Silence of the Lambs

"It puts the lotion on its skin, or else it gets the hose again."

I know I'm practically the only person on the planet who hadn't seen this movie, it was on my watch list, and can now be crossed off. Starring Anthony Hopkins & Jodie Foster my friends and I watched this accompanied with a 2008 Chianti. I found the intro long and unnecessary, the only information it really told us was that the leading lady was in FBI training, she's just running and running, and then she runs some more. She is interrupted during her ridiculously long run and told that she needs to speak to her supervisor, he informs her that she'll be interviewing Hannibal Lecter. Buffalo Bill is at large, skinning women and depositing their bodies. In the background of the supervisors office is a news clipping that says BILL SKINS FIFTH, which is if you ask me a very crude news heading in regards to the family of the victim.


When the adorably twangy Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) arrives at the asylum to meet 'Hannibal the Cannibal' (Anthony Hopkins), they give her some ground rules, that you can not trust him in any circumstance, that he will literally eat you... They describe him as a monster and after the security measures she witnesses and the greeting she receives from Hannibal's neighbors, the fear is already racing through her. The asylum is a dark and eerie place, with exposed brick, it's the perfect setting for the criminally insane. He is standing in his cell like a gentleman ready to greet her, however, that image is very startling and unexpected, he appears willing to talk to her and he seems to find her charming and sweet, however vulnerable and nervous, though she is trying to appear as confident as possible. You can only imagine what she is thinking, being not only a woman but, a trainee, and speaking to an infamous killer, who is not only a killer, but a psychiatrist, and not only is he a killing psychiatrist, he is a killing psychiatrist who EATS people. You instantly see how intelligent and charming he is, not frightening at all. He is able to read Clarice like a book and makes her uncomfortable, however there is immediately a connection between the two of them.

Soon, Clarice gets involved in the Buffalo Bill investigation. You are introduced to a woman who is jamming out to a great Tom Petty classic in her car when she is driving home, she is likable enough, and then she sees a man in her parking lot struggling with an easy chair he is trying to get into the back of a van and she breaks the first rule of being a woman, helping a sketchy man near the back of a van.... You soon learn that he is abducting women who wear size 14 clothes, because he is making a coat of their skin that he can wear around for his own sick enjoyment. He kidnaps them, puts them in a deep well in his very creepy home, keeps them for 3 days making them put lotion on their skin to make it soft and then kills & skins them. This movie came out in 1991 and the subject matter is frankly pretty disturbing, even now in the era of CSI and daily hour long crime dramas. The investigators turn to a cannibalistic madman to help solve a case regarding a gender confused man that is not only killing and torturing women, he is planning to wear their skin on top of his own and the whole time is quite possibly doing serious damage to the needle on his sewing machine.

I loved this movie, and I found it annoying how everyone I spoke to about it said it was 'so scary' it dissuades people from watching it, I didn't find it frightening at all. It was well done, perfectly acted and the cinematography was brilliant. I'd suggest this for anyone, you may just not want to eat for awhile before or after watching depending on how weak your stomach is. Farewell for now & happy viewing!

The greatest show to ever be on television

You have your ticket in hand, you find your seat, you put your bag up, you smile at the person you are seated next to, maybe make some small talk, you take off, get to your destination, and that is your typical flight. However for flight Oceanic #815, it is a very different story. We all saw the previews, whether or not you watched it while it was on the air, Lost was a phenomenon. Their flight from Sydney Australia to Los Angeles, California crashes on an island in the South Pacific and the initial reaction is survival, obviously. After they realize no one is coming to rescue them people have to choose who they can trust, where their alliances lie, how to defend themselves and keep themselves alive. You find out about the characters pasts and why they were travelling to LA and the kinds of troubles they had in their lives. Soon after their plane has crashed they notice this is not any ordinary island, and the plot twists and turns and twists again and then you're thrown a curve ball. I'm only on the second season, but this is the most intriguing show, I dream about it, I think about it while I'm at work. JJ Abrams is a science fiction genius, he keeps your mouth watering with nearly every episode being a cliffhanger and with so many different characters it keeps you emotionally involved. He is responsible for this Cloverfield, Alias and the recent blockbuster, Super 8. In other words, where JJ leads I will follow... Farewell for now & happy viewing.

holy nudity batman

A pharmaceutical rep, a Parkinson's patient and lots and lots of nudity. I didn't know what to expect with this movie, Love and Other Drugs, it's somewhere between a romantic comedy and a drama. And let me say I didn't like this movie one bit. I really enjoy both of the stars but even they couldn't save it for me. I understand that relationships have their ups and downs however, I don't think that is a very good device in a film. They are fully naked for several scenes and I found it very uncomfortable, normally that would not bother me, however in this movie I think they were intended to look comfortable with each other and that is not the way I perceived it. I felt like I could see their thoughts and their thoughts were 'I'm getting paid to do this'. I also get very annoyed when a token pretty girl is cast as a weird/quirky/free spirited indivual. I don't think Anne Hathaway was a good fit in this role, I don't think she is a good actor, she looked like she was just reading lines as she thought they should be said, she was not believable and she has disgusting boobs that should not be shown on camera. Whatever. Farewell for now & better luck next time.

friends with money

Friends With Money


This is a movie about a group of wealthy women and their husbands and I have a feeling that most normal middle class people who watch this movie are thinking 'What on earth do they have to complain about??? They are married, employed women with enormous homes and well behaved children.' I, however, feel that everyone has problems and I am more than happy to watch. (and judge, silently.) These wealthy women are played by Frances McDormand, Catherine Keener and Joan Cusack, all 3 of whom I greatly admire. They all have handsome, intelligent loving husbands, which is what all women want however they still aren't content with their lives because there is a point when you achieve your goals, you are the person you want to be, you have the career you want and you still feel like there is something missing.

