Reviews #15 - Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (2016)

Plot: Miss Peregrine hosts a school for children with special abilities.

Review: I’ll admit that once this movie started and I saw that Tim Burton directed I was very surprised; I did not realize that this was his movie. But once you start watching it you can notice his gothic and quirky style. The movie is a mix of Harry Potter and X-Men. A lot of it feels familiar. It has a bit of it’s own spin to it but it’s nothing extravagant. The acting by everyone involved is decent enough. It’s mostly young actors so you get what you get. The story tends to drag for a while until Samuel L Jackson shows up and even after that it’s moderately interesting. It’s not a terrible movie but it’s a meh on ten.

Score: 5/10

Reviews #14 - Cheers Season 1 (1982-1983)

Review: Cheers is one of, if not the, most popular sitcoms of all time. It’s iconic characters and setting marked a generation of TV viewers and the characters are still recognizable today. The reason it works is because of the characters. It really is a place with people you want to hang out with where everyone knows your name. It’s the romanticized version of bar life.

            The main character is ex Major League Baseball pitcher Sam Malone played by Ted Danson. He is extremely likeable and charismatic. You have waitresses Carla and Diane, played by Rhea Perlman and Shelley Long, who both can be annoying in their own way. Sam’s right hand man Coach is a character I was not familiar with but he ends up being really funny. He’s the butt of many jokes since he doesn’t tend to catch on to things quickly, a symptom of getting hit on the head with baseballs too much. Bar regulars Cliff and Norm are funny guys as well that you just want to be friends with.

            The show is a great watch. While some of the jokes may be a little dated, for the most part they are still very funny. It’s the kind of show you don’t get anymore today. You can relax and have a good time, almost like you are there with them. The show even tries to tackle some more serious subjects from time to time, like acceptance of homosexuals, which might have been taboo back then. I will definitely keep watching. There are still 10 more seasons to go through and I look forward to them.

Score: 7.5/10

Reviews #13 - The Fugitive (1993)

Plot: Doctor Richard Kimble is framed for murdering his wife and must find the one-armed man to clear his name.

Review: A remake of the 60s TV show, The Fugitive casts Harrison Ford as the main protagonist Richard Kimble. On his trail is a team of US Marshalls headed by Sam Gerard (Tommy Lee Jones). At this time in the 90s you could say that Harrison Ford was at the peak of his star power. This movie also revitalized Tommy Lee Jones’s career. When it was released it was a big deal but unfortunately I was too young to appreciate it so it was time to revisit it with adult eyes.

            The plot about a man trying to prove his innocence is of course one we have seen before. The take on the familiar plot in this movie is well done. It’s not too over the top, although you could say that the bus crash as well as the water fall jump are exaggerated, but they do give the movie iconic moments that are still remembered to this day. In the current era where everything is done with CGI, these actions scenes hold much more impact because they are done with practical effects and it keeps the sense of realism and maintains the viewer’s involvement. The sense of being on the run is constant throughout, it feels like the police are always a second away from catching Kimble.

            Harrison Ford does well in his role but he doesn’t blow the roof off the place. In the beginning scenes he does well as a man both grieving for his wife and trying to defend himself. As the movie goes though he becomes action movie Harrison Ford, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The true star though is Tommy Lee Jones. His constantly cranky and sarcastic US Marshall is entertaining throughout. The man is on a mission to catch Kimble and will not stop until he gets him. In the years that follow this movie he often would play very similar characters, even reprising the role itself in the 1997 sequel US Marshalls. Don’t let the cast list fool you about Julianne Moore. She is listed second or third in the actors list, but she is barely in it and only has a minor role. It appears like they were trying to bank on her name despite the limited role.

            The movie is good but it never reaches that upper stratosphere. It very much is a movie of it’s time. The pacing is good, never too slow nor too fast. It just never reaches that boiling point where the stakes are really high and you are on the edge of your seat. It’s a safe, relaxing time which is a good watch.

Score: 7/10

Reviews #12 - The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg

Review: If you ever wonder why we do what we do without thinking, this is the book for you. Author Charles Duhigg explores what makes habits and how the brain can do things without us even thinking about it. Through various interviews and stories, we see how habits affect our lives in ways we don’t even realize. All of these stories are interesting, informative and at times infuriating. We explore the cue-routine-reward cycle and see how it applies to various actions of people as well as communities and even companies. The best part of it is that it makes you think about your own habits. Once you understand how it works, you can think of ways of changing your habits to be more positive. It’s a fantastic read that makes you think and is entertaining at the same time. Definitely worth your time.

Score: 8.5/10

Reviews #11 - Luke Cage Season 1 (2016)

Review: Luke Cage is the third Marvel character to get his own Netflix series after being introduced on Jessica Jones. As with Daredevil and Jessica Jones, Luke Cage has its own unique feel to it. This series takes place for the most part in Harlem and has a 70s blacksploitation feel to it. The music very much helps accentuate that feeling. There is also a good amount of live music sung by known artists.

