Mother Knows Best

Need a new TV Show to binge watch that not only is on Netflix but is coming back for its second season on Monday March 3rd and is really good?

BATES MOTEL

Done.

But seriously, this show is awesome, it is super intense, has some crazy twists and turns you would never expect, and the actors/actresses completely sell me on being in the mind of their characters... who actually are out of their own mind.

In case you don't know where "Bates Motel" comes from, here's the low-down.  Basically the thriller drama is a prequel to the 1960 Hitchcock Classic Psycho but told in modern day so theres iPhones and such!

But seriously doe, it starts off with Norman Bates, played by Freddie Highmore (the kid from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) and his mother [if you watch the show, you will know why I say "mother" and not mom], played by Vera Farmiga, (starred in Up in the Air) who buy a motel in a new town to START A NEW LIFE.  Little do they know that, well, to put it simply, sh*t goes down incredibly quickly.  I can't say much without giving it away but there is a lot of plot twists and incredible subplots that all tie up nicely at the end.

And Freddie Highmore and Vera Farmiga are incredible actors in this show and you honestly never know who is more sane ... or if either is actually sane at all...

Max Thieriot, Olivia Cooke, Nicola Peltz, Mike Vogel, Nestor Carbonell, and Keegan Connor Tracy also star in this series and I just HAD to mention them all even if you don't know them because all the characters are super important and just when you think you understand on of them... HOLY CRAP ARE YOU WRONG

The lack of understanding the intentions of each character though I think is perfect since it is a prequel to Psycho.  I just watched Psycho actually the other day, crossing off another movie from my list of 250 movies to watch [Shameless Plug-In: go check out my tab Just Add Popcorn] and it was really good!  It may be in black and white and the acting may not be completely the best to today's standards but it is still really good.  Like honestly, a part of me wishes I could have been in the theatre when this movie first aired in the 60's because I really feel like people were flipping out and this movie really was groundbreaking.

I definitely recommend not only starting to watch Bates Motel, but watching the original movie ESPECIALLY since just about everyone knows about the iconic scene ... Somewhat Spoiler Alert but the girl gets stabbed...

Anyway, I had always wondered what the context of this stabbing scene was all about and now that I saw it I GET IT! And theres A LOT more story behind it.

Basically, the whole Psycho franchise is blowing up, and for good reason, so watch this awesome series before its got a lot more seasons and everyone else tells you to watch the 7th season of it.

          

September Can be Spooky Too

It may still be September but as soon as I saw that the pumpkin spice latte was back in Starbucks, I have basically decided it is time to get into the Halloween Season!  Pumpkin flavored everything, orange leaves (in pictures, none outside where I live really), and watching Classic October Halloweeny movies!

[I have yet to see my neighborhood look like this]

Typically this includes The Nightmare Before Christmas, Hocus Pocus, Halloweentown Movies (Classics and you know it), and a bunch more!  But this year I found another one that I think needs a little more appreciation.  Mockingbird Lane is what I am talking about.

I first heard about it when I was on the Studio Tour at Universal Studios and had heard about an upcoming series.  1313 Mockingbird Lane was to be the home of a remake family of Munsters.

[Paul from the past took this photo on the tour in case Future Paul liked Mockingbird Lane and it turns out, Past-Paul was right!]

Mockingbird Lane was supposed to be a series picked up starting last fall but was found to lack enough potential to be a compelling enough series but not due to it being sucky, instead they turned it into a Halloween Special on NBC.  I did not watch it last fall when it premiered and instead watched it last weekend.  I actually enjoyed it even if it was only 40 minutes long and found it to be a cute family Halloween thing to watch that I would not mind keeping as a September/October tradition.

The special had Jerry O'Connell as Herman Munster (the Frankenstein Dad) married to Portia de Rossi (the Vampiress Mom) whose Dracula Dad/Grampa was played by Eddie Izzard and whose "normal" niece is played by Charity Wakefield. 

Above is the son of 'Frankenstein' and the sexy vampiress of this show is Mason Cook who is going through some changes of his own as he deals with becoming a werewolf... without knowing that he is the werewolf wreaking havoc on the innocent (not much of a spoiler that's how the show starts).  

In terms of the characters, the Dracula thing was a little over the top for me...

... but looking back I think it was more playful and meant to be over the top due to it being for families and kids more than being a horror version of the Munsters.  I mean, I never saw the Munsters original series but I am sure that this show did it justice in portraying the family the way they did as they took up an abandoned home originally set to be destroyed due to a homicidal past...not the house killing people, but the people in it ... hopefully you got that.

Anyway, in case you were interested in watching it here is the link to the NBC website 

http://www.nbc.com/mockingbird-lane/video/mockingbird-lane/n29651/

and if that does not work I am sorry but I am sure you have other ways of finding a way to watch if you really wanted to.  Personally I think it was a good way to kick off the Halloween Season and start dreaming of packing in candy.

HAPPY ALMOST MONTH OF HALLOWEEN!

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Just Add Popcorn

Although in my info at the top it only says that "I watch movies" I really need to emphasize just how much I love movies.  I never really realized it until this past year I think.  I don't really know what it is about movies either that attracts me to them.  Possibly because I wonder what it is I would do in such situations whether it be fiction or not, or maybe because I can't believe someone was able to come up with such a storyline just from inspiration/imagination or that something like this actually happened in history and was so greatly portrayed in a movie.

Also, I tend to make the effort to memorize the names of actors and actresses and am always the guy my friends ask when they wonder "where have I seen that person before?" as we watch a movie or TV show.  IMDB is one of my favorite websites (something I have never heard anyone else say unfortunately) because that's where I find the names and filmographies of all these actors and actresses. ALSO! They actually post a lot of information about upcoming movies, movie roles, and other movie crap that I love.

IMDB has also given me the Top 250 Movies of All Time which if you go into my tab of 'JUST ADD POPCORN' at the top, you can see that it is my goal to watch all of them (I know the list will be updated but for now I am going to complete the list of movies from August 2013).

The list of movies has a bunch of cult classics and oldies I have been meaning to watch for a long time so I'm excited to finally get to watch them instead of just saying "I've been meaning to watch it".  Also my roommate is a big movie buff too and my friends love a lot of the movies on the list so watching these movies with friends will be even more fun than just watching it to cross it off the list.

At the end of the list of 250 movies though I should note that I added some movies I recommend you watch that for some reason did not make it on the list from IMDB but I find to be great.  A bunch of them were recommended to me from friends or family and some others were movies I watched with people I care a lot about recently.

Seriously though, I really recommend going out to watch a movie with some people by the way.  I have a few friends who don't like watching movies at the movie theatre because they find it antisocial or something but my parents and I started a tradition late this summer where every Sunday night we would watch a movie and I  LOVED IT.  It was a lot of fun watching some new movies I hadn't seen and going to the movie theatre with my parents was fun too.  Especially since I am leaving to go back to college, I really liked that for sure, there was an afternoon in the week dedicated to family time.

So whether it be watching movies every Sunday or grabbing breakfast every other week, or even just making that phone call you push aside so often... Call or hang out with your parents (or guardians/role models/whomever you want) and dedicate some time to those who matter.

[No matter how you may feel about your family members, they are family... 

they will always be waiting for you and never stop loving you]