We've got comedy!!

I'm a big comedy fan and laughing is one of my biggest hobbies! I'm not saying that comedy is my favourite movie genre, because not every comedyfilm makes me laugh. It's mostly certain people that make me role on the ground (a figure of speech of course). Here are some of my favourite funny people:

- Jerry Seinfeld: He's just hilarious. His jokes are all so logical, because they are so true. He jokes about general stuff we all deal with, but he just thought it trough.

- Denis Leary: A different kind of humour, a little harsh and dark, but very funny.

- Owen Wilson: Wonderfull sence of humour, charming and of course incredibly handsome....

- Will Ferrell: Even if I just look at the guy, he makes me laugh. Also because of the great - often weird - characters he plays. Especially Frank the Tank from "Old School" is great. When he does gymnastic and when he sings "Dust in the Wind". Brilliant!

- Kristin Wiig: She's one of the funniest people SNL ever had. My favourite character is that woman from the "Two A-Holes". Chewing that gum all the time and making the most ridiculous comments.

- Adam Sandler: Great guy. His movies aren't from a high level, but he sure is funny. When he starts yelling at people he cracks me up. Remember that song he did in "The Wedding Singer" (the one he wrote for the woman that left him at the alter).

- Steve Carell: He has a charming and loveable sense of humour. As Michael in "The Office" he is great but I loved him the most in "The 40 Year Old Virgin". Cool dude!

- Jack Black: Wonderfull! As Lance in "Orange County"....OMG! Hilarious. And his role in "High Fidelity" is also magnificent.

- Jeff Dunham: He created some of the most memorable characters, with Peanut, Walter and Achmed being my favourites. He's a genius.

- Jay Mohr: He's very cool. Don't you just love him in "Gary Unmarried". He hits the nail right on the head.

Nightmares & Dreamscapes

I finished "P.S. I Love You" and I'm reading a total different book now. "Nightmares & Dreamscapes" by master storyteller Stephen King. My brother has a lot of his books and he told me I should read this one. It's a book with ceveral different short stories, such as "The Nightflyer" and "Sneakers". I finished the first three stories and the were genius, just like any other story King wrote. So if you don't mind, I'm going to proceed reading this book....

My walk of fame

Here is a list of my favourite actors and actresses:

Actors:
#15 Heath Ledger (fav: "Brokeback Mountain")
#14 Benicio Del Toro (fav: "21 Grams")
#13 Brad Pitt (fav: "Seven")
#12 Clive Owen (fav: "Sin City")
#11 Denzel Washington (fav: "Man On Fire")
#10 Johnny Depp (fav: "Chocolat")
# 9 Russel Crowe (fav: "A Beautiful Mind")
# 8 Robert Downey Jr.(fav: "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang")
# 7 Sean Penn (fav: "Mystic River")
# 6 Christian Bale (fav: "The Prestige")
# 5 Bruce Willis (fav: "Die Hard: with a Vengeance")
# 4 Tim Robbins (fav: "The Shawshank Redemption")
# 3 John Cusack (fav: "High Fidelity")
# 2 Morgan Freeman (fav: "The Shawshank Redemption")
# 1 Tom Hanks (fav: "Forrest Gump)

Actresses:
#15 Kate Beckinsale (fav: "Brokedown Palace")
#14 Emily Blunt (fav: "Sunshine Cleaning")
#13 Natalie Portman(fav: "V For Vendetta")
#12 Eva Mendes (fav: "Live")
#11 Michelle Pfeiffer (fav: "Wolf")
#10 Cate Blanchett (fav: "Babel")
# 9 Scarlett Johansson (fav: "Lost in Translation")
# 8 Jennifer Connelly (fav: "A Beautiful Mind")
# 7 Keira Knightley (fav: Pride & Prejudice")
# 6 Rachel McAdams (fav: "Red Eye")
# 5 Uma Thurman (fav: "Kill Bill:Volume 2")
# 4 Ashley Judd (fav: "Kiss the Girls")
# 3 Sandra Bullock (fav: "Speed")
# 2 Charlize Theron (fav: "Sweet November")
# 1 Naomi Watts (fav: "Mulholland Drive")

Professor Joyce, nice to meet you...