            The story itself is about Luke Cage cleaning up some crime in Harlem. The storyline changes a bit in the second half of the season and goes in a different direction while still somewhat keeping the initial focus. Mike Coulter does a fantastic job as the titular character. He plays Luke as calm and cool but gets angry when the time is right. The show has a large cast of supporting characters. Simone Missick as detective Misty Knight becomes a stronger character as the season goes along. Her character is a good folly for Luke as she is at times an ally and an adversary. On the villains side it is hit and miss. The main villain Cottonmouth, played by Mahershala Ali, is sometimes an intelligent criminal mastermind, but then he’ll fly off the handle and do something stupid. His cousin Mariah (Alfre Woodard) is the super fake politician you love to hate. Theo Rossi as Shades is the most interesting one. He’s like the devil, whispering in everyone’s ear to do evil acts.

            The action on this show is smaller scale. There isn’t much grandiose superhero fighting. It keeps in line with Daredevil and is hand to hand without being overly superheroey. Granted Luke Cage has bulletproof skin and is super strong, but everything happens with guns and hand to hand fighting and not flying and eye lasers.

            The show splits in 2 sections. Unfortunately, I found the first half better than the second. The first part focuses on Cage trying to take down Cottonmouth, whilst the second part looks into Cage’s origin and brings in another villain. The second half was less strong primarily because it felt like it was a different show. There were long stretches that took the characters away from the elements that made the show what it is. It wasn’t that bad but it was a sidetrack that took us away from the action.

            Overall it is a good show but not quite as strong as Daredevil and Jessica Jones were. The season does end conclusively but it does leave some open ends for another season that are quite interesting and I do look forward to the show’s eventual return.

Score: 7/10

Reviews #10 - Transmorphers (2007)

Plot

Humanity has been taken over by a race of alien robots and a group of underground fighters look for a way to defeat them once and for all.

Review

When you watch an Asylum movie, you need to look at it with different eyes. You cannot expect the same quality as you would in an A class Hollywood movie. The acting will be much worse, the special effects garbage and the plot and dialogue written by a 10-year-old. In Transmorphers, they try to go with the post apocalyptic dark world. Truth be told, it just looks like they are filming under an overpass. They purposefully keep everything dark and rainy so that you can’t tell what is happening.  But that is just the beginning of the lack of budget showing through. The characters are supposed to be soldiers but their “uniforms” just consist of a grey shirt and a leather jacket. The sets are for the most part just hallways or offices in a concrete building. At one point they try to create a bar area but they just threw a fly net over an section and called it a day.

The acting is truly hard to stomach. The actors seem to confuse acting serious and acting bored. Almost everyone looks like they are about to fall asleep at any moment. If they are not acting bored, they are over the top. There was only one actor, Matthew Wolf who played the leader of the group Warren, who seemed to have taken some kind of an acting class. The rest looked like newbies hired off the street. Apparently one of the main actresses, Amy Weber, had done some work with the WWE on the Divas Search in 2004, I’ll have to find out more about that. They throw in all kinds of subplots about a revolution some people once started, a lesbian couple, androids, etc. It’s a staple of the Asylum to just throw everything at the wall and hope something sticks.

Let us not kid ourselves, the reason anyone came to watch this was for the robot fighting. The robot CGI was of course low quality. It looked like something you would see in a commercial in the late 90s. By Asylum standards though, it was not that bad. At least they had steady shots of the robots moving, transforming and there was a fair amount of animation for the moving parts. It would have been a good semester projects for someone starting animation school. The real problem is that, at no time, do you ever feel that the actors and the CGI are in the same area. One thing that bothered me was the inconsistency of how tough the robots were. At some points, they go down in one shot. At other time they will shoot at one for minutes and do no damage.

It may seem like I am going easy on this movie, but truth is I have seen much worse, unwatchable trash. This one is not that bad and if you are able to rate is along the Asylum scale you will find elements to appreciate.

Worst Scene

            At one point, one of the women goes to her sleeping quarters and finds that one of the pilots has taken over her bed, figuring that she will not return from the battle she is going to.  A couple of other women show up and a girl fight erupts, all over the top part of a bunk bed. The fight has some very bad slow motion parts and the punches are some of the softest, non realistic looking punches I’ve ever seen.

Lawsuit Potential?

This movie manages to offend not one, but two sci-fi franchises. Its title is an obvious rip-off of Transformers, but it’s plot is more in line with the future scenes from the Terminator franchise. The story though is different enough that it can say it’s not copying Terminator (although it definitely is) but the title is blatantly trying to get some of that Transformers money. This movie was released in 2007, the same year the first Transformers movie came out in theaters, not a coincidence in any way. There does not seem to have been a lawsuit directed towards this movie however, they got away scot free with this one.

