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| Review |
| 06.29.04 (8:21 am) [edit] |
Okay, here's my review of Runaway Jury.
First off, I'm a huge John Grisham fan (the author of RJ and The Rainmaker, etc) and so I was really excited when I found out they were making a movie of Runaway Jury, and even more so when I discovered that John Cusack was going to be playing one of the main characters.
The screenplay for the movie is actually different to the actual book. The story of the film centers around the gun and firearms industry whereas in the book it centers around the cigarette and tobacco industry.
The change in the story is actually a good one. The movie starts off with a disgruntled former employee shooting dead eleven of his former colleagues, one of whom is a man called Jacob Wood (played by Dylan McDermott), before he shoots himself dead. It then moves forward two years and we find that Jacob's widow is suing the gun industry for their part to play in her husband's death.
Nicholas Easter (John Cusack) ends up on the jury and as the story unfolds we find that he, together with Marley (Rachel Weisz), are planning on selling the verdict to whichever side will pay $10 million for it.
Dustin Hoffman plays the widow's attorney and he desperately wants to win this case which would be a landmark ruling and set a precedent for future litigation. He wants them to finally be accountable for the many people that are killed or seriously injured by their product.
Gene Hackman plays a ruthless jury consultant who will stop at nothing to win these trials and has been doing so for many years.
I personally found the story a little predictable in places but that is probably because I've read the book so many times and knew what was coming. There are a couple of twists though that are very different from the book and they had me on the edge of my seat. Also, the fast pace leading up to the end of the movie worked really well.
It's not a movie I'd buy on DVD as it's not the type I think I'd want to watch over and over like I do with other movies, but it's definitely worth watching if you like legal thrillers.
I have to say that I think the casting in this movie was really good and they all did an awesome job.
So, all in all, I give this a big thumbs up and if I had to rate it out of ten, I'd give it a 8.
On to other things...
I was going to try and do some writing today but I found a link to a Buffy/Angel video on a message board and I had to download it. It's set to My Immortal by Evanescence and it's absolutely beautiful. It's angsty but very moving too. It took almost four hours to download but it was sooo worth it. :D I tell you though, as soon as I'm working again and I can afford it, I'm going to get myself a new PC and get set up on broadband 'cos dial-up really sucks.
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| Say Anything... |
| 06.28.04 (11:39 pm) [edit] |
I had a chat with Zee via AIM on Sunday which was really good. It was so nice talking to another big Buffy/Angel shipper. :D She gave me some links to fanfic sites/boards I hadn't discovered and some of the stories I've read so far are awesome. I'm eternally grateful to her.
I haven't yet started chapter 5 of the new fic and I'm not sure if I'll get the chance today either. I've got to catch up with three weeks worth of Tru Calling before the next episode tonight. If I don't, I can see myself recording ep after ep and then not getting around to watching them. That happened to me with Season 3 or 4 of Angel and so I ended up missing a lot of it rather than watch hours of it on tape. I can't say I'm too sorry as I think a lot of it centered around the whole Angel/Cordy thing which for me sucked big time. Ugh!!
Is it just me or does anyone else get pissed off by other posters on message boards? Something I read yesterday really got me mad but I'd better not write about it over here, not that I think that person reads my blog. I just don't want to get into a total rant this early in the morning. *lol*
I know I haven't reviewed Runaway Jury yet but I will. I will say though that it's an awesome film and John Cusack is great in it. Hmm, I think I might dig out my old Say Anything tape. That's probably my favourite movie of his. :)
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| That was a bit of a surprise! |
| 06.26.04 (6:34 am) [edit] |
I was in Blockbuster this morning and I saw that they finally had R.S.V.P. in there which was pretty cool. The only slight difference was that they'd taken Majandra's picture off the cover which I thought was a shame. There is a small picture of her on the back though. I can't tell you how many times I searched for that movie before I finally decided to buy it from Amazon.com and now I've got it, they have it in there on both video and DVD. That's always the way.
Anyway, Janet and I rented Runaway Jury and Uptown Girls. So far, we've just watched Uptown Girls and will watch the other movie later.
Uptown Girls is a really sweet movie starring Brittany Murphy and Dakota Fanning, this really cute little kid. She was actually in an episode of the last season of Friends. She played Mackenzie, the little girl who meets Joey when he goes to see the house that Monica and Chandler have bought.
Brittany Murphy plays a girl called Molly who is a bit of a party girl but closes herself off from people. Her dad was a famous rock star who was killed along with her mother in a plane crash when she was 8 years old.
