A Week of Entertainment - Issue 8

To all my ones of readers out there, yes, this is a day late.  It was a good, but exhausting weekend so I chose sleep last night.  So, now, on with the show.


RIP Hoskins - And yet another sad loss in Hollywood.  Bob Hoskins was another one of those actors that could put any movie up a notch.  His first real breakout role was in the 1980 hit The Long Good Friday.  I have not seen this one yet.  I'll have to put that on "the list".  Of course I, along with many other people, will always know him for his role as the toon hating, alcoholic detective Eddie Valiant in Who Framed Roger Rabbit?.  As for a film that may have gone under the radar a little, he did Mrs. Henderson Presents back in 2005 with Dame Judi Dench that I found quite enjoyable as well.  He had recently retired after being diagnosed with Parkinson's two years ago.  He died at the age of 71 from pneumonia.


Make Mine Marvel - And what's a week of news without a little Marvel in the mix.  Chief Creative Officer Joe Quesada talked a little about the upcoming Netflix series.  Those would be Daredevil, Iron Fist, Luke Cage, and Jessica Jones.  Daredevil is being cast right now, and it is confirmed that each of these series will be released in their entirety for binge watching as they are subsequently finished.  Also, they are taking a more gritty approach to the "street-level noir side of the Marvel Universe" with these series.  I think this new approach will be interesting to watch unfold.  Even if they don't throw any of these characters into the movies, these new series evolving into the Defenders mini-series could be a fun event to follow through the streets of Hell's Kitchen.


Hello, What Have We Here? - In another branch of Disney, the core cast list has been officially announced for Star Wars: Episode VII.  I probably don't have to say much about this, because there is no way you live outside of a cave without having heard it already 8 million times the day it was announced.  Newcomers include John Boyega (Attack the Block), Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver ("Girls"), Oscar Isaac (Inside Llewyn Davis), Andy Serkis (Lord of the Rings trilogy), Domhnall Gleeson (About Time) and Max von Sydow (The Exorcist).  Of course the exciting news is the returning cast.  Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford, Peter Mayhew, Anthony Daniels, and Kenny Baker.  For returning cast, we're just missing the smooth talking Lando Calrissian.  It seems he must have gotten confused when he signed on for Dancing With the Stars instead of Star Wars.  All in all, it's an interesting cast.  With Kasdan writing and J.J. behind the wheel, I'd say we can at least be cautiously optimistic at this point.





Oh No! There Goes Tokyo! - I don't know what it is about this movie, but I am excited to see it.  It is my second most anticipated movie of 2014.  Let's hope it lives up to my expectations as much as The Winter Soldier did.  The above trailer is one that was just released this week and is also an exception to the rule for a little problem I have.  Trailers are giving too much away these days.  The one above included.  Before, there were hints that there would be a second monster in Godzilla.  Now they've flat out shown it to us.  I say this is the exception because somehow this new trailer only increased my anticipation.  That is not usually the case.  Trailers used to be one of my favorite things about going to the movies.  You see a little glimpse of what you can look forward to a couple weeks or months after the movie you are about to sit through.  Now, there is no anticipation.  Most trailers give away key plot points and even the twist in some movies.  Then you walk away thinking you don't really need to see that one at all.  Please Hollywood, bring back the shorter trailers.  Make me look forward to them in theater again, instead of looking at my watch wondering when they are going to end and the movie begin. (If you need any tips, look no further than Christopher Nolan)  And please Hollywood, make Godzilla be a good movie!


Stone vs. Fallon - For bit of fun to end the night I'm including the following video.  Partly because of the release of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 this past weekend.  Partly because I have a major crush on Emma Stone.  And partly because, basically, it's awesome and you should watch it.  Yes, I realize that first statement will deter a lot of you, but this clip really has nothing to do with the movie other than the actress.  I will not be seeing the movie until tomorrow night and am avoiding reviews until I write my own, but man, have I seen some unfavorable mentions in the headlines.  I will reserve judgment though and hope the majority of the critics are wrong.  In the meantime, here is Emma Stone vs. Jimmy Fallon in an epic lip-sync battle.





That about does it for me.  Have a fantastic day everyone!


Until next time.....if you can't stand the heat, get out of Hell's Kitchen!


Weekend top 10 at the box office:
1 - The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (new release) $91.6M
2 - The Other Woman $14.4M
3 - Heaven Is For Real $8.6M
4 - Captain America: The Winter Soldier $7.8M
5 - Rio 2 $7.7M
6 - Brick Mansions $3.7M
7 - Divergent $2.2M
8 - The Quiet Ones $2M
9 - The Grand Budapest Hotel $1.8M
10 - God's Not Dead $1.8M

A Week of Entertainment - Issue 7

Well, it's been another week.  And you know what that means with Hollywood....more superheroes, remakes, sequels and WTF's.  On with the show.


Never Say Die - Well, it's only been 29 years now since we were graced with the masterpiece that is The Goonies.  So, naturally, that means that it's time for a sequel right?  Apparently Steven Spielberg and Richard Donner do.  It seems as if this has been greenlit.  Normally I'd be crying about them ruining my childhood yet again, but I'm over that.  If it's not good, I'll just go back to watching the original.  They can't take that away.  Looks like Spielberg has come up with a story, and if he and Richard Donner are involved (and possibly some of the original cast), then sign me up.  I'll give it chance.


Flash Aaah-aaaaaaaaaahh - In the realm of remakes, Flash Gordon is rocketing his way back into our lives.  Even as culty as the 1980 movie was, I think that this reboot sounds like a fine idea to me.  In the next few years we've got all sorts of other action sci-fi movies pew-pewing their way into the multiplex, with Star Wars, Star Trek, and even the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy.  It's just too bad Freddie Mercury is no longer around to give us another kick-ass theme song.