I have this great game for the Nintendo DS: "Professor Layton and the Curious Village". It's about Professor Layton and his apprentice Luke, who visit a village. In that village they have to solve a mystery and a lot of puzzles. It's connected to a original story, great visuals, funny characters and nice music. Some puzzles are easy, some tricky and some just make you go MAD!!! For the puzzle fans among us, it's a wonderfull game. Even if you finish it, there is more for you in store. Warning: this game is highly adictive ;) .

X Joyce

How it should be

Ingredients for a oscarwinning movie/ perfomance:

- The main character of the movie has e decease or a disability (Like Tom Hanks in "Philadelphia" and "Forrest Gump" and Dustin Hoffman in "Rain Man" and also that guy in "The English Patient")

- The movie has psychos in it (Like Anthony Hopkins in "Silence of the Lambs", Kathy Bates in "Misery" and Heath Ledger in "The Dark Knight")

- It has to take at least three hours (Like "Titanic", "Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King", "Dances with Wolves" and "Shindler's List")

- Boob flash or sex scenes (Practically ever movie Kate Winslet was nominated for)

- Gay People (Like Tom Hanks for "Philadelphia" and Sean Penn for "Milk)

- Movies where the actors had to go through an extreme make-over (Like Charlize Theron in "Monster", Robert DeNiro in "Raging Bull" and Hilary Swank in "Boys Don't Cry")

- The characters have a weird accent (Like Tom Hanks in "Forrest Gump", Reese Witherspoon in "Walk the Line" and Frances McDormand in "Fargo")

Movies/ preformances that should have won over the years

- 1995: "The Shawshank Redemption" (my favourite movie) was nominated seven times but didn't win a single award. UNBELIEVABLE!!!

- 1997: Any other movie then "Titanic" should have won. I just hate this movie. "As Good As It Gets", "The Full Monty", "Good Will Hunting" and "L.A. Confidential". They are all better then "Titanic".

- 1997: "Fargo" is a much better and more interesting movie then "The English Patient" (Like Elaine Bennes said in "Seinfeld" : Sex in a tub, that doesn't work!)

- 2001/ 2002: Russell Crowe won an oscar for "Gladiator" and didn't win one for "A Beautiful Mind". That's just weird!

- 2006: Keira Knigtley for "Pride & Prejudice. Much better performance then Reese Witherspoon in "Walk the Line". She really isn't all that good.

- 2007: Abigail Breslin in "Little Miss Sunshine" or Rinko Kikuchi for "Babel". Definitley not Jennifer Hudson. I knew, that after her win, we wouldn't hear from her again (in a movie that is worth watching).

I could go on like this forever, but these are the most important ones I wanted to share with you.

X Joyce

Movie Tip #12 - Stand By Me

Director: Rob Reiner

Starring: Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, Jerry O'Connell, Kiefer Sutherland, John Cusack, Richard Dreyfuss

Description: 4 young friends set out on an adventure. Gordie, Chris, Teddy and Vern go looking for the missing body of a local teenager - found by a gang of older boys. A story of boys hangin' out and growin' up.

Review: This movie shows us about real friendship. It's based on a short story by Stephen King. Young as they are, they explore life and they test their friendship. Four different kids, an odd group, but you come to like every single one of them. It's heartwarming, sad, touching and funny. One thing made me think. At the end of the movie, the grown up Gordie tells us: "I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone?" And really... I think he's right.

And the winner is....

Best motion picture of the year:
"Slumdog Millionaire"
They deserved it, because I absolutely loved this movie. It's simple, but so inspiring and touching. And Jamal is just a very likeable character.

