Ryan j Budke

Despite once upon a time being a television blogger, I’ve always found it hard to write about movies. Don’t get me wrong, I love movies, I love them so much I tend to go on a roll and ramble on and my writing turns to shit. I could talk about, argue and discuss movies until I’m blue in the face, but my writing about them just sucks. On top of that, I’m much too nice, I can critique, but prefer to talk about the stuff I enjoy. If you’re looking for a balanced, well written, actual critic, look no further than Lon Harris.

All that said, 2008 was very possibly my favorite year for movies ever. Iron Man and Dark Knight both showed that comic book movies could be legitimate and amazing, and didn’t it by taking the genre in two totally different directions. Indiana Jones returned and was an awesome blast from the past (yes, I enjoyed the hell out of it). There were great surprises like Tropic Thunder and Slumdog Millionaire, and those that you could have counted on like Burn After Reading and Frost/Nixon.

I normally count the days for movies from Gus van Sant, David Fincher, Danny Boyle, Ron Howard, the Coen brothers, and Darren Aronofsky, and this year we got them within weeks of each other. Films as a whole are very much a group effort, but there have been so many individual standout performances. Again, with standards that you could count on like Clint Eastwood (in front of and behind the camera), actors like Anne Hathaway who you hoped had it in them, and those like Robert Downey Jr. and Mickey Rourke who came roaring back.

I enjoyed 2008’s movies like I remember enjoying movies when I was little. I had fun, and can’t wait to see what 2009 holds… but I’m rambling.

I meant to write something about this a few months ago, but totally forgot about it. As you’ll recall, I’ve had a bit of a (made up, fantasy, non-existant) history with Stacy Keibler. One of my first posts that got ran by AOL when I was at TV Squad was basically me creepily asking her out. Then, just this past summer at ComicCon, I was hanging out with Keith McDuffee and totally pussed out by not even talking to her.

I recently ended a certain sabbatical on New Year’s, and was talking about it tonight with young Mr. Gallagher who said I should try and date Stacy Keibler. Not only is that a stroke of brilliance, but it reminded me that I never posted these pictures. You see, I found myself at an Emmy party just a few weeks after ComicCon and had a rare second shot, and I took it. I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves and fill you in on when the wedding will take place.

Don LaFontaine, “King of Voiceovers”, Dies at 68. If you’ve seen a movie trailer in the past 2+ decades, chances are you’ve heard Don LaFontaine’s iconic voice. He’s mostly known for doing the “In a world…” style of movie trailers, famously recording the voiceovers for Terminator 2 and The Godfather, but has lent his voice to everything from videogames, comedy sketches and cartoons.

He’s also been parodied by a number of comedians and in a number of skits, but probably most famously by Pablo Francisco. I had the pleasure of meeting both Don and Pablo last year, during the first time they had ever met face to face to boot, and you couldn’t ask for two nicer guys.

Don wrote me a really nice email a few days later, and it was really humbling to be in direct contact with a Hollywood legend. You’ll be missed Don.

In a world… without Don LaFontaine… everything seems a little less… dramatic.

I’ve had the pleasure of seeing Tropic Thunder a few times now, and if you were transfixed to your tv this past week watching Michael Phelps bring home the gold, I can’t recommend enough that you find the time to go check it out. It’s absolutley hilarious, and that’s coming from a guy who’s normally not a Ben Stiller fan. Rober Downey Jr. and Tom Cruise steal every scene there in, and Jay Baruchel solidifies his place in the next generation of comedy stars.

I also went to the red carpet premiere last Monday with the Mahalo Daily crew (episode here), thanks to an awesome friend at Paramount, and while I didn’t take any pictures of me there (yea, I know, dumb) I did find this little gem online. It’s of Jack Black and his wife, and barely in the background, you can see John, Leah and myself. Booyah.

Dark Knight Babies – ComicMix news.

I’ve always liked the guys behind Reno 911 and The State, so normally anything they do is great. But when you combine them acting as authority figures with already socially awkward people at the ComicCon… pure magic.

Thomas Lennon and Ben Garant in Nerd Alert: Comic Con 2008 from Comic Con, Thomas_Lennon, and Ben_Garant.

