The 2013 VMA Train Wreck Edition

This past Sunday in Brooklyn, New York we witnessed the Video Music Awards presented by MTV. To me it's very ironic that MTV still has VMAs since they really don't show music videos anymore. I just checked. In the next twenty four hours, they are showing six hours of music videos. I suppose that wouldn't be bad, unless you consider the fact that the videos will only play from 3:00 A.M. to 9:00 A.M. During the same 24 hours the network will show five hours of shows like "16 & Pregnant" and "Teen Mom," but that's another story for another blog.

For this blog I am going to focus on a few things that show the ridiculousness of this awards show. The VMAs first aired in 1984. There was pop royalty like Michael Jackson, Prince and Madonna in attendance. What do we have this year? One Direction and Selena Gomez. No offense to either act, but with the way music fads come and go the chances of both of them being relevant even five years from now are not very likely. For example, five years ago at the VMAs a band won "Best New Artist." The name of that band was Tokio Hotel. And has ANYONE heard of them in the five years that followed? Does that name even ring a bell to anyone? But the names we celebrated in 1980s are still celebrated today.

I am sure that Li'L Kim has been to an award show during her career. Yet for some strange reason when she was out there to present, her co-presenter had to explain that she would be the one to announce who won. I know there wasn't a host to the show, does that mean there wasn't a rehearsal for it either? There is absolutely no reason that awkward moment needed to be televised. And while we are on it, why wasn't there a host? Especially when Kevin Hart came out not once but twice to do recaps and say "I am not hosting!" Clearly we can tell from the awkward dead silence several times during the night.

And then there is the "star" of the night, if you can call her that. Miss Miley Cyrus. I will be completely honest, I am not sure what twerking really is. I have heard the term, but as I have stated in the past I am not the target demographic. Although, Robin Thicke is a month older than I am and it didn't stop her from grinding on him like he was a Beetlejuice porn pole. If you watched the pre-show interview on MTV, she was asked if she was ready for the fans to take her music seriously. She said she was. Then she came out in teddy bear lingerie with giant teddy bears (that she grinded on) and basically stuck a foam number one finger down her pants. That to me in no way shape or form says "Take my music seriously." But I guess it worked. Here it is on Wednesday and we are still talking about it. She wanted publicity; she is getting it. Right now, seven out of the ten "Hot On Buzzfeed" articles are about Miley Cyrus. She is clearly getting the vast majority of this blog and I was completely grossed out by it. I don't know what generated more tweets in the past week, Ben Affleck as Batman or Miley Cyrus. And for the record, both generated negative buzz, but any publicity is considered good publicity, I suppose.

The highlight of the night had to have been the Justin Timberlake award and medley of his hits. I admit that the rumors of an *Nsync reunion were not false, but the end result was a horrible let down. They could have done so much more with that. In the end, it was nice to see all of them back together on stage, no matter how short of a time it was.

My other favorite moment was when Taylor Swift won a moonman and she mentioned something about who the song was about and then the camera cut to One Direction. It was pretty priceless. Though I was waiting for Kanye West to...well Kanye West her all over again. Speaking of Kanye, can someone PLEASE tell me why people think he is talented? The song he sang was not good at all and was highly repetitive.

Well, regardless, another year of the Video Music Awards is behind us. We shall see what 2014 has in store for us... Just please no more Miley...

As always a special thanks to my wonderful fiancée who is also my wonderful editor.

Editor's Note: Hi, fiancée here, just wanted to add a female perspective to the whole Miley Cyrus scandal. During her vomit-inducing performance, Miley did two distinct things, neither of them good. The first was to undo a lot of the good, sexual positivity that the female artists before her pushed for. Madonna led a sexual revolution in the 80s, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, and Destiny's Child promoted independence in the 90s and early 00s and although I can't count myself a fan of either, Rihanna and Lady Gaga pushed some feminine boundaries in the 2010s. Miley was probably trying to craft an act that showed her independence from her childhood Disney Channel image, but instead she failed miserably by grinding against a man old enough to be her father while he sang a pretty rapey song. And how did her actual father feel about it? He loved it, tweeting the (admittedly creepy) "@VMA.'S "Can't Stop" Rock that puppy Sissy!! Enjoy the party...and be thankful for the greatest fans on earth!!! Hope the Bear pays of!!!!" What? Moving on. The second thing Miley Cyrus did on Sunday night that she can't really take full credit for, because if it hadn't been her it would've been someone else, was draw our attention from more pressing issues. Americans are a fame-obsessed people and that's not going to change, but while we were all busy discussing Miley's butt Syria was using chemical weapons on their own people, Egypt is having all kinds of revolution, and Japan is leaking radioactive waste into the Pacific Ocean. Again, what? So, Miley, keep your butt in your pants and your tongue in your mouth and to the rest of you, take some advice from Benedict Cumberbatch.