Best performance by an actor in a leading role:
Sean Penn for "Milk"
I didn't expect that at all. I really tought Micky Rourke would go home with the oscar. But Sean Penn, being one of my favourites, also deserves it. I didn't see "Milk" yet, but I know he plays a wonderfull role.

Best performance by an actress in a leadinr role:
Kate Winslet for "The Reader"
I knew she was going to win, but I was really hoping for Anne Hathaway. I think that Kate was nominated for better movies, this isn't her best role. Anne, by the way, played at her best. So no, I don't think this is the right winner.

Best performance by an actor in a supporting role:
Heath Ledger for "The Dark Knight"
These roles never get nominated, let alone win. His role was great, no doubt about that, but I think it's mostly out of respect for Heath.

Best performance by an actress in a supporting role:
Penelope Cruz for "Vicky Cristina Barcelona"
I tought she would win this and she also deserves it. I was secretly hoping for Amy Adams or Marisa Tomei, because they are so loveable, but I can live with Penelope winning.

Best achievement in directing:
Danny Boyle for "Slumdog Millionaire"
Great. This isn't Boyles best film (I loved "Trainspotting"), but I think this is OK.

I really loved Hugh Jackman as a host. Especially his opening song was fantastic (The part about Benjamin Button was the best).

New wallpaper

I made a new wallpaper. This time featuring Ryan Reynolds. I love this guy! I recently saw him in "Smokin' Aces" (just perfect how he ended that film) and he was great in "Definitly, Maybe" , "The Amityville Horror" and "Van Wilder". I am looking forward to "The Proposal" (with Sandra Bullock) and "Wolverine". I also still have to see "Adventureland" and "Fireflies in the Garden". Here's the wallpaper:



What do you think? Ryan fan, be free to copy it to your desktop...

X Joyce

Movie Tip #11 - Pride & Prejudice

Director: Joe Wright

Starring: Keira Knightley, Matthew MacFadyen, Rosamund Pike, Brenda Blethyn, Donald Sutherland, Carey Mulligan, Jena Malone, Judi Dench, Talulah Riley

Description: The story is based on Jane Austen's novel about five sisters - Jane, Elizabeth, Mary, Kitty and Lydia Bennet - in Georgian England. Their lives are turned upside down when a wealthy young man, Mr. Bingley, and his best friend Mr. Darcy arrive in their neighborhood.

Review: I secretly adore every Jane Austen story, with "Pride & Prejudice" being my favourite. This is the remake from 2006, with Keira Knigthley as Elizabeth Bennet. She's a very loveable actress and she portrays Lizzy the way Austen discribed her in the book. Mr. Darcy is perfect, a man you love to hate and hate to love. Matthew MacFadyen (I didn't know him), is a wonderfull Mr. Darcy. It's a great lovestory, a great movie.

The best CSI episodes

Like I said in a previous message, I'm totally hooked on CSI. These are my favourite episodes:

The Accused is Entitled (Season 3): It's a great episode. I like the case they are working on and how it gets personal when they have to testify in court. The team works under a lot of pressure and they prove that they are a strong team. This episode stars Chad Michael Murray as their main suspect.

Grave Danger (Season 5): I think this is the most popular episode and I can understand why. As a Nick fan I really enjoy the emotional scenes he did and the race against time is nerve wrecking. It's a two hour episode directed by Quentin Tarentino and it's the most exciting episode I've ever seen.

4X4 (Season 5): I really like the way this episode was filmed. Four cases, shown seperatly but they also overlap now and then. I hope that they will make another episode similair to this one.

Mea Culpa (Season 5): In this episode Ecklie breaks up the team. You can see all the different reactions and again I like the personal touch of it.

Gum Drops (Season 6): You see Nick as the leader of an important case involving a family and one missing child. Nick is a great leader and for the Stokes fans it's a wonderfull episode.

