Things in Movies, TV, and Music I am Thankful for This Year

Movies


More films centered on women-Maybe Hollywood will realize that women centered films can be Post to both solid, and money makers.  Two films that come to mind right away are The Help, and Bridesmaids.  Both films were some of, if not the most entertaining films of this year.  Bridesmaids was hilarious, and there were very few central male characters.  The Help was heartfelt and well acted and was focused centrally on the women.Twitter


The Muppet's-I am so happy this group of puppets is back.  I am so happy Jason Segal brought Kermit, Miss. Piggy, Gonzo, Fozie, and Animal back into my life.  The movie was hilarious, and brought out some great celebrity cameos.


Marvel Comic Book Movies-They started with Thor, then there X-Men: First Class (the best) , and closed out with Captain America.  These three films took the time create wonderful stories with great action, and unlike Green Lantern or the Green Hornet they did a good balancing story with action.  The other important part was that the casting was well done, from Michael Fassbender as Magneto to Thomas Hiddleston as Loki (the only awful call was January Jones).

Ryan Gosling- This boy can act!  I have seen quality work from him in the past in Blue Valentine, Half Nelson, and Lars and the Real Girl, but he had three amazing performances this year alone.  Gosling started with the summer film Crazy Stupid Love, where he was both sexy and hilarious.  Then Gosling had his starring role in Drive where he played the sulky stuntman/criminal.  He closed out the year with his best performance in The Ides of March where he started out an ambitious aid to a politician and ended up a bitter sullen victim of the game of politics.

Some great Original Screenplays- Midnight in Paris was romantic hilarious and beautifully written.  The Tree of of Life is ambitious and a revelation.  Martha Marcy May Marlene is dark and thrilling.  Margin Call is one of the most interesting looks at current financial situation.  Taking Shelter is a great look mental illness and how fear of losing things shapes our reality.  Even Bridesmaids (with its flaws) is a hilarious piece of work.  There are still so many great ones to come!Th

TV


AMC- The Network is amazing!  They are currently airing The Walking Dead, which is having a great second season.  The first season of The Killing was addicting.  The fourth season of Break Bad continues the show's pattern of only getting better.  Mad Men will be returning in the new year.  What more could anyone want? This network is great!

Emily Van Camp-I love good soapy drama and she is currently the the headline of one of my biggest addictions this year, Revenge.

The Ensembles from Community and The Good Wife


Community has found their groove again, and NBC is shelving them for a short time?  This show has done such an amazing job evolving and continuing to be funny, and I could watch it over and over again.

The Good Wife's ensemble (including its guest stars) work impeccably together.  The cast is lead by Marguilles but this is not a one woman show.  The directors know how to intertwine stories and bring characters together.

Louis CK and Larry David-I am thankful for bitter sarcastic, dark humor!  Louis CK and Larry David have provided that for me this year.  Louis is a much darker version of Seinfeld, and his humor is so on point.  Meanwhile Curb Your Enthusiasm only has gotten better with Larry moving to New York City.

Music


4-I am thankful Beyonce has decided to to follow her heart, and work on music she wanted to make because it has paid off.  With great songs like "I Care" "I was Here" and her bigger hits "Run the World (Girls)" "The Best I've Never Had" and "Countdown" Beyonce should be proud.

Adele-Her voice is flawless and she can actually sing.  I have always loved this women, and new found popularity is great.  This Best New Artist Grammy winner is one of the best singers I have ever heard!

David Guetta-His DJ'ing and new CD is one of my favorite of the year.  This music is my gym mix and all of these songs are what make me want to just get out there and dance

It's time to play the music It's time to light the lights, It's time to me the Muppets on the Muppet Show tonight!

When I was a young kid my parents and I would always go to Coulsens News.  My parents would go for various reasons, but I would always talk them into buying me comics or more importantly renting me a video.  One of the videos I rented the most was The Best of the Muppet's Show.  From Pigs in Space to watching the old men in the balcony rip a part the Muppet's I always loved this show!

The Muppet's were my childhood.  Along with The Muppet's Show I made sure I rented all of their movies.  The first of their films was The Muppet Movie (1979).  The Muppet Movie (1979) chronicles how the characters met one another, and tells of their battle with a restaurant that serves frog legs (gulp).  The first film was not my favorite, but who doesn't love the song "The Rainbow Connection?"

The there was the The Great Muppet Caper (1981) which takes the characters outside of their typical world and has Kermit, Fozie, and Gonzo playing newspaper reporters for The Daily Chronicle.  I love this movie, I think it is very clever and funny.  I love the running joke throughout the film that Kermit and Fozie are twins and no one can tell them apart unless Fozie has his hat on.  I also love that they get to England being thrown out of the cargo deck, truly hilarious.

In 1984 there were two huge landmarks in the Muppet world, The Muppet's Take Manhattan (another feature length film) and one of my favorite cartoons growing up The Muppet Babies (1984-1991).  The third Muppet film chronicles the group's journey as the Manhattan Melodies to attempt to make it on Broadway.  With numerous guest stars (like usual), from Liza to Brooke Shields, this film takes this rag tag group to the Great White Way.  This may be my favorite Muppet film, and is the only one I own.

The Muppet Babies was the first show I was able to watch, not on video, but when it actually aired.  This show was incredibly smarter than most cartoons.  The Muppet's imaginations took them in the world of books, movies, and to distant lands.  I loved this cartoon, and I am not shocked it lasted 5 years (a long time in the cartoon world).

As the years went on the Muppet's inspired shows like Fraggle Rock, have been connected with Sesame Street, The Bear in the Big Blue House, and many more.  All of these things were possible because of one man, Jim Henson.  Jim Henson was the creative mind behind these projects.  Henson worked mainly with puppetry, voiced Kermit of course, and was a master of working towards developing children's programming throughout his life.  Unfortunately Henson's past away in 1990 from complications with pneumonia.  Henson was only 53 and had some much more to do with these characters.  I remember a special episode where they had the Muppet's talk about his death so that children could understand what was happening.  I respected that so much as a kid, but was so sad about it.

On November 23, 2011, the Muppet's are coming back to the big screen in true Jim Henson style (unlike the 90s Muppet films). this one looks true to form.  Jason Segal (How I Met Your Mother) and Nicholas Stoller are writing the film, while Segal is starring in it with Amy Adams (and of course the Muppet's) and Stoller is directing the film.  I will be attending the midnight showing of this film.  I am excited to relive my childhood with another great experience with this cast of characters that includes, Kermit Gonzo, Miss Piggy, Fozie, and my personal favorite Animal.