After last week hour long commercial for Into The Badlands a new Walking Dead episode is on. Will it be worth my time to write about it... Let's find out.
Tonite's episode exclusively focuses on the Daryl, Abraham and Sasha group. After successfully leading the herd away they each speed up and head back to camp, until they are attacked by a group with guns. Daryl gets separated while Sasha and Abraham crash their car, but immediately incapacitate their attackers. Daryl takes his ride into the woods and meets up with a group of survivors I'm calling the blonde family. They knock Daryl out and keep him captive thinking he's from the group they are escaping from. We get a whole bunch of exposition about this group and the dad keeps saying he won't kneel. To which I say:
They walk through a burned forest area which they caused and are going after a friend of theirs named Patty but is presumed dead when they reach the zombie filled destination. In a moment of weakness from the diabetic daughter, Daryl sneaks off with their bag, (which has his crossbow in it.)
Meanwhile Sasha and Abraham make camp in an insurance office and wait for the tracker Daryl to find them. Sasha and Abe bicker about Abe wanting to kill some zombies to which he equated to tying up loose ends, which apparently make his ass itch. They have a conversation about why they both went on the herd mission and pretty much come to the conclusion that they had to do it and each are concerned about the other cracking under the pressures of the zombie apocalypse. Concerned to the point that they might start dating later on. Also Abe found a rocket launcher.
Back in the A Plot, Daryl regroups and jumps the people who attacked him with the two trading items (a wood sculpture for the bag, but takes his gun. He splits when a truck comes in and you guessed it, it's the people who were actually chasing the blonde family. After a brief exchange between Wade (I heard Wayne not Wade) who is the leader of this group and the blonde's they get back into their large truck to try and run them down. Daryl leads the blonde's behind a shrub structure and is able to lure the village idiot of the group into getting bit on the arm by a pinned walker. The stupid guy immediately asks for his arm to be cut off and that effectively ends the chase since they bugger off.
Daryl's group wander into a greenhouse where the idiot daughter goes over to see a couple of dead people who they apparently knew. They spring to life and kill the daughter. while they're burying her, Daryl asks the questions and tells them about Alexandria. after a later exchange the blondes jump Daryl not believing that he is going after Sasha and Abe. They steal his motorcycle and his crossbow. He finds a large truck in the bushes and takes it over to where Abe and Sasha are. As they drive back to camp they call out on the radio and get a response from someone it was hard to tell who it was, but I thought I heard "help."
Anywho this is a better episode than the last piece of garbage. We will certainly see those two again because Daryl will get his weapons back. Prime example about how last week was total filler. Daryl tries out his role as a recruiter to mixed success, but he's getting out there and trying. I also like the progression in Abe he's had to live moment by moment and is realizing now that he has a future life in Alexandria. Sasha was still a bitch per usual. There is one serious problem
Glenn - They keep dangling this whole thing where Glenn isn't dead. This all started with their propaganda show Talking Dead, not declaring Glenn dead during their in memorandum section. My sister is convinced he's still alive and I've seen commercials on other AMC programming with Glenn still prominently featured. His name has been removed during his spot in the credits which is atypical, since a main cast member is still listed even when they die. I don't know what was so ambiguous about what happened to Glenn, but all signs are pointing to some screwed up way to keep him from dying.
Given the vast number of Zombie movies I have seen and the situation he was left in (lying on his back with walkers eating his flesh, there is NO WAY IN HELL he could survive. Glenn surviving is the show Jumping the shark and I will no longer watch if indeed he is brought back. You can watch the scene again, but I'm not going to buy it.
I'm a serious James Bond fan. I have seen every one of these pictures multiple times except for that farce of an attempt at Casino Royale with Peter Sellers and everyone in the world playing James Bond. Skyfall was one of the best in my professional opinion #3 on the all time list behind only Goldfinger and On Her Majesty's Secret Service. Spectre had hefty boots to fill so did it fill them?
Spectre begins with the caption on the screen the dead are not dead and we go into a wonderfully shot sequence in Mexico City on the Day of the Dead. Arguably my favorite sequence in the whole movie, in part because my favorite bond villain of all time is Baron Samedi and well Bond dressed up as him.
Bond is hunting a guy who threatens to blow up a stadium, but thwarts him superman style with loads of collateral damage. Bond gets scolded by M and suspended yada yada yada. Here's where we start running into my biggest issue with the movie. We've seen it before. Everything in this movie feels like it's been cherry picked from other movies. Granted it hard not to when you have 23 other films but it just seems like they phoned it in on this one, trying to cash in on the fact that Blofeld is back. I would say spoiler alert but the title of the film gives it away since that's the name of Blofeld's organization. So anyone who's actually seen a bond movie before is going to know that going in.
In other predictable notes Andrew Scott shows up as a bad guy BIG SHOCK since he plays Jim Moriarty on Sherlock. Word from the wise, don't cast someone who the audience knows as villainous heel if you want us to be surprised he's a bad guy.
So Moriarty shows up as this guy leading the merger between MI5 & MI6 named "C" He sees the George Orwellian future of surveillance and drones doing the work, viewing the 00 group as obsolete. Bond goes rogue so to speak following the orders of The previous "M" who gave him one last mission after her death in Skyfall. Those orders lead him to the Spectre organization and I won't go into anymore detail here because it's really painting by the numbers at this point.