Frances McDormand's character is whom I identified with the most. She is in a loving relationship, she is a ridiculously successful clothing designer, she speaks her mind and is totally herself but she is very angry and is at a spot in her life where she's thinking, what's the point? Some days you wake up and don't think there is a purpose to getting out of bed and why wash your hair or change you clothes?
Especially when you live in a world like we do, where you can go out and people can get away with horrible little things like cutting you in line or stealing a parking space from you and there is a point where you just snap. You think why should they be able to do that? Sure there are no laws or rules in that plain a sense, but what happened to simple human decency?

Catherine Keener and her husband are playwrights who are building an addition to their home. They have been married for a few years and have kids, but are just realizing they don't know each other. Her husband is a blunt, brutally honest guy who has no care or consideration for anyone else's feelings. He is the kind of person who would steal the parking spot or cut in line and wouldn't think twice about it. Joan Cusack and her husband are just rich and have tons of sex and they are just there to move the story along basically, not saying I didn't enjoy their parts in the movie, but it didn't move me to tears or anything.

Now on to the character I haven't mentioned yet, Jennifer Aniston plays Olivia. The one who has the 'Friends with Money' she quit her job as a teacher and is now cleaning houses. She is a strange person, a pothead, a vulnerable heartbroken woman, but she is one of the realest characters I have seen played in a movie. She has impressed me as an actor recently, I think since she's been off Friends I'm starting to take her more seriously, however I do think it's weird when she gets cast as the 'ugly' girl like in Just Go With It, she is cast as the dowdy receptionist/assistant with kids and baggage and is totally upstaged by an annoyingly curvy Brooklyn Decker.

I would recommend this movie to anyone who likes character driven movies where you simply observe the human condition. Farewell for now & happy viewing!

Modern Family

I have spent far too much time preoccupied by the comedy genius that is Modern Family. I just watched the entire first season on dvd and I am very impressed by the fact that this show is cast so well, executed to perfection and makes me laugh out loud. Seriously, and I don't do that when I'm by myself. Can't wait for the 2nd season to come out on dvd so I can completely waste another weekend of my life on the couch. LOVE IT!!!

Super 8

Saw this today with the boyfriend at a discounted rate ($5 for movies seen before 5pm. And there was much rejoicing...). Due to the well constructed trailer for it, you aren't too sure what this movie is about other than there is a mystery surrounding a train crash. When I saw JJ Abrams & Steven Speilberg's names attached to it, and the beloved Amblin logo (with ET in the bike basket flying in front of the moon and churning up a bunch of childhood memories) I knew this was definitely worth seeing.

Let me get this out of the way, this movie had by far the best previews I've ever seen. Transformers 3, Captain America, Harry Potter 7 Part 2, Rise of Planet of the Apes and Breaking Dawn Part 1. 2011-a great year for movies. The only trailer I'm looking just as forward to seeing as these is Sherlock Holmes 2, I am having serious RDJ withdrawals...and Iron Man 3/the Avengers won't be out till next year.



This movie immediately sucks you in, it is beautifully acted. You follow a group of junior high kids through this crazy adventure and I will be the first to admit, I hate child actors. But for these kids I definitely see a future, the main character Joe Lamb is not just a typical preteen, in the time you see him on screen he develops and grows from a kid on summer vacation to a full blown action/adventure star. He is lovable, adorable and easy to relate to. I think they did a great job of casting all the characters.


I think this is the perfect movie for this time, when so many people are dealing with the stresses of financial woes, unemployment and every day you wake up and there is a new electronic device out. This movie takes us all back to a simpler time, granted it was only the early or mid 1980's (it never says specifically), but nevertheless, kids still rode bikes, played outside and their thumbs were not constantly glued to a keyboard attached to a phone that they call a "piece of crap" if it does not load what they want in 5 seconds. This movie has charm being that it is set in a small suburban town most people can relate to, at a time people can look back and remember fondly, but it has all the special effects and amazing production value of the new millennium. There wasn't too much action, the suspense was not predictable and the story was real, as real as a sci fi summer blockbuster can.

I also saw recently 'How to lose friends and alienate people', decent movie, I love Simon Pegg and Kirsten Dunst as well as Jeff Bridges. However it confirmed my hatred of the nauseating Megan Fox, yeah she has the whole male population drooling, however to us normal women, she doesn't threaten us or make us envy her, she has us rolling our eyes saying, enough is enough. You did your "sexy girl" thing in the first Transformers movie, it established you as an icon, but now we're over it. You get cast in bad roles that make you look like a complete idiot, and yes you may have lucked out by landing a huge movie as your first major gig (in which you had about 12 lines) but since then you have done, Jonah Hex, Jennifer's Body, a movie that is simply entitled "Whore" (I swear, if you don't believe me, imdb.com) and the aforementioned one. All teeny tiny movies that as far as the average person is aware, barely exist. I don't like you and I really try to avoid your work as often as I can. Please go away or do something worth while with your new found fame. Farewell for now & happy viewing!

Activity of the Tornadic nature.

Spring in Kansas...

Just couldn't get through a work day without this.

nom nom nom Fettucini Alfredo, chicken, spinach, roma tomatoes nom nom nom What an adorable bathroom! HP <3 Just started on the last book. I have to know how it ends!!

I look focused...

Anyway, movies to watch, farewell for now & happy viewing.