Anyway, as a result of her accountant running off with all of her money (as well as his other clients), she finds herself needing a job so she ends up being a nanny to Ray (Dakota's character). She's an 8 year old whose mother (played by Heather Locklear) is a workaholic and whose dad is in a coma after suffering a stroke. She's a very highly strung little girl who seems to have an obsession for cleanliness.
The movie basically follows the friendship that develops between Molly and Ray and I found it very touching in places.
If that's the sort of movie you're interested in, I'd definitely recommend seeing it. And if you're a wuss like me, then make sure you've got some tissues handy. *lol*
I'll come back and review Runaway Jury later on tonight if I can.
In the meantime, here's a little something I found over at daph's LJ which I thought might be fun.
Top Ten Favorite Fictional Men
1. Michael Guerin ~ Roswell. Nuff said!! :D
2. Angel ~ BTVS & Angel
3. Michael Vaughn ~ Alias
4. Wesley ~ Angel
5. Rath ~ Roswell. It's gotta be the tattoos baby!! ;)
6. Weiss ~ Alias
7. Damon Grant ~ Brookside. A real blast from the past!
8. Scott Robinson ~ Neighbours ~ Another blast.
9. Clark Kent ~ The New Adventures of Superman (not SV).
10. The guy who played Father Antonio in Sunset Beach. I can't for the life of me remember his name but he was very hot!!
I'm sure there are other gorgeous hotties I could have added but my brain's turned to mush as I'm thinking. *lol*
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| Penalties suck!! |
| 06.25.04 (9:50 pm) [edit] |
So, I'm sure most people are aware by now that England have been knocked out of Euro 2004 by Portugal. :(
I didn't actually watch the entire match - only the last bit - but I did watch the penalties. We always seem to lose on penalties in major tournaments which really sucks and, to be honest, I don't think it's a particularly fair way of deciding who should go through to the next round.
I thought the Portugese goalie was way better than ours though. David James sucks big time in my opinion and shouldn't even be playing for England. Whichever way the ball came flying at him, he went the other way. At least the Portugese goalie went the way of the ball a few more times.
The funniest thing for me though was when the Portugese goalkeeper took the final penalty for his team and it went in. :lol:
Anyway, once again we're out of a big competition and all the English fans are blaming the Swiss referee because he disallowed one of our goals earlier in the match saying that there was pushing going on. I personally don't know if that's true or not and it doesn't seem totally clear on the replay shots but there's nothing that can be done.
On to something a little happier, I finished chapter 4 of the new fic a couple of days ago and I've e-mailed what I've done so far to Kara, the person who posted the challenge. It'll be interesting to see what she thinks of it. I'm really happy with what I've got so far and I can't wait to post it. I'm determined though that this time I wait until it's completely done. By the looks of it, I should hopefully be able to stick to keeping it to about 8 chapters so fingers crossed that it gets finished soon. :)
I'm not sure if I'll get anything done for it this weekend as I'll be hanging out with Janet. We're going shopping this morning and then we're going to try and rent some movies. Saturdays are not always the best day to go and rent movies as a lot of people seem to have that same idea and all the good new releases are gone. Hopefully though we'll get there nice and early this morning and will have our pick. :D
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| Help!! |
| 06.22.04 (10:09 am) [edit] |
I've just finished writing the third chapter of the challenge fic and I'm pretty happy with what I've got so far. There's one problem though: I need to come up with a name for Kyle's gigolo persona and my mind's drawing a blank. I'm never that good at coming up with names, titles, etc, so I need some help.
If anyone has any ideas or suggestions for a name, please let me know either by commenting here. I'm thinking it should be something humorous but I don't want it to be blatantly sexual or porno-ish as the story has Kyle running an exclusive, high class male escort service for the very rich and famous.
All suggestions will be greatly appreciated and the person who comes up with the name that I like the most will be credited when I post the story on the boards.
I'm hoping to start writing chapter 4 tonight which will feature Michael and Maria's first meeting. At the moment I'm thinking this story will be around 7 or 8 chapters but you never know with me. Once I get going with a fic I am known to get carried away. :lol:
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| I'm such a dumbass!! |
| 06.21.04 (10:12 am) [edit] |
I was working on "First Time..." again today and, for some reason, I decided to suddenly read over the notes I'd made a while back. I realised that what I've written so far for chapter 8 is going to have to be rewritten because I've taken it in a totally different direction from where it was originally going. :( I can't believe I've done that! I was so happy with what I'd got so far as well and I'm gutted. I've tried to come up with a way of using what I've got and still proceeding with the original idea, but it doesn't work. Ugh!!!
