Falling Skies on TNT EP 6 PT2 Sanctuary

Review of TNT's Falling Skies Episode 6 PT 2 Sanctuary [produced by Steven Spielberg and MarkVerheiden] This EP aired Sunday 7~24~11 but if you have not seen it yet this review has *SPOILERS*

If you'd like to watch Full Episodes of TNT's Falling Skies on-line find it here:
http://www.tnt.tv/dramavision/?cid=101757

If you'd like to tweet the cast of Falling Skies some have twitter accounts Tweet/Follow them here: @MphoAK [Anthony] @drew_roy [Hal] @PeterShinkoda [Dai] @connorjessup [Ben] @CunninghamColin [Pope] @RVRocket [Matt] @TheStevenWeber [Doc Harris] and Falling Skies producer @MarkVerheiden
[Sorry Noah Wyle fans it has been officially confirmed he does not tweet]

Falling Skies on TNT airs Sundays at 10/9c Please Check Your Local Listings

Bad Teacher ~ Starring Cameron Diaz

"Even your forehead is sexy" Scott Delacorte [Justin Timberlake] to Bad Teacher Elizabeth Halsey [Cameron Diaz]

There is a small portion of the population that are Cameron Diaz haters. i don't know why there are but there are. Could it be because she's A: pretty B: has a great figure C: sweet disposition D: is funny E: is the paramour of one of baseball's more impressive athletes, NY Yankees 3rd baseman Alex Rodriguez---or maybe D: all of the above. Too bad for the haters.

Bad Teacher is funny due in large part because of Cameron Diaz' performance. And not for nothing she's funny while rockin' lots of covetous Louboutins.

Elizabeth Halsey [Diaz] teaches 7th graders in the Cooke County Illinois district at John Adams Middle School. Being an educator is not what she envisions as her life's work. An unabashed gold-digger to her core, she's got the rock, has almost sealed the deal, and as summer break begins, after bidding her fellow teachers what she believes is a final farewell, floors it in reverse out of the parking lot in her Mercedes coupe with "HERS" vanity plates. But there's a glitch to her getting hitched. The well to do fiance is a momma's boy. Mother suspects Elizabeth only wants her son for the dough. At mom's insistence the wedding is off. Come September Elizabeth is back in the classroom. Even so, her dream of snagging a rich hubby will not be denied and she figures the best way to amp up her odds is to augment her breasts. But how to pay for the surgery on a teacher's salary? As she tries to solve that problem she notices new teacher Scott Delacorte [Justin Timberlake] wearing a La Coultre watch. Hello new prospect.

i don't want to say more about how Elizabeth's plan unfolds because it would require many spoilers. i will say the entire cast---adults and children alike are funny and Timberlake channels his inner nerd quite well. As principal Wally Snur, John Michael Higgins is hilarious as always. Eric Stonestreet as Kirk, Elizabeth's financially challenged roommate has some nice scenes also.

If i were to have a negative note for the plot it would be why wouldn't Elizabeth have hocked her engagement ring. Etiquette deems it acceptable for the woman to keep the ring if she is not the one calling off the wedding. So by all rights, what by my estimate was at least an 8 carat stone, should have remained in her possession. But then that would have negated the need for her to come up with unique ways of acquiring the $10K she needed to book the surgery. One should never let logic interfere with comedic interplay.

The scholastic answer to Bad Santa = Bad Teacher. Satisfying throughout, with an endearing ending, this movie is worthy of an A.

Falling Skies Premier Season 1 Episodes 1 and 2 Live and Learn/The Armory

i'd already marked it on my calendar, but in the days preceding it's premier, i received an invitation from the social network aggregate KLOUT, to watch TNT's Falling Skies. Very glad i followed through with my plan to check it out.

Unlike the frustration that was ABC's FlashForward, TNT's Steven Spielberg produced Falling Skies does not disappoint. Great scripts, special effects, and characters. One stand-out is Will Patton as Capt.Weaver [sci-fi fans will remember him from Costner's The Postman].

A little backstory: the earth has been invaded by E.T.s but they are not cute & cuddly glowing index finger types. They are Skitters. Tough, agile, arachnid-like and as large as an SUV. The Skitters manufactured Mechs [as in mechanisms] to act as their soldiers. Metal behemoths, Mechs make the Skitters look tiny by comparison. The Skitters are also equipped with hybrid bio-robotic parasites that look like scorpions on steroids and feed on human spinal fluid.

The story kicks off 6 months after the alien invasion and the human resistance fighters are trying to survive and reclaim the planet. To that end there are 3 key questions about the Skitters that must be addressed---Why are they here? What do they want? Can they be stopped?

The primary setting is Massachusetts, but the opening scenes with the children reminded me very much of what was happening in NYC with grade school kids in the days following 9/11. There's a feeling of even if the little ones can't fully comprehend what has happened---they know that life as they knew it has changed and will never be the same.

The resistance fighter's underground lodgings have a Battlestar Galactica feel to them which for me is a good thing.

The premier had a 2hr running time. Justified's show runner Graham Yost's fingerprints were all over Falling Skies 2nd hr [and yes that's a good thing].

There were many noteworthy lines but two of my favs were "If they're wolves we gotta be porcupines" in reference to humans defending themselves from mechs and "Any of you a board certified micro surgeon?" asked by anti-hero [and my fav character] John Pope in need of medical attention for his brother. Pope [played by Colin Cunningham] has kidnapped good guy Tom Mason [played by Noah Wyle] and his rag-tag squad who've stumbled upon Pope's hideout. Not your garden variety thug, Pope is literate, a naturally good hunter of skitters, a good strategist, and he's funny.

My fav scenes are widower Tom [his wife was killed in the initial attack] talking with the eldest of his 3 sons about strategy as he's giving him an ammo clip. The son teases his dad about things he was restricted from doing before the invasion and wryly remarks "things change". As he turns to leave his dad says "some things don't" and the son walks back to give his dad a hug. Enjoyed all the scenes with Tom and his youngest son as he tries to maintain some normalcy in his life in the midst of chaos. Tom's middle child has been enslaved by the mechs.

As i was watching the show i met some new tweeps on Twitter s/o to @2ndmass @ScienceFiction @Redone68 @FallingSkiesTNT @tntweknowdrama.

This show is so entertaining i think even those who would not think of themselves as liking sci-fi will find much to get hooked on here. Premier night ratings back me up---Falling Skies drew more than 5.9 million viewers and now ranks as cable's #1 new series launch of 2011-to-date.

Falling Skies airs Sundays at 10:00pm with repeat airings at Midnight on TNT. Please check your local listings.