orizano Reviews

Fringe: Brown Betty (2010) Season 2, Episode 20

way to go, Walter!

[9/10 · 1 May 2010]

I liked this episode. The singing ranged from good to pretty good. And it was brief - no over the top show-stoppers. The background music was also good. I recognized some of it and wish I could identify the rest,especially the jazzy bits.

I also liked this peek into Walter's head and his feelings about his life, the choices he's made, the consequences of his choices and how he sees the world in general.

I think all of the actors did a fine job playing their noirish characters.

I can't really understand the whining stating about how this was such a bad episode: this episode was about a recreational drug using mad-scientist suffering from guilt while hoping for the best who is telling a fanciful (bedtime) story shadowed with his life's events to a little girl who thinks that while he's weird in a good-funny way, that he could use a little help on the proper way to end a story.

I'm thinking that when all is said and done, we might find that this was less of an apocryphal episode as the naysayers make it out to be.

Chowder (2007–2010)

"on the wings of an eagle"

[9/10 · 1 January 2008]

Marzipan: now doesn't that actually sound like a place, not a food? Marzipan is where Chowder lives and where he is learning (however ineptly) to become a cook. It is a land where a kid can have a caged pet fart-cloud, where what we know as "the musical fruit" can actually sing (and sing so well that a pot of 'em can get the city-folk dancing in the streets)and "cinnamini" (ipo cinnamon) is a spice that can shrink a person so that a toadstool seems as big as a house. Playing on puns (to legally be a cook, one needs a "certiFRYcate"), general silliness (one character speaks using only the word "rawda", but everyone in Marzipan knows what he's saying) as well as many other classic cartoon bits of funniness, this cartoon is a hoot. Chowder's innocence, obliviousness to his lack of cooking talent (heck, his lack of being plain old being brighter than a doorknob!), combined with the wackiness of the land he lives in - the food talks, a humanoid that is some kind of hemi-semi-demi-god has been seen to toss a lightning bolt or two from a cloud down towards Marzipan, Mount Foundue is a volcano with filled with hot melted cheese - makes for hilariousness: you have to see this for yourself. It is good old fashioned cartoon silliness without any apparent up-front merchandise tie-in.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDyXIHhhtro

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Body (2001) Season 5, Episode 16

what lajabless said

[10/10 · 13 November 2007]

What lajabless said is on the money. I too had lost my mother just weeks before this episode was broadcast. It was eerie how what I saw on the screen expressed how I was feeling at the time. I don't know if my appreciation of this episode is a reflection of what I was going through, or of just how good a show it actually was. I'm almost afraid to rewatch this episode. If it really is that good, will I relive that emotional turmoil? It's been nearly seven years. Maybe I can rewatch it objectively now. I have to put this in the Buffy top ten, maybe top five episodes. One of my best friends at the time was also a Buffy fan. Sadly, I wasn't able to talk with him about this episode as he had died suddenly only days earlier....

Nancy Drew (2007)

Not half bad

[7/10 · 19 June 2007]

I was forced to see this because a) I have an 11 year-old girl and b) we had shown her the Bonita Granville Nacy Drew movies from the 1930s, which she thoroughly enjoyed. Personally, I didn't think it was as humorous as the 1930s flicks, but on the other hand, it wasn't the nauseating piece of intelligence-insulting fluff I feared it would be. It was an inoffensive, mildly entertaining movie. Although I'm pleased that they didn't try to "upgrade" Nancy to 21st Century "hipness" (Veronica Mars holds the title as the Modern Nancy Drew), I do think that they made her a little too bland, that they didn't do enough to develop Nancy Drew - the movie could have been titled "Jane Doe, Girl Detective". I have to blame the script: I think each actor did a good job with what they had to work with. I liked Emma Roberts in this role, but they gave her a made-for-TV, not theatrical release, script...

Ratatouille (2007)

Best "cartoon" movie so far this year

[10/10 · 17 June 2007]

Maybe later, after the initial euphoria from last night's sneak-peak viewing has faded, I might change my vote to an 8 or 9, but for now I'm giving it a ten and calling it the best "cartoon" movie so far this year.