Ben Affleck Edition

The other night Warner Brothers' Studios reported that they have signed the next Batman. As I stated in a previous blog, everyone from Josh Brolin to Orlando Bloom was rumored for the role. But in the end the role of Bruce Wayne/Batman went to Ben Affleck.

I have been thinking a lot about this since the announcement last night and the more I think about it, the more I like it. He has played a super hero before in Marvel's Daredevil in 2003. The reviews of the movie are not great, but that can hardly be blamed on Affleck. I am a big Daredevil fan and I have always respected Affleck. There are things about that movie that I would change, but is Affleck one of them? No. The writing itself was not that good. It took awhile to get into the story. Yes, I know origin stories can be like that, but I thought the script itself was bland.

Ben Affleck has been around Hollywood long enough to see his share of ups and downs. He was written off in Hollywood following a string of bombs that most men would not be able to recover from. He reinvented himself as a director and all of a sudden, he is back on everyone's good side again. And now he gets to play one of the most iconic characters in film. Can he do it?

I believe that he can. He has the acting chops to make it as both Batman and Bruce Wayne. I personally think he is more fitted to play Bruce, but I have a feeling that the script won't call for a lot of screen time for him without the cowl. I could be mistaken; I mean, I haven't seen the script. Time will tell on that matter.

Affleck has seen his share of action films from Armageddon to Paycheck to Reindeer Games and even Pearl Harbor. So we know he can handle the action that he will be required to do as Batman as well. He has about 2 inches over Henry Cavill, and from my comic books, Batman is supposed to have a few inches on Superman. Affleck is also 11 years older than his Superman counterpart, which fits into the reported vision for the film. He is young enough that he can do multiple movies as Batman, if this one is a success, and there is no reason to believe that it won't be.

I saw this picture on the Marvel Movies Facebook page. Granted it came from another site so it might not be exactly how Marvel feels about this. But may I remind you that there were skeptics that said Robert Downey Jr. would make a horrible Tony Stark in Iron Man. I think that worked out pretty well.

In fact, the reviews have been pretty mixed on the internet about this. Earlier this week, #BetterBatmanThanAffleck was trending. But I have a feeling that they just might change their minds when the movie comes out.

In closing, I say that Ben Affleck is a good choice although he has some pretty big shoes to fill. Christian Bale was a great Batman (also met with some resistance from the Internet of Fan Boys, if I remember correctly, by the way). But because he will be sharing the screen with Superman, I think it will make it easier on him. And if this is the beginging of A Justice League movie that fans have been craving, I think it is a very good start!

And in honor of the internet trashing a movie before it comes out (and Ben Affleck as well) I am in the mood to watch Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back!

Special thanks to my lovely editor and wonderful fiancée.

Bruce Willis Edition

Welcome back to another edition. Things in the entertainment world have been really quiet since the end of Comic-Con. But there are a few things worth talking about.

First, returning to host the Oscars next year will be Ellen DeGeneres. I think that is a safe pick after the mixed reviews of Seth McFarlane from this year's show. She can be very funny and is well respected in the entertainment world. And like I said, she is safe. She will have song and dance numbers, but they most definitely won't be as offensive as McFarlane's were. Plus she has experience hosting, so that is always a plus in my book.

The other big news stories of the past few weeks are all wrapped around one person. Bruce Willis. He has certainly been on a roll of late. Most people want to clean up their name, on the other hand Mr. Willis seems quite content to sully his. First he conducted in an interview to promote Red 2 with co star Mary Louise Parker. From my understanding, a lot of press in the area gets five or ten minutes to do short interviews with the stars. This can go on for a few hours. I am sure it must not be enjoyable sometimes to be a movie star, but what he did to Magic 105.4's Jamie Edwards is inexcusable. If you haven't seen the interview, here it is. I know stars are allowed to have bad days and I have never met Bruce Willis personally, but everything I have read indicates this is what he is like in real life. Which seems to be a deplorable human being.

