Survivor: Tocantins Episode 11 Recap

No live blog tonight, as I couldn't be at the TV at 7:00 tonight, but the recap is coming soon...

Thanks to the miracle of technology (aka my parents' DVR), I'm able to watch the latest episode tonight. Though, without commercials and with us watching it starting at a different time, I won't know the "minute" of my post, so I'll just be giving you bullet points.

* Debbie: "I really didn't appreciate you all not telling me" about the plans to take out Tyson. Well, honey, that's what happens when you're on the outs of a tribe. Get used to not liking stuff.

* Further evidence that Debbie has lost her grasp on the game. Persona non grata from last episode - Sierra - is now one of the people in her plans to make the Final Four. Flip-flopper...

* Wow. I've just got nothing of consequence to say about the last 15 minutes or so. Boo me. Here's a quick recap:

- Knowledge of Questions About the Other Players Reward Challegne, won by Stephen, which showed that pretty much everyone hates Sierra.

- Coach was surpisingly quiet (I guess he's still in shock, having joined the losers' team)

- Stephen took J.T. and Taj on his Reward, which featured local cuisine and a cool natural spring

- Erinn suffered on Exile "Island," sleeping in pouring rain.

* Well, that, however, was interesting. Sierra was being perfectly rational, calm, even nice, as she told the plain facts to Coach and Debbie. Debbie FREAKED out, acting as though Sierra was rubbing in her face the fact that she's not with them. D'uh - why the hell would Sierra join the people that just voted for her? Debbie is my new least favorite player in the game, and my sympathies for Sierra, who's just naive more than anything else, are constantly growing.

* Uh-oh. Coach just broke the Warrior's Code, lying to J.T. and Stephen to save his samurai butt. He even offered to become blood brothers with them in a show of his brotherhood and loyalty. Ok, that's not true at all...but it wouldn't have surprised me one bit.

* Damn - I wish I could be playing in the Immunity Challenge - I would totally kick ass, having recently mastered the ball/holes-in-table game on Mrs. Fletch's iPhone. Maybe there will be a Scramble Challenge, too (another iPhone app).

* Coach wins Immunity! His first. I'm going to send a sword and kimono as a sign of my respect to the Wise One.

* You know, I took a look and actually read Debbie's occupation. Having done so, it doesn't surprise me at all that she, a school principal, is having big issues with the 23-year old Sierra that she can't control and boss around like a misbehaving student. "I'm too old for this!," she wailed. Well, I guess you are - why don't you just go ahead and quit.

* I'm pretty sure Coach just said that "honesty, integrity and cowardice" were two things. Hmmm... Oh, and then he went on a bizarre monologue about Stephen (not the contestant, but some historical figure) and God and "God help them for they know not what they do" and blah blah blah - vintage Coach.

* Well, Sierra got the axe, but that wasn't the most interesting part. Did you notice the odd vote for Stephen? Stranger still, did you notice that while the votes were being shown, that it showed a crying Erinn as the one who did it, with the words "swear never again" written below the name? Bizarre. I mean, I guessed that it was her that voted for him, but the crying and note sure threw me for a loop.

* Next week - shocker! - Debbie turns on Coach. I'm really starting to hate her. Can Tyson come back?

Just kidding. I like him right where he is; looking metrosexual as hell in the losers' corner.

Survivor news at Survivor.com
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And then...

Tuesday's Twelve Tags #18

Last week's winner: TTT titan Justin, by virtue of getting 10 tags.
The theme: Each main character is killed during the course of the film. Gotten by Mikey Filmmaker.

Here's the new dozen. The rules are simple: I'm going to give you a dozen taglines, all you have to do is name as many flicks that they belong to as you can. Try to resist the Google. Get the most and you win. There will always be a theme, though it's worth will vary according to how difficult I think it is. This week's theme is worth 3 points.

I'm pulling out the great equalizer this week, and you all ought to more or less hate me for it. But try to think of it as a challenge. More below...

1. Based on the true story (2005)
2. Based On A True Story (2004)
3. Based on a True Story (2001)
4. Based on a true story (1993)
5. Based on a true story (1985)
6. Based On A True Story (1998)
7. Based On A True Story (1997)
8. Based on a true story (1986)
9. Based on a true story (2002)
10. Based on a true story (1977)
11. Based on a true story (2001)
12. Based on a true story (1999)

Do you hate me? Here's where it gets interesting. See, this time I know that there's not a chance in hell anyone might randomly guess more than a couple of these without the Google. So I'm flipping the script - use it to your heart's content. Since it would be relatively impossible even with Google, I've given you the year of release for each film.

As you get them right, I'll mark them as gotten and stuff. Good luck.

Standings
Justin - 6
J.D. - 2.5
Shane, Nick - 2
Sea_of_Green, Jason, Jess, Kyle - 1
Dead Pan - .5

Correct answers so far:

1. The Amityville Horror (Jess)
2. The Hillside Strangler (Jess)
3. Blow (Jess)
4. Shadowlands (Nick)
5. Out of Africa (Jess)
6. Patch Adams (Jess)
7. Donnie Brasco (Jess)
8. Salvador (Nick)
9. City of God (Fletch)
10. Julia (Fletch)
11. Riding in Cars with Boys (Nick)
12. Girl, Interrupted (Jess)
Theme - You guessed it - all of the films are Based on a True Story (Kano).

And then...

Fletch's Mini Film Review: Sunshine Cleaning

I don't know if I would trust anyone that praised or panned Sunshine Cleaning - there just isn't that much to love or hate. It's a well-executed, well-acted film that deals with BIG issues (suicide, adultery, the working poor) but feels like it wades in the kiddie pool trying to stay as, well, sunny as possible rather than get too deep. No catharsis or obstacle lingers long enough to seem a real problem, as the inevitable happy (happier) ending looms.

Amy Adams and Emily Blunt star as a pair of sisters. The older Adams looks after her younger sibling, the younger sibling helps looks after the older's child, and they both look out for their zany-idea-ridden Dad. Along the way, Blunt's ne-er-do-well slacker learns to care for others and take responsibility for herself in an awkward-feeling subplot featuring 24's awkward-feeling inducing Mary Lynn Rajskub, and Adams' never-get-a-man maid virtually ignores the most interesting character on screen. That would be the shop owner played by veteran character actor Clifton Collins, Jr. - for reasons unsaid, his character has but one arm, and if you didn't know better, you'd think Collins himself had lost a limb (he hadn't, and digital effects weren't used, in what amounts to the most impressive feat of the film).

While I wouldn't turn anyone away from Sunshine Cleaning, the film is too reminiscent of better recent films - one a sibling dramedy dealing with death and family (The Savages), the other featuring a quirky, Alan Arkin-fathered family (need it be said?), to be overly recommended. Hell, there's even another Alan Arkin starring film from the last 15 years that deals with sibling rivalry and the lower middle class that I prefer: Slums of Beverly Hills. Still, I seem to be a sucker for modern New Mexico-set films (The Tao of Steve, First Snow, Little Miss Sunshine, 21 Grams, etc.), and it's awfully nice to see Steve Zahn getting to play an actual adult (he is 41, after all).

Fletch's Film Rating:

"You seem a decent fellow. I hate to kill you."

And then...

Separated at birth?

And then...

Stained Glass Cinema Sunday (#36)

Still pretty easy...maybe not the cake walk last week's episode was...




















Standings:
J.D., Fletch - 6
Wendymoon - 5
Jason/Daniel, Nick - 3
Evan Derrick, Jason Soto - 2
Steel11Kane, TonyD, Luke Harrington, Rachel, Adam Ross, Justin, Anders, Dreamrot - 1

Here are the altered/actual posters from last time:

And then...

Fletch's Film Review: State of Play

"Can't do that, Frank. Fat Sam isn't the story, there's a source behind him."

"Who?"

"Well, there we're in kind of a grey area."

"How grey?"

"Charcoal."

It should come as no surprise to anyone that a movie that's ostensibly about the dying newspaper industry sprang Fletch to my mind. Anyone who has seen that 1985 masterpiece knows that it's not just a murder-mystery-comedy featuring one-liners galore, but an in-depth, frank and humorous look at the way the newspaper industry works. Or maybe it just gets that way after a thousand viewings.

But it's true - the frequent rat-a-tat tête-à-têtes (read that five times fast) between Russell Crowe's Cal McAffrey and his editor, Cameron Lynne (played by Helen Mirren) have more in common with Irwin M. Fletcher and editor Frank than you might think. I could even make the argument that Rachel McAdams' Della Frye is the modern-day version of Geena Davis's Larry...but I won't.

In case you haven't heard (you have), State of Play serves as a 21st-century love letter to not only newspapers, but REPORTERS. JOURNALISTS. The type of guys and gals that not only don't have a life (or sleep), but prefer it that way. They work hard, they drink hard, they make lots of phone calls, knock on lots of doors, then go home at 3:00 am to sleep for two hours before doing it all over again. (And if the film had any guts, they'd be smoking like a chimney, too.) They also wouldn't have it any other way.

I'm of two minds on this story. I've been hearing a ton of it lately, from State of Play to Bill Simmons' podcasts, where he waxes poetic about the state of newspapers and blogging on a near-daily basis, to random articles around the web. On the one hand, I can see that newspapers, and the gritty, idealistic journalists like McAffrey, are vital to free speech and the American Way (that is, if they really exist), and if they were to disappear, our system of checks and balances might get scary quickly. On the other hand, it's a reality of the business that most major newspapers (and other media outlets) are all a part of only a handful of conglomerations. With but a few massive organizations, each with giant bottom lines and pressure from stockholders, is the public's best interest really being taken into account? With independent newspapers, bloggers and other facets of the new media, would we be better off without newspapers?

Heady topics that won't be answered here today, and don't need to be. State of Play has made up its mind - the corporation that has just purchased the fictional Washington Globe remains a faceless entity, constantly pressuring Mirren's editor to get the hot story off the presses right damn now, regardless of whether small things like facts or conjecture are getting in the way (or whether or not said story qualifies more as tabloid-fodder than worthy of a top-tier newspaper). They've dared to change from the old-style title font to some modern logo, and have even had the nerve to bring on bloggers to their staff (McAdams). Only over the course of the film does the blogger learn the TRUE ways of journalism from the old hand McAffrey.

In case it's not evident, State of Play is often preachy regarding its beliefs. It has important things to say about the, um, state of the newspaper industry (along with some good digs at a Blackwater-type ops corporation), but, probably because it's squeezed from a BBC miniseries down to a two-hour form, feels at times more like a brochure with bolded, bulleted key points rather than a juicy book. Another thing not helping the case is the semi-rote mystery creating all of the headlines; by the time you reach the conclusion, you'll have realized that, had the story not gone in this direction, there would be no point to telling the story at all.

All of which isn't to sad that it's bad or that I didn't enjoy State of Play. It's good, not great, with the expected solid acting from Mirren and Robin Wright Penn (Affleck holds his own and Crowe mostly sleepwalks - in a good way, I suppose). It also features the getting-great Jeff Daniels (who can't seem to get a decent-sized role these days) and the hands-down funniest performance of the year thus far in Jason Bateman's sleazeball, cokehead PR guy. Bateman enters the film right about the start of the third act, and he couldn't have come at a better time - you can almost literally feel him jolt the screen, and the lightness he brings is crucial in a film that's full of dread and depression much of the time.

Fletch's Film Rating:

"Darn tootin!"

And then...

Survivor: Tocantins Episode 10 Recap (live blog)

7:04: I think I just realized who Coach really is. I'm bursting, this is so perfect. It's...well, let's just say that he's in this video:



Is that perfect or what? He's totally Reed Rothchild! Coach with his line about benching (or pressing, I couldn't quite hear) 300 pounds while Brendan couldn't. What a jackass. Though I guess that means that "he's got the touch."

7:06: Speaking of jackasses, c'mon people - you really like Tyson? It's one thing to win, it's another to be a d*ck about it - rubbing it in Sierra's face, he flat out told her that he didn't think she was smart enough to have masterminded anything. Ugh. I'm officially 100% pro-J.T., and he's not even all that perfect himself.

7:13: The good news? Coach doesn't get to go on the Reward Challenge, which includes some Brazilian dance or something that Coach got a boner for. The bad news? Tyson does get to go. If Sierra had thought of it, she might've thrown the challenge on purpose...

7:17: OMG - Erinn was just allowed to speak via the confessional. I barely knew she was still on the show. At this stage in the game (8 people left), Erinn and Debbie have to be on the lower ranks of people we've 'gotten to know' on the show. I think Coach gets more screen time in one episode than both of them have gotten all season...combined.

7:20: Hey - how come the 'natives' are allowed to wear tank tops and sweats? Oh yeah - that's right...Brazil isn't a third-world country. The hut at the site of the challenge seems forced and fake all of a sudden.

7:22: Oh noes! Stephen is stuck on Exile "Island" again with no food or water. I hope he doesn't die, as he feared the last time he was out there.

7:24: When they showed us the previews for this episode last week, what with Sierra crying and Tyson being a jerk, it made it seem like she was really a victim. But her little crying fit just now was totally unjustified. She chose the wrong side - does she really think she can convince half the people there to up and change their mind and hop onto her team? And then to pout about it? Gimme a break.

7:29: I wonder if Coach watches samurai movies or Ronin and just rolls his eyes the whole time?

7:30: Nice touch by the producers with the super-sad music playing during that heartfelt exchange between Coach and his soon-to-be-adopted daughter Sierra. Well, that is, before he told her to "fall on her sword." I was almost in tears there...

