On Point

Friggin' ballerinas, man! I mean, I've danced on stage before, and yeah, it's hard, especially given that when I dance on stage, it usually involves some combination of acting and singing. But, damn! I can't even begin to fathom how friggin' brutal the life of a professional dancer must be. The physical toll must be tremendous! And if Black Swan, the brilliant new film from Darren Aronofsky, is anything to go on, the psychological toll must be out of this world. Black Swan is, plain a simple, a great film, masterfully crafted, wonderfully atmospheric, with a slew of pitch perfect performances. It's also, quite possibly, one of the most scary and disturbing movies I've ever seen. This is one film that's gonna be sticking with me for awhile and one that easily finds a spot among my favorite films of the year. Black Swan is tough, but it is fantastic!

Sinew

Smooth Flight! Minimal Turbulence!

Well, color me dumbfounded, because I am a douche! When the trailers for Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole came out, I scoffed. Why the hell should I care about some kiddy movie about birds. Even when I heard that Zack Snyder was directing it, I still scoffed. I viewed it as Snyder selling out, doing something lame and not worth his time to rake in a few extra dollars in between making his next exploration of awesome!!! And then I saw the thing. Wow! I certainly didn't expect that. Guardians is not the kiddy, overly dramatic film that was advertised. What it is is a surprisingly mature, dark and violent tale told with a truly marvelous aesthetic touch. Though the story and script leaves something to be desired, and some of the character interactions and motivations are hopelessly contrived, Guardians is a film that should not be overlooked. It's not as kiddy as was advertised. It's a technical marvel. It's just good, plain and simple!

Aesthetic Pleasures

Cinematic Captions #3

Alright folks! Put your cleverness hats on. Time to get creative!

Alright, the big reveal. Who won last week?

Honorable Mention: Why didn't I take the Blue Argentinian? (Courtesy of Univarn)

And the winner is... Simon!!!

The Leaderboard:

Simon (1)

Alright, next round. Here you go!

Have fun!

Trailer Trash: Thor

It's time to root though some trailers. What sorts of wonderful things will be alluded to today?

...

It's Thor! A Norse God goes around wrecking shit for two hours. And, it's directed by Kenneth Branagh! What the hell else do you need to know?

Shuffler's On the Prowl

So, there's a new show on the block, one that's a bit different from anything else out there. Though it seems like just yesterday it premiered, the first season has come to an end. The show in question? The Walking Dead, aka, my new favorite show.

Yeah, I know. You're amazed that I watch anything other Glee. To that, I say, nay! I don't watch much TV, and when I do, a lot of it is taken up by that musical showgasm, but, give a guy a break. At least I'm diverse. Being that zombies are the only form of horror that I can stand, and the only form that I view as something more than a cheap way to scare people, I was super excited for The Walking Dead. What did I think about the first season of this season's hottest new show? Well, if I told you now, you wouldn't have to read the rest of the post. I wouldn't be a good blogger if I did that. How could you think that of me? Jeez!

Must Go Faster!

Glee Review: A Very Glee Christmas

You know, that brings up a good point. What is the difference between a Santa elf and a slave?

Tis the season bitches, and not even McKinley High is above celebrating the most magical time of the year. The teachers all draw names for Secret Santa, and the glee club attempts to raise money for the homeless by caroling around the school. Both ventures fail epically, Secret Santa because the whole thing is rigged by Sue so she would be the only one whose name got drawn, and the caroling because people still hate the glee club., resorting to throwing shoes at them and shouting, "You're making me hate Christmas!" as they walk out.

Meanwhile, Artie rallies the club to play along with the fact that Brittany, not surprisingly, still believes in Santa. Brittany's wish this year is for Artie to walk, which, as anyone with a brain can tell you, is impossible. So, Artie, Bieste, Will, and Brittany's parents fashion an extremely complex plan to let Brittany know that Artie can't walk without destroying her belief in Santa. Ai-yi-yi!

Also, Finn and Rachel break it off for real, as if last week's break up didn't count.

Now that some serious plot lines are out of the way, this episode was a return to Glee's former glory. A Very Glee Christmas was chock full of ridiculous plots, great humor, and some solid songs. The Brittany/Santa thing is a little hard to believe, but it was honestly very sweet to see Artie go to such lengths to keep her happy. Who knew their relationship had gotten so serious so quickly. Sue rigging the Secret Santa was a wonderful return to her usual shenanigans, and when the cherry on top is her dressing up as the Grinch to steal all the presents from the choir room. Priceless.

Song wise, this episode was pretty good. The clubs soulful rendition of "The Most Magical day of the Year" was great; Kurt and Blaine's duet of "Baby, It's Cold Outside" was decent enough, even though the song is creepy as hell; the finale "Welcome Christmas" from How the Grinch Stole Christmas was alright. Rachel's two songs were just ok. It's not that they're bad. It's just that it's the same stuff we've seen her do countless times. I wish she would give up on the ballads, and sing a raucous show stopper already.

Humor wise however, this episode was on point! The scene where the club goes to see Santa had me rollicking the whole time, especially when Mike states that he wants Channing Tatum to stop being in stuff. Brittany had some winner lines, and it was a delight to see Sue up to her old tricks again. To see Sue dress up as the Grinch and Becky dress up as Max, and then see her drag a wagon full of presents as Sue lunged on top of it, was pure comic gold!

All in all, it was a decent episode that proudly returned Glee to its old ways. There are some things that drag it down. Rachel trying to win back Finn was annoying as all holy hell! But, the ending, which sees Artie "walk" for the first time was really sweet. Speaking of which, how the hell does Bieste have that much money? Just something to think about.

So, that's it for now. Glee returns in February. This first half of the season, not gonna lie, was a little lackluster. For every Britney/Brittany or The Substitute we got an Audition or a Never Been Kissed to go with it. Hopefully, in the interim, Ryan Murphy will take a critical look at Glee and revamp it. He'll take out the pointless celebrity cameos. He'll do away with tribute episodes. Everything will be good. Although, it's been reported that Katie Couric will be on the first episode to air in February, and that episode will feature "Thriller". Uh-oh!

Actors Being Actors

This is really cool. Check it out if you haven't already!

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