Quote It Saturday from Freda's Voice

Well I certainly want in on this! I stumbled on the "Quote it Saturday" and since I heard a great quote this week, I'm excited to share it. I also get to stay within my blog's subject matter because my quote comes the wonderful Leslie Knope from a repeat of this week's Parks and Recreation.
"Skywriting is not always positive."
Go visit Freda's page to find more great quotes!

Going to a Conference!

Going to a Conference!

Well every now and then we bloggers need to get some education and connect with others in order to improve our blogs. My blog is almost three years old and frankly, it’s not growing the way I imagined. I never planned to be the biggest thing in town, but I thought by now more people would have tuned into the fact that I have exceptional taste in what I recommend! So this weekend, I’m attending the Lady Bloggers Social Online Conference. I’m hoping to learn new things to enhance this site and make sitting on Colleenie’s Couch a more enjoyable experience. So you may see some changes and some things I may give a try. I hope you’ll stick with me and give me your honest opinion about what you like and dislike. After all, I want this to be a comfortable place where you can have a sit, find cool stuff and talk openly about the good things in entertainment.

Hereafter - Movie Review

Now Available on DVD

My husband has a habit of trying to do a million tasks before we finally sit down and watch a film together. So let me begin by saying that we did not start watching Hereafter until 10:10pm and it’s a very quiet slow moving film. After a wonderful dinner I prepared (seafood pasta) and a few glasses of wine, I was nodding off halfway in. Three separate stories about a reluctant psychic, (Matt Damon), a French journalist that believes she’s glimpsed the afterlife and a young Londoner, grieving the tragic lost of his twin brother, prove to be compelling stories, yet everything is in a quiet, understated, almost dreamlike state. Everyone speaks very quietly and this just doesn’t lend itself to late night viewing. A little more than half way in I couldn’t stay awake even though I was interested. I really couldn’t shake it so I went to bed. In the morning I asked my husband if it was worth finishing and he said he liked it. I’m a much tougher critic than he is, but I decided to pop it back in and finish where I left off. I’m glad I did.

Although this was a quiet, slow paced film it worked. I felt the pain and anguish all the characters were going through, especially the young twin boy. I teared up every time he came on the screen. I also enjoyed delving into what a burden it would be to be a real psychic, like Matt Damon’s character. Funny I remembered that Roger Ebert gave this film a favorable review. When I read it though, he seemed to feel that Damon’s abilities were not really proven and left up to the audience to decide. I didn’t feel the same way. I thought the film clearly said he had these abilities; though it’s true that there’s know concrete explanation as to where his visions are coming from.

I completely forget that Clint Eastwood directed this film until his credit popped up at the end. I enjoy the range he’s been presenting. He’s proven to be an interesting filmmaker. This film gives you ideas to chew on without shoving anything down your throat. Good solid movie.

Song of the Week - Moves Like Jagger/Maroon 5

Moves Like Jagger – Maroon 5 & Christina Aguilera

Okay, I know I keep posting clips from The Voice, but I seriously cannot get this song out of my head. I downloaded it from iTunes the next day after I saw the performance and I can’t stop blasting it in the car. Yes Adam, you’re right, if I look into your eyes you will own me!

Super 8 Is Disguised As a Great Movie

Now in Theaters


Now I know people will probably rip into me for liking Green Lantern and then being tough on this film, but I expected more from Super 8 and when it didn’t deliver, I’m forced to highlight the flaws.

This film had high, blockbuster potential. Even the critics praised it and said it was a throwback to the great films of the 80’s. Well, I’m totally an 80’s kid and I was there for E.T., Raiders of the Lost Ark, you name it, I saw them all. Sadly, this film had the look and feel of those great films, yet it fell short.

Set in 1979, a group of friends spend their summer making a super 8 zombie film. Joe (Joel Courtney) immerses himself in the film project as a way to get over his mother’s tragic death. Charles, (Riley Griffins) is the film’s director and enjoys being in charge of the entire project. He’s hoping to look good in front of his crush and newly appointed female lead Alice (Elle Fanning). Alice is simply looking for escape from her miserable life. During on night of movie filming, the kids witness a train crash. However, this is not the accident it appears to be and soon the entire town is transformed by the recent event. The characters are endearhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifing, the young actors are fantastic, which helps you quickly care for them. The character development is the strongest aspect of the film.

