Kennedy Center Honors

Mr. Y and I were watching the Kennedy Center Honors last night. They were honoring Meryl Streep, Barbara Cook, Neil Diamond, Sonny Rollins, and Yo Yo Ma. Overall it's a good show - very typical of the Kennedy Center Honors. Understated at parts, and definitely more conservative. But very entertaining nevertheless.

There was this one background dancer who looked so familiar. He was in the Meryl Streep and Barbara Cook tributes. I finally figured out that it was Spencer Liff, who choreographed mostly Broadway routines for So You Think You Can Dance (the good ones, unlike the ones choreographed by Tyce). Nice to see him perform.

The Hobbit Trailer

Finally saw the trailer for the first of two The Hobbit movies today. Looks great, and definitely very similar to Lord of the Rings. Although I like Guillermo del Toro, I am glad Peter Jackson is directing The Hobbit. The trailer showed a nice mix of fun, adventure, and danger. I haven't read the book in awhile, but planning on doing so before the movie comes out next December. There are a few changes between the movie and the book, since they've already announced that several characters in the movie are not in the book, like Frodo, Legolas, and Galadriel. Of course it's a good excuse to have Elijah Wood, Orlando Bloom, and Cate Blanchett back. :)

I can't wait for this movie!

Mission:Impossible Ghost Protocol

Just saw the fourth Mission:Impossible movie. It was very good. The action sequences were amazing, especially the ones set in Dubai at the world's tallest building, the Burj. I would love to know how they did some of the shots.

The director is Brad Bird, making his live action debut. He was previously best known for The Incredibles. His style is definitely apparent here. Mr. Y pointed out that the opening sequence is very reminiscent of The Incredibles.

I was a little disappointed that Josh Holloway's role isn't bigger. Would have loved to see more of him. Paula Patton was incredible - totally believable as a sexy, tough agent. Jeremy Renner was also well-cast as an analyst with a secret. Simon Pegg provides the comic relief, although he had his badass moments.

Overall definitely the best movie of the series. I highly recommend it.

NBA Season Starts

Stupid Lakers. That is all.

The Dark Knight Rises

Just watched the trailer for The Dark Knight Rises, the last film in Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy.  It looks so amazing.  You can see it here:

http://insidemovies.ew.com/2011/12/19/the-dark-knight-rises-trailer-explosive-scary-political/

So many different disturbing images, from an exploding football field to an army of prisoners armed with machine guns.  The line that gave me the biggest shudder, though, was when Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle (aka Catwoman), whispered into Bruce Wayne's ear, “You think this is going to last. There’s a storm coming, Mr. Wayne. You and your friends better batten down the hatches because when it hits, you’re all going to wonder how you ever thought how you could live so large and leave so little for the rest of us.”

Mr. Y commented that a lot of Inception actors are also in this movie - Marion Cottilard, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Tom Hardy.  We're just missing Leonardo DiCaprio and Ellen Page.

What Christopher Nolan has always done brilliantly is to make movies that are both timely and timeless. Selina's words clearly invoked the current Occupy movements, but the struggle of the lower class and the acceptable use of violence in rebellions without crossing into terrorism are thorny, age-old issues.

The superhero genre originally became popular because it provides an escape into a world where good and evil are clearly delineated and a few individuals, albeit with amazing powers and/or gadgets, can fight the evil. However, as the genre evolved, it became popular to give the heroes some sort of complexes. Hence the rise of the dark, human Batman as a counter to the relentlessly good, alien Superman.

I think Nolan's biggest achievement is not highlighting Batman's dark side, but keeping hope alive in these movies. It would be very easy to slide into total darkness, but Nolan know that you have to allow for some light at the end of the tunnel. That is what makes a great superhero movie.

Can't wait for The Dark Knight Rises!

The Hobbit, LOTR, and Legos

LEGO announced a deal to bring characters from the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings to the Lego Universe.  This is super cool.  See a preview here:

http://popwatch.ew.com/2011/12/17/lego-the-hobbit-universe/

Mr. Y had played Indiana Jones and Star Wars Legos video games.  I thought the characters were so cute!  I'm excited about the LOTR and Hobbit LEGOS.  I bet even the Balrog looks cute in LEGOs.

The Princess Bride

The Princess Bride is easily one of my favorite movies ever.  I love how unabashedly romantic it is, but it's also an adventure and a fantasy film.

