Heath Ledger

I am almost crying. I used to cry when I was kid but that has been stifled. I am not the type of guy to be so distraught over a celebrity or actor dying, but this is special to me. Also, it isn't that he is in one of my favorite movies, Brokeback Mountain, I really didn't expect this happening. Brad Renfro recently passed away, for still unknown reasons, I didn't even post something on that. I am not discrediting Brad Renfro, but Ledger's passing is quite frankly a shock and large surprise. I always expected Heath to have a large filmography and keep on acting like Clint Eastwood, Robert Renford, etc. And my prayers go to Michelle Williams, his very young daughter, his parents, and all of his love ones and fans. This is really tragedy, because he had so much potential and it was shame he couldn't see himself on the big screen as the Joker, which he is getting a lot of buzz around.

My Perfect Sci-Fi Monday

With the strike and not a lot of originally scripted shows, one has to wander from network to network for your favorite shows. I hate it when two cool shows are at the same time. The perfect matchup (and I hope they don't change it!) is "Kyle XY" (ABC Family), "Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles" (FOX), and "Medium" (NBC) on Monday nights starting at 8pm. The best Sci-Fi shows on television right now. I am glad "Medium" is back on Mondays.

Entertainment Weekly's Oscar Picks eerily correct

Forget if the Oscars will happen, Entertainment Weekly are so finely tuned through the years that they predicted 95% of the nominees.

Best Actor
George Clooney, Michael Clayton
Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood
Johnny Depp, Sweeney Todd
Viggo Mortensen, Eastern Promises
Tommy Lee Jones, In the Valley of Elah

They actually picked Ryan Gosling for Lars and the Real Girl, they did mention Tommy Lee Jones. They said: "[He] delivered one of the best performances of is career as the father of a missing soldier, but the fact that the film flopped at the box office was likely killed his chances in this category." Apparently not.


Best Actress
Cate Blanchett, Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Julie Christie, Away From Her
Marion Cotillard, La Vie en Rose
Laura Linney, The Savages
Ellen Page, Juno

They actually thought Angelina Jolie would get a nod for A Mighty Heart. About Blanchett, they said because of poor critical and commercial reception and not to mention her sure-thing for Supporting Actress could meaning she wouldn't get a nod, but this year, she gets two nods! Page is the youngest in the category, she will be 21 in February 21st.


Best Supporting Actor
Javier Bardem, No Country for Old Men
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Charlie Wilson's War
Hal Holbrook, Into the Wild
Tom Wilkinson, Michael Clayton
Casey Affleck, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

They got them all right this time. They said it would be hard to pick a fifth slot in such strong performances, but Casey did get a SAG and Golden Globe nod.


Best Supporting Actress
Cate Blanchett, I'm Not There
Ruby Dee, American Gangster
Saoirse Ronan, Atonement
Amy Ryan, Gone Baby Gone
Tilda Swinton, Michael Clayton

EW picked Catherine Keener for Into the Wild instead of Ronan, but did recognize her.

Best Director
Julian Schnabel, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Jason Reitman, Juno
Tony Gilroy, Michael Clayton
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, No Country for Old Men
Paul Thomas Anderson, There Will Be Blood

They picked Sean Penn for Into the Wild and Joe Wright for Atonement. It is a surprise Penn didn't get a nom. And Jason Reitman is a pleasant surprise. They thought them two would be left on the 'cutting room floor.'


Best Picture
Atonement
Juno
Michael Clayton
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood

Same.

Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles Episode 3 Review

This series is propelling well. Miles Dyson's widow Tarissa (Charlayne Woodard) is seen again, Sarah visits her at the cemetery. She leads her to Any (Brendan Hines), who might create SkyNet and is now just a cell-phone salesman. He asks Sarah on a date and after charming her, they go out on a date. In which, he shows her his chess-beating computer. She doesn't think much of it at first, she thinks it is hilarious but John makes her wake up. People have complained that John hasn't had a lot of time to shine. He does a bit here. In a 'wholly-cow' scene, Cameron prevents John from stopping a girl from committing suicide. In a strange scene, kids stare at a weird painting on a school wall. As a janitor paints off one, another is made and everyone is left wondering what the fuck it is. The painting is sort of errie. Cameron said it was a reference to something.

