Misery (1990)

This is a surprising and suspenseful adaptation of the Stephen King book of the same name. I had read the book before i saw the movie and i have this to say: it's not as good as the book but the film is nothing less than extraordinary.

Misery is about Paul Sheldon (James Caan) a well known writer who has gotten into a car accident. He is then rescued by his number one fan, Annie Wilkes (Kathy Bates). But problems arise when she finds out he has killed off her favourite character (Misery) she becomes obsessed with Misery being brought back to life. And holds Paul hostage until he finishes the book 'Misery's return.'

In my opinion the movie isn't as good as it's hype lead me to believe. But strong performances , great direction by Rob Reiner and brilliant cinematography carry us over the lesser parts of the story. The close ups of faces reminded me of old films, almost reminiscent of Hitchcock's work in his 1940s suspense thrillers. The use of close ups amplified the feeling of isolation that Paul feels and they bring us up close to Annie Wilkes' off-putting cheeriness and then to her complete madness. The movie is even funny in parts which is one advantage it has over the book.

I noticed that the movie developed some secondary characters (namely the Sheriff -Buster played by the late Richard Farnsworth) more than the book. And yet sometimes it is hard to see the motivation of the characters, which is okay with Annie because she is crazy anyway but with Paul and Buster you have to wonder 'why?'
But i don't want to nitpick as i may spoil parts for you. I maybe wrong about it anyway. The ultimate downfall of the film is that there isn't as much detail as what was given in the book, we don't see as much development in Paul and Annie which is something that i didn't really like. But again, i could be wrong.

The movie would be nothing without Kathy Bates though. No-one could play Annie Wilkes except her. Bates brilliantly captured the unhinged mind of Annie, playing her unnervingly joyous moments as though Annie were a child who was just told she could have as much ice cream as she liked. That's almost what Annie Wilkes was- a child. She had the imagination of a child, she threw tempers like a child and when she didn't get her way she wrecked things. A childish personality trapped in the body of a grown woman with a psychotic mind.
 But, perhaps more unsettling about Annie is the simple scene where she watches TV in her bed while eating Cheetos like any normal person.

Misery succeeded in believability, both in performances and in writing. But the occasionally under explained plot points annoyed me because i have a good memory of the book. However these points may have been left vague intentionally which, when i think about it, added some extra thrill to it. Strangely enough, any of the flaws this movie had enhanced the unease it gave, which makes me think that if it had been (excuse the pun) by the book it may not have been as great. However the sub plot with Buster and his investigation took us out of the confinement of the house, lessening the tension. (SPOILER) Busters death (i don't think he was called Buster i the book but that doesn't matter) was better handled though, much more realistic and shocking. It's a less is more sort of thing.

The hobbling scene was more gruesome in the book but in the movie it is dealt with well (albeit it was altered slightly) and what is perhaps more interesting is we don't get to see his feet, it is all left to our imagination, and why? Because imagination is a deadly weapon. If Paul Sheldon had had no imagination he wouldn't be in this nightmare in the first place. If we had no imagination, Misery wouldn't be half as scary.

"Did i do good?" Annie Wilkes (Kathy Bates) Misery

Top 20 memorable TV Characters

I have to say that like most of my generation is was babysat by a a television. Happy Days, Friends, I Love Lucy, The Vicar of Dibley. I sat through them all while eating an over sized bag of chips. Here is my list of memorable TV characters. This is just my opinion, i would very much like to hear yours in the comments.

20. Sheldon Cooper (Jim Parsons) The Big Bang Theory.
Granted the show is relatively recent but honestly, when someone asks you your favourite TBBT moment it generally has something to do with Dr Sheldon Cooper, the tall lanky geek/physicist. Parsons has won much acclaim for his portrayal and is often cited as the best thing about the series.