7:35: Wow - that's a heartbreaker. Playing shuffleboard, a novel challenge that we haven't seen before, Sierra made a great play to put herself into the lead with only Debbie left to beat her, and beat her she did. Good drama there. But I do like that Tyson got pissed at the other guys for "not allowing him to eat." Dude, you had a choice just like everyone else.

7:42: Yet another red herring? Stephen, Taj and Erinn start up the Boot Tyson talk. Goddamn it, I'm sick of being teased with these game-changing strategic moves that never happen. I know commentor Robb is with me. Let's see this happen! (Of course, the fact that it's Tyson they're talking about just makes me want it to happen that much more, but that's besides the point.)

7:43: Did J.T. just say "warrior alliance?" He's just gone down a few pegs in my book. Then again, when talking about the potential of voting off Tyson (thereby disappointing Coach), he sure had a big ol' smirk on his face. Like I said last week, please please please please please.

7:47: Hahaha...Taj just crossed her eyes at whatever garbage Coach was spewing. His feathers? Spiritual. Honorable. Beautiful. Godlike.

7:49: Note to Taj: wear glasses all the time. They look good.

7:51: Ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha! That was beautiful. Was it Erinn that came up with that plan? If so, she's my new favorite player (of the week, anyway). Big, big ups to J.T., Taj, and Stephen as well. I CAN'T WAIT for Coachfest next week - it might be the best 60 minutes I've watched on TV this year. I'm giddy just to see the previews for next week, not to mention Tyson's Loser speech.

7:56: I'm disappointed he wasn't more bitter about being axed, though of course he got some Sierra digs in. Then again, he can call her dumb all day, all she's gotta do is point to the scoreboard. Should make for an interesting Final Council and Reunion show. Stay tuned...

Survivor news at Survivor.com
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And then...

Knockin' out a couple memes

In case you didn't already know this, I'm terrible at memes. I'm not totally sure why, but I think I have a good idea. In the end, I think it all comes down to my own jealousy and insecurity. See, someone'll tag me for one and I'll sit there with my new found invisible crown thinking "Yay! This person likes me and/or my writing enough to want to see what I have to say about this topic!"

I'm honestly flattered, and have every intention of taking part in the meme. But then I start thinking things like "Maybe they just think I have better connections than them and can use me to further the meme for their benefit" or "I like being a leader - creating my own damn meme - if I take part in this one, I'm just a follower, and I hate being a follower."

Or maybe I'm just lazy and I lack discipline. Ain't that right, Arnold?

Anyway, I've been tagged by two memes...recently. Okay, that's not true - one was recently, and the other tagging occurred sometime in the last millennium, I believe. Oh well...better late than never, right?

First up, from Deadpan, the Top 10 Man Crushes in film meme.

The Rules:

This can be a character, actor, director, really anyone working on films. The only thing is, they must be a personality. You have to really know something about them. This rules out most producers, cinematographers, etc.

If you are a man, these man crushes, obviously must be men. If you are a woman than I say they have to be a woman. They must be the same sex as the writer making their list.

You can choose anyone living or dead. They must be chosen due to their film content. If you choose Michael J. Fox and the only thing you like about him is his role in Family Ties then he doesn't work. But if you choose Michael J. Fox because you love Marty McFly, and you want to mention that you also love Family Ties, that is acceptable.

Later, in a comment, he added this:

"It seems everyone thought by man crush I just meant favorite males in movies, but by using the term man crush rather than just saying that specifically I was trying to get across that these weren't just men I admired but men I would aspire to be like in my daily life, men who make me wish I were someone else for the duration of the time I am watching them."

Luckily for Deadpan, this is the tagging that occurred some time ago (November 19, to be exact). As that's the case, we can forgive him for even using the term Man crush in the first place - it hadn't been really, truly beaten into the ground until I Love You, Man was released.


Secondly, I was tagged by Getafilm for the 10 Favorite Characters meme. No rules necessary here, as it's super self-explanatory.

To further the ire of meme-rs (?) everywhere and to further my standing within the meme community, I'm gonna be one of those people who just ignores all of the rules and makes up their own. In this case, I'll be doing this by combining the two memes into one Super Meme, picking My 10 Favorite Characters by My 10 Man crushes. Or something like that. Alright, enough exposition...

10. Can you admit when you were wrong? Can you get out of jail and act as a savior to your flailing family? Can you do it all with a giant swastika on your chest? American History X's Derek Vineyard was a role model to so many impressionable kids when he shouldn't have been, and couldn't become a role model fast enough to his own brother when he should have been. Either way, he's Edward Norton's best role by a long shot (well, maybe not that long - Primal Fear's Aaron was pretty damn good, too).

9. I'll flip you. "Flip you fo real," says Fred Fenster, Benicio del Toro's breakout Usual Suspects role.

8. I've got a bit of a man crush on Joseph Gordon-Levitt - I find him to be the most appealing young actor working today (though at 28, it's not as though he's the kid from Third Rock from the Sun anymore). Problem is, I don't particularly like any of his characters just yet. Brick's Brendan probably comes closest, though that film didn't sit all that well with me in the end.

7. Jason Statham's Transporter role, Frank Martin. Because sometimes you just wish you could kick that much ass.

6. Impatient with sunglasses-at-night-wearing dolts, quick with a pop-culture reference (Bonnie & Clyde) while stuck in the trunk of a car, and capable of knocking off banks without even so much as a gun, Out of Sight's Jack Foley is a flawed hero we can all get behind. It also served as the key ingredient to George Clooney being taken seriously as a film actor.

5. (Speaking of bank robbers...) He understands the many philosophies of the world. He can catch a football almost as well as he catches a wave. I never wanted to take Baby out of the corner or make clay pots with Demi Moore, but I could definitely stand to be Bodhi from Point Break.

4. In most cases, I'd think it loco to have a man crush on Samuel L. Jackson. But as Jackie Brown's Ordell Robbie, the man oozed style (and a bit of sleaze). Jules Winfield got all the press, but would you really want that dripping-ass mop for a head of hair?

3. Oh, to have the quick wit and on-the-spot cunning of Irwin M. Fletcher. Gun to his face and he's still cracking jokes. In jail with a pansexual ogre and the one-liners don't stop coming. If he has fear, he doesn't show it much. It's funny that Chevy Chase might be remembered most as the buffoonish dad from the Vacation series, because as he showed in the two Fletch films and the two Caddyshack films, he's capable of being one of the smoothest operators around.

2. Is it possible to have a man crush on someone old enough to be your father? Like so many others in my demographic, the influence of Ford on our lives is large and inescapable. And while Han Solo would be a worthy pick, I can't pass up Indiana Jones from his first film, where Ford showed us that we can all be brainy, tough as nails, creative, sarcastic, spontaneous...

