IS IT REALLY THAT BAD/GOOD? - Lucky Number Slevin

Lucky Number Slevin is a 2006 crime thriller film, starring Josh Hartnett, Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, Ben Kingsley, Stanley Tucci, and Lucy Liu. Set in New York City, the plot focuses on the paths of Slevin Kelevra (Hartnett), Lindsey (Liu), two feuding crime lords known as The Boss (Freeman) and The Rabbi (Kingsley), and a mysterious hitman known as Mr. Goodkat (Willis).

Lucky Number Slevin Trailer

On RottonTomatoes.com Lucky Number Slevin has a TOMATOMETER SCORE of 51%.
But... IS IT REALLY THAT BAD?


It's been a couple of years since I've seen Lucky Number Slevin. I loved it when I first saw it in theatres, and when it came out on DVD, I bought it right away. I don't think I watched it since then, but not because I didn't enjoy it. But was my love for it biased because of my love for the cast? I mean look at that cast! Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, Ben Kingsley and the amazing character actor Stanley Tucci. But the movie had to have something going for it. I was not a fan of Josh Hartnett or Lucy Liu in the slightest, and this film changed my views on them. So did I love this movie because of it's star power, or was there something more to Slevin than meets the eye? (Extra points if you've seen the movie and picked up on that little joke I just did there.)


Bruce Willis has a voice that commands you to listen. So when the film opens with Bruce Willis explaining a "Kansas City Shuffle" to a man who is sitting in a terminal. His voice over tells the story of a man who made some bad choices that lead to not only his demise, but the demise of his wife and son. That's really all I'm going to talk about plot wise. Those of you who have read my reviews in the past, know that I'm not too plot heavy in my reviews. The trailer and the synopsis above will tell you what you need to know about the movie. I'm here to tell you about all the other stuff.


With such veteran actors as I've listed above, the acting in Lucky Number Slevin is top notch. Bruce Willis comes off a little dry, but that can be chalked up to being a character choice. Freeman and Kingsley are perfectly cast as aging mobsters who are feuding with each other. There is a scene near the end of the movie that has the two sitting with each other talking about what lead them to this moment in the film. If I ever become a drama teacher and have to explain to my students what acting can really do, I will show this scene. You feel for these characters. You not only feel for them, but you feel their emotions. Hands down one of my favorite scenes of all time. So lets jump back a moment to where I mentioned that I was not a fan of Josh Hartnett and Lucy Liu. Other than his small role in Sin City, which was very slick, Hartnett wasn't in anything I really liked. He was a stinker in Pearl Harbour. I wasn't a fan of Black Hawk Dawn and the parts I did like about it definitely wasn't the parts that Hartnett was in. But as Slevin, he captured my attention. This role changed my perception of him so much that I actively seeking out his new projects to watch. He is charming, likeable and his chemistry with Lucy Liu is what directors pray they will get with their love interests. And sure, Lucy Liu is cute as all heck, but come on. Is she really an actress? Her only role that I can say that I enjoyed was Kill Bill, and even that role could have been done by anyone else and would have been just as good. But once again, she had such a good chemistry with Hartnett that I put aside the atrocity that was Charlie's Angles 1 and 2.


The writing is very smart. It's very sharp and well written. The script is kind of like a word search puzzle. Fun, clever and it can be confusing to those who enjoy the Sex and the City series. The dialogue feels comfortable and real. As I sit here and watch Slevin, the pacing seems a bit slow but it works for the movie. It's a crime noir, something we don't see very often. The twist ending puts early M. Night movies to shame. 


So, IS IT REALLY THAT BAD? Not at all. Even when I put aside my love of the actors that are in this movie, I love Lucky Number Slevin. It's an original movie, and a genre of film that we don't get often. If you have Netflix, you can check out Lucky Number Slevin tonight. If you don't have Netflix, get Netflix and go check out this movie.


PANASOMETER SCORE: 83%

Ugh!