It's not that this is a bad movie, but I feel like I've seen it already and never have I felt more that they need to stop making bond movies than after this one. And I love Daniel Craig as Bond, I think he's the best one because his character is the closest to the one from the books. Nothing in the movie is really glaringly bad except for Sam Smith singing the opening number. Good God that was a bad song. I never want to hear him sing anything again.
The acting is solid and the movie is entertaining. Christoph Waltz knows how to play Blofeld and was probably the best choice they could have gotten. he plays the intelleticual villain well and could do it in his sleep. Dave Bautista plays the Manacing Mr. Hinx. You may know him better as Drax the Destroyer from Guardians of the Galaxy. Léa Seydoux is the primary bond girl and does a good job, but blondes aren't really my type and Monica Bellucci shows up so Bondcan bang someone older than him for a change
The story is fine, it's just that the series is tired and bringing back Blofeld is just another example of it. I know they wanted to bring back Blofeld long before this but due to complex legal issues that only recently settled they couldn't use Blofeld or the name Spectre. They made the first bond movie in 1962 and they've written movies off of every single book Ian Fleming ever wrote and then some. It's 2015 now and they had a great run. It's time for James to go into the sunset and get a well deserved applause.
Although it may seem that I am down on this movie, It's not bad by any stretch. believe me when I say this is far from the crappy entries like Octopussy, View to a kill, or any of the Pierce Brosnan flicks after Goldeneye. If this wasn't a "Bond" Flick I'd probably think much better of it. I give this 6.5 vodka Martinis out of 10.
Fuck me this was a bad episode. What a clunker. It's not worth my time to write about what happened.
Outside of Maggie revealing she's pregnant, nothing really happened that hasn't already happened to the other characters already in the first damn season! We get it Alexandrians, the world sucks, grow up! We're way too far into the series to have this sort of display, we watched our main cast go through this in earlier seasons so it's incredibly annoying to watch this again. It's like watching Ted on How I met your Mother say he's into Robin again. Somebody has got to be Marshall and say damnit Ted!
Any suspense you had from the previous episodes got thrown out the window when Rick is running into camp to open the show. He was trapped in an RV last we saw him. They don't show how he got out, just that he did. Thanks for nothing! Pretty much all of the main characters no-showed tonite's episode. No Daryl, Abraham, not even Morgan, Carol or Father Gabriel made appearances and they are at Alexandria!
This season has been really good thus far and then last week was a necessary albeit boring back story episode for Morgan. At least though there was a purpose for it and we needed to know how Morgan got from season 3 to Now. They could have just jumped right back into the frey, but instead we get this filler episode and an awful one at that. I loathe filler episodes. The show does two 8 episode story arcs and have the comics to build off of so it's not like they have to write new story lines each year. Most good episodic dramas write 13 episodes each year and in that time have to advance the story from season to season. There just isn't time to waste especially when each the walking dead does two arcs that are completely independent from each other.
I have read articles that say they have a line to season 10 and on of this show, five + seasons. It just screams greed when they don't make an effort to advance the story. And the ratings justify the means because everyone is still going to watch even when they put out shit like this. They even have a second walking dead series now and and a show that talks about what just happens in a pretentious way. They keep claiming that Glenn isn't dead, which is totally ridiculous! Worst yet, every episode this season has been a commercial for the newest show AMC is going to cancel after one season. Into the Badlands. One of the reasons they extended last week's show to 90 minutes in length was to put in a full length trailer for this Martial arts drama.
No thanks, I'd rather watch reruns of How I Met Your Mother, than watch this show right now. Not that they care, they're still raking in all the money.
As expected we got the Morgan backstory episode and it's a 90 minutes. Let's dig in.
The episode starts with Morgan talking to someone in the present and he says he'll tell him everything. So we then cut to a season 3 Morgan at his little hideout after his last encounter with Rick. He decides to leave and clears another patch or land and burns a pile of walkers. He sharpens a bunch of staffs and uses them to protect the perimeter. The next day or so he stumbles upon a couple of survivors (a father and a son) and Morgan stabs the the father in the neck and chokes the life out of the son.
A day or so later Morgan finds a cabin in the woods and shoots at the man who lives there who tries to talk him down. Morgan refuses and is knocked out by the mystery man. He awakens later on in a cage. The man who put him there is an aikido practicing vegetarian named Eastman. Morgan keeps asking the man to kill him, but he refuses and offer to feed him. A few days later he offers Morgan the couch or the door as the cage door was never locked. Morgan attempts to kill Eastman and breaks an important piece of art on the wall which angers Eastman, but he still spares Morgan and relays the same choices back to Morgan who elects to get back into the cage.
The two live together for a while and we learn Eastman was a criminal psychologist who saw the evil in a particular prisoner. He could tell that this one in particular was fooling everyone but him and as a result the prisoner attacks Eastman who subdues him. He later escapes from prison and murders Eastman's family and then turns himself in because all he wanted to do was ruin Eastman's life. Eastman trains Morgan how to use a jo and later they return Morgan's old camp. A walker comes out, the turned version of the person Morgan killed earlier and he freezes up. To save Morgan, Eastman pushes him out of the way, but is bit in the process.
Morgan nearly snaps again and Eastman subdues Morgan in a brief skirmish. Morgan resharpens his bo and stabs a walker who was chasing two wounded survivors. The survivors leave Morgan a can of food as an attempt to not kill him and when they see the good in him, they leave a bullet as well and they limp off.
