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masticoret9
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Begin Again (2013)
A truly worthy love letter to New York, Romance, Music, and Second Chances.
This film, to look from a distance, seems like your usual dime a dozen ROM-COM. All the tropes seem to be in place, just waiting to be ordinary, forgettable experience. Just like all the pop songs that use the same chord progression as "Pachelbel's Canon in D". Though, just like some of those songs, a little personality will turn it from generic, to the song you hum in the shower.
The film introduces you to its leads in a very interesting way. Which hooked me right away. You are then given context to the night of their serendipitous meeting. Seeing the events that placed both of them in the same venue at just the right moment as to have, what could be, a life changing moment for them both.
It is filled to the brim with music. Most of which is very enjoyable, if not a little more Pop than my personal taste. Which is fine, there isn't a sour note in the whole film.
All of the actors are used to great effect. Which is impressive with the number of real greats it contains. Keira Knightly is instantly likable here. Her character always seems to have the right intentions if not the best execution. Mark Ruffalo, like always, shines as the washed up music producer/record label executive. Waiting to regain his life after a series of failures. Adam Levine, well, seems to play a different version of himself, only much less likable at times. Kathrine Keener, isn't in the movie enough. I think most people will agree. I like her a lot and she is always fun to watch. She does what she does better than anyone else, in my humble opinion.
Each story is granted the time it deserves, without staying overly long with any single person. You really get to understand and relate to all the character motivations in the time given. Even when there are deviations from the usual or expected, with some of the relationships. You know exactly why those things happen and understand the reasons, behind those decisions.
All in all, I really enjoyed this film. I have seen many a film that fails at what this story attempts. Yet it really does nail it. It is about dealing with the unexpected derailment that life seems to drop on you. Giving examples of how to pick up the pieces and get back on track. It's a good thing then, that the first song we hear is about finding yourself in the subway without direction.
Justified: Over the Mountain (2014)
Pine Forest
I have lived about an hour's drive from Harlan, KY my whole life. I look out my window and see trees that crest the mountain and end on the other side in Harlan County. The trees I see are deciduous like maples, poplars, oaks, sycamores and only a handful of them are evergreen. The reason we have people come from every state down to our area in fall, is to see all the leaves change color. The fact that they are filming in an old growth pine forest just hurts my feelings. There aren't many amazing things about Kentucky that draw people here. The Kentucky Derby, the gorgeous nature and Jennifer Lawrence is about it.
The episode was great on the other hand. I always like that Justified seems to reinvent the wheel with itself each season. The first season and the last season are two different animals completely. Raymond and Boyd seem to always find a way to get involved with whatever fiasco is going on. The story seems subdued compared to a lot of shows out there. It seems like events that very well could happen. You take for granted how good the writing is when you don't notice any major things going on, but yet you're still compelled to watch it each week. This episode is no exception.
Justified: The Collection (2010)
Caryn Carnes
I'm from Middlesboro, a city of 15,000 people about an hours drive from Harlan County. If any of you watched the History Channel Program "America: The Story of Us" Then you might remember one episode opened with a meteor tearing ass through the sky and hitting on the KY/TN/VA border. Well, the hole left in Earth is where I live. It is in all ways a hole in the ground, and it lives up to it. So, when my neck of the woods (literally) gets it's own show. I am beyond elated. Now take into account the fact the show is GOOD, and they do a fair job of portraying the local characters as both near half retarded hicks, and some highly intelligent southern ladies and gentlemen respectively, I can't get enough. The part that makes sure I will NEVER miss an episode is that my sisters name is Carrie Carnes, and this weeks program had a lady named Caryn, and for the better part of the show I couldn't hear the name being said clearly enough, so I assumed it was Carrie. She is also a 30 something blond girl of equal build. Who ironically is a man eater (My sister as well as Caryn from the show). I am proud to be from here,and will take the name hillbilly or redneck with no argument. Although, I don't present visually as either (my accent is a dead give away though) I don't think there is a prettier place on Earth, and wouldn't trade the people for any other group. It has as many faults if not more than where you live, but it has a charm that has to be lived to be understood. Kentucky - you don't have to do Meth or marry your cousin to live here, but it helps :D
The 100 Lives of Black Jack Savage (1991)
The Almost 100 lives....
I remember watching this show when I was a kid. I'm 29 now so I was 10 when the show aired originally, and was EXCITED each week when it would come on. I think the concept was solid for a kids show, but they aimed it at a PG-13 audience, and that made it take it's self too seriously. The older people who would watch it yawned at the overly simplistic predictable plots. I could tell the show was doomed when, (and to condense the concept as quick as I can.) the main "living" character (whose name I forget) was a bad man, and ran away from the U.S. government to the Caribbean. While he was there he moved into a castle, and in that castle lived a pirate ghost who had killed 100 people. Now to atone for those deaths he must save 100 lives, but since he's dead he's unable to do this. So, the con artist American, to atone for his own past, now worried that he is going to hell because of what Jack Savage has told him of the afterlife, decides to help Jack save lives, so they can bypass purgatory together, and live happily ever after in heaven with all the people they screwed over/killed! (Isn't Christianity's atonement/forgiveness policy fantastic!?) Now that isn't the part where it got crappy. They actually had a decent concept for a show. (Remember this is the time when Tween weapon wielding amphibians were uber popular. So, it wasn't the concept that was the selling point for a show, but how interesting they could make the content.) The problem with this particular show was that they had like a 6 episode run or so before I lost interest, and they had already saved 2 people's lives TWICE. so in 6 episodes they had to swoop to the rescue of two moronically inept individuals two different times for two different reasons. Which leads you to question how these two people had managed to stay alive prior to the evil pirate and con-artist McGee moving to the island then going on penance patrol in their super boat. Anyways, I digress it seems the writers were out to lunch, and the viewers followed. So, I give the show a 4 out of 10. It was fun, and exciting as a ten year old, but they probably had some retard director/producer/head writer that was chopping off the good character development and concepts for the sake of generic mediocrity. I hope Jack made it out of hell, because God knows his show didn't.