19. Gomez & Morticia. (John Astin and Carolyn Jones) The Addams Family
They're creepy and they're kooky, mysterious and spooky, they're all together-ooky, The Addams Family. When my friends wanted their family to be just like the Weasleys (Harry Potter reference) i said i wanted mine to be like the Addams family. These two were a natural selection for me. I wasn't sure which to put (both were brilliant) so i put both. I could have included the whole cast if i wanted to. Particularly Uncle Fester (Jackie Coogan).



18. Janice (Maggie Wheeler) Friends
She was the nasal voiced on/off girlfriend of Chandler Bing (Matthew Perry) during the early seasons and still showed up even when he married Monica (Courtney Cox). Did i spoil it for all the Friends virgins? Meh, i don't care. Anyway she was funny. She was so irritating that you could just watch the main casts reactions to her and get a laugh.

17. Jack Mcfarland and Karen Walker (Sean Hayes and Megan Mullally) Will and Grace.
Sure the show was named Will and Grace, and Eric McCormack and Debra Messing were good. But Jack and Karen were the showstoppers. So irreverently funny and off beat that in some (a lot) of the scenes it is obvious that those around them are trying to keep a straight face, the show wouldn't have lasted as long as it did (8 seasons) without these two.

16. Steve Urkel. (Jaleel White), Family Matters.
'Did i do that??' was the Urkmeister's catchphrase. And everyone uses it. It gets so irritating. Some can argue (quiet legitimately) that Urkel should be higher on the list. But i put him here because he gets less and less 'quirky cute' the more i see him. But there is no denying that he is memorable, if only because he was the only thing likeable about Family Matters. (To me anyway).

15. The Solomons and Mary (John Lithgow, Kristen Johnston, French Stewart, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Jane Curtin), 3rd rock From the Sun.
Now THIS is funny. The Solomon's are aliens who have come to earth to study human life, but find it more difficult than they thought. The show ran for 6 seasons and remains one of my personal favourites. The cast just 'works' in a way that is just outstanding.
Dick (Lithgow) is the High Commander (and never lets anyone forget it), he is pompous, prone to looking in mirrors and shouting 'My god... i'm gorgeous!' and incredibly funny.
Sally (Johnston) is "The Woman." She starts off as an angry security officer (and i suppose ends as one as well), but along the way she becomes obsessed with shoes, Don Orville (Wayne Knight) and material goods.
Harry (Stewart) is the funny looking one (as Dick would put it). He has a nasally voice and once ate a picture of Martha Stewart. Women can't resist him.
Tommy (Gordon-Levitt) is the information officer and the teenager. And looking at young JGL reminds us all why we love him.
Mary (Curtin) was the straight woman throughout the whole series. Must have been very challenging.

14. Monk (Tony Shalhoub), Monk
This is a show that i wish i had watched during it's original run, nonetheless Shalhoub's OCD (obsessive compulsive detective) is a treat. Monk manages to be slightly creepy and off putting and yet endearing. We just love him.

13. Cosmo Kramer (Michael Richards) Seinfeld.
Trivia: Richards was in consideration for the role of Monk but eventually lost it to Shalhoub. Anyway:
What a character. I could have included all of the Seinfeld cast but none stick more in my mind than Kramer, so madcap and crazy that you can't help but want to know him (although he would eat all your food). Seinfeld enjoyed strong rating throughout it's run and has been held up as one of                                the best shows of all time.

12.  The main cast of Friends (Matthew Perry, Courtney Cox, David Schwimmer, Matt Leblanc, Jennifer Aniston and Lisa Kudrow).
This is, was and always will be THE show of the 90s. OK, yeah Seinfeld is great but to those who don't get it? It's annoying. But Friends is universal. Granted none of the cast will ever break away from the 'Friends' mold. Although Aniston tries with those god-awful rom-coms. And Cox comes close with the Scream franchise. But these six people will the forever associated with their characters.
Chandler (Perry) sarcastic, funny one.
Monica (Cox) occasional straight woman but a bit of a loon
Rachel (Aniston) fashionsita, romantic interest of of Ross.
Ross (Schwimmer) The smart one who got married 3 times and said the wrong name at the second wedding.
Joey (Leblanc) the actor who almost played Al Pacino's butt.
Phoebe (Kudrow) the bubbly blonde who is... Bubbly.