Ch ch ch ch, ah ah ah ah - Speaking of remakes following trends, the hockey-mask wearing, machete wielding killer is coming back....on the small screen.  This comes on the heels of other horror icons recently making their way to television with shows like "Hannibal" and "The Bates Motel".  And like these other shows it seems it may have a focus on the beginnings of the character.  There was a Friday the 13th show already back in the 80's that I'm sure no one really remembers.  It really had nothing to do with Jason Voorhies anyway.  This new series will not only deal with Jason, it will also bring back the famous Camp Crystal Lake locale.  I'm personally all for this, if done right.  I love the 80's and I love horror.  Put those together and it's even better.  So let's get Jason back to his roots (none of this Manhattan or space crap) and let camper body count begin.


Meanwhile at the Hall of Justice - The week of entertainment news just wouldn't be complete without some sort of Marvel or DC announcements.  This week DC pulls in that coveted spot.  It was announced earlier this week that on top of Superman vs. Batman movie including Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, they have now officially cast Ray Fisher as Victor Stone/Cyborg.  This looks to be his first role in a motion picture, but he does come from live theatre experience.  If they cast anymore people in this film they may as well change the name of the movie to The Justice League, right?  But wait, that's where today's news comes in.  It was just announced that Zack Snyder has signed on to follow-up his second Superman movie with exactly that.  The roles of Wonder Woman and Cyborg will be smaller parts in the Superman/Batman movie, which will lead into his Justice League movie.  I'm personally excited for this.  It's been a long time coming.  There were definitely a lot of naysayers out there about Man of Steel, but I thought it was really good movie....so I'll just agree to disagree with the Man of Steel haters and hope that Snyder can do "justice" to these next couple of films.


Well, I think that does it for the week.  Now, on to face another Monday.  Have a fantastic week.


Until next time.......camp counselors beware!


Weekend to 10 at the box office:
1 - The Other Woman (new release) $24.7M
2 - Captain America: The Winter Soldier $16M
3 - Heaven is for Real $13.8M
4 - Rio 2 $13.7M
5 - Brick Mansions (new release) $9.6M
6 - Transcendence $4.1M
7 - The Quiet Ones (new release) $4M
8 - Bears $3.6M
9- Divergent $3.6M
10 - A Haunted House 2 $3.1M

A Week of Entertainment - Issue 6

Happy Easter!  Hope you all had an Easter as good as mine.  And for you non-religious folk, I hope you just had a happy weekend in general.  Now onto the news.


In the beginning...- So, there has been a new trend in movies lately (superhero movies in particular), that seems to have really gotten kicked off with The Dark Knight.  That is the whole bit on releasing the first few minutes of a film.  This week saw two such releases. One of these is from Days of Future Past.  It is labeled as "opening fight scene", so not sure if it is the very beginning of said film.  The other is the first three minutes of Joss Whedon's film In Your Eyes (which you can see over at EW.com).  The question is, is this a good new trend.  I guess my personal opinion is that if the material is good, then yes.  Trailers now seem to be giving away the whole plot of movies lately.  In the case of In Your Eyes, the first three minutes were intriguing enough with the setup for me to want to see the film.  I didn't need key scenes from the rest of the movie spoiling things in a trailer.  Mind you, a well put together trailer can do wonders still.  They just really need to stop giving away the whole plot.





Speaking of trailers, and X-Men, the final trailer has been released this week.  Up until now I have only been mildly enthusiastic about this movie.  Between that opening fight scene and this new trailer, however, I must say my excitement level has gone up a couple of notches.





Future endeavors?- One final bit of X-Men news and I'll move on.  It is well known that Marvel/Disney has not really wanted to combine efforts with Fox and Sony with superhero movies.  That is fair enough, because they are trying to get rights back to their properties.  But, could something be brewing between Fox and Sony?  Sony has announced that they will have a mid-credit sequence in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 of the X-Men.  Not quite worth getting too worked up over yet because it is apparently just a scene from the new X-Men movie and has no cross-over implications at all.  However, this collaboration does indicate that the two studios are communicating with each other positively.  One can only hope that maybe we'll see Spider-Man show up in Fantastic Four or X-Men in the future, or vice versa.  One can dream of said cross-over anyway.


2 Fast 2 Furious-  In body double news, the show must go on with Fast and Furious 7.  Universal officially announced that Paul Walker's brothers, Caleb and Cody, will be filling in for any of his unfinished scenes.  Paul had gotten most of his dramatic scenes filmed already, so they won't have to fill in for a lot.  I realize that for Universal, this is mostly, if not completely, about not losing money by having to scrap the movie for rewrites and reshoots.  But, I do like that they will not be just CGIing him into these remaining scenes, and also Paul's brothers get to honor his memory in a unique way, which also means that this decision was family approved.


Disappearing act-  Have to give a mention to one trailer that was released this week.  That is for Gone Girl, starring Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike.  Just had to mention it because it looks like a good new thriller, and I'm just a huge fan of the director David Fincher.  Everything he does, if not great, is at least very interesting.





And that ain't no bull- In the realm of completely bizarre news, we have the release of the documentary The Final Member.  This film is about two men who are both vying to be the first human to have their "member" be the first human penis in the Iclandic Phallological Museum.  While you are wrapping your head around that little tidbit, I'll get onto the actual bizarre part of this story.  Drafthouse films is the production company for this film, and if you pre-order the movie here, you get a little souvenir along with it.  That would be a wax-sealed glass jar containing an actual bull penis.  So, I guess it is a little bit of bull after all.


Well, that's it for tonight. Have a pleasant week.


Until next time.....remember to always grab the bull by the horns.


Weekend top 10 at the box office:
1 - Captain America: The Winter Soldier $26.6M
2 - Rio 2 $22.5M
3 - Heaven is for Real (new release) $21.5M
4 - Transcendence (new release) $11.2M
5 - A Haunted House 2 (new release) $9.1M
6 - Draft Day $5.9M
7 - Divergent $5.8M
8 - Oculus $5.2M
9 - Noah $5.0M
10 - God's Not Dead $4.8M

Movie Review: The Raid 2



The Raid 2 is the follow-up to the brutal and amazing 2011 film, The Raid.  Gareth Evans, who wrote and directed both films, proves that The Raid was not just a fluke.  He takes all the amazing action of the first movie and ups the ante.  This new film makes you feel every punch, kick, and hammer gouge.

