Bones Season Finale

Bones was becoming one of my favorite shows...mostly because of the interplay between Tempe and Booth...reminiscent of Skully and Mulder's unacknowledged attraction. (And wasn't Booth magnificent in the bathtub scene--quite a physique!!) Plus the characters are all beautiful and have delightful personalities. They were a joy to watch...

But it was ruined for me last night with the season finale. They didn't continue the suspenseful cliffhanger from last week...they just opened with everyone at Booth's funeral. I saw him wounded the week before, but it wasn't in a fatal place. So hey, when did he die? How? If he'd died, wouldn't Tempe have been at his side in the ambulance or the hospital and said good-bye? She would have known. Right?

The way they did that whole thing was harsh and unrealistic.
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But the capper was making Zack into a hostile character before, evidently kicking that character off the show for good. There was little story line to follow there...they just summed it up and charged and convicted him in about 2 minutes at the end. It made no sense whatsoever.

There is NO WAY the real Zack would have turned evil or gone insane. That is just bad writing. They should have just killed him off if he was going off the show and let us mourn him and then wonder for a few months if he were coming back next season the way they faked Booth's death. By the next season we would have gotten over it if he were truly gone. We could have had a happy memory of him and moved on. Thanks for nothin'.

Now the show is ruined for me completely. I was going to watch all the previous shows I'd missed (like buying the DVD's of the first and second season so I could watch them over and over like I do Sex and the City.) But not now. Knowing that Zack is not what he appears to be in the previous shows, has ruined it for me past, present and future.

Hint, hint, if a character is bad, you have to write in some evidence throughout the show, not just spring it one us in the last show. DUH. It's OUT OF CHARACTER. I'm a writer, I know that element. It was just bad writing.

You'd think the writers' strike wasn't truly over yet and one of the stagehands dashed off a script, such that it was, for the last show. (No offense to stagehands. They might know better!)

Give it up. Bones is history.

It was reminiscent of the way MASH writers killed off Col. Blake when we thought he was going home. Cruel. And then they had that woman strangle what Hawkeye thought was a chicken and it was really her own baby. (Doesn't Dr. Phil say if we witness abuse we are also abused? I think so.) Tsk. Tsk.

People of intelligence do watch TV shows. We want enjoyment as well as sensibility. We don't care much for being tricked or emotionally abused. I mean isn't the viewer important to the show? Why would they risk running off viewers with stupid story lines and poor writing?

It was similar feeling for me with Numbers when they made that one FBI agent into a bad-cop in league with the terrorists. I thought the female lead with in love with him...what was that about? I couldn't watch the reruns again because he was a bad guy and by then I knew it. I didn't trust him or the writers. And up until then, he'd was one darn good agent. Not consistent.

Besides, where do the producers get off leaving the viewing public with a painful, negative view of law enforcement? Teach a whole generation of young people (who are already running wild) that law enforcement can't be trusted?

Whatever happened to promoting some respect and trust? Is there nothing to trust in America? Well, of course there is. Just not the TV industry. Not anymore.

I worked at Las Vegas Metro PD for a long time and we had only ONE cop misguided enough to commit a burglary while on duty and then got called to write up the crime report which was how they caught him...too many details that only the perp would have known. [Oh, and the one cop that married two woman at the same time and got divorced by both (not to mention fired) while he was jail.]

It was a shock to see Warick killed at the end of CSI the other night...but I saw it coming and I guessed who the bad buy really was...he was a disagreeable mean guy throughout the whole series. They had been setting up Warick for worse and worse things all season. So, it was well-written and believable when he got assassinated at the end. It was a tragedy but sympathetic for the viewers.

Thank goodness when Sarah left the show she just got in a cab and rode away. It was sad to see her go, but not traumatic. Though, I thought that she should have just married Gil and then stayed home as a housewife making pottery or doing scrapbooking. Maybe have a baby eventually. Gil could have mentioned her from time to time. They missed out on a satisfying ending for women!!!

So, I'm saying good-bye to Bones. OH, I still love Kathy Reichs and and her Temperance Brennan novels. But this TV show has little to do with them anyway. I like the Tempe in the books, older and and wiser with a daughter, ex-husband and a cat (plus part-time dog.) And she's smart enough to be in-love with her Detective Ryan. Yes!

I was thinking TV had something better to offer in recent years. Medium is good. They had a HAPPY ENDING this season. Thanks for that.

Bye for now. Live and learn from your mistakes, huh?

Nim's Island -- A Kid Movie, Sort Of

I don't think I'm the one to review Nim's Island competely because I am a dyed-in-the-wool Gerard Butler fan...and they pronounce his name right in the trailer...it sort of like Gerald except with an r or ah, or like Jared. Good.

I will say the story was good--well-done screenplay. Special effects were believable. No one was killed, even the strange lizards that allowed themselves to be lobbed at the island "invaders."

Abigail Breslin was wonderful...she is the Academy Award winner for Little Miss Sunshine. The otheractors took a back seat to her performance and allowed her to be the star. In fact, Gerry Butler took a very far back seat and downplayed his parts...he played the Dad and the character of the author's adventure novels.

Jodie Foster was wonderful. There is nothing more to say, she blew me away. Perfect in a fantastical comedy, taking it seriously throughout. Bravo, Jodie.

Worth seeing even if you aren't a child.

Go.