Back at camp Eastman is digging graves because they bury the zombies there as well as normal people, Morgan sees the grave of the man who killed Eastman's family. Eastman then revealed that he captured the murderer and starved him to death which took 47 days. It didn't make him feel any better and the only thing that did was deciding not to kill anyone ever again. He found out about the apocalypse when he went to turn himself in only to find there was no one to turn himself in to. After burying Eastman Morgan sets out and runs into the train tracks that lead to Terminus.
Back in the present it is revealed that the person he's speaking to is the "Alpha wolf" as he's been credited the one he's fought with multiple times. He says that his code requires him to kill everyone in the Alexandria camp. Morgan locks him up and is called away. End of the episode.
This is the worst episode so far of the new season but it is a necessary one given the stark differences between the Morgan we've seen before and the one we see now, but also the differences between Rick and Morgan. Rick kills, Morgan doesn't, Rick doesn't bury the zombies, Morgan does. Rick doesn't try to convert people who tried to kill him. Morgan does and this seems to be a major point of contention.
It wasn't as bad as the snooze fest that were the Governor side episodes in the 1st half of season 4. My biggest gripe with the episode was actually the representation of Aikido. Being someone who has actually practiced the art, some of the points mentioned in there aren't really that accurate. Now there are many different styles of Aikido, some of which are more vicious than others so I'll let some of the philosophical points slide a bit, The most egregious part which I can not ignore is the weapons training which is completely inaccurate. Aikido does do work with a staff called a Jo, but many of the jo techniques are sword driven and none of the motions either Eastman or Morgan used are consistent with what is taught in Aikido. Morgan's work is more consistent with Donatello from TMNT.
Knowing how far ahead the Walking dead plans things they must have known last season that Morgan was going to have trained under an aikido teacher, so get someone who has actually practiced aikido to teach him! If you want a better representation of aikido in Cinema, watch a Steven Seagal Movie, just try not to laugh when he runs...
Those are the words I'm should be saying after tonite's episode because I got a few things I wanted, but not necessarily the way I wanted them to happen. I'm distinctly reminded of my favorite of the three Matrix movies, The Matrix Reloaded. Watch this excerpt and keep it in the back of your mind.
This episode is another part of the Herd sequence. Now we're back with Rick and his crew right after the horn blared. After a quick conversation on codec with Daryl and Sasha/Abraham, they deduce that half of the herd has split off from the group Daryl and Sasha/Abraham. Rick leaves Michone and Glenn in charge with getting the Alexandrians back, while he goes back for the RV to lead the other half of the herd back. Rick mentions to try and save them all but that not all of them (the Alexandrians) are going to make it back.
A couple of the alexandrians get injured and one gets bit, but is able to shake it off. They end up in the town where Nicholas on an earlier run abandoned his crew. they shack up in a pet shop when they get surrounded by zombies. Daryl decides to double back to Alexandria to see if there is anything he can do, having faith that Sasha and Abraham can lead the herd away. Glenn and Nicholas go to try and set the feed store on fire to draw the attention of the walkers away from the pet shop boys.
Alexandria's runner Heath has a bit of a spat with Michone over what Rick had said. He wants to bring everybody back when the injured folks ask to be left behind. Michone echos that sentiment, but defends Rick because He's been out there and she's been out there having to do things that make them afraid of themselves afterwards. it's a pretty good scene there. The gun fire from the Alexandria schermish draws a chunk of the walkers past the pet shop, but
Two walkers wake up behind a locked door and make a huge racket. They eliminate the threat inside, but it attracts the attention of the outside walkers and they are quickly swarmed. Michone and company lead a desperate gambit out the pet shop and lose two of the remaining Alexandrians. but are able to escape behind a steel cage door. Meanwhile the feed store is already burned to the ground when they arrive leaving Glenn and Nicholas to a corner. The two unload their ammo before assending a dumpster. Nicholas has one of those moments where everything slows down and then Glenn shakes him out of it. Nicholas then says "Thank you," puts a gun to his head and blows his brains out. the momentum knocks Glenn off the dumpster as well and he is ripped to shreds by zombies. It is GLORIOUS!
Rick makes it to the RV and speeds off towards his destination, while Michone Heath and the other guy make it back to Alexandria, with Heath having an interesting moment looking at his face in the water. Rick tells them to continue the mission even though they hear the gunfire back home. Daryl heads back and reunites with Sasha after losing contact with Rick. Who is attacked in the RV by the Wolves, but not just any Wolves, the ones the Morgan let live in the previous episode. the leader of the ones he let go, took a gun and that one led the attack on Rick. He kills them but inadvertanly damaged the engine when he shot one behind him. the herd descends upon the RV with Rick unable to get the vehicle started as the episode ends.
So we get both Glenn and Nicholas dying tonite and while I should feel bad for Glenn, I can't find myself feeling this way. He had the chance to justifiably kill Nicholas during the season Five finale when Nicholas lead him into the woods and tried to kill him more than once. If that person ends up getting you killed it's your fault.
Yea, I was not expecting to kill both Glenn and Nicholas in the same episode. I figured this would linger on longer in to the season or even not at all and Glenn would die in a more dignified manner, (kinda like how he did in the comics) after Maggie was revealed to be pregnant although they can still do that and introducing Heath as another runner kinda made Glenn expendable.
