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I was watching the LMN channel on cable and came across a movie that Tara Reid was in. I really don’t like this girl, but the story was really good and the acting was acceptional. I was really surprised to see Tara actually act. I have to admit I was impressed. If she continued more roles like this then I think she could be taken much more seriously. The movie was The Devil’s Pond made in 2003.

Tara portrayed a girl who recently got married to a guy who appeared to be a nice, caring kind of guy. He promised her he would take of her even though he secretly wanted her to stay with him and no one else. Things began to unfold after he took her off to a small island in the middle of nowhere where he had no intention of ever bringing her back to her family or friends or even civilization. He made her promise to stay on the island with him for 10 days and then it became 14 days and so on. Eventually he admitted he wasn’t going to let her go anywhere and even went to the extreme of chaining her down. He told her she didn’t need anyone else but him and there was no need to ever leave the island.

The entire movie took place on the island and wooded area with only the two actors carrying the film. Kip Pardue portrayed Tara’s husband. He is a relatively unknown actor. He’s been in a number of low budget films such as Wasted in 2006 and The Wizard of Gore in 2007.

Check the Devil’s Pond out if you happen to see it on cable. It is also available on dvd.

Celine Dion performed in Texas a couple weeks ago and I must tell you it was a complete rip off. She was more than an hour late and had so many wardrobe changes that it was completely ridiculous and distracting. The concert lasted maybe an hour of actual singing. The wardrobe changes lasted a separate hour. In comparison to a major superstar such as Tina Turner who also took a lot of wardrobe changes during her concert, there was entertainment in the midst of her changes. There was never a dull moment during Tina’s concert, but Celine didn’t know what the hell she was doing. She is apparently allowing her ego get the best of her. You don’t pay to come see a singer change clothes so often that it delays the concert 10 to 15 minutes in between each couple songs. How boring is that? I don’t care what the hell she is wearing. I came to see her perform and sing and if you can’t do that without changing your clothes then you are not a real performer.

Don’t get me wrong. Celine Dion can sing. She just can’t put on a good show. She is so full of herself and her clothes that she loses contact with her audience. I wouldn’t be surprised if people got up and left and she wouldn’t even notice. She likes herself and I guess that’s all that matters. She shouldn’t waste people’s time then. She should perform for herself in the mirror and leave it at that. Make records but don’t do concerts. No one cares how skinny you really are. No one cares how hot you think you are. And no one cares how badly you can dance. We do care if you can sing though so please Celine, do that in the future. Try just singing. A real entertainer will be able to capture an audience’s attention by singing and connecting to those who are listening through their heart and not their clothes or stage production.

The Golden Globes aired last night and were actually rather entertaining. There were some surprises and some moments to laugh about. I guess by now everyone must have heard about how Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt ignored Ryan Seacrest. As he worked his way down to the red carpet the power couple were passing by. Ryan even stood next to Angelina and said her name twice and called out Brad’s name. Neither one turned to him to acknowledge him. He was standing right next to them. Ryan said they had to get inside to the ceremony. On his radio show he said he felt they snubbed him because they didn’t know who he was. Who wouldn’t know who Ryan is since he hosts some of the most popular programs such as American Idol and E news.

Kate Winslet was the surprise of the evening winning two awards in each category of Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress. Her role in Revolutionary Road earned her the Best Actress and her role in The Reader earned her a Best Supporting Actress award.

I have to say one award that I was surprised over was the one given to Mickey Rourke for Best Actor in a Drama in The Wrestler. The guy has been gone for quite a while and he has had his problems with drugs and alcohol. No doubt the man is a great actor and always has been, but his addictions has destroyed his ability to get roles. So, to see him back in the lime light is amazing. Hopefully, Mickey will remain clean and cut his hair since that long hair doesn’t work for his appearance.

In television 30Rock won a number of awards including Best Comedy and Best Actress in a Comedy. This gave one of the most unusual acceptance speeches when Tina Fey handed over the acceptance honor to Tracy Morgan who decided to yell out that he was going to do the acceptance speeches for now on since Barack Obama won the presidency. The audience didn’t know how to really react and I wasn’t sure if he was serious or joking since Tina never interrupted. When Tina won her own award she told all of the bloggers that have been bad mouthing her to “suck it” and she named out the blogs by name. Great stuff for an award show.