When I was still working over at TV Squad, I wrote a piece called I want a date with Stacy Keibler. Well, this past weekend I not only finally got to meet my former boss at TV Squad, Keith McDuffee, but also the chance to at least talk to Stacy.

It was at an ABC Family Party that Keith was nice enough to drag me along to, and Stacy was there. So after a little liquid courage, a little prodding from Keith, I got up the nerve…. and totally wussed out.

You won this round fate, but I’ve now rededicated myself to the cause. It’s on.

I feel like a recent episode of Lost, I HAVE to go back. We have to find a way. Yes ladies and gentlemen, I spent last Friday night at The Playboy Mansion. No matter how awesome you think it is, multiply that by roughly 8,000. It was THAT cool. Hef sitting in his smoking jacket, the exotic animals, the trampolines, women dancing on platforms out in the middle of the pool, I saw it all.

For me, the most surreal moment was sitting in the infamous grotto having a drink with the guys. Such an amazing night.

If you don’t believe me, make sure to check out the pictures on flickr.

After getting sliced and diced this morning, I had the opportunity to catch up on some TV from the past few weeks. One of the shows was NBC’s quarterlife which started life as a serial on MySpace and then aired on MTV. Holy shit, avoid this trainwreck at all costs. It was supposed to be about a group of friends pretty similar to myself, in their mid-twenties, “finding themselves in a digital age” was one of NBC’s tags for it I believe. In retrospect I’m ashamed to say I was actually looking forward to this. Luckily it looks like all of America agreed, and the show is going to get yanked after a single episode, but I’m at a rare juncture of no pain, no drug haze and rage at the moment that I’m going to rant on.

First off, it was envisioned and being headed up by “the team behind thirtysomething“, let’s just pause and reflect on that for a second. Now, I’ve never watched thirtysomething, but I’ve hardly heard a bad word about it, and the reason it continues to get such praise today is because it was a very personal and poignant show written by a group who were going through the same trials and tribulations that were reflected in their stories. That was 20+ years ago, when they were actually IN their 30’s. So who the f*ck thought they’d be able to write from the perspective of their children in today’s age?

quarterlife was like someone pulled out a list of bad Web 2.0 buzzwords and were peppering and already shitty script with as many of them as they could. “Did we have her say blog in the past five minutes? No? What about video-casting?” Do the writers even know what this stuff means? I don’t know who this was marketed towards, because I don’t know anyone in my demographic who would relate to it, and my parents and grandparents both have better grasps of what the online world is like that they couldn’t be shoveled this shit.

This is all just the icing on a truly truly awful story and cast. Oh, look at our main character, she’s misunderstood and doesn’t tuck her shirt in. She’s spunky and she’ll stand up to her comic book-esque evil boss though in a moment of grandeur. No, she’s 25, if she can’t dress herself, she doesn’t need to be running a website. Grow the hell up.

Comedy Central sent me an early screening of Lewis Black’s Root of All Evil, and you know what? It’s really funny. Now, you might be saying to yourself “But Ryan, aren’t all shows on Comedy Central funny? I mean the channel’s name is Comedy Central after all” and I’d say to you “Shut the hell up. Why do I keep writing really really stupid comments that I pretend are coming from my audience.” No, Comedy Central gives a lot of shows a chance, but for every Sarah Silverman Program, there’s a dozen Trucker and T-Bones, Halfway House or American Body Shop. It looks like they’ve definitely got another winner on their hands though.

The premise is a play on all the reality court shows. Lewis Black acts as judge and presides over which of two “blights on humanity” is the real “Root of all Evil”. The first two episodes pitted Oprah against The Catholic Church and Donald Trump against Viagra. Two comedians then argue the case that the entity their representing is the true root of all evil.

I don’t want this to sound like a review or a commercial, it genuinely is a funny ass show and I would expect most of you guys will love it. I was laughing for almost the entire time. Granted I do live with one of the most hateful people in the world who thinks he’s Lewis Black but comes off more like Oscar the Grouch and that adds a whole new level of funny… but it is a funny show and I’ll always take more Lewis Black.