Score: 4.5/10 

Reviews #9 - WWE Armageddon 2002

              By the end of 2002, the WWE was changing. Some of the bigger names of the Attitude era, like The Rock and Steve Austin, were rarely around. The company was building a new mega star with Brock Lesnar but what is possibly the biggest story was the return of Shawn Michaels. After a 4-year absence, he returned to the ring and won the World Heavyweight Championship at Survivor Series 2002. He had an intense feud with Triple H and the 2 would collide at this event as well.

            One thing I truly miss in WWE is some of the creativity. In this event, they made a little computer generated animation of helicopters attacking a robot running from the Armageddon logo. I don’t know what it’s supposed to mean but at least it’s a little cool something to start the show off with. We never get those anymore. The set was also impressive, with different stages of walls and flames bursting all over the place. Now it’s just the same set as Raw, lame!

World Tag Team Championship

4 Way Elimination Match

Chris Jericho and Christian (c) vs William Regal and Lance Storm vs The Dudley Boyz vs Booker T and Goldust

            This match did not stay a 4 way for very long. After a few minutes, the teams of The Dudley Boyz and Regal/Storm were quickly eliminated in succession, leaving only the 2 other teams, so it was basically a regular tag match. Once it’s just Booker T/Goldust vs Jericho/Christian, they pull every tag team trick in the book. Ref distractions, hot tag, attacking with the belt, they use it all. And it worked fairly well. The 2 teams gelled well enough together but it didn’t feel quite perfect. It seemed like Christian was constantly getting knocked off the apron, looking a bit like a fool but he was a heel so that’s ok. In the end Booker T finally hits his finisher for the win and a happy story to the comedy duo of BookDust.

Winners: Booker T and Goldust (new champions)

Edge vs A-Train

            A-Train or Albert or Tensai or whatever you want to call him, is currently the head trainer at NXT. After seeing this match, I have a better understanding why. Whilst his moveset may not have been as varied or exciting as Edge’s, he still managed to use his power and strength to have a good match. He and Edge worked really well together. The only problem with this match is that it did not go on for long and ended in a disqualification once A-Train attacked Edge with a chair.

Winner: Edge (by disqualification)

Eddie Guerrero vs Chris Benoit

            2 legends that are unfortunately not with us anymore. What can be said about their matches. Benoit may have been one of the most intense wrestlers of all time and he brought a sense of realism to his matches. Guerrero was a great showman and a fantastic wrestler. Together they put on great matches and this is another very good one. They both knew each other so well and could tell a great story in the ring. In the end, Benoit got Eddie in the Crippler Crossface and forced him to tap out.

Winner: Christ Benoit

            There’s now a segment that is basically Jerry Springer trash TV. It’s the whole Dawn Marie getting engaged to Torrie Wilson’s dad but really she wanted Torrie all along. This leads to a scandalous video of the 2 women in a hotel room disrobing and then kissing. It’s just an excuse for 2 hot chicks to kiss. It’s a Raw segment that somehow made it to PPV and I’m never a fan of these kind of segments on PPV.

Batista with Ric Flair vs Kane

            As the announcers state at the beginning of this match, this is Batista’s first PPV appearance. Kane is always a good opponent for larger guys to face early on in their career because he can be beat and give a mini push to them. This match is kept fairly short. There is nothing particularly special about their encounter but it’s not bad either. The most entertaining part was Ric Flair, who was constantly distracting the referee and Kane, which eventually led to Batista hitting the Batista bomb for the win. I would say that there was a little too much distracting of the referee, they made him look like a fool but then again this was never meant to be a classic, just a starting point for Batista’s multiple world championship career.

Winner: Batista

            There’s next a segment of John Cena rapping. Again, this is something that belongs on Raw, not during a PPV. It doesn’t feel like it adds anything to the show and it’s a distraction.

Women’s Championship

Victoria (c) vs Trish Stratus vs Jacqueline

            3 women that can work very well, 2 of them are current hall of famers. The main problem with the match though is that I don’t think it even lasted 5 minutes. They were just getting warmed up. I enjoyed what they were doing, but it needed to go on longer to tell any kind of in ring story. Luckily there was a video package before the match to tell the story of the feud, but they really should have had more time.

Winner: Victoria

WWE Championship

Big Show (c) with Paul Heyman vs Kurt Angle

            In the pre match package, it was explained that Heyman betrayed Brock Lesnar, which allowed the Big Show to become WWE Champion. Lesnar attacked Big Show and other wrestlers and got himself suspended. Angle got Lesnar’s suspension overturned, on condition that he help him win the championship, which leads us to this match. It’s not a particularly good match. Big Show and Angle don’t gel that well together here. Angle does he damndest to get the most he can out of the Big Show but their styles just aren’t that compatible here. Surprisingly there isn’t that much interference by Paul Heyman since he gets taken out early on but there is interference by A-Train for some reason and then as expected Brock shows up to give Big Show an F5 and Angle the win.

