TV: John Adams (2008)

3 Discs: Anamorphic


Review: A realistic take on the founding of the United States from the perspective of the second president, John Adams. Starting with the Boston Massacre where Adams defended the British Soldiers in court to his death on the 50th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, this mini-series reveals the founding fathers as real men instead of heroic icons, their groundbreaking accomplishments mixed with their faults. An amazing cast!

Quotes:
"You do not need to quote great men to show you are one."

"The time for negotiation is past. The actions of the British army at Lexington and Concord speak plainly enough. If we wish to regain our natural-born rights as Englishmen then we must fight for them."

"My dearest friend, the break is made and now our work begins. You will think me transported with enthusiasm but I am not. I am well aware of the toil and blood and treasure that it will cost us to maintain this Declaration and support and defend these states. It is the will of Heaven that the two countries should be sundered forever. It may be the will of Heaven that America shall suffer calamities still more wasting and distresses yet more dreadful. Yet through all the gloom, I can see the rays of ravishing light and glory and that posterity will triumph in that day's transaction."

"Have you learned nothing, Mr. Adams? If you continue to exasperate and antagonize these people..."
"As I did in Philadelphia and we declared independence, you recall."
"In Philadelphia we negotiated independence."
"Well, you may be as patient and accommodating as you like, doctor, but for myself, I will not voluntarily put on the chains of France while I am struggling to throw off those of Great Britain!"

"The charge of vanity is the last refuge of little wits and of mercenary quacks! I have long learned, that a man may give offense, and he may still succeed!"

"Paris is unique."
"Yes, and best enjoyed in the company of women."
"Women would add interest to many things, Mr. Jefferson, if men would allow it."
"Well, that has been my experience, Ms. Adams."

"The English love an insult. It's their only test of a man's sincerity."

"There is an opinion among some people, Mr. Adams, that you are not the most attached of all your countrymen to the manners of France."
"Yes, well, I avow to your majesty that I have no attachment to any country but my own."
"An honest man will never have any other."

"Abigail. Here's a fine culmination to all my years of service - fewer than half the votes of the electoral college. General Washington is unanimously acclaimed President with 69 votes, whereas I apparently am scorned by all but 34 of the electors."

"My country has in its wisdom contrived for me the most insignificant office that ever the invention of man contrived or his imagination conceived."

"I've been, as you know, in revolutionary France, where the streets are filled with the songs of Liberty and Brotherhood, and the overthrow of ancient tyrannies of Europe. And to return from there to this, our cradle of revolution, and find the dinner table chatter is all of money, and banks, and authority, is an unwelcome surprise."
"Unwelcome perhaps, but necessary."

"Mr. President."
"Thank you, sir. Thank you."
"I am fairly out, and you are fairly in. See which of us will be the happiest."

"My thoughts are so clear to me... each one takes perfect shape within my mind. But when I speak, when I offer them to others, they seem to lose all definition."

5 out of 5 Stars

TV: Undeclared - The Complete Series (2001)

DVD: 4 Discs


Review: After the failure of Freaks and Geeks, this one-season show was the second TV series for Judd Apatow. Centering around the life of a college freshman and his dorm-mates, I liked this comedy much better than his first.

Quotes:
"Um, excuse me. We're like having a party tonight. Do you like want to come?"
"Oh, I'm a senior."
"Oh, that's cool."
"No sweetie, that means I'm not coming to your party."
"Wow! That sucked."

"From now on, we have total freedom. And now is the time in our lives when we are supposed to be experiencing everything."
"Exactly. Exactly. Like I can stay up to 11 now."
"And I can pierce anything I want."
"Yeah and, um, I can watch as much TV as I want to, you know, and eat candy all day."
"You know what we should do?"
"What?"
"We should have sex."
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah. For fun."
"Yeah, for fun. Right. Okay."
"Do you have a condom?"
"I have eight condoms."

"There's a scrunchie on the door."
"And I'm not in there... Wow!"

"I like the girl."
"Steven, women are crazy. You don't want to enter into a situation that makes them even crazier. Now, pardon me, but look at your mother. She seemed completely sane at the beginning. Now the girl you like, she's already starting at halfway nuts."
"Thanks Dad."
"We're ya going? Where ya... Okay, ignore the voice of experience."

"Aren't there any men on this campus?"
"What about Lloyd?"
"No, I don't like guys like that."
"Super hot English guys?"
"Pretty boys. They are so boring. I want to meet someone with personality. Depth."
"Oh, you mean an ugly guy?"
"Shut up, you're so shallow."
"What?! I had sex with Steven."
"Yeah, that's true."

"How did you get so smart?"
"Uh, I uh, I read, I read like 8 or 9 books a week."
"Wow!"
"I also do a lot of speed. All the time."

"What do you think?"
"Is that as big as your, uh, your boobs get?"
"Oh! I have a shirt for that!"

"The guys who make this magazine are geniuses. It's like they made it just for me, you know? Hey Ron, what do you want to read about this week? Another article about Alyssa Milano's jugs? Perfect! That's what we'll make. You know, right there."

"She's going to call my mother! My parents are crazy! They're psychiatrists and they will put me on anti-depressants. I'll lose my highs and my lows and I'll have to live in the middle."

"He's afraid of commitment, that's cool."
"How about this? I'm exploring my options."
"Lizzie... Your right hand... Those are your options."