This also harks back the whole cause and effect thing that the Merovingian was babbling about. This has been going on in these three episodes since they are so exclusively connected. Things that are happening in other places are affecting what happens here and visa versa. It is also becoming more prevalent now that Morgan and his pacifist ways have arrived. Rick and his crew have generally had more of a kill or be killed mentality. The wolves attack caused the whole herd separation issue, which caused Rick to go off on his own and Glenn to get stuck in the town and get killed and so on.
My bet based on the trailer for next week is that we're going to get a full Morgan's backstory episode and leave our jaws on the floor waiting to find out Rick's fate. Hopefully these won't be as stupid and unnecessary as the Governor's two solo episodes were in Season Four.
In light of the deaths of #2 & #1 on the Who I Want to Die List, I'm suspending the list until more people come along and get on my nerves. Most of those people these days are the Alexandrians and the show kills most of them off before I can learn their names.
So after the Horn that just
wouldn’t die what horrible fate would ensue for our heroes? We’ll have to wait
until next week for that because JSS was the other half of the first episode.
While Rick and the boys were leading the Zombie herd around Alexandria was
attacked by the Wolves.
The opening of the episode was a
reveal of the events leading Enid (Carl's Girlfriend) to Alexandria doing anything under the sun
to survive, even eating a turtle. Could she be related to Shredder?
She keeps writing the three
letters “JSS” anywhere she can before she winds up at the gates of Alexandria.
After a few minutes of
conversations between the citizens of Alexandria and Father Gabriel admitting
he was wrong about Rick. A look out gets hit with a Molotov cocktail and the
attack begins. All the poor defenseless citizens get cut to bits by the savage
wolves who repeatedly attack their victims even after they are dead. A few of
them do try and capture citizens which is kinda inconsistent. Carol reverts to
Snake Pliskin mode and starts shooting everyone in her path and dons a disguise
to further infiltrate and ultimately keep the wolves from the Armory.
Morgan returns and engages the
wolves in combat, trying to scare them off rather than kill them. He runs into
Carol and the two have a conflict of interest while they try and push back the
assailants. Morgan doesn’t believe in killing anyone and Carol does without
hesitation, even when one of the subdue wolves is trying to convey info to
Father Gabriel and Morgan. The two separate and during a skirmish with Morgan
and the wolves, he convinces them to leave, but not before one of them sneaks
off with a gun from a fallen Alexandrian.
The whole horn was kinda of an
accidental occurrence. Spencer, the sniper in the bell tower sees a tractor-trailer
truck (presumably coming with a payload of Walkers in the back) and unloads a
bevy of shots and causes it to crash into the wall. The driver in the truck is
killed in the crash and the horn goes off. Spencer goes to tend to it where
he meets up with Deanna and Maggie. They are able to shut off the horn. It’s
unclear whether this had any effect on the zombie herd.
Carl and Enid spend the episode
together until she disappears leaving a note with the words “just survive
somehow,” on it. After the battle, Carl hears an alarm going off indicating
that his lasagna is done. I’ll call Garfield over.
Morgan heads back to a house and
has an encounter with the wolf he met at the end of the last season who
realizes that he won’t kill him, instead Morgan knocks him out. Carol and the other survivors efforts
eventually send the remaining wolves running but not without much causality
Unaware of the new danger approaching.
This was another solid effort
although I preferred last week’s episode, with the strategy planning. It was
kinda of a live or die test for most of the Alexandrian and like the plague bit
from season 4, most of the extras were killed off. No one really important
died, just a few of the cannon-fodder characters whose names I didn’t bother to
learn for that reason. Other minor characters such as the doctor lady had a
step up moment (after Eugene telling that you don’t want to be a coward,
echoing his own experiences) when she tried to save the life of and Rick’s
Girlfriend savagely killing an invader to protect her son.
It also left things up in the air
with the whole Zombie herd thing and that builds suspense towards next week,
although I think now that the horn is out, they’ll be able to fix things quickly.
I really enjoy the tension
between Carol (Rick as well, but Carol in this episode) and Morgan who have
conflicting viewpoints about what to do with the attackers. Morgan doesn’t want
to see any more human life be extinguished and Carol who will kill anyone that
threatens her or comrades. I’m curious to see the direction this story arc. Morgan’s
line about Carol not liking to kill was interesting.
The wolves are amateur hour villains.
These guys are pathetic compared to the earlier rivals Rick’s company have
faced off and a large part of that is because they don’t have guns! The only
reason they caused as much damage as they did is because of the expendable
nature of Alexandia’s citizens. Gareth’s group were cunning enough to trap a
bunch of Rick’s group in a train car and the Governor at one point had a bloody
Tank! Those were far more effective antagonists and the wolves would have been completely
annihilated had more of Rick’s group been there. Attacking while they were separated
may have been the plan but you wouldn’t know it by the way these guys behave. Many
will continue to bash the brains of someone they’ve killed until Carol walks up
behind them and shoots them point blank. I thought the one Morgan encountered
last season was a blockhead, but he’s a genius compared to the rest of them.
“Who I’d Like to See Die List!” Wait, they killed off half of Alexandria which was awesome but nobody who was on the list last week even appeared this week's episode so we'll postpone an until next week when everyone is back.
I did not take a detour through the Walking Dead Los Angeles, I mean Fear the Walking Dead. I'm not particularly fond of the whole spinoff series of the main one Concept, like all the Law & Orders, CSIs, NCIS', etc. It's worse when they are all episodic shows in nature and it becomes derivative in nature. Maybe I'll watch Fear of the Walking Dead at some point, but I'm not going to go out of my way to watch that bloody show when I can write my own Bloody book...