11. Kermit The Frog (Jim Henson) The Muppet Show
My favourite muppet. Only Henson and Frank Oz (who voiced Fozzie, a close contender for this spot) could give puppets personalities. I remember growing  up watching TMS, i always preferred it to Sesame Street. I am quite psyched over Jason Segal's movie actually. I especially enjoyed the episode with Madeline Kahn, i re-watched it on youtube and it is certainly EPIC. Speaking of Sesame Street.....



10. Elmo (Kevin Clash) Sesame Street.
Elmo is an icon. Even if you haven't seen Sesame Street in your entire life you are still likely to recognize the faces of Elmo and Big Bird. This little red... erm, thingy has been his weird and wonderful self for years and years. I own an Elmo t-shirt and i really like it (i'm weird), which is one of the many reasons why he is on this list.

9. Homer Simpson (Dan Castellaneta) The Simpsons.
Before there was family guy, before there was American dad, there was The Simpsons. My parents didn't understand the adoration it received from myself and others my age. And they still don't. But that's their loss. It has declined in quality, but so has family guy and that's been going half as long. The Simpsons will never die, even if it gets cancelled it will live on. In this day and age, when things go out of date so quickly, if the first season of this show is still funny now it will never not be funny.

8. Buffy (Sarah Michele Gellar) Buffy The Vampire Slayer
This show tops the the 6+ hours of the Twilight Saga with it's first episode. It's  funnier, sexier, better acted and better written. It even had Angel (David Boreanaz -Booth in Bones) so what's not to like? Buffy was joined by her faithful companions Willow (Allison Hannigan), Xander (Nicholas Brendon) and Giles (Anthony Head) (Boreanaz left to star in his own show) throughout the shows 6 season run. Charisma Carpenter was also in it as Cordelia Chase but joined Angel a bit later.




7. Captain Kirk (William Shatner) Star Trek.
He's been spoofed, he's been mimicked and he's been a younger hot shot. But Capt James T Kirk is still Shatner. The Starship Enterprise would be an unhappy place to visit without Kirk.



6. Fred Flintstone (Alan Reed) The Flintstones
Yabadaba doooooooo! Ah yes, Homer has 'Do'h!' Peter Griffin has that weird laugh but the grandaddy (literally) of all the cartoon husbands is Fred Flintstone. Who can honestly say they didn't watch this as a child. Who?

5.  Robot (Robot) Lost In Space
"Danger! Danger Will Robinson!" I have used this line so many times it's not even funny (well it is a little bit funny). Dr Smith also came close but Robot is just awesome. Lost in Space was also made into a movie starring Matt Leblanc, but don't see that. It's not very good.

4. Lucy Ricardo (Lucille Ball) I Love Lucy.
From the very beginning of this list i knew that Lucy would have to be on here. The queen of comedy (sorry Tina Fey) is still hilarious even after 50 years. Lucy Ricardo was the main protagonist of sitcom I love Lucy which ran from 1951 to 1957. It also starred Desi Arnaz as Ricky (Her on and off the screen husband), William Frawley and Vivian Vance (as Fred and Ethel Mertz). I remember watching it on FOX classics in the mornings before school, oh how brilliant it was. Ball would take variations of Lucy through 3 more series' (The Lucy Show, Here's Lucy and the little known Life With Lucy), but I Love Lucy still remains as the pioneer of the modern sitcom (closely followed by The Honeymooners).


3. Fonzie (Henry Winkler) Happy days.
Fonzie is the nickname of Arthur Fonzerelli- The Fonz. Just thought i'd clear that up. What began as a nostalgic trip back to the fifties with the Cunningham family became a star maker for Henry Winkler as Fonzie. The greaser with the leather jacket and the heart of gold (but don't tell anyone).