On a slightly happier note, I found this awesome challenge from Kara at Belit's Planet Review Board which you can read HERE . As soon as I read it I knew I wanted to take it on and I've already got the first two chapters written. Yay!! :D I'm going to try working on that at the same time as re-working the current chapter of "First Time..." and hopefully it will help keep the flow of writing going.
I did some exercise on the eliptical machine this morning which I was really happy about. I haven't done any for a few days mainly because I've been so busy helping my mum out with housework, etc. She hasn't been feeling too well what with the really bad pain in her foot and then last week she had an injection into the bone of her foot to try and relieve the pain, but if anything it's made it worse. She'll get the results of her x-ray in another week and hopefully whatever is causing the pain isn't serious and can be easily treated. So, in the meantime, I've got to help out more around the house which I don't mind.
I can hear the chimes of the ice cream van from my window. I tell you, it's a really good thing he doesn't stop on my road 'cos I don't think I'd be able to resist having a 99 right now. :lol:
Ooh, I saw the Alias episode last night which featured Ricky Gervais from The Office. It was so strange seeing him in a serious role but I thought he did an excellent job. After the ep aired, they showed the making of it and it was so cool seeing Ricky fooling around with the cast and crew as well as seeing Ron Rifkin (Arvin Sloane) singing a bit from the musical he won a Tony award for. Excellent. I wish I'd recorded that now.
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| Chocolate Mathematics! |
| 06.19.04 (11:56 am) [edit] |
This is something a friend of mine just e-mailed to me and even though it's probably been done before, I thought I'd post it here.
1. First of all, pick the number of times a week that you would like to have chocolate. (Try for more than once but less than 10.)
2. Multiply this number by 2. (Just to be bold.)
3. Add 5. (For Sunday.)
4. Multiply it by 50 I'll wait while you get the calculator.........
5. If you have already had your birthday this year add 1754....
If you haven't, add 1753.
6. Now subtract the four digit year that you were born.
You should be left with a three digit number
The first digit of this was your original number (i.e., how many times you want to have chocolate each week).
The next two numbers are....YOUR AGE! ~ (Oh yes it is!!!)
Now on to other news...
Guess what!! I actually wrote something today for "First Time...". I'm think I even surprised myself. Basically, Janet and I went shopping this morning and then this afternoon while she had her nap, I sat in her recliner with my PC and just wrote. I haven't finished the next chapter but I'm not far from it so hopefully if I can write some more tomorrow, I should be able to post it at RCWW early next week and see if what I've got is any good.
Ooh before I forget, I saw the brand new Busted video today. Yay!! :D They've done the main song from the new Thunderbirds movie which is out soon and the track is called 'Thunderbirds Are Go', and it's really good. The guys look really fit ~ as always :lol: ~ and I can't wait to buy it. I have to say though that I was never a fan of the Thunderbirds TV show so I won't be going to see that movie.
A movie I would like to see is Jersey Girl which stars Ben Affleck and Liv Tyler. It's receieved mixed reviews over here but the trailer I've seen looks good so I wouldn't mind catching the movie when it comes out. A lot of people are saying that the main reason the movie works is because J-Lo's character dies in the first part of it. ;) I think some people were wary of watching this movie after the disaster that was Gigli. :wink:
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| Season 2 is coming!! |
| 06.15.04 (9:59 pm) [edit] |
The Roswell Season 2 DVD is being released on 9 August and I pre-ordered my copy yesterday. Amazon.co.uk are selling it for £29.99 and as it's over £25, I don't have to pay any postage and packing. Yay!! The only slight drawback to that is I have to wait an extra couple of days for it to be delivered but I'm sure I can wait. :wink:
To be honest, I'm quite surprised that we're getting the DVD on Region 2 before it's released on Region 1 for the US and Canada. I'm wondering if it might have something to do with Amazon.com selling so many copies of the first season to overseas fans. My only worry is that when it's released in the States the extras might be different but I'm hoping that won't be the case.
The extras that are listed at Play.com sound pretty good and I've got my fingers crossed that they'll actually be as good as they sound. With season 1 it was annoying when the information regarding the extras kept changing and we ended up with only a few things.
It looks as if Majandra and Shiri have filmed a documentary for the new DVD and there will be three episode commentaries, although details of what eps and whose commentating aren't yet available. I'd love it if Brendan was involved in either this DVD or for Season 3 if and when that's released, but I've got a strong feeling he won't be. :( Oh well, you can't have everything I guess.