Tonite's episode was one of the best in the series even though there wasn't a whole lot to it. Unlike last season's finale when it felt like they were just stretching things out unnecessarily to fit 90 minutes. This one actually needed the whole amount of time. Immediately upon viewing we are thrusted into the middle of a gargantuan herd of zombies, wedged behind tanker trucks. Rick is leading the group with some kind of a plan that they have to execute earlier than schedule to lead the herd of zombies away from heading to the camp.
The whole sequence felt reminiscent of the barricading scene from Dawn of the Dead where our heroes block the doors to the shopping mall with trucks. I was itching to hear the bitchin Goblin soundtrack that played. This is on a much bigger scale with some epic images including Daryl leading a mass of zombies on his Harley.
The large caper portion was mixed in with B & W filtered scenes that encompassed the events from the end of the previous season until now, almost like a bridge so to speak and for the most part they blended the two stories together quite well. This part echoed the Christopher Nolan masterpiece Momento albeit the story here is told in a linear fashion.
There was a mini mutiny going on with Carter, (who I swear just showed up for this episode) wanting to kill Rick to take back the camp. He thinks that Rick's plan is going to get people killed. Eugene bumbles into the discussion and then Carter nearly kills him until Rick steps in and turns the tables on Carter with a gun to his head. Rick spares him and eventually as the plan unfolds they shake hands with Carter admitting that he was wrong.
Shortly thereafter, Carter is bitten by a zombie and Rick ends up knifing him in the head when he wouldn't keep quiet. In a previous scene, Rick had admitted to Morgan that he spared Carter because he'd die anyway.
The episode ends with the plan going perfectly until a blaring horn goes off sending the herd straight to Alexandria. Great cliffhanger finish! Now will they keep it up? That remains to be seen.
Let’s update the “Who I’d Like to See Die List!”
#3 Sasha, Last Season #1
She and Abraham are hanging out together now and it seems like each of them have deathwishes now. This could be an intriguing arc if they actually give Abraham more than a couple of minutes of screen time each episode.
#2 Glenn - Last Season, #3
Glenn lets Nicholas lives and then is trying to play boss over him since he's covering up for the events of last season's finale. He's just annoying again with the "I should be delivering Pizza's line."
#1 Nicholas – Last Season Unlisted
He's just a little shithead and it's going to take a lot for me to forget that he killed Everybody Hates Chris. They used the comparison of Tara being on the wrong side when Hershel was killed last season, but Tara didn't actually kill anybody, Nicholas did and somebody needs to acknowledge that!
Like Guardians of the Galaxy this flick
is different from the other Marvel projects and is definitely the one that is
most removed from the MCU thus far, ironic considering that Hank Pym (the original Ant-Man) was a pivotal member of the Avengers in the comics.
This film follows Scott Lang (Rudd) who is a recently released burglar.
He wants to go straight and narrow to gain a larger role in his daughter’s life
but is unable to keep a job once his employer finds out who he is and "Baskin
Robbins always finds out." He is lured into a robbery, I’m sorry burglary, of an
old man’s house who happens to be uber genius Hank Pym. What he finds is the
Ant-man suit powered by the amazing Pym Particle and the trial by water begins.
Ant-Man plays itself off more like a Oceans Eleven movie
where the whole film revolves around a heist of Pym’s former protégé Darren
Cross who is seeking to resurrect the secrets of the Pym Particle. A large part
of the film is also like a Rocky movie where they have various training exercises to
teach Lang plus the audience the powers of the suit and the different types of
Ants that would be utilized. It is done quite well as there is a comical tone
throughout the picture, but the character relationships are taken seriously
too.
I’ll admit I was skeptical of the casting of Paul Rudd as a
super-hero because let’s face it he’s always this guy to me
It proved to be a good choice because he conveyed the human
qualities of the character along with the light-hearted nature of the film.
Michael Douglas played the older Pym well as did Kate from Lost, I mean
Evangeline Lilly who looked like she could go into the Octagon as his daughter. Michael Pena made some people laugh as Lang’s former cell mate. Corey Stoll
just oozes pure villain and it seems like yesterday he was being murdered by good old
F.U. on House of Cards. The Ants are the real stars of the picture as the
different types are used in cleaver ways. The effects and the action
sequences are up to par with the other Marvel movies.
To its fault though I think the film sometimes tried to go too far with the
humor especially with Michael Pena and his two sidekicks. It didn’t ruin the
picture by any means... the audience laughed at Pena's parts where there wasn't even jokes. It was a little bit over the top. I give recognition to Edgar Wright as he was heavily
involved in this picture but left the helm, still getting screenwriting and producing credits. It had a bit of his quirkiness in there (the Baskin Robbins part in the beginning comes to mind). The film also had a paint by the numbers
vibe, you can see everything coming a mile away but got you through with just enough creativity.
Overall, this is a decent showing with a cascade of humorous moments and
fun action sequences. Honestly, only by comparison, it is one of the weaker Marvel films. Not as
bad as say the third Iron Man movie but not upper tier either. I
give it 6 out of 10 cosmic rays.
Oh and stay the distance on this one, it’s as good, if not better than
when Howard the Duck showed up in Guardians.