The Raid 2 story begins just hours after the events of the first film.  Rama (Iko Uwais) is taken aside and given a new assignment of infiltrating even deeper into criminal underworld of Indonesia.  He goes undercover into a prison to get close to a mob lords son, Uco (Arifin Putra, Macabre).  It was supposed to be a short stint, but after two years, the two of them get out and go to work for Uco's father.  From there, Rama tries to find out who in the police force has been corrupted by the mob, while Uco starts up an all out war between the different clans because he doesn't like the way his father runs things and would like to take over.  Then all hell breaks loose.

The story seemed pretty basic, but it served it's purpose.  It was a little slow with the setup in the first 15-20 minutes though.  If you're going to a movie like this it's most definitely not for the story, but we'll get back to that.  The acting worked for me as well.  I mean, let's face it, between all the action sequences, there's not much time to act anyway.  But seriously, I think Iko does a fine job, and is so quick and amazing in the action scenes, that I'm sure it's only a matter of time before Hollywood gets their grubby little hands on him and underutilizes his talents.  Until then, however, Gareth Evans is already working on The Raid 3.  Color me excited.

Not much else to say about all that.  Now on to the meat and potatoes of the film.....the action.  This is where the both the actors and the director shine.  Iko moves lightning quick when he fights and Gareth comes up with spectacular choreography.  It also looks great because the actors are actually hitting each other on screen.  They somehow manage to pull their punches so there are no serious real life injuries, but still make it look like it hurts.

I will have to admit, I was a bit leery for the first half of the film.  There were a few fight scenes where the action was still as great as the rest of the film, but the camera was moving around so fast you couldn't tell who was who.  You still get to see some crushing blows, but the camera zips by way too quick.  Have faith though, gentle viewer, because the second half of the film pays off in spades.  That is when it goes cartoon crazy (and the camera slows down).  In the second half you almost forget there is a plot, because it is just fight after fight, non-stop.  And, as if, Gareth Evans hasn't proven himself enough with the fight choreography, he orchestrates a car chase that makes the chase in Captain America 2 look like the bumper cars at a fair.

The one thing that never made sense was, if these are mobs, where are the guns.  But that thought goes right out the window when you realize that would mean you wouldn't get to see Rama single-handedly take out the entire mob by beating the ever loving crap out of them.  You also wouldn't get the insanely strange three henchmen of on of the mob bosses.  There's a girl wielding dual hammers, a man with an aluminum bat, and finally one last man with dual curved knives.  Imagine what you could do with those weapons, and I'm sure it won't come close to the carnage they came up with for this film.  And unlike with the quick camera work in the beginning, you see every bloody hammer gouge and baseball splat.

I'm sure I've said enough for you to make a decision whether you want to see this or not.  This movie is not for the squeamish.  You will cringe at more than a few of the hits.  But if you enjoy a bloody good time (emphasis on bloody) with amazing martial arts choreography, then you've come to the right place.  Like I said before, the acting and story are fine and the action in the first half is pretty good.  The second half, however, forgives any flaws that the beginning had and bumps this up a notch or two to a must-see.

Rating: ********-- (8 out of 10)

Memorable quote:

Baseball Bat Man: Bring back the ball.



A Week of Entertainment - Issue 5

We'll just get the depressing stuff done first.


RIP Rooney - Last Sunday we lost someone who's been entertaining us for nearly a century.  Mickey Rooney passed away at the age of 93.  And he kept going til the last, still making movies.  I'll always remember him for some of the children's movie roles I grew up seeing and hearing him in, such as Tod in The Fox and the Hound and Lampie in Pete's Dragon.  And then of course who can forget the awkwardly racist Chinese landlord in Breakfast at Tiffany's.  He had kept decades of people entertained on the big screen and small.  RIP Mickey Rooney, hope you get your eternal Summer Holiday.


RIP Warrior - First off, I have to say I haven't watched professional wrestling in years.  But, like every other young boy of the 80's, I grew up watching the stuff back when it was still the WWF.  The Ultimate Warrior passed away this past Monday.  I didn't follow him as much as some of the other wrestlers, but I had a college roommate who was his ultimate fan.  Sad to see another one of the originals go, and at such a young age of 54.


Maximum Carnage - So, comic book movie news is getting to be old hat by now.  I'm a fanboy, so I still love most of the movies, but the news front can be a little annoying.  However, the viral site for the new Spider-Man series has reference to Kasady, who would become Carnage.  This is more speculation than news, but a Carnage movie done right and rated a hard R would be amazing.  A Venom movie has already been confirmed, so Sony, make it happen.


Replacement - Following on the heels of Letterman's retirement news last week, they have already found a replacement for him when he leaves.  That man is Stephen Colbert, who got his start on the comedy news show The Daily Show.  He then went on to do his own satirical new show, The Colbert Report.  This move intrigues me because of the contrast between the two men and their respective shows.  Will Colbert bring his political satire to late night network television, or will he change his tune a little to fit the mold of the late show program?  I think he's a funny man and would like to see him bring a good balance between the two to give us something that sticks out from the two Jimmy shows.  We'll see soon who becomes the new reigning king of late night talk shows.


That is all for this week.  It is funny, I've found since doing this weekly blog, that most "entertainment news" you find out there is all the same.  Comic movies, reboots, sequels, and casting rumors.  If there's something of real interest that I may have missed (this is just a hobby on top of my full time job after all), let me know.


Until next time....I swear I saw a dragon!