But wait! There's more! Bruce Willis was set to reprise his role as Church in the third installment of The Expendables movies. It has been revealed by several entertainment websites that he was to film for only four days. That's not much, right? He was offered three million dollars for four days of work. Who wouldn't jump at such an offer? The correct answer? Bruce Willis. He said that he would only work for a million dollars a day. So he wanted four million dollars for what would most likely only turn out to be around fifteen to twenty minutes of screen time. Does that seem logical to you? Me neither. So fellow Expendables actor and writer of the series Sylvester Stallone fired him publicly via Twitter. And then to replace Willis they got an actor you may have heard of. I believe his name is Harrison Ford! That's a huge upgrade if you ask me!

I admit, I like Bruce Willis. I own several of his movies on DVD including four of the Die Hard movies (I believe in completing sets of movies, but don't have to if I never admit another movie came out. I am, of course, referring to Good Day to Die Hard. Not a real thing. La la la), Armageddon, Red and Cop Out. He is an enjoyable actor. But the fact remains, over the past month, I have lost a considerable amount of respect for him as a person. Can he recover from this? Yes, of course he can. But in this case, I wouldn't hold my breath...

There is other news that came out of Comic Con 2013 that I have not addressed yet. It's the sequel to Man Of Steel 2 which will be Batman vs. Superman. No word on casting of Batman yet, but there has been some interesting rumors. Pretty much every actor regardless of age has been rumored for the role, including a fifty million dollar offer for Christian Bale who has repeatedly said he wouldn't do it. I have heard everyone from Josh Brolin to now Orlando Bloom's name has been rumored as well. Thankfully, there is no rumor I have heard that Bruce Willis would play the role!

As always a special thanks to my lovely fiancée and editor for helping me make this page readable for the fans!

Heat On Melissa McCarthy Edition

Welcome back to another edition of the Entertainment Guru. This time I come with only good things and no Hollywood Tragedy. This time, I will share what I intended to write the last time.

I recently watched The Heat starring Melissa McCarthy and Sandra Bullock and I thought I would give you my review of it. How many times have we seen buddy cop movies about two complete opposite cops who don't like each other, but in the end forge a bond and solve the case? I have lost count, as I am sure you have too. But there are always subtle variations on the movie. Maybe one cop is black (48 Hours?) or one cop is from another country (Rush Hour). Maybe one cop is straight laced (The Other Guys). Like I said, there is always something different to the genre to make it seem fresh. Sometimes actors are interchangeable but you also have to change the story just a little bit to make it feel new.

In this case, they are both female cops. One is uptight and always stressed. So, in other words, the kind of role Sandra Bullock usually plays. The other is high strung and maybe a little crazy. So, in other words, the kind of role we expect Melissa McCarthy to play.

Quite honestly, there is nothing new to the genre other than them both being female cops. So really the movie shouldn't have worked. But it did. You could tell the two actresses were having fun playing off each other. I didn't guess the ending, but I rarely do. My lovely fiancée knew who it was, so she wasn't surprised at the big reveal.

Supporting cast was good too. Marlon Wayans, Thomas F. Wilson (Biff Tannen sighting!), Michael Rappaport and Taran Killam have the major supporting roles in the movie. Based off this role, I would like to see Marlon Wayans more. He was very charming in a role that I had never really seen from him before.

If the movie is still playing near you and you haven't seen it, I do recommend it!

There is something going on and I am getting very tired of it. Why are we constantly talking about Melissa McCarthy's weight? We don't do that for any male actor. When Chris Farley was alive, no one ever said he needed to lose weight. Jon Favreau's weight seems to be forever up and down, but are there news stories about that? No (but quite frankly, there needs to be). No one gets on Ice Cube because of his weight (maybe out of fear, and that's understandable). Jonah Hill? Enough said! But when you type in Melissa McCarthy to Google, a few of the suggestions are thin, skinny, weight, and weight loss. If you go on her iMDB page to her message board, there are some really negative things. If you don't like an actress because you don't think she is good at her job or she isn't funny, then fine. Bash her on the internet. But to make fun of her weight? That's absolutely childish. I don't understand people. Her weight has nothing to do with her as an actress. Are people's lives that boring that things like that matter? Because if it's true, then those people really have no life. I would copy and paste a link to one of the things I saw there, but I don't want to encourage others to do it.

Instead in honor of people with the maturity level of a child, I offer you this wonderful song from Bowling For Soup. It sums up how I feel about bullies.

A special thanks to my wonderful fiancée and editor for helping me! I love you!!

