So i watched a few movies last week. One of them I liked the other I did not mainly because I was forced to go. Anyways I really liked The Grey. This movie seemed pretty good right off the bat. For starters it has Liam Neeson, I don't think I have been disappointed by any of his movies, besides Episode 1 and The Haunting.
So here is a trailer of the film before I go too far into it. It is a red band trailer on Hulu so you might need an account to view it.


Trailer


So the trailer does show a few things, most of the landscape and scenery is dark, light or grey.  I know that is kind of obvious but it adds something that cant be said to the scenes.


So the basis, hmm ok I don't want to spoil it too much so I am gonna keep this part brief. Pretty much some pipeline workers on their way home crash over the wilderness and have to survive.
The trailer shows a lot more. That's one thing I don't like about movie trailers, sometimes they show too much about the movie. One thing they don't show is that the actors actually ate wolf stew to prepare for the film and they used actual wolf carcasses which I think is pretty sweet but then of course Peta had to protest. I think its pretty dumb but whatever they can protest all they want this movie still made over $54 million at the box office.
This movie is based on a short story by one of the producers, Joe Carnahan.

Another reason I like this movie is that it is a complete turn from previous Liam Neeson movies. The New York times review pretty much says the same thing. They use better words though :).

"In “Taken” and “Unknown,” he explored the genre in its fast-moving, super-twisty cosmopolitan thriller mode. Those were glib entertainments improved by their star’s natural gravity. “The Grey,” ... is something else entirely: a stripped-down, elemental tale of survival in brutal circumstances, as blunt and effective — and also, at times, as lyrical — as a tale by Jack London or Ernest Hemingway. It’s a fine, tough little movie, technically assured and brutally efficient, with a simple story that ventures into some profound existential territory without making a big fuss about it."

Here is the complete review if you wanna check it out.

New York Times review

So when I went to go see it I expected a bad ass Liam Neeson action movie. This is not really big on the action. I am not sure who the target audience is or how its supposed to be relevant to today's culture but I did find a negative review of the film I don't agree with it, but if you want to check it out go for it. The complaint about this movie stereotyping wolves doesn't really hold up that well. Its obvious they are not real wolves and its not as if people are gonna kill more wolves because they saw this film.

Film forward review

The movie was a bit long with long lulls with no action. So if you are just looking for action you are gonna be bored. I think that is a big weakness I personally don't mind some character development so it didn't bother me. The use of CGI is pretty obvious but again its not something that really makes the film bad. This wasn't a bad movie for Liam Neeson. I prefer him in Schindler's List but that's a whole different subject. He was also good in Taken. I liked it so I have recommended it to some friends. I don't think I am going to buy it not because I don't think its worth the money, it does have replay value; but because I can find it online. 

Anyways go watch it.

Castle : ABC 2200 mondays
crime drama
Episode: Demons

This episode was a rerun i think it first aired around Halloween.

Nathan Fillion; claim to fame, buffy, firefly, dr horrible's sing along blog
plays Richard Castle, a mystery novel writer
Stana Katic: claim to fame, several movies including Quantum of Solace, plays Kate Beckett, a police detective.

Plot: This episode starts out with a man  in an old house. He is murdered off camera.  Then it cuts to Castle and his daughter watching a zombie movie. He is called to the scene by Beckett, when she mentions the house. Which has a history of being haunted, Castle suggest they call a man named Jack Sinclair. He is a renowned ghost hunter. It turns out the victim was Jack Sinclair. The forensic analyst, Lanie tells them his throat was severed, but the blood splatter is unobstructed. Castle suggest that maybe the blood went through the killer, Beckett just mocks his suggestion that a ghost killed the man. Jack was there filming his show so there were camera's positioned all over the house, but just before he is killed the signal is interrupted, Detective Ryan, one of Beckett's partners goes over the tapes and sees a camera tripod moving mysteriously before the signals go out. Castle gets more and more excited about the paranormal possibilities.
I am not going to spoil it all so you have to watch it to see how it ends.

Here is a Link to ABC's site

Overall it is a good show. I do think the premise is a bit over the top, i really don't see a police district allowing a writer to tag along on all those cases.

Advertisements: This show had four commercial breaks and while some of the ad's were pretty varied. I did notice a trend. Every commercial break had at least one tax advertisement, I think it is because its tax season. They also had at least one car commercial. First it was for a Honda CR-V, then it was for  Prius V, then it was for a Ford. Besides that i didn't see much of a difference in the commercials, they advertised for jewelry, Campbell's soup, TV shows and movies, and medications.

How this show reflects popular culture... I am having a hard time thinking of a response to that part. I can see how ad's are integrated into the show, for example Castle uses an iphone and whenever Beckett calls him about a murder the phone is emphasized. When apple came out with that voice recognition thing, it was used in the show almost immediately. Castle references a lot of what would be considered nerdy things. He even dresses up as his character in Firefly in one episode. The interactions between all the characters make this show really funny surprisingly i don't see stereotypes in the main characters. Detective Ryan is Irish i believe, Detective Esposito is Puerto Rican i believe, Lanie is African American. I think this show has done a good job avoiding and racial stereotypes in its main cast.

Here is the preview for this episode.

Overall it is a pretty entertaining show. Not too busy trying to be real, some of the plots are pretty far fetched. The character interactions work out really well. Here is a review from the New York Times, its from a different episode, and i dont think the guy who wrote this likes the show.

New York Times review

i don't watch it on a regular basis but i do keep up with episodes on hulu when i get a chance. Even though they do a lot of integration with products, it doesn't bother me that much because i am not buying them. I think its pretty funny that they have real books named after the books Castle wrote in the show. I don't think i really learned much more from doing this. However i did pay more attention to the ads, which i normally would've muted or turned away from the TV.

And so it begins...

It took me over 30 minutes to figure out how to post something, i didn't think this would be that hard.