Weekend Top 10 at the box office:
1 - Captain America: The Winter Soldier $41.4M
2 - Rio 2 (new release) $39M
3 - Oculus (new release) $12M
4 - Draft Day (new release) $9.8M
5 - Divergent $7.5M
6 - Noah $7.5M
7 - God's Not Dead $5.5M
8 - The Grand Budapest Hotel $4.1M
9 - Muppets Most Wanted $2.2M
10 - Mr. Peabody & Sherman $1.8M

A Week of Entertainment - Issue 4

First things first, let's start off with a little title that opened up this weekend called Captain America: The Winter Soldier.  It had the highest ever April opening with $96.2 million.....because it's awesome!!  Now, on to the week that was.


Le Wolv - I usually don't really care much for a lot of the big celebrities.  There are a few though, that I sometimes see do things and get the impression that they are a halfway decent person.  Hugh Jackman is one of those.  (If anyone has proof that he does suck, keep it to yourself...I like the guy).  Being a big celebrity that can poke fun at yourself is a good way to get me to think you're alright.  And that is exactly what Jackman does in this video.  I think this video is great.  This is also the guy who came to the tiny town of Iowa Falls, IA for the reopening of an old theatre, the Metropolitan Opera House, last year, that my sister-in-law manages.  He had a double screening of The Wolverine and Prisoners.  Keep it up Jackman, you're a real class act.


Ride into the Danger Drone - Always with the remakes and reboots and sequels to 80's hits.  Now it looks like Maverick is flying into the future with a new Top Gun sequel.  Not a lot of details, but as of now it will deal with pilots versus drones.  Does anyone else here think that Tom Cruise may BE the drone?  I mean does he even age at all?  Well, I guess this could give Goose something to do.  Haven't seen him much since his ER days.  Maybe then he can go on to do Gotcha! 2 or something.  Or am I the only one who even saw the first one?


April Fool's - Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 is happening.  That's gotta be an April Fool's joke right?  Wait, but I saw the announcement on April 2.......nooooooooo!!


Stepping Down - Last, but certainly not least, another king of late night is finally stepping down to give way to the younger generation.  Earlier this week, David Letterman announced his retirement.  I admit I haven't watched him in years, but back when I was growing up I always preferred him over Jay Leno.  The last of the previous generation is now going away.  I think they've left the late night in fairly capable hands with the new generation of Jimmys.  One of which used one of Letterman's signature bits to talk about the retirement here.


Any other entertainment news worth mentioning?  Let me know?


Until next time......here is this week's Top 10 (box office):


1 - Captain America: The Winter Soldier (new release) $96.2M
2 - Noah $17M
3 - Divergent $13M
4 - God's Not Dead $7.7M
5 - The Grand Budapest Hotel $6.3M
6 - Muppets Most Wanted $6.3M
7 - Mr. Peabody & Shermon $5.3M
8 - Sabotage $1.9M
9 - Need For Speed $1.8M
10 - Non-Stop $1.8M

Movie Review: Captain America: Winter Soldier

Captain America: Winter Soldier is the next installment in phase 2 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  It is a superhero political thriller action movie brought to you by Anthony and Joe Russo, the guys who also brought you Community.  Wait....what?  I'm just going to start this review by saying don't worry, believe the hype, and go see this movie now.  It is amazing!


I think Marvel has been doing an amazing job with the universe they are building.  Even the lesser movies in the series are still fun to watch.  Each respective director they have chosen have done well with the material they're given.  They've also done a great job with casting.  Robert Downey Jr. was a no-brainer as Tony Stark.  Then out of left field came Chris Evans as Captain America.  I thought he nailed the part in the first movie, and he has only gotten better since then.


In Winter Soldier, Captain America (Chris Evans, Fantastic Four) has been around in the current time for a while now after having been frozen for the last 70 years.  He came from a time where loyalty, honor, and truth all meant something.  Now he's been thrust into a jaded, cynical world where you don't know who you can trust.  That is exactly what he is trying to figure out through this film.  Someone has infiltrated SHIELD and he doesn't know who he can trust anymore.  I can't go into any more than that without hitting spoilers.  To top things off, he also runs into a trained soviet killer with a metal arm, simply named the Winter Soldier, who seems to be just as fast an tough as he is.


CA:WS has the feel of an old 70's political thriller.  And it even throws in Robert Redford (All the President's Men) as Alexander Pierce.  The story at it's core is pretty grounded and intriguing, with a few of those fanciful outlandish comic book plot points thrown into the mix quite well.  If you are one who finds political thrillers a little on the dry side, don't worry, there are some amazing action scenes.....and plenty of them.  They managed to mix this great story with almost non-stop action.


If you've been following the Marvel universe, then you will be familiar with a lot of the actors and the characters they play.  We of course have Samuel L. Jackson (Snakes on a Plane) returning as Nick Fury (and if you like him, that's good, because his role keeps expanding with each film).  Then there is Scarlett Johansson (Don Jon) as Black Widow (always sexy and kick-ass).  There is some new blood as well, and they hold their own quite well against the seasoned pros of the series.  Already mentioned is Robert Redford as Pierce.  It almost seems like this role was written specifically for him, he fit it so perfectly.  The newcomer that you will all want to see more of after this movie is Anthony Mackie (Pain & Gain) as Falcon.  He basically is Captain America's new sidekick in this movie and the chemistry between those two actors is amazing.  They play off of each other like they've been doing this for years.


The Marvel movies have all done a great job of tying in with each other, but also working as stand-alone films.  This balance is one of the many things I love about these movies.  And it's another thing that CA:WS does very well.  It helps to see the other movies to get small references, but you can see it alone and still get 100% enjoyment out of it.  I know I'm a little biased for comic movies, but I've tried, and I really can't find anything at all to criticize this movie about.  The rest of the comic movies this year have their work cut out for them....and, in my opinion, the rest of the movies in general.


As a side note, there was a passing mention of Dr. Strange's name.  Exciting.  And for all my fellow Iowans, Iowa City gets a small shout out.  Bottom line, though, go see this movie.....right now.  You will not regret it.


Rating: ********** (10 out of 10)


Memorable Quote:
Black Widow: Would you like to play a game?