1. Nic Cage Just kidding.

1. Do I really aspire to be couch-dwelling, pot-smoking-from-a-honey-bear slacker? Do I really aspire to be Floyd from True Romance? No, probably not - but my man crush on Brad Pitt started with this, one of his earlier film roles, and certainly my favorite (though Tyler Durden and Snatch's Mickey come awfully close).

And then...

Tuesday's Twelve Tags #17

Last week's winner: Justin yet again, getting one tag and the theme for 7 total points.
The theme: Each film takes place in and/or contains a fictional country.

Here's the new dozen. The rules are simple: I'm going to give you a dozen taglines, all you have to do is name as many flicks that they belong to as you can. Try to resist the Google. Get the most and you win. There will always be a theme, though it's worth will vary according to how difficult I think it is. This week's theme is worth 5 points.

1. Girls like me don't make invitations like this to just anyone!
2. Lies. Betrayal. Sacrifice. How far will you take it?
3. What happens when make-believe believes it's real?
4. He was a rock they broke themselves against however much he tried to protect them
5. ... look closer
6. Some Sacrifices Must Be Made
7. If you want a job done well hire a professional.
8. A bond forged by fire is never broken.
9. No children. No future. No hope.
10. A tale of love. A story of horror.
11. It's Closer Than You Think.
12. Freedom

As you get them right, I'll mark them as gotten and stuff. Good luck.

Standings
Justin - 5
J.D. - 2.5
Shane, Nick - 2
Sea_of_Green, Jason, Jess, Kyle - 1
Dead Pan - .5

Correct answers so far:

1. Pulp Fiction (Justin)
2. The Departed (Justin)
3. Pan's Labyrinth (Justin)
4. Legends of the Fall (Jess)
5. American Beauty (Justin)
6. The Wicker Man (Justin)
7. The Professional - (Justin)
8. Ladder 49 (Justin)
9. Children of Men (Justin)
10. The Orphanage (J.D.)
11. Armageddon (Justin)
12. Blood Diamond
Theme - Each main character is killed during the course of the film. (Mikey)

And then...

Get to know your Fletch!

I mentioned last week that I was asked to be a part of MovieBlips Box Office Prediction feature that they were running. Well, I didn't want to spoil it at the time, but they also asked to interview me as a part of their Blogger Profile series; humbled, I agreed (I think I'm the first one in the series). Heck, I even sent them a doofy picture of myself for all the world to see.

You can read it all here. Here's a sneak preview:

And then...

Stained Glass Cinema Sunday (#35)

Project: Make SGC Easier rolls on...




















Standings:
J.D., Fletch - 6
Wendymoon - 5
Jason/Daniel - 3
Evan Derrick, Jason Soto, Nick - 2
Steel11Kane, TonyD, Luke Harrington, Rachel, Adam Ross, Justin, Anders, Dreamrot - 1

Here are the altered/actual posters from last time:

And then...

Something completely unrelated...and then TGITDNMAR (4/17/09)

If you've ever looked at a rating I've given to a film and thought to yourself "Is this guy on crack?," you'll be happy to know that I now know exactly how you feel. See, I've spent the better part of the past week on a somewhat massive project for Blog Cabins, and in doing so, have become acutely familiar with every score I've ever handed out (~175 of them in all).

To see the fruits of my labor, have a look at the sidebar to your right. The static image that illustrated the Fletch Film Rating Scale is gone, replaced with a dynamic new system of pull down menus, one for each rating, and another that lumps all films together alphabetically.

I'd originally intended to create The Fletch Film Review Index as a typical post that was pre-dated, which I would just create a link to for reference, but somehow I got it in my head to do it this way, and I couldn't love it more now that I'm through with all of the HTML and Javascript lessons I've forced upon myself along the way. The only potentially unfortunate thing is that I might have done this all for myself; I have no idea if the demand to more easily scan my previous reviews exists - but at least if it does, a great system is in place now. I hope you like it. Oh, and if you're a LAMB, this serves as a sneak peak - I've decided (finally) that this is the format I'd like to use for the long, long, long awaited "LAMBs by Category" widget that I've procrastinated doing for the better part of a year.

Anyway, in making it, specifically the part where I lumped them all together by rating, I can't tell you how many times I looked at a rating I handed out only to be flummoxed by it. Films that I would be fine with never seeing again slipping into the "It's in the hole!" range, films that I would watch endlessly getting lower ratings, and many others that could just as easily slide from one to the next. Perspective - it does a body good.

But now - to the TGITDNMAR-mobile! Let's go!

It's that time again for TGITDNMAR, which (obviously) stands for Thank God It's The Day New Movies Are Released.

State of Play
In case you're not already aware, let me break the news for you: this is Benaflek's comeback year.

After not appearing in a single film in either 2007 or 2008, Big Ben is slated for three roles of various sizes this year. He already had a part in He's Just Not That Into You. He's currently being lauded for his performance here. And the best yet? He's playing Jason Bateman's pot smoking buddy in Mike Judge's new film Extract, which is slated for a Labor Day release and co-stars Mila Kunis, Kristen Wiig and J.K. Simmons. I am so, so there.

As for this flick? It looks pretty decent and all, but the name bugs the hell out of me. State of Work. Country of Play. Play of State. State of Theater. I have no idea what State of Play means - is this some common phrase that I'm woefully ignorant of? Whatever.
Fletch's Chance of Viewing (in the theater): 68%

Crank: High Voltage
I know few things in this world, but I do this: I need to see the first Crank. If it's even close to being the perfect balance of good and bad that it's fans claim it to be, I ought to love the hell out of it. However...something tells me that it's more Wanted than Roadhouse on the Enjoyment of Cheese Scale. How say you?

That said, Corey Haim is in this one! Corey Haim! And Dwight Yoakham! And Linkin Park lead singer Chester Bennington? And Bai Ling? What, was Dustin Diamond busy? This sounds just bizarre enough that I might have to see it.
Fletch's Chance of Viewing (in the theater): 39%

17 Again
So help me God, if this flick is somehow successful and Hollywood decides to then remake Vice Versa or Like Father, Like Son, there'll be hell to pay. You just don't f*ck with Dudley Moore and Kirk Cameron, alright? Actually, that's not true - they can screw with Cameron all they want; he's been a religious nutball for the past 15 years. But you don't mess with Judge Reinhold and Fred Savage, alright? These are Hollywood heroes, along with being amongst the best of the Seinfeld guest stars.

This is all a long way of saying that I could not care less about 17 Again. Does anyone (outside of teenage girls, who don't count)?
Fletch's Chance of Viewing (in the theater): 17% (ok, it's really 0%, but I couldn't resist)

And then...

Survivor: Tocantins Episode 9 Recap (live blog)

7:01: Boy, the producers at CBS sure must be loving the gold mine of comedy that they have in their hands in the form of Coach. Not only does he lead off an episode yet again, but the Steven Seagal clone even goes so far as to regale his fellow contestants with some wacko tale of him in the Amazon that could be straight out of a Seagal flick. Beautiful.