Stalker (Season 2): A Nick centric episode again. The team is working on a stalker-case. Then they find out that the suspect is also following Nick. Especially the scene where the stalker confronts him is very strong.

Toe Tags (Episode 7): Like "4X4" it's a multiple case episode. This time from the victem's perspective. Wonderfully told and filmed. And very interesting cases.

Who Shot Sherlock? (Season 5): A Sherlock Holmes murder, very cool. It's totally in Sherlock style and it's also a bit funny. This is also Greg's last test, before he can become a CSI.

Snakes (Season 5): I don't know, I just like this episode. When I'm into watching one of my CSI DVD's, I pick "Snakes" a lot. And BTW, Nick speaks Spanish in this on ;) .

P.S. Read this book

I like reading. Now I'm reading P.S. I Love You by Cecilia Ahern. It's about Holly Kennedy, who is happily married to Gerry. So when Gerry dies of a brain tumor, it takes the life out of Holly. The only one who can help her is the person who is no longer there. Nobody knows Holly better than Gerry. So it's a good thing he planned ahead. Before he died, Gerry wrote Holly a series of letters that will guide her, not only through her grief, but in rediscovering herself.
This book is both funny and sad. You feel for Holly and you really symphatize her. Like Holly, you really look forward to Gerry's next message, because she can open an envelope every month. I didn't finish the book yet, but I'm almost done. It's a chick-flick, so boys won't like it, but I really enjoy reading it.

X Joyce

P.S. For the people that don't like reading. The movie came out recently, starring Hillary Swank, Gerard Butler, Lisa Kudrow, Gina Gershon, Kathy Bates, Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Harry Connick Jr.

Oscar predictions

Like a said earlier, I'm going to make a prediction of the 2009 Academy Awards. I will also give you my opionion of who should win the award. Here it is:

Best Motion Picture
Should win: "Slumdog Millionaire"
Would win: "Slumdog Millionaire"

Best performance by an actor in a leading role
Should win: Mickey Rourke ("The Wrestler")
Would win: Mickey Rourke ("The Wrestler")

Best performance by an actress in a leading role
Should win: Anne Hathaway ("Rachel Getting Married")
Would win: Kate Winslet ("The Reader")

Best performance by an actor in a supporting role
Should win: Josh Brolin ("Milk")
Would win: Heath Ledger ("The Dark Knight")

Best performance by an actress in a supporting role
Should win: Marisa Tomei ("The Wrestler")
Would win: Penelope Cruz ("Vicky Cristina Barcelona")

Best director
Should win: Ron Howard ("Frost/ Nixon")
Would win: Danny Boyle ("Slumdog Millionaire")

February 22nd we will know if I was right.....

Movie Tip #10 - Little Miss Sunshine

Director: Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris

Starring: Greg Kinnear, Toni Colette, Abigail Breslin, Steve Carell, Alan Arkin, Paul Dano

Description: The Hoover family is the dictionary definition for the word "dysfunctional". The dad Richard (Kinnear) is a man who gives lectures on winners and losers, the wife is Sheryl (Colette), a chain-smoking, frazzled wife and working mother whose idea of a home cooked meal frequently consists of a bucket of chicken. Her gay brother Frank (Carrel) recently attempted suicide. The grandpa is Edwin (Arkin), a drug addict. The son is Dwayne (Dano) a rebel who has vowed not to talk until he gets into the Air Force. And then there is Olive (Breslin), a seven-year old girl who dreams of going to the Little Miss Sunshine pageant. So what happens when they do?

Review: It's a quirky family, but every single character is great. Extreme maybe, but great. They don't care what other people think and family comes first. Olive and Frank are my favourites, followed by Dwayne and grandpa. And then the yellow van. They have to push it so it will start and halfway trough the film the horn doesn't stop. It's hilarious. I can watch this film over and over again, without being bored. If you wathc it, I'm sure you'll agree with me!