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| Come on England!! |
| 06.13.04 (11:35 am) [edit] |
This evening marks England's first match in Euro 2004 and they're playing France. Janet's actually gone to a bar to watch it there on a big screen and she's just phoned to say that so far England are playing crap. So what's new? They always do. Not very patriotic of me, I guess, but it's true. It would be so cool for us to actually win a tournament but I can't really see it happening. England just don't seem to be lucky in sport even though we do have some really good players.
Yesterday turned out to be a pretty good day. The headache I woke up with actually disappeared by early afternoon which was a bonus. Janet and I went to Starbucks and had a couple of iced coffees while we waited for the shops to open. I had an iced mocha and she had the iced caramel. I've had that before and it's yummy!! I was pretty good in that I didn't buy anything to eat in there. The cakes and pastries they sell are gorgeous and I was pretty tempted there for a moment or two but I held fast. :wink:
Janet bought herself a couple of T-shirts from Next which were really nice and not too expensive either and I managed to buy the shampoo that I couldn't find the previous week. We went to M&S when we were finished and bought our lunch. I got this lovely Thai king prawn and noodle salad which had a sweet chili sauce which one of my fave Thai sauces.
I was going to rent Runaway Jury today until I found out it's not released until tomorrow so I'll rent it next weekend. Maybe we can reserve it 'cos it's a nightmare trying to find a copy of a new release at the weekend. :( John Cusack is one of my favourite actors and one of my fave films of his has to be Say Anything.
Okay, off to get a drink and then watch this week's Alias. :D
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| Finally!!! |
| 06.11.04 (6:19 am) [edit] |
I'm so relieved right now 'cos I've just finished writing my latest fic and I've posted it over at RCWW for the girls to let me know if any changes need to be made. I'm pretty happy with what I've written and I can't wait to post it over at CID. I'm hoping it goes a little way to appeasing those who are patiently waiting for an update of "First Time...".
The exercise has been going pretty well this week which is good. I've exercised every day except for yesterday. For some reason, I just didn't feel like it but I made up for it this morning and I'm going to try and do some more this evening.
Here's a little something I've borrowed from shelbecat which I thought was pretty cool.