Winner: Kurt Angle (new champion)

World Heavyweight Championship

2 out of 3 falls match

Shawn Michaels (c) vs Triple H with Ric Flair

            Right from the beginning Ric Flair takes a bump and gets himself thrown out by the referee, great start. During the match announcer Jerry Lawler keeps asking whether we are seeing Shawn Michaels or the Showstopper. After watching this, I can say that at this time he was still the Showstopper. Great interactions between both competitors who know each other super well at this point. The first fall was a street fight and they brought out garbage cans, tables and flaming barbed wire on a stick. It was violent and personal; they were out to hurt each other. After a long match Triple H gets the pinfall after a pedigree.

            The second fall is a cage match. Ric Flair comes back, gets hit by a chair and immediately starts bleeding. The action is a little slower here but it should be because both men are tired after the first fall. Good use of the cage as Triple H is constantly trying to escape and Michaels has to bring him back in. Near the end Michaels hits the sweet chin music on Triple H, puts him on a table and does a splash from the top of the cage to get the win.

            The third and final fall is a ladder match. It was shorter than the other 2 matches. Both men are exhausted at this point, barely able to climb up the ladder. Early on in the match, 2 tables were set up outside the ring. Later on Ric Flair added 2 more to the top, you knew at some point, someone is going through those. It came at the end of this match. Michaels got up the ladder and just as he was reaching for the belt, Triple H pushes the ladder, sending Michaels through the 4 tables. Triple H climbs up and grabs the belt to become champion once again. This match is a very good example of how to use violence effectively to tell a story. It’s not the best match of it’s kind but it very solid and doesn’t overdue the high spots and have guys kicking out of crazy moves.

Winner: Triple H (new champion)

            Overall the event was decent but not great. There was a fantastic main event but the WWE Championship match was so-so. There were a few matches that needed more time and suffered because of it. Instead of wasting time on segments that belong on Raw that time should have been used on these matches.

Rating: 6.5/10

Reviews #8 - Where to Invade Next (2015)

Plot: Documentarian Michael Moore visits several countries in order to find ideas to bring back to America.

Review: Michael Moore is a divisive personality. Whilst his documentaries are always well done and great at bringing a point home, sometimes he pushes his agenda too much and does not leave interpretation. Because of this most of his movies are for those who share his world view and leaves nothing for those who don’t.

            In Where to Invade Next however, his approach is not quite as up front. His goal here is to explore how people in other countries live and bring those ideas to integrate them to the American lifestyle. It is difficult to argue that the United States is often closed minded when it comes to different ways of living. So maybe, if they see how people live these lifestyles in different parts of the world, they might become more open to those ideas. And in most of the places he visits, there are great ideas. Having more vacation days, higher quality of food to be fed to children, helping drug addicts rather then throwing them in overcrowded jails, etc. These are all things that should, in the very least, be up for consideration.

            It’s in the second half of the movie where Moore starts to push his agenda. He visits countries where the prison system is much more liberal and prisoners have large amounts of freedom. Like the previous ideas, this one is definitely something that should be considered. But there are a lot of societal and social differences in these countries where some of these ideas may not work everywhere. This is where Michael Moore says that the war on drugs that United States wages is an excuse to throw black people in prison. Not only is this a far fetched idea, but it just does not logically feel correct either. Of course, this is an opinion and the man is entitled to it, but it can be a slippery slope to believe these ideas.

            As he has proven before, Michael Moore is a great documentarian. He knows how to get you invested in his battles and follow his ideas. Whilst he is very convincing, he at times goes too far in pushing his beliefs. Fortunately, it is toned down in this film but it does rear it head from time to time.

Score: 7/10

Reviews #7 - Good Morning, Vietnam (1987)

Plot: An eccentric radio DJ gets stationed in Vietnam during the war and clashes with his superiors.

Review: Robin Williams has both the ability to be the funniest man alive as well as the most annoying. How you feel about him in a certain role will dictate how you feel about the movie. In Good Morning, Vietnam Williams is a loud, eccentric DJ who does imitations and talks really fast. Now some of his jokes landed and were pretty funny, but most of them kind of felt like the droning on of a crazy person. Now this of course is a subjective opinion and some may love this aspect of him, but I thought he was just going too crazy, all over the place and just throwing everything at the wall and hoping something sticks.

The movie wants us to sympathize with Williams character Adrian Cronauer as he constantly clashes with his superior Sgt. Major Dickerson (J.T.Walsh). However, Major Dickerson might be a jerk who doesn’t want any silliness in his unit, but the only times he actually disciplines or talks down to Cronauer are warranted instances where he gets into bar fights or other kind of trouble. After a few of these infractions, you start siding with the Major.

