What is next on my list? The O.C.

Yes, I mean the 2003 TV series on FOX. Why am I reviewing this particular show? Because I loved it, and therefore you must too!

The main plot is quite easy and as a matter of fact very smart too. We get to know Ryan, who is an under aged boy who gets caught with his brother stealing a car. Why are we interested in him? Ryan is a bright kid, smart and quick, his only problem is that he is brought up in a neighborhood not so good... As a matter of fact he lives in Chino (which if you have never heard of or seen in television, need to imagine it like the criminal block in your city. Nobody has any money and they live in horrible circumstances therefore everyone is a criminal. Yes, it is highly, highly stereotypical). Again, why is this important? Many people who are different get oppressed by their surrounding for being that way and therefore become like everyone else. But in this very story line Ryan is offered to stay at the house of the public attorney Sandy Cohen, assigned to him by the state. Sandy’s wife Kirsten makes a ton of money and therefore Ryan has a chance for a new life. The idea of someone with bright prospective being saved by his own friends and family who treat him unfairly and then a possibility of a new life is in itself a beautiful idea. But we only cared about Ryan’s backgrounds till the second episode of the second season... From that point on it turned into something whole different. We kind of forgot there was a time he wasn't rich and all the necessary TV series clichés started to take place one after another (but it never got as bad as One Tree Hill...).

Still it is one of my favorites of all time, because it was even good before they cancelled it and I always hate the American public, because hundreds of shows that I like get cancelled because THEY don’t watch it, while they are innovative and fun, instead they waste their brain cells on stupid and incredibly dull and yes, let me say it once more, STUPID reality TV. I mean, where does the point come when we say, yeah, let’s NOT film THAT!

But never mind let us get back to California, the city of Newport. Oh that song, it gets into your ears and never leaves...

The first season mostly concentrates on how much stuck up snob kids dislike and hate Ryan and they are not very pleased with newcomers. Except for Seth, the Cohen’s only son who loves having a friend and a brother and Marissa, the girl next door who will obviously become the love interest. In this season we concentrate on the “not with you nor without you” relationship of Marissa and Ryan and the love interest and girlfriend of Seth, Summer, Marissa’s best friend. The Cohen’s adopt Ryan, Marissa’s parents get divorced, she becomes an alcoholic and because Ryan has got pregnant his ex-girlfriend from Chino, he moves back home and Seth moves away to Portland because he is pissed at Ryan for leaving, this way breaking Summer’s heart.

The second season, of course, like every TV series in history begins with new additions to the cast! Kirsten’s dad Caleb, Newport’s number one man marries Marissa’s mom Julie. This way the two families are now legally connected, but this leaves Kirsten pretty upset. She lost both her sons and her dad married her biggest enemy. Sandy struggles to get his sons back, no luck so far. And Marissa is still a drunk. Sounds fun so far, huh? Anyway, Ryan is told that his girlfriend lost the baby, and she doesn’t want him to go home because she knows he is unhappy. He gets Seth and they go home. Kirsten is very happy, but the plot thickens... Caleb is in a trial and is paying some woman, we don’t know way, but later found out he is paying child support, since he cheated on Kirsten’s mother and had a child. It is just later that we discover that his child is the same one Ryan shares class with and ends up dating. Marissa is seeing her gardner and Summer is dating a boy who is exactly like Seth, except he is good at sports. All with new pairs try to survive another horrible Christmas, without much success. Marissa becomes a lesbian for a little way, but she and Ryan end up back together, just like Seth and Summer. Trey, Ryan’s brother gets out of jail and is given a hand by Ryan to get back on his feet. Unfortunately he falls for Marissa and forces himself on her while Ryan is away to visit the Cohen’s nana. When Ryan finds out, he becomes himself and attacks Trey, they fight, struggle and Trey almost chokes him when Marissa shows up and shots Trey in the back. END OF SEASON TWO!!!

In this last scene, when Trey is shot, the song „Hide and seek” from Imogen Heap starts to play (click on the title to see on YouTube which song is this). 

This very last scene has become a cultural icone, many-many internet reviewers, blog writers and college humor videos use this song when someone is shot. From now on you’ll know, it is the parody of The O.C.