I'm no CGI snob - the animation look great to me. The music was unobtrusive, noticeable only when it was supposed to be notice. Other pluses to me was an absence of song and dance scenes and cutesy sidekicks. The story (thankfully) took a couple of turns that bypassed the paths usually ambled upon in animated stories that have animals presenting human traits. And although it did have a happy ending, it didn't have the expected "everyone's dreams came true and they all lived happily ever after" ending, which was a nice change.

What I liked most of all, was how the movie was able to express the concept that preparing food should be more than a necessary chore, that eating food is more than just fueling your body, that eating should be an enjoyable experience. I am now on a quest myself to find a recipe for ratatouille!!!

The Brady Bunch Movie (1995)

Funny stuff

[9/10 · 26 September 2006]

If ever there was a movie I never expected to recommend to someone, well, this is certainly it. I figured it was going to be another lame TV to big screen adaption. I never saw it in the theater or rented it. Gary Cole's face, who at the time I'd most recently had seen in TV's "American Gothic" as Sheriff Lucas Buck. So I figured I'd check it out fro a few minutes just for his performance. The tongue-in-cheek and double-entendre writing and acting were so on the mark!! I was constantly giggling and laughing. I was never a Brady Bunch fan, so maybe that made the movie funnier to me, but I don't think so. It was just plainly a hoot. It's right up there with the first entries in the "Airplane!" and "Naked Gun" series. Comedy you had to pay attention to so you wouldn't miss the next joke in this clever spoof. If you rated it low, watch it again without bias. Tell me lines like

"Doug, do you have protection?"

"Oh yes ma'am, assorted colors and textures!"

aren't genuinely funny!!!

Sin City (2005)

Almost as good as the book

[9/10 · 16 November 2005]

As a fan of the books, I really enjoyed seeing the pages come to life on the big screen. Too bad too many newbies had problems with what they perceived to be continuity issues. Perhaps they would have followed thing easier if the stories were presented as three vignettes, although that type of thing usually doesn't fly too well in theatres. I can't wait to see the DVD version where I can watch the stories individually. Perhaps more people will have a better viewing experience when they have a chance to see the stories on at a time. I've heard that the next movie "A Dame To Kill For", which precedes "The Big Fat Kill" will be the sole source for the next movie. That should alleviate continuity issues. Anyway, "Frank Millers Sin City" is a pretty wild near-noir ride for mature folks. Mickey Rourke does the best job of channeling his character, Michael Madsen doe the least credible job, with Alba not too far from him. But it doesn't matter - as a whole, the movie is good.

Zathura: A Space Adventure (2005)

better than Chiken Little

[8/10 · 6 November 2005]

It's better than Chicken Little, which was a cute little family movie. This is by no means cute, but it a family movie, with action and comedy and it is entertaining. I wouldn't bring an average seven year-old, but kids older than that should be able to handle the more relatively intense scenes. Teens with imagination and a willingness to enjoy life should find it acceptable fair. Those I-know-everything, see-my-picture-in-the-dictionary-under-angst kids in their teens and twenties will of course see another opportunity to vent spleen, call people names and attempt to rain on other's parades (and unless something drastic happens to improve their personality, they're going to be bitter people all their lives), so ignore them. I read Zathura several years ago to my kid, and it is written by the author of Jumanji . There is a similarity of theme, but the stories are different. And if my memory is correct, at the end of the Zathura book, the brother go to bury the game, come across the Jumanji game and wisely leave it alone. So the two stories take place in the same universe, but Zathura is NOT technically a sequel to Jumanji.

The Adventures of Dynamo Duck (1990– )

some funny stuff in the vein of "Lance Link"

[9/10 · 31 March 2004]

If you liked "Lance Link, Secret Chimp", you'll like The Adventures of Dynamo Duck. It's so silly it has no choice but to be funny. Even when you're sober! You have a bunch of wee animals - baby duck-sized - in costumes, running around little urban and "town&county" type sets, doing all of the secret agent cliches. The over-dubbed voices are a real hoot! The "episodes" are only a couple of minutes long and the puns are perfectly bad! If you see it scheduled, tape it!