Monthly Archives: May 2014

Review: The Grand Budapest Hotel

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I’ve been trying to write a review of The Grand Budapest Hotel for over a month, but it’s given me an unusual amount of trouble.  It has made me curious about what this very specific writer’s block means in terms of my opinion of the film.  I certainly enjoyed it, as I’ve enjoyed all Wes Anderson films, but it seems like I just don’t have much to say about it.  My overriding opinion from a review standpoint is that if you like Wes Anderson’s other movies, you’ll like The Grand Budapest Hotel, if you dislike them then you’ll want to skip it, and if you’re indifferent it’s worth checking out but probably not as worthy of attention as some of Anderson’s other works.

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Quote of the Day

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Harry proceeded through deserted corridors, though he had to step hastily behind a statue when professor Trelawny appeared around a corner, muttering to herself as she shuffled a pack of dirty-looking playing cards, reading them as she walked.

“Two of spades: conflict,” she murmured, as she passed the place where Harry crouched, hidden.  “Seven of spades: an ill omen.  Ten of spades: violence.  Knave of spades: a dark young man, possibly troubled, one who dislikes the questioner —”

She stopped dead, right on the other side of Harry’s statue.

“Well, that can’t be right,” she said, annoyed, and Harry heard her reshuffling vigorously as she set off again, leaving nothing but a whiff of cooking sherry behind her.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince – J.K. Rowling

Friday Favorites: Favorite Speech – Jaws

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Welcome to “Friday Favorites” which highlight some of my favorite movie-related things.

I haven’t done a Friday Favorite in a while, mostly because no one reads them, but I felt in the mood to revive it for at least one more week.  I was recently listening to one of the Thrilling Adventure Hour podcasts which parodied sections of Jaws, and like most references to my favorite films it triggered a lot of emotions and memories about the classic 1975 film.  Jaws is truly a masterpiece, far more than just its legacy of propelling Steven Spielberg to the big time and creating the modern idea of a summer blockbuster.  Some highlights of the film are obvious, from John Williams’ iconic score, to Spielberg’s Hitchcockian vision for the film, to some of the all-time best scares, to lines like “You’re gonna need a bigger boat.”  Other things are more subtle, like the genius editing by Verna Fields who does some truly creative things to build tension, or the script’s ability to make a film about a killer shark with the film’s real villain being the town’s mayor.  For me, however, the best part of the film might be this:

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Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. renewed! Plus, Agent Carter set to premiere this fall!

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That’s right, fellow Level 7 Agents, Agents of SHIELD has officially been renewed!  (Update: It’s moving to a new time in the fall!)  I thought we might have to wait until next week for the ABC’s upfront presentation, but the good news came tonight!  After much speculation, Coulson and his team (whoever survives next week’s season finale) will be back in the fall to continue to fight HYDRA and rebuild SHIELD.  After debuting to huge numbers last year, Agents of SHIELD steadily dropped in the ratings, though in the past couple of months viewership steadied and even rallied a bit.  The dramatic tie-in with Captain America: The Winter Soldier really helped, both in drawing attention to the show and in giving the show a creative boost.  The latest string of episodes has been edge-of-your-seat exciting, and I can’t wait to see where they take the show next season.

The other big news on the Marvel front was that the much-rumored Agent Carter series has been picked up for the fall.   Continue reading →

Quote of the Day

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Luke:  You forget, metal can’t hurt me.

Buffy:  There’s something you forgot about, too. Sunrise!

[Smashes a window.  Luke cowers.  Buffy stakes him.]

Buffy:  It’s in about nine hours, moron!

Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 1: Episode 2 – “The Harvest”

Quote of the Day

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Assumptions are dangerous things to make, and like all dangerous things to make–bombs, for instance, or strawberry shortcake–if you make even the tiniest mistake you can find yourself in terrible trouble. Making assumptions simply means believing things are a certain way with little or no evidence that shows you are correct, and you can see at once how this can lead to terrible trouble. For instance, one morning you might wake up and make the assumption that your bed was in the same place that it always was, even though you would have no real evidence that this was so. But when you got out of your bed, you might discover that it had floated out to sea, and now you would be in terrible trouble all because of the incorrect assumption that you’d made. You can see that it is better not to make too many assumptions, particularly in the morning.

A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Austere Academy – Lemony Snicket

Recap: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – “Ragtag”

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It’s the penultimate episode of Agents of SHIELD, and things are shaping up for a thrilling finish to the season.  After last week’s exciting showdown between Ward and Skye, as well as the rest of the team discovering Ward’s treachery and a great appearance from Maria Hill, tonight’s episode saw our crew digging for more information on HYDRA’s plans while we also got to see a bit of how Ward became the traitor he is today.  We also got some new revelations on a variety of fronts, and a killer cliffhanger leading into next week’s finale.  So let’s jump into tonight’s episode, “Ragtag,” written by Jeffrey Bell and directed by Roxann Dawson.

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Quote of the Day

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Worf: Do not hug me!

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Season 5: Episode 7 – “Let He Who Is Without Sin…”

Trailer Tuesday: Star Wars Rebels

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Welcome to “Trailer Tuesday” where I talk about trailers for upcoming movies.

After saying last week that I rarely do TV trailers, here I am again with another one, although this one is much more exciting.  After Disney bought Lucasfilm and the rights to Star Wars, many people wondered what would happen to the wildly successful animated series, The Clone Wars, which aired on Cartoon Network.  The somewhat disappointing but unsurprising answer is that The Clone Wars was brought to a conclusion, and a new animated series was announced, Star Wars Rebels, which will air on Disney XD in the fall.  The trailer premiered this weekend on “Star Wars Day,” although it’s probably been a little eclipsed by other recent Star Wars news.  Take a look and read on for my thoughts below:

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Quote of the Day

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Hermione turned to Harry with a radiant expression and whispered, “Did you really tell him I’m the best in the year?  Oh, Harry!”

“Well, what’s so impressive about that?” whispered Ron, who for some reason looked annoyed.  “You are the best in the year — I’d’ve told him so if he’d asked me!”

Hermione smiled but made a “shhing” gesture, so that they could hear what Slughorn was saying.  Ron looked slightly disgruntled.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince – J.K. Rowling