Into the Furnace Movie Review

It was a good movie that would have been better if I had expected it was more of a drama than an action flick.   I definitely think the trailers for this movie were misleading.  I was expecting some serious butt kicking.  I was amped up so the movie seemed slow.

Into the Furnace is definitely a slow movie but I typically like movies that develop characters and really tell a story.  I don't think this movie was completely successful in those regards but it does a better than average job.

I would recommend this movie but realize it is a hybrid between an action movie and a drama.  Keep in mind that is lean more on the drama side as well.

Bad Grandpa

Bad Grandpa was funny, I really enjoyed the movie.

The reason the movie worked is that they incorporated a story but it is was more about the natural reactions of real people.  The characters seemed natural as much as the audience of the gags.  I was also pleased to find out that it wasn't as gratuitous as I thought it was going to be.  Don't get me wrong there were definitely scenes in the movie that kids should not ever see, but it wasn't a total shock fest like Hangover 2.

I definitely recommend this movie.  It is very light and moves a long at a good pace.  The great thing is that it looks like Johnie really had to work to get the shocking reaction he wanted.  It seemed like a lot of people were doing the right thing.

My New Drink - City C

I am pretty excited because I concocted an awesome drink at the bar yesterday.  My wife was indecisive as usual and said I want a drink that is not to strong and creamy.  Most people are going to order a White Russian.  Not me.  I went up to the bar and looked over the selection.  I saw the Rum Chata and I knew Rum Chata is a little too sweet for her taste.   Then it hit me mix it with Franglico.

City C - One part Frangelico one part Rum Chata on the rocks.

The drink tastes a lot like Cinnamon Toast Crunch and the name is an ode to one of my favorite breakfast cereals.  I started with the initials and thought that was too easy so I made it City C.

Try it let me know what you think and by the way she loved it.

Walking Dead Season 4 Episode 2

I don't think anything in this episode was mind blowing.  The show still managed to fly by.  A lot of action and the two significant events are that the disease action plan goes into effect and everyone is not in agreement on the execution of the plan.  Apparently, someone thinks turning and burning is the way to go.

I think feeding the zombies is going to turn out to be a bigger deal than the episode let on.  It seems like the kids are the likely culprits but what are they doing sneaking out at night.  They live in a world where the zombie apocalypse is going on.  I think that probably makes it a little harder to sneak out at night.

It is strange that it is someone in the prison but who would still be loyal to The Governor.  I think that is the trick and I am going with the Medic Bob for now.   I guess will find out or if he starts to get face some internal struggle like he had in escaping the booze in the first episode of season four.

Sympathy for Kershaw from a Cards Fan

Wow, Kershaw just got pulled and I could tell he had some tears swelling up in his eyes.  The Cardinals had taken the Dodgers to the wood house in this game but I am not going to count my eggs before they hatch.  There are still four innings of play to go.  I am hoping we get a couple more here in the 5th.

They just showed Kershaw in the dugout and he is staying there to watch the game.  I give credit to the man he is in a real tough situation.  That being said I am happy as hell my team is winning.  GO CARDS!!!

Walking Dead: Does Rick Turn

My favorite show has started again and I noticed a little foreshadowing.  In the very begin of the episode Rick is doing a bit of farming and walks by a barrel taking a big sip water.  At the end of the episode Harry Potter turns in the shower.  Even though a lot happened in between I am drawing a connection between the two events.

My thoughts are that Rick turns from drinking contaminated water.  I really think this is going to play into the new season somehow.  The other possibility is that he gets sick and they find a cure or he fights off the infection somehow.  Perhaps he just gets similar symptoms and ends up just having a bad case of the flu.  I am going with he turns.  Let me know what you think?

Does Rick get infected or do you have your own take on what will happen?  Please leave a comment below.

Runner Runner Movie Review

I really wanted to like this movie but unfortunately it sucked.  I like poker a lot and that was barely an element of the movie.  I could have gotten over that.

There was supposed to be all this smart out thinking the other person going on but it just seemed stupid.  The villain of the movie didn't even seem that bad.  I don't think anyone was ever killed.  All the evil deeds in this movie just involve almost killing people.

The suspense was missing, the thrill was missing.  There was nothing about this movie that gets the audience invested.  Save your money or go see Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2.

The World's End Movie Review

The movie is funny go see it, preferably in a theatre that serves alcohol. 

The movie gets setup very quickly, I had heard a few complaints that it was slow to get going.  I personally did not find this true.  I thought it moved quickly from the party setup to the comedy horror portion.  I will say the movie wasn't scary at all, but it wasn't meant to be.  This is definitely a comedy.