Season three begins with Ryan having nightmares. Kirsten’s father dies in the previously last episode, and the richest man in the city leaves them no money, as it turns out, he had none. Julie is too ashamed to admit she has no money, so she moves into a trailer park while Marissa moves to Summer’s house. The police lets Ryan go, as we discover, after Trey gets to his senses, that it was Marissa who shot him. He flees from Newport and Ryan and Marissa try to get their relationship back. Kirsten, who also became a drunk thanks to her dad, comes home from rehab to find Sandy has left his attorney job to become the new president of her dad’s old company, which she wasn’t able to handle. NEW CHARACTERS!!! Summer’s dad is brought into the picture and he dates Julie for a little while; Marissa is kicked out from her school because of the shooting and at her new school meets a kid named Johnny. (I F***ING HATED HIM!!! He was like a little puppy, except he wasn’t cute, and he had an accident so Marissa felt sorry for him, and of course he fell for her! Everytime he rolled in we had to be sorry, because poor puppy, but he was just miserable and ugly!!). Johnny of course dies, I mean, why not? But Ryan and Marissa are driven apart. She starts dating some douchebag who cheats on her, while Ryan hooks up with Johnny’s cousin Casey, who might have been the biggest mis-cast in the history of television! Sandy leaves his job, because he hates it, their marriage falls back into place and they are happy again. Seth and Summer apply to Seth’s dream University, even though they know that that University only takes one person from their school. And so it happens that Summer gets accepted, but Seth isn’t able to tell her he didn’t, so he breaks up with her, wanting her to go and be happy. It is almost too late, but he gets her back by applying to a University near her, at least in the same state, and their union is strengthend. Marissa decides to move away after graduation to her dad’s boat, and asks Ryan to be with her her last night. On their way to the airport, the douchebag she was seeing gets them into a car accident and Marissa dies. END OF SEASON THREE!!!

At this point, I started to cry, so goddamn hard, you have no idea! My sister couldn’t console me, nobody could. I hoped that is just a cliffhanger, surely they can’t kill her! But two days later I found the article in the daily paper, Metro, which stated that she was indeed done with The O.C., I cried again. It was not made much clear why she left, I believe there was a breach of contract and she was fired. I was really, really sad. In my life I had never cried on a TV series, nor a movie, my first time was at the end of the second season, when Kirsten had her intervention from the family. Ever since then, I can’t sit through an entire of season of The O.C. without finishing a box of Kleenex!  (But that goes as well when I watch ER, Grey’s Anatomy, the season ending of 24, several One Tree Hill episodes and when Lilly Rush, Kathryn Morris’s character in Cold Case got shot.)

So that brings us to season four. Two characters, already presented in the previous season get a more serious role, Marissa’s little sister Kaitlin, who so conviniently just got back from boarding school and an old school mate of theirs, Taylor. Summer is at Brown, she became and environmentalist, which drives Seth mad. Ryan won’t get on with his life and keeps having nightmares until he confronts the douchebag and tells him that this was his fault. He killed her, not Ryan and he will not carry this burden with himself. Ryan and Taylor start dating, well, Taylor falls in love with him, but she doesn’t get him on her hook right away. And Julie starts to date some rich guy from Texas while she is blackmailed by a weird man to give him information about Ryan. We discover that is Ryan’s father, who got out from jail and is back to make sure his son is OK. He and Julie fall in love and she gets knocked up. The Cohen’s expect a baby as well, but find that they are not happy in their home anymore. What to do?

Season four was cancelled after 16 episodes in 2007 because of the lack of viewers. It was to be expected that that would highly decrease with the loss of Marissa, as she brought in several fans. But I am very glad that they brought the story to an end for all of those viewers and fans that stayed true to the series even after one of its star characters got killed off. Mostly, what was so beautifully done is the very last minutes of the last episode. Summer decides to take a job protecting the environment while Seth waited for her proudly during the university. We have a scene were we see them get married. Kirsten and Sandy have a new baby, a little girl and they leave Newport to move back to their old house in Berkley. Julie, instead of being dependant of a man again, decides to go back to school, which she never got to finish because of getting pregnant with Marissa. She gets her graduation diploma and keeps raising her newborn son and daughter. Ryan keeps dating Taylor, as she completes her, unlike Marissa who sadly just ended up bringing out all his bad traits. Also, he finally starts University, which he couldn’t after Marissa’s death and becomes and architect like his always dreamt he could be. In the very last scene, as he goes home from a construction site, he sees a boy with his bicycle waiting next to a payphone (which is the same scene we can see in the pilot episode when California starts to play; only the kid is Ryan and Sandy rescues him). He sees himself back when he needed a hand from life; he turned to him and said “Hey kid. You need help?”.