Hostel 2 that the same problem as the first edition of Hostel had which was a good story line but too much gore. Hostel 2 had more gore than the first. I don’t care to see a penis being cut off. I don’t care to see someone’s eye being yanked or cut out and I certainly don’t care to watch a man get his leg chopped off bit by bit. This is not my entertainment. What I did like about the film was that it had a decent plot. Three American girls go to Slovakia to study. Too much drinking and celebrating leads them to a hostel nearby becoming victims of torture. Just like the first version of the film, the second edition allowed one of the victims to survive. The only problem is this time around they spent more time on the torture scenes rather than developing more of a story about the characters.

Hostel 2 was released in 2007 and not as popular as the first. I watched it on cable. I was able to change the station when the outrageously gory scenes came. I became intrigued in watching it since I saw that two guys that were a part of Desperate Housewives were in it. I was curious to see what kind of characters they portrayed. The funny thing is that the crazy guy that portrayed the pharmacist and found an attraction towards Brie in the show was also crazy in the film as he lost control of himself and killed one of the girls and tried killing another. The other guy basically turned out to be the nice guy and tried to walk out of the place once he realized he couldn’t kill one of the girls.

The three main girls were portrayed by Bijou Phillips, Heather Matarazzo, Lauren German. Lauren was the strong one and the most sensible one. She was also the least annoying. I cannot recommend this movie for those with a weak stomach. There are a number of people that actually enjoy watching people getting chopped up, but that is not for me. I also don’t care to see naked women hanging upside down while getting tortured. Too much grossness for me. It’s a shame they couldn’t do two versions of this film and allow audiences to choose which one was better.

On the 2008 Critic’s Choice Awards winners were announced and even a tie. Best Actor went to Sean Penn for Milk. Penn is a great actor but the film is rather odd. Heath Ledger won for Best Supporting Actor for Dark Knight. This was no surprise since so many had predicted he would win. Anne Hathaway and Meryl Streep tied for Best Actress. They teamed up in The Devil Wear’s Prada and once again they are both winners but in two different films. Anne’s role in Rachel Getting Married got her the win and Meryl won for Doubt.

Somehow a film named Slumdog Millionare won best picture and best director categories. I never heard of this film so it must be a low budget movie that was recently released. Apparently the critics like it. Tropic Thunder (which is one of the worst movies I have ever seen) won best comedy movie. I don’t understand what was thought to be so funny about this weird film but I couldn’t even watch it all the way through.

The show wasn’t bad. It was filled with many appearances from a variety of celebrities. Everyone was dressed to their best and professional. There wasn’t anyone who tried to stand out with a gaudy dress or outlandish outfit. The time lasted its proper time without going over and into other shows such as the news. For the most part, the Critic’s Choice Awards were alright. Celebrities were nominated and received their awards. No real entertainment during the process, but good enough to make you wonder who would get the award. It is always best to record these type of shows so you can fast forwards through parts you don’t care to see.

The People’s Choice Awards will air tonight on cbs with Queen Latifah hosting. There are a number of nominations in various kinds of catagories. This award show differs from others since the viewers get to select their winners. Viewers of movies and television shows were able to go online and vote their picks.

Favorite TV Drama included CSI, Greys Anatomy, and House as the nominees. For Favorite Cast includes Mamma Mia, Dark Knight, and Sex in the City. Mamma Mia is also nominated for Favorite Comedy Movie alongside Get Smart and 27 Dresses. Favorite Movie Drama include Eagle Eye, 21, and Secret Lives of Bees (also nominated for Favorite Independent Movie).

Favorite Female TV Star nominees are Christina Applegate, Sally Field, and Mariska Hargitay. For Favorite Male TV Star there are Charlie Sheen, Hugh Laurie, and Patrick Dempsey. The nominees continue, but I have to make my comments on how dull these nominees are. There’s no real choices here. For female tv stars I must ask about the Desperate Housewives women or the Ugly Betty girls. What happened to them? I can see Christina or Sally but why Mariska? For the men, there must be something better out there. Patrick maybe, but honestly we missed the men from Desperate Housewives and CSI. Lets talk about the movies selected. 27 Dresses and Get Smart as favorite comedy? Huh? Sex in the City could have been nominated here. Momma Mia should be in a musical category. Drama category could have included I Legend or Dark Knight among many, many, many other choices out there.