What to expect at a high level.  The comedy is not as dry as Sean of the Dead.  A lot of the jokes are a lot more slap stick.  Some people may say there were some political under tones but at the end of the day the movie comes out neutral.  Who cries politics on this movie is just an asshole.  I will say it taps into philosophy but more as a spoof on other sci-fi movies most notably "The Day the Earth Stood Still".  

There isn't a lot of character development but it wasn't needed.  The character types are so classic that everything is understood.  I guess that is the nice thing about a spoof and this obviously a movie that your not going to sit there an analyze.

Well go out and have some fun with this one.

Jobs - Movie Review

The movie is worth seeing.  It is not geat and comparitively slow compared to a lot of modern movies but it told a good story.

Before seeing this movie the reviews I read were so bad that I tried to cancel my tickets.  Everything I read said that Ashton Kutcher was unbareable in the role of Steve Jobs. I bought it to, I thought the guy plays a bunch of morons.  He has been type cast by "The Seventies Show" and "Two and a Half Men"  I think he did a really good job playing Jobs.  Haha.  He didn't play an Emmy wiinning part or anything but he did well.

I will say I thought the trailer looked bad as well.  I think this movie tries to set you up with low expectations and then delivers a good story. Not a bad strategy, it worked on me.

Are Movies Better Now or Then?

I have been thinking about classic films verse some of the modern films and asked the question in what areas are films improving.  I cam up with two genre's where I see improvement.  Comedy and childrens movies. 

I don't think it is hard to make the argument that kids movies have gotten better.  All I have to do is point to Shrek.  This movie brought suttle adult humour and made these movies enjoyable for all ages.  I have seen some kids movies that go overboard or aren't all that funny.  Example Shrek 3 all though the ginger bread man crapping the gum drop is one of my favourite scenes of all time. 

I am going to make my case for comedies by pointing out that it is the nature of comedy to continously push boundaries.  I also think that romantic comedies have improved by breaking from the traditinoal mold.  They aren't always the two people forced to be together for some wierd set of circumstances that ends up leading them to their realization of love.  I think the reality of these comedies like getting a girl knocked up have made these movies better.  Then was the first Hangover movie.  This movie stepped right up to the edge with out going off the cliff; unlike Hangover 2.

As far as action movies, dramas, horror etc. etc. these movies haven't been able to keep up.  Now I am going on overall quality because the Saw series was freaking awesome as far as  horror goes.  The reason Saw was good is because it had a mental aspect and the focus classics maintained.  That is the problem with all other genres have.  They don't generally bring focus to the story and when they do they are too slow.   The are of that balance between good story telling and keeping things interesting has been lost.

Wall-E Movie Review

What a disappointment. Now I have to listen to all the liberals talk about how liberating it is that Disney can make fun of themselves. This movie is siply an attack on consumerism. It basically asserts that people will blindly follow consumerism until they become fat slobs that are merely cattle who exist to drive free markets.

This movie is the story of a trash robot left on earth to clean it up. It finds a plant and gives it to a drone sent to discover life on earth. All in hopes of returning to earth some day and repopulate the planet. This move is all about liberal agenda and assumes taht man lacks the ability to think.

I have news for Obama supporters. We are not robots nor will we be slaves. The morality of man lies in his principle purpose to use reason. We are the only known life with the ability to reason. By this ability we have both the ability to perpetuate ourselves into something more and comes with that the misguidance of self destruction. The only mean by which man suceeds is to follow his self interest. It is abudantly obvious that we must take care of the earth because it is in our self interest. It is in my interest to protect the planet, but to do so honestly.

I will perpetuate the myths of global warming. I have become a vegeterian because it is economically beneficial. It takes less time and creates less waste. My body reaps the benefits and it is my body that I most emensely enjoy. My body is that which give me access to all pleasures, even those of the mind.

I am going to stop rambling, don't go see Wall E.

True Grit Movie Review

The short of it is that this is a great movie.

This movie does what some many movies fail to do and I think it appropriate that it is a western that returns to a lost art.  Character and story development.  The movie isn't one two second shot after the other.  Focus is maintained on the characters and the storyline everything is deliberate and I like this a lot.  I would normally discuss the movie further but this is a must see.  I personally don't like having too much divulged to me when I really want to see a movie and this is a movie you should really want to see if you missed it in the theatres.

Battleship Movie Review

I just watched this movie on HBO or something and though I'd throw my opinion on to the blog.

The breakdown:  Horrible

This has gotta be one of the cheesiest movies I have every seen.  Actors actually seemed completetly out of place.  Especially, Liam Neeson.  The only thing I liked about his movie is that they seemed to bring real veterans to the set.  I appreciate the men and women who have served our country.   That being said the actual actors portraying service members were horrible.

I thought the relationships and interactions were disjointed as well.  It was actual hard to associate the brothers, boyfriend/girlfriend and friendships as real.  There wasn't any spark between the actors and the whole movie comes off as a bad soap.