Of course, as mentioned, there are several clichés this series couldn’t avoid, just like none of them can if they are 40 minutes long and are categorized as “drama”. But it is touching, somewhat really funny and heartwarming. If you have ever been an outcast, you will find this TV series appeals to you. And yes, you surrounding and neighborhood makes you, the only thing you can do is try to fight it, no matter what. Nothing is worse than losing yourself!

Season 1, 2, 3 and 4 are available on amazon.com if you are looking for region 1 DVDs, or you can look it up on amazon.co.uk. I myself stopped buying it because I was pissed of by how different the DVD for season 3 was from the first two!!! And it isn't really fair, to bring back the old style for the fourth one!

Bye, until the next item on my list!

 Cast:

Sandy Cohen – Peter Gallagher

Kirsten Cohen – Kelly Rowan

Ryan Atwood – Ben McKenzie

Marissa Cooper – Mischa Barton

Seth Cohen – Adam Brody

Summer Roberts – Rachel Bilson

Julie Cooper – Melinda Clarke

Taylor – Autumn Reeser

Kaitlin Cooper – Willa Holland

and

Jimmy Cooper – Tate Donovan

Seasonal cast:

Theresa - Navi Rawat

Caleb Nichol – Alan Dale

Dawn Atwood - Daphne Ashbrook

Anna – Samaire Armstrong

Luke – Chris Carmack

Lindsey – Shannon Lucio

Zach Stephens – Michael Cassidy

Alex – Olivia Wilde

Trey Atwood - Bradley Stryker/Logan Marshall-Green

Johnny – Ryan Donowho

Dr. Neil Roberts – Michael Nouri

Sadie – Nikki Reed

Kevin Volchok (Douchebag) – Cam Gigandet

Frank Atwood - Kevin Sorbo

Ché - Chris Pratt

Új zene videó - New music video - Nuovo video musicale

Ellie Goulding "The Writer" cimű dalára készült videó klippem. Stop-motion technikával készült videó.

My version for the music video of the song "The Writer" by Ellie Goulding in stop-motion.

La mia versione della canzone di Ellie Goulding intitolata "The Writer" creata con la tecnica di stop-motion, usando foto.

Ezek pedig a rontások.

These are the bloopers.

Questi sono gli errori sul set.

Ellie Goulding's album "Lights" is available on iTunes! Make sure to check it out!

OLD vs. NEW: Much Ado About Nothing

“The world must be peopled!”

So, what do we have here? First of all let us clear and get it out of the way, I love each and every BBC miniseries. They are all great bright ideas with a perfect execution. If you fancy English writers, be sure to check them out (many already available on DVD!).

That said, in 2005 the BBC produced 4 Shakespeare plays reimagined in the 21^st century, called ShakespeaRe-Told, they were Macbeth, The Taming of the Shrew, A Midsummer’s Night Dream and Much Ado About Nothing. What I believe you should do is watch the Kenneth Brannagh’s version first, and afterwards the one from 2005. So let us do that now!

Much Ado About Nothing is basically a tale of how very thin the line between love and hate is. After the right words said, it both can easily convert into the other one. The story shortly is the following, pay attention; the title is given for a reason!

The Prince Don Pedro and his men after the war reside at the houses of Signor Leonato of Messina. With the Prince came three, among all other soldiers, who play an important part in the story. Benedict, the Prince’s right hand, the brave Claudio and Don John the bastard, the Prince’s brother, in his life previously accused of treason. All men, besides a chance to rest after the war, are seeking wives. In the house we have the only daughter of Signor Leonato, Hero, and her two cousins, Beatrice and Margaret. Benedict and Beatrice hate each other, to the point that they start to irritate pretty much everyone. So the Prince comes up with the idea of telling the two, that the other one is in love with them and to disguise their affection, and act as if they hated the other. This plan works perfectly and the two declare love for one and the other later on. On the other hand, Claudio falls in love with Hero. But Don John is highly bored and decides to mess with their heads. After Claudio proposes to the fair Hero, one of his men seduces Margaret and while they are committing adultery, Don John takes Claudio and the Prince to see, acting as if Margaret was Hero and she were cheating. They were easily deceived and at the wedding Claudio makes a scene. Afterwards they decide to lie, and tell the men that Hero had died out of pain in her heart. Two basically idiots, the comic relief guys in the story happen to be two losers seeking to become detectives and they catch Don John’s men. The plot is then discovered, but it is too late, since Don John has already fled. Claudio is destroyed by the thought of having killed her beloved Hero and decides to take whatever punishment Signor Leonato chooses. He tells him that he shall marry his brother’s daughter. But that ends up to be Hero and they live happily ever after.

