Dewar’s, the worlds’ most recognized and awarded Blended Scotch whisky brand, is synonymous with quality and an innate sense of class. True to form, its innovative Live True campaign is set to be reprised after experiencing huge digital success a few years ago, when the brand looked to launch a series of videos profiling special individuals who have impacted positively on the lives of those around them. Whether this impact relates to the local community or locations further afield, the personalities featured in these videos have all pursued their passion and encouraged others to follow suit.

 

 

 

With this in mind it stands to reason that the individuals featured in these videos are extremely successful and diverse in their nature. Take the television personality Sal Masekela, for example, who has earned considerable plaudits for his role as the founder of the charitable organisation Stoked Mentoring. Using actions sports such as surfing and skateboarding as a catalyst for positive change in the outlooks of young people, it embodies the spirit of Dewar’s Live True campaign and the impact that driven individuals can have through innovation, determination and an ability to inspire others.

This is just one of many memorable profiles that the brand have shared, however, each of which tells a unique and touching narrative of how humanity and an interest in the lives of others can impact positively on almost every aspect of modern life.

Sponsored

Last week I listed off my top five films of 2014, it was an admittedly quiet year for me movie-wise but 2015 looks to be an embarrassment of riches.

My top Five Films Coming in 2015. In order of release:

 

March 13: In the Heart of the Sea
Director: Ron Howard
Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Brendan Gleeson, Cillian Murphy, Ben Whishaw
Ron Howard’s take on Nathaniel Philabrick’s telling of the Tragedy of the Whale Ship Essex–aka the terrifying true story that inspired Moby Dick.  The trailer, featuring copious digital sperm whales, is nerve-wracking and in the hands of Howard, once again directing his Rush star, Chris Hemsworth, I can’t wait to see this on the biggest screen possible.

 

May 1^st: Avengers: Age of Ultron
Director: Joss Whedon
Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Mark Ruffalo, James Spader
In the wake of The Winter Soldier and the outer space developments of Guardians of the Galaxy, where exactly does that place the Avengers team? By the looks of the trailer we got in October, possibly thrown into disarray by one of their very own Tony Stark’s inventions. Go figure. It’s almost disconcerting how well James Spader’s voice translates into sinister robot Ultron.

 

June 12^th: Jurassic World
Director: Colin Trevorrow

Cast: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Ty Simpkins, Judy Greer

The first Jurassic Park is my favorite film of all time but while Lost World boasted a great cast (more Goldblum!), somewhere around the t-rex rampaging through LA the sequels began to lose their sparkle. The third brought the franchise into mindless action territory and the less said about it, the better. It’s therefore with such relief that the trailer—focusing on the theme park concept of the first film coming to fruition looks to be a fresh take on the concept. Plus Chris Pratt. On a motorcycle. Surrounded by a gang of velociraptors. That is all.

 

October 2^nd : The Walk
Director: Robert Zemeckis

Cast: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ben Kingsley, James Badge Dale

Robert Zemeckis directs the true story of Philippe Petit—the only person to traverse the gap between the Twin Towers on tight wire. It’s a story that’s already been covered on screen by the highly acclaimed documentary Man On Wire, but the vertigo-inducing trailer of this dramatization has me intrigued.

 

October 16^th: Crimson Peak
Director: Guillermo Del Toro
Cast: Tom Hiddleston, Jessica Chastain, Mia Wasikowska, Charlie Hunnam, Doug Jones
Before Del Toro “cancelled the apocalypse” in the super fun Pacific Rim, he broke into Hollywood with amazingly atmospheric smaller films like Pan’s Labyrinth and The Orphanage. Crimson Peak looks to be a return to that, his first horror film in English. Mia Wasikowska is a young woman who is attracted to a “mysterious outsider” (Tom Hiddleston) and brought to his family home which is evidently alive. Del Toro regular Doug Jones on the cast list surely means we’ll be getting some cool ghosts and creatures in the home too. Described as a gothic romance, the images of the film that have been released are visually stunning and if Hiddleston is in sinister mode, count me in. This is definitely the film I’m most excited for in 2015.

 

Honorable Mentions: Steven Spielberg‘s rejoining Tom Hanks in an as-yet untitled Cold War Thriller, The Hunger Games wraps up, plus there’s a couple slightly known franchises called James Bond (Spectre) and Star Wars that might interest some filmgoers like me coming back to big screens in 2015…

After much deliberation, MovieMike (Mike S), Loaf (Jeremy) and Brett (B.C) sat down this week and came up with their top 5 (and worse 5) films of 2014. For those of you that listen weekly, we say thank you. For those who haven’t and would like to know how we made our choices, click here http://behindthemikes.podomatic.com/entry/2015-01-04T21_34_18-08_00

Mike Smith’s 5 Best Films of 2014

1. “Unbroken”
2. “American Sniper”
3. “Grand Budapest Hotel”
4. “Glen Campbell: I’ll Be Me”
5. “The Imitation Game”

The fact that four of these films are based on real people (with “I’ll Be Me” a documentary) doesn’t escape me. “Unbroken” was the most inspirational film of the year in my opinion.

And the WORSE!!

1. “Winter’s Tale”
2. “About Last Night”
3. “If I Stay”
4. “Into the Storm”
5. “The Crown and the Dragon”

What a horrible month February was. I had the great displeasure of seeing “Winter’s Tale” and “About Last Night” on consecutive weeks.