I did not go into this film preparing to compare it to J.J. Abrams, Lost, but it was inevitable because his storylines seem to follow a common pattern. His very adept at creating characters that you care for and has a gift for showing you the under layer beneath someone’s flaw to understand why they are the way they are. In this area, Abrams is an expert and for huge big budget disasters, once again, Abrams is your guy. Much like the plane crash that opened the premiere episode of Lost, the train crash in Super 8 is spectacular! Not only is it visually stunning, but he has the uncanny ability to truly make you experience it like it’s really happening.

So, likeable characters, great special effects, what’s wrong with this movie. Well, much like the Lost finale, you feel you’re going down a road that will end with something that will blow your mind and the end doesn’t even come close. You root for your characters and want good things for them so at first you’re satisfied. As time sinks in though, more and more you begin to feel like, “Really? That’s all there was?” Much like Lost, the more time passes, the more I feel like the payoff is not enough to make me sit through the journey again. This is the biggest way the movie fails. Those great films of the 80’s are like friends that you enjoy spending time with again and again.

I’m not trying to say that J.J. Abrams is like M. Night Shyamalan. You don’t feel like you wasted your time on money and there’s no shock just for shock’s sake. You will enjoy the trip; you just probably won’t want to visit again.

**I did appreciate the box of Carnation Food Sticks in Joe’s room. Yes, that was a real product and they were delicious!

The Voice - Javier Colon

I'm going to miss The Voice. Boy, NBC did everything right with this one. Sometimes this network knocks me over the head. What goes on over there? How did they put together a show with so much talent and love? How did they manage to get original songs that were not totally lame? Javier deserved his win and his duet here with Adam Levine blew me away. One of the most amazing things about this show is how Adam manged to get hotter each week! Just when I thought he couldn't get hotter...LOOK AT HIM IN THAT SUIT! Anyway, I need to purchase a huge iTunes card tomorrow so I can download all these songs and performances. What a fresh, fun new show for all of us that were sick of American Idol.

NBC has this show, Parks and Recreation was hands down, the best sitcom last season, and yet they let Conan O'Brien slip through their fingers. Like I said, I have no idea what goes on over there!

Song of the Week - Alison Krauss/Paper Airplane

Last week Alison Krauss performed on Conan. I know her name but I’m not familiar with her music. I thought it was folk or country so I picked up a magazine ready to skim through while she performed. As soon as she started singing I was mesmerized. I sat frozen, peering over the top of my mag until she was done. My gosh, what a beautiful voice. I even heard Conan say, “That was beautiful” when he was shaking her hand. I may have to pick up this whole album but for now I’ll satisfy myself with this song.

Bridesmaids - Movie Review

Let me be honest. At first I had no plans to see Bridesmaids. Maybe on DVD, but I was not going to make a trip to the theater to see this. First I was hearing it was a female Hangover, well I didn’t care too much for The Hangover. Then reviews kept coming in on how good it was. Even the clips I saw on various talk shows just looked okay. Last week I caved and decided to catch it before it left theaters. I’m so glad I did. Now I’m waiting for its DVD release because I can’t wait to see it again and purchase it for my library.

This movie was very different from what I expected. I thought it was going to be a group of women cutting loose and acting like fools in Vegas. There was none of that. Instead, I was treated to a smart and funny film that delved into female relationships and touched on a topic you don’t see on film often, perpetual brokenness.

In these tough economic times this film really spoke to me. I could feel for Kristen Wiig’s, Annie, a woman whose life is unraveling just as her best friend since childhood, Lillian (Maya Rudolph) announces her engagement. Annie loves her friend and happily accepts the request to be Maid of Honor. Annie quickly learns she’s out of her league for the task, financially and socially. She is constantly being upstaged by Lillian’s new rich and beautiful friend, Helen (Rose Byrne) and it’s the last straw in Annie’s downward spiral. I appreciated seeing how Annie and Lillian would have wine and magazine parties because of lack of funds. I also liked the depiction of how a person often has to back out or lower themselves because of lack of funds. I think this aspect of the film alone would have many viewers identifying with it.

