The Art of Seeing Julie and Julia.

Just got back from seeing Julie and Julia.  All right it wasn't my first choice, or second, but it was a really good movie!  It was a little too long, like almost all movies are now days ( I'm talking to you, Jud Apatow) but the acting was dynamite, the script was inventive and it had some really funny moments.  There was even a moment when I got a little teary eyed ( Julie drops a raspberry cream dessert on the streets of Queens, what a waste). 

I had a bit of a problem with Julie's husband.  She kept referring to him as a saint even though a lot of the time he acted like an asshole.  He bitched and moaned about her spending so much time cooking then ate everything she made like he was just rescued from a desert island. 

Meryl Streep was awesome, as usual, but I thought Stanley Tucci's performance was as good as hers. He should get an Oscar nomination as well as the one Meryl Streep will surely get.

I really liked the way they wove the two stories together, but did not make the mistake of trying to tell either one of the characters entire life story.  That's one of the reasons I liked Walk The Line so much, besides the Johnny Cash music.

In the end all I can say is I left the theater happy and hungry.  Though I left Iron Man happy and hungry as well.  And Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and The Reader. crap.

Top Ten Greatest Lyrics Ever Penned ( a growing list in no order)

These are only numbered so that I stopped at ten.  Any of them could be the best.  My criteria for a great lyric is one that as soon as you hear it you wish you wrote it.  And here we go.

10. "Look both ways before you cross me, you're headed for a danger zone." -Jackson 5

9. "Built for comfort, not built for speed, got everything you good girls need."-Howlin' Wolf

8. "Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me!"- Rage Against The Machine

7. "There's a hole in daddy's arm where all the money goes." -Johnny Cash

6. "I was born by the river, in a little tent, and just like that river I been running ever since."-Sam Cooke

5. "People all over the world, join in, form a Love Train!"- The OJ's

4. "One good thing about music, when it hits you feel no pain."-Bob Marley

3. "I got a crush on you, sweety pie, all the day and night time hear me sigh." -Frank Sinatra

2. "Got me a man named Doctor Feelgood, he takes care of all my pains and my ills."-Aretha Franklin

1. " See that my grave is kept clean."- Son House

Sequels that Don't Exist

Here is my preliminary list of movies with sequels (or later produced prequels) that don't exist in my mind.

5. Ghostbusters - The original is an all-time classic, the sequel is mediocre. To me there only exists one Ghostbusters movie. I hear there is talk of a third movie where the original cast passes the reins to new busters. Why can't they just let good movies be? I don't want to see Ben Stiller, Seth Rogen and Adam Sandler as the Ghostbusters.


4. Jaws - This is one of the greatest suspense/horror movies ever made. But the shark got blown to bits (in a totally non-reality based manner) at the end of the first movie. Series over. Jaws 2-4 do not exist in my world.


3. Raiders Of The Lost Ark - Original, great. Sequel, decent. Last Crusade, good. Crystal Skull? What is this Crystal Skull you speak of? Does not exist.


2. The Matrix - The original was one of the best sci-fi movies ever. It still has great re-watchability. The camera work and the wire stunts were incredible. Even Keanu Reeves was good, and that takes some doing. The second one had a couple of cool scenes but went nowhere and the third made me want to do a back flip, roundhouse, slow motion, bullet time, computer generated kick to the Wachowski brothers' faces. How can you not know the end of that movie is supposed to be the audience seeing that all the characters we like are still batteries, they never left the pod and the machines win by letting us think we win?


1. Star Wars - The first three movies (episodes 4,5 and 6) are the greatest trilogy of all time. Everything comes together perfectly. I have seen those movies more than 50 times each. Han Solo is the archetype for almost every flawed hero since 1977. Episodes 1, 2 and 3 are the most expensive ads for toys ever produced. 1, 2 and 3 do not exist because they suck and never needed to exist.

Green Lantern Promotional Rings

DC Comics just announced that the full spectrum of Green Lantern Promo Rings are coming to a comic shop near you. The rings are atttached to sales of certain books (all of which are Blackest Night tie-ins), so there may be some hoops for you to jump through in order to get the full set. Each store can only get fifty of each color. The rings begin arriving in November. That gives you two months to become one of my fifty best friends.