2. Patsy Stone (Joanna Lumley) Absolutely Fabulous.
Okay, yes she beat The Fonz, but after just one episode of Ab Fab you will see just how memorable Patsy is.  She is the forever hungover best friend of Edina Monsoon (Jennifer Saunders). Lumley is the best reason to watch Ab Fab.

1. Frasier and Niles Crane (Kelsey Grammer and David Hyde Pierce) Frasier
To say that this was a hard choice would be an understatement! I could have removed Janice to make way for Spock (Leonard Nimoy) but this is my opinion.  These two are so brilliantly crafted that time prohibits my naming all of the reasons why they are number one. But witty would be a good start. Frasier far surpasses it's parent show Cheers in terms of writing and entertainment value and it thoroughly deserves all of it's accolades, even this spot. Grammar and Hyde Pierce also voiced brothers Bob and Cecil Terwilliger in The Simpsons.

I missed out so many. But this is just MY opinion. But even i don't agree with number 1, but what more can i put there? I know that i missed out some great ones. So let me know what YOU think in the comments!

Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part 2 (2011)

Besides having the longest title i have seen for quite some time this was actually a pretty great movie. It was a brilliant way to cap off one of the most successful franchises of all time and (having grown up with it)  i was thankful that the writers, actors and director didn't mess it up.

Alright so if you don't know the basic premise of Harry Potter then you must have been living underneath a sound proof rock for the last 9-10 years. So that being said i am just going to get right into it:
- I read the book, it was good.
- The acting was pretty good, but then, the franchise has always had a strong supporting cast and decent leads.
- The movie would have been even better in 3D, but it was real enough for me in 2D. Call me old fashioned but c'mon, does everything have to be seen in 3D? Haha.
- It's quite amazing watching it, you see Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson (Harry, Ron, Hermione) grow up through out the movies, it makes the whole franchise far more... Well, credible? Yeah i'm going to go with credible even though that isn't really the word i was looking for.

Now, i didn't have much i didn't like about the movie. It was pretty solid. But if i had to say one thing it would be that the dialogue wasn't always believable. But i say 'wasn't always' because honestly it was believable 99% of the time so it's really a pretty small gripe.

I think that the effects were good, the snake was especially well crafted. I hate snakes. Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) had great make up and effects put into him and i think i liked his scenes the best ( seriously- best part of the movie).

As for favourite characters:? Well now that i have seen all of the movie's i can safely say that i have 4: Neville (Matthew Lewis), Seamus (Devon Murray), Bellatrix Lestrange (Helena Bonham Carter) and Voldemort. Yes they are not featured as much as the 3 main stars but they were, well, great. Neville only made it on to my favourites because of this last movie- i always liked Seamus though. Bellatrix is mostly because Bonham-Carter is so insanely good as her that i am practically forced to think see is the best acted character in the whole series. And as for Voldemort? I always barrack for the villain. I have no idea why.
Close runners up include: Proffesor McGonagall (the great Maggie Smith) and Snape (the totally awesome Alan Rickman). Freakin awesome, seriously these two have always been in the franchise and managed to spark up even some of the lesser efforts (Prisoner of Azkaban and Order of the phoenix).

4/5. Great flick. My Mum would see it again (she dragged me there, i honestly could have waited) i wanted to see Horrible Bosses or Bad Teacher. Ah well, this was cool anyway. :)

"The Boy who Lived, come to die" Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes), Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part 2


(This is hard for me to admit but i was shaking throughout the movie because it was so good, not just because the theatre was cold.)

Bachelor Mother (1939)

This is a little gem starring none other than Ginger Rogers and David Niven. It revolves around Polly Parish (Rogers) being mistaken for the mother of an orphan baby boy. Niven plays David Merlin who is willing to help Polly with the child.