A Week of Entertainment - Issue 3

Gotta say, I thought it was a slow week for anything real newsworthy.  So much so, that I'm leading off with a poster.

Poster of Future Past - This is the new poster released for the upcoming X-Men movie.  Don't have a whole to say about it.  I just thought it was cool and can't wait for the movie.

No More Monkey Business - Well, maybe a little bit more.  Everyone's favorite go to man in Hollywood to play the role of monkey is taking off the CGI mask and heading to the director's chair.  Andy Serkis is done monkeying around.  Now he wants to direct someone else to do it in the new live action Jungle Book.  On a side note, this will be another Snow White and the Huntsman/Mirror Mirror situation.  Two companies taking a beloved classic Disney cartoon and making a live action version.  It looks as though Serkis will be directing for Warner Brothers, while Jon Favreau directs his own version for Disney itself.

Aarruaghah, my back! - It looks like Arnold "I'll be back!" Schwarzenegger is keeping his promise once again.  The 66 year old Austrian actor is coming back to play the same T-800 robot he made famous waaaaay back in 1984.  Here's what he had to say:

“The way that the character is written, it’s a machine underneath,” he said. “It’s this metal skeleton but above that is human flesh, and the Terminator’s flesh ages, just like any other human being’s flesh. Maybe not as fast, but it definitely ages."

So, Skynet was able to develop technology that could teach itself and eventually take over the world, but they weren't smart enough to develop a synthetic skin that wouldn't age?  That's kinda weak Ahnold.  I love that you're back in the movies, but let this Terminator thing go.  All that being said.....I'm sure I'll probably go see it.

TMNTrash - I kid, I kid.  It's just that this new Ninja Turtles movie (new trailer) has two huge strikes against it.  Michael Bay and Megan Fox.  Yes, I will admit that I thought Transformers was entertaining.  Then they went and made 2 and 3.  The slightly promising news is, Bay is only producing, and in the trailer at least, Megan Fox had no dialogue.  Hopefully they will keep that to a minimum in the film too.  Although the storyline of Shredder working with O'Neil's father to create the turtles is something that will be hard to wrap my head around, the trailer had a few good things.  One, the turtles' fun-loving side showed through in a few of the scenes.  Two, the turtles' faces look a little funky, but other than that they don't look too bad.  Three, William Fichtner!  Seriously, I'll watch that guy in anything.  I mean, have you seen Drive Angry? Probably not, because it was a really crappy (although a lot of fun) Nicolas Cage movie.  Most of that fun is because William Fichtner is awesome.

Until next time......Kowabunga dudes!

Weekend Top 10 at the box office:

1 - Noah (new release) $44M

2 - Divergent  $26.5M

3 - Muppets Most Wanted $11.4M

4 - Mr. Peabody & Sherman $9.5M

5 - God's Not Dead $9M

6 - The Grand Budapest Hotel $8.8M

7 - Sabotage (new release) $5.3M

8 - Need For Speed $4.3M

9 - 300: Rise of an Empire $4.3M

10 - Non-Stop $4M

Movie Review: Draft Day

In Draft Day, the latest from Ivan Reitman (Ghostbusters), we get a day in the life of Sonny Weaver, Jr (Kevin Costner, Field of Dreams).  He is the General Manager of the Cleveland Browns whose father, the previous GM, has recently passed away.  The majority of the film takes place on the NFL draft day following Sonny from the time he gets up until draft itself.  It's a behind the scenes look at who he's going to pick, trades he makes, and the draft that ensues.

Yeah, I didn't thing that sounded like a real exciting plot either, but this movie has a lot going for it in my opinion.  First is the plot itself.  They took something that doesn't seem real exciting and made you feel how stressful it could really be.  Sonny has to take final looks at his draft prospects and find out if there is anything about them that they missed before.  There are trades offered from other GM's and there is conflict within his own franchise.  A clock is also occasionally thrown up on screen giving the countdown until the draft.  It gives a sort of feeling of pressure seeing the clock count down as he unveils more trades and info.

The strongest part of the whole film is the cast.  Kudos to the casting director because these guys all play well off each other.  On top of all the stress of the day, he of course has a love interest who is also the funds manager of the team, Ali (Jennifer Garner, Dallas Buyers Club).  The relationship adds to the stress of his decision making, and their onscreen chemistry is pretty good.

Through the whole film Sonny is trying his hardest to put together the best team he can.  However, he is a man who cares about character as well as stats and wants to go with his gut.  This is where he butts heads with the owner (Frank Langella, Robot & Frank) and Coach Penn (Denis Leary, The Ref).  They both think the golden ticket is the man with the best stats.  Costner and Leary's scenes together may be where the movie shines brightest.  All of the supporting roles really hit for me as well, from the prospective picks, to his mother, to the other GMs.  Reitman also threw in a little comic relief to lighten the mood in a few scenes without going over the top and disrupting the flow of the film.  Sonny's new assistant, Rick (Griffin Newman), brings just the right amount of well placed chuckles throughout.

The editing was also done in an interesting way.  There are many phone calls throughout the film, so it cuts to split screen quite often.  They didn't just keep it static though.  If someone were walking across the room, they would walk out of their frame, in front of the other person, and on to the other side of the screen where it would be split again.  It was a little different, but it worked well enough for me for the purpose it served.

This is a solid film.  I'm a sucker for a good Kevin Costner sports movie.  I can't say it is going to wow anyone, however, that being said, I can't point out too many inherent flaws in my opinion.  It's got a real solid cast and even if it is an exaggerated Hollywood version of what goes on behind the scenes at draft day, it's still an interesting peek behind the curtain.  Also, there is a lot of draft lingo thrown out there with the trades and the rounds and everything, but don't be intimidated.  I don't know the first thing about behind the scenes football, and they still made it easy enough to follow it.  If you're a fan of Costner or football or both check out this movie.

Rating: *******--- (7 out of 10)

Memorable Quote:

Sonny: Give me five minutes, then you can fire me.

