Coming soon...My year in review

Normally, now is the time when everyone posts their favorite films of the previous year, and I would love to do the same. However, there are SO many films from 2008 that I have yet to watch (and I'm patiently waiting for them to be released on DVD or Blu-Ray) that to do a list would be imprudent at this time. Rest assured, when the time comes, I will post my thoughts on 2008 and I'll be the only one doing it...in March or April! lol

For now, here's the working list of my favorite moments in film in 2008 in chronological order:

1. Robert Downey, Jr. totally pwning the role of Tony Stark in Iron Man. For such a middle of the road comic book character, Downey, Jr. and director Jon Favreau nailed everything that was good about the character and made what could have been an awful movie a real treat to get me through the putridity that was Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the whatsitsname and M. Knight's The Crappening until TDK made it's way to the big screen.

2. There were several good jokes and pokes at the comic book and TV series, but the best of the bunch to come from The Incredible Hulk was when Banner (Edward Norton) was cornered by a group of Brazilian thugs and he's trying to get them to back off...in Portuguese, the phrase that has become infamous with the character over the years, but it goes horribly wrong as his grasp of the language isn't the best. Instead of the typical phrase, we get "Don't make me...hungry. You wouldn't like me when I'm...hungry. " Too funny!

3. Overall, the entire performance given by Heath Ledger as The Joker in The Dark Knight, but moreso there were two moments in particular, the first being the disappearing pencil trick and the second being his reaction to the initial failed destruction of the hospital. Oh, and the second time I watched it was my first IMAX experience. WOW!!

4. Overall, I was disappointed by Tropic Thunder, but there were some hilarious moments, the tops being Tugg Speedman (Ben Stiller) running across the bridge being chased by the Vietnamese drug army with a child on his back stabbing him relentlessly. Of course, the only thing Tugg could do was toss the child like a rag doll over the side of the bridge and into the river below.

5. Similar to Tropic Thunder, the Coen brothers follow-up to the greatness that was 2007's best film, No Country for Old Men, was a bit of a disappointment. Burn After Reading had it's moments though, including the revelation of what Harry Pfarrer (George Clooney) was building. Also, Brad Pitt ruled all as the clueless Chad Feldheimer!

6. Even though Kevin Smith's latest attempt at breaking away from his Clerks universe wasn't close to being as good as some of his past work, Zack and Miri Make a Porno was MUCH better than Jersey Girl and had several memorable moments. Amongst them were two scenes in particular, including one very unfortunate cameraman (Jeff Anderson) in the wrong place at the wrong time as a bodily function went horribly, HORRIBLY wrong! The other was the introduction to the movie-going world of the term "Dutch Rudder" by Jason Mewes' character, Lester.

7. My first ever attendance of a free preview screening of a film. I've been told that most times, free screeners are for not-so-good films, but in my case, it happened to be one of the best films of the year (so far) in Slumdog Millionaire!

8. The tour de force that was Frank Langella's portrayal of one of the most infamous men in United States political history, Richard Nixon, in the film Frost/Nixon.

9. The absolute radiance of Cate Blanchett in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. I know, I know...most of it was due to whatever technique they were using to make she and Brad Pitt look younger or older using CGI and other special effects, but I don't remember Blanchett looking as good as she did in this film and that's saying a lot! I guess this makes up for Spielberg and Lucas ruining a film that had Blanchett playing a Russian dominatrix...

10. The absolute and utter giddiness that was listening to uncomfortable silences and awkward groans of a theater full of senior citizens at a noon showing of what turned out to be a softcore porno for the first thirty to forty-five minutes of The Reader.

Again, I still do plan to post a comprehensive "Year In Review" once I've muddled through what's left of the films I still want to see from 2008. I hope this satiates your hunger until that moment arrives...

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles - Season Two Premiere --- "Samson & Delilah"

Tonight was the first of many highly anticipated series/season premieres, starting with Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, which returns after a very brief initial season thanks to the writer's strike. Of all the shows impacted by the writer's strike (besides those canceled in part by the strike), this was the most severe only getting nine full episodes. Season One completely disregarded the third theatrical installment, and for most fans, this is a very VERY good thing. It establishes new actors in the familiar roles of Sarah Connor (Lena Headey) as the title character and mother of the ultimate leader of the resistance, John Connor (Thomas Dekkar), against SkyNet and their metal warriors. Introduced are new characters Cameron (Summer Glau), a Terminator sent from the future by John to protect himself in the present, Cromartie (Garret Dillahunt), a Terminator sent from the future by SkyNet in an attempt to eliminate John in the present, Agent James Ellison (Richard T. Jones), an FBI Agent on the hunt for Sarah Connor and Cromartie, and trying to sort out reality from fiction, and finally Derek Reese (Brian Austin Green), the brother of the infamous Kyle Reese, sent from the future by John to protect Sarah from a Terminator trying to kill her in an attempt to keep John from ever being born. As you all should know by now, Kyle and Sarah fall in love and conceive John in one of the biggest mind fucks in cinematic history!

Anyway, back to Season One. Even though it disregards the third film, a few times the show still takes liberties with the timeline established by the first two films which really bothered me (that's for an entirely different post) and despite that, I really enjoyed the abbreviated first season, especially the last four or five episodes. With that, Season Two premiered tonight with great anticipation. Would they be able to continue the momentum gained in the latter portion of Season One? Could it be possible for Summer Glau to get any hotter than she was in Season One? How would singer-turned-would-be-actor Shirley Manson do in a major role? Would they continue to screw with the original timeline any more than they have already? We'll get to all these questions shortly. First, I'd like to address the first change that was made from Season One to Season Two, that being changing the intro from Sarah Connor (Headley) doing the voice-over to some professional male voice-over person who has no tie to the actual series. The reason I have issue with this is that the show is called "The Sarah Connor Chronicles" and with that, it makes sense that Sarah would do the intro voice-over as well as various voice-overs throughout the episode. Am I crazy in thinking this was a negative change?

*THERE BE SPOILERS AHEAD*

Anyway, despite this, the episode continues right from where the last episode of Season One leaves off, with Cameron being blown up by a car bomb and Cromartie decimating a full squad of FBI agents led by Agent Ellison. Cameron awakens to severe damage, including damage to her microchip which resets her programming back to it's initial setting...which is to terminate John Connor! We are introduced to a new character, Catherine Weaver (Shirley Manson), who is an executive type who has been secretly behind the acquisition of 'The Turk', the computer that potentially could become the brain behind SkyNet and was the core of Season One's storyline. Initially, I do not like Manson as an actor, thinking they chose her more for her look and the ability to use her music at a discounted rate (there is a Garbage song* within the first segment of tonight's episode, and it couldn't hold a candle to Johnny Cash closing out the last episode of Season One) rather than her (lack of) acting ability. She does have THE one WTF moment of the entire episode that I think everyone will enjoy, but as a whole the episode was a bit disjointed, lacked the same edge that the last few episodes of Season One established, and seemed to only be a tool to get us, the viewers, to the surprise ending which will more than likely be the driving force behind the rest of the season. Oh, and to answer the question about Glau's hotness, during most of the episode, half of her face is hanging off or stapled back together, so the early answer is 'No!'

*EDIT: Apparently the song played at the beginning was not, in fact, a song by Garbage, but rather Manson singing a rendition of the Gospel song 'Samson and Delilah' specifically for this episode. Source: SciFi Wire (Massive spoilers in the article related to this episode. DO NOT READ unless you've seen the episode already)

Here's a countdown to next week's episode for those interested (and if you've read this far, I'll take that as a 'Yes'), let's hope they step it up a notch: