Naturelich

Today, I finished watching the second season of King of Queens. Yeah, I know, it's old and lame stuff but I don't watch that much TV. The series is really really funny. Kevin James is simply hilarious. Next up will be season 3 which I had bought a while ago. KoQ season 4 was a Christmas present and I am looking forward to watching that soon. Since I will be going on a business trip around the end of January I might consider taking one or two DVDs with me. That should keep me extremely well entertained...

Posted by Naturelich at 11:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yesterday, I was at the movies after quite a while. Time for Woody Allen's Match Point with Jonathan Rhys-Myers, Scarlett Johansson and Emily Mortimer. Scarlett Johansson had given a wonderful performance as Griet in Girl with a Perl Earring (one of my favorite movies).

For a Woody Allen movie, the theatre was rather crowded. The directing was wonderful, some very memorable camera moves and scenes. The story is quite extraordinary. Main motto: Sometimes luck is more important than talent. It's a quiet movie with some length in it but the end really makes up for it. I can't even tell whether the end was surprising or not, it would give away too much. I enjoyed watching it although the main character is really evil...

Posted by Naturelich at 12:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today, the Premiere kit arrived. Premiere is the main German pay tv provider with plenty of movie channels and lots of live sport events (e.g. German soccer Bundesliga, US Major League Baseball, NFL, and Formula 1). I have just connected the kit and it works great. I am really happy to get this in time for the start of the new Bundesliga season. 7 movie channels is gonna be great. Tomorrow, I'll (probably) be watching Kevin Costner and Robert Duvall in Open Range. In 2006, Premiere will be the only TV station in Germany broadcasting all of games of the FIFA Worldcup. This is the main reason why I got the kit now.

Posted by Naturelich at 9:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Finally, finally, Naturelich made it to see Star Wars - Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. The third episode has been long anticipated. I had prepared by watching episode 2 on DVD. While no real surprises seemed possible, the movie was the best in the three Star Wars prequels. A lot of action, a fascinating story and incredible SFX. Not a fully realistic story-arc - but which SciFi movie has ever been realistic?

R2D2 had his moments, he really changed into a fun character. C3PO was rather lame this time and I am particularly happy that Jar Jar Binks was only visible for 3 seconds. Anakin Skywalker's character development was impressive - but a little bit too fast in certain areas. He turned evil in too short a time. Although we have seen many hints even in Episode 2, I still found this went way too fast. I would have expected greater influencing by Lord Palpatine.

Posted by Naturelich at 2:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In preparation of me watching Star Wars III in the movies, I have bought the Star Wars II: Attack of the Clones-DVD. I needed a fresh-up as I had not seen the film in a while (last time I saw it was actually in the movies a couple of years ago). I was (am?) a great fan of the original Star Wars movies and was enthusiastic about the first prequel: Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace. But it did not work out. It was too much a children's story and Jar Jar Binks totally ruined the experience.

But I was somewhat propitiated by Attack of the Clones. Jar Jar was only there for a few minutes (still way too much, though) and the story was a little bit more fascinating. After having just finished watching it, I am really exited now to see the third installment. We already got a lot of hints at what is about to come and I am very much looking forward to closing some of the gaps that are still missing (Leia and Luke need to be pro-created and received, Anakin will most certainly be transformed into Uncle Darth and C-3PO will cerainly be as entertainingly stupid as ever...

Posted by Naturelich at 8:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A great season just came to an end. It has been a terrific season and the finale did justice to this. The politics and the action both came to a climax and for the first time I am not certain whether they'll have a new season. Without spoinling too much - it looks grim for Agent Bauer. But maybe they'll find a way to bring him back! I would definitely look forward to it... It's my favorite show!

Posted by Naturelich at 4:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I just bought the first season of King of Queens on DVD. Inspired by Kevin James' appearance on Hitch, I have finally decided to watch more of King of Queens...

Posted by Naturelich at 12:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Inspired by Shelak's review I have bought The Incredibles on DVD. I also bought Collateral with Tom Cruise. I hope to find the time to watch those movies this weekend.

Posted by Naturelich at 1:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I had seen this movies trailer at the cinemas but did not get around to see it on the big screen. I therefore bought the DVD and watched it today.

The Forgotten is about Telly Paretta (Julianne Moore) who lost her nine-year-old son Sam in a plance crash. The movie is set 14 months after the accident and Telly still grieves her loss. But suddenly, her husband Jim (Anthony Edwards) swears they never had a child and her psychiatrist (Gary Sinise) insists she's delusional. But worst of all, there is absolutely no evidence to prove Sam ever existed. Haunted by the memories of her son, Telly's search for the truth propels her into a dark story which involves NSA and an extra-terrestrial intelligence.

This is one of the cases where the movie trailer tells you only approximately 50% of what the movie is about. I personally like Julianne Moore a lot and thought this movie would be a good choice.

To put it in a nutshell: it was not.

And, yes, I like X-Files and Star Trek, so science fiction is something watched regularly in my living room. But I was deceived by the trailer and expected something totally different. Don't get me wrong: the acting is good, the directing is good, the story is not too bad, either. But if I had known this is an extra-terrestrial story I would probably not have bought the DVD. I was hoping to get some thriller around the conflict of a mother loosing her child. This topic is still in the movie, but the movie is making fun of it by putting the aliens at the center of attention. This makes it less believable. I would have accepted some government abduction but aliens were too far fetched.

Naturelich's recommendation: Watch it on TV if you like alien stories...

Posted by Naturelich at 11:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In the evening we went to Cologne's Media Park to watch a movie at the Cinedome. We arrived early for the late night show but had not eaten yet. Thus, we decided to enjoy our dinner at a nearby Italian restaurant which I had visited before during Cologne's Ringfest in 2003. The food was really good: I enjoyed a salad and half of Raven's Lasagne. While we were eating Tom Gerhardt sat at the table next to us. He was accompanied by an Asian woman which seemed to be his girl-friend as they were holding hands when they left the restaurant.

We purchased tickets for Hitch (which took precedence over Hostage starring Bruce Willis). This was a wonderful choice as Hitch is really an incredibly funny movie. Will Smith at it's best. Since I was not at all familiar with co-star Kevin James I was most surprised by his performance. We laughed ourselves to death. The story was interesting from a romance point of view but the comedic side of the cast was incredible. I have to get this movie on DVD. If you have not yet seen it, this is naturelich a high high recommendation for an extremely funny evening...

Posted by Naturelich at 10:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

New Zealand's Simon Janson has made an incredible Star Wars movie which is available on his site: http://www.asciimation.co.nz/. Enjoy!

Posted by Naturelich at 8:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The movie Cold Mountain (German: Unterwegs nach Cold Mountain) was nominated for seven prestiguous Academy Awards. I always wanted to see the movie, but so far did not get around to it. I recently bought the DVD and today was the big day where I finally watched it. An illustruous group of actors starrs in Cold Mountain: Jude Law, Nicole Kidman and Renée Zellweger.

Cold Mountain is set during the American Civil War. This Mirarmax movie tells the story of a wounded Confederate soldier named Inman (Jude Law) who struggles on a perilous journey to get back home to Cold Mountain, North Carolina. He wants to meet Ada (Nicole Kidman) again, the woman he left behind before going off to fight. Along the way, he meets a long line of interesting and colorful characters, while back at home, Ada is learning the ropes of managing her deceased father's farm with Ruby (Renee Zellweger), a scrappy drifter who assists and teaches Ada along the way.

Additional links:

Clint Eastwood's Million Dollar Baby won four Academy Awards this year (Best Picture, Clint Eastwood for Best Director, Morgan Freeman for Best Supporting Actor, Hilary Swank for Best Actress). The day after the Academy Awards show I went to see the movie in Basel.

SPOILER WARNING - Do NOT continue reading only after you have seen the movie...

It is a wonderful movie even for people who normally do not like boxing (like me). (As always,) I knew almost nothing about the movie and went there spontaneously. More than the first half of the film is an interesting story about boxing. This really drew me into it: the characters are laid out nicely and the performance of the three leading characters is really outstanding.

Clint Eastwood plays Frankie Dunn who has trained and managed some incredible fighters. He has spent his whole lifetime with boxing. The most important lesson he teaches is: always protect yourself. Frankie has some darker secrets in his past: first of all his relationship to his daugther is terribly broken and he goes to chruch every day trying to redeem himself. Second of all his best friend (and probably also his only friend) Scrap (Morgan Freeman) lost his eye during his 109th fight and Frankie is feeling guilt for not having ended the fight earlier.

All of a sudden Maggie Fitzgerald (Hillary Swank) moves into Frankies gym. It is made very obvious that her life is not the best either. She is already above 30 and still a waitress - with no friends and no future. She is eager to start her boxing career but Frankie don't train no women.

From that point on, the movie is so fascinating. The characters are intriguing and while you can guess where the story arc is heading the direction and acting left me fascinated.

And then: all of a sudden the great unexpected event happens (I am not going to spoil anything more) and everything is turned upside down and the movie gets REAAALLLY good - to a point where I think the Academy Awards have been well deserved. This movie is worth every Rappen (or cent or penny) the theatre asks for it. Go, see it!!!

Posted by Naturelich at 11:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

American taxpayers are made aware of the fortune the government spends on the war in Iraq. This initiative is sponsored by CostofWar.com.

Please note the sarcasm in my post (category assignment!)

Also, I think reducing it to a monetary figure (whatever the increase) does not suit the topic either. I mean there are people dying on both sides!

Posted by Naturelich at 12:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Coooooool! What a season! The tention in 24 is unbearable this season!! Just when you think that there is some light at the end of the tunnel, and in the last few minutes of this eighth ep everything seems to turn out good and Jack Bauer is going to save the country yet once more THE BAD GUYS KILL THE ONLY LEAD CTU HAD IN THE LAST 5 seconds of the ep! I HATE THIS!!! Argggggh..... Can we pleeeeeeeaaaaase make this a daily show???????

Posted by Naturelich at 12:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today, Metallica's Some Kind of Monster has arrived. The double DVD contains an entire DVD with features only:

I have bought some nice beverages for tonight, when this living room will rock and roll, baby!

