Movie Review: Duplicity  

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CIA officer Claire Stenwick and MI6 agent Ray Koval have left the world of government intelligence to cash in on the highly profitable cold war raging between two rival multinational corporations. Their mission? Secure the formula for a product that will bring a fortune to the company that patents it first. For their employers--industry titan Howard Tully and buccaneer CEO Dick Garsik--nothing is out of bounds. But as the stakes rise, the mystery deepens and the tactics get dirtier, the trickiest secret for Claire and Ray is their growing attraction. And as they each try to stay one double-cross ahead, two career loners find their schemes endangered by the only thing they can't cheat their way out of: love.

Starring: Julia Roberts, Clive Owen, Tom Wilkinson, Paul Giamatti

Grade: B

So I went and checked out Duplicity last night. To sum up, the thinking woman's Mr & Mrs Smith. There was no violence but there was witty repartee and great onscreen chemistry. That Clive Owen...oh la la!

Basically, Ray picks up this hot american (Claire) at a 4th of July party in Dubai.  Lo and behold, this lady seduces Ray, drugs him and steals some pertinent information from him.  Five years later, he sees her while he's supposed to make a connection with a mole in a huge company.  He chases her, demands an apology (which she does not give him LOL) and they find out that she's the mole.  She wants nothing to do with him and he basically black mails her into working with him.  

Through a series of flashbacks, we discover that after that fateful night in Dubai five years ago, Ray and Claire have been meeting up in romantic locales around the world and plotting how to be together with a bunch of money.  So they start to set up a plan for some corporate espionage that will allow them to live happily ever after in style.  

I liked Duplicity.  Julia Roberts and Clive Owen are great together onscreen (remember Closer?) and it was nice to see Julia again.  It's been awhile since we've seen her.  

I also got a kick out of the fact that Julia's character is so much smarter than Clive's.  She was always just a step ahead of him and kept him on his toes.  Her character is vulnerable and so she's always on the ball to prevent getting hurt.  But I guess with two spies, you know down to your bones that there's no one you can trust, maybe even the people you love.

new releases on DVD for March 24  

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Good stuff, good stuff.

Movie Review: KNOW1NG  

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In 1958, as part of the dedication ceremony for a new elementary school, a group of students is asked to draw pictures to be stored in a time capsule. But one mysterious girl fills her sheet of paper with rows of apparently random numbers instead. Fifty years later, a new generation of students examines the capsule's contents and the girl's cryptic message ends up in the hands of young Caleb Koestler. But it is Caleb's father, professor John Koestler, who makes the startling discovery that the encoded message predicts with pinpoint accuracy the dates, death tolls and coordinates of every major disaster of the past 50 years. As John further unravels the document's chilling secrets, he realizes the document foretells three additional events -- the last of which hints at destruction on a global scale and seems to somehow involve John and his son. When John's attempts to alert the authorities fall on deaf ears, he takes it upon himself to try to prevent more destruction from taking place. With the reluctant help of Diana Wayland and Abby Wayland, the daughter and granddaughter of the now-deceased author of the prophecies, John's increasingly desperate efforts take him on a heart-pounding race against time until he finds himself facing the ultimate disaster -- and the ultimate sacrifice.

When I first saw the preview for Knowing, I knew I was going to see it as soon as it came out. I love movies just like this one - decoding crap and the end of the world.  I saw the previews but I never read anything about the movie, so I was surprised with the turn that the movie ended up taking.  Although I wasn't prepared for it, I enjoyed it.  

Everyone knows the premise, a little girl puts this paper full of numbers in a time capsule and 50 years later a little boy gets it when the capsule is opened and his father figures out that the numbers are dates to events with high death tolls.  The blurb above is a little misleading because John (Nicholas Cage) doesn't try to tell the authorities because even his own friend doesn't believe him.  But when John figures out the locations for the next two events, things start to get creepy...because there's only one event left on the paper and there are no coordinates.