Movie Review: Divergent

Divergent is the newest movie to come from another hit YA series of books.  It's brought to the big screen by Neil Burger (Limitless).


In a dystopian future (is there any other kind.....no, seriously, when is someone going to write about a future with sunshine and rainbows?), it is 100 years or so since the great war (which is never really explained or talked about) the crumbling city of Chicago is shut off from the world by a giant wall.  Within the walls, to keep the peace the city is divided into five factions....the brains....the athletes....the basket cases....the princesses.....and the criminals.  Wait, back up, wrong movie.  There actually are however the smarties (erudites), and athletes (dauntless).  Also, the selfless (abnegation), the farmers (amity), and the honest ones (candor).


At the age of 16, all members of society must take a kind of aptitude test to see which of the factions they fit into.  A place for everyone, and everyone in their place (except for the factionless, who don't pass initiation and end up homeless).  This story is about Tris (Shailene Woodley, The Descendents) who takes the test only to find out that she doesn't belong in any one particular group.  This is called divergent.  She finds out quickly that being divergent means not living long if anyone finds out.  At the choosing ceremony she chooses to join the dauntless because she grew up thinking they must have the most fun.  They are the young pretty ones who run around jumping off trains and climbing buildings and getting tattoos.  They are also the group in charge of protecting the city (from what, we are never told).  She trains under Eric (Jai Courtney, Jack Reacher), who's kind of a douche, and Four (Theo James, Underworld: Awakening), who looks like a long lost brother of James and Dave Franco and eventually becomes the love interest of Tris.  While training, Tris comes across a plan of the erudites to brainwash the dauntless to help take over the government completely while also killing off the divergents because they are apparently a danger to society.  Will she stop this heinous plan?  I'm not telling.


There was one flaw with the premise of this movie that kind of bothered me.  Everyone (other than divergents) supposedly get matched up to a specific faction.  You find out, however, that regardless of this, you may still choose to be in whichever faction you'd like anyway.  If this is true, then it doesn't really make any sense whatsoever for them to think that divergents are a danger to society.  If you can look past that, then this film has a decent world that it has built up, and I stayed at least mildly intrigued through the whole thing.  There were some things that just didn't get explained all that well, but mostly minor stuff.  During the initiation however, Tris gets put through physical and psychological testing.  In the psychological she gets through a fear test (in which you find out she must have seen Hitchcock's The Birds as a child) faster than anyone has before, and this poses a threat of exposing her as a divergent.  In the years and years of giving this test, nobody else ever was clever enough to do the same as her without being divergent?  I don't think so.


The acting was fairly solid throughout.  Woodley did a fine job in her role.  I really enjoyed Theo James as the mysterious love interest.  Miles Teller also was quite good as her competition in the initiation.  Oddly enough it was the big stars that seemed a little off to me.  Ashley Judd plays her mother and just did not work well for me at all.  And Kate Winslet didn't seem to be playing at 100%.  Who knows, maybe the pregnancy was throwing her off.


Overall, the movie doesn't have the greatest premise, but they've built an intriguing enough world that I was never bored.  The pace kept up well throughout and never lingered.  It moved smoothly from plot point to plot point and had a cool scene with a zip line that must have run from one side of the city to the other.  It has a few silly scenes and plot points keeping it down a notch, but if you are into the whole YA novel turned movie craze and these kind of stories interest you, then there might be something her for you.  It's kind of like Hunger Games Lite.  I will more than likely revisit this world with the next movie.


Rating: *****----- (5 out of 10)


Memorable quote:
Peter: You wouldn't shoot me.
Tris: Why does everybody keep saying that?

A Week (or 2) of Entertainment - Issue 2

A little busy with a state pool tournament last weekend, so I took a week off from this.  I know, already faltering after one issue.  But anywho, here's a few of the stories from the past two weeks that I personally found interesting or worth noting.

Last week they revealed the new logo for Fox's upcoming show Gotham.  I personally like it.  It's got everything you need.  It's dark and gritty the way Gotham should be, it's got the searchlight which will be the future sight of the bat signal, and I love the callback to the old animated series with the blimps flying through the city.  The show will be the story of Gordan's (played by Ben McKenzie) rise from detective to police commissioner.  It will also address the rise of the various villains such as Penguin and Catwoman.  The only thing that worries me is the friendship that will evolve between Gordon and a young Bruce Wayne.  I don't think I really want it to fall mostly over to Bruce's story and turn into another Smallville.  Nothing wrong with Smallville, but I would just rather see Gordon's story.  By the way, do I get some sort of commission for this since I had this idea way back in 2008 as witnessed by the end of this blog?  Anyway, I'm looking forward to checking this show out.


Another show I need to catch up on now that the first season is on Netflix is Arrow.  I was only really semi-interested until they recently introduced a little character named Barry Allen.  Coming fresh off of Arrow, he's getting his own show and they have recently showed the first pic of the costume.

I'm not going to praise or diss the costume.  History shows that you just can't judge it til you see it in action.  I'm instead just going to say how excited I am to see a new Flash tv show come to the small screen.  Rumor even has it that Jonathan Wesley Shipp has some as yet unspecified role! (He played the flash in the short lived live action show from 1990)


Speeding right along we come to a clash of the titans.  As of right now May 6, 2016 is going to be a big day for fanboys.  It's the current release date for Batman vs. Superman AND Captain America 3. (I know, more superhero news....hey, it's what I like).  I know this release date is going to change for one of the two powerhouses, because let's face it.....money.  But, how cool would it be to have two superhero movies this big open on the same day?  That would be one heck of a double feature.  Of course you have Captain America who's third movie in the well established Marvel-verse I'm already excited for if CA 2 is near as good as early buzz says.  Then you have Batman and Superman together for the first time on the big screen.  I don't care who says they hated Man of Steel.  Good or bad, this next movie is going to be a can't miss event.  Make mine Marvel and DC.


