JasonPafundi.com

Inception is a movie fans 'dream'

 Christopher Nolan, director of Memento, Insomnia, The Prestige and The Dark Knight, has become a must-see director, on the same level as Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese.  Anytime he makes a movie, you must see it, and his latest film, Inception, is no exception.

 Starring Leonardo DiCaprio (my No. 2 behind Denzel), Inception is a movie about an agency who’s job it is to infiltrate a human’s dreams for the purpose of stealing information.  

 Going in, I had the impression that the movie would be hard to follow (based on the trailers), and it was.  Anybody who sees this movies mustn’t drink anything beforehand, because if you leave to go to the bathroom, you’ll be lost when you get back.  And that isn’t a bad thing.  I want a movie that constantly keeps my attention, and this one certainly did that.

"Knight and Day" knot good

  I was looking forward to this movie due in part to some positive reviews by critics regarding the performance of Tom Cruise.  Suffice it to say, Cruise is the only good thing about this picture.

 The movie is about Cruise's Roy Miller, some kind of government secret agent -- for what agency, we don't really know -- and he is either on the run from the people he works for because they are corrupt, or he has gone rogue and he is on the run because he's being chased.  If we were ever told which one he was, I must have missed it.

"Grown Ups" is your average buddy comedy

  If you ever said to yourself "what would it be like to watch Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, David Spade, Rob Schneider and Kevin James hang out together", wonder no more.

Grown Ups is a just a movie about childhood friends hanging out as adults.  If you expect anything more than that, you'll be letdown, but if you go in expecting some funny jokes, a bunch of physical gags, and some cameos by other Sandler favorites, you'll have a great time.

 The movie's "plot" centers around the group attending the funeral of their childhood basketball coach.  It's the first time they've all been together in something like 30 years, and it's funny to watch as they all make fun of each other, just as we imagine they would in real life.

Shrek lives happily ever after

  After three films that were met with varying reviews, Shrek Forever After begged an obvious question (why?) with an even more obvious answer (because the series has generated over a $1 billion in the United States alone).

  The final installment is a marked improvement over Shrek 3, but it fails to recapture the magic of the first two films, but really, how many of the last movies in a series are ever better than the first?

  In the final chapter, DreamWorks uses a plot similar to Back to the Future II, when Marty McFly enters an alternate universe where Biff Tannen is his wealthy stepfather and things aren’t what Marty knows them to really be.  The same thing happens to that lovable ogre Shrek.

  During the birthday party for his three little ogre babies, Shrek, obviously getting dull with the routine of marriage and family, storms out of the party and comes across Rumpelstiltskin.  Shrek wants to go back, even just for a day, to a time when he was a feared ogre.  

Lindsay just needs to SCRAM!

Once again, I have to admit I couldn't look away from the computer this afternoon as perennial trainwreck Lindsay Lohan appeared before a visibly upset judge in California.

The short-version of why she was in court is that she was arrested for DUI in 2007, placed on probation, and as a condition of her probation, she had to complete a certain number of alcohol education classes.  Over the course of the last 18 months, has had numerous issues with the court over the completion of the classes, and supposedly she had only completed 10 of the 13. 

Robin Hood- Movie Review

For those of you expecting the “rob from the rich and give to the poor” Robin Hood, or the “courting Maid
Marian” Robin Hood, or the man with a “band of merry men” Robin Hood, this movie by Ridley Scott isn’t for you.

Scott, who 10 years ago famously directed Gladiator, has his cinema-mainstay Russell Crowe playing Robin Longstride, on his way back to England after fighting with King Richard the Lion Heart in the Crusades.

After the death of Richard, Robin and friends Little John, Will Scarlett and Alan-a-Dale, decide to head back to England.  Along the way, they comes across the dying Robert of Locksley, and he asks Robin to return his sword to his father in Nottingham.   The father, an old, wise, blind man named Walter, implores Robin to take over the persona of his recently deceased son in order to save their land from being confiscated by the newly crowned King John (I assume this is how Robin becomes known as Robin of Locksley).

Robert Locksley, in this story, happens to be married to Marian, played by Cate Blanchett, my least favorite actress of all time.  I cannot believe for a leading lady how unattractive she really is, and the back-and-forth between her and Crowe doesn’t make me want to see them end up together. 

The devilish Godfrey becomes the Earl Marshall of England, a position he hopes will allow him to facilitate an easy takeover by the French.   He and his men, under the guise of collecting taxes, brutally invade villages, burning them to the ground. 

Jack is back (in a helicopter)

  
Last night on 24, our hero Jack Bauer found himself in a situation that would lead him to take a drastic measure. 
 After the shocking death of former FBI agent Renee Walker, Jack sought out information into the people  responsible for her death.  He got this information from Vladimir, a bad guy from earlier in the season.  It was revealed to Jack that members of the Russian government were inherently responsible for all the events of the day, including the kidnapping and assassination of Islamic Republic president Omar Hassan.
 After disgraced former president Charles Logan uses some leverage (he had knowledge of the Russian involvement), the Russian peace delegation agrees to go back to the peace hearings. 
 While this is great news for President Taylor, it causes an issue with Jack, because the president decided not to grant immunity to CTU-mole Dana Walsh, ensuring her testimony won’t be used against the Russians. 
 Jack wants justice for Renee and he wants the Russians to pay for what they did, but Taylor wants peace in the region, so she puts aside Jack’s feelings and moves forward with the peace process.
 Taylor orders Jack locked down, and as he is being led to the helicopter to take him to an Air Force base, he commandeers the chopper. 
 Nobody thought that Jack was going to be shutdown, but how he manages to get out of this jam now that the Air Force has been instructed to force him down (by Jack’s friend Chloe O’Brien, no less) is what viewers cannot wait for.
 There are only six episodes left in the history of 24 as a TV show.  This show, groundbreaking on so many levels, will be surely missed by all of the Pafundis, especially myself, who has watched weekly since Season Two. 
 I’ll have a final review of Day 8 after it’s finale on Monday, May 24.

