Darjeeling Limited

I am a huge Wes Anderson fan. Although I truly enjoy his talents as a writer/director, it is him as a person that I admire most. He was best friends with Owen Wilson, growing up in Texas, which puts him up their in my ranks to begin with. Wes puts a lot of his friends in his movies and tends to keep a core group of people involved in his films. This is what I truly love about him. The one aspect of his movie making that I am always amazed by is his use of and taste of music. In the three semi-movies that my brother and I have made over the past four years, we have tried to integrate some of Wes's style and music.
I just watched The Darjeeling Limited, Wes's fifth feature film, and I was very pleased. It starred Owen, Adrian Brody, and Jason Schwartzman as three brothers on a trip across India to find their mother. I always say that it is hard to judge a movie after one viewing so all of this might be a little off, but I liked it more than The Royal Tennenbaums and Life Aquatic (Wes's previous two films). Either I'm more easily picking up on the dry, subtle humor or it was just flat out funnier because Owen was the main character. I really liked Adrian Brody's performance in this movie. The dynamic between Brody and Owen reminded me a bit of the interactions between Owen and Luke Wilson in Bottle Rocket (Wes's first movie). Brody was very straight and somber while not enjoying Owen's schemes until the end of the movie. Another plus to this film, in comparison to Tennenbaums and Aquatic, was that it was shorter and never dragged at 90 minutes. Tennenbaums and Aquatic both were a bit too long for my liking at 110 and 120 respectively.

Wes Anderson Movies

1. Bottle Rocket (below)
2. Rushmore
3. The Darjeeling Limited
4. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
5. The Royal Tennenbaums

Wes Anderson Movie Characters

1. Dignan- Bottle Rocket (above)
2. Herman Blume- Rushmore
3. Francis Whitman- Darjeeling
4. Steve Zissou- Aquatic
5. Max Fischer- Rushmore
6. Royal Tennenbaum- Tennenbaums
7. Bob Maplethorpe- Bottle Rocket
8. Anthony Adams- Bottle Rocket
9. Peter Whitman- Darjeeling
10. Future Man- Bottle Rocket

10/27 Rankings

Performers of the Week

1. Jack Donaghy-
30 Rock (16 total)
2. Danny McCoy-
Las Vegas (35 total)
3. Mark Sloan-
Grey's Anatomy (17 total)
4. Tracy Jordan- 30 Rock (18 total)
5. Eric Taylor- Friday Night Lights (6 total)
6. Mike Cannon- Las Vegas (18 total)
7. Michael Scott- The Office (17 total)
8. Orson Hodge- Desperate Housewives (3 total)
9. Nathan Petrelli- Heroes (2 total)
10. Dan Vasser- Journeyman (2 total)

10/27 Power Rankings

1. Heroes (1)
The best and worst Heroes scenes of the season happened to be in this week's ep. The best being Nathan and Parkman getting trapped in the Nightmare Man's dream sequence. The worst, as I assume you can all guess, was having to look at Micah's Stunner-esque grin as he watched his cousin skipping rope. I wanted to slap him in the face. If Parkman's dad ends up being the one who is killing off the others I will be a little disappointed. It is too obvious at this point. The best option is for Mr. Petrelli to not be dead and he is the killer.

2. Lost (2)

3. Las Vegas (3)
If you watch this show and don't wish that Danny McCoy was your best friend then, as JJ would say, you got problems. The dynamic between Danny and Mike makes every one of there scenes together amazing. As I was watching this ep the second time through I realized how strange it was that I hadn't though about Ed not being in the show forever and that I didn't miss him very much.

4. The Office (4)
Kind of a down ep but that is probably because it was only 30 minutes. I have no idea why Michael's commercial wasn't used. It was much, much better than the one the ad guys came up with. The only problem with Michael's was that they didn't incorporate the wonderful song by Darrell, Creed, Andy and Kevin.

5. 30 Rock (6)
Jack and Tracy were both very good this week. Jack's impersonations of Tracy's parents, Tracy's mom's boyfriend and the mexican lady might have been one of the funniest scenes on tv this year. There were also some great Michael Vick references which is always a good way to get laughs.