RIP Cory Monteith

I was all prepared to write a blog about my review for the movie "The Heat" and my thoughts on the critics who bash Melissa McCarthy for her weight. But then something happened this past week that completely trumped that. But rest assured, that blog is coming soon. Because quite frankly I am tired of posting about celebrities after they passed away

As you know, last Saturday night Glee star Cory Monteith was found dead in a Vancouver hotel room. At the time of his passing, he was only 31 years old. He had recently gone to rehab for a drug addiction only months prior to this. Unfortunately, the cause of death was found to be a mixture of heroin and alcohol. 

I fully admit that I watch Glee on a weekly basis. I wouldn't call myself a Gleek, but I do enjoy the show. I even have songs on my IPad from Glee. I watched my first episode half way through the first season because Neil Patrick Harris was guest starring. I am a huge NPH fan and wanted to see it. I said the show was good, but it wasn't something I would watch on a week to week basis. But my fiancée is a huge Gleek so I wound up watching more and more of the show and really enjoying it far more then I thought I would.

Finn Hudson wasn't my favorite character, but I did enjoy him. I think the thing that I enjoyed most of his performance was the fact that he wasn't the best singer. It was a running joke that he is a horrible dancer. But he enjoyed singing and everyone enjoyed hearing him. His voice was not polished at all. But that didn't stop him. And I really liked that about him

I have no idea how Glee will handle this situation. He was written off the show when he went to rehab. They can't just ignore that he has died, can they? Whatever tone the scripts for this season had has to change now. Hell, if I was their writers I would just start from scratch. A new interview with Glee creator Ryan Murphy just came out on E! to address this matter.

I'm not famous. I probably won't be famous, not even from this blog (But hell, I will keep trying) so I don't understand the perils of the famous and why they always turn to drugs. Yet here we are once again talking about a famous actor or musician (and in Monteith's case, both) who lost to his demons and is no longer with us. Haven't they learned from those that went down that road before them? The Heath Ledgers, the Amy Winehouses, the River Phoenixes of the world that had so much more to show us that we never got to see. Instead, Cory Monteith's name will be added to this list instead. It's a damn shame.

In honor of his passing, I give you his first performance on the show. Enjoy. Rest in peace Finn Hudson

R.I.P. James Gandolfini Edition

I had a blog that was all ready to be written and posted tonight. But then something happened that trumps all. In case you haven't heard, actor James Gandolfini passed away this evening. He was on vacation in Italy when he suffered a fatal heart attack. Gandolfini was fifty one years old.

As an actor he appeared in fifty-one movies, but he will mostly remembered for his portrayal of Tony Soprano on the HBO Series, The Sopranos. He won a Golden Globe in 2000 for the role. He also won 3 Primetime Emmy awards for the role over the course of the series.

He appeared in several movies with the likes of Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, Nicolas Cage and Billy Bob Thornton. His last major role was in The Incredible Burt Wonderstone.

James Gandolfini has even appeared on Broadway in A Streetcar named Desire co-starring Alec Baldwin.

I think it's safe to say this song will forever be tied to him thanks to the last scene of the Sopranos.

Rest In Peace: James Gandolfini

As always special thanks to my wonderful Editor!

Robert Downey Jr Edition

With Robert Downey Jr.'s appearance in Iron Man 3, he has concluded his original Marvel contract. He was to appear five times as Tony Stark, and he did that in the 3 Iron Man movies, The Avengers and a scene in The Incredible Hulk. Now clearly The Avengers 2 will not be the same if Iron Man isn't in it or if someone other then Robert Downey Jr. were to portray him. Actors get recast all the time. Would it be unheard of? No, not by any stretch of the imagination. But most fans would be disappointed to say the least. Reports are Marvel Studios are in strong negotiations with the actor to return for what is said to be at least two more Avengers movies.

I personally would love to be a part of those negotiations to see how much money they would offer him. But what makes Robert Downey Jr. so awesome is that he is standing up for the rest of the cast of Avengers in his negotiations. From what I read, (granted it was on the internet and not everything is real that is reported here) RDJ said he would consider returning to the role if the rest of the cast gets huge pay increases as well. Of everyone in the original cast, RDJ was the only actor to get a cut of the final box office, plus a salary that far exceeded the rest of the cast. If the report I read was correct, he said only if everyone got paid more this time around. It would be so easy for a guy to care just about himself and it would seem that Robert Downey Jr. is the complete opposite.

If you don't believe how awesome of a guy Robert Downey Jr. is just read this article from Buzzfeed.