Jeremy Werner’s 5 Best Films of 2014

1. “Nightcrawler”
2. “Birdman”
3. “The Lego Movie”
4. “Love is Strange”
5. “Under the Skin”

And his bottom 5:

1. “The Nut Job”
2. “Endless Love” (another February stinker)
3. “That Awkward Moment”
4. “Dracula Untold”
5. “Divergent”

B.C. Allen’s top 5 of 2014

1. “Inherent Vice”
2. “The Rover”
3. “Jodorowsky’s ‘Dune'”
4. “The Raid 2”
5. “The Look of Silence”
And the 5 he will NEVER watch again:

1. “Calvary”
2. “Fury”
3. “Obvious Child”
4. “Maleficent”
5. “Transformers 4: Age of Extinction”

Here’s what some of our critics are looking forward to in 2015:

Mike G: “Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens,”, “Avengers: Age of Ultron” and “Jurassic World.”

Mike S: “Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens,” “Minions,” “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.,”, Untitled Steven Spielberg Cold War Thriller and “Ted 2.”

Lauren Damon: “Crimson Peak,” “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” “Jurassic World,” “In the Heart of the Sea” and “The Walk”

Jeremy Werner: “Chappie,” “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” “Mad Max: Fury Road,” “Inside Out”

It’s always tough being a movie buff in awards season. We sift through the weird mess of movies released between the busy summer season and Halloween and then suddenly are bombarded by all the critical darlings our eyeballs can handle in the peak holiday season. As such, I’m not completely caught up for Oscar but I can share my personal favorites from last year. As it happens the majority can be summed up with this simple questionnaire–Did it feature Tilda Swinton*? Did it feature Chris Evans? Did it feature Tilda Swinton AND Chris Evans? There, you’re spoiled for my top three but you can still read my thoughts below:

 

1. Snowpiercer – Seeing this film three times with sold out crowds cemented this as my top pick for 2014. You can read my full review here but suffice to say, Director Joon-ho Bong apocalyptic train ride featured some wildly creative action sequences within the strict confines of its eponymous locomotive. Its twists and turns consistently drew amazing audience reactions that to me, warrant going to see films on the big screen. Chris Evans also turned in an amazing dramatic performance as the train’s reluctant savior opposite a scenery-devouring Swinton as the false-teethed face of the passengers’ oppressors.

 

2. Captain America: The Winter Soldier – While the other sequels in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s ‘Phase 2′ (Iron Man 3, Thor 2) were solid in their own right, they both played solidly in their own respective sandboxes. In 2013, we saw Tony Stark facing off with a past scientist rival and Thor whizzing around Asgard while battling some serious familial issues. The First Avenger’s latest installment however wasn’t afraid to shuffle the Avengers’ entire playing field. By bringing down S.H.I.E.L.D, Captain Rogers has a lot of explaining to do come next year’s Age of Ultron. Additionally, the Russo brothers delivered a hugely satisfying action film that richly developed both Chris Evans’s Captain and Scarlett Johansson’s complex Black Widow. It also unleashed one of the most tragic antagonists of the franchise with Sebastian Stan’s tortured Winter Soldier now wandering a bit dazed and confused around the Potomac river.

 

3. The Grand Budapest Hotel – With production design and a sprawling cast to die for, including the aforementioned Swinton under scads of old age makeup, this film deployed all of Director Wes Anderson’s usual character quirkiness to its best advantages. As a bonus, when was the last time someone told you to check out a HILARIOUS Ralph Fiennes performance? Exactly.

 

4. Gone Girl – Fincher’s moody, winding take on Gillian Flynn’s best-selling novel was indeed a pretty bleak take on married life, but Rosamund Pike’s award-worthy performance as the monstrous Amazing Amy blew me away. You can read my full review here.

 

5. Art and Craft – Perhaps because my day job’s in an art museum, this documentary left the greatest impact on me when I saw it at the Tribeca Film Fest. The story of Mark Landis, a prolific art forger who duped tons of respected art institutions into displaying his uncanny frauds all the while taking no money and shopping at Hobby Lobby for his supplies. The doc was comical without being mean spirited to its oddball subject whose eye for duplication is fascinating.

 

Honorable mentions: The Imitation Game, Birdman, Guardians of the Galaxy, X-Men Days of Future Past and Frank.

(*Note: Swinton’s other 2014 film, Only Lovers Left Alive got its theatrical release this year, but I covered it in my best of 2013 roundup–so my opening criteria still stands!)

Not writing the majority of the film reviews for this site, I have the great good fortune to generally avoid the stinkers, which is why I can’t in good faith turn in an accurate WORST list, so instead the next list from me will be a look forward to this year’s most exciting releases to come.

Roll on, 2015! Now where are my hoverboards?

With another year is coming to an end, we look back at are favorite and least favorite films from the year. To be honest, 2014 was not a huge year for movies, I found that a lot of my choices were littler known titles and not too many of the big mainstream films. I am including some trailers below as well if you are interested in checking any of these out for yourself! So for better or worse, here are my picks for the best and the worst of 2014!

BEST
The Babadook
Big Hero 6
Birdman
Chef
Edge of Tomorrow
For No Good Reason
Guardians of the Galaxy
Jodorowsky’s Dune
The LEGO Movie
The Wind Rises

Runners Up
The Congress
Snowpiercer

WORST
Exodus: Gods and Kings
Into the Woods
Pompeii
Robocop
Transcendence

Even though 2014 was a bit lackluster, 2015 is going to be a HUGE year for film! We have “The Avengers: Age of Ultron”, “Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awaken” and “Jurassic World” just to name a few!! Can’t wait!!

