Channelup

Ray Drecker (Thomas Jane) is a down and out gym teacher. His kids hate him, his wife divorced him, he has no money, and his house just burned down. But Ray has one plus. He's conveniently endowed with a huge package. Whats a guy to do in this economy? Become a male prostitute of course. The Hung series premiere follows Ray through the machinations that lead to his job as a gigolo. His motivations are basic. He is a loser just looking for a way, any way, to succeed in a world he feels has dealt him a bum hand. Thomas Jane plays the character in a way that made me want to both root for Ray and slap him at the same time. He's not a bad guy but he isn't an angel either. He exists somewhere in between and thats what makes him believable. Jane plays the part so well that it doesn't seem a stretch at all that Ray Drecker would turn to prostitution in order to pay the bills. Shows labeled "dark comedies" always make me wary. Adding humor to a dark premise ...

Scroll down for my hammering of Richard Corliss and his inane review of The Hangover . Well I finally got to see it this past weekend and it just reconfirmed what I already thought: the movie is hilarious and Corliss is a jackass. The movie fired on all comedic cylinders and I won't say too much about it other than the casting was absolutely perfect. The ultimate sign this movie is as good a comedy as you can see this year was when the lights came on and I saw a group of teenagers and a group of middle aged women (separate groups) laughing hysterically. We even passed a 70ish year old lady in the back with a huge smile on her face. (this shocked me a bit tbh) Anyway, The Hangover is well worth the watch just for all the quotable lines I'm sure you will be repeating before you even leave the theater.

If you like blood, sweat, sex and tears (not to be confused with the crappy "jazz fusion" band of a similar name***) then you will probably like True Blood . If you are fan of good acting then this probably isn't the show for you. What I like about True Blood : the blood the sex the nudity the occasional humor Lafayette Jason Stackhouse the vampires other than Bill What I dislike: Man just about everything else. On a whole the acting is pretty terrible. That could be a product of the writing which is heavy on plot (which is razor thin as far as being interesting), and low on believable dialogue. The main characters are pretty unlikeable. Like I said before, this is a huge problem if they are the focal points of the show. Most of the time I think True Blood is content in just showing muscular sweaty guys and a ton of tits in order to distract me from what is (or isn't) happening. But about halfway through this I had a True Blood epiphany. I have been watchin...

It's a little hard for me to believe Entourage only began in 2004. I am not sure if its hard to believe because '04 seems so close or so far away. Since its premiere season, that I watched on a weekly basis, I've been a rapid season-watcher. Season 2 I got on DVD. Seasons 3-4 were off my buddy Pat's computer. Each one I devoured in about 3 days and with mixed feelings. Where I thought seasons 1 and 2 hit every right note, I thought seasons 3-4 were hit or miss. The big pull behind Entourage comes from the idea that we plebes will never live Vincent Chase's (Or E's or Drama's or Turtle's) life. By the third season I had become almost sick of their routines. The third and fourth seasons weren't great, but worked more because of - Drama's perfection of a character - Ari carrying many, many scenes - Celerity cameos out the ass than an actual working storyline. I became bored with the celebrity aspect. It doesn't mean I didn't want...

Mrs. Channelup and I started watching season 1 of True Blood onDemand last month. I got through about 4 episodes before giving up. The missus made it all the way through the season and was actually excited for the beginning of season 2. I decided to give it a second try. After the "previously on" and with some running commentary from Mrs. C. I caught up sufficiently. What I got was a vastly improved show that didn't annoy me as much as the first season (Anna Paquin aside). For those that haven't seen it, True Blood is about a world where vampires are part of everyday society but are discriminated against. This premise can seem both intriguing and stupid at the same time. Kind of like Heidi and Spencer Pratt. The second season deals more with the characters and their respective problems and powers. In this world, vampires aren't the only ones living among the normal folk. There are telekinetics, shape-shifters, spiritual healers, and some other crazy shi...

I offered to cover Nurse Jackie for three reasons: 1. It’s the summer and very little is on. 2. Shows on premium stations are typically a notch better than broadcast or basic cable because of the freedom they have. 3. The first few episodes are on OnDemand so I can watch them a bit ahead of schedule and therefore feel more important and critic-like. Read the rest of this review at CinemaBlend.

Where I take Richard Corliss to task over his critique of a movie I have never seen. I'm not one to argue. No would label me a dissenter. I stick to the status quo and rarely cause trouble or rabble rouse. And while none of these statements are technically true I thought they would help in gaining, you the reader's, trust before I go off on Time's Richard Corliss for his review of The Hangover. I haven't even seen the movie yet and I already have a problem with something someone wrote about it. Does that say I don't have a life and need to find a better Friday night/ Saturday morning activity? Probably. Does Corliss need to be taken to task? Most assuredly. In his review of The Hangover, after admitting that its Rotten Tomatoes rating is a stunning 85%, he questions the producer's (or studios) choice of actors. To quote Mr. Corliss: You want to make a comedy about guys who learn the true meaning of bromance on a horrible weekend in Vegas, but you can...

Toby Logan has telepathy and he chooses to use it for good?!!! I am sick of these moral fundamentalists who insist on using their powers for the greater well being. Give me one day of telepathy and I would be able to retire away to an island. What does Toby do? He becomes a Toronto paramedic. What a waste and a perfectly awesome super power. Forgive me for being skeptical about The Listener when I read it was : A: A Canadian television show B: Made in Canada C: Produced by our neighbors to the North Hmm, maybe I just have something against Canada. Its good to talk these things out. The Listener (according to trusty old reliable, accurate and all knowing Wikipedia) has had a pretty nice run in Canada and a few other countries so it isn't technically a new show. NBC picked it up for a summer run. The idea that it has had enough success elsewhere to warrant a new airing in The States was enough to start changing my tune. Toby's telepathy is a secret from those close to h...

It is hard for me to hear Edie Falco’s voice and not think of Carmella Soprano. Even with a shorter hair cut and hospital scrubs the voice just gets me thinking Tony and company every time she speaks. Nurse Jackie though, is a far cry from the mafia wife. She is a drug-addicted and adulterous disaster doubling as an exceptional and over-achieving nurse. Nice juxtaposition. Obvious and a bit cliché, but nice. Continue reading this review at Cinemablend television.

I rarely watch shows like this for a couple of reasons: 1. They scare the ever-living shit out of me and I think we are all going to die 2. They make me feel like a terrible person. Earth 2100 did both in just the first 10 minutes. The rest was just an ever-increasing feeling of nausea that I wouldn't be able to drive my Hummer anymore. I've read The World Without Us by Alan Weisman (who they briefly interviewed) and seen Wall-E . so I didn't feel like I was going to get too much new info from this program, but hey it was on and I needed something to write about. The show is narrated by Lucy, a fictional character living in 2100 who's "seen" all the bad shit that has befallen Earth. She walks us through her life to identify where it all went wrong with the planet. She begins with Earth as it is now and then starts laying on the disaster. Her "experiences" are validated through interviews with today's leading experts on global change. Thes...

Reading Alan Sepinwall's blog today I learned the WB was putting up the whole first season of Chuck for those (like me) who were too lazy to catch on with this critically acclaimed show. Starting tonight Mrs. Channelup and I are going to try and watch an episode a night and plow through the first two seasons in a relatively short time. Here's hoping it lives up to the expectations. I will do a review after we finish the first season and then another after the second. Don't you love your reviews a couple of years after the fact? Next I will be reviewing the movie Heat and taking a look at this show called Lost everyone is talking about.