Actually, the two main characters are Beatrice and Benedict, their reactions and actions are thoroughly followed throughout the story, but the main plot, the title itself reflects more on the wrong doings of Don John (who at the end is brought to justice), and the actions of Claudio.

As I mentioned earlier, this movie was directed by Kenneth Brannagh, giving us a taste of what William Shakespeare had in mind, it is one of the most beautiful love stories ever told and the actors are simply fantastic in it.

This brings us to the 2005 version. I really much liked this one, because it highlights the important characters in the story and at first it might don’t seem, but there are a couple of plot holes that it makes sure to fix.

We are now at a television station, precisely in the office of the channel’s daily broadcast show. Beatrice and Benedict were dating, but he broke it off with her by being a no-show at their date. Therefore Beatrice despises and hates him. The producer of the show, Leonard (=Leonato), must demote their director Don (=Don John), because he is a drunk and keeps messing up. Also, the co-star of Beatrice gets fired and there is need of a new one. For this reason Leonard calls back Benedict to work for them and an old director of theirs, Peter (= Prince Don Pedro). Hero of course is Leonard’s daughter and she tells the weather forecast while Claude is the sports presenter. But, Hero has a past, she has once slept with Don, because she felt sorry for him, and Don ended up falling in love with her. When she starts to date Claude and he asks for her hand, she says yes. Don hears her confess to actually disliking him, when talking to her friends and decides to get his revenge. Of course, Benedict and Beatrice hate each other very much, to the point that actual feelings are hurt. Leonard doesn't know what to do and asks Peter to come up with something; he is the director after all! He plots a way to make one realize the other one is in love with them. Of course the fools fall for it and they fall in love. But Don is not done, he sends himself messages from Hero’s phone, he steals a couple of pictures and signs them in her name, and Claude is deceived. He asks Hero in church to deny sleeping with Don, which she can’t of course and all hell breaks loose. Of course, in this case, our two little detectives are in the form of security guards of the building and they follow all of Don’s actions and after the wedding reveal his plot to Benedict. Claude realizes what he has done, tries to apologies, but Hero doesn’t care, she only wants to confront Don. They fight, he pushes her, and she hits her head into a wall and is brought to the hospital. Hero gets better but tells Claude off, she shall never marry him and Beatrice and Benedict live happily ever after. This one is basically a tale of how your workplace can become a second home to you and your workmates your family. And just like at home, in your workplace as well, if there is something that matters, that will reflect on your mood and daily performance, you try to keep that in order… many times with little success!

What I definitely love about this story is Don. Why? (Besides the fact that this movie was made back when Keanu Reeves could still act and his face produced emotions!) Don John, when you watch it, you don’t realize that he is evil because he decides it is in his nature. He does it because he is bored, he is that badass! But if you think about it, is that OK? You are pretty evil dude and they should keep you locked up! Don on the other hand was just left by his wife, he feels humiliated by the women at his workplace, he isn’t loved back and to top it all he has been demoted. That would drive me insane as well! So, as far as motive goes, I prefer the 2005 version. On a second note, I loved the fact that Hero won’t marry Claude. If he is so easily deceived and can’t trust me, I wouldn’t marry him either! Of course in the original version it was important to have a happy ending so they can all sing and dance at the end, and that was way back when marriage had a different meaning, not like nowadays. So yes, the movie took a more 21^st century like approach to it and I liked that a lot. As far as Benedict and Beatrice go I love both versions. The actors have great chemistry, they are believable and lovable, and it is just as much dramatic as it is funny. Well done.

Look at these two clips in comparison, so you can see why I like it how they preserved the original while bringing it to a more futuristic version:

I can honestly say these two movies you should definitely check out! As far as Shakespeare adaptations go, these are home runs!

Until the next item on my list!

1993:

Benedict – Kenneth Branagh

Beatrice – Emma Thompson

Hero – Kate Beckinsale

Claudio – Robert Sean Leonard

Signor Leonato – Richard Briers

Dogberry (Detective) – Micheal Keaton

Don John – Keanu Reeves

Margaret – Imelda Staunton

and

Prince Don Pedro – Denzel Washington

2005: 

Benedict – Damian Lewis

Beatrice – Sarah Parish

Hero – Billie Piper

Claudio – Tom Ellis

Leonard – Martin Jarvis

Mr. Berry (Security guard) – Anthony O'Donnell

Don – Derek Riddell 

and

Peter – Michael Smiley