"What were some things that mom always wanted you to do but you never did?"
"I don't know... learn to read minds!"

"Theo, I am sorry I blew you off tonight."
"That's okay. I had a really awesome time tonight. I danced with a really hot girl and I almost touched her butt twice and she didn't even get mad."

4 1/2 out of 5 Stars

TV: House, M.D. - Season 1 (2004-2005)

DVD: 6 Discs - Anamorphic


Review: Normally I never watch medical shows, but this one happened to catch my attention one night flipping through the channels and it addicted me. I enjoy the Sherlock Holmes theme as Dr. House and his team attempt to diagnose a new medical mystery each episode. Because of Hugh Laurie's talented betrayal of House, I don't even mind the repetitive nature of the show.

Quotes:
"I thought everybody lies?"
"Truth begins in lies."

"Am I ever going to meet Dr. House?"
"Maybe at the theater or the grocery store."
"Is he a good man?"
"He's a good... doctor."

"I just want to die with a little dignity."
"There's no such thing! Our bodies break down, sometimes when we're 90, sometimes before we're even born, but it always happens and there's never any dignity in it! I don't care if you can walk, see, wipe your own ass... it's always ugly - ALWAYS! You can live with dignity; you can't die with it!"

"We should look into the girlfriend's theory... She thinks she rode him to death."
"What'd you tell her?"
"Well, I told her twenty-two year old men don't die of sex!"

"Sex could kill you. Do you know what the human body goes through when you have sex? Pupils dilate, arteries constrict, core temperature rises, heart races, blood pressure skyrockets, respiration becomes rapid and shallow, the brain fires bursts of electrical impulses from nowhere to nowhere, and secretions spit out of every gland, and the muscles tense and spasm like you're lifting three times your body weight. It's violent. It's ugly. And it's messy. And if God hadn't made it unbelievably fun, the human race would have died out eons ago."

"How can you treat someone without meeting them?"
"It's simple if you don't give a crap about him."

"This is our fault. Doctors over-prescribing antibiotics. Got a cold? Take some Penicillin. Sniffles? No problem. Have some Azithromycin. Is that not working anymore? Oh, got your Levaquin. Antibacterial soaps in every bathroom. We'll be adding Vancomycin to the water supply soon. We bred these superbugs. They're our babies. And they're all grown up and they've got body piercings and a lot of anger."

"But if we stop everything, he'll get worse."
"True. Then we'll add our medications back one at a time. If he gets better then we'll have our answer."
"And if he doesn't get better?"
"Then we're in trouble. Not as much as he is. I suppose that's your point."

"You learn anything?"
"Yeah... I'm an addict."

"Oh! This is where I give you advice and pretend you're going to listen to it. I like this part. Did Rowan ask you not to tell?"
"I promised I wouldn't. My fingers were crossed, though, so I'm wide open."
"I was wrong! This is the musing-out-loud part. Do I actually need to be here?"

"You guys don't think it's weird House knew the patient needed a heart transplant before we did any heart tests?"
"That's House. He knows things."
"But usually he's putting it in our face, telling us how cleverly he figured it out. This time, nothing. Just 'I had a hunch'."

"Billionaires buy movie studios to get laid. They buy hospitals to get respect."
"And the reason you want respect?"
"To... get laid."

5 out of 5 Stars

Film: Enemy of the State (1998)

Blu-Ray


Review: If not for Gene Hackman, I think this film would not rate as highly for me. Will Smith does a decent job as the average citizen caught up in a government cover-up, but the film really improves when Hackman makes his appearance at the halfway point. With all the recent revelations of government tracking of telephone calls and internet usage, the theme of this film only grows more timely. It is also interesting to recognize a lot of the actors playing the faceless NSA technicians this time around.

Quotes:
"We believe Mr. Zavitz may have passed sensitive materials to you."
"What sort of materials?"
"Sensitive, sir."

"Jones, Krug, what, are you guys from Communications?"
"No, we're Ops."
"You can tell by their haircuts."

"Tell us abut Rachael Banks."
"I'll tell you what. Rachael, was my girlfriend in my second year of law school, we still remain in close contact, and we swap information from time to time."
"Did you have an affair with her 4 years ago?"
"Ever beat off in the shower, Brian? Ever had any homosexual thoughts?"
"Bob, that's..."
"None of my fuckin' business. You're damn right it's not. I love my wife and I love my son, absolutely with no equivocations, and that's none of your fuckin' business either."

"You're transmitting. Get rid of your watch."
"My wife gave me this watch."
"Then keep it."

"If you live another day I will be very impressed."

"Planning a quick getaway?"
"Ever since I met you."

"Can you get a feature scan and pattern matching on him?"
"No, he's smart, he never looks up."
"Why does he have to look up?"
"The satellite is 155 miles above the Earth. It can only look straight down."
"That's a bit limited, isn't it?"
"Well, maybe you should design a better one."

"Fort Meade has 18 acres of mainframe computers underground. You're talking to your wife on the phone and you use the word 'bomb', 'president', 'Allah', any of a hundred keywords, the computer recognizes it, automatically records it, red-flags it for analysis. That was 20 years ago."

"What the hell is happening?"
"I blew up the building."
"Why?"
"Because you made a phone call."

4 out of 5 Stars