Still Alice

Still Alice was one of those Oscar nominees that significantly less people were aware of, but was incredibly well done, worth seeing and deserving of it's nomination. The story follows Alice Howland, a renowned linguistics professor at Columbia University. She is happily married with three grown children, but that begins to change when she strangely starts to forget words, directions and more. When her doctor diagnoses her with Early-onset Alzheimer's Disease, she must face the challenge of this terminal degenerative disease as it slowly progresses to it's dreadful and inevitable conclusion. Along the way, Alice struggles to not only to fight against this challenge, but to make the most of her remaining time to find the love and peace to make simply living worthwhile.

One of the many reasons that I liked this movie is because it took a disease that so many people are afraid to talk about, and it faced it head-on. Alzheimer's is a progressive disease that slowly destroys a person's memory and eventually other important mental functions. As the disease progresses, symptoms can include: disorientation, mood swings, not managing self care and eventually losing the ability to communicate effectively. I think that Julianne Moore did an incredible job in portraying the challenges of this disease. Not only was she honest in her portrayal of the physical and mental challenges that come with Alzheimer's disease, but also with the personal and emotional challenges that are faced in the process.

If you haven't seen this yet, it is absolutely a movie that I would recommend. Keeping in mind that this movie is incredibly emotionally charged and deals with a difficult topic, it is well done and worth watching.

30 Rock, just the best show ever... nbd

Tina Fey's brain child, 30 Rock, is without a doubt a strange beast, but one of my most favorite, and in my opinion one of the best sitcoms ever. I have watched the entirety of the show more times than i can count, and still laugh out loud at every episode, even ones where i know all the jokes (which is most of them). 30 rock is a strange combination of unrelenting humor, heartwarming story-lines, insane plot twists, and calls attention to the fact that it is a show constantly,  for all intensive purposes this show should not work, but it does. For all those who haven't seen it (even though you should have, like really should have, like go watch it right now) the show revolves around Liz Lemon, played by the always amazing Tina Fey. Liz is the head writer of a some what low rated comedy show, in the same idea of a less successful SNL, called The girlie show. the show starts with Liz getting a new boss, Jack Donaghy, played by Alec Baldwin, who suggests that she should hire Tracy Jordan, played by Tracy Morgan, an A-list Comedy star to boost the shows ratings. So basically its a comedy show about a comedy show, that revolves around the fact that it pokes fun at its self and the industry insistently, its perfect and here are 5 episodes that prove it.



1. Tracy Does Conan (season 1, Episode 7)
To many, This is the first truly great episode of the show, that showed what 30 Rock would grow into. in this episode, Tracy is ambivalently booked on the Conan show, to promote his new movie and TGS, despite trying to stab Conan the last time he was on the show. however, tracy is off his meds and is new ones are causing him to hallucinate (not great for Conan). This epode is great for a multitude of reasons. firstly, the character development. Liz is trying to break up with her  current horrible boyfriend, but decides to stay with him because it is easier than starting over. however the best part about this episode is that it introduced my personal favorite reoccurring character on the show, Dr. Leo Spaceman played by Chris Parnell. His questionable morals and medical skills provide perhaps the funniest lines in the whole series.

2. The Rural Juror (Season 1, Episode 10)
This episode is by far one of the best episodes of the first season, and again show what the show would eventually evolve into. This Episode mainly (and I say mainly because every episode has many, many, sub plot lines) revolves around Jenna Maroney, the original star of the Girlie show, played by Jane Kraowski, and her appearance in the film adaptation of a "Kevin Grisham" novel (yes, John's brother) entitled the Rural Juror. One running gag of the episode is that no one actually knows the title of the film, although there were some good guesses, including "the Oral Germ Whore". This Episode also deals with Tracy and Jack trying to market The "Tracy Morgan Meat Machine" a Gorge Foreman Grill type invention. however the Meat Machine is made poorly and shoots out hot oil. as a result,  it can only be sold in the Ukraine, and is eventually endorsed by Whoopi Goldberg. Despite this episode being absolutely hilarious, it is also the first time in the show that there is any character development, and it really worked.