Parents, if you are looking for that last minute gift…check out the following items below:

Make Your Case
Create and design two real cell phone cases or design one of the four ready-made cases to match every mood and outfit! How does it work? Simple. Push the plunger into the Case Maker and fill your mold with your chosen color. Once the mold has set, you can bling a selfie, decorate your pet or favorite musician’s picture or more. Compatible with iPod Touch 5, iPhone 4/4s, iPod Touch 5/5c/5s and Samsung S3/4. Also comes with gems, stickers and design sheets. Available at all major retailers. Ages 8+. Price $24.99

Orbeez Body Spa
Need a little ‘me’ time? Just imagine what it’s like to sit in a luxurious room chair full of the soothing
softness of Orbeez! It’s an Orbeez fantasy come true! Ahh… sink into the calming comfort of the Orbeez Body Spa and recharge! The perfect holiday gift for young girls, the sophisticated Body Spa chair comes with 6,000 comforting Orbeez and a vibration device help her relax and melt the day away! Use the chair anytime, and add the Orbeez for a special spa touch! Available at Walmart, Amazon.com & Kmart – Ages 5-12. Price: $49.99.

Xploderz Mayhem
This holiday season, outlast and out-blast the competition with the new Xploderz Mayhem! The new firing system will change the way you shoot forever! It features a multi-shot auto firing system that fires an astonishing 120 rounds of ammo in 60 seconds! The Mayhem comes with an amazing 2,000 rounds of ammo! With a velocity of 100 feet per second, it’s 50 percent faster than any foam blaster. Reloading ammo only takes seconds with no mess to clean up. Available at all major retailers. Ages 8+. Price: $39.99

By now, everyone’s done their Hot Holiday Gift Guide, booked their holiday parties, bought their trendy holiday outfits. But if you’re the host of your holiday party, what are you going to do to keep your guests entertained? In fact, what do you do during downtime in the ski lodge or just keeping your kids busy during their winter break? Let’s play some board games and card games — get away from screen time and let’s do some face-to-face time!

Everyone knows about the crazy popular game Cards Against Humanity, as well as POOP the Game, What the Food, and Game of Phones. We found out there’s actually a working mom behind many of these games, and her name is Shari Spiro. Shari is the founder and CEO of Ad Magic, the largest independent games printer in the US. Her company has printed more than 10 million customized card and board games that are unusual, fun, weird, racy, entertaining, educational, and (appropriate) fun for everyone at your holiday party, be it for adults, kids or the whole family!

This holiday, let’s have some good old-fashioned fun laughing, bonding, competing playing cards and boardgames!

 

Are you a fan of collectible DVD/Blu-ray gift sets? As a collector, I have purchased many over the years including “Pacific Rim” and recently the “Spartacus: The Complete Series” Limited Edition gift sets. You make not know it but all of these amazing figures/statues that comes with the movies are made by a fantastic company, Snap Creative. I was shocked to look around my office and realize that I had dozens of their products already.

I had the chance to interview CEO of Snap Creative, Bill Howard, to chats about their work with the recently released Blu-ray of “Transformers: Age of Extinction”, read here. Since then I have been tracking their upcoming releases closely. Their latest is with the Blu-ray release for reboot of “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” including a highly detailed collectible statue of Raphael from the film.

If you want this amazing Amazon exclusive Raphael statue you would need to buy the Limited Edition Gift Set of “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014)”, which includes a Blu-ray 3D + Blu-ray + DVD + Digital HD. When you want to talk about detail, this statue is outstanding. I mean, every detail is perfect from his red bandanna and his new look for the reboot. As you can see above Raphael, posed ready for battle with his twin sais geared up.

I was a fan of this reboot and they really captures him perfect by using the digital character model that they did in the movie to make this status. The figure stands 6.5 inches tall, which is standing on a small display base with street sewer entrance. The whole thing spans over 7 inches wide and nearly 5 inches deep. If you are a TMNT fan, then this Raphael statue is a must-have.  Can’t wait to see what Snap Creative has planned next for us!

It’s not too early to start thinking about 2015 travel! Sure, the holidays are right around the corner, but the greatest choices and travel deals for next year are available right now. In fact, leading international guided vacations company, Trafalgar, recently released its 2015 programs available for sale now and many of their packages have early payment discounts– which means you can save a lot of money!! For example, if you book one of their Europe & Britain vacations, you can save 10% if you book and pay for it by Dec. 18th.

Some of Trafalgar’s new programs include Europe & Britain (which includes 117 vacations across Trafalgar’s 10 travel styles and 44 countries), CostSaver Europe (budget-friendly Europe trips with more experiences that are optional), worldwide At Leisure (relaxed trips with lengthier stays), Family Experiences (action-packed trips for the whole family) and Hidden Journeys (tours with smaller groups). All of the Trafalgar vacations offer unique Insider Experiences like getting to dine with a local family– how cool is that?!

Visit www.trafalgar.com or talk to your local travel agent for more information! Oh and if you happen to be in any of these cities– they are hosting what’s called Travel Talks– FREE event where you can go to talk to travel experts, learn more about vacation packages, savings and even get a chance to win some cool travel prizes! Sign up to one of their upcoming Travel Talks.

When it comes to sneakers, I am a New Balance guy. Always have been. They have always delivered the best comfort and quality sneakers for me. I tried getting an expensive pair of Nike sneakers last year that were rated one of the best in 2013 and I felt that they just were made so poorly and were falling apart after one a few weeks of use.  A few months ago we did a feature on the New Balance Fresh Foam 980 Sneakers. I loved these sneakers. They were probably the best pair that I have ever owned…well that changed when I tried out the latest New Balance Glow 1400 Sneakers. If you are looking for a great running sneaker, these are the way to go! They would also make especially great gifts, hint hint, this holiday season!