I missed the first Ted movie in the theaters but cherished it a great deal in DVD form. Then when I saw Wolf of Wall Street, I had the opportunity to see a preview screening of Seth MacFarlane's "A Million Ways to Die in the West." I never followed up and the movie proved that it wasn't worth any extra effort. It was in the back of my mind; was Ted 2 going to be a dud? Will it be one of many comedy sequels to fall short? Time after time: it seems more difficult to pull off but I had a feeling this also had the potential of being a side-busting good time... lets dive in!
I was more than satisfied. The story behind this flick is that Ted gets married to Tami-Lynn and they have marital problems so one of his co-workers says should have a baby to get them past it. They decide to have a kid but Tami-Lynn ends up being incapable of having children. When they try and adopt, it's brought to light that Ted isn't considered a "legal" human being with rights. So they spend the rest of the time fighting for Ted. On Wahlberg's side he got divorced from Mila Kunis from the last movie (mostly because she got pregnant in real life and wasn't available for shooting) and develops a relationship with the attorney who is representing Ted, played by Amanda Seyfried. The plot is strictly functional and by the numbers. There's nothing there that's really daring storyline wise. No shock there.
Humor wise, things played out like an R-Rated Family Guy episode and it was just what I needed after a long week. There were again many small nods to Boston life (the Sweet Caroline" thing and Papa Gino's line come to mind). Being from there, I enjoyed parts on a different personal level. They even went back a shot scenes with a visibly pissed off Tom Brady after the whole Deflategate scandal broke. There were some nice cameos and some real quotable lines that I will be using when the situation presents itself. I'm going to save the bulk of the jokes for you to enjoy!
The cast does well with the work they are given. Wahlberg and Ted are back to being "thunder buddies", I preferred Amanda Seyfried as the female love interest over Mila Kunis as she meshes better with our two heroes sophomoric tendencies... even if she doesn't understand why being named Sam L. Jackson is funny. Giovanni Ribisi returns Ted's creepy dancing admirer.
This is a far from a perfect showing and isn't as good as the original Ted, but it had me rolling at times. It felt like Seth MacFarlane saved some of the jokes he was going to use on Family Guy for this movie. It had cutaways and they did recycle past material: such as the Mark Wahlberg crashing into the semen canister, Ted singing the "Soul Song" in the court room and the law library montage set to "Put One Foot in Front of the Other."
If you're not a fan of Family Guy or the original Ted you'll be disappointed. If you're a fan though you will find it an entitled chapter in Seth's repertoire, like I did. I give Ted 2 six out of ten dick-shaped bongs.
It must’ve been the anticipation; it sure wasn’t because they “upped the ante.” When the original Jurassic Park debuted, cracking open (the dino-egg), it revealed a whole realm of on screen imagination. While the immediate sequels failed to spark the same kind of inspiration, this modern chapter came a little closer.
The slow roll of the beginning was so uneventful, at first I definitely thought the film was going to dig a similar hole the others had. Each and every character started off sooo transparent; the female lead (Bryce Dallas Howard) head of the operations/ the business side of the popular theme park, treating the creatures as assets. You were painstakingly waiting for that epiphany moment where her heart grows three times bigger. Vincent D’Onofrio: the war-monger, always trying to gain the strategic edge, a weapon to win the arms race, or “a way to save/replace our soldiers.” Really? Did you actually resort to turning this into a discussion of using dinosaurs in the battlefield? I relate to the need of a compelling villain, a personification of evil, an illusion of control… but it didn’t need to be done in such a bizarre manner (basically as believable as dinosaur splicing).
The two kids we follow from the very get-go, it was a better setup than the not so subtle incorporation of them (children) in the prior sequels. In “The Lost World” and in “Jurassic Park III” the customary kid roles appeared to be more forced and weird by comparison.
These two most recent young actors proved to be better than most in the “children chased by monsters” category. The only gripe I had about them was this crazy smart younger one; he somehow memorized all this random semi-obscure dinosaur info (along with other stuff), right down to being able to identify parts of DNA. Many times the stoicism of the kids was too much of an unsettling contrast to the arrogant, self-centered, bickering adults that never met eye to eye on anything.
The last of the extremely transparent is Owen (Chris Pratt). Man, it is unbelievable, the amount acting machismo he oozed in this flick. It didn’t matter if it was predictable; from his “these things aren’t attractions, they’re my friends” introduction, his comedic nuance was on point. Owen’s supposed to have military background, which works out for story purposes but all you need to know is what everyone already has seen in the trailers: he’s a Raptor whisperer. The relationship between Velociraptor and human is a consistent best part in these movies (usually sharing it with certain T-Rex scenes). No matter how you spin it, they were awesome enough, along with the already existing supporting-species.
It was my firm opinion going into this, there was no need for a gene-spliced, mega-hybrid super-dino. Even after the credits rolled, it had never changed. I was thrilled to see dinosaurs every time up to this point; you didn’t need to make a new one to keep my attention. What did change: my opinion on the whole “the Raptors can be trained” aspect. It was hard to accept and move past my attachment to them as a worthy foe, and see them as an eventual ally but the slick display was very convincing. All of these new elements boiled down to payoff; jetting through a forest with your very own highly-trained pack of Raptors in full pursuit, predator-hunter-mode: that was pretty cool!