There is also a very bizarre love story between Adrian and a young Vietnamese woman. He literally just picks her randomly in the street and now she is the love of his life and he must have her. It appears very arbitrary, like they just needed to throw in a love interest. Now I did find that it led to some of the funnier scenes of the movie with Williams teaching English to a class of Vietnamese people which was also quite endearing at times.

The supporting cast has some fairly known names, including Forrest Whitaker, Robert Wuhl and Bruno Kirby. They are all fine with what they are doing, Whitaker still in the quiet, shy faze of his career and Kirby is providing laughs with his officer that nobody respects. There’s also Noble Willimgham, who some of you may recognize as the bad guy from The Last Boy Scout. Here he’s a lovable general with a fantastic southern voice.

Of course in the end you have to recognize that this is a war movie and bad things will happen. There are some scenes of violence and brutality but they are not that blatant. They show the cost of war without going into graphic details. There is a subplot near the end regarding espionage that doesn’t really pan out to anything but it does feel like a big deal at that moment.

Your level of enjoyment of this movie will live and die based on how funny you find Robin Williams in this role. He’s the centerpiece here and everything else is dressing on the side. In my case, I did not find him particularly funny except for a few instances, therefore I did not enjoy this movie all that much.

Score: 5/10

Reviews #6 - Spider-Woman: Agent of SWORD (2009)

Review: This 5-episode mini-series is based on the aftermath of the Secret Invasion storyline in Marvel comics from a few years back. Now, herein lies one of the big issue with the series; it assumes we all know what exactly happened in that storyline. Myself, I know some of the bullet points but not everything. Those who do not know about the Secret Invasion will be completely lost.

            To sum it up, the Skrulls, an alien race of shapeshifters, infiltrated the Marvel Universe and impersonated several important members of government and superheroes. They slowly began a worldwide takeover and Spider-Woman was captured and impersonated by the Skrull Queen. This is the basic scuttlebutt of the story without going into too much detail. This series picks up afterwards, where Spider-Woman is recruited to hunt down the remaining Skrulls.

            The visual style is very different than any sort of traditional animation. It’s more like a motion comic. In essence, it is all still pictures where certain elements move. It’s a style that works in certain moments but not in all cases. When it’s a grand well lit scene it looks good, but when it’s a dark closed in area it becomes difficult to tell what is going on. The voice actors become key in helping narrate the story. The main characters, especially the voice actress playing Spider-Woman, do a great job at this and she in particular kept me interested. However, some of the smaller characters had really annoying voices and felt like caricatures more than actual characters.

            The story is a confusing one. It feels like you’ve been inserted midway through a series and don’t know how you got there or where you are going afterwards. Characters appear that we are supposed to recognize but there is very little explanation of who they are or what their connection to Spider-Woman is. Unless you’re a well versed comic reader from this time period, you will be confused as well. The ending is something that feels like it would happen midway through a story, not the conclusion to the whole series. In essence, it is treated like a comic book series where it is assumed that the reader knows what is going on

            If you are a fan of the motion comic art style, this series could be interesting to you but make sure you read up on the Secret Invasion storyline beforehand because you will end up confused and only understanding certain parts of it.

Score: 6/10

Reviews #5 - Smallville Season 2 (2002-2003)

Review: Smallville as a show has a very good slow progression. It may be frustrating how long it takes for new elements to be revealed, but that makes them feel all the more special as they happen. In the second season, we get a lot of new revelations. We find out more about Clark’s alien origins, he discovers heat vision and my favorite of all, the red kryptonite!

            This season still has the monster of the week but they are not quite as common. The focus of the story shifts more to Clark discovering where he is from. This makes everything seem more important because in the end these additions to his character will carry forward whereas the villain of the week will be forgotten by next episode. In addition to this Pete, Clark’s best friend, learns of his secret. This completely changes their dynamic together. It is also great for Clark since he now has a friend to whom he can speak to openly about his powers.

            Clark isn’t the only character that grows. Lana becomes more of a 3 dimensional person. She’s not just the smiling pretty girl anymore. She opens her own business and overall becomes a more independent and well rounded person. She also has more legitimate gripes when she gets mad at Clark, unlike in the past where it was over trivial matters. Mrs. Kent grows as a character as well. Not content with just being a farmer, she gets a job working for Lionel Luther, which both allows her to be closer to him to learn more information and allow her to use her brain more often.

            As for Clark’s evolution, the cave discovery is what drives a large part of his growth. Here he meets his father Jor-El and finds out that he is really Kal-El from Krypton. He is forced late in the season to make a critical decision that will affect him greatly in the season to come. Now, the red kryptonite, as stated before, is my favorite new element. It causes Clark to be become the complete opposite of what he is, a completely selfish jerk. It’s a great new threat that brings out the dark side of him and gives us fun and compelling stories.

            This season was one where we learned more about what will make Clark Superman. It didn’t sacrifice what made the first season what it was. It expanded it in order to allow growth for the future.