6. Grey's Anatomy (5)

7. 24 (8)
24 had to move up at least one spot this week because of the fact that they are bringing Tony Almeida back for this upcoming season. Tony was always my favorite on 24 and when he apparently died by a needle stabbing I question whether he was actually dead. Going from the recent promotions, he is back and apparently a bad guy. Gotta love it.

8. Friday Night Lights (7)

9. Entourage (9)

10. House (10)
Not enjoying the fact that Foreman, Chase and Cameron are weaseling themselves more airtime recently. I'd much rather get to know Kumar and 13. I'm so sick of Foreman, I wish he stayed at Mercy.

11. Curb Your Enthusiasm (11)

12. Back to You (12)
You know, the World Series is really a detriment to television. I was looking forward to Back to You this week, but no, I have to watch the Red Sox, ugg.

13. Journeyman (13)
Best part of this show so far was when Journeyman's kid found out what his dad can do. On a different note, I love when he journey's back to the 70's because they get to use great music. When Shelter from the Storm came on when Journeyman was uniting Captain Richy with his Cambodian friend I got chills.

14. American Idol (14)

15. Chuck (15)

16. Dirty, Sexy, Money (19)

17. Rules of Engagement (17)

18. Desperate Housewives (18)

19. Scrubs (-)
Premier of Scrubs was good. In the past I didn't like the comedy of Scrubs but it's growing on me. If only I didn't dislike Zach Braff so much, it could be a really good show.

20. Family Guy (16)

Commercials/Power Rankings

DVR has really made me hate commercials. Before being introduced to DVR on a regular basis I would not love, but could stand the few minutes of commercials during shows. But after watching episodes for 41 to 43 straight minutes it has become seemingly impossible to sit through commercials. I most of the time start 9 PM shows at 9:20 to get past these excruciating events.

10/20 Power Rankings

1. Heroes (1)
It was strange that Heroes could go an entire ep without a single piece of Hiro or Peter. What was even more weird was that I didn't even realize it until the end of the show. I am interested in the twists and turns of every plot line, even the one involving Micah this season.

2. Lost (2)

3. Las Vegas (4)
Cooper is coming into his own. This ep showed how mysterious he is and that he can definitely compete with Ed as the man in charge. The Danny and Mike interactions were spot on as always. Delinda is getting so weird, which I don't like.

4. The Office (3)
For some reason I am falling into a bit of a rut with The Office lately. I didn't think this episode was that great. Other than Dwight being ridiculous at his farm, Michael carried the ep. The past two episodes there has not been enough power from the minor characters.

5. Grey's Anatomy (7)
It keeps getting better and better for me. Maybe what makes a show good is that you have to hate half of the characters and love half of them. Because I hate George, Yang, Izzie, Meredith and Callie, but I love Sloan, Derek, Karev, Chief and Bailey.

6. 30 Rock (5)
Down ep for Jack but Tracy was solid. My favorite was "I'm back from whatever Liz Lemon said I was doing." I'm happy Tina Fey realized nobody liked Pete that much because he's really been written out of the show. Now if we could only get some more Frank time we'd be perfect.

7. Friday Night Lights (8)
This moves up for now but from what I saw on scenes for next week it probably won't stay here long. The Landry murder story looks to be coming back into the picture. That is easily the worst thing this show has done to this point. But tonight's episode was great with the Seracen/Smash conflict, Riggins being a drunk and most importantly the Landry/Tyra action.

8. 24 (6)

9. Entourage (9)

10. House (10)

11. Curb Your Enthusiasm (12)

12. Back To You (13)
Chuck Darling is slowly becoming one of my favorite television characters. The way he enjoys his own jokes so much is incredible.

13. Journeyman (11)
Although this is still quality, it is beginning to be too predictable to be a 'great' show.

14. American Idol (14)

15. Chuck (18)
Continuing to climb the charts. The way this show takes events that are so serious and turns them into a joke is so heart warming and joyful. I love the wedge being stuck between Chuck and Sarah by having Chuck's least favorite person ever be Sarah's ex-bf.