It was a black door. Then a black door with a yellow bra and then that girl started freaking out. Then at the end, it was with a girl kissing a teacher in shadows. John burns to be the hero he is suppose to be but I believe the reason Cameron stopped him was for him not to be harmed. Also what Sarah said was that it would attract attention to him if he was a 'hero.' Catherine Dent also joins the cast as Agent Greta Simpson, a counter to James Ellis. The Terminator from the first episode, re-assembled himself and found a scientist to make artifical tissue for him and then he stole his eyes. Cameron wants Sarah to kill Andy. Sarah thinks of it like what if you could kill the scientists that build the nuclear bomb, would you? Would it make a difference? What she does is burn Andy's house, along with the Turk.

Kyle XY Season 2 Episode 15 Review

Jessie and her amazing attention-seeking tricks. Good Episode. She walks on water and leaps down a tall building. Lot of confrontations. Nicole with Brian. Kyle with Emily. Emily with Jessie. Brian with Kyle and Nicole. And at the end, Jessi gets a big confrontation with everyone. Hilary eggs Jessi on, not to be a bitch but because she hurt Lori. At the beginning of the episode, we find out the Trager family have a lot of information on Jessie and Brian. One would expect them to figure it out slowly like they usually do. But apparently Brian is biologically Jessie's father. Nicole is concerned if Brian is a good parent. I think they discovered this to make room for everything else that has happened.

Declan is on crutches because of the battle at Madacorp last week. Curious enough, there was no scene between Jessie and Brian throughout the episode.... until the very end. Tonight we find out the Latnok ring Kyle got from Balantine wasn't the ring Adam Baylin gave him. It was actually Balantine's father's ring. Brian was the one who took the ring from the pawn shop. Now Kyle has both. As for the conversation between Jessie and Emily, basically Emily was recruiting for Madacorp at the Career Fair and Kyle confronted her. Jessie came along and Emily offered being fame and popularity. As for Andy, she is trying out a wig and Josh wasn't all for the career fair and stands up to the principal, saying he will make a difference. It is all because of Andy. He is much more serious which is good, the boy growing up. In a smart move to stop Jessie from doing a third stunt, Kyle 'ruins it' by saying he will do it along with her and the Trager kids do too. Jessie eventually goes on to it but Kyle stops her, using his powers. With water below her, he used the water in him to make her water move and make her back up.

In the beginning, Kyle accidentally levitates in front of the neighbor mother of his girlfriend and it attracts attention. The next day she appears with her friends to see the trick. At the end of episode, it is simply solved with Kyle putting his foot on the sprinkler to make her believe it was nothing. Also, interesting factoid Brian told everyone that Sara, Jessi's mom is dead. And TV Guide and TV.com have confirmed that former Rat Packer will play Sarah in an episode near the season finale, so that is curious.

Breaking Bad Review

I always knew Bryan Cranston deserved his own show. He needed an award for his work on "Malcolm in the Middle," but is "Breaking Bad" worthy a vehicle to get his notice? I don't know, "The Shield" was FX's first series and launched them. Some call "Breaking Bad" an effort to do the same for AMC. He plays Walter White, chemist teacher who is lead to making crystal meth in a RV when too much shit piles up: he is diagnosed with lung cancer, his wife is pregnant (Anna Gunn), his son Walter Jr. (RJ Mitte) has cerebral palsy (done quite well, he is a normal teenager) and they are about to loose their house. How did he get to this? Well, he is out on a bust with his wife's brother that is a cop and he finds a former student is a crack addict/dealer Jesse (Aaron Paul). He eventually convinces the punk looser to team up with him because of his 'connections.' The dumb kid don't know shit about chemistry and don't believe in Walter's skills until he witness the actual drug he can cook up.

These dumb fucks (Jesse and his Latino ex-partner and cousin dealer) don't know shit about chemistry. It is what I have been saying for years: that the actual kids in the meth lab don't know anything about chemistry. Walter is incredibly intelligent but still over his head and a bit of a sad sack. His wife is sure he is on to something. That old nutshell. The show isn't new territory but does have some funny moments and innovative in the pilot episode's climax. The show has a slow pace and eventually the music changes (hip-hop or latin rock for the moment) gets jarring. Let's see what this baby can do. Worth a look.