It's August 27th, my birthday. I, along with my fiance and some best friends, went to the Blink 182 concert at Rexall Place. We watched Against Me and Rancid do an excellent couple of sets on stage and patiently awaited for a band that we call our favorite to hit the stage. The lights go down and Mark, Tom and Travis of Blink 182 hit the stage and the audience goes dicks up. We are about 8 feet from the stage. Shoulder to shoulder with people we don't know. Tiffany goes down and when she gets up her right shoe goes missing. She takes a look around but it is already gone. DAMN! It's only a $50 shoe, but the custom made orthodox that were in the shoe were $300. We decide not to be too upset because we will probably find it once the show is all done. An hour and a half of dancing and singing and GREAT FLUCKING TIME go by and we begin adventure. Ritchie & Tiffany in The Search For The Missing Right Shoe. We see giant sneaker, sandals, a 2GB Lexar memory card and tonnes of confetti... BUT NO SHOE! Now before I go any further into this story I want to stress that I know that these people that I'm going to talk about were just doing their jobs. I have worked in customer service for many years, and I have been in the position of having to tell people something they don't want to hear but I find a way to tell them that doesn't make them want to kill me. That's part of the job. KNOW HOW TO DO YOUR DAMN JOB, OR GET IN A DIFFERENT PROFESSION. The security guards, the guys in the red shirts that make sure no one jumps the rails, start to push us out of the area so that they can start to clean. I take a step back and explain that my fiance is missing a shoe and I am just looking for it. I get a hand on my chest that pushes me back and tells me to "Move now!". First of all, I know my rights. You have just assaulted me. I am not drunk. I am not trying to hurt anyone nor am I being belligerent in any way. So i walk around them to take a look at some shoes that are under the rails between crowd and band. The same security guard steps in front of me and once again pushes me back. If you know me, you know that I am not a fighter in the slightest but I was just assaulted twice for trying to find my fiance's shoe so she wouldn't have to walk around 118 Ave shoeless. So my hands come up and move his from me and I begin to push him back. Things are about to get very messy for me as the guy infront of me is easily a foot taller with 100lbs of muscle on me. Luckily for me, the father of a high school girlfriend of mine, who happens to also be one of these security guards steps between us and tells me to take a breath and step to the side. He tells me that everything gets swept up and put into a pile at the entrance and we can gladly wait over there to look through the pile when they are done. I thank Doug and head towards the entrance. This is when we are approached by more security guards that are telling us to go wait in the lobby. I advise him what I was told by Doug and he tells me that it doesn't matter. We have to wait out in the lobby until they are done, then we can come back in and take a look. Tiffany can see the anger growing in my face, so she grabs my hand and tells me to go with her to the lobby. As we stand there and wait for them to finish, we are approached by an actual security guard.
"Hey guys. You have to clear the area. You can't be standing around here."
IS WHAT SHE SHOULD HAVE SAID TO US. But because we are a young couple, apparently it's okay to talk to us like we are about to cause trouble.
"Time to go hit the bars!"
That's right. We are stereotyped into being drunk adolescents. Seems like a harmless thing to say, but you're in a position of authority and shouldn't talk to anyone without respect in your voice. I told her that we were told to wait there as we were going to find a missing shoe. She tells us that any missing shoes will be brought up to the lost and found. If we wait a few minutes it should be brought up here.
"But we were told by the security guards on the floor told us to wait here."
"Doesn't matter what they say. I am telling you the truth. You can not be here. Go to the lost and found."
FINE! We make our way upstairs to find the lost and found. Tiffany and I walk into this tiny office and are greeted by the first smile of the night.
"Looking for something?"
"Yes. Do you have this shoe, but in a right foot?" (I thought this line was hilarious but I was the only one to laugh.)

"Sorry guys. We don't keep shoes in the lost and found. Do you know how smelly it would be in here if we did?"

"What? Are you kidding me? Where do the shoes go?"
"They get thrown out at the end of the night."
"We were told, multiple times, in not very pleasant ways, that we would get a chance to find her shoe and we were just pushed up here to be told that her shoe would be thrown out?"
My veins in my neck and forehead begins to pop as my voice gets louder. Tiffany shoots me a "SHUT UP" look. The lady takes pity on us and takes Tiffany down to the floor to look through some areas to find her shoe. Unfortunately, the shoe and the very expensive custom orthodox are not found. Our mystery goes unsolved. Tiffany is not very upset about this as both the shoe and the orthodox can be replaced. This makes me not very upset about the missing items. But my blood is still boiling because of the way we were treated by numerous staff at Rexall Place. Northlands needs to train and handle their staff better. Once again, I get it. I've been there. You've had a bad day and some jerk of a customer is getting on your case about the most ridiculous stuff. You can say some things that you regret. But we were talked down to by no less than 6 staff members. SIX! Could they have all been in a bad mood. Maybe. But that is incredibly bad service. I was assaulted not once, but twice We were told incorrect information numerous times. I think its about time that Northlands looks into new contractors to hire to do their events. I wish I would have written down the names of the contracted companies to be able to list them here, but in the heat of the moment my thoughts were everywhere else. I plan to revise this blog post and send it to customer complaints at Northlands. I'm not sure what they can say or do to appease me, but I sure hope they try.


Thanks for listening to my rant. 