These are sneakers are literally the brightest and lightest that I have ever seen. They literally only weight just over 7 oz and feel like you are walking on air. These are also Limited Edition Glow in the Dark Sneakers. Honestly, when I was told about these I thought to myself you had me sold at “Glow in the Dark Sneakers!” These actually have a nice glow to them. They are great for training and racing whether it is day or night. What I also love about them is that the “glow” aspect isn’t cheesy or a gimmick. It is subtle and yet at the same time very effective. It gives off a nice glow but it is also not obtrusive or annoying.  If you are running down a dark street, these are sure to let off some solid light.

There are two colors themes available Blue with Yellow and Grey with Yellow. I really like the look of the Blue with Yellow. It really looks sharp and quite slick. Right from the moment I put these on, it just felt perfect. Besides them being ultra-light, they also have a very secure fit and are made with innovative mesh/no-sew overlay upper and durable midsole cushioning. Comfort is definitely an absolute given with these sneakers. I will also be purchasing a second pair of these for sure since I want to make sure I have a backup on hand. My wife, who likes to try on my sneakers, made it clear that she would love a pair of these as well. So New Balance if you are reading, you got these in Women’s as well?

This holiday season, I received two Samsung products to review and feature in our holiday guide, the Samsung Gear 2 Neo Smartwatch and the Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 10.1 Tablet. These are both fantastic products and in my opinion MUST HAVE gifts for this holiday season. I will break each of them down with more details below. But since receiving them, I haven’t gone a day without using them and have quickly becoming my favorite pieces of technology outside of my smartphone, which is a Samsung Galaxy S5.

I have been researching Smartwatches for a while now and I have never really gotten on board with them as being a must have before. Once I had a chance to play with one hands on, I realized that I am unable to function without it. The Gear 2 Neo features apps, offline music playback, and heart-rate monitoring and much more. The downfall to some is that it only works only with Samsung phones and tablets but luckily enough I only use Samsung phones and tablets, so it couldn’t be more useful.

If you compare the Gear 2 Neo, which costs $199.99 to the Gear 2, which runs $299.99, it is not much different. The Gear 2 Neo has all the bells and whistles of the Gear 2 except the wrist camera, which is being fazed out of future models anyway and a metal wrist band. I personally do not need a camera on my wrist and the band of the Gear 2 Neo is absolutely perfect. In fact, I knew right out of the box that this Smartwatch was for me because I didn’t even have to adjust it either since it fit perfect instantly.

Other great features of the Gear 2 Neo are that it provide real-time notifications from your phone including Facebook and emails, as well as allowing you to receive and place calls when linked via Bluetooth to your phone. The device as an incredibly crisp 1.63″ Super AMOLED® display. It uses S Voice to allow you to speak directly to it in order to respond to texts, check email etc. All around, this is a fantastic device.

Next up is the Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 10.1 Tablet. Personally, I am tired of Apple’s iPads having a lock on the tablet market. Sure iPads are good but you can do so much more with a Samsung Tablet.  The 10.1″ screen comes with a beautifully sharp 1280 x 800 resolution. If you are a user of other Samsung products like myself, it will wireless integrate and sync with your contacts, music, apps and more. You can also download apps, games, movies, music and e-books from Google Play. The products cloud integration really provides a seamless crossover experience across all Android devices.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 10.1 Tablet comes with 16GB internal storage plus microSD slot, which has expandable storage up to 64GB. With the extra storage you can stores your music, movies, photos and more on the microSD card (sold separately) to save space. This is somethign that you cannot do with the Apple products. The device also features a Quad-core processor and is very fast to boot and allows rapid multitasking and stunning graphics on the games. It also features dual camera, a 1.3MP front camera and 3.0MP rear camera, which works well with face chatting with your friends and family. An iPads camera is slightly better with 5.0MP but to be me doesn’t look much different.

This Tablet also comes with get Samsung gift including trial periods to Box.com and SiriuxXM. It is also very light weight and easy to carry around. I also like the option to use Kids Mode for my daughter, so she can enjoy it without having me looking over her shoulders. If you are looking for a change from the iPad world, this is an amazing device to get started it and get introduced to the Android system. Plus the 16GB model is priced very well at around $319.99, which is a steal when you compare to the similar iPad Air 2, which is $449.99. Go Samsung for sure this holiday season!

Who remember playing Jenga when they were a kid or still play today with their own kids? Well, recently I was contacted to review Jenga GIANT! It’s just like Classic Jenga but MUCH BIGGER!!!! I mean much bigger. Jenga GIANT can stack to over 3 feet high! You may think this is a game for kids but let me tell you, we recently had a holiday/birthday/house warming party and this was a blast to play with friends and family. There were tons of laughs had and it really won the night for sure. This will be a great giant for the holidays, no question.

Each of the 54 blocks are precision cut blocks are sized at about 6 x 2 x 1.  They blocks are high quality polished hardwood. This comes in a sturdy box for easy storage and transport. The suggested age for this starts at age 10 to Adult, due to the size of the Jenga. But with the proper adult supervision, there is a lot of fun to be had here. Bigger is definitely better and I am glad to have found this renewed interest in Jenga. This is going to be the must play with our friends and family at parties and get togethers.

 

As you just spent the last few days fighting those “Black Friday” crowds, making sure that for years to come your children will know that you paid $10.00 less than anyone else for their JAWS Lego set, why not set aside some family time and take in a movie?