7:02: Says Brendan, "I don't believe this guy anymore. If I can't believe his stories, then I can't believe him." Whoa whoa whoa...back up a second. "I don't believe this guy anymore." Anymore?!? Mental note: Brendan not the brightest player out there.

7:06: Survivor: Coach rolls on, as we return from break to soothing pan flutes and the sensual images of Coach doing his tai chi or whatever in the lake. Why oh why couldn't this guy get a leg infection? Not two minutes later, the douchebaggery continued with this sequence:

* Sierra insults Coach (calling his "performance" hilarious),
* Coach professes that he doesn't "give a rip" what anyone thinks,
* In the confines of the confessional, Coach calls Sierra the "feces that exits the dragon" or some such garbage.

7:10: This challenge could not have come sooner. I don't even care what it's about.

7:11: Not 20 seconds after I type that, I hear Jeff utter the words "when you break someone's tile..." God, I hate the tile breaking challenges. Whatever happened to the good old-fashioned "make the players eat nasty things" challenges? Those were the good old days.

7:15: Was Courtney from China a bigger physical threat than Stephen aka Buster? Just putting that out there...

7:16: Let's play Guess Who Said It. The quote is "Be the wizard, Stephen. Be the wizard."

Time's up. Did you guess Coach? Right you are! The prize is "Sorry, I got nothing for you."

7:21: Meanwhile, the Drama Queen of the Week award goes to Stephen, who when struggling to make fire while on Exile "Island" actually said something about the possibility of him dying out there. Huh? Call me crazy, but I don't think it's sub-freezing temperatures even at night out there in Tocantins. Somebody get Buster his juice box, stat!

7:25: Mrs. Fletch just went on a two-minute diatribe about the evils of the Burger King/Spongebob/Sir Mix-a-lot commercial. Points for passion as it relates to pop culture, but points taken away for overreaction to a commercial that kids won't even understand, much less be impressed upon.

7:28: Pays to be charismatic. Apparently, folks just be fighting to keep J.T. in the game.

7:30: Mark it - J.T. or Tyson is winning this immunity challenge, which is of the "tied to a rope and having to weave through multiple obstacles" variety. Thankfully, Coach is just too big and uncoordinated to do well. Yay!

7:35: Supergenius! Despite a scare by Brendan, Tyson pulls out the victory. He was the wizard today, indeed.

7:40: Seriously, is CBS feeding Coach lines? This is getting ridiculous. "The wizard is turned into the Man of the Mountain."

7:42: You know what would be cool, in a stabbing myself in the ears with ice picks kind of way? A movie directed by Michael Bay, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, starring Nic Cage and Coach. C'mon folks, we've been 3/4 of the way there before - how about completing the job and really causing Armageddon for us?

7:45: Jeff really needs to be a little less obvious. Asking the players who the camp storyteller is? No surprise, it led to Coach recounting the 7 or 8 times his life has been in danger, which included everything but "being chased by a mad leprechaun whilst journeying through the 'hood one day" and "being stalked by a guy in a hockey mask."

7:50: Two votes Coach. Please please please please please....

7:52: Son of a bitch.

Survivor news at Survivor.com
Survivor homepage at CBS.com

And then...

Blogger's Box Office Predictions on MovieBlips

Just a quick note to pimp something that I participated in recently. I was asked by Robyn of MovieBlips (a child of ShowHype, in a way) to answer a few questions about this summer's movies and their projected box office takes. It's a good read (similar to the questions I posed to the players of last year's Summer of LAMB) and - even better - I was far from the only LAMB to play along. Also taking part were the authors of The Center Seat, Are You Screening?, and The Screening Log. Here's the link:

http://movieblips.dailyradar.com/story/bloggers_summer_predictions/

Sidenote: an udpate to "March to Box Office Madness" will be coming to the LAMB very soon; there certainly aren't any matchups that have gone final, but I'll let everyone see how many folks are playing, what they picked, and I might even have some news about the prizes.

And then...

Fletch's Film Review: Duplicity

Mrs. Fletch did not like Duplicity. In fact, she cared so little about it that she instead spent her time mentally logging these 13 random facts about our experience in the theater:

1. Paul Giamatti has low gums.
2. The glasses Giamatti wore, although not his style, brough a nice uplift to his face.
3. Is that a piece of mascara under Julia Roberts eye, or is that a mole or what?
4. Julia Roberts has no philtrum.
5. Why am I getting lost in this movie because I never get lost in movies...oh right, it's because I don't care.
6. Clive Owen has a thin body with a larger than normal head.
7. Julia Roberts has a normal body with a thin head.
8. Julia Roberts has a big ol' 3-D mole on her back.
9. I wish Fletch would stop playing with his fingers as that's really taking me out of the movie.
10. Julia Roberts kinda sorta walks like a horse.
11. Julia Roberts may be paler than I am.
12. I'm glad I didn't wear a v-neck shirt because this way I can't get popcorn down my shirt.
13. I feel bad for Emma Stone for having to take the role as the Ghost of Girlfriends Past in that awful-looking Matthew McConnaughey movie.

Clearly, the film didn't have enough furry woodland creatures to keep her engaged. As for me, I enjoyed it. For a Steven Soderbergh ripoff, Tony Gilroy does a pretty good job, even managing to pull off a feat I'd have never thought possible: he made the world of Dove and Johnson & Johnson look downright exciting. Nothing says capitalism like multi-national companies spending more on spy games than many countries probably do.

I'm sure that, somewhere amidst the campy fun that Paul Giamatti and Tom Wilkinson had playing uber-paranoid CEOs and the better-than-expected chemistry between stars Clive Owen and Julia Roberts, there's an important lesson to be learned about interpersonal relationships and how paramount trust is. However, I'm afraid it still wasn't enough to keep me from busting out a brand new edition of the soon to be famous Fletch's Stick Figure Synopsis©:









Fletch's Film Rating:
"Darn tootin!"

And then...

Tuesday's Twelve Tags #16

Last week's winner: Kyle, picking up his first win, with 8 points.
The theme: Needlenose Ned, Ned the Head aka the man that did the whistling belly-button trick at the high school talent show aka Ned Ryerson aka Stephen Tobolowsky was in every film.