Anyway, People’s Choice Awards always seem to fall short in nominating the right people and acknowledging those that deserve it.

There were a number of celebrity deaths in 2008. Many were rather devastating such as Heath Ledger. No one could imagine Ledger to die so soon. After taking a combination of prescription drugs Heath died in his sleep. He did his most acclaimed work in The Dark Knight as the joker and Brokeback Mountain. Comedian/actor Bernie Mac, ice skater Scott Bowman, and comedian George Carlin were all surprises when their deaths were announced on the news.

Other celebrities that died in 08 were actress Estelle Getty, Eartha Kitt, actor Paul Newman, Brad Renfro (best known for his starring role alongside Susan Sarandon in The Client), Suzanne Pleshette, Harvey Korman. Roy Scheider, Charlton Heston, Dick Martin (best known for Laugh In series), and director Sydney Pollack. These were all great artists and will be sadly missed through the years.

Dancer Cyd Charisse brings an end to an era of some of the greatest dancers in history. Sportscaster Jim Mckay and Political figures William F. Buckley and Tim Russert brings a realization that not just anyone can be an announcer or political analyst. These individuals were geniuses in what they did.

With each person that is eliminated off a reality tv show there is an interview that usually follows. After Rabbit was eliminated from Real Chance of Love she was interviewed about how she really felt. I always felt that Rabbit should be the last girl standing even though Chance didn’t deserve. Yet, he eliminated her turning to Cali and Risky who are two trampy girls that there is no future with. Even Chance’s parents told him that, but he chose them anyway over Rabbit.

In Rabbit’s interview she admitted that when she went to try out for the show that there was no indication of who the show was for. She only knew that it was one of the guys from I Love New York. She said she wished and hoped it was buddha. When she saw it was Real and Chance she was highly disappointed but went with it. She was attracted to the looks of Chance and the personality of Real. However, she intended to not be with either one in reality. She knew she wouldn’t make it to the end but wanted to at least make it to the final which she did. She was number three. Rabbit felt it gave her enough air time to start a television career for herself. She said she has a movie coming out soon called Still A Teen and she portrays herself. She hopes to be able to get a television show of her own and then she may move out to LA. She didn’t want to move out to LA because the Chance though. She also didn’t go on the show only for air time. Rabbit said she was looking for love and had hoped she’d find it, but since she didn’t she wanted to utilize the show in her favor. She did a good job. I thought people that got on these reality love shows knew who they were going for. So, now it makes more sense that people try to use these shows for their own careers. I certainly wouldn’t do a show like this if I didn’t know who I was going for.

Eagle Eye stars Shia Lebouf and Michelle Monaghan. Billy bob Thornton co-stars along with other great actors. The acting in Eagle Eye is makes this film worth watching. The direction by D.J. Caruso is dead on keeping your attention throughout the entire two hours.

Shia and Michelle come together by force when they each receive a mysterious phone call telling them to do certain things including putting their life in danger as they are used to eventually activate a program that is top secret. It is non-stop action and keeps you at the edge of your seat. It leaves you guessing what is going to happen next.

Eagle Eye is worth seeing. It’s worth the high price at the movie theatre. And it is worth spending two hours on an adventure.

Double Jeopardy was released 10 years ago in 1999. It starred Ashley Judd and Tommy Lee Jones. This is one of the best films the two actors have done. It is a thriller that tells a story about a man framing his wife for his murder. He doesn’t actually die, but has everyone believing he did. She goes to prison in the meantime. Once she gets out she goes in search of him to really kill him since she can’t be tried for the same crime twice.

Even though Double Jeopardy came out 10 years ago it is still very effective and entertaining. This film was one of the movies that put Judd into superstardom, but after choosing a number of poor roles such as Bug she became just another actress and will probably turn to acting on LMN eventually. If you never saw it take the time to do so. It’s worth it.