This time of year not only brings jolly Saint Nick around but also a lot of what the studios deem their “prestige” films – the ones to remember come award time.  Of course, they occasionally sneak in a couple of stinkers as well.  Here is a list of both for you to plan your next cinema visit.  As usual, thanks to our friends at the Internet Movie Database for some synopsis information and, as always, remember that this list is not all-inclusive and that the opening dates are subject to change depending on the whims of the studios and where you live.  Enjoy!

 

DECEMBER 

ESCOBAR:  PARADISE LOST

Starring:  Benicio Del Toro, Josh Hutcherson

Directed by:  Andrea Di Stefano

While vacationing in Columbia, a young man meets the woman of his dreams and soon finds himself introduced to her uncle, the infamous drug dealer Pablo Escobar.

OSCAR CHANCES:  Not a lot of buzz on this film but Del Toro did win an Oscar for his Supporting work in “Traffic.”

 

STILL ALICE

Starring:  Julianne Moore, Kate Bosworth and Kristen Stewart

Directed by:  Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland

When Alice Howland (Moore), a noted linguistics professor, begins forgetting words she learns she is in the early stages of Alzheimer.

OSCAR CHANCES:  Moore, a four time nominee, is generating great word of mouth for a fifth nod.

 

TOP FIVE

Starring:  Chris Rock and Rosario Dawson

Directed by:  Chris Rock

A comedian tries to make it as a serious actor when his reality-TV star fiancé talks him into broadcasting their wedding on her TV show.  Rock, who also wrote the film, promises this film to carry the edge of his stand up.

OSCAR CHANCES:  Adam Sandler also appears but who am I to dream?

 

WILD

Starring:  Reese Witherspoon and Gaby Hoffman

Directed by:  Jean-Marc Vallee

A chronicle of one woman’s 1,100-mile solo hike undertaken as a way to recover from a recent catastrophe.

OSCAR CHANCES:  Like Julianne Moore, Witherspoon, who already has a Best Actress Oscar for her work in “Walk the Line,” is getting great word of mouth.  Director Vallee guided both Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto to Oscars last year in “Dallas Buyers Club” and earned a nomination himself for his editing of the film.

 

DECEMBER 12

DEMONIC

Starring:  Maria Bello and Frank Grillo

Directed by:  Will Canon

A police officer and a psychologist investigate the deaths of five people who were killed while trying to summon ghosts.  The story comes from James Wan (“Saw,” “Insidious,” “The Conjuring”) so hopefully this will be on the plus side of horror.

OSCAR CHANCES:  “Horror,” asks the Academy, “what is that?”

 

EXODUS:  GODS AND KINGS

Starring:  Christian Bale and Joel Edgerton

Directed by:  Ridley Scott

The defiant leader Moses (Bale) rises up against the Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses (Edgerton), setting 600,000 slaves on a monumental journey of escape from Egypt and its terrifying cycle of deadly plagues.

OSCAR CHANCES:  Bale has one Oscar (Best Supporting Actor for “The Fighter”) and a second nomination while director Scott has been nominated three times, including for “Gladiator.”  Look for a lot of technical nods.

 

INHERENT VICE

Starring:  Joaquin Phoenix and Josh Brolin

Directed by:  Paul Thomas Anderson

In 1970, drug-fueled Los Angeles detective Larry “Doc” Sportello (Phoenix) investigates the disappearance of a former girlfriend.  Here’s a little trivia for you:  writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson’s production company is named Ghoulardi after the late night horror host his father, Ernie Anderson, used to portray on Cleveland television.  As a boy I loved Ghoulardi!

OSCAR CHANCES:  If Paul Thomas Anderson has made a bad film I’ve never seen it.  He and his casts are nomination magnets so look for plenty.

 

DECEMBER 17

THE HOBBIT:  THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES

Starring:  Martin Freeman and Cate Blanchett

Directed by:  Peter Jackson

The final episode of director Jackson’s “Hobbit” trilogy.  As he proved with the “Lord of the Rings” films, Jackson is a master storyteller and this last chapter should be amazing!

OSCAR CHANCES:  Technical across the board.

 

DECEMBER 19

ANNIE

Starring:  Quvenzhane Wallis and Jamie Foxx

Directed by:  Will Gluck

OK, the synopsis really has nothing to do with the Broadway musical except that Annie (Wallis) is an orphan and eventually she will sing “Tomorrow.”  This is the one film that I’m torn on.  I loved the original show – at one time it was so popular that when you went to audition for a musical you were told that you COULDN’T perform “Tomorrow” – so I’m trying to go in with blinders.  That fact that director Gluck only has a few PG-13 teen comedies on his resume, and that he helped produce the still horrible memory “About Last Night” remake makes me sad.

OSCAR CHANCES:  Young Miss Wallis remains the youngest Best Actress nominee EVER for her work in “Beasts of the Southern Wild” while Foxx not only has an Oscar for “Ray” but kicked ass in “Dreamgirls.”  I’m not looking for any here but hopefully I’ll be surprised.

 

THE GAMBLER

Starring:  Mark Walberg and Brie Larson

Directed by:  Rupert Wyatt

A literature college professor and high stakes gambler runs afoul of a loan shark and his bodyguard-like gangsters while he has an affair with one of his students.

OSCAR CHANCES:  Can’t see any.

 

TURNER

Starring:  Timothy Spall and Paul Jesson

Directed by:  Mike Leigh

An exploration of the last quarter century of the great, if eccentric, British painter J.M.W. Turner’s life.

