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

Site Update August 17 2016

Hello World!!!

It's been a while since the last site update. There have been a lot of things happening in my life and that prevented me from putting out reviews that I would of been proud of. But now it's back, and it's going to be rebooted. I'm starting over with the numbering system. There have been too many reviews in the past that I am not proud of. A lot of them I wrote just because I felt I needed to, not because I wanted to. So, from now on here is what is going to happen. Every Sunday, you can expect a new review on the site. I am also bringing back the Wednesday Night Ramblings. So that's 2 posts a week, minimum. If there is time and if I feel up to it there may be an extra review here and there. But the goal is to write quality stuff, not just fluff to fill up space. I'm going to be working harder than ever to bring out the best of myself.

One thing I'm looking forward to is announcing the next review during the Wednesday Night Rambling. And since this is Wednesday, allow me to present the next review. Coming on Sunday, August 21st;

Royal Rumble 1994

We're starting things off with a WWE review. It's a weird event with a lot to talk about.
Hope you all enjoy reading this blog. Looking forward to the new future.

Movie Reviews #61 - 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003)

Plot: Former undercover cop Brian O’Connor (Paul Walker) is brought back in by customs to catch an international drug dealer in Miami.

Review: Two years after the first film, Paul Walker came back for the terribly named 2 Fast 2 Furious, he was basically the only cast member from the first film to return. You can’t really blame them; this movie was weak and forgettable. The plot felt like they were trying to copy the first one but without any of the charm of that original film. It also had a somehow even weaker villain Carter Verone played by Cole Hauser. It’s strange as Hauser is generally a good actor, but it really felt like here he was just sleepwalking. He was supposed to be a threat and I didn't quite understand if he was meant to be a South American drug dealer, and it didn’t matter to the story anyway.

            Our hero Brian had the whole movie to himself without a strong co-lead like Vin Diesel as he did in the original. This time he has enlisted Roman Pearce played by Tyrese Gibson to help him out. Tyrese is of course completely different from Diesel, their characters are completely different, and when he was in badass mode he was a good addition to the film. However, when he started getting into 'gangsta' mode and be funny, he just did not work. His comedic antics did improve in the franchise's future sequels, but at this point he hadn’t perfected it. Eva Mendes plays a fellow undercover agent Monica Fuentes and potential love interest for Walker, unfortunately she was just there though. It felt like they needed a love interest, and that felt like that was the only reason for her to exist.

            This movie had to also shoehorn in some street racing, isn't that meant to be the point originally of The Fast And The Furious films? It didn’t make all that much sense to be honest, but at least we got Ludicrous and his crew added to the movie, they were a decent comedic addition and made the cast feel larger and more complete. At one point near the end they help orchestrate this distraction that feels like it came from a kid’s movie, with stupid cops who just aren’t cool enough to catch these smooth criminals.

            Ultimately, this movie will be forgotten not long after watching it. There were some half decent action scenes but nothing that was as good as in the first one. They tried to go bigger and crazier with some of the action but it did not have the impact that the first did and felt silly for the most part. Of course the series becomes even more insane as time goes on but they totally own it with those films, whereas here they are sheepishly trying to repeat the formula as the first one was such a big hit.

Score: 4.5/10

TV Reviews #15 - Smallville Season 1 (2001-2002)

Review: Smallville was a show that was a big deal back in the day when it first started. There hadn’t really been anything like it before, and it brought the superhero TV show back to audiences. As is customary for me, I hadn’t seen the show until recently, which is 15 years after it premiered. Did the show live up to all the hype?

            There’s no denying that Smallville was a cheesy show, it was basically Dawson’s Creek mixed with X-Files. Most of the story for this first season was based around teenage problems and the villains/monsters of the week. They seemed to be more of a distraction for Clark to deal with, rather than anything else. Many episodes begin with someone gaining or using their powers to do something bad, usually brought on by the kryptonite that landed in Smallville with Clark's arrival. The rest of the episode would be people trying to convince others that these super powered people really did have these abilities, which was essentially what almost every X-Files episode was about. The villain would somehow find out about Clark`s secret (his own abilities, which he learns throughout the season) and by the end of the episode they would accidentally get themselves killed, get amnesia or something else to keep the status quo.

Interspersed would be teen problems of Clark wanting to tell Lana how he feels, or Chloe wanting to tell Clark how she feels, or the usual teenage dramas. In that respect, I never understood what Clark saw in Lana, she’s pretty but other than that she didn’t have much personality or much else to actually offer. She also constantly questioned Clark and made a big deal about the smallest thing he would do or not do. Clark should have chosen Chloe; she was better than Lana in every way described above, they are complete opposites.

Lana is the worst

            The most interesting character of the show by far was Lex Luthor, where you know that at some point he will turn evil, but at this juncture in the series he is a good friend of Clark’s. However, you know there is a dark side to him, his relationship with his father is layered with distrust and deceit but it was also a challenge for him to rise up and better himself. Some old school Shakespearean things are absolutely at play with their dynamic as father and son.

What Lex lacks in hair he makes up in being interesting

            Finally, we have Martha and Jonathan Kent, the adoptive parents to Clark. They were the definition of the wholesome mid western American family, who prided themselves on values and hard work. Except that Jonathan would constantly lose his temper and get mad at people, most of the time it would be at Lex Luthor, for things he should not have or when people were being nice to him. Martha was the concerned mother who always worried, but of course by the end of every episode everything would ultimately turn out fine.

            The show had an innumerable amount of unintentionally hilarious moments, whether or not these moments were that way when first aired or whether it has just become that way when viewing it now. However, that was of course part of the fun of watching it for me. If you don't take it too seriously, it is actually an enjoyable experience. I’m looking forward to the future adventures in the town of Smallville and seeing where the show goes with this interpretation of Clark Kent the man who would become Superman.

Score: 7/10