Movie Review - World War Z

The brief, I was bored.

I'll get straight to the point.  I thought the movie was over animated and I didn't like the zombies.  The movie should have been a lot more violent.  The zombies walk around chomping at everything but never really did into anybody.  I was also disappointed in the movement of the zombies.  They seemed to pounce on people like cats and that is not the way a human body moves.

Now for a little about me.  I don't like zombies that are overly agile.  I think it is great when they run but it is still a decaying dead body.  Zombies should also be really chewed up and missing limbs.  For this reason I don't think they should move like super athletes.  It just isn't realistic.

The back to the movies the zombies also appeared to be especially stupid.  Zombies should appear to be driven by pure instinct.  Then we get to the characters.  The characters were very dull, even Brad Pitts character.  I couldn't have cared less if a one of them died.  This all get back to the point that the movie is boring.  You would be better off staying at home and watching re-runs of "The Walking Dead".

Movie Review - The Internship by Vince Vaughn

The brief, go see this movie it is funny.

This movie is exactly what is expected.  There are witty jokes and it is kept simple.  The movie finds humour by comparing generation X (my generation barely) to generation Z.  The movies general message is to live in the moment, get your head up from you smartphone and take the time to appreciate what is surrounding you, don't miss out on life.

I didn't have high expectations but I came out of the theatre in a good mood.  I rehashed some of the jokes with friends and found the overall experience enjoyable.  It is a movie I would sit through again once it hits cable.  Let's face it a movie really has to kick some you know what to go see in the movies twice because tickets have gotten really expensive. 

On that not the theatre I go to now serves food and alchol and it is barely more pricey than going out to eat.  A lot of theatres are heightening the movie going experience and I really like the new strategic direction.  Mostly the reclining chairs aspect.

The Call Movie Review

I failed to make a connection.  Yes that is a phone pun and sums up my issue with the movie.  I wan't invested in any of the characters.  The premise of the movie is a 911 operator becomes traumatized when a caller gets murdered.  She somehow gets promoted and when she is training new employees she gets a call from a girl who has been abducted by the killer.

Now I couldn't care less whether the second girl lived or died or whether the operator resolved her issues.  I literally forgot about this movie as soon as I left the theater.   Save your cheddar for something else because this movies is pitching the high cheese.

My Return to Fuddruckers, St. Louis

I haven't been to Fuddruckers is about twenty years and I had never been to the one in St. Louis (Sunset Hills).  Overall this is going to be a good review but I have to say when I walked in I was almost tempted to turn around and walk back out.  The atmosphere and setup of this place could use a lot of work to say the least. That being said I was impressed with the food.  The wife and I both got the Kobe burger combo.

The burger was very good but not Kobe quality.  I got mine with blue cheese, which overwhelmed the flavor of the burger meat but that is my fault.  I had the presence of mine to cut out a bit of the cheese to get a better taste of the beef and it was pretty good.  The bun was perfect.  It was light and you didn't get filled up by bread.  The fries were not stead style but pretty similar and they had a great seasoning.  The thing that was most impressive was the condiment bar.  Everything was perfectly fresh, I am not sure how it was kept that way with all of the kids running around but even the tomatoes were perfect and that is a rarity at condiment bars.

Overall, it was an enjoyable experience.  If Fuddruckers wants to take that experience to the next level they'll need to give that interior an overhaul.  I wouldn't recommend you to take a first date here but for an established relationship this place kind of hits the spot in a weird way.

Red Dawn The Original vs The New

After watching the original Red Dawn I realize the new release was just a watered down version.  There were some additions to the new release such as the EMP weapon and a change in the enemy but it wasn't enough to make up for all the symbolism and additional drama in the first Red Dawn.

The names on the rock was a theme in the first version that completely lacked in the second version.  Then the choices the Wolverines had to make in the first version were much more dramatic.  Most notably shooting the trader and leaving a member to die.  I will skip describing the difference in ending but if you have seen both, come on the second version by comparison is a total fluff job.  The enemy is also a lot meaner in the original.

The enemies were also more developed in the original in terms of strategy and the emotional connection the developed with the viewer.  There was some good in them and honor as well.  As a viewer I still wanted them to die but I felt a little badly when they did.  The character development was also more thought out in the original and it was done very subtly.  Such as a moment in the movie were the character Robert is etching notches for his kills into his gun.

To me the original is clearly better.  Let me know what you think.

The Incredible Burt Wonderstone Movie Review

I thought this movie would be funny.  The movie had Jim Carrey and Steve Carrell but no laughs.  The overall plot was simply too standard.  It seemed like the movie was written by somebody who had just read "Comedy Screen Writing for Dummies".  I'd recommend doing something else this weekend.