OSCAR CHANCES:  Spall (probably best known as the band manager in “Rock Star” and Peter Pettigrew in the “Harry Potter” series, is getting huge word of mouth for his work here.  Writer/director Mike Leigh has seven previous nominations.

 

NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM:  SECRET OF THE TOMB

Starring:  Ben Stiller and Rebel Wilson

Directed by:  Shawn Levy

Larry (Stiller) spans the globe, uniting favorite and new characters while embarking on an epic quest to save the magic before it is gone forever.  The final film in the series sadly features the final performance of the great Mickey Rooney and one of the final performances of the beloved Robin Williams.

OSCAR CHANCES:  Technical?

 

DECEMBER 24

TWO DAYS, ONE NIGHT

Starring:  Marion Cotillard

Directed by:  Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenn

Sandra, a young Belgian mother, discovers that her workmates have opted for a significant pay bonus, in exchange for her dismissal. She has only one weekend to convince her colleagues to give up their bonuses so that she can keep her job.

 

OSCAR CHANCES:  Cotillard is a past winner for “La Vie en Rose” and is always a threat to earn a nomination.

 

DECEMBER 25

AMERICAN SNIPER

Starring:  Bradley Cooper

Directed by:  Clint Eastwood

A Navy S.E.A.L. recounts his military career, which includes more than 150 confirmed kills.  Based on the life of the late Chris Kyle.

OSCAR CHANCES:  Everyone I’ve spoken to who has seen this predicts nods for Cooper, which would be his third year in a row, and Eastwood, who already has two directing Oscars on the shelf (“Unforgiven” and “Million Dollar Baby”).

 

BIG EYES

Starring:  Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz

Directed by:  Tim Burton

A drama centered on the awakening of the painter Margaret Keane, her phenomenal success in the 1950s, and the subsequent legal difficulties she had with her husband, who claimed credit for her works in the 1960s.  A true change of pace film for director Burton.

OSCAR CHANCES:  Waltz has two Supporting Actor awards (“Inglorious Basterds” and “Django Unchained”) while Adams has been nominated five times previously.

 

THE INTERVIEW

Starring:  Seth Rogen and James Franco

Directed by:  Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen

Dave Skylark (Franco) and his producer Aaron Rapoport (Rogen) run the popular celebrity tabloid TV show “Skylark Tonight.” When they discover that North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un is a fan of the show, they land an interview with him in an attempt to legitimize themselves as journalists.  This is the second film co-directed by Rogen and his writing partner Goldberg, after the very funny “This is the End.”

OSCAR CHANCES:  “Comedy,” asks the Academy, “what is that?”

 

INTO THE WOODS

Starring:  Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt and Johnny Depp

Directed by:  Rob Marshall

A witch (Streep) conspires to teach important lessons to various characters of popular children’s stories including Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk and Rapunzel.  Based on the Tony Award winning musical by the legendary Stephen Sondheim.

OSCAR CHANCES:  Did I mention Meryl Streep is in it?  Director Marshall helmed “Chicago” to the Best Picture Oscar in 2003.

 

SELMA

Starring:  David Oyelowo and Carmen Ejogo

Directed by:  Ava DuVernay

The film looks at the lives of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr and President Lyndon B. Johnson as well as the turbulent civil rights marches of the 1960s.

OSCAR CHANCES:  A supporting cast of previous nominees (Tim Roth, Oprah Winfrey and Tom Wilkinson) and winner (Cuba Gooding, Jr) bode well for a possible nod.  Oyelowo was brilliant last year in “Lee Daniels’ The Butler.”

 

UNBROKEN

Starring:  Jack O’Connell and Jai Courtney

Directed by:  Angelina Jolie

A chronicle of the life of Louis Zamperini, an Olympic runner who was taken prisoner by Japanese forces during World War II.  As a long time follower of Lou Zamperini’s story this is one of my most anticipated films of the year.

OSCAR CHANCES:  The academy loves a good bio-film!

 

 

DECEMBER 31

A MOST VIOLENT YEAR

Starring:  Oscar Isaac and Jessica Chastain

Directed by:  J.C. Chandor

In New York City 1981, an ambitious immigrant fights to protect his business and family during the most dangerous year in the city’s history.

OSCAR CHANCES:  Both Isaac and Chastain are bright new stars in Hollywood.

Wit this Airblown Inflatable Frosty the Snowman Snow Globe you can instantly turns your yard into a winter wonderland. This is no joke either. When I took this bad boy out, I thought it would be pretty big…well it is gigantic. Even though it is large, this self-inflates in mere seconds and stands 8 ft. tall. This also lights up with bright LEDs, which is great because our outside theme is all LED. Lastly if all that isn’t enough, this features a sparkling falling snow effect in the globe.

Even though I love I am happy to display this front and center on my lawn, I have a few issues. I wish was that Frosty was a little bigger. Also he is wearing a top hat and then there is another top hat on the top of the snow globe. So that confused me a bit but this is still a great lawn figure. Gemmy is the company who put this out and they have tons of different Frosty inflatables. This is definitely the biggest for sure and looks great as a centerpiece on your lawn.

 

Related Content

• Product Feature “Disney Frozen Olaf Inflatable Outdoor Christmas Figure”
• Product Review “Cracker Barrel: Animated Singing Light Up Snowman”
• Product Review “Cracker Barrel: LED Village with Animated Tree”
• Product Review “Cracker Barrel: LED Christmas Tree with Music”
• Product Review “Cracker Barrel: Snowman Wood Sleigh Wall”

Rick & Morty, Adult Swim’s hilarious sci-fi animated comedy from Justin Roiland & Dan Harmon (“Community”) released its first season on Blu-ray and DVD last month. To celebrate this release, the creators joined actors Chris Parnell (“Saturday Night Live”) and Sarah Chalke (“Scrubs”) at New York Comic Con where they sat down with the press just prior to taking the stage for their panel.

