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Reviews
Ringer (2011)
The worst show I've ever seen and I've seen a lot of shows!
This show is a joke! There is nothing good about it. I usually try to write a fair review but this cheese fest doesn't even deserve my typing. The only reason I am writing this review is to try and save those who haven't yet subjected themselves to this torture. The story is oh sooooo predictably stupid. Sarah Michelle Gellar has lost every trace of acting talent or ability. She is so terrible in this show, she should've stayed at home and let us remember her as Buffy. Every episode gets more and more ridiculous as the show mocks the audience with "plot twists" that a three year old wouldn't buy. Nothing about this show is plausible and if your brain is bigger then a peanut, you will be offended at how stupid the writers of this monstrous failure expect you to be. Honestly, watching your daytime soap opera is a better option. Poor Nestor Carbonell. I can't believe that he has come to this after playing the almighty Richard Alpert on Lost. This show is embarrassing anyone associated with it and Sarah Michelle Gellar should never get an acting gig again.
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1 (2011)
A visual companion to the book...maybe?
If you are a Twi-hard fan who has been satisfied with the movies so far, you will love it. However if you are someone like me who is a fan of the books but struggles to enjoy the movies, you will definitely still have those same issues. This movie sticks closest to the book. Most scenes follow the book very closely both script wise and visually. With the other movies certain things weren't always the way the book would describe them to be, but with "Breaking Dawn 1" they've definitely done well with sticking to the story. Bill Condon has done an excellent job directing and the score has finally gone back into Carter Burwell capable hands. So if you loved the score from the first movie, you'll get those tingles all over again as Bella's lullaby plays in the background of some of the best scenes. The soundtrack is OK, no songs by Muse this time around though which I found to be a shame since they're a great band and have contributed to the previous soundtracks. However, one of the favorites from the first movie makes a comeback to accompany a beautiful, if not the most beautiful scene in the entire movie. The wolves also look good, though I found them to look a little "obviously fake" in a couple of scenes, but it is definitely not something that will take away from the quality of the film. I expected better action scenes considering how much money these movies make. All the action scenes are night scenes so the shots are really dark and hard to make out. It's not like they needed to "watch the budget".
On that note, I will now share what I didn't like about the movie. My biggest issue is still the same one that I've had since I saw the first movie: Kristen Stewarts performance as Bella. I have always had a problem with the way she portrays this character but I had hoped that with this movie she would get better because it is full of some serious emotional stuff. She not only under delivers in this movie but she really takes the magic out of it. Her performance is stiff, wooden, emotionless and annoyingly bland. It's basically Kristen playing herself instead of the beautiful character of Bella Swan. The script has given her some fantastic lines and emotionally gut wrenching material which she simply didn't deliver. The only scenes that worked in her favor are in the second half of the movie and that's because of the fact that they did a great make up job and she lost enough weight to look convincingly sick throughout the pregnancy. I have seen Kristen Stewart in other movies too and I just think that this girl is a very weak actress. It's a real shame because Bella is a great character in the books. Pattinsons performance is extremely disappointing in this movie. I think that he is a good actor but his best performance was probably in the first movie. It's since gotten weaker and weaker. Although he's performance is not the strongest, he is still believable as Edward. The actor who has improved the most and gotten better in every installment is Taylor Lautner and that's pretty hard for me to admit because I thought that he wasn't a good choice for Jacob at the start. Out of the three main characters Taylor is the most convincing. So I have to give props to Taylor as he is the strongest link in this movie with Kristen being the weakest. I also do not understand why they keep changing certain Cullens members hair styles and hair colors from bad to worse in these movies. OK Alice's hair is definitely spot on in this installment and the closest to the way it's described in the book. Emmet's and Esme's is too. Carlisle's and Jasper's however is awful. They have orange hair and really bad hair dos. Edwards hair is terrible. I will never understand why they changed his look so drastically from the first movie. He looked the way Edward is described in the book in the first movie. The hair was perfect and they also plucked and tamed Roberts eyebrows in the first film giving him that "out worldly beauty" that Edward is supposed to have. In this movie he's eyebrows are about three inches thick and his hair style is not even close to the way Edwards hair is described. The worst hair award definitely goes to poor Nikki Reid who plays the most stunning girl in the Cullen family, the irresistibly beautiful blonde, Rosalie. OK, her hair is not even blonde in this part!!! Seriously? It's a disgusting shade of dark gray and that is really confusing because her hair looked great in the last film, Eclipse. She also got robbed material wise. She barely has two lines in the movie even though she's one of if not the most predominant supporting characters in the book. Real shame too because Nikki's a good actress and there is some great interaction between Rosalie and Jacob in the book that they've sadly left out of the movie.
I thought that the birth scene was well done considering that they had to take it down to PG13 standards. The last 10 minutes of the movie are amazing and set the bar very high for "Breaking Dawn Part 2". I have to give Bill Condon props for doing a great job directing. Definitely did the best job out of the directors, shame he wasn't on board from the beginning.
I trust him to wrap up this story beautifully.
