Who Doesn't Like Cake? "Cake Boss: The Next Great Baker"

It's Go Time!   

The Story:

With the success of Cake Boss, TLC brings back Buddy Valastro and his team to host a reality competition to discover "The Next Great Baker".  A dozen bakers vie for the prize, as week by week another contestant is sent packing.  To the winner comes cash, prizes and a chance to work side by side learning from the man at Carlo's Baker.

Pretty good show.

It's not nearly as good as Cake Boss, but thankfully there is enough of Buddy and the Familia to go around to make the episodes lively.

For the most part, the challenges are pretty good and while sometimes the consequences are devastating to the contestants, Buddy is trying to make a point:

In the baking business, bad things happen.

You've got to be resilient and overcome those challenges if you want to be a success.

I couldn't be happier with the winner from Season 1, who deserved the win.

As for Season 2...

I've yet to find the contestant I'm most rooting for, and it's about halfway done.

The contestants are all much less likable than Season One, and the challenges seem much harder, and meaner.

I'm not sure if it was Buddy or TLC that wanted to spice things up this go round, but it just seems to have a rougher edge to it.

Plus, I can't believe how Buddy has not eliminated one contestant that deserved to go but got stays of execution on more than one occasion.  He's slipping I guess.

: )

This batch of contestants is also much whinier than the first season.

And this just in, the winner has been revealed... and Buddy got it wrong.

Tsk tsk.

Available to stream instantly on Netflix as of this writing.

Final Grade:  B ~ Season One // B-/C+ ~ Season Two

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: Again, if they stream it, I will watch.  No need to purchase. ;)

Don't Judge A Girl By Her Nose..."Penelope"

Fairy tales can come true...

The Story:

Penelope (Christina Ricci) is born with a curse.  Born with the face of a pig, she is cursed to look that way until she is loved by one of her own.  Her parents (Richard Grant and Catherine O'Hara) assume it's the love of a rich suitor.  Of course, all men run screaming from the room once they lay eyes on Penelope's snout.  But that all changes when a young suitor (James McAvoy) comes calling.  Is he in it for love, or the money?

Nothing like scouring the Netflix archives for movies that I've never seen/heard of.  From 2006 comes this little romantic comedy gem from writer Leslie Caveny and director Mark Palansky.  It's their first times in feature roles for either, and they do a great job.

This modern day fairy tale is pretty cute.  Ricci is far from hideous, yet that is a driving part of the film.  Rich suitors come and go, all signing non-disclosure agreements until one guy gets away without signing.

Then the hunt for "pig-girl" begins.

Enter McAvoy who is used as a plot device to capture a picture of the hideous princess for publication.

He charms her, and is taken aback at her appearance, yet does not flee.

Eventually, it all falls apart and Penelope takes off to brave the world alone.

She meets and befriends a local (Reese Witherspoon) and begins to live and enjoy her life.

And then... the curse is magically lifted, but not in any way that was expected.

Will love win out after all?

Cute stuff, and I'm glad I found it in the archives.

Final Grade: Solid B

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: I'd have no problem watching this one again in the future.

"The Great Gatsby" ? That's One of Many Adjectives I Would Not Use to Describe This Movie.

Great is overrated.

Let's see if I can't fix that!

And that's about the same face I made as I was watching this movie as well, thanks Tobey!

The Story:

The movie opens with a drunk, Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire) telling about his life up to this point, and apparently how it intersected with that of Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio).  The flashbacks unfold as Nick begins feverishly, both literally and figuratively, begins banging out his story...

20 minutes later... I was bored.

:)

Wait, let me be perfectly clear, I was bored long before the 20 minute mark, I just invoked the 20 minute rule at that point.

That's right, The Great Gatsby didn't even get the chance at 1.5x speed on the PS3 for me to see if there was anything redeeming to this feature.

Perhaps I'm just not a fan of Baz Luhrmann?  I was underwhelmed with what I saw of Moulin Rouge, and his Australia! put me to sleep.

This looked like the roaring twenties, so I'll give them credit for a great look and feel to the film.

But I honestly didn't care to keep watching.

Tobey Maguire doesn't have the commanding presence to keep me glued to the set waiting for the Great Gatsby to arrive.

I suppose it would have gotten better had I kept watching, but I'll consider that an extra 2 hours of my life saved.

Besides, while you can't *always* judge a movie by its trailer, I did in this instance.

And I found the final product about on par with what I was expecting.

Final Grade: D-

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: No, I'm good.  If I really want to find out what happens, there's a book out there with the same name. ;)

The Discovery of the Missing Link... "The Croods"

Not your typical stone-age family...

The Story:

Grug (Nicholas Cage) has spent his life keeping his family alive.  However his oldest daughter, Eep (Emma Stone) in typical teenage fashion is looking to broaden her horizons outside of the cave.  When she meets a mysterious stranger named Guy (Ryan Reynolds), she longs to go with him on his quest for a better tomorrow.  When the cave is destroyed by an earthquake, Grug will have to follow Guy on their quest to find safety on higher ground.  Trying new things is bad, and that's all Guy is really about.

This was a cute movie, perhaps overhyped by my kids on how great and awesome it was.

:)

It was good, don't get me wrong.

The animation was beautiful and the voice acting was tremendous.

Nicholas Cage is somewhat restrained in his role.  How often can you really say that about any Nicholas Cage role, since, oh I don't know... the 80s?

