Brothers & Sisters

I have a severe problem when it comes to box-sets, once I start I can't stop. This does not bode well for my social life, but who needs a social life when I can pretend I am a Walker. Those of you who have seen this show know what I mean. I was hooked on this show right after the second episode aired.

Brothers & Sisters is the story of the Walker family and like any big family drama, laughter, tears, etc. all come with the package. There are seven people in my family so it makes it very easy to relate to the large Walker clan. No, my family is not as interesting, per say, as the Walkers but coming from a large family really makes me enjoy all the fighting and making up that goes on between the Walkers, it is strangely familiar.

I have watched season 1 twice and am now half way through my third viewing getting ready for the up coming 3rd season (Sun Sept. 28th). If you have not watched this show, I strongly recommend it. It has quickly become one on my favorite shows. I love the cast, even Calista Flockhart who some people don't enjoy shines on this show. The highest compliment I can give this show is to say that I would love to be a Walker or at the very least have them as my neighbors!

If you don't want to go out and catch up on the first two seasons (which you really should to get the full effect) then head on over to abc.com and at least watch the starter kit before the season premiere, which I know you will all now be watching. The Walkers are one family you will be glad to know.

-Eric

Prime

Prime is a comedy set in New York City. Rafi (Uma Thurman) is a recently divorced, 37-year-old career woman from Manhattan. David (Bryan Greenberg), a 23-year-old Jewish painter from the Upper West Side, falls in love with her. Rafi shares all her secrets with her therapist Lisa (Meryl Streep). Unbeknownst to Rafi, Lisa happens to be David's mother. And then the comedy ensues.

I love the feel of this movie. I feel like I am walking around with them, rather than watching it on a screen. This movie and not to mention it's soundtrack is fantastic. While it is only PG13 it has somewhat racy parts, so if that's not your cup of tea, I would skip this one.

Prime forces you to laugh out loud in parts, it also makes you aware of your emotions, and puts religion and dating into perspective and makes you contemplate how it would be.

My favorite part of this movie is the ending. It is simple and real. More movies should be this raw. It leaves you with my favorite song from the soundtrack which is "I Wish You Love": by Rachael Yamagata (listen to it here)

I recommend this movie more for the ladies than the men, but I still think a guy could be entertained by this, since it's not exactly a chick flick. I would also check this soundtrack out on ITUNES. Enjoy!

-Caitlin

Sweet Home Alabama

Sweet Home Alabama is one that you have likely seen. It's a quintessential "chick flick". It's hard for a woman not to like it when it has all the ingredients for a good chick flick... A couple hot men.. cue Patrick Dempsey (better known to some as McDreamy) and Joshua Lucas (yum), throw in some humor, a couple tear jerking moments and voila, you've got yourself a chick flick.

This is just the type of movie to watch while you're curled up all snug with Ben and Jerry (two of my favorite men) If for some reason you missed this in 2002 (when it was released) go out and rent it. I watched it this weekend while I was sick and my husband was doing homework. I am sure he was glad I didn't make him watch it with me. But I would definitely recommend it to all the ladies.

A lot of great lines.. "Look at you, you have a baby!... in a bar." and "Well, you must be Jake's hot date. I'm Melanie, Jake's snotty Yankee bitch wife whom he refuses to divorce. " I would recommend this movie if you're in the mood for a chick flick.

For all you women out there, I pose a question.. who makes your heart all a flutter.. Dempsey or Lucas? For me it's Josh Lucas, his eyes make me melt.

-Caitlin

Red Eye

This weekend my husband and I rented this movie. I had seen it, he had not. I have to say this a great popcorn muncher. A movie that doesn't require much thinking, has sort of cheesy dialogue, but doesn't disappoint in the entertainment department.

Red Eye stars Cillian Murphy (one of my favorite bad guys) and Rachel McAdams. Directed by Wes Craven (think "Scream") This movie takes place mainly on an airplane. McAdams plays a hotel manager ensnared in an assassination plot by Cillian Murphy (we found out that it's pronounced Killian thanks to Eric) while on a red eye flight to Miami.

This 2005 thriller film will keep you on the edge of your seat. It's pretty intense, but nothing too bad. I think I liked it so much because I like Murphy and McAdams. But if you're like me and don't like the scariest or creepiest of movies, this one should suit you nicely. It's a good movie to rent if you want a little excitement.

- Caitlin

The Amazing Race 13

The new cast of The Amazing Race has been unveiled. You can start trying to figure out which team's to root for and against here. I expect all of you to watch this show as I am sure I will be posting weekly updates. I love how intense it is every season and I love the teams that you love to hate, which it looks like we will have a few of this go round. The 13th season of The Amazing Race starts September 28th.

-Eric

The Love Guru

I am sure it's no shock that I thought this movie was stupid. Understatement. Really stupid. My husband and I figured since it was at the dollar movies that we could give it a shot. I am not even sure it was worth the dollar. I think I chuckled under my breath twice, and probably just because those parts in comparison to others were okay.

Even though there are appearances by Jessica Simpson, Val Kilmer, Justin Timberlake, and Morgan Freeman's voice. I wouldn't waste your time seeing this one. If you are out of options at the movie rental store and you walk past and think "Hmm, this looks stupid, but how bad could it be?" Just keep walking. If you are really curious about it, I would wait until it comes on t.v., that way you can flip the channel if you hate it.

I haven't talked to anyone who liked this movie yet, but would be interested in knowing if anyone thought it was even slightly good. Even my husband who can find humor in most things, didn't like it. I am a fan of Mike Myers, but this movie fell mighty short. I would pass on it.

