wanderingstar

I like this cast - though I can't say I have a favorite role for any of them - except Ali Larter - I so enjoyed her as Brooke Taylor in Legally Blonde

I think hearing all the effusive praise for it - in reviews, on social media, etc. - made me have higher expectations than I normally would for a superhero movie.. And then I saw it, and my reaction was "that's it?" I mean, don't get me wrong: I enjoyed the movie. It was funny and even moving in parts. But a pinnacle of the genre? I'm just not seeing it.

I still love Jersey Devil. Because I'm from New Jersey. And because it's just cheesy goodness.

Tell me something I don't know!

A more recent UO: I thought Guardians of the Galaxy was just ok.

So, the EPL returns, and Man United stays losing. Hee. Of course, my Everton drawing at Leicester was disappointing, but I console myself with the "it's only the first game" mantra.

I’m missing the show, so I decided to start a re-watch. “Minute by Minute” confirmed my love for all things Jason/Alec when Jason asks Time Traveling Alec “Who are you?” And Alec looks at him and says indignantly, “What do you mean? I’m your father!” Re-watching these first few episodes gave me much more sympathy for Corporate Alec. In “Minute Man,” he kept asking Keira what was going on, what was she keeping from him, and she kept lying. With that, coupled with the Emily stuff, I can see why he’d move toward focusing on Piron to the exclusion of everything else. Along the same lines, in “Minute to Win It” when Jacqueline takes Corporate Alec on a tour of the Piron labs, showing him their bells and whistles, I get why he’s so easily seduced. Lucas has always been a favorite of mine, and never more than when – post-escape – he says to Garza, “I missed sushi.” I feel you, Lucas. I feel you! “Minute Changes Everything” gave me new appreciation for Carlos’ dilemma. That Dead Keira thing really was doing his poor head in. I was still freaked out seeing him visit her dead body, but I got where he was coming from: that was the Keira he knew and trusted. I understand why it was hard for him to reconcile that person with Keira 2.0. This ep also marks Julian’s first appearance of the season, and it makes me wonder why they didn’t do more with this character throughout season 3. Was Richard Harmon not available because of his work on The 100? “30 Minutes to Air” – aka the hostage episode – is where we get the backstory on Travis (him leaving behind his partner and daughter to keep them safe). It’s also the episode where I first wondered whether Curtis was a cipher or a plot device. “Wasted Minute” gives us Sonmanto (and the complete absence of subtlety in that name always makes me chuckle). This is also our first Battle of the Two Alecs (at least they had them in different suits so I could tell them apart. Keira is starting to wake up when she realizes Sonmanto created the disease and the cure. And poor Alec 2.0 goes to Freelancer jail. “Waning Minutes” was an inventive, though somewhat odd ep in that I didn’t know how I was supposed to feel about everything that happened. Keira was finally awakened via her flashback to her encounter with the Gleaner community. But what about Kagame siccing SadTech on the Gleaners? That was cold! And no matter what Keira says, I can’t find a justification for it. Converting Sonya to the cause doesn’t count. Speaking of which, Kagame tells Sonya “A great day is coming,” which, IIRC, is what Curtis says to Brad a few episodes later. “So Do Our Minutes Hasten” gave us a Julian sighting, but here he felt more like a plot device whose only job was to bring together Carlos and the Sonmanto whistleblower, Adelle. Speaking of which, I loved Adelle’s “You’re sweet” to Carlos. He is sweet, as well as incredibly naïve, but he’s also generally trying to do the right thing. I like that. I loved Keira’s line that Liber8 don’t hire; they recruit. Sad part of this ep? We had to say goodbye to Betty, a character I’ve always liked. Among other things, “Minute of Silence” gave us Keira 2.0’s Viking Funeral. But one of the things I really enjoyed before that was Carlos saying to Corporate Alec when showing him Dead Keira, “I just can’t carry it alone anymore.” And Corp. Alec’s hurt at finding out about the two Keiras reinforced my sympathy for him. I actually loved the Viking Funeral*, especially Corporate Alec reverting back to the hoodie because Keira didn’t know him like that. Awwww. Also nice was Lucas and Carlos’ call where they commiserated over the desire to find Betty’s killer. And of course, this was the episode when Brad showed up, and I have to say, on re-watch, I realize that he and Keira were sweet from the get-go. In “Revolutions Per Minute,” I loved Alec and Jason’s interactions, particularly Jason begging to be the first to try Halo (“Can I be first, Dad?”) We also got a Keira/Kellog scene (two actually – including the one where showed up at her house with a bottle of wine!) Also loved Keira and Brad bonding over time displacement. This episode gave hints at the Keira/Liber8 team up that would happen in the finale. Keira did Liber8’s work for them in tanking Gautuma – though she did it to prevent that Flash drug from getting back on the street. Strange bedfellows… There was another Julian sighting, which I enjoyed – particularly seeing Sonya’s poignant reaction to Julian’s (Thesus’) manifesto. It wasn’t the finale, but I still think of “3 Minutes to Midnight” as The Big One. Because this was the episode that turned everyone’s world upside down. Keira learned Brad was “her” killer; Kellog learned he’s got a big future – in 2039 at least; Liber8 learned their mission concept is flawed (well said, Travis!); and Lucas learned that you can’t catch the Roadrunner** Other observations from this episode: Why am I just realizing how nice Keira’s apartment is? When Keira was explaining to Carlos that Alec had the funeral for DeadKeira to cover up his CMR stealing, I realized that I love how Carlos takes everyone and everything at face value – even after finding out about time travel! Reminds me of myself. Alec’s concern for Halo’s effect on Jason was so sweet, as was his “I hoped to be a better father to you.” Of course, this ep left me with questions. Do Brad’s fast-healing wounds mean he’s a super soldier – like Travis? Did Brad team up with the Freelancers to correct the timeline? How did Matthew Kellog become a clan leader in 2039? And what becomes of Alec in that timeline? “The Dying Minutes” confused me a bit because I don’t’ get why The Traveler chose to revive Curtis, and not say, Jaworski or Agent Gardner. But I did enjoy the debate between Keira and Catherine on whether the priority should be preserving the true timeline or the morally right timeline. The interesting thing about the show to me is that I think Keira started out on Catherine’s side (at least at the start of the series) but changed over the course of the show. This episode really made me realize how much I’ve enjoyed Erik Knudsen’s performance as the two Alecs this season. As Corporate Alec, he orders Inspector Dillon around like a minion, but he also captures Hoodie Alec’s terror and anger after being sprung from Freelancer Jail. Speaking of which, Brad and Keira teaming up to free Alec was all kinds of hot and awesome. And of course, that gave us Hoodie Alec’s immortal line “So, no one in this car is from now?” Elsewhere, I was moved by Travis’ run-away-with-me speech to Sonya, as well as his reaction to hearing about Sonya’s death. When I watched “Last Minute” a couple of months ago, I really loved it. Upon re-watch, I still love everything about it: Lucas’ glee at joining whatever caper Keira, Travis and Garza were about to get up to. Travis saying “let’s run it again” after they’d formulated their plan Garza’s awful caterer’s disguise Alec’s Steve Jobs hoodie Travis, Keira and Garza’s Matrix-like strutting into Piron Liber8 taking over the Freelancer HQ Those utterly menacing robots showing up at the end Jacqueline proved to be a lot craftier than I’d suspected. Her “I don’t feel comfortable passing cloak and dagger messages” was highly ironic in light of her role in Kellog’s successful coup at the end. But my favorite part of the episode was Keira and Alec’s rooftop reunion and hug. I’ve always liked that relationship, so it was nice to see them mend it. *Even though I know Alec was using it to hide his CMR stealing. **Speaking of which – I loved Lucas’s nerdy reference to Wile E. Coyote and the Roadrunner.