Score: 7/10

Reviews #4 - National Treasure (2004)

Plot: A historian tries to find a hidden treasure whose knowledge was passed down to his family generations ago that could be a worth a fortune.

Review: An adventure movie, when done right, can be extremely fun but when it’s done wrong, it’s a huge mess. National Treasure falls somewhere in between. The movie has an interesting treasure set up. Most adventure movies take place in far away and distant countries, but this one is set right in the USA. It’s a good change and it lets the viewers explore a different side of American history that they may not be familiar with. Believe it or not but there a lot of interesting secrets, especially in the older cities in the east.

            The plot is fairly simplistic and by the numbers. Historian Benjamin Gates (Nicolas Cage) along with his financial partner Ian Howe (Sean Bean) try to seek the treasure that Gates family has kept secret for hundreds of years. Howe betrays Gates, they race to steal the Declaration of Independence which has the map to the treasure, adventure ensues. Along the way Gates and his sidekick Riley Poole (Justin Bartha) meet up with the curator of the Declaration (Diane Kruger) and together they try to beat Howe to the treasure. Standard plot, but it’s not as if it’s one that needs major tweaking.

            The characters have their good and their bad. Nicolas Cage is subdued here, not being his crazy self that he is known for. In fact, he is very calm, to the point that saying “We are going to steal the Declaration of Independence” does not phase him one bit, it’s like ordering lunch. Justin Bartha is for the most part annoying. His quips and jokes are lame and unfunny, but he’s got fantastic facial hair, so he’s just barely bearable. Diane Kruger is good at her role, she’s not a total damsel in distress and her intelligence shines through when the scene calls for it. Sean Bean is always great as a villain, although at times here he seems to be falling asleep. We also get Jon Voight in on the fun, and Harvey Keitel as well. They bring a good veteran presence and its always nice to see them. Voight looks like he’s having fun and Keitel seems to act the same way as his character Winston Wolf from Pulp Fiction.

            The actions scenes are decent but nothing grandiose. It mostly consists of Gates and his crew running away from gunshots. There is a sort of an ancient treasure location near the end, but it doesn’t come anywhere near rivaling anything you’ve already seen in other movies.

            The movie overall is an ok time, but it won’t blow your socks off. Cage’s performance might be disappointing for those looking for crazy Nic Cage, each individual viewer will have their own opinion on him. If you’re bored and looking for something to watch at 1 AM on Netflix, this is a choice that should keep you just satisfied enough.

Score: 6.5/10

Reviews #3 - WWE Royal Rumble 2009

             2009 was during my long hiatus from watching the WWE, so this is my first time seeing this PPV. Based on the opening video montage, the story of this event is Randy Orton vs the McMahon family. We see Randy talking smack at Stephanie and then attacking Vince, giving him a punt kick and laying him out. It was surprising for me to see a much more violent and vicious Randy Orton. The character as I know him now is fairly plain and stale, so this is an interesting look into the character.

ECW Championship

Jack Swagger (c) vs Matt Hardy

            During my time off, the WWE added a third brand, ECW. Now, in no way, shape or form was this anything like the original ECW. It just seemed like an excuse to add another show to their lineup. They tried to push that ECW Championship as a world title but if anything it was just a slightly elevated mid card title.

            Jack Swagger never really had any charisma. He was good enough in the ring and could wrestle a decent match, but his character was just there, never anything special. This match with Matt Hardy had the same characteristics as Swagger. It was good, not great, but did not have any lasting impact or feature anything that special.

Winner: Jack Swagger

WWE Women’s Championship

Beth Phoenix (c) with Santino Marella vs Melina

            This encounter was the story of Beth Phoenix’s strength vs Melina’s agility and craftiness. Apart from a few timing issues, the 2 styles meshed well together. It ended up being more violent than expected, with one sequence where Phoenix forced Melina’s foot to kick her in the back of her own head. Currently being in one of the stronger eras of women’s wrestling, you hear that everything was bad just a few years ago but this is not the case. The match was short but sweet, effective in what they were trying to tell. Santino Marella walked to the ring with Phoenix but he was a total non factor in this whole thing. In the end, Melina found a clever way to counter one of Phoenix’s moves into a sort or roll up to get the pin.

Winner: Melina (new champion)

World Heavyweight Championship

John Cena (c) vs John Bradshaw Layfield with Shawn Michaels

            Now hold on a second, Shawn Michaels is with JBL?!?!?! I really did miss a lot of storylines during those years. Luckily there is a video package, explaining that Michaels lost a lot of money during the 2008 financial crisis and JBL offered to bail him out, but Michaels had to help him win the World Heavyweight title.

