Tin Man - Part 1

Last night was the first part of SciFi's new three-part miniseries, Tin Man. The story is loosely based on L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz series. Zooey Deschanel plays DG, a young woman who is transported from her small, rural farmhouse home to the Outer Zone, more commonly known as The O.Z. As she searches for her parents, who were also pulled into this new world, she befriends some strange characters. First, we meet Glitch (Alan Cumming), a man with half of a brain. The other half was stolen by the evil sorceress Azkadallia (Kathleen Robertson) because he knew too much about something but he can't remember what. Next the pair meets Wyatt Cain (Neal McDonough), a former police officer or tin man. Azkadallia's soldiers tortured him and his family before locking him in a suit of armor to watch a recording of the horrors repeatedly. Finally, the trio comes upon Raw (Raoul Trujillo), a psychic empath with healing powers. DG rescues him from being eaten by another creature.

I won't post spoilers here for those of you that haven't seen the series yet. Assuming that most people are familiar with The Wizard of Oz, I will let you know that DG and her friends make the trek down the brick road to meet the Wizard. There are definitely some variations from the Judy Garland version that we all know and love but that doesn't make the miniseries bad. I found the first part to be highly enjoyable. While it isn't an exact retelling of the story, I liked trying to figure out who was representing whom. The second part starts tonight, though we are recording it so we can watch the season finale of Heroes. If you missed the first part, SciFi is rerunning it tonight at 7PM Eastern, just before the second part starts at 9PM.

Jmovie review: Honey & Clover

honeyclover.jpg Title: Honey & Clover Release date: 7/22/06 Genre: Romance, Slice of Life Cast: Sakurai Sho, Aoi Yuu, Seki Megumi, Kase Ryo, Iseya Yusuke Plot: A group of art students try to make sense of life and love. What is good: The acting isn't terrible. What is bad: It takes a long time for the movie to get even vaguely intersting. Letter rating: C- Overall: I haven't read the manga that this movie is based on but I have seen the anime adaptation, which I thought was mind-numbingly boring. The movie is pretty much the same. There were some minor changes from the anime version. I chalk this up to the fact that the movie is only about 2 hours long while the anime ran for 26 half-hour episodes. Either way, I'm guessing the source material is as boring as the two adaptations. We aren't given any real reason to care about these characters or why we should be pulling for them to be successful in their lives. When the characters begin to get interesting, they all stop talking to each other, tossing us back to not caring anymore. This much be fairly popular in Japan since there will be a drama series starting next year. I can only hope that the drama will give a little more oomph to the characters.

Game review: Holly: A Christmas Tale

My daughter frequently asks to play hidden object games with me. Since she's learning to read, the lists help her recognize words. For the Christmas season, we decided to give Holly: A Christmas Tale a try. You help Santa as he prepares to deliver toys on Christmas Eve. This game actually has two parts - a hidden object part and a find the differences part. Sadly, it is extremely difficult. Objects are frequently hidden behind other objects in both sections. We were able to tough it out and stick with it through the entire 60-minute demo but it's not something that we will be paying for. I probably would have given up on it if I was playing by myself. People are who looking for something more difficult than a normal hidden object game might enjoy this but I think that it will be too frustrating for most people.

Favorite Friday

From 1993 through 2005, there were a series of Sailor Moon musicals performed in Japan. The first actress to play Sailor Moon was Anza. She held the role from 1993 to 1998. An amazing singer, Anza is now the singer for Head Phones President. Here is my favorite performance from Anza as Sailor Moon. Knockin' Down Hesitation.

Tie Downs

I am currently in the process of getting rid of my station wagon. When my husband and I used it for transporting a lot of boxes, we really could have used some good tie downs to stop all the stuff from shifting all over the place. My father has a couple of different sets of straps that he uses on his truck but we never bothered to get any for the wagon. First we didn't think we'd be moving a lot of things. Then we thought that we packed the rear portion tightly enough that things wouldn't shift too much. Luckily, we never broke anything. Our new car doesn't have as much trunk space as the station wagon did so hopefully we won't need to strap anything down back there. This post is sponsored