Rick & Morty follows Rick (Roiland), a belching, misanthropic mad scientist who’s moved into his daughter Beth’s (Chalke) family home, much to the dismay of her husband Jerry (Parnell). Rick drags his poor grandson Morty (also Roiland) off on outrageous science adventures that include other planets, other dimensions and on occasion inside a human body.

What about the show do you think speaks to the audience?

Justin Roiland: I think it’s a bunch of things. It’s the sum of all these parts, like Harmon’s ability to tap into a sort of the more emotional core component. Making characters really relatable and real. And then me, my sort of crazy, insane retro scripting and I don’t know. It’s very strange. It’s a weird sort of perfect storm of creative, I don’t know—

Dan Harmon: The carefree vibe. Like you…it’s nice to feel like you’re watching something that kind of doesn’t care if you’re watching.

Roiland: Yeah, yeah.

Harmon: So it’s kind of that energy that a new project has an opportunity to have that’s just like ‘alright let’s just—’

Roiland: And maintaining that is tricky. You know we’re trying to continue to maintain that. I mean I love stuff where at the end of the episode, Rick’s like [dropping into the scientist’s voice] ‘Member back in the first act of the episode when you did this?!’ It’s like you know, fuck it. It’s a TV show. We all know what we’re watching. We’re watching a TV show. I just love that kind of stuff. Just not giving a shit. The end of MeeSeeks is a great example you know where he’s just like…’Hey!’—he’s waving at the camera— ‘Alright! See you guys next week! Fuck!’ You know, whatever, like ‘I don’t give a fuck is my new catchphrase!’ All that shit. I don’t know I think that just lends a very loose kind of…it just let’s everyone who’s watching go like—Well then there’s the people who go ‘Does Rick know he’s on a TV show? Is this like some sort of master plan?’ But no, it’s just us having fun and being loose and allowing ourselves to do that kind of stuff. And who knows, I don’t know if that’s the secret ingredient. I think there’s a lot of things that added together make the show really connect with people.

 

One standout character of the first season was Mr. Meeseeks, a loud blue guy that exists solely to complete one task set by the human who summons him into creation. He spends most of the episode trying to teach Jerry a better golf game. The cast even brought a lifesize Meeseeks along with them to NYCC!

 

What was the origin of Mr. Meeseeks? 

Roiland: Uh, we were breaking a story, Harmon was on tour for Harmontown, he was out of the room and I remember like we had some story…I don’t remember what the fuck the story was, but I was just like this fuckin’ sucks and I was like ‘We gotta have fun with this! And [dropping a Mr MeeSeeks-like squawk] I’M MR. MEESEEKS! I’M MR. MEESEEKS!’ and I just started doing that. [Series writer Ryan] Ridley got all mad at me and I was like ‘I’M MR MEESEEKS LOOK AT ME!’ And then I don’t know if it was until [Harmon] came back—I think we came up with like the conceit of the Meeseeks but then Harmon came back and really helped us fine tune the story with Jerry and the golfing and all that stuff kind of was after [Dan] got back because I remember [him] being in the room and the whole like wiggle at the end. When [Jerry] finally lands the putt and they all disappear. But it was really just like out of my frustration of us really banging our heads against the wall of the other story that was just lame and we couldn’t get it…And Ridley was all pissed. But then he kind of came around. But then there’s a lot of stuff in that episode…that’s verbatim, like ‘I’m Mr Boobybuyer—I’ll buy your boobies!’ that’s all Ridley kind of angrily pitching ‘OH WHY DON’T WE JUST, I’M MR BOOBYBUYER!?…I’M THIRSTY SLIPPERY STAIR, BLAHBLAH’ And I’m just like ‘That’s perfect! Type it up!’…Now I’ve found that when Ridley gets upset and angrily pitches things spitefully, I’m like ‘Pay attention, guys…this could be good to put in the show.”

 

What would you make your own personal Meeseeks do for you?

Sarah Chalke: Your own wish granting Meeseeks…

Chris Parnell: Wow. I guess to make me a lot of money, maybe you know?

Chalke: Yeah

Parnell: Just a lot of money.

Chalke: Then you don’t work and the Meeseeks goes out to work for you

Parnell: Well I still probably want to work because it comes with a certain sense of self-worth…you know…but yeah to have a lot of money. I’d buy a nicer house and put my kid through college. What would your Meeseeks do?

Chalke: Probably a lot of neck massages. They’d take over the barista duties of the household. Which are about 13 to 14 a day, so it’s a heavy job. So, barista Meeseeks.

 

My personal favorite episode, Rixty Minutes, had Rick showing the family a remote control that not only flipped channels, but show programming from entirely alternate universes, many of which were ab-libbed voice work by Roiland.

Lauren Damon: Were there any additional alternate universe scenes in Rixty Minutes that were cut?

Roiland: The production plan for that episode is so different from the normal production pipeline because we’ll write and the break the—I guess you could call it the B-Story, the A-Story, whatever the narrative is—and then we try to keep that relatively tight and small. A third of the overall episode run length and then all the sketches are just experimental. It’s just like, I’ll go in the booth and just riff and improv shit. Harmon will be on the other side…But yeah, it’s weird, it’s a huge strain on the team, you know.