3.  Gavin Volure (season 3, Episode 4)
Its no wonder this episode is on my list, you cant really go wrong with a guest star like Steve Martin. In This brilliant Episode, he plays an billionaire agoraphobe named Gavin Volure, who wile at a dinner party, finds Liz so attractive that he asks her to spend the weekend with him in his mansion, too good to be true right? Right. In a true 30 Rock plot twist, it turns out that Gavin is actually not who he seems. he is under house arrest for fraud, arson, embezzlement, and racketeering, and only invited Liz for the weekend to attempt escape. This episode exemplifies the great acting talent of all cast members on the show, and has some great satire, with Gavin representing a number of Wall street crooks. there is also a side plot involving a strangely life like Japanese sex doll of Tracy.

4. Dealbreakesrs Talkshow (season 4, Episode 7)
this episode starts after Liz's relationship book "Dealbreakers"  becomes a best seller (even in China, although there her names is translated as "Lesbian Sour Fruit). After the success of her book, Jack decides it would be a good idea to have Liz come to the front of the cameras to star  in her own Dealbrakers talk show, it isn't. it starts off with Liz getting a, not so great, makeover, and her slow decent into insanity, acting just like the crazed actors she is usually forced to take care of. wile this is going on, Frank, an other writer for TGS played by Judah Friedlander, is put in charge wile Liz is filming the show. As a result, he slowly turns into Liz and you understand why Liz is the way she is a little more.

5. Hogcock! / Last Lunch (season 7 Episode 12/13)
unlike most shows, one of 30 Rocks best episodes is its last one (or last 2 i guess). this episode starts off after TGS is canceled, wile Liz is living relatively happily at home with her new husband and adopted children, however she really wants to get back to work. luckily for liz, it is descovered that if Tracy does not do one more episode of TGS his contract says he will have to be payed $3 million. As per usual Tracy avoids work, and Liz must force him to do his job, however not in the usual way. this episode is packed with heartfelt dialogue and sentimental situations, including Liz having to get tracy to come back to work after he flees to a strip club where we first meet him in episode one of season one. wile in the club, he Explains to Lemon that he is just avoiding work because he doesn't want the show to end (tear jerker, i know). however the show is still packed with humor, humor that would arguably only work for a show like 30 Rock. for example, the last few moments of the show shows we zoom out to see Kenneth, now the head of NBC, holding a snow globe of 30 Rockefeller plaza. we hear Liz Lemons granddaughter pitching Kenneth a show about Liz's life, and her working on TGS. Kenneth replies "I know, i love it" as a ship from Star Wars flies past his office window.

Glen Gary Glenross

This week I watch the film Glen Gary Glenross which was originally a play written by famed playwright David Mamet. The film adaptation features a cast of legendary proportions. It stars Al Pachino, Kevin Spacey, Alan Arkin, Ed Harris, Jack Lemmon, and Alec Baldwin who perhaps delivers one of the most intimidating monologues that I have seen.  The film takes place in urban Chicago where it is centered on the sales office of vacation real estate property. Four salesmen are forced to participate in a sales competition where the man who made most sales would receive a brand new car. The man coming in second place received a set of steak knifes and the remaining two would be fired. Baldwin plays a successful businessman who is sent by the owners of the company to weave out all the unsuccessful workers out of their firm. His seven-minute speech is chilling, yet magnificent. I highly recommend youtube-ing it.

The film does a great job of using 180-degree turns on their shots. When the conversation was being transitioned from one character to the next the shot would swivel while staying in focus, which I thought was a cool effect. I recommend the film to all.