Posted by Naturelich at 3:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I have placed my lazy body in this luxuriously comfortable bed. My laptop is standing on the table right next to me, connected to the internet via WirelessLAN. This allows me to surf the interesting webpages (although not a whole lot of news on the blogs I read regularly) while feeling warm and comfortable.

Even more enjoyable was the TV episode I just finished watching on my laptop. Star Trek is back! Star Trek Enterprise has greatly improved during this season! If you ever were a Trekker, I recommend to rejoin watching in season 4! We have seen quest appearances by Brent Spiner and some pretty good episodes which closed up the story arc from season 3 during the first few eps. Also, some pretty interesting single eps have been broadcast which really get to a level of Trek we were used to from earlier series. 12 more eps to go and rumor has it that Frakes (who played William Riker on Star Trek The Next Generation)and Sirtis (who played Deanna Troi) have signed contracts to star on the season finale. Naturelich we are all wondering if they will come back as the characters we have come to love and what tech-no-babble mechanism will bring them into the past!

Posted by Naturelich at 11:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today, I saw Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason at the movies. The movie had some funny scenes but altogether I found it rather disappointing. The first part was much better. I recommend to rent the DVD or watch it on TV. My hopes now lie with the English version...

Posted by Naturelich at 11:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I just recently found out about the upcoming (i.e. in Germany) movie William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice starring Al Pacino as Shylock, Josepah Fiennes as Bassanio, Jeremy Irons as Antonio. Portia is played by newly Lynn Collins. The official webpage features a wonderful trailer. This movie will be a must see in 2005!

Posted by Naturelich at 8:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I had the chance to watch the new movie with Nicole Kidman Birth. Nicole Kidman plays widowed Anna who is starting to get along with her life after the tragic deaths of her young husband (Sean). She is now (ten years leater) engaged to Joseph who loves her deeply. The couple plans their marriage when a young ten-year old boy reveals to Anna that he is the reincarnation of the deceased Sean. At first, Anna, her family, and Joseph think of a hoax. But the boy knows facts about their relationship which nobody but Sean could possibly now...

The movie is very intensely dealing with one of the greatest tragedies in a couples married life: the death of one partner. The director, Jonathan Glazer, takes quite some time to tell the story and to allow for careful character studies. This leaves the film at an unusually slow pace normally seen in movies originating from the 70s. But this speed serves the movie really well. I could easily identify with the characters. My compliments to a wonderful cast: Anne Heche and Lauren Bacall deliver a wonderful performance. Due to the difficult topic the movie will probably be not very successful at the box office. But, nonetheless, it is worth watching if you like to be confronted with some of the most basic questions in life.

Posted by Naturelich at 8:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Special Extended Edition of The Lord of The Ring: The Return of the King contains two hidden features.

Posted by Naturelich at 12:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today is the day of the grand finale on the Lord of the Rings trilogy! The package arrived yesterday. I am having port wine to celebrate the event. What a long-awaited day. I can't wait to watch all the new scenes and the specials. As always, this is going to be hilarious stuff!!

Posted by Naturelich at 11:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Wil Wheaton aka Wesley Crusher from Star Trek: The Next Generation writes his own blog. Among others, the blog contains sections with

A documentary about Metallica. Well, we have certainly seen some of those:

The time has come to go and see Some Kind of Monster - a documentary about Metallica - in the movies. Stay tuned for a full review...

Posted by Naturelich at 12:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

What a surprising plot. A wonderful movie written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, who also directed The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable. Similar to The Sixth Sense, the color red plays a significant role in this suspense thriller which is not quite what I had expected after seeing the preview trailer. The Village is not at all about horror, it is about people who have gone through some very disturbing experiences taking some uncommon actions. More will not be said. Go see it yourself - Naturelich recommends this movie: 8 of 10.

Posted by Naturelich at 1:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Season 2 of Las Vegas has started. Visit NBC.com for more information on the new season, a music video, an episode guide and much much more. I can't wait to see the first eps. They started off with an ep called Have you Ever Seen the Rain in which Danny returns home from war.

Posted by Naturelich at 10:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

What a joke: I had expected sooo much of this movie but was heavily disappointed! The story of King Arthur is not half as good as the trailers promised. It's basically a slaughter all around. Even German actor Till Schweiger was never more boring. You do not need Merlin's magical talents (BTW, where did these go?) to predict the storyline. In a nutshell: Naturelich not a summer hit!

Posted by Naturelich at 11:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today, I was finally able to buy Metallica's new single Some Kind Of Monster. I was fortunate enough to grab a copy which included the special SKOM t-shirt. Although I have not yet seen the film, the disc is wonderful and contains the following tracks:

Will Smith at his best! Today, my sister and I went into the English version of I, Robot . It is a great movie with cool action and a thrilling story. The story is not new, as it is based on a story by Isaac Asimov. For a passionate Star Trek: The Next Generation fan the story certainly reminds us of Data everyone's second-favorite STTNG character. But if we leave this aside, there is plenty of cool special effects which make for a wonderful summer movies event. See US Robotics NS-5 in a home (or movie) near you...

Posted by Naturelich at 11:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)