Attention: Actors

Hey there friends of mine that are actors, or even just think you could act a little bit. My wedding is but two months around the corner and I have written a short film that chronicles my relationship with my fiance. When I say short film, I mean short. It probably won't be longer than 5 minutes. Our wedding theme is film based. We are having it in the Paramount Theatre on Jasper Ave. Before the ceremony I am playing the film so that everyone in attendance knows more about our relationship before they see us tie the knot. I have numerous roles of friends and family that I am looking to cast, including the roles of Tiffany Perreaux and Ritchie Panas. If you are interested in helping a brother out, let me know. I will probably be filming mid to late August.

5 Months of Movies I want to see... I'm going to be broke.

http://www.imdb.com/rg/s/1/list/s9T_8Olq9TI/

Even with a not so good weekend...

I'm down 4lbs this week. Monday through Friday I ate right, Snacked on proper snacks at proper times, ate portion sizes, and I worked out 4 times this week for a minimum of 45 minutes.

This weekend wasn't so great as it was my best friend Ana's birthday Saturday, so I had a few beers and a piece of cake and Sunday was my cousin's 2nd birthday so I had a cupcake and a few chips with salsa.

I know!
I know!
THAT'S CHEATING AND I SHOULDN'T DO IT!
But I did it.
So sue me.

I went swimming two times this week, and one of those times I actually did some lengths and didn't just have myself some fun. It all payed off a little as I jumped on the scale today and saw a 4lbs difference.

I'm going to do the same this week, maybe work out an extra day. I only worked out 4 times this week as one day I was so sick, I came home from work at 4:45pm and I slept till 7:00am the next morning. It worked though, as I was feeling 75% better the next morning.

So, till next week, lift those weights, lunge those lunges and keep those fast food joints out of reach.

How Good Is That Show?

Modern Family is a powerhouse comedy. There are about 3 actors in the show that will make you go, "I know him/her from somewhere." but the rest of the cast is relatively unknown. BUT EVERY ONE OF THEM IS A BRILLIANT COMEDIC ACTOR! Even the kids in the show are hilarious. HILARIOUS I TELL YOU. If you don't believe me, check out an episode the next time you see it on TV. You don't even need to know the general premises of the show to enjoy a random episode, but in case you're one of those people that need to know what's going on, here is my quick rundown of what the show is all about. There is a family. Ed O'Neill (Ed Bundy of Married With Children) is newly married to the gorgeous and much younger Sophia Vergara. She has a son from her previous marriage that is as young as his grandchildren. He has two children. Julie Bowen (You will recognize her from many many previous TV shows.) and Jesse Tyler Ferguson. She is married to Ty Burrell (You will recognize him as the douche from Zack Snyder's Dawn Of The Dead.)(HE IS HILARIOUS IN THIS SHOW! THERE IS NOT A SINGLE LINE OF HIS THAT WILL NOT BRING YOU TO TEARS!) and they have 3 wonderfully funny children. Jesse Tyler Ferguson is a homosexual man and his partner/husband played by Eric Stonestreet play the perfect couple who have an adopted Asian daughter. Simple enough, right? Watch the show. Do it. Right now. I guarantee that you laugh and enjoy it.

ANYWAYS! Back to the reason why I started to write about the best comedic TV show. The 63rd Primetime Emmy Nominations have been announced today and Modern Family received 17 nominations which included:

-4/6 of the nominations for Outstanding Male Actor in a Comedy Series

Jesse Tyler Ferguson, "Modern Family"

Ed O'Neill, "Modern Family"

Eric Stonestreet, "Modern Family"

Ty Burrell, "Modern Family"

-2/6 of the nominations for Outstanding Female Actor in a Comedy Series

Julie Bowen, "Modern Family"

Sofia Vergara, "Modern Family"

-Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series

Nathan Lane, "Modern Family"

and...
-Outstanding Comedy Series

So, when every one of your adult actors gets a nomination in the major categories, you know you have a wonderful show on your series.

Leave a comment telling me of your favorite Modern Family moment.

I'm definately not a vampire.

I miss the sun. I didn't think I would ever say those words as I am a winter loving guy, but the sun hasn't been around these parts in a couple of weeks and it is hitting me pretty hard. I feel depression setting in, my health has gotten rough, and I hate being outside. It's just so blah outside and I can't take it anymore. The Weather app on my phone has told me that we are supposed to see some sunlight tomorrow and Saturday, and I'm to the point that if we don't get any, I'm moving. I love my city. But the weather here is just awful. I'm not talking about winter either. Like I said earlier, I love winter. Sure it's cold and miserable, but I love the snow and the winter atmosphere. But this summer is something I've come to loathe.
So I'm making my plea to the gods of weather. "ENOUGH OF THE RAIN AND OVERCAST COVERING THE SUN. Please give us some sunlight and good times for the next few months."