1. Bold the titles for the movies you've watched in their entirety.
2. Italicize the titles for the movies you've only partially watched.
3. Add three titles of your own choosing to the list.
01. Trainspotting
02. Shrek
03. M
04. Dogma
05. Strictly Ballroom
06. The Princess Bride
07. Love Actually
08. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
09. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
10. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
11. Reservoir Dogs
12. Desperado
13. Swordfish
14. Kill Bill Vol. 1
15. Donnie Darko
16. Spirited Away
17. Better Than Sex
18. Sleepy Hollow
19. Pirates of the Caribbean
20. The Eye
21. Requiem for a Dream
22. Dawn of the Dead
23. The Pillow Book
24. The Italian Job
25. Goonies
26. Baseketball
27. The Spice Girls Movie
28. Army of Darkness
29. The Color Purple
30. The Saftey of Objects
31. Can't Hardly Wait
32. Mystic Pizza
33. Finding Nemo
34. Monsters Inc.
35. Circle of Friends
36. Mary Poppins
37. The Bourne Identity
38. Forrest Gump
39. A Clockwork Orange
40. Kindergarten Cop
41. On The Line ~ Hey! My sister made me watch it. ;)
42. My Big Fat Greek Wedding
43. Final Destination
44. Sorority Boys
45. Urban Legend
46. Cheaper by the Dozen
47. The Crow
48. The Princess and the Warrior
49. Seabiscuit
50. Hard Core Logo
51. Phantom of the Paradise
52. Zardoz
53. Lost in Translation
54. American Beauty
55. Big Fish
56. Starship Troopers
57. Starship Troopers 2
58. The Lost Boys ~ One of my all time faves!!
59. All About Eve
60. Showgirls
61. Swept Away
62. Kimberly
63. Velvet Goldmine
64. Deliverance
65. The Prophecy
66. The Secret of Roan Inish
67. Rugrats: The Movie
68. L.A. Confidential
69. Dude, Where's My Car?
70. Blade Runner
71. Basketball Diaries
72. Fight Club
73. The Great Escape
74. 13 Going On 30
75. Kissing Jessica Stein
76. Stand By Me
77. License To Drive
78. The Cutting Edge
79. The Secret Life of Girls
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| Let's start again... |
| 06.07.04 (6:48 am) [edit] |
Today is the first day of my diet--sorry, healthy eating programme. I hate the word "diet" and as soon as I go on one I crave all the foods that are bad for me and I end up giving up before I've started. This time I've decided that instead of denying myself things, I'll just reduce the amount that I have. I'm actually going to be following the WW points system which I've done before and I know it works. I like it because you can eat pretty much everything as long as you don't exceed your points allowance. So far today I'm doing pretty well I think. :D
The eliptical machine arrived this morning which I'm happy about. Hopefully now it's here I'll really get motivated. I'm planning on doing a really good workout tonight and I'm going to dig out one of my uptempo mix tapes for my Walkman. I have to have music to workout to.
You can find a pic of the machine HERE .
I used to use one of these at the gym I used to belong to and it really burns a lot of calories which is so what I need, especially after weighing myself this morning. Yikes!!! I'm planning a weekly weigh-in so hopefully I'll have positive news this time next Monday.
On to other news, I couldn't believe it when I heard about J-Lo marrying for the third time over the weekend. She must really have a taste for wedding cake! *lol* I wonder how long this marriage will last. ;) Sorry, I couldn't resist.
I was planning on doing some writing over the weekend but, once again, that didn't happen and I'm so annoyed at myself. I'm determined to finish "First Time..." as soon as I can.
I went shopping yesterday which was good. I basically just needed to stock up on toiletries like shower gel, shampoo, etc, so I didn't go nuts with the old plastic. I did find this really nice leave-in hair conditioner made with coconut and almond oil which smells gorgeous so I treated myself to a bottle. The smell of coconut is one of my favourite scents.
The weather is really hot here today and according to the forecast, it's just going to get hotter. At the moment it's not too bad but I'm starting to dread the rest of the week. Heat is not my friend. ;)
[b]Edited to add:[/b] Just in case anyone's wondering, the new exercise machine isn't in our hallway. We basically turned our garage into a room which houses a desk, chest freezer, cupboard for coats and shoes, etc. You get the picture. ;)
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| More good news!! |
| 06.04.04 (12:00 pm) [edit] |
I was just flicking channels on the TV this evening and I saw an ad for Joan of Arcadia which starts on LivingTV on Monday. Yay!!! I'm so happy because neither of my stupid PCs would play the .avi file that Vera kindly sent me. I know I've got all the eps now (thanks again to Vera :D ) but I'm just glad it's finally going to be on TV too.
I spent most of this morning cleaning and helping out my mum. She hasn't been feeling too good as she's got a really bad pain in one of her feet. She went to the doctor a few weeks ago and he didn't even look at it and just wanted to give her painkillers. WTF? No wonder people get addicted when doctors just dish them out. Anyway, she says she'll go back in a week or two if it gets any worse.
I had a nice chat yesterday with Sherry who's helping me out with my X-over fic. At the moment I'm just working on the basic idea and seeing what is and isn't feasible. In a way, I guess it's better that Sherry doesn't watch Without A Trace so she can just give me her honest opinion on the actual story when I actually start writing it. I'm sure Vera (*hint hint*) who's another Without A Trace fan won't object to reading it either to see if I've got the characters down okay. I'm going to try and focus on the current fics first before I embark on this one as I think it might turn into a bit of an epic. Hopefully though it won't be as long as Tonight's The Night. :oops:
Oh, we got a phone call yesterday letting us know that the exercise machine we bought is being delivered on Monday. I can't wait for it to arrive so I can just get myself into shape. The diet isn't going so well - so what's new, right? - but I'm hoping that once I get into the swing of doing regular exercise, that it will motivate me to eat more healthily. *fingers crossed*
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| Pinch Punch... |
| 06.01.04 (2:56 am) [edit] |
Does anyone else do that whole "Pinch Punch, first day of the month" thing? If I ever do it, I just say the words. Someone I used to know actually seemed to get off on the actual pinching. Bitch!! With her I used to do the retaliation thing, you know, "A punch and a kick for being so quick." :lol: I don't think she'd ever heard that part of the rhyme. *lol*
I actually wrote something yesterday for the RCWW "You can say a lot in 100, 200, 300 words" challenge. It's not that great but I don't think it's too bad considering it's the first thing I've really written in a while. If anyone's interested, you can read it here:
A Guy Thing
I've added a bit more to Naughty Girl and I'm hoping I can finish it this week. I'm pretty happy with what I've written so hopefully I'll feel the same with the rest when it's done.
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