The extra clever, Tyrannosaurus-hybrid on steroids (the Indominus Rex) was unimpressive to say the least. Segment by segment they revealed entirely new powers it possessed, from super intelligence, camouflage, to being able to regulate its own thermal signature, etc. It was slightly ridiculous, and after only seeing a glimpse of the T-Rex around half way through, you knew for sure by the end you were going to see a throw down… in this corner, the Raptor-Pratt-Pack with the T-Rex Vs in the other corner, the Indominus Rex. It didn’t disappoint; epic enough to tell your friends about, better than the Mayweather/Pacquiao fight. It was a highlight in an enjoyable… but second-rate Jurassic Park. Go see it in 3-D, I had recommended only one other flick in 3-D as much as this one (X-Men DOFP) but you need this one to have that extra snap when a dino chomps at the screen. Along with the realistic execution of every creature, those silver linings took it past average but only dropped it off at borderline good.
I give it five and a half Pym Particles out of a possible ten.
The Road Warrior is one of my favorite films. That movie is
the origin of the post apocalyptic world that has been copied repeatedly. One
of my favorite anime series, Fist of the North Star, uses this exact style environment
and the lead character Kenshiro is basically dressed as Max Rockatansky.
Fury Road
is chock full of strange imagery and a story told at 120 mph. The movie kicks
off with Max in his legendary V8 Interceptor being chased down
and eventually taken down by the War Boys. After being dragged to their home
and a failed escape attempt, he is locked up and chained to serve as a blood
bag for a war boy named Nux who you may recognize as Nicholas Hoult, Beast from the X-men or
Jennifer Lawrence’s two-time ex-boyfriend.
The leader of the War Boys, Immortan Joe does his best Dr.
Proto impersonation as the sermon on the mount. He is the overlord of the
Citadel a safe-haven where the Immortan Joe and his bizarre family rule with an
iron fist. They have control over a seemingly endless supply of water, which he
warns the citizens below not to become addicted to. One thing they don’t have
is fuel which they get on supply runs from a neighboring faction. The leader of
the supply crew is Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron) She and her group of War
Boys leave the city towards GasTown.
About halfway there she take a turn into the desert, which
is spotted by Immortan Joe’s lookout. Immortan goes to his coven which is
locked by a bank safe and realizes his brides are gone and he sends all of his War
Boys after her. Nux joins the chase strapping Max to the front of his vehicle
ala the Lord Humungus hostages. The rest of the movie is one long chase scene
with brief interludes of character development and storytelling.
The intial premise is simple but there are layers of madness
displayed in the characters forced to live in the wasteland. Max is haunted by
the death of his family his inability to protect them and is always seeing
images of his daughter. Every character is broken in one way or another.
Ok let’s be honest, most people are going to see this movie
for the driving and Fury Road
didn’t disappoint. It’s is jaw-dropping to see a film limit the usage of CGI.
They kept things as authentic as possible and it shows. These sequences are on
par with the Road Warrior and the volume of them is insane. You can really see
where the budget went. The pole bit was the best.
On the downside the story is told at such a pace that it is
hard to figure out what exactly is going on when it’s happening. This is
problematic in the beginning of the film and it’s not until at least an hour in
before you have any real idea why any of these characters are doing what they
are doing. There are elements you just have to pick up on the fly and go with
and there is some unusual behavior going on.
Fury Road
is a fun watch, not quite up to snuff with the Road Warrior but a solid picture
nonetheless. It’s well acted although, Tom Hardy used his “Bane” voice half the
time which was weird considering that he's not the villain. Charlize Theron played the tough as nails Furiosa like a
champ. Nicholas Hoult got to use his actual accent for a change which was
lovely. I love it when actors and actresses get to use their native accents,
instead of trying to be “American.” Hugh Keays-Byrne used his piercing eyes to
strike fear as the Immortan Joe. He was also the menacing Toecutter in the
original Mad Max, which is worth the watch.
FINALLY, there are no strings on me! Chained, tied down by my anxieties and my waiting, I am finally free. The very first thing that is apparent is that “man we have come a long way since the Avengers assembled in the first movie.” The entire movie stages such a more serious tone. Instead of flourishing in the different characters and their personalities, the intention was to drill into the weaknesses creating a sense of self-destruction. A gander into a second fault that exists, the first fault: a team is only as strong as the bond that brings the individuals together. Second: evil is not black and white, it’s not a simple conflict. (Like Pym did in the comics. Stay tuned for more on that) Tony Stark begins, with the help of Bruce Banner, to create Ultron, initially as a powerful defense, supposedly for against a higher, more prolific form of evil. Everyone knows when any person gains control and power, regardless on their (Stark’s) intentions, it always leads to evil (which, by the way, wasn’t that what they were giving Fury a hard time about in the first film?).
World, meet Ultron. The complete scariness of this villain reached some awesome levels. Being, as clever as Robert Downy with a grim, sinister spin, Ultron surpassed certain expectations. Sometimes, I felt the graphics and personality of the character was a little too impractical. The whole bringing to life of such anamorphic, make-believe character, I knew it was going to be a hard sell (reminds me of Smaug). The sophisticated human traits embedded in the character took over a little too much. The robot, cold calculating side needed to be focused on more. The connection between why Ultron despises the Avengers, is kind of glossed over as rage. It’s once again drawn up as a hate, the villain possessed this theme, far more human than I would’ve predicted. The back and forth between him and the cast was written really well, but when it boiled down to his true motives, he appeared to be less calculating, unstoppable monster and more deranged mad-scientist.