16. Family Guy (17)

17. Rules of Engagement (15)

18. Desperate Housewives (20)

19. Dirty, Sexy, Money (-)
This new show on ABC is starting to grow on me. What I feel makes this show better than what I call its CBS counterpart, Cane, is that I already feel for the characters. For me that is the key. If you can get me to feel for most of the characters, especially in an ensemble cast show, you will do alright. Whereas in Cane I didn't care at all when Alex's kid got engaged and the mom was sad about it, in DSM, I truly felt bad for Juliet when she found out Jeremy was going out with her nemesis.

20. My Name Is Earl (16)
I thought this week's ep was just bad. I had a tough time getting through it. Hopefully next week's will be better so it doesn't drop out.


Performers of the Week

1. Michael Scott- The Office (13 total)
2. Chuck Darling- Back To You (14 total)
3. Alex Karev- Grey's Anatomy (18 total)
4. Danny McCoy- Las Vegas (26 total)
5. Tyra Collette- Friday Night Lights (6 total)
6. Derek Shephard- Grey's Anatomy (5 total)
7. Dwight Shrute- The Office (21 total)
8. Tracy Jordan- 30 Rock (11 total)
9. Mike Cannon- Las Vegas (13 total)
10. Dan Vasser- Journeyman (1 total)

10/13 Power Rankings

Power Rankings

1. Heroes (1)
2. Lost (2)
3. The Office (3)
4. Las Vegas (4)
5. 30 Rock (7)
6. 24 (5)
7. Grey's Anatomy (8)
8. Friday Night Lights (9)
9. Entourage (6)
10. House (12)
11. Journeyman (11)
12. Curb Your Enthusiasm (10)
13. Back To You (13)
14. American Idol (16)
15. Rules of Engagement (14)
16. My Name is Earl (17)
17. Family Guy (18)
18. Chuck (-)
19. Greek (15)
20. Desperate Housewives (19)

Performers of the Week

1. Dwight Schrute- The Office (17 total)
2. Greg House- House (14 total)
3. Tracy Jordan- 30 Rock (8 total)
4. Mike Cannon- Las Vegas (11 total)
5. Peter Petrelli- Heroes (6 total)
6. Andy Bernard- The Office (5 total)
7. Samantha Marquez- Las Vegas (4 total)
8. Chuck Darling- Back to You (5 total)
9. Angela Martin- The Office (2 total)
10. Alex Karev- Grey's Anatomy (10 total)

Disney Classics

Recently I had a lengthy discussion with a few people about the Disney Animated Classics as well as Pixar vs. Dreamworks movies. The Disney animated movies have had three golden ages since the beginning in 1937. The first came right at the beginning from 1937 to 1942 releasing Snow White, Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo and Bambi. The next unbelievable stretch was 1950-1959. Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Lady and the Tramp and Sleeping Beauty came out in the period. The final and my personal favorite golden era of Disney movies was 1989-1994, which introduced The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion King. Now sure there have been other greats here and there but the best usually come in packs. With any luck our next golden era could be coming with 'Rapunzel' and 'The Princess and the Frog' coming out in 2009. The Princess and the Frog will be the first fully 2D animated Disney movie released since 2004's Home on the Range. The creators of Rapunzel are trying new technology which will include both 2D traditional animated style and 3D CGI.

So when the conversation turned to that of recent CGI movies I almost lost it when two of the four people involved thought that the Shrek movies were made by Disney/Pixar. Now as I Disney guy I can be the first to admit that Shrek is a wonderful movie and has some elements of comedy that no Disney animated movie has matched, but in my opinion it can never be compared to some of the big guns of Pixar because it just lacks the magic.


Top Ten 2D Animated Movies

1. Beauty and the Beast (above)
2. Aladdin
3. The Lion King
4. Cinderella
5. The Little Mermaid
6. Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs
7. Alice in Wonderland
8. Sleeping Beauty
9. The Fox and the Hound
10. Hercules


Top Ten 3D CGI Movies

1. Monsters Inc. (above)
2. Toy Story
3. Toy Story 2
4. A Bug's Life
5. Finding Nemo
6. Shrek
7. Shrek 2
8. Ice Age
9. Cars
10. Ratatouille