Now onto my review of Iron Man 3, which I saw a week ago with my fiancée. It was a solid movie. But it did not live up to Avengers or even Iron Man 2. There were things that I really liked about the movie and there were some things that I didn't like about it. My biggest problem with the movie is that Tony Stark spent most of the movie outside of the suit. It was kind of like an Iron Man movie without Iron Man. I felt the same way about Dark Knight Rises though. Maybe it's a third movie in a superhero trilogy thing. The performances themselves were all great as usual. Any time you can add an actor to the level of Ben Kingsley in a supporting role, you have got to take it. Guy Pearce and Rebecca Hall were also new to the cast this time around. And you can never go wrong with Jon Favreau, Gwyneth Paltrow and Don Cheadle rounding out the cast as well. I would say the movie was a solid B minus.

A Special Thanks to my beautiful fiancée for being my editor as well!

Favorite Non-Blockbuster Movies Edition

A few weeks ago, I had mentioned something about doing a blog about some of my favorite movies that are smaller movies. Sure, I love the great blockbuster. Who doesn't like a movie where the hero must protect the world from blowing up and does it with just .001 seconds left on a timer? I know I do. But I also like the smaller movies. They never seem to get the press of the bigger movies, but doesn't make them any less enjoyable. So I thought I would show you, my loyal readers, a few of my smaller favorite movies. Hopefully you will enjoy them as much as I do!

Starting with the movie Beautiful Girls. It's a comedy drama about a bunch of friends who get together for their ten year high school reunion. The more things change, the more they stay the same for these friends. The cast includes Timothy Hutton, Matt Dillion, Rosie O'Donnell, Uma Thurman, Lauren Holly, Michael Rapaport, Mira Sorvino and a very young Natalie Portman.

Another movie about a reunion of sorts that I love is called Indian Summer. This time instead of a high school reunion, former campers return to their favorite summer camp for a week but this time as adults. Again, the campers fall into the same patterns they did as children. The cast includes Alan Arkin, Diane Lane, Bill Paxton, Kimberly Williams-Paisley, Kevin Pollack, Elizabeth Perkins, and believe it or not director Sam Raimi.

The Tag line drew me in at first. "The only thing more frightening then murder... high school". The movie is called Hiding Out. Jon Cryer plays a stock broker who is called to testify against a mob boss for insider trading. The mob boss sends a hit man after him. While attempting to flee the mob boss, he is mistaken for a high school student in his cousin's school. Part action, part drama, part fish out of water movie. It co-stars Keith Coogan and Annabeth Gish. This movie is pure 1980's!

Even though the leading lady was nominated for an Oscar, I don't think that Almost Famous ever got the respect it deserved. A fifteen year old boy pretends to be a reporter for Rolling Stone in an attempt to interview a band on the road gets more then he expected on his trip. Billy Crudup, Jason Lee, Frances McDormand, Kate Hudson, Patrick Fugit, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Zooey Deschanel, and Anna Paquin fill out the cast of this amazing movie written and directed by Cameron Crowe.

So there you have it. Four of my favorite under appreciated movies of all time. I hope they will bring you as much joy and pleasure as they have brought me over the years. Check them out and let me know what you think of them!

The Hypocritical Edition

I know this is normally an entertainment blog, but something that happened recently has kind of gotten my attention and I wanted a chance to speak about it. By now everyone knows what happened during the Boston Marathon last week. This isn't going to be about that, though I do have a lot to say about that as well. An entire city was locked down because of the attack for a few days. When the city basically reopened, there was a pre-game event at the Boston Red Sox game. During that event, Boston Red Sox designated hitter David Ortiz dropped an F bomb on National Television. I understand he was speaking from the heart and that's why the FCC didn't fine NESN for it. Now, let's say that you finally landed your dream job (or at least something that will allow you to possibly land your dream job) and you are nervous on your first day. That sounds pretty reasonable, right? I think we have all been guilty of this, right? Well, A.J. Clemente was a news anchor who finally got a chance to be on air. And what better way to start your new job then to drop an F Bomb on live TV. Not surprisingly, he was fired for it. Isn't this rather hypocritical though? I would like to hear your thoughts on this please?

Another RIP to throw out there, unfortunately. Comedian Jonathan Winters recently died. He was 87 years old. Not everyone knows the name, which is a shame. He was a very funny man that helped influence a lot of comedians in the last thirty years. He was a great improv comedian. My first memories of him was hosting a TV show about football bloopers. He was dressed as a referee. But to most people, he will be remembered as Robin Williams' son in the show Mork and Mindy.