Here's the new dozen. The rules are simple: I'm going to give you a dozen taglines, all you have to do is name as many flicks that they belong to as you can. Try to resist the Google. Get the most and you win. There will always be a theme, though it's worth will vary according to how difficult I think it is. This week's theme was going to be worth only 3 points, but I changed up some of the movies and made it harder, so now it's worth 6 points. Also, keep in mind that Justin earned himself a bonus 2 points before we even get started, by virtue of taking me up on getting the last 3 tags from last week (after the outcome was already decided)

1. Putting the "F" back in Freedom
2. When it comes to war...America means business
3. The critics are raving... the natives are restless... and the laughter is non-stop!
4. This summer a star falls. The chase begins.
5. Let's do this
6. The truth needs no translation.
7. Somewhere... somehow... someone's going to pay!
8. Be ready to believe us.
9. The greatest fairy tale never told.
10. She rocks. She rules. She reigns.
11. It is not what is outside, but what is inside that counts.
12. Grab Life by the Balls

As you get them right, I'll mark them as gotten and stuff. Good luck.

Standings
Justin - 4
J.D. - 2.5
Shane, Nick - 2
Sea_of_Green, Jason, Jess, Kyle - 1
Dead Pan - .5

Correct answers so far:

1. Team America: World Police (J.D.)
2. War, Inc. (J.D.)
3. The Gods Must Be Crazy (Jess)
4. Stardust (Dave)
5. The Sentinel (Justin)
6. The Interpreter (J.D.)
7. Commando (Jess)
8. Ghostbusters 2 (Jess)
9. Shrek (Nick)
10. The Princess Diaries (J.D.)
11. Aladdin (Jess)
12. Dodgeball (Nick)
Theme - Each film takes place in and/or contains a fictional country. (Justin)

And then...

Burning Questions - Ferris Bueller's Day Off - Part 2

Midway through Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Ed Rooney, in the pursuit of Ferris, walks into a pizza parlor/arcade. His eyes light up as he spots (from behind) someone he assumes is Ferris; it instead turns out to be a comely young lady with a haircut similar to Ferris's, wearing the same jacket that we'd seen young Mr. Bueller wear through the course of the film.

But what really led Ed to believe that was Ferris? To that point, the only time in the film he had seen Ferris was when he showed up to school driving Cameron's father's Ferrari, disguised as George Peterson. How did Rooney know what Ferris was wearing?

I hear you, smarty pants. Right now, you're saying "Rooney really hated Ferris, and must have known that Ferris wore that jacket a lot."

Really? First of all, the principal of a 1000+ student high school knows the wardrobe of his students so well that he's going to mistake some female in a random leather jacket for one of his students? Now, I could buy all that if it wasn't for this: am I really supposed to believe that a teenager as dynamic and stylish as Ferris would wear the same jacket day in and day out, so much that his principal would recognize (practically) anyone else wearing said jacket as him?

I say bullsh*t to that.

And then...

Stained Glass Cinema Sunday (#34)

Nick's on a roll, and in an effort to get some more people involved again, I've made sure that the next dozen or so of these are easier, both in terms of more popular films, and less "puzzled" images. Good luck.




















Standings:
J.D., Fletch - 6
Wendymoon - 5
Jason/Daniel - 3
Evan Derrick, Jason Soto, Nick - 2
Steel11Kane, TonyD, Luke Harrington, Rachel, Adam Ross, Justin, Anders - 1

Here are the altered/actual posters from last time:

And then...

TGITDNMAR (4/10/09)

It's that time again for TGITDNMAR, which (obviously) stands for Thank God It's The Day New Movies Are Released.

If only. If only Observe and Report could have worked a colon into its title - we'd have all three wide releases with colons!! Can you imagine the potential excitement? I would have had to seriously think about possibility buying this t-shirt! But nay, nay said writer/director Jody Hill. A mere "and" it is. Well, in my head, it'll always be Observe: Report.

Hannah Montana: The Movie
This is torture.

Let me back up, and while I'm at it, I'm going to let you behind the scene - tear down the non-existent fourth wall and share with you a trade secret here at Blog Cabins. See that picture over there to your right? Due to the intricacies of Blogger, if I don't type enough lines to "cover" that picture, the formatting on this post will be all screwed up and I'll look wildly unprofessional. If you're a longtime reader, I'm sure you've seen something like that before.

So...I have to figure out something to say - anything - about friggin' Hannah Montana: The Movie, a film adaptation of a TV show I've never seen nor wish to, starring a toothy teenager and her former joke of a father. I can't even look at the full cast and derive any material, as the only other names I recognize are Melora Hardin, Barry Bostwick and Vanessa Williams, and I don't even know why I know the name Melora Hardin.

Lucky for me, I was always great at b.s.-ing my way through term papers and the like, and I just managed to crap out a few hundred words about a movie that I will never ever see.
Fletch's Chance of Viewing (in the theater): What do you think it is?

Observe and Report
Of course, if they really wanted to squeeze that colon into the title, they could have called this Paul Blart: Taxi Driver, since those are just about the only things that I've seen written about this.

That's not true - I think one review spent more time talking about Hill's last flick - The Foot Fist Way - than it did talking about this one. Whatever the case, I say meh. Hill has also been heavily involved in HBO's Eastbound & Down, and while I don't hate it, I'm certainly not salivating over it. I just don't think I find his style all that funny, though that might be the point.
Fletch's Chance of Viewing (in the theater): 16%

Dragonball: Evolution
Longtime and tremendously astute readers might notice that a movie that I don't have much interest (or things to say about) usually gets pushed to the bottom of TGITDNMAR. But when there's more than one, what is a Fletch to do. The answer is above.

As for this one...um, let's see...Chow Yun-Fat is in it, and he's always good. And hey - an Ernie Hudson sighting. Even better. But wait - this really kicks ass: there's a dude in this named Texas Battle. I don't even know what to say, but that's awesome.
Fletch's Chance of Viewing (in the theater): 0%

And then...

Survivor: Tocantins Episode 8 Recap (live blog)

Well, I missed the opening sequence, but I'm here now and ready to live blog this puppy. Let's get down to business...

7:05: Yet another episode that start off with Coachanigans (those are shenanigans from your friend and mine, Coach). This time, it's a heavy dose of meditation in the camp lake, set (excellently) to an overpowering symphony, as it he were Conan the Barbarian or something. Nice touch, CBS.

7:08: Meanwhile, over at Jolly Pal, Joe's infected leg has grown to about 150% of its normal size. Uh, I hate to be the one to break it to you, but infections and Survivor DO NOT mix well. Don't be surprised if Joe is gone soon - if not tonight, then next week. Which means no tribal council. Weak.

7:10: The tribes head to what they think is a Reward Challenge...but instead it turns out to be the much-anticipated merger. And so the game begins...

7:12: The new tribe name is Forza, which means strength in Portuguese. C'mon, players - just once, can you pick something silly, stupid and/or inane? How about Lollipop? Or Gizzard? Or Poopyheads? If you must translate it into the native tongue, so be it, but at least show some creativity.

7:20: Yes indeed, the mice have been dropped into the maze, and each is searching frantically for the cheese. Coach and J.T., Stephen and Tyson - former tribes are seemingly going by the wayside faster than you can blink an eye. Of course, things never seem to finish that way. the team that's in power will likely flirt with the desperate fish of the losing tribe, but they'll get their heads on straight when Tribal Council comes around. That is, if there is a Council tonight.