"Bruno" movie review

This follow-up to Borat by Sasha Baron Cohen didn't quite live up to the standards he set with his Kazakhi documentary from 2006.

Bruno, a flaming homosexual fashionista, travels the world in the hopes of becoming the "most famous Austrian since Hitler". 

Bruno does similar outrageous gags like Borat did, taking advantage of unsuspecting people and one annoyed terrorist. 

The result isn't as shocking as Borat, but the humor is much more crude, with an inordinate amount of full-frontal nudity.

It is good for a couple of laugh-out-loud moments, but not on the scale of Borat.

Rating:  2 1/2 Schnauzers

"OctoMom" is Crazy

I have had some "complaints" from friends saying that I should post more social commentary and less about my trips to Publix and other such trivial topics.  So here is my first "commentary".  Who better to comment on than the "Octomom".

Seriously, people, aren't we all tired of hearing about her?  This woman, who already had six kids, had eight embryos implanted and gave birth recently to eight more children, giving her a full soccer team with three subs.  As a single mother without a job, Octomom is getting exactly what she set out for: fame.  The newsmedia in this country continues to talk about her every day, she is on every newsbroadcast, every late-night show, and TMZ covers her every move like she was Brad and Angelina (the latter whom she has tried to construct her face to look like). 

Yesterday, Octo decided to fire the 24-hour nanny care that was being provided to her free of charge.  Good idea, psycho!  She added to her "legend" yesterday by becoming the modern-day OJ in terms of calling 911.   Her own "nanny" called the police because child advocate and famed lawyer Gloria Allred was in the house, and Octo wanted her removed. 

The Governator needs to step in, get child services involved, and have them do what's in the best interest of the children.  They need to be in a home with a family that can provide for them.  So unless the Octomom is going to accept the $1 million porn offer, we're going to be stuck with stories about crazy 911 calls, fired nannies, and Dr. Phil.

Elton and Billy

Tone and I arrived at the St. Pete Times Forum, after dealing with some traffic on the Gandy Bridge due to construction, at about 6:30 for the show, scheduled to start at 7:30. We paid only $5 to park, and walked to the Forum. We got to the luxury box, which was even with the stage on the second level, and there was a couple already there. The arena was empty, and since the box didn't have any real food, Tone and I went and got Outback, brought it up to the suite, and ate.

An elderly couple from Newfoundland entered the box, and we spent the better part of the time before the showing chatting with them, along with two guys in town (from Ft. Lauderdale and Cleveland).

The lights went down and two pianos rose from the stage at about 7:45. At this point, the entire arena was packed (announced crowd of 20,900 or so). The crowd was on its feet as Billy Joel walked onto the stage. Sir Elton John made his entrance a few moments later to the delight of the sell-out crowd. The sat at their respective pianos and as they played the opening sounds of Elton's "Your Song". I am not a big fan of this song, so I'm glad they got it out of the way at the beginning. Following that, the duo kept it slow with Joel's "Honesty", which is very underrated, and this was the first time I heard this song live, in my sixth BJ concert.

After this opening pair, both men's bands took the stage and jammed to Elton's classic "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me", before tackling Billy's uptempo "My Life". It is amazing seeing these two legends perform on one stage, and this was the third time I've seen one of these Face2Face shows.

Elton had the stage to himself next, and for about an hour, played a collection of his biggest hits. The only ones I wanted to hear that he didn't play were "Someone Saved My Life Tonight" and "I Guess That's Why the Call it the Blues". But with over 30 years of music and only a brief time, some songs just couldn't get played. After closing with "Crocodile Rock", the Rocket Man ceded the stage to the Piano Man, who spent his time jamming out all his hits while mixing in playful and funny comments, including thanking the fans in "Gainesville (actually at the other end of the arena) for buying tickets. Once Billy finished with "Only the Good Die Young", he left the stage, but the crowd knew what was coming. Sir Elton and Billy returned to close out the 3 hour, 15 minute show with six more songs, including "Birthday" and "Back in the USSR", by the Beatles. The show ended, of course, with the stars, joined by the crowd, singing Piano Man.

This concert, though I've seen it three times now, is still a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Elton is 62 in a few weeks, and Billy is 59. They will not be around much longer, and I'm hoping to take Jen to see this tour next year at Madison Square Garden, which would be the ultimate experience.

Set List

Together: “Your Song”, “Honesty”, “Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me”, “My Life”,

John and his band: “Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding”, “Saturday Night's Alright”, ”Burn Down the Mission”, “Madman Across the Water”, “Tiny Dancer”, “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road”, “Daniel”, “Rocket Man”, “Levon”, “I'm Still Standing”, “Crocodile Rock”

Joel and his band: “Angry Young Man”, “Movin' Out”, “Allentown”, “Zanzibar”, “She's Always a Woman”, “Scenes From an Italian Restaurant”, "River of Dreams”, “We Didn't Start the Fire”, "It's Still Rock 'N Roll to Me”, “Only the Good Die Young”

Together again: “The Bitch Is Back”, “You May Be Right”, “Bennie and the Jets”, “Birthday/Back in the USSR”, “Candle in the Wind”, “Piano Man”