Jason Reitman, director of Juno and Up In The Air, is staging the Princess Bride as a live reading.  He just announced the cast, and I think it's perfect.  Mindy Kaling is Princess Buttercup and Paul Rudd is Westley.  I think those two have a great chemistry, and they will their own brand of humor and quirkiness to the roles.

http://popwatch.ew.com/2011/12/14/jason-reitman-princess-bride-live-read-cast-announcement/#more-172399

I wish I can actually watch this reading.  Too bad it's one-night-only event.

The Great Gatsby

EW.com had a couple of pictures from Baz Luhrmann's upcoming adaptation of the Great Gatsby.

http://insidemovies.ew.com/2011/12/13/great-gatsby-leonardo-dicaprio-carey-mulligan/

Leonardo DiCaprio plays Gatsby, Carey Mulligan is Daisy, Joel Edgerton is Tom Buchanan, and Tobey Maguire is Nick Carraway.

I first read the Great Gatsby in high school, as part of the required reading.  I didn't like it that much back then, but when I re-read it again years later as an adult, it left a much better impression.  It's a very unsettling book, which I believe is the point, and any good adaptation of it has to capture that uneasiness and underlying tension.  I have high hopes for this cast, although with Baz Luhrmann, there's always the danger that the environment will overpower the acting.  Let's hope that it's more like Strictly Ballroom than Moulin Rouge (Mr. Y's least favorite movie ever).

Geico Ad Guy

Mr. Y and I were watching Person of Interest, the episode called Witness.  There was a detective played by someone familiar, and I finally figured it out.  It's the guy from the Geico ad.  A Google search revealed his name to be Mike McGlone.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0569458/

I feel like actors who are so recognizable from commercials risk getting stuck with just these roles, but then again, if they don't take the commercials, they may not have any jobs.  I hope they will break out, because some of them are really good.  Like the woman who plays Flo in the Progressive commercial, or the guy who plays Mayhem in the Allstate commercials.

Angry Birds Dress

Teija Vesterbacka, the wife of Peter Vesterbacka, Chief Marketing Officer of Rovio, wore an Angry Birds dress to a formal event at the Finnish Palace.  Rovio is the company behind the Angry Birds game.

You can see the picture here:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2011/12/wife-of-rovio-executive-dons-formal-angry-birds-gown-at-fancy-finnish-ball.html

I personally think the dress is awesome.  Totally appropriate for the occasion because it's still a formal dress, but with the great design.  I think she looks great!

Harry Potter Theme Park Coming to LA

I read about this today on EW.com, and was totally excited.  Harry Potter theme park is coming to LA!  Universal Studios Hollywood, to be exact.  Universal Studios already has the Harry Potter theme park in Orlando, and now they're doing one on the west coast.  I'm very excited about this.  Mr. Y and I are big Harry Potter fans, but we don't know if we'll ever make it to the Orlando one.  If we go to Orlando we'll be going to Disney World.  But we do go to LA quite a bit to see family, so it will be easier to go to the LA Harry Potter.

I know kdipity will be excited about this news, too.  She has been plotting to go to the Orlando one for awhile.  Now that she lives in CA as well, she can make the shorter trip to LA.

More news about it:

http://popwatch.ew.com/2011/12/06/harry-potter-theme-park-los-angeles/

Property Brothers

Ever since we bought our new house, Mr. Y is obsessed with this show on HGTV called Property Brothers, and he has gotten me hooked, too.  It stars these two twin brothers from Vancouver, Jonathan and Drew Scott.  Drew is the real estate agent who helps the clients find houses, and Jonathan is the contractor who helps them renovate it.  

I Googled the brothers, and found out some interesting facts.  Turns out both of them are also actors, and own a production company.  The most fascinating thing is that Jonathan is also an illusionist who performs in Vegas.  Plus the two of them were voted as two of Entertainment Tonight's 2011 Hottest Canadian TV Bachelors.

Their show is fascinating because they use pretty cool 3-D technology to model what the rooms could look like after the renovations, and they do comparisons in the end to see how close the final product was.  The end results usually look pretty good.  Can we get them to do our house?  :)

Yao Ming's Wine

Mr. Y found this article about basketball star Yao Ming and his foray into wine-making.

http://www.thepostgame.com/blog/chompions/201111/better-age-yao-ming-enters-world-wine

I'm really curious to try this wine, but it's pretty expensive.  I don't know if the curiosity factor is worth the money.

I thought it was funny that Dikembe Mutombo was the one who introduced Yao to wine.  If you don't know who Dikembe Mutombo is, he's a 7'2 former NBA player from the Congo.  He's a great humanitarian and a pretty decent player, but who knew that he was actually into wine?