The Departed

Martin Scorsese has made dozens of incredible films, many of them being classics. But the one that earned him is one and only Academy Award for Best Director and Best Picture was his 2006 film, The Departed. Set in South Boston, Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio) is assigned to be an undercover cop in the Irish mob run by ganglord Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson). Collin Sullivan (Matt Damon) is a criminal working for the Irish mob and Costello, who has become a Massachusetts State Police Detective. Both Billy and Collin attempt to gain information about the organizations they have infiltrated. However, both the police and Irish mob become aware of the moles inside their organizations and Billy's and Collin's lives are suddenly put into danger. Each man must work quickly to find the other man and take him out before they get taken out by the organizations.

With an amazing cast featuring Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Mark Wahlberg, Martin Sheen, Ray Winston, Vera Farmiga and Alec Baldwin, The Departed is an outstanding film that everyone should go see, if you can get past the abundance of violence and cursing that is in the film. This film simply has it all. A great cast, great cinematography, great editing and a great script. It is one of my personal favorites and every time I watch it, I am sitting at the edge of my seat.

I think my favorite part of the film is the scene on the top of the rooftop, (SPOILERS AHEAD). Both Billy and Collin have found out that the other is the rat in the organizations. Billy told Collin to meet him on the top of the roof and when he arrives, Billy arrests Collin. Detective Brown, played by Anthony Anderson, also comes to the rooftop because he knows who both Billy and Collin are. Billy takes Collin down the elevator at gunpoint and as soon as the elevator doors open, Barrigan, who is another detective working for the Irish mob, puts a bullet through Billy's head and Detective Browns. Collin then puts a bullet through Barrigan's head, making sure that there are no loose ends. This scene is very intense and you do not see the murders coming at all. I jumped in my seat when I heard the loud bangs.

Also just as a side note, my brother actually works in the building where this scene was shot.

The Departed is a terrific film and I think it is Scorsese's best.

Rise of the Guardians

Recently I saw the new animated movie Rise of the Guardians. Starring Chris Pine, Alec Baldwin, Jude Law and directed by Peter Ramsey. I must say that I really enjoyed it, it was a pretty fun adventure, with great performances by the cast and it told a pretty good story, even though it wasn't exactly the most original thing in the world.

The story mainly centers around Jack Frost, the guy whose responsible for pretty much anything to do with winter. The movie is about him finding out what his purpose is and why he was given the powers that he's been given. As this is going on, the villain of the movie Pitch, voiced by Jude law comes back into the picture and threatens the children of the world. So Jack needs to team up with Santa, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy and the Sandman to help stop him.

As I mentioned before, the story isn't the most original thing in the world but it's pretty entertaining. The movie moves along at a pretty quick pace so you're never really given time to be bored with it. I will say this though, the more sentimental moments with Jack are pretty heartfelt and the movie does have a pretty good message to tell by the end of it.

Technically the movie was great. I saw it in 3-D although it's not necessary to enjoy the movie by any means even though it looked great. The animation was beautiful and it was a pleasure to watch everything that was going on on screen.

All in all I would say go see it. It was a really fun movie that I thought was pretty creative even though the story wasn't super strong. The movie looked great, was well acted and it was fun. Go check it out.

Schweddy balls

I noticed on the news last week that besides Ben and Jerry's having a new limited edition ice cream,  it was dedicated to the old christmas skit of SNL about Schweddy Balls!  Not only was this skit amazing because it pushed the boundaries of television, but it is insanely funny because the spoof takes place on a fake set of NPR.

This is a classic SNL skit that I have NO idea how someone finally got the "balls" to put into an actual product!  This is a MUST see for any SNL fan, and Alec Baldwin is just as amazing as he is on 30 Rock.



Apparently the name of the ice cream has caused problems with grocery stores in the U.S. because it's too much of a "locker room" joke for children.  I agree with the logic, but the name's spelling is so different from the actual meaning that I'm sure any child young enough to not understand, won't be affected by a carton of ice cream.  An orginazation called One Million Moms was one of the groups trying to get the name changed for the limited edition flavor, and it's conservative views were enough to change the minds of many east coast grocery store chains from accepting the new item.