It’s interesting to see the many layers of female relationships explored. The happiness for your friend, tinged with a bit of jealously, support yet being fed up with something who just sinks lower and lower and the constant fear of not being loved or needed anymore. This is a film that exposes many serious emotions, but you will be laughing your ass off along the way. I kept hearing how raunchy this film was and there was some bathroom humor, but as a whole, I like hearing women talk like I do. Okay, maybe I talk like a sailor, but shouldn’t my demographic be represented once in awhile?

To date I’ve only seen Kristen Wiig in small film roles and on SNL. I wondered if she could carry a film. Her portrayal of Annie was sweet, sad and hysterical all at the same time. The supporting cast of Rudolph, Byrne, the wonderful Chris O’Dowd, John Hamm and Melissa McCarthy, helped to spread the laughs around. Everyone brought their “A” game to this project and it’s wonderful to see Maya Rudolph finally getting the attention she deserves. She was poignant and adorable in Away We Go and I hope her NBC sitcom, Up All Night, is a success.

My one criticism was a couple of references to Annie not being as thin as the perfect Helen. I understand that this is a big issue for women but it actually looked to me like Annie was actually thinner so that whole thing should have been scrapped. I did however appreciate seeing some non-perfect teeth in the cast. Even Rose Byrne had a bit of crookedness in her bottom teeth, that rocks. I’m so sick of all these completely perfect set of choppers everywhere I look.

If this is still playing in your neck of the woods, hurry and see it before it passes you by.

The Green Lantern - Movie Review

Green Lantern gets my free summer pass.

Every summer it seems like one big-budget, effects oriented film gets a free pass by me. This summer it looks like it will be Green Lantern. There’s one film in the summertime that I look for to do nothing other than entertain me while I’m in the theater. I actually did my very first post to this blog with one of these types of films. Yes, I said Brendan Frasier’s film, Journey to the Center of the Earth, was good.

In the summer it can be difficult to get everyone on board to watch one film. It’s been our summer tradition to spend four or five days in Carmel, California. We enjoy the ocean and beautiful trees and scenic drives, but we always take in one summer blockbuster. My brother-in-law always accompanies us on the annual trip so his input is also a factor in the film we’ll see. It would’ve been a slam dunk if Harry Potter was already out, but we all have to sit tight a bit longer for that one.

The Green Lantern is in 3D, is based on a classic comic book character and stars hottie Ryan Reynolds. This seemed to offer something for all of us.

My brother-in-law has a working knowledge on most comic book characters so he gave me a brief background. It was nice to have a little bit of working knowledge going in. The film did a good job sticking to the original origin, as far as I can tell. The Green Lantern is Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds), a pilot who finds a dying alien who gives him a ring that he’s told was chosen to go only to him. Hal quickly finds that this ring also comes with a lot of responsibility and that’s something Hal has never been good at. To Reynolds credit, he really sells the audience on Hal’s character. He’s good looking enough that a certain amount of cockiness is believable, but Reynolds self deprecating sense of humor keeps it all grounded. I can’t say the same for Blake Lively. I quite liked her in The Town, but every single scene she was in her lips were slightly parted and she had the essence of a pout. If I noticed this, I would have to say it was too many times!

The biggest complaint I’m hearing about this film is that it drags in the middle. I understand that, however, I felt they used the time to build the characters a bit more than usual and I appreciated that.

Special effects wise, the monster of fear was pretty cool and the 3D was a better quality than I experienced last summer.

All I really wanted from Green Lantern was to be entertained and I this it delivered. I was also fortunate enough to mix up my Marvel with my DC, so I stayed through the end credits because I knew the Avengers linked film all have tiny preview clips at the end. Even though I screwed up, I was rewarded with an “extra” scene when most of the theater already left. So if you go, stay till the very end!

I also had a funny situation because I did not know who Mark Strong who played Sinestro was. I was on vacation when I saw this so I did not look him up on IMBD until I got back home. He was so unrecognizable in his Green Lantern makeup I did not realize he was Frank D’Amico from Kick Ass. Oddly enough, I watched Kick Ass on DVD that same night! I had a Mark Strong double feature and didn’t even realize it!

The Voice - The Final Four?

The Voice has me so enthralled. With a two-hour show last night I thought I could get some ironing done or fold laundry, but I sat there glued to my TV. All the singers are great and it’s hard to choose. I can’t wait for a label to pick up Xenia and help her use that cool ass voice of hers! I think Javier could take it all, but that little Vicci is a force to be reckoned with. She KILLED last night! Here’s my picks for the final four…