And just a quick note.  It's rumored that Sebastian Stan has signed a 9 movie deal with Marvel.  I don't want to go into spoilers for people who don't read Captain America.  For those of you who have read Winter Soldier and beyond, put the pieces together with that.  I'm excited if it means what I think it means.


Getting away from superheroes, we have a new teaser trailer for Peanuts, coming in 2015.  Normally, I groan at the thought of classic characters like these getting a makeover for the 21st century.  But watch this trailer and tell me you don't get a warm nostalgic feeling when you hear that old familiar Peanuts music start to play.  Then we get the Snoopy laugh and the signature "Good grief".  It's a short teaser, but it already feels like they have the tone of the characters done right.  It makes me smile every time I watch it.  Here's to hoping.  If the movie flops, I guess we can always pull out the old classic holiday episodes.


Speaking of old properties getting new treatment, rumor has it Ghostbusters 3 is still a go.  Of course this movie has been in the rumor mill for so long it's basically a running joke.  I love the first, and yes, even the second movie, but this third is so late in coming that I have never really paid much heed to any of the rumors.  That and the recent passing of comedy icon Harold Ramis, have left me cold to the idea of a third movie.  Recent news has piqued my interest though.  Lord and Miller are now in talks to direct.  After what they did with a children's book, an old 80's undercover cop drama, and recently children's building blocks though, you now have my attention.  Good luck, and remember not to cross the streams.


On a final note, Jimmy Fallon had what I think may be my new favorite introduction for a guest on a talk show (not that I really had one before).  Check out the clip here.


As before, let me know what you think of any of these stories, or stories I may have missed that you found interesting.  Comment below.


Until next time.....who you gonna call?


Weekend Top 10 at the box office:
1 - Divergent (new release)  $56M
2 - Muppets Most Wanted (new release)  $16.5M
3 - Mr. Peabody & Sherman  $11.7M
4 - 300: Rise of An Empire  $8.6M
5 - God's Not Dead (new release)  $8.5M
6 - Need For Speed  $7.7M
7 - The Grand Budapest Hotel $6.7M
8 - Non-Stop  $6.3M
9 - The LEGO Movie  $4.1M
10 - Tyler Perry's The Single Moms Club  $3.1M

Movie Review: Need For Speed

Need For Speed is the sophomore effort by former stuntman turned director Scott Waugh.  His first film being Act of Valor which is shamelessly plugged in this film.  His eye for stunts is the one shining point to this otherwise generic racing film.

Tobey Marshall (Aaron Paul, Breaking Bad) and his gang of mechanic friends are just trying to get by running his dead father's auto shop.  Money is tight, he's falling behind on loans.....enter Dino Brewster (Dominic Cooper, The Devil's Double) as an old street racing rival turned pro.  There's bad blood from a stolen girlfriend or something?  Dino offers him a job which will help pay off the loan.  Then he offers to race Tobey to go all or nothing.  This race results in Tobey's best friend being run off the road and killed by Dino.  Dino runs away, gets an alibi and Tobey takes the fall for a two year stint in jail.  This seem long-winded?  That's just the set-up for the rest of the film, and it took up 30-40 minutes.  And still it didn't seem like it really gave any depth to the back stories of the characters.

From there Tobey gets angry and tries to get into a secret underground race in California to get back at Dino.  The majority of the film is essentially a race to get to the race in time.  Meanwhile, Dino hires other drivers to "take out" his competition along the way.  I guess what's next is a spoiler, but you've probably already figured out that he gets to the race in time and wins.  The end.

I want to be fair to the movie and at least play up it's strengths.  Like I said, Scott Waugh was a stuntman before, and that is a good thing for this film.  He did all practical effects.  What you see with the driving was really done.  Little to no CGI or special effects.  Some of the stunts are pretty cool, one involving a jump and another involving a helicopter.

The other good thing is some of the acting.  This narrows down mostly to the two leads, Aaron Paul and Imogen Poots.  I thought they had pretty good chemistry together, and were fun to watch when it was just those two.  Sadly, they had very little to work with because they apparently forgot to hire a script writer.  Another character who most didn't like because he was too over the top was the one I liked because he was too over the top.  That was the "mysterious" DJ Monarch (Michael Keaton, Robocob (2014)).  I also enjoyed Scott Mescudi, who played one of his comic relief mechanic friends.

Then there were the other actors.  Again, not entirely their fault.  Some of it was just the bad writing.  A good example is Dominic Cooper playing the bad guy.  He's very bland in this movie, but I know he can act.  He's fun as Howard Stark in the Marvel movies, and if you want to see some of the best acting of the past few years, watch him in The Devil's Double.  He is absolutely phenomenal.

The biggest downfall of the film is the story, and before you start, I was well aware that the story was going to be weak going in.  However it's the character development that makes it not work.  The whole opening of the film didn't work because even spending as much time as they did you still didn't really care about the rivalry.  I wanted Tobey to just take the initial money and go back to his shop.  He took the race instead.  This also was frustrating because Pete's death is what ultimately drives him to the end of the film.  We're supposed to feel sympathy about Pete's death, but it was the result of a reckless race through town where they caused several car accidents and almost killed a homeless man.  Tobey is supposed to be a sympathetic protagonist through the movie, which would have worked for me if I didn't watch him leave a path of death and destruction across the whole country through the entire movie.

Despite all this, I still did have a little fun watching the middle "Smokey and the Bandit" section of the movie.  Yes, he causes accidents, but it's a little fun watching him evade the cops across the country with the help of two friends in a truck (resulting in a high speed gas refill), and one eye in the sky (Mescudi inexplicably showing up in multiple stolen aircrafts including a Cessna plane, a news helicopter and somehow an Army helicopter with a stupefied co-pilot).  And like I said, Keaton brought a little life to the end of his movie with his "mysterious, identity unknown" DJ Monarch.  (Not sure how this works, when he plasters his face on his web feeds). 