7:25: If there is indeed some swapping, Brendan sure as hell better have an airtight alliance with Taj, Stephen and Sierra, because it seems as though every guy in the former Tambeera tribe is out to oust him. Of course, "every guy" only translates to Coach and Tyson, but they've been chatting up J.T. and Stephen quite a bit, and they are just chomping at the bit to get rid of Brendan.

7:28: Memo to Tyson: I don't care how thin and tan you are, blue v-neck t-shirts are not flattering. At all. Weirdo.

7:30: Hooray! The inevitable "Joe being forced to leave the game" moment has yet to come, and an Immunity Challenge is upon us. Speaking of which, another idea for something that needs to change: I've had it with the gaudy, oversized necklace as the Immunity Idol. My suggestion - a ring. And you bet your butt that's a 49er ring over there. One of five! :)

7:32: It might not be all that creative, but the "hang onto something for as long as you can" challenge is definitely one of my favorites. Who wants it? How bad do they want it? Can they impose their mind over the pain rushing through their body like a pinball?

7:33: Ok, we all get Joe not lasting two minutes grabbing onto his pole, but c'mon Stephen - you looked as though you were in a challenge to see who could slide down their pole the fastest. Weak sauce, Buster.

7:35: The power of the Blue V-neck prevails! Tyson, who probably has the best proportional-weight ratio (which I might have just made up), outlasts little Debbie and Sierra, who managed to beat Stephen in the fastest-down-the-pole contest, sliding down the length of it in about 2 seconds and getting about 500 painful, painful splinters along the way. That was almost as painful as watching that fungus monster lift up a toenail in that commercial from a few years back.

7:41: Shocking - the medic tells Joe that he's going to die, basically. Bad luck, Drama. I'll bet Vincent Chase wouldn't have gotten an infection. Always the bridesmaid.

7:43: Wow. One challenge won and Tyson is suddenly the cockiest sumbitch you've ever seen. Talking up his looks, his game, his prowess with Brendan - he can do it all, and you can bet he's gonna tell you about it. No wonder he's bonded with Coach.

7:50: Blah blah blah...Coach thinks he's brilliant.

7:51: And...here comes the hammer. Jeff shows up at camp after nearly 15 minutes of screen time of players scheming this way and that to tell the tribe that Joe is gone. It's the least sad I've ever seen a team look when told that a player had to leave the game. Poor Joe - seemed like a nice enough guy to me. Poor Erinn, too - I think Joe was her only ally. Poor Tyson, too - kind of. It's just gotta stink to win Immunity only to see it turned useless. But mostly, poor Joe - I hope he's alright.

7:54: Since the show turned out to be anti-climactic, I do have some other Survivor news you might not have seen in the past week: Erik and Jamie, vets of Survivor: China and aka the guitar-playing virgin and the girl that told everyone she wasn't so dumb, only to immediately play a fake idol, were married recently. Congrats to the toothy, semi-annoying couple.

Survivor news at Survivor.com
Survivor homepage at CBS.com

And then...

Fletch's Film Review: Adventureland

I never worked in an amusement park. I never had dreams of going to New York City to attend grad school. And I most certainly wasn't a 22-year old virgin. But I was a child of the 80s. And I did work summer jobs before, during and after college. And I had relationships not unlike those portrayed in Adventureland. And I most certainly have come to an age where even those friendships and relationships that went south as a young man hold a nostalgic value that can't be measured.

With that in mind, Adventureland served as a reminder to me that what you bring into the theater has a heavy influence of what you take out of a film. I may not have lived in Pittsburgh in 1987, just as I never flew to New Jersey to attend a funeral, but as with 2004's Garden State, I felt at times as though I was watching home movies from a life I never lived. And despite its imperfections, when a film connects with you like that, it's really hard not to love it.

Early on, I was worried. Before the film's title is even shown, we're already made aware that our protagonist, James, is a 22-year old virgin, complete with friends that are out to help him "get that first one out of the way," ensuring that his ensuing post-graduation trip to Europe will be a sexual success on all fronts. Here we go again, right? How many films starring young men must we see where the prime (and sometimes only) objective is to "GET LAID!," only to of course see our heroes learn that there's more to life (and women) than just sex. Aww, didn't we learn a great lesson there?

Further worry came in the form of James himself. Played almost nebbishly by Jesse Eisenberg, James starts out as the type of anti-stud that, again, we've seen one too many times. He doesn't just get pushed around (by women, by his parents, by his "friends"), but he's the type that makes self-deprecating remarks as it's happening. How many times must we endure the pain of Mikey's painful Swingers voice mail fiasco?

However, Adventureland proves to be the rare film that gains momentum, and charm, as it proceeds. As James settles into his job at the amusement park, we're introduced to cast of characters that's not only diverse but detailed and respected enough to transcend mere cliches (the lone exceptions are the park's operators, played nevertheless with straight-up comic glee by Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig). From Martin Starr's excellent, pipe-smoking Joel to Matt Bush's D'Annunzio-lite Frigo (watch for his awesome declaratory t-shirt early on), they're given the kinds of traits and quirks that stand out without being grating, and there's a distinct lack of pandering to the audience's intelligence. If anything, it's the park's attendees that get the short end of the stick, portrayed mostly as rubes and/or morons, there only to torment the employees and/or get mocked by them - by and large, these are smart kids that just happen to be doing work that a chimp would laugh at. And though they sadly don't realize it at the time, they're having the times of their lives - even when forced to listen to "Rock Me, Amadeus" 20 times a day.

Fletch's Film Rating:

"It's in the hole!"


Random thoughts:

* This film has been compared to everything from Say Anything... to Dazed and Confused to the oeuvre of no less than John Hughes himself. All of those are apt, and I'd even throw in a heavy nod to Noah Baumbach's similarly toned post-college dramedy Kicking and Screaming and also to another of Richard Linklater's - Before Sunrise. Whether it's the soundtrack, the setting, the realistic characters or the lack of broad physical humor, Adventureland seems set to become a cult teen hit in the vein of all those. I hope it does, because with a $6 million opening weekend, cult status is about all is has to look forward to in terms of popularity. A shame.

* I can't recall specifically where, but a review I read recently paid a compliment to Mottola that I think bears repeating. They pointed out that, despite the film's 1987 setting, Adventureland never beats you over the head with kitschy "Haha - look, it's the 80s! Weren't we stupid?" moments. That subtlety and respect to the era is welcome in a period comedy where the usual direction is to mine the era specifically for laughs (The Wedding Singer, Wet Hot American Summer). There's not necessarily anything wrong with looking back on old times with a sense of humor, but keeping in line with the tone of your movie is paramount, and Mottola handles it excellently.