I have always enjoyed both Rogers' movies and Niven's. Especially Niven because he had a very easy and charming presence. Rogers was at her best when she got to show off her comedic talents (not to say she didn't have dramatic chops, she did win an Oscar for Kitty Foyle [1940] after all). But she'll always be immortalised by being Fred Astaire's best and most frequent partner, a bit of a shame when she was so good.

The film has it's weak points, the close ups are far too frequent and become a little tiresome. This is just my opinion, some people might not really care about close ups. Another flaw was that there were a few plot holes and here and there. Clearly it was no masterpiece. Just an enjoyable screwball comedy with mistaken identities and strange situations. Like most screwballs, why break awat from such a winning formula anyway?

Garson Kanin is the man whom we blame the close ups on, but otherwise he directed the film quite capably. The supporting cast kept the ball rolling with Charles Coburn as a brilliant wet blanket and Frank Albertson as a flimsy and slightly annoying character. Donald Duck is also featured throughout the film. That's right, well, he was there as a mechanical wind-up toy but he was there!

It's no Bringing up Baby (1938) or His Girl Friday (1940) but it was a charming little film. Nowadays we'd call it 'fun but not memorable'. Note that i said 'not memorable' rather than 'forgettable'. Because it's not forgettable, it's more unremarkable. But what would have been a tiresomely unremarkable film was lifted up by the chemistry of Niven and Rogers.

"I dont care who the father is- i'm the grandfather" J.B Merlin (Charles Coburn), Bachelor Mother

Pondering....

As i sit here, supposedly hard at work i begin to wonder about a few things: When i start on that job at Mcdonalds will i have time to go shopping? Will i have time for this blog? Hopefully. But Then i gazed at my television set and i thought: who are the most memorable characters in TV history. Who do you remember most of all? I remember Fred Flintstone yelling 'Yabadabadoo!' and Homer Simpson with his trademark 'Doh!'

I have to wonder what a list such as this would have present, so i ask you, the reader, this: what are some TV characters that you think are most memorable or that you remember most?

I also saw the movie Date Night (2010) which was pretty cool, Steve Carell and Tina Fey go well together. Anyway i really want to see what you have to say on the above question!

Ok thanks. 

Daria (1997-2001) Season 1

Ah yes, how did i miss this show during its first run? Well for starters i live in Australia and the TV was never tuned to MTV anyway (it was normally on WWE, The Disney Channel or some lifestyle station that only mums are interested in). Plus i was five when it ended and my mum would not have let me get brainwashed by MTV at such an impressionable age anyway.
I had seen it via reruns on ABC once or twice, i remember enjoying it but being about 9-10 i didn't quite 'get' it.

Now i do. Because i am currently in my teenage years and even though this show revolves more around those 90s teenagers who listen to some question music (i've never been that into grunge/alt rock) it remains relatable and very 'now.' By the time i was half way through the first season i began to like all the characters and was starting to notice their similarity to people in my own life. Shows don't usually have this effect on me.  Cool.

Just because it's animated doesn't mean it's a for children though, they wont understand it as fully as those older who are living it or have lived it.
Now for the characters:
Daria Morgandorffer: Tracy Grandstaff (perfect voice acting and a great character)
Jane Lane : Wendy Hoopes (same as above)
And i cant be bothered adding anymore names, those are the two main characters anyway. Daria also has a younger sister, Quinn (also voiced by Wendy Hoopes), a complete opposite in every single way, she is shallow dim-witted and shallow (i'm trying highlight that she's shallow).

It is really a wonderful show, i very much enjoyed watching it and in my humble opinion it has excellent replay value. Daria is a witty well thought out show that routinley pokes fun at the shallow consumerism hat MTV  feeds off of. It's sort of funny when i think of it like that, i think that's what the creators of the show were aiming for.

"i dont have low self esteem, i have low esteem for everyone else" Daria Morgandorffer (Tracy Grandstaff), Daria.