Who Is Billy Crystal?

      After we posted our Friday article on the incoming Academy Awards this Sunday on February 26th we have been getting a few questions being asked about the event, though this is the trending question right now and it took us by surprise. When you think about it it shouldn't surprise us that so many people have no idea who Billy Crystal is, the last big movie he was in, was "Monster's Inc" in 2001, where though he does a fantastic job we never get to see his face, so even those that saw him there don't have that familiarity with the actor. 2001, that's 11 years since we have seen a performance by Billy, which means that there is a generation out there that has never heard of the guy or seen anything he has done, the average age of those who don't know who he is goes from new born kids all the way up to 16 years of age which means that it should come to no surprise that so many people don't know who he is. Thus we decided to take the time this week to run a crash course of people that will be there on Sunday that you should know, starting with our boy Billy.

     Billy Crystal has been involved in many good movies that you should definitely check out, but one big break in the beginning of his career was being in the TV show Soap in 1977-1981 where those that had not heard of him yet were made aware of his presence. Soon after, Billy finally found the genre he fits in perfectly comedies and romantic comedies where he was a hit in movies like "This Is Spinal Tap" (1984), "Princess Bride" (1987) and "Throw Momma From The Train"(1987).  This is the period in his career where many began to love Billy Crystal and find him hilarious, it was a good starter for his next big move, the movie that truly set him apart and probably the one role he has been in that will be remembered for years to come.

     There are many romance movies out there but one of the most watched romance movies of all time is "When Harry Met Sally" released in 1989. This was his break, his big contribution and the movie that set him up to forever be remembered. We would be willing to bet that for the majority of those within this generation, where Billy was absent, that know who he is, do so because of this movie. From here on out Billy took a different route, he was now loved by everyone, so in short he could have been in any role he choose, but instead he decided to lay low for a little while, and do what he loved most, stand up comedy.

     Throughout his career Billy had been doing stand up shows and really this was the reason for his success. Even before "When Harry Met Sally" Billy had had a huge presence within the stand up world. He had been part of Saturday Night Live, he had released various comedic videos, he even had his own TV show for a while. Though his comedic career made him known by many, it was only after "When Harry Met Sally" where he became known by the whole world, and thus him being chosen to host the Academy Awards in 1990 came as no surprise to anyone. Not only did he do a fantastic job hosting it but he did so well that he was invited back 9 times, that is truly impressive and something that looks very good within a person's resume.

    He then sought to go the comedic route and put the movie business on the side, he wasn't part of many great movies for a while until 1998 where he came out in "My Giant", the classic "Analyze This" in 1999 with Robert De Niro, and "America's Sweethearts" in 2001 where he was brilliant in. From then we have him doing voice work on "Monsters Inc" in 2001 and now the long awaited and soon to be released "Monsters University" that should be coming out on 2013. Thus Billy Crystal has been on a lot of good movies that you should check out, give the guy a chance he's kind of a legend.

    So now when the Academy Awards happens this coming Sunday and one of your friends asks the question "who is Billy Crystal" you'll be be able to answer them and educate them on a very talented performer who deserves to be remembered in the ages to come, if nothing else you'll be able to answer "he's the 'When Harry Met Sally' guy", which works.

   We hope you all have a fantastic Monday and may this week be a great one for you,

Love from your humble blogger,

A Little Something For Everyone

     This year has just started and a lot of awesome things have been getting made, new products are being announced and overall this year is panning out to be a great one. There's so much to be exited about that sometimes its tough to choose what to be excited over. There is an indisputable feeling of re-freshness when one realizes how great a year is going to be, thus we decided to compile a few reviews of cool things that recently came out in order to share the joy and hope that this will be an awesome year, there is a little something for everyone here, there is so much going on already we can't help but look forward to all else this year will bring.

     The Most Watched Valentine's Day Movie

       The Vow had everything in it to make it a great movie, it had a good cast, a good story based off of a real story which always works well, and the preview of the movie caused many to go into tears mode, one would imagine that this movie would have been great, but there was a forgotten element, an important element, that this movie missed, one that should never be overlooked, the script. The movie in itself was not a wretched movie, it was a fun movie to watch and it was a tear jerker, but it did not have good dialogue to go with it, this is kind of a big flaw. A requirement within romance movies is that those that love chick flicks will go and cry and enjoy themselves while those that don't are at least presented with a good script, some laughs, and an overall ok experience. The problem with "The Vow" is that because of the poor script many could not find enjoyment within this movie, many who love chick flicks have also admitted to the fact of poor scripting, it's unfortunate really. In the end this movie was a 2/5 at best, with good company it might go to 2.5/5.