CSI: Likes & Dislikes

CSI is my all-time favourite TV show. In the USA they are far ahead of The Netherlands, but I still watch it every week. I also got all the seasons on DVD. But I don't like every character on the show. Here are my likes and dislikes of CSI.

Likes:
- Nick Stokes: He's my number one character. Not just because he's extremely handsome. Nick is a very smart, caring and sweet man. I loved him in the episodes "Stalker" (season 2), "Grave Danger" (season 5) and "Gum Drops" (season 6).
- Catherine Willows: Wonderfull person. She's a great leader, strong and helpfull. I really love the storylines she's in. Especially in "Built to Kill" (Season 7) her role was very intense.
- Greg Sanders: When he was just a lab guy he was the funny one everyone messed with. Since season 5 he became more serious and he turned into a great CSI. He's had the biggest change of all the characters.
- Warrick Brown: He's the coolest dude on the show. His dead shocked me and it was one of the rare times that I actually cried during a CSI episode.
- Archie Johnson: He's just very cute and he always makes funny remarks.
- Sophia Curtis: I really liked her, but she left the show. Not a lot of CSI fans liked her, but I thought that she was a great person. She was the only female detective.
- Wendy Simms: The DNA- girl. Love her. She's funny and very smart. I seriously don;t understand why she likes Hodges so much.
- Mandy Webster: The fingerprint- girl. I love her sarcasm.
- Cyrus Lockwood: He was a great detective, but he got killed in season 3. Shame, I liked him a lot.
- Bobby Dawson: The gun guy. He's not a present guy, but I always liked his calmness and his profession. He should get more screen time.

Dislikes:
- Gil Grissom: I know he has a lot of fans, but I never liked him very much. I always hated it when he was ahead of the other CSI. They found information and then he ruined it by telling them exactly what they had found. And the one-liners... OMG!
- Sara Sidle: She's strong but troubled. She got emotionally involved in a lot of cases. And the Grissom-Sara relationship sucks. I did like her love for animals tough.
- Conrad Ecklie: God.... does anyone like this guy. He's a very annoying boss.
- David Hodges: He's a suck up and I don't like suck ups. He can be funny and catchy sometimes, but that's it.
- Sam Braun: Shame on him! What he did to Catherine. He died in season 7, but I didn't care much.
- Kristy Hopkins: The callgirl Nick had a one-night stand with. Not a very likeable character. She also died in season 1.... awww.

I know CSI has more characters (for example Jim Brass and Doc Robbins, very important characters), but they float somewhere between the likes and dislikes. In the USA they just introduced Riley Adams and Dr. Raymond Langston. I can't judge yet, because in my country the didn't air yet.

X Joyce

Picking up the pencil

I always like to draw. When I was in school I did it a lot, but now I don't have the time anymore. So last week I found the time to pick up the pencil and start drawing again. I love being creative. Here is the result and you tell me wich actress this is....



So, can you guess it? Okay, it's Naomi Watts.

X Joyce

Movie Tip #9 - The Motorcycle Diaries

Director: Walter Salles

Starring: Gael García Bernal, Rodrigo De la Serna

Description: "The Motorcycle Diaries" is an adaptation of a journal written by Ernesto "Che" Guevara de la Serna when he was 23 years old. He and his friend, Alberto Granado are typical college students who, seeking fun and adventure before graduation, decide to travel across Argentina, Chile, Peru, Colombia, and Venezuela in order to do their medical residency at a leper colony.

Review: Che Guevara was a very important man, who did a lot for the people. Even before he became a great leader, he did amazing things to help mankind. It's an inspiring story. You can see how this journey changed Ernesto and which in turn led him to try to change the world. So the tagline of the movie is perfect: 'Before he changed the world, the world changed him'. The acting in this film is first-class: Gael Garcia Bernal performs at his best; however it is Rodrigo de la Serna's performance the one that is simply outstanding; not only he represents Granado's as a funny, outgoing character, but he also highlights Gael's characterization of Guevara. This is a great movie, just watch it!