While doing an interview for his new movie "Pain and Gain" Director Michael Bay was quoted for apologizing for his 1998 movie Armageddon. He isn't the only person I have heard apologize for the movie, or at least regret the movie. Billy Bob Thornton had said of all this movie roles, this is the one he regrets the most. He admitted to only making the movie for the paycheck. Michael Bay has now come forward to say that the quote was taken out of context and he regrets only how the movie came out because it was rushed at the end. I have heard a lot of people who trash this movie and I just don't get it. I freely admit to really enjoying this movie. Is it a perfect movie? No, not at all. But let's face it, there are a lot of movies that are not perfect. It is a great popcorn movie, regardless of the plausibility of it. Most movies are not based on anything that remotely can happen. In fact one of the reasons we go to the movies is to suspend reality. Does it make sense to send drillers to an asteroid to put a bomb it? No. But then again, a rich man dressing as a flying rodent to stop a man talking through a weird voice changer doesn't make sense either. But that didn't stop people from flocking to see Dark Knight Rises. There is no reason for a director to ever apologize for a movie.

RIP Icons Edition

They say that celebrities die in threes. Unfortunately in the last four days, they were right.

Legendary film critic Roger Ebert died this past week after a long battle with cancer. With his partner Gene Siskel and later on Richard Roeper, Ebert was by far the most famous film critic in the world. He started reviewing movies back in 1967 for the Chicago Sun-Times and has been reviewing movies ever since. There are few people in this world that loved movies as much as Roger Ebert.  He has also appeared in several movies and television shows, most times as himself. He, along with his two thumbs up, will be missed.  Here is a review he made just last year. He was 70 years old. Because he was a huge fan of the restaurant Steak N Shake, my fiancee and I ate that yesterday in honor of him.

Today we lost Annette Funicello. Along with Frankie Avalon, they were two of the original Mouseketeers. Long before there was Justin and Brtitney, there was Frankie and Annette.She was a child actress and singer.  Annette was discovered by Walt Disney himself in 1955. They continued to be partners for years, making several movies together as well. I first learned of her in a movie called Back To The Beach, also starring Avalon. She was also 70 years old.

Normally, I am only an entertainment blogger.  But there are people that just transcend certain labels. So it is my responsibility to mention that former Prime Minster of Great Britain, Margaret Thatcher has also passed away today. She inspired a movie two years ago starring Meryl Streep. She was 87 years old at the time of her passing.

The Sequel Edition

How Many times do you hear that there is nothing new in Hollywood? "There are no original ideas" "There are too many sequels" "Everything is based on a book or just a pointless sequel"

I hate to be the one who breaks this to you. Sequels are nothing new. They aren't going to go away anytime soon. They are a fixture in the movie industry. And every single genre has had its big hits and terrible misses by tapping into a well that has been successful.

A perfect example is the horror genre. No one film genre has used the sequel more than the horror genre. Don't believe me? How many times can Freddy Krueger be destroyed and still come back? Apparently the number is 6. That doesn't include the spin-off Freddy vs Jason or the remake. And speaking of Jason, we have seen eight different Friday the 13th movies for him. But that's not all. What about Michael Myers? He is tied with Jason for appearances. And that's just from the original series, not including the sequel to a remake. But it's not just old horror movies that keep finding their way to the theaters. Jigsaw and his partners at Saw had seven different movies. In fact, the slogan for the movie was once something along the lines of "If it is October, it must be Saw". Paranormal Activity has only had four movies, but I am sure there will be a fifth one coming this October.

Then the other side of the spectrum from horror is the kiddie cartoons. Sequels have only been more noticeable in the last few years when it comes to cartoons, but they were always around. Think about how many Disney movie sequels went straight to VHS or DVD. But with Ice Age and Madagascar and now all the Pixar sequels that we have seen recently, you can see animators are hard at work to catch up to their live action counterparts. But then again, you have a movie like the Land Before Time which has an amazing thirteen movies in its series!

Action movies are anything but immune from the sequel treatment. They don't tend to have as many sequels, but again it depends on the series. After all John McClaine has been dying hard for five movies now. Axel Foley has been a cop in both Detroit and Los Angeles three times. Eddie Murphy and Nick Nolte made 2 48 Hours movies (96 hours?). You would think Murtagh would have retired after the first Lethal Weapon movie, he was too old for that (stuff) even back then, but we saw three more movies after that! And now the big IT action series is Fast and The Furious. Pre-production for Number 7 has all ready begun.