* In a similar vein, the soundtrack kicks ass; it touches on several high points in 80s pop and rock (The Cure's "Just Like Heaven," Bowie's "Modern Love") while largely avoiding the usual roundup of one-hit wonders, outside of the aforementioned "Rock Me, Amadeus," which is derided even by the film's characters. The real standout for me, though, was INXS's "Don't Change," which plays at a pivotal moment. It's been so many years since I heard the song that I barely knew it was INXS. It was familiar, but sounded like a cover of a song I knew from long ago.

After having listened to it at least five times since last night, I'm sure of three things: 1) it's not a cover, though it was covered by the Goo Goo Dolls (thankfully, I never heard that version), 2) I really wish I hadn't forgotten it, as a listen this morning to INXS's Greatest Hits has me convinced that it's their best song, and 3) is it just me, or does INXS have the worst ratio of respect given:respect received of all 80s bands? This is a band with an impressive string of radio-friendly pop-rock hits, that sold millions of albums over the span of almost 15 years...and yet they practically get the one-hit wonder treatment. Doesn't INXS win over Duran Duran and (gulp) Wang Chung every time? They don't even seem to be in the same class to me.

And then...

Poll results; new poll

If you've noticed that I haven't, you know, seemed to write about movies all that much lately, you're not alone. But more on that in a bit.

First, the results of the last poll. In the previous post like this, where I introduced the Survivor poll, I said that I was curious as to what percentage of readers here actually watch the hit reality show, stating that "I can't imagine it being more than 20%."

Well, look who's all smart and stuff. I hit the nail right on the head. Also unsurprising is that there aren't really any 'occasional' viewers; I wouldn't think that too many reality shows have part-time viewers - keeping up with the story would be pretty difficult in that case.

Anyway, though I wish that 20% was a bit higher, I think the Survivor blog will continue at least through the end of the season, as those that do watch and read seem to enjoy it quite a little bit.

Speaking of writing about subjects other than movies (and/or just not writing much in general), that's the subject of the new poll, in a roundabout way. It seemed to both Mrs. Fletch and I that we just haven't been to the movies much lately, and I'm not exactly crazy. I did some quick research, and judging by the number of reviews written (or to be written...ahem, Watchmen) this year compared to last, we've seen quite a bit fewer. 20 for 2008 versus 14 for 2009, to be exact.

What's to be blamed? I could certainly argue that there's been a dearth of quality films released in the first quarter of 2009. When I remove the leftover films from last year from those 14 films, I'm left with a scant five (5) 2009 releases seen (Monsters vs. Aliens, I Love You, Man, Watchmen, The International and Coraline). I mean, I know that January and April are the traditional dumping grounds for Hollywood (along with August), but this is ridiculous. Are we that picky and/or demanding of quality? It certainly doesn't seem as though we've missed much - according to Rotten Tomatoes' Tomatometer, the only wide releases over 50% (approval) that we have yet to see are: Adventureland (first on my Want To See list), Sunshine Cleaning (meh) and Duplicity (meh plus). Also complicating our lives was having each of our fathers in the hospital at some point over the last few months.

But all is getting better now - Dads are healing, the heat is returning to the Valley of the Sun, and I'm hoping this issue becomes null and void as we enter the spring/summer movie season, as it rightly should. In the meantime, I hope to keep you on your toes with a random sampling of SGCs, 12 Tags, FF-UNs, TGITDNMARs, Survivor recaps, Burning Questions, and anything else I can think up. Thanks for reading.

And then...

Tuesday's Twelve Tags #15

Last week's winner: Nick, on a roll winning his 2nd straight, with 10 points. He didn't get a single tagline, but nailed the 10-point theme.
The theme: In each one of the lead actors shared their first name with that of their character (ex. There Will Be Blood starred Daniel Day-Lewis, who played Daniel Plainview).

Here's the new dozen. The rules are simple: I'm going to give you a dozen taglines, all you have to do is name as many flicks that they belong to as you can. Try to resist the Google. Get the most and you win. There will always be a theme, though it's worth will vary according to how difficult I think it is. This week's theme is worth a modest 5 points.

1. A lot can happen on the road to nowhere.
2. Women want him for his wit. The C.I.A. wants him for his body. All Nick wants is his molecules back.
3. They locked him up. They crushed his spirit. But they couldn't hide the truth.
4. 1964. When America was at war with itself.
5. They only look like cops.
6. Every dog has his day
7. Warning: Exposing the Truth May Be Hazardous
8. This time you can't change the channel.
9. Some memories are best forgotten
10. A brutal murder. A brilliant killer. A cop who can't resist the danger
11. You can shine no matter what you're made of.
12. The story of a cop who wanted it bad and got it worse.

As you get them right, I'll mark them as gotten and stuff. Good luck.

Standings
Justin - 4
J.D. - 2.5
Shane, Nick - 2
Sea_of_Green, Jason, Jess - 1
Dead Pan - .5

Correct answers so far:

1. Wild Hogs (Justin)
2. Memoirs of an Invisible Man (Kyle N.)
3. Murder in the First (Justin)
4. Mississippi Burning (J.D.)
5. National Security (Jason Soto)
6. Groundhog Day (Kyle N.)
7. The Insider (Paul)
8. Freddy Got Fingered (Paul)
9. Memento (Nick)
10. Basic Instinct (Kyle N.)
11. Robots (Paul)
12. Romeo is Bleeding (Justin)
Theme - Every film features character actor Stephen Tobolowsky (Kyle N.). Bing!

And then...

Like quizzes?

Of the many sites and/or films that I get emailed about to check out, this is one that I've probably taken the most advantage of. JetPunk is a Priceline-ish site that wants to be your virtual travel agent, but what they might be getting more famous for is their quizzes.

The key to their success is their simplicity: Name as many of the U.S.'s 50 Biggest Cities as you can in 3 Minutes. Name as many Best Picture Oscar Winners as you can in 5 Minutes. Name as many of the 155 Simpsons Characters as you can in 5 Minutes.

No, they don't have a ton of movie-related ones, but there's plenty from the realm of pop culture altogether, with music and TV ones as well. And if you like sports or geography, there's a ton more. Overall, it looks like there's nearly 100 quizzes.

And no, I'm not being paid or offered anything to pimp them. They're just fun, and better than those lame "Which (blank) are you?" quizzes that have overtaken Facebook. Enjoy:

http://www.jetpunk.com/index.php

And then...

Stained Glass Cinema Sunday Monday (#33)

Well a stumping I set out for and a stumping I got. Am I cruel or just overly competitive? Perhaps a bit of both.

The goings ought to be a little bit smoother this time out.




















Standings:
J.D., Fletch - 6
Wendymoon - 5
Jason/Daniel - 3
Evan Derrick, Jason Soto - 2
Steel11Kane, TonyD, Luke Harrington, Rachel, Adam Ross, Justin, Anders, Nick - 1

Here are the altered/actual posters from last time:

And then...