Neat twist with the fake Kenya. I feel bad for Amanda. She thought she had her sister back, but now she has to face that Kenya is really gone. And I can't believe Pottinger went to such lengths just to get with Amanda. I wasn't paying close attention: where did Datak & Co. drop off Doc Yewll?

While I enjoyed the pilot, I agree that they should do more with Ali Larter. Hopefully, they will as the series goes on.

Of the later seasons, S18 was probably my favorite. I liked Jack as D.A. and I enjoyed the brief partnership of Green and Lupo.

Pretty much.

I read A Prayer for Owen Meany after enthusiastic recommendations from multiple people. I didn't get it. The main character bugged, as did everything about the book -especially it's length! And as a result, I have been reluctant to read anything else by John Irving.

Keira Knightley seems like a lovely person, but her acting has never once convinced me.

I was pretty meh on Pride and Prejudice. And I think Mr. Darcy is kind of an ass.

GaT, I'm somewhat the opposite. Of the Dalgliesh novels I've read, none has impressed me*, but I really enjoyed Children of Men. *Something tells me, I might need to read earlier novels in the series, because the later ones are just meh.

It's among my favorite novels. My recommendations: Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Children of Men by P.D. James In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

This was a pretty decent pilot. Like others, I'm intrigued by the long-term story surrounding Martin's identity. Likable cast (RIP, Bobby). I'm sorry they killed off the guy who was following Martin. I'm assuming he was also a deep cover operative and that he was trying to find out his true identity?

First time I've been remotely interested in Irisa's story. Sounds like this entity - or whatever it is - is taking different forms with different people. Ah, I'm in the minority, but I didn't miss Kenya. I would have been fine if she didn't return.

Group Stage Draw is scheduled for August 28. ETA: But first - the Playoff Draw.

Pep should have just yelled at Ozzie Alonso and Will Johnson and shaken Caleb Porter's hand. His coaching staff also freezing out Porter was immature. Re the game - I enjoyed it - and not just because my all stars won. I thought it was a pretty exciting game with many chances for both teams. All the goals were great. And of course, it was nice to see Thomas Mueller doing his here-there-and-everywhere thing. He's a fun player to watch. The All-Star game is a weird thing because the team is only together for a few days, so it's rare that they play like an actual team. But I thought they did last night. As for Bayern, they looked at bit rusty last night (Not Lewandowski, though. He is just...wow!) I'm not going to take too much from this game; however, I'll be interested to see how they do against Dortmund in the German Super Cup next week.

I don't feel guilty about this one. Reese Witherspoon is so charming, I find this to be a really enjoyable film. Now, A Walk in the Clouds? Yeah - it's not exactly a stupid movie, but I do feel vaguely guilty about watching it. Beautifully filmed movie, though.

I'm ashamed to admit that I saw this in the theater!

Marv's back though, he was my favorite. Yeah, I liked Marv's story best in the first film. Not sure how I feel about Josh Brolin taking over as Dwight.

Tom Cruise. I've disliked him since I saw him in Top Gun. I read a review once of one of his films that described his performance as Tom Cruise playing Tom Cruise playing (insert character name). Apt description, IMO. Will Smith. It wasn't always this way. I liked him when he first came on the hip-hop scene. I found him charming and fun. I even liked him in the early years of the Fresh Prince. But around 2001ish, he started to grate on my nerves when I realized he plays every single movie role in exactly the same way: vaguely charming/snarky dude who is forced to become serious. *rme*

Katie Holmes in Pieces of April. And trust me, no one was more surprised than me.