver (Jackson) - to play a handful of games, including riddles and math problems, in order to save a school.

Opinion: This film was highly entertaining, and although I was not sure if giving McClane a partner would work - it truly did with Jackson's performance and the two played very well against each other. Irons still wasn't up to the task of Rickman's performance, but he was very convincing as Simon. The riddles and games as a diversion was also very clever and pretty entertaining in trying to figure out along with Carver and McClane.

Grade:

Title: Live Free or Die Hard.

Starring: Bruce Willis, Justin Long, Timothy Olyphant, Maggie Q, Kevin Smith and Mary Elizabeth Winstead.

Brief Synopsis: 12 years after the last film, McClane is a police lietenant and is given the assignment of tracking down and bringing in a computer hacker, Matt Farrell (Long). What he doesn't realize is that Farrell has accidentally helped Thomas Gabriel (Olyphant) take over the world's computers - and cause a "fire sale". McClane has to keep Farrell alive, track down Gabriel and also rescue his daughter Lucy (Winstead) before Gabriel shuts down the entire coutnry.

Opinion: A bit updated as the events take place in 2006 or 2007, which was very interesting to see McClane adapt. He has never been happy with technology, and seems even further behind now. Not technically a sidekick, Long was very entertaining as Farrell - and Olyphant was a great villain, who technically thought he was a do gooder.

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