Again, with comedies we have seen several successful franchises recently. Whether it be the Hangover movies or American Pies. But there are not nearly as many comedy franchises as all the other genres we talked about.

The Godfather is one of the most popular movies of all time. It was made back in 1972. And just two years later, there was a sequel. Then sixteen years later, it became a trilogy. I mean, seriously Hollywood? Isn't it time to revive it? And for the record, I am just kidding!

All this talk about sequels, I decided to do a little research. I started back from 1990 and moved up to 2012. I counted how many movies ended the year in the top ten that were sequels. So out of the 220 movies, 71 of them were sequels of some sorts. I'm honestly surprised that it's less than that. 1/3 of the most successful movies in the last 22 years are sequels. Only four years in that time didn't have any sequels in the top ten of that year. And I have a feeling we will see more of that with so many other sequels coming in the next five years or so!

The Curious Case of Silver Linings at The Box Office

I have made it very well known (or at least I think I have) that I support the movie "Silver Linings Playbook". From the minute I saw the trailer I thought it looked like an excellent movie. And as the weeks approached to the premiere I grew more excited for it. I have admitted that it is not my usual style of movie (a future blog about that will be coming) but I still knew that I wanted to see it. Both my girlfriend and I were waiting for the movie.

I mean who wouldn't be. It was written and directed by a previous Oscar nominee. The main character's parents were played by people who had previously been nominated, and in the case of his father actually won an Oscar. Plus it had young stars that are slowly reaching top acting statuses. And while we are at it, it featured Chris Tucker who hadn't been seen really since Rush Hour 3!

Nothing about this movie says blockbuster. Mental disease and dancing can't really compare to super hero movies these days when it comes to Box Office. So when Silver Linings started off slowly, no one was surprised. I know a few people that still haven't even heard of this movie to this day.

It only opened on sixteen screens its first weekend, grossing $ 443,003 (Figures according to IMDB). Its second weekend it expanded to three hundred sixty seven screens and grossed $ 4,383,669. These numbers are not stellar at all, especially when the movie cost approximately $21,000,000. The numbers slowly got better, but it still didn't gross nearly what it cost to make.

That all changed the morning of January 24th when Emma Stone and Seth MacFarlane announced the nominees for the Oscars. By that point Silver Linings had been in the theaters for eight weeks, a time most movies start to climb down the charts and make their way to DVD retailers near you. But thanks to all those nominations, Silver Linings had a second life. According to Entertainment Weekly it grossed five million dollars that week. It was only the tenth highest grossing movie of that weekend, but the fact is it grossed 39 % higher than it did the weekend before.

And the numbers continue to rise. For a movie that only made $443,003 its opening weekend it sits on the verge of grossing $100 million dollars now, thanks to the nominations of Bradley Cooper, Robert DeNiro, Jacki Weaver and director David O. Russell and the win by Jennifer Lawrence. For most people that analyze movies, that is a good mark to have. It's something only thirty movies did in all of 2012.

Oscar 2013 Wrap Up Edition

Welcome Back to the Entertainment Guru News and Views Oscars 2013 Wrap up Edition. There were a few surprises in this year's ceremony. Which is of course always a good thing. No one wants to see it if it's completely predictable. But we will get into the winners in just a few minutes.

We will start with my thoughts on your Oscars host Seth McFarlane. I am not a fan of his TV work (ie Family Guy, American Dad, or the Cleveland Show) but I did want to see Ted and I think he has an amazing voice. For anyone that hasn't heard him, you will enjoy this. At first I was a little skeptical about him hosting the Oscars. His brand of humor doesn't fit what the Oscars stand for. If it did, Ace Ventura and Anchorman would both be Oscar winners. But after watching his performance as host, I thought he did a good job. Was it great? Was he the best Host ever? No, I don't think so. Maybe he pushed a few boundaries that didn't need to be pushed, but you have to know that the producers got exactly what they asked for with him. I think the skit with William Shatner went a little too long, but that really was my only complaint.

I fell for the rumors that they were going to have all the actors who played James Bond on the stage at the same time for the first time in history. I think that would have been a piece of cinematic history, but unfortunately that didn't happen. It is the 50 anniversary of Bond on the big screen. It would have been a nice touch, but another rumor I had heard was that Pierce Brosnan refused to do it. So I can understand not doing it if all of them weren't there.