Books, Books, Books

I love mysteries--written, TV series, and movies (of which there are very few.)

I recently joined a large print book club -- Doubleday -- and chose a couple of mysteries in my introductory offer.

One was Bones to Ashes by Kathy Reichs.

My husband noted that the TV series Bones is based on the character from Kathy Reich's mystery series...the forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan.

After I read it, I headed to the library to find more of Kathy Reichs.

All I can say is having a Kathy Reichs book in the house is like having a bag of M & M's. Once you open it, you can't stop.

I've read three now with two more waiting in the wings.

To say Kathy Reichs is a good writer would be a watered down comment. The books are habit forming if not addictive.

Be prepared to be educated, entertained, delighted and your funny bone tickled with the author's witty metaphors that take the place of dull descriptive text.

They're not all action...but they're good, good, good.

The Holiday

I loved this movie. I saw it in the theater last Christmas time. I bought it and watched a bunch of times.

It's delightful.

See it.

Really. Rent it, better yet, buy it so you can watch it again and again.

Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet are wonderful. The boys are good, too. Best I've seen from Jude Law. And Jack Black played a wonderfully real guy. I loved all of them. I loved the story. And Eliah Wallach was great, I've been a fan of his my whole life. What can I say? I love old guys now that I'm getting up there...especially the ones with white goatees and little ole Jewish guys, wow.

Thanks. GREAT MOVIE> >>>

Sandy the movie critic

3:10 to Yuma

This was the western version of The Departed. (As you may recall, I hated The Departed.)

Everyone in 3:10 except the real bad guy got at the end. He turned himself in. Yeah, right.

I love Christian Bale. I love Russell Crowe. But this movie was sort of cold-hearted bloody.

I would say, skip it unless you are a Crowe or Bale fan.

Thanks. Sandy the movie critic

PS I LOVE YOU

PS I Loved it. I saw it twice...first time the same day it opened and took me 3 hours to drive home in the snow and ice storm...30 miles...we were going 4 miles an hour through the canyon...fun fun.

But Hillary Swank was fabulous, of course, she aways is. She was in every scene and stole the show. The other girls were good, too. I love the costumes.

2nd time I saw I took my honey. He said he liked it, it was good. it I loved the movie even more the second time. Butler can do that to me. (Yes, my honey knows about my mad crush on Butler. Heck, I'm old enough to be Gerbear's mother, duh.)

I was thrilled that Gerry Butler sang...we want more of his delicious deep sexy voice.

True the movie was a corny romantic comedy...but it had its serious side. I laughed and cried. What more could you want from a movie. Two beautiful young people doing what they love best...acting.

The guy at the end of the movie with the dimples that the girl meets in Ireland? He was cute, looks a little bit like Gerry. But Gerard Butler (actually pronounced correctly in the trailer--Jerod) can act circles around any one of those men. And they were all good, especially Harry Connet Jr.

Kathy Bates was superb as the mother. I've never seen a bad performance from her, even naked in the hot tub with

The only shortcoming of the movie was the outdoor scene depicting the day the couple met--more than 10 years before the time of the movie...they didn't even try to make the actors look younger. Swank acted a little younger with her voice and mannerisms, and let's face it, she's young and doesn't have to fake it even tho she was supposed to be about 18 or 19 then. But Bulter's face looked all craggy and wrinkled...tsk tsk for smoking all those years-- it ready does cause wrinkles--and he looked fantastically young in the other flashbacks filmed indoors.

What can I say? I would stand in line and pay a fortune to watch Gerard Butler just stand in the middle of blank stage -- quiet doing nothin'. I love the boy.

Thanks for a great romantic comedy. KEEP 'EM COMING.

Thank you, Hillary too, for bringing Gerry into the American Hollywood spotlight. Maybe someone will remember him now...if 300 and Phantom of the Opera obviously didn't make him a household name maybe this one will.

HOLLYWOOD: Put him in more movies!!!! PLEASE.

Gerry, thanks for being you. Best of everything to you. I understand you are filming in Albuquerque and quit smoking. GREAT. That makes me and all the rest of your fanatic fans happy. I live near Albuquerque. Would I like to meet you in dark elevator...

Watch the movie. It's a "feel-good" movie. Really. See it.

PS I Love Y'All.

Sandy the movie critique (I went for more than popcorn this time.)

Sweeney Todd

What was THAT!?!

A dark comedy? Goofy. Gross. Couldn't understand most of the dialog/singing or half the storyline.

And Johnny Depp nominated for best actor??? (Heck he was my favorite actor from the time of Edward Sissorshands...until I flipped for Phantom=Gerry Butler.)

We had a good laugh when Sweeney was over and laughed all the way to the car. I told my honey, as awful as that movie was, Depp will probably win the Academy award for it. That's just like Hollywood. Another group of young men leaving (heck there were at least 20 people in the theater -- it opened more than a month ago) were also quite amused when it ended...one guy sarcastically said in a little kid voice: "Hey, let's go watch it again...." NOT.

What do I know? The girl selling the tickets said she loved the movie. A friend in the popcorn line said she hated the movie. I'm still neutral. I think it has to do with age. The older you get the ickier ICK becomes. I admit I had to cover my eyes when I got the parts that made me go EWW.

Like I said, what do I know? I go to the movies for the [overpriced] popcorn. YUM.

Sandy the movie critic