Harmon: Was there ones that we cut?

Roiland: We cut a Seinfeld one. It was just like Seinfeld—Unrelated Seinfeld and he’s like [twisted Jerry Seinfeld whine] ‘What’s the deaaaaaaaal with Chinese BONES….Whhhhhhy do they taste so goooooood?’

Harmon: Yeah, it was a universe where all of Seinfeld observations were just totally unrelatable.

Roiland: Like ‘What’s the deal with HUGE cocks? WHY do they taste so good in my mouth?!’ And then Rick’s like ‘Jeez, uhhh, Seinfeld’s really—’

Harmon: ‘This universe’s Seinfeld, his observations aren’t really resonant…’

Roiland: But then the audience is just exploding in laughter [Morty’s voice] ‘Oh, boy they really like it though!’ But that got cut…we might have put that on the DVD as a cut, deleted scene. That pitch was probably better than what—if it’s on the DVD you’ll be like okay, I see why they cut this. A lot more got cut for this new one, I really cast a wide net. And our poor storyboard guys boarded way more than they needed to board. But anyways…

 

If you could travel to any of the Rick & Morty worlds, where would you go?

Chalke: Uhhh, planet Squanch

Parnell: That’s a good answer. Pluto. I wouldn’t mind going to Pluto. That’s one that comes up this season. Jerry goes to Pluto.

 

Do you ever have to ask the writers what the hell is going on when the shows really offbeat?

Chalke: I mean every time you read the script, it’s one of the funnest jobs for that reason. Like you get the script and you’re so psyched to see where it goes and I laugh out loud when I’m reading it so the jokes are crazy. That’s the fun part of it, you get to see all these different ways a character can go. Like we go to a different dimension in the second season. They have us go to other planets as well, so that was cool and different and I got to be…like our characters but in a different dimension. I don’t know if I’m allowed to say what so for that you got to try totally different voices. I was like a Warrior who talked like this [Deep roaring] ‘JERRY!’

 

How much is ad-libbed for you guys?

Chalke: Most is the scripts. I mean the scripts are genius, mostly it’s the script. But if something happens or comes up and I ad libbed that Beth was a burper like her father, so we throw some burps in there. One of my few talents is burping on cue.

 

Are you ever surprised by how much vitriol Justin can get in just saying “Jerry”?

Parnell: [laughs] Uh, no. But it’s fun, it’s fun to hear it. I mean—I don’t know if he does Rick and Morty at the same time, I kind of think he does, I mean I’ve seen him do it. In person. But it’s just, you know, it’s amazing to watch. And then also they get so many great guest voices, you know? Sometimes you can kind of pick out who it is…

 

Season one set up so many crazy things, are we going to follow up with them in season 2? Like the League of Ricks? And that evil morty? Does the continuity exist?

Roiland: It’s sprinkled throughout the season.

Harmon: A little goes a long way. I mean it’s like I have a lot—I come to the table with a lot of gun-shyness from Community because I feel like Community’s fanbase became so rewardable and was so thankful for continuity in the show and I never like to do inside stuff. Meaning that you would have to have seen something previous in order to get it, I always try to painstakingly avoid doing that but I felt like over five years, Community—because of the intense relationship the fans had with the show—it actually got branded as being more ‘inside’ than I ever strove for it to be. And so now I’m in the writer’s room in this new show and  we got Mr. Meeseeks, we got the Council of Ricks, we got a billion things that we just shot out you know and so the question ultimately becomes do we revisit that stuff? I tend to be the guy that says no, not yet. Just let’s show some restraint and then we’ll be rewarded for it later. And not that Justin’s like ‘NO let’s do everything again’ but he’s a little less convinced that it would destroy the show than I am. Somewhere in between there what happens is little sprinkles here and there.

Roiland: Yeah, we don’t want to jump the shark, so to speak, too quickly in the show in terms of giving away too much of Rick’s backstory and going back to all the things we’ve kind of established in season one—

Harmon: I will say we spent a great deal of time in the writer’s room this year revisiting a major thing from season one and ultimately it was all wasted time. I mean it might be spoilers for season three for me to talk about what we were doing…but I will say it was like four or five weeks of us talking about ‘Okay, the finale’s gonna be when we do this…’ and we ended up going this isn’t working. It’s sort of like the second Dungeons of Dragons episode of Community was cursed from the beginning because it’s like to decide that you’re just going to do something again, you better really have your shit together…Ultimately stories tell themselves. It’s already hard to do that. But if they’re fighting you because you decided that you know what a story is better than the story knows, than you’re really screwing yourself.

 

Did any of you have an older relative like Rick making a bad influence on your lives?

Roiland: Not a huge bad influence. Maybe a little bit. I think I’m a lot like him and I’m gonna die at a young age like he did…

Harmon: I had a great grandpa who died a hermit. He lost all his money in the stock market and then he made it all back but he never trusted banks after that. So he lived in a corrugated tin hut out in some land in Wisconsin. He was rich again but it was all cash under his mattress! And he was a theology major and like he was the only other Harmon who went to college I think.

Roiland: [Rick voice] ‘DAN! DAN! C’mere I got cash under my mattress!!’

Harmon: But I never got to meet him, he was my great grandpa. The first time I saw him was in a coffin. I think Rick is just a symbol of all our mental illnesses.

Roiland: Rick’s a weird combination of me and Dan. Depending on what episode you’re watching, it’s more Dan or more me.

 

Rick & Morty is out on Blu-ray & DVD and you can check out their full NYCC panel at Adult Swim’s YouTube page.