On top of the end of the world stuff, there is also some strangeness going on with Caleb.  Blond men whose faces we can't see are visiting him in the night and whispering to him and showing him visions.  I gotta tell you the truth, those blond men freaked me right out!  But as soon as we saw the first man I knew what he was and I even told my brother (who tried to deny at the end of the movie that I was right - LOL).

I don't want to give any spoilers so I'm going to leave it at that.  Know1ng freaked me out at times and has some great special effects.  In all, I'm going to give it a B and I know I'll watch it again when it comes out on DVD.

new releases on DVD for March 17  

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yeah, there's nothing.


But Twilight is out on Saturday.  WOOT!

Sarah Connor, Burn Notice, Life On Mars  

Posted by: Isabel in , , , ,

Sarah Connor





I'm upset. We were gonna watch this last night and our recording was crappy. For some reason Sarah Connor records all skippy. Everything else is fine. This happening to anyone else?

I went on It Happened Last Night, they said Riley finally gets killed. Hate to say it but about time. Ok, I know that sounds wrong but I didn't like Riley. Turns out it was Jesse who killed Riley. Jesse meant for Cameron to kill Riley so John would turn his back on Cameron. From what I read Jesse is going to try and frame Cameron.

Looks like I missed a good one.

Burn Notice




Wow. The season two finale was great.

Michael has Victor all tied up. Turns out Victor was in the CIA. He was burned, his wife and child were killed and then Carla recruited him for whatever it is they are working for. But Victor found out Carla had his family killed so she could recruit him. That's jacked up. So now Victor is out to get Carla. Or expose her. Michael offers to help.

Carla and gang find out Victor has been missing and track him to where Michael has him stashed. So now they have all these people after them. A few car chases later, they make it to Victor's boat with evidence about Carla. Victor is shot. Carla calls Michael and demands he either kill Victor or she kills them both. Just when she's about kill them, Fi shoots Carla dead. Which yeah! As Fi said, "Finally."

Victor tells Michael to just kill him. Cause if the company gets a hold of Victor, he's dead anyways. That scene was too sad. I started to like Victor.

Michael boards a helicopter with the boss. Boss tries to recruit Michael. Not having it. Fine then boss says. Then all the enemies we've been holding at bay are gonna come at you. No more protection. Michael says he'll take his chances. He jumps out of the copter into the ocean and begins his swim back.

I can't wait for next season. I loved when Fi kissed and then slapped Michael.

Life On Mars




I liked last night's episode!!!!! With Sam going around saying he's Tom Cruise and about "risky business". Ha ha ha.

The gang finds a dead body of a stewardess named Valerie. She looks an awful lot like Annie. So Annie decides go undercover as Valerie to find out who killed the real Valerie.

At first they think it's a passenger on one of Valerie's flights. No, he just likes collecting the stewardess's panties. So he's out. Sam has a hunch it's the captain of the plane who likes to flirt with all the stewardess despite being married and his wife being right there.

Annie flirts with him, telling him all the things she wants to do with him with ice cream. Chris wanting some ice cream afterwards (they guys planted a bug on annie so they can listen) was just funny. So the captain invites Annie a party. Oh and bring a friend. It's a key party. The guys decide it should be Sam who goes as Annie's date.

As Annie and Sam are getting ready, Sam tells Annie if a guy gets fresh to hit him in the trachea or groin. Annie tells Sam of the back story she thought up for them. Sam likes his better: they met when Sam beat up a guy who was hitting on her. Sam gets all worked up with worry and maybe jealousy? over Annie so he punches the locker. He realizes how he's acting and says her story will work fine. Annie is smiling over Sam's reaction. Awwww

They get to the part and Sam is introduced as Tom Cruise. Then this scene happens.



Too funny. Another scene I thought was cute was when Annie tells Sam that Valerie's room is full of David Cassidy posters. "I think I love you" Sams says. "Huh?" says a confused Annie. Sam explains its The Partridge's Family biggest hit. Then he smacks himself. Tee hee.

So sad this show is canceled.