More than any other movie in the MCU, they really expected the viewer to be all caught up, and stories back tracked. The fall of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Loki (three times), the rise of new age Hydra… all of the other movies set this one up. Amidst all the references, and back story flashbacks, this one more than others felt like just another chapter or volume, a drop in the overall bucket/grand scheme of things. I thought it was a good choice, to have the group hangin’ together, staying close through the entire film. The same orchestrated chemistry in the “Shawarma Scene” is replicated in a beginning segment. The heroes on their day off enjoying a party, but the payoff is the after-party… where every member in a backstage pass of sorts type of feel, they each attempt to lift Thor’s hammer: “Brilliant!” I say. That part was a needed break in the action, but not boring or awkward, it was masterfully constructed.
The team follows the bad guy breadcrumbs to Wakanda (enter Black Panther reference) where they face the worst that Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch can muster. Long story short, Hulk is used as a pawn in the evil plot to destroy the hero league, again. The “Hulkbuster” showdown killed it! Very, very badass! As Tony kicks back in a crazy assortment of technological armor, he gives humorous commentary to an epic throw down. I couldn’t help but think of Planet Hulk and World War Hulk. The storyline was that Hulk lost it on an ultimate level in Las Vegas (in the comics) creating more than his usual devastation (which I believe is also part of the Civil War influence). Afterwards, the Illuminati of heroes (Reed Richards, Tony Stark, Dr. Strange and Black Bolt) decide that it’s in everyone’s best interest to exile the green monster to outer space. In Age of Ultron, while watching him lose control in the city, was this a final straw of sorts, to push the Planet Hulk development?
The most irritating moment (if I had to choose) involved Natasha Romanov’s role. Her action, her interaction and all that the Black Widow character brought was more than satisfactory, but her developed relationship with Banner/The Hulk was over the top. A mental tool they had made, naming it “lullaby” had Johansen approach the Hulk when they no longer need his services. She would say certain phrases and they would play a patty-cake then Hulk would revert back to Banner. It was interesting at moments but I thought the matter of transitioning could’ve been handled better.
Black Widow strikes again. The all over Hawkeye, in the first Avengers, then she’s Cap’s suto-romantic interest in Winter Soldier, now she’s caught Hulkamania Fever. I’m down for this in only a small manner, since the comics have spanned over such a long period of time, just like television shows, it seemed everyone eventually hooked up with everyone. In the movies, it’s harder to sympathize with since by the nature of the films, there’s not a large enough sample of the characters to relate to.
The Civil War setups were non-stop as well. Cap Vs Iron Man, liberty Vs power grows… respecting, working together but marching to a different faith. It’s kinda twisted how Civil War is so soon. In the first flick, they had their differences, and a tension is built between Tony and Steve. In the comics, they always approached things from different viewpoints but it was only an inkling compared to the full blown side-choosing they did on the way to war. Now, since Civil War is so close to the beginning in this timeline, all of the disagreements they ever have are viewed as seedlings.
Robert Downey Jr. didn’t steal the show like last time but it was partially made up with the comical cynicism brought to the table by Ultron. As the idea of Ultron is derived from the Jarvis, an entity Stark created, the notion that Iron Man is the father of the mechanical nightmare made it full circle. I, in some manner, hoped they would give homage to the original creator, Hank Pym. Since there was none, I imagine all is content on having Pym only involved in the Ant-Man project (and I at least hope, and think there will be a Giant-Man showing in the Ant-Man movie. Cross your fingers, I would bet that it is part of that conclusion/finale.)
In my humble opinion, this was Chris Evans’ best showing, he did even better than in the Winter Soldier. If there is a surprise in this movie (next to my Hawkeye revelation I reveal later) it was my realization that the Captain America, more specifically Chris Evans owns this movie. Downey did the same in the first two Iron Mans and gave an outstanding performance in Avengers, but in Avengers 2 Evans stood up to the task and nailed it. He couldn’t be a better personification of a by the book, all-American hero.
All you need to know about Thor in this movie, is that he was sexy as ever… and you should never make an Avenger movie without him. I would assume being in Chris Hemsworth’s presence is as breathtaking as his ability to pull off a Norse God in a superhero movie, but if any can do the Hugh Jackman, being a character a skillion times, I hope it’s him. I personally thought the original Thor movie was better than Captain America and Iron-Man, there is a special place in my heart for Thor and especially Hulk. No complaint, understood, there is so many to go through in one sitting, but Thor took a back seat on this one.
Mentally, I rated the first movie so high, the casting was solid and as a long-time collector, the only film I had longed for as much as an X-Men film (when it came out) was Avengers. The next in line that was on my wish-list: the Batman/Superman crossover…. And I’ve been preachin’ for a Spider-Man crossover for years. My vote goes to a Punisher Vs Spider-Man, yep. The point is: these movies have evolved my fandom into enjoying comics on a different platform. The Avengers, Phase One and Two have set the Gold standard, that this movie didn’t falter from. It would be really hard, in my mind, that any can compare to the first. Age of Ultron was a digression from its predecessor, but never made me feel like I was frustrated with the canon or follow through. The characters are all in their adolescences, and waiting around the corner is the mature, extravagant plot twists.
So, Scarlet Witch kicked more ass than speedster, X-men did Quicksilver better (obviously he was a bigger focus in one, but the comparison has to be made…). With even more appreciation, I only viewed Scarlet Witch as a true Avenger and Quicksilver as an X-Man, I liked how it progressed