Overall, it's really not a great movie.  If you can turn off your brain for the plot holes and make it through the 30-40 minute set-up, you might have fun watching the racing and high speed chases, if that's what you're after.  I'd at least suggest a red box rental when it comes out.

Rating: ****------ (4 out of 10)

Memorable Quote:
Julia Bonet: Never judge a girl by her Gucci boots.

A Week of Entertainment - Issue 1

This is just a little recap of the things I found interesting in the entertainment world over the past week.


First off, the Oscars happened.  As if nobody knew that already.  I thought Ellen did a fine job, and so did most everyone else I guess.  It had the most viewers of any Oscars for the past 10 years.  I'm not sure I understand all the people who hate on the Oscars every year.  Is it all politics?  Yes. (Heck, 2 of the academy members  apparently came out anonymously and admitted to voting 12 Years a Slave as best picture without ever having seen it.)   Is it actors patting themselves on the back?  Yes.  You don't like that?  Quit complaining and watch something else.  Despite these things, I still love watching the Oscars because it's still entertaining and it's about celebrating movies.  The only time it's messed up is when they choose a terrible host *cough* James Franco *cough*.  I loved watching Seth McFarlane last year.  And Ellen was quite entertaining this year as well.  It also helped that the movies were all quite good too.  Even if some people voted 12 Years without seeing it, it at least was one heck of a film, and quite deserving.  (Even though I wanted Gravity to win, but hey, they got umpteen million other Oscars that night.)  The Oscars make for a fun night to get together with friends and celebrate the one thing that everyone loves....movies.  My wife and I had our second annual Oscar party which was quite successful and a lot of fun.  Hope to keep it going.


Now, we have been seeing a ton of trailers for Captain America: Winter Soldier, and I have been getting more and more excited about this movie.  I think this is gearing up to be one of the best of the second phase for Marvel.  Usually I don't like getting too much of a look at a movie before it comes out, but I've gotta share the clip that they sent out this week.  All I've got to say is AWESOME!  I want more!


This year seems to be the resurgence of forgotten Frank Miller projects.  This weekend saw the opening of 300: Rise of an Empire.  This is apparently what they are calling an interquel to the movie 300, which came out way back in 2006.  I guess they were sick of sequels and prequels and decided to go with movies that take place at the same time as the first.  Not necessarily new, I guess.  I mean we all saw Lion King 1 1/2 right?  But, the project I'm more looking forward to is Sin City: A Dame To Kill For, the long-awaited sequel (at least by me) to 2005's Sin City.  This week we finally saw the arrival of the first trailer.  Personally I think Rodriguez has made way too many Spy Kids movies, but I really loved the style of the first Sin City and hope to see more of the same.  This trailer really looks like it might deliver.


And last, but certainly not least, was an e-bay sale this week for arguably the most recognizable bike in movie history.  One of the bikes actually used in the movie Pee Wee's Big Adventure sold this week for $36,000.  Seriously, why did no one buy this for me?  I want it.  I'll let you know when it goes up for sale again so you can break out your wallets.


Any news that caught your eye this week?  Any opinions about these items?  Let me know.


Until next time......remember, there's no basement in the Alamo!

Movie Review: Gravity

The Oscars are coming right up this evening and I thought I'd finally get around to my review of the film I think should take Best Picture tonight.  This opinion is based of course on the 6 of 9 movies I actually got around to seeing. Gravity makes me appreciate being planted right here on the ground.  Matt Kowalski (George Clooney, ER) is an experienced astronaut doing a routine mission with Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock, Speed), who is up there for the first time.  Stone is a medical engineer who was sent up to fix some computer on a satellite.  Whatever, not important, because what ends up happening is a tale of survival for the two of them in this terrifying space drama by Alfonso Cuaron (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban).  The Russians blow up one of their own satellites for God knows what reason, and this sets off a chain reaction of debris when it hits another satellite and that debris heads straight for our protagonists.


First off, Gravity is a visual spectacle.  I more of a practical effects guy, but what they did with this film blew me away.  It is at least 90% digital effects and it is so seamless that you don't even notice.  You really feel like you are up in that emptiness of space with them.  The shots are all beautiful too, from the flying debris to the sunrise over the earth to an amazing shot towards then end of more debris falling to earth.  There was also a lot of detail put into the framing of shots, visual details, and structure of the film itself.  While the movie is about trying to survive a disaster it also more about Stone's overcoming a personal tragedy and realizing that she want to survive and live.  It is a story about faith and rebirth.  One of the most beautiful shots is when Stone makes it to a station and takes off her suit in the zero gravity.  It is framed with her in the fetal position looking like she is in the womb.  She had a tragedy back on earth and had been losing purpose and this shot takes place when she realizes that she actually is glad to be alive and would like to stay that way.  There is also a lot of religious imagery from Jesus to Buddha to Marvin the Martian....wait what?  :)


George Clooney in this film plays his usual character.  He's good as the cocky, handsome astronaut.  He however doesn't make it long (not a spoiler, I think it was given away in the trailers).  He does put in a real good performance though.  Sandra Bullock, however is the "star" in this vehicle (pun intended).  I feel it is definitely her best performance to date and worthy of the Oscar nod.  The emotion she puts into this role is amazing.  What is also amazing is her choreographed, graceful almost dance like moves through zero gravity.  I'm not sure how they were filmed, but you can tell they couldn't have been easy.  The actors, for the most part, were not working with much for visuals since it was all digitally added later.  So, she had to have memorized all her marks and had to hit them right.  And she did so gracefully.


Overall, I think this movie was simply the best of the year.  Visually striking, excellently acted.  There was definite suspense with many of the scenes having me on the edge of my seat, while still having a touching story of rediscovery.  It is on it's last legs in the theater run, but if you can still see it in the theater I would highly recommend it.  And I really don't care for 3D most of the time, but I would actually recommend this one.  It is very well done and adds a depth to the vastness of space.  In short, go see this movie.


Rating: ********** (10 out of 10)


Memorable Quote:
Ryan Stone: "Clear skies with a chance of satellite debris"