Jdorama review: Maison Ikkoku

maisonikkoku.jpgTitle: Maison Ikkoku Broadcast date: 5/12/07 Genre: Romance Cast: Itoh Misaki, Nakabayashi Taiki, Kishimoto Kayoko, Kishibe Ittoku, Takahashi Yumiko Plot: Godai (Nakabayashi Taiki) is a rounin, a student who has failed his college entrance exams, with obnoxious neighbors distracting him from studying. When Otonashi Kyoko (Itoh Misaki) becomes the new apartment building manager and moves in, Godai falls in love with her at first sight. He hopes to pass his college entrance exam so he can win her heart. What is good: It stays true to the anime. What is bad: It is boring. Letter rating: D Overall: I did not like the Maison Ikkoku anime. While I generally like romance stories, this seemed to be about people who were either complete losers or completely oblivious to the world around them. This drama sticks close to that synopsis. Very little got accomplished in this two hour drama. We were introduced to some characters and one plotline was completed. Everything else is left hanging. It felt like this was a prologue to a new series or possibly the beginning of a series of specials.

I wish there would have been a bit more external conflict in the series. As it is, almost all of the conflict in the story takes place within Godai. Even the annoying neighbors don't present any real conflict since Godai just lets them walk all over him. If you are a fan of Maison Ikkoku, you might enjoy this but don't expect to get any resolution out of it.

Johnny Depp

I've never considered myself a Johnny Depp fan. I guess, on some level, I still picture him starring in 21 Jump Street. Man, I just aged myself. Anyway, I've found myself enjoying a lot of his recent movies. I absolutely loved him in as Willy Wonka in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and, of course, Captain Jack in Pirates of the Caribbean.

While he has so many great moments in Charlie, I think my favorite was when the children first enter the chocolate factory. Willy has a whole animatronic puppet show to introduce him and he's not even up there! He's busy watching the show with the kids! I must have watched the movie dozens of times and that scene still makes me laugh.

I think my favorite scene from the Pirates series is when Captain Jack was running away from the island natives. Something about Johnny Depp in all the wacky makeup running on top of a huge wheel makes me smile. That reminds me, I still need to watch At World's End. I may find a new favorite scene.

In my opinion, Willy Wonka definitely beats out Captain Jack as my favorite Johnny Depp character. Then again, I am really looking forward to his performance in Sweeney Todd What? You haven't heard about it? Go visit the official Sweeney Todd movie site and watch the trailer. Right now. I'll wait.

All done? Good. Doesn't that look like an amazing movie? Tim Burton directing Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter and Alan Rickman. I predict much awesomeness. I wonder if I can convince my family to have Christmas at the movie theater this year. If you need more information, visit Sweeney Todd on MySpace.

Music review: Five for Fighting - 100 Years

fiveforfighting.jpgArtist: Five For Fighting Album: Battle For Everything Release date: 2/3/04 Video link: Via YouTube

Lyrics: I'm 15 for a moment Caught in between 10 and 20 And I'm just dreaming Counting the ways to where you are I'm 22 for a moment She feels better than ever And we're on fire Making our way back from Mars 15 there's still time for you Time to buy and time to lose 15, there's never a wish better than this When you only got 100 years to live I'm 33 for a moment Still the man, but you see I'm a they A kid on the way A family on my mind I'm 45 for a moment The sea is high And I'm heading into a crisis Chasing the years of my life 15 there's still time for you Time to buy, Time to lose yourself Within a morning star 15 I'm all right with you 15, there's never a wish better than this When you only got 100 years to live Half time goes by Suddenly you’re wise Another blink of an eye 67 is gone The sun is getting high We're moving on... I'm 99 for a moment Dying for just another moment And I'm just dreaming Counting the ways to where you are 15 there's still time for you 22 I feel her too 33 you’re on your way Every day's a new day... 15 there's still time for you Time to buy and time to choose Hey 15, there's never a wish better than this When you only got 100 years to live About the song: Such a sweet song. It's a story about a couple of kids that fall in love and spend their entire lives together. Yet that time goes back so quickly. This is one of those songs that I liked the melody but never listened to the words because it was always in the background of some commercial or TV show I was watching. That's probably a good thing since the lyrics bring a tear to my eye.

HDTVs

With Blu-ray and HD-DVD already on the market, people are scrambling to find the best HDTVs on the market. Would you like a 19" Polaroid HDTV with a DVD player or would you prefer something else? Krillion.com is a huge help. They not only offer product specifications but they will also show you what prices stores in your area have. So if I happened to be looking at a 32" LCD HDTV with a DVD player and digital tuner as a Christmas present for my husband, I can see that three stores in my area are selling it for about $600. That's a lot easier than jumping in my car and driving around town to see who carries it and how much they want for it. I love making Christmas shopping as easy as possible!