      Star Wars Episode I 3D

     So some of us got the chance to go watch Star Wars Episode I 3D this weekend and we assure you that it was just as corny as it has always and that Jar Jar was as terrible as he has always been. Let's be honest here Episode I is just not that good, the acting is lacking, the script is poor, Jar Jar is in it, and we have the George Lucas' "every scene must have 10 things going on in the background" syndrome. So did the 3D help it at all? Kind of, the 3D effects weren't used often so at times you could take off your glasses and see the movie normally which is to no surprise being that it wasn't filmed in 3D to begin with, some still were disappointed though for the rumors of 3D and the re-release screamed tons of changes and there were only a few so that was disappointing to some. We are on the team that says the least amount of changes Lucas ever does to a movie the better we are, they are rarely good changes to begin with so we're better off without them. The movie is still part of the Star Wars series so loyalty alone carries fans on. The interesting thing about this movie is that the new generation of watchers love it, while the older generation hates it, which happened for good reason, Lucas made this movie with the new generation in mind, so if you go see it do so with this in mind. Overall this movie was a 2.5/5, with good company and comedic commentary it can raise to a 3.5/5 (it's a lot of fun to make fun of this movie). 

      Mass Effect 3 Demo

     For the gamers out there the Mass Effect 3 demo came out yesterday and it blew our minds. In the demo you go through the introduction and one of your first missions in which you get to test controls, fighting mechanics, you get to see how much they have improved the environment and graphics in general, and overall get a little taste of how awesome this game is going to be. ME3 is the most looked forward to game of this year, so lucky to all other games that its coming out next month, thank god that it is. For those new to the game this is the third installment of the series and its conclusion, the big deal with this series is that its a real time role playing shooter that engages you in your decision making and every choice you made on the previous games change the way the story flows within this game. What this means is that the replay value for this game is out of bounds the most developed anyone has ever attempted before. No game has ever incorporated your choices from a previous game into its sequel, not only that but being able to import your own character is awesome as well. Overall ME3 is promising a ton, even a multiplayer mode which IGN just recently praised, and after playing through this demo we can only summarize that Bioware are actually going to be able to deliver all the awesome they promised. Here is a game worth looking forward to, be it on your PS3 or your Xbox 360, or even your PC, this game will be available to all. Look for it March 6th.  

     Source Fed

    If you are a long time reader you know we love Phillip D Franco and everything he does on YouTube, well Phil and his team have recently started a new channel called Source Fed where we get everything we loved from Phil's channel taken to the next level and basically we get everything that mattered throughout the day in 2 min segments they call "20 minutes or less". This channel not only keeps you up to date on everything that is going on in the world but it does so with good humor, good writing, and a great cast, they also have a blog with more relevant news to quench your thirst if you want more. Phil or sxephil will continue to produce his own videos that we love and will take part in some of the Source Fed stuff. This is a good way to stay on top of things that are going on around you, new movie reviews, random social critiques and so forth, it is always a good idea to stay informed on what is going on around you. Be warned that Phil has been known to curse and have more mature content so if you are offended don't see his videos but Source Fed is family friendly, at least so far we have not seen any material or dialogue that was risque. So in the end Source Fed is a good YouTube channel to be filled in on everything that is going on around the world, they update whenever anything of relevance is happening, so almost every day, and house some of the most talented people within YouTube, be sure to give them a look.

   There are a lot of other updates to be made of games coming out, movies to see, Angry Birds is now on Facebook (What?! Yeah!!), and with the Academy Awards coming up there is a lot happening, we hope you enjoyed today's blog and that there was something in here for all of you. Be sure to come back on Friday where we will be discussing the Academy Awards and putting our two cents on who deserves the Oscars this year. 
 
 We hope you are having a good week and we pray that you will finish strong and have a glorious weekend,

 Love from your humble blogger,