            The match itself is average at best. Mostly slow power moves, nothing too thrilling. The most interesting aspect of all this is storyline with Shawn Michaels. Throughout the whole match he is conflicted. Does he help JBL in order to financially aid his family, or stick it to him since he can’t stand him? You end up paying little attention to Cena and JBL, you are watching Michaels the whole time. This just illustrates how good HBK is in his role and why he is a legend, he just proved himself more important than a match for the World Heavyweight Championship. In the end, Michaels superkicks both JBL and Cena after the referee gets knocked out and places JBL to cover Cena and leaves. A new ref comes in and Cena kicks out. He then hits the attitude adjustment on JBL and wins. It’s worth noting that Cena is actually being cheered in this match, no 50/50 cheers and boos. This is indeed a whole different era that I missed out on.

Winner: John Cena

WWE Championship

No Disqualification Match

Jeff Hardy (c) vs Edge with Chavo Guerrero

            I’m so glad they were doing these video packages, otherwise I’d have no idea what the storyline was. Apparently Edge was sabotaging Hardy’s life by running his car off the road and detonating his pyrotechnics early and burning him (which is something that actually happen to The Undertaker the following year). This story is, well odd. I’m not sure where it all started or why Edge is such a dick, but it’s bleeding into weird territory and just doesn’t feel right.

            This match is the opposite of the previous one. The story here is not that strong and Jeff Hardy and Edge are not the actors that Shawn Michaels is. While the in ring action is fairly decent, it’s doesn’t create enough emotion or attachment. It’s a match that happens, that’s about it. In the end, Matt Hardy comes in and hits Jeff with a chair, giving Edge the victory and the WWE Championship. The mystery is why Matt betrayed his brother, which I’m sure was revealed later on since it set up a Wrestlemania match between the two.

Winner: Edge (new champion)

Royal Rumble Match

Winner gets a World Title shot at Wrestlemania XXV

            The WWE made it very clear that Randy Orton was going to win the Royal Rumble. This whole match was centered around him. The opening promo to the entire pay per view was about Orton and his problems with the McMahon family. I don’t think they even mentioned any of the other participants in their promos.

            The match started off with some high flyers in Rey Mysterio and John Morrison. At entrants 5 and 6 we got some big guys in The Great Khali and Vladimir Kozlov and then the main eventers Triple H and Randy Orton came in at 7 and 8. The ring starting filling up after this and this rumble had a very full ring for most of the event. At certain points it seemed that there were a dozen wrestlers in there at once. The Legacy stable, consisting of Randy Orton, Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase, was working together for most of the match but had little success eliminating entrants. Late in the match we had the now legendary spot where Santino Marella lasted 1 second and we had several other participants who lasted less than a minute. In the end the final four, usually my favorite moment of the rumble, were the entire Legacy group and Triple H. Helmsley was eventually able to fight his way to eliminating DiBiase and Rhodes before being tossed out by Orton, the winner.

            The Royal Rumble overall was a good match. There were a lot of participants that lasted a long time and there were some cool spots, like when Mysterio jumped on the back of 2 guys who fell out in order to avoid elimination. The only problem is that there was absolutely no mystery as to who was going to win. Generally, there is one favorite, but there are usually a few others who have a possibility of winning. Here, the WWE told you right at the beginning of the show that Orton was winning, everything else is a formality. That would be the main negative of the Royal Rumble itself.

Winner: Randy Orton

Conclusion

            This event was a fairly decent one. Most matches were ok but none great. The opening contest was serviceable but nothing special. The women’s match was actually pretty good and enjoyable. Cena vs JBL did not have great action but it told a good story, whereas Hardy vs Edge was the complete opposite. The Royal Rumble match is among the better half of all the rumbles but the ending was way too predictable, at least leave some mystery.

Final Score: 7.5/10

Reviews #2 - Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk

Plot: A white collar office worker meets a strange man and together they start an underground fighting ring.

Review: I have seen the movie Fight Club a million times, but up until recently I had never read the book. The movie was very influential in my life and for a long time it was my favorite movie of all time. As the years went by I started to find some cracks in it that became more and more glaring. It’s not my favorite movie anymore, but I still hold it in very high regard.

            The book itself is different than I had expected. Whilst the story is the same as the movie, the way it is told is disjointed. It is not a linear narrative. It is more of a series of events that occur, with no semblance of how much time has passed. This may have been done in order to question the reliability of the unnamed narrator. The book is also fairly short at just over 200 pages.

            The story describes a person who is bored with his life. He has everything he needs to get by but he lacks any enthusiasm. It’s a problem many of us can relate to, living in the white collar world with office jobs. There can be a certain lack of adventure in life and the narrator finds it in Fight Club. While this is an extreme look at finding excitement, it’s an effective simile for normal people. Of course, just like in real life, sometimes things can go way too far and this story is one where strong feelings can push a group of people to do very dangerous activities in order to remain in a group and share that sense of belonging.