Caitlin

Women's Olympic Gymnastics

Last night was an emotional one in women's gymnastics. It was the all-around competition, and I was biting my nails the whole time. It was a night with me staying up way too late to see who won the medals, and screaming at the t.v. Which had my husband making comments like "If the U.S. girls win are you going to scream and clap and wake me up?" To which I replied "Yep." I mean come on, it's the Olympics! So true to my word when Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson won the gold and silver medals I was bouncing in bed and cheering! In fact I cried when they played the anthem, because both of those girls are darling and deserved their medals, especially after losing the gold the other night. Hooray! Go U.S.!

Caitlin

Harry Potter Movie News

I got home from work today and found this little bit of information: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince release date has been changed from this November to July 17, 2009!! I AM NOT HAPPY ABOUT THIS!!

Now I can understand moving a movies release date if the film isn't ready but that is not the case here. No Warner Bros., fresh off making truckloads of money from The Dark Knight, thought the movie would do better in the summer! To which I reply; It's Harry Potter, it is going to make money whenever you release it!

This really bugs me. Why you ask? Well because this was one of the few movies I was looking forward to this fall. Actually it was one of two movies, the other being the new Bond movie. Like I said before, if it was because the movie wasn't ready then by all means delay it. But when an exec at WB says that is not the case and he has seen the movie and it is great, then that just makes it worse. I want to see it too! Don't make me wait. I will pay five extra bucks, as I am sure a lot of people would, to see the thing in November. I guess I am just ranting because there is not much I can do about it and yes, I will still see the movie when it comes out in July. To help tide you over til then, you can watch the preview here. That concludes my geek freakout session for today.


-Eric

Women's Olympic Gymnastics

If you watched the women's gymnastics last night. You were sure to notice this girl. Alicia Sacramone. She goes to Brown University. She is pound for pound stronger than most guys, and not to mention darling. Unfortunately she had so much pressure on her last night that she bombed.

A girl from China had fallen off the balance beam giving them the opportunity to win the gold medal. Cue Sacramone, she fell right as she tried to mount the beam. This meant America was going to have to do near perfect floor routines. Cue Sacramone once more, who was visibly rattled. The first set of tumbles she did, had her thinking she was going to go out of bounds, so instead she pulled back and fell. Which is something I have scarcely seen in the floor routine. She also stepped out of bounds after another tumbling pass. You could even see her teammates falling apart. They both stepped out of bounds.

All China had to do when it was their turn was to get through their routines without anything major happening. Not surprisingly China won the gold medal. These girls had so much pressure on them, you could see it on their faces. Poor Sacramone looked like she was in complete shock. I believe she has one more competition, and you better believe I will be watching and rooting her on.

Caitlin

The Olympic Summer Games

In case you didn't know, the Beijing Olympic Games started Friday. I love the Olympics and find myself getting sucked in no matter what the event. The cool thing about the Summer Games is that there are so many different sports that you are almost guaranteed to find something you like. I mean they even have badminton! The games are on for 16 days and since it's the end of summer there really isn't much else on TV to watch anyway. So tune in for a bit and enjoy finding a new favorite sport, perhaps the steeplechase, and all the human goodness and togetherness the games bring out. I think the Visa commercials say it best, Go World!

-Eric

So You Think You Can Dance

Even though I voted for Katee. I am incredibly happy that Joshua won. I also have to say that I cried when I saw his Dad in the audience. So great! I am already looking forward to the next season!

Caitlin

The Core

Okay, I have another confession; I love disaster movies! Armageddon, Deep Impact, Dante's Peak, Volcano, The Day After Tomorrow, well you get the point. So I am sure that it comes as no surprise that I saw The Core when it came out a few years back. It may surprise you that I didn't really like it then. Well a few nights ago it was on TV and since it is summer and my Tivo is oh so lonely I thought I would give The Core another shot.

Was it any better the second time around? Well no. But I did enjoy it much more this time. Why you may ask? Well the plot is just so crazy and cheesy that you can't help but laugh at what it is. I mean come on, the core of the planet is dying causing the electromagnetic field that surrounds the earth, and protects it from cosmic rays, to fail. This also leads to one of the funniest moments in the movie. Since the EM field has failed, birds internal navigation is all askew and this causes said birds to dive bomb people, buses, cars, buildings! Who knew that pigeons would be so destructive! Oh and don't forget the killer lightning, cosmic rays that can melt the Golden Gate bridge but not a Chevy and so on and so forth. Now this all happens relatively early in the movie. Yes it all happens very quickly, because we have to take our next journey into The Core.

The movie tries to make you believe that the technology exists that can allow a ship and its crew to travel safely to the center of the Earth. This is a little bit harder for me to believe then say blowing up an asteroid with a missile, that at least sounds plausible. But since this is a disaster movie, oh and is it a disaster, I will forgive the movie for its lapses here. So onto the center of the earth. Things happen along the way that delay our trusty crew (Hello giant crystal block thingy!) and of course the crew members have to turn on each other, then make up shortly before the bombs that they have placed in the core to restart it go off. We are then left with two crew members that have to out run the bomb blast, after converting the ship to run on thermal power, and make it back to the surface.

Will they make it? Will their story ever be told? Duh! Of course they do and of course it is. Should you watch said story? Only if you are bored or want to watch a really lame movie. Now to be fair if you go in knowing that is going to be bad it is much funnier then any disaster movie should be. Just don't tell the movie that you are laughing at it! Because those pigeons are still out there just waiting...

-Eric