Castle, Dollhouse, Life on Mars  

Posted by: Isabel in , , , ,

Castle

I watched Castle last night. It kind of reminds me of Bones. Instead of an FBI agent, you have a detective Kate Beckett. Instead of a brainy forensic anthropologist who writes book, you have Richard Castle, a mystery novelist. Ok, so not exactly like Bones... but still.

Turns out two of Kate's murders are copy cats from Richard's books. Not exact copies, but enough to ask if they can look at his fan mail. The find a letter that links the fan to all the murders (a third one occurred) and they have their man.

Except it's too simple. So Richard decides to investigate further much to Kate's annoyance. By the end of the show, Kate finds out that Richard is going to be tagging along with her for research for a new series based on Kate. Kate is not happy.

I did like the show. It had it's funny moments so I'll keep watching this one. Did anyone else watch?

Dollhouse

This one just isn't grabbing me. I was fast forwarding a lot. Which sucks cause I wanted to like this show.

Life on Mars

I can't believe they are cancelling this one!! I like this show.

I liked how Sam was betting against Ray with the fight knowing who is going to win. Ha ha. Might as well have fun if you are stuck in the past.

I'm hoping that they'll show Sam get back home and maybe visit Annie in the future. Just to see how she is.

I like last week's episode but I did not like that professor at all.

new releases on DVD for March 10  

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Horton Hears a Who!  

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I've never read the book but I knew the basic plot.

Horton is swimming, when hears a faint cry. He follows the noise to a tiny speck that has landed on clover. He decides to protect the spec. He then comes in contact with the Mayor of Whoville who is shocked to learn his world is on a tiny spec. He asks Horton to protect their world.

Horton says he'll take the spec to the top of mountain where it will always be safe. Except he runs into Kangaroo who is the biggest bitch. She keeps telling him that if you can't see or touch it, it doesn't exist. Horton replies with the famous, " a person is a person no matter how small."

I thought this movie was cute and enjoyed the movie. I liked Horton and Morton. Kangaroo was just horrible. Ugh. If you have a chance to watch this, you should.

Show Rundown  

Posted by: Isabel in , , , , ,

Life On Mars

I didn't think much of this episode.

A columnist is found murdered. And it looks like a case Sam handled in the future. Turns out the suspect is someone who murdered a woman Sam was trying to help in the future. Sam is all ready to arrest him but Gene is playing it safe. Turns out the columnist had wrote a not so nice article about Gene.

I like the show but one thing that bothers me is that Annie keeps going back and forth in believing Sam is from the future.

Burn Notice

This was a good episode. ha ha. Michael's ex fiancé, Samantha turns up asking for help. Apparently he never told his mom or Fi about Samantha. So the looks on both their faces are priceless.

Samantha is kind of a thief. She stole a chip because someone kidnapped her son. Who is 9. Which is about the time Michael and Samantha were together. Yikes. When the person realizes she stole the chip realizes they will hunt her down. She kind of did a sloppy job because well she wanted her son back. So she asks for Michael's help.

They retrieve the boy and what do you know... he's more like 6 or 7. Not 9. Bad Samantha. Michael says they are going to return the chip. Because they'll know it was Samantha, she'll always have to be on the run. So return the chip they do.

At the end of the day, Michael tells Fi that him Samantha were alike and it was easy so they worked. But then he meant Fi. And it was never easy. However he ended the engagement because "You don't marry someone when you are in love with someone else." Awwwww. He lubs you Fi!!!!

Madeline is right though Michael. Don't wait for Fi to propose (Samantha reveals she proposed not Michael) to you. Something tells me she wants the grand gesture.

The end shows Michael kidnapping Victor. Which was nice by the way.

CSI: Vegas

Ok episode. Three murders with one guy in common. It was kind of cool how they all linked them together but didn't do anything for me.

Sarah Connor Chronicles

Ok I was fooled but I did find it odd that Sarah would enter a sleep research facility. This was another so so episode for me. I want them to figure out about Jesse and Riley already.