            I am keeping the story points fairly vague for anyone who may not have seen the movie or read the book. I will have to say that I did prefer the movie over the book in this case. The movie flows more smoothly with its more linear narrative whereas in the book, things just seem to happen. It’s an ok read but one where you need to find your bearings constantly.

Score: 6/10

Reviews #1 - WWE Royal Rumble 1994

WWE – Royal Rumble 1994

            1994 was a strange time for the WWE. They were transitioning out from the Hogan 80s era style and heading into a new generation with wrestlers such as Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart who were more athletic in the ring. The event starts with a very 90s graphic and Vince McMahon’s over the top announcing. I believe he said 1994 Royal Rumble at least a half dozen times before the first match even begins. The Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase comes in as his co-announcer, interesting choice. Throughout the show Dibiase would throw jabs at certain wrestlers he feuded with in the past and talk about how much money he had. It was a nice touch to have a former heel wrestler as announcer, still in character.

Tatanka vs Bam Bam Bigelow with Luna Vachon

            For a man his size, Bam Bam was very athletic. He moved quickly and could do a moonsault, something hardly anyone did at the time. Tatanka was a fairly big guy too. He was more of the steroid, muscle bound freak kind of big but he too moved well. This match had a good pace and some good action. It never slowed down to take a breather. A good opener to a pay per view.

Winner: Tatanka

Tag Team Championship: The Quebecers (Jacques Rougeau and Pierre Karl Ouellette) (c) with Johnny Polo vs Bret and Owen Hart

            Before the match there is a segment about Bret and Owen’s tumultuous relationship over the last few months but it seems like they are now ok with each other. The match itself is awkward. It feels like there is a lack of communication between the participants. And is that Raven? Was he once known as Johnny Polo? The point of the match however was to focus on the Bret and Owen relationship. After having his leg attacked the entire match, the ref calls for a stoppage and awards the match to the Quebecers. Owen gets frustrated at Bret and hits Bret in his leg, injuring it further. There is no possible way Bret can compete in the Royal Rumble later tonight!!!

Winners: The Quebecers

Intercontinental Championship: IRS vs Razor Ramon (c)

            This is an ok match but let’s be honest, did anyone expect IRS to win? The finish gets a little screwy, with Shawn Michaels interfering and hitting Razor with the fake Intercontinental belt and IRS pinning Razor. Then another refs comes, points out what happened, then Ramon hits the Razor’s Edge on IRS and gets the real pin. The kind of finishes are frustrating because they point out the lack of consistency in wrestling. Why does the decision get overturned this time, but not the hundreds of other times there’s interference?

Winner: Razor Ramon

Casket Match

WWF World Championship: Yokozuna (c) vs The Undertaker

            This encounter itself wasn’t much to scream about. Most of it was The Undertaker bouncing around and attacking the champion Yokozuna. Undertaker could really move fast back in the day; I was surprised by his athleticism. The story here is what happens at the end. About a dozen other heels show up to beat down The Undertaker and eventually weaken him up enough to put him in the casket and give Yokozuna the win. As they cart the casket away, The Undertaker appears on the screen and all kind of magic and theatrics happen, ending with what appears to be The Undertaker ascending to heaven.

            What happened here was definitely over the top but not excessive, especially for the time period. It gave The Undertaker a good way to disappear for a bit while still remaining strong even in defeat. Looking at it now, yes, it is ridiculous, but you can look at it with a nostalgic view and enjoy it.

Winner: Yokozuna

Royal Rumble match

Winner gets a World Championship title shot at Wrestlemania X

            The early parts of my favorite match of the year were dominated by Diesel. He looked like a star, eliminating everyone for a while until he ran into the Macho Man Randy Savage. From there the match went its normal route. There were a lot of punch and kick spots in order to allow the ring to fill up. When Bret returned, it was a great moment and he did an excellent job selling the leg injury from earlier in the night. The most exciting part of the rumble happens once all 30 participants are inside because every elimination means you are one step closer to finding out who the winner is. One of my favorite spots is when they get down to the final four and they stare at each other and give the crowd a moment to take in that we are near the end. For the finale, Lex Luger and Bret Hart tumble out of the ring at the same time. After conferring with then “President” of the WWE Jack Tunney, it’s determined that both Luger and Hart are winners. This created a new interesting scenario for the Wrestlemania world title match, something that had never been done before. It also gave the company room to change their minds if either Luger or Bret did not turn out to be what they wanted for Wrestlemania.

Winners: Bret Hart and Lex Luger

            Overall this event was good but not great. The Tatanka vs Bam Bam match was good, but the other preliminary contests were not that thrilling. The Rumble match itself was good, middle of the road quality and it gave us a finish that had never happened before. It also made Diesel look like a star, using the rumble to show him as a badass. It lacked a bit of star power since they were in a rebuilding phase at that time with many of the stars of the 80s having already left the company. They did what they could to push the new generation forward but there was a little something lacking to make it spectacular.

Score : 7/10