Being Human (2011)
A review from someone who has NOT seen the UK version
Firstly, I would just like to know what the hell the fans of the British version expected? I keep seeing review after review saying that the US version is a knock off and not original. Well duh?!! It is a remake with the same name and premise. Just what exactly the Brit fans expected I do not understand. The whole reason they made the US/Canadian version is to introduce the show to a broader audience (specifically the US) and not to create a different show with the same name. What is the matter with you people? Obviously if you were already a devout fan of the original, why watch the US version in the first place? Americans don't tend to follow British shows much because it is easier for them to relate or be drawn to a show that has characters with American accents. The same way that it is easier for the British audience to relate to British shows with Brit actors. Just think of The Office or Shameless. The American writers and producers wanted to introduce an already well developed idea to the US market. The show itself is fantastic and I hope that American audiences give it a chance before reading what the fans of the original think about it. As long as people can accept that it is a remake they will enjoy it. If you haven't seen the British version, I highly recommend you give this show a go. It is a very original take on the vampire/werewolf supernatural thing and highly entertaining. If you are expecting another Vampire Diaries or even True Blood then you will be either disappointed or pleasantly surprised, depending on weather you want an original story or the something that Vampire Diaries or True Blood and Twilight have already done. I am a big fan of Vampire Diaries and the reason that I really like Being Human is that it is nothing like V.D. and certainly doesn't try to be. It has an original story and a whole new take on Supernatural beings living among humans and trying to fit in. Even those who love the romance driven V.D. or sex driven True Blood will love Being Human for well, being different. Yes, there is still love and sex but in a lot more realistic non cliché way. What I love about Being Human is that it doesn't borrow from any of the previous shows, movies or even books. It really stands on its own but without trying to change the traditional notions on Vampires, Werewolfs etc. The Vamps still have fangs and drink blood, the Werewolfs change on a full moon and the Ghosts are invisible to the human eye and able to appear anywhere with just a thought. So all of the traditional things are still there and stay true to the Vamp/Were/Ghost etc fans but the stories are clever with just the right amount of blood sucking action and perfectly timed humor. The acting is decent and the special effects are believable. The characters are well developed from the first episode and there is definitely enough chemistry between all of the main characters, especially the two male leads who are very comfortable with each other and very believable as the ill fated best buddies.
Now, to the things that I do not like about the show. First, the character of Sally, which is the girl ghost. She is annoyingly plain and boring with zero charm and comes across extremely dumb and unrealistically naive. Meaghan Rath is terrible as Sally and a really weak actress. Just really painful and extremely irritating to watch. I think that a better actress could've done a great job with this character and in my opinion they couldn't have cast a worse actress to play Sally. She gives nothing to the show, she makes me dislike the character. She's so annoying and such a bad actress that it really makes me wish she falls down those stairs on the set and breaks her neck for real so they can cast another actress to play Sally. Her character is supposed to be really attractive, likable, sexy, strong but vulnerable at the same time with a really quirky side. Meghan gives none of those things. Other occasional characters are hard to watch with the only exception being Sarah Allen who plays the character of Rebecca Flynt,one of Aidans victims turned vampire booty call. She's great, with just the right amount of evil and sexy. The actor who played the stuck in the eighties ghost that helps Sally was awful. Gianpaolo Venuta is weak as Sally's fiancée who supposedly has a temper problem, Danny. Werewolf Ray (Andreas Apergis) is appalling and will make every werewolf fan want to throw up with his over the top redneck performance of a filthy human turned even filthier werewolf. The biggest casting mistake however has to be Mark Pellegrino as the merciless vampire leader Bishop. I am a big fan of Mark and think that he is a brilliant actor but he is wrong for this role in oh so many ways that I'd have to write a separate review just on that.
All in all, if you can handle the occasional bad performance and disregard Sally altogether (which is not that hard thanks to Aidan and Josh) and if you aren't already a fan of the British version, then I definitely recommend you watch this show.
Vanishing on 7th Street (2010)
Boredom on 7th Street
This movie has a potentially good idea for a story but due to bad writing it simply does not deliver. It starts out good enough and as a viewer I really wanted to get into this movie but the story is so flat it makes it really hard. Hayden Christensen has never been a strong actor in my point of view (yes, he is gorgeous) and this is actually one of his better performances but he struggles as a lead in this movie. Thandie Newton is good as a single mother desperate to find her child, John Leguizamo is disappointing as awkward Paul and newcomer Jacob Latimore is totally unconvincing as a wannabe tough kid looking for his mom. There is very little character and story development and about forty minutes into the movie I became really frustrated with the "try-hard suspense" scene after scene with absolutely no climax. I could not wait for this movie to finish and held on to the hope that the story will actually go somewhere but unfortunately it doesn't. Although I did like the very very very small surprise ending (I'm making that sound a lot more interesting then what it actually is).
If you decide to watch this movie expect it to be the worst movie you've ever seen, because that might be the only way that this bore ends up surprising you a little....by being the second worst. Yes, there are unfortunately way worse movies out there but that is the only positive thing I can say about Vanishing On 7th Street: Could have been OK if the story actually went somewhere... I've seen worse.