I think that J-Law, Daniel Day-Lewis and Anne Hathaway winning were almost guaranteed to win and they did. Christoph Waltz winning was definitely a surprise to me. But not to my girlfriend Lori, but there will be more on that a little later. I liked that Argo won Best Picture. It definitely deserved it. It almost (BUT NOT QUITE) made up for the Academy not recognizing Ben Affleck as both an Actor and director.

If it was anyone else, I would have enjoyed watching them trip up on the steps. But not Jennifer Lawrence. I think she will be a multiple time winner throughout her career.

Last week I ran a contest between myself, my girlfriend Lori and a fellow blogger ThePeverettPhile. What I forgot to mention was that since there was only going to be nine categories, if it ended in a tie then if one of us was able to get Best Picture winner they would win. Well, untimely that didn't matter. So without further adieu, I give you the standings from this challenge.

In third place with a record of 5-4 was my girlfriend Lori. She correctly guessed Christoph Waltz, J-Law, Anne Hathaway and Brave (Animated Movie) and Argo

In second place was me with a 6-3 record. I guessed Daniel Day-Lewis, J-Law, Anne Hathaway, both screenplays and Brave.

So winning the first ever Entertainment Guru News and Views Oscar Prediction Challenge, Congratulations to Jason for getting 7-2 only missing Supporting Actor and Director.

After not being around for a long time, I promise that I will continue to blog!

Oscars 2013 Edition

Welcome to the return of the Entertainment Guru News and Views. It's been a long time coming (again, I know) but I am back with a much happier blog then my last one. It's Oscar season so what better reason to make my return than to talk about some of the movies I have seen that are up for a few statues. Plus I have a first ever contest for the Entertainment Guru News and Views Blog.

Watching movies that are usually up for Best Picture are not my normal cinematic viewing. I tend to watch dumb comedies or action movies with little to no plot. But my girlfriend Lori and I wanted to expand my movie horizons. So this year alone we went and saw four of the movies that are up for Best Picture. We saw Argo, Silver Linings Playbook, Les Miserables, and Lincoln. All four are up for multiple awards this Sunday.

I enjoyed all of them, though two stood out above the rest. Acting wise, all four of the movies had great casts and not one single horrible performance. The Academy really messed up with Argo. What made Ben Affleck's performance so incredible was that he was doing double duty on both sides of the camera. Yet the Academy Of Motion Pictures failed to reward him with a nomination for either which I am still in shock about. There are a few historical inaccuracies about the movie, but some of that was for dramatic effect. No one is up in arms about it, as they are with some of the inaccuracies about Lincoln, which I find hysterical.

http://insidemovies.ew.com/2013/02/06/connecticut-congressman-challenges-lincolns-historical-accuracy/

I am really hoping that Silver Linings Playbook does really well. It's one of those movies I secretly love. It's the kind of story that makes me want to start writing again. It combines some real dramatic moments with some great funny moments too. It's the perfect blend of a movie.

It wasn't that I didn't enjoy Lincoln and Les Mis, just not as much as Silver Linings and Argo. Lincoln was just a little too dry for me. Daniel Day-Lewis completely washed himself into the character as he always does. I was glad to see James Spader as the comic relief, especially when he runs! Regardless of what people were saying about Russell Crowe's singing in Les Mis, he wasn't bad at all. It was only bad when he was singing against Hugh Jackman, but whose singing wouldn't be bad when compared to his?

As you may know I appear on The Peverett Phile as a correspondent at times so I thought I would invite Jason to my blog for the first time in an Oscar contest. Also included today is my girlfriend Lori. We picked the nine biggest categories with who we thought would win. So here we go.

My picks were: Actor Daniel Day-Lewis Supporting Actor Tommy Lee Jones Actress Jennifer Lawerence Supporting Actress Anne Hathaway Director David O. Russell Original Screenplay Django Unchained Adapted Screenplay Argo Animated Film Brave Picture Silver Linings Playbook

Lori's Picks were: Actor Hugh Jackman Supporting Actor Christoph Waltz Actress Jennifer Lawerence Supporting Actress Anne Hathaway Director Steven Spielberg Original Screenplay Moonrise Kingdom Adapted Screenplay Silver Linings Playbook Animated Film Brave Picture Argo

Jason's Picks were: Actor Daniel Day-Lewis Supporting Actor Tommy Lee Jones Actress Jennifer Lawerence Supporting Actress Anne Hathaway Director Steven Spielberg Original Screenplay Django Unchained Adapted Screenplay Argo Animated Film Brave Picture Argo/p>