Ryan Reynolds plays himself, as usual.  Of course, as I've said before, I absolutely love Ryan Reynolds and all that he does.  Been a fan since Van Wilder, and enjoy anytime he turns up in a movie.

The movie centers around Emma Stone, and functions as a coming of age story for her where she will reject her father to follow the man that has stolen her heart.

Thankfully, she's less rebellious and stubborn than a red-haired mermaid that I know...

Plus, the makers do realize that ultimately the dad wasn't such a lunk-head, and without him, none of them would have survived.

So they managed to pull the movie back up and save it at the end when the father and daughter share their goodbyes.

Dads, get  your tissues ready, that's going to be your girl someday.

:: sigh ::

The colors in the movie are lush and vibrant.  I wasn't the biggest fan of the character models.  Some odd dinosaur choices, and the Croods themselves have an unusual body composition. 

Of course, I'm a guy that likes simple cavemen stories...

Like the Flintstones. ;)

Final Grade: B+

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: I'm pretty sure there's a kid or 7 that will demand this be under the tree this holiday season...

Stealing Dogs in the Name of Love... "Lost & Found"

The next best thing to a Neil Diamond concert...

The Story:

Dylan (David Spade) is a struggling restaurant owner who wants to expand the business by getting a loan from Mr. Millstone (Martin Sheen).  In the meantime, a beautiful cellist, Lila (Sophie Marceau) who lives near Dylan, has her dog keep escaping.  Dylan keeps returning the dog to the grateful owner, and then Dylan decides that maybe if he kept the dog in the house for an extra hour or two, he could spend a little more quality time with Lila.  Ah, but when the dog eats the engagement ring that he's holding for his best friend... things get a little complicated!

Ah yes, my love of former Saturday Night Live performers continues to this day.

Today, it's David Spade who finally achieved "star of the movie" status with this film.

Before, he had been part of the dynamic duo of David Spade and Chris Farley who struck gold with Tommy Boy and followed it up with the less successful Black Sheep. However, with Farley's untimely death, Spade had little choice but to go solo.  A few smaller parts and co-star movies followed before Lost and Found was released.

Is it a great movie?

Not great, but not bad.

Spade's acerbic wit and biting humor are on full display here, and I've always  found the man to be hilarious.

Couple that with Artie Lange as someone who wants to be just like Dylan, it makes for a great running gag through the movie.

Of course, some people will insist that Spade and Marceau could never be an item in real life, but that's why this is a movie.  He's the little guy that is sincere and charming to the girl of his dreams, and he wins her over.

It's always good to root for the underdog.

The trick will be, once she discovers that he lied to her (about the dog), will she be willing to take him back?

The storylines all culminate at a party where Spade must do his best Neil Diamond impression in order to earn his business loan.

And when the movie ends, the cast engages in a rousing dance/singalong to Groove is in the Heart.  I'm not sure when the credit cast scenes began, but this might have been one of the firsts.

Final Grade: B-

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: I could easily watch it again, harmless David Spade fun that always puts a smile on my face.

Our Man Stan... "With Great Power: The Stan Lee Story"

Excelsior!

The Story:

A biography covering the life and career of Stan Lee and the characters that he created for Marvel Comics.

I love Stan Lee.

You'll never find a more engaging pitchman who so believes in what he does than Stan.

While I no longer read the comics, I will always love the characters that he created, or to spread the love truthfully, co-created in many instances.

Writing comics would probably be my dream job, therefore Stan Lee is my ultimate hero.

He had the job that I would love to have, but would always feel I could never live up to.

But man, it would be a blast to try!

To sit back and realize that YOU are the man telling stories about Spider-Man...or the Fantastic Four...or...

Yeah, pretty cool gig.

And for the most part, all of the other people that are interviewed in this film also gush about how cool Stan is, both genuine and personable.

Plus, there's some nice Stan at home scenes with his lovely wife, those two are still madly in love after all these years.

So if you want to see a good documentary on Stan and the history of Marvel, here you go!

Now available to stream instantly on Netflix as of this writing.

Final Grade: B

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: Maybe I'll watch it again in a few years, but nothing that screams "buy me!"

Halloween Candy Hangover? The Antidote Would Be To "Make 'Em Laugh" Disc One

Now that's funny!

The Story: 

A retrospective of comedy in America, as originally presented on PBS back in 2009.  6 episodes, spread out 2 per disc, because apparently 6 hours of information is too much for one DVD...

The first episode concentrates on the oddballs, jerks and nerds.

Emphasis falls on Johnathan Winters, Robin Williams, Harold Lloyd, Phyllis Diller, Woody Allen but many others are mentioned and featured.

The second episode is the breadwinners and homemakers.

This concentrates on tv shows, especially I Love Lucy, The Honeymooners and the Dick Van Dyke show.

The documentary seems to jump scatter-brained from past to present, back and forth, with no real rhyme or reason to the skipping.

The subtitle of this documentary was "The Funny Business of America".

To me, that's how this should have been presented.  They were looking at 100 years, start with vaudeville and the silent movies and end with the stand-ups/tv/movie funnymen of today.

I think that would have given a bit better focus on the growth and importance of American comedy.

So there was some interesting nuggets to be had, but I'm not sure that anyone in the house wants me getting the remaining 4 hours to see how it turns out.

The series was hosted with intros by Billy Crystal, and it offered some insightful commentary by people that are no longer with us, like George Carlin.

Overall it was a nice experiment that could have used some tightening in execution.

Final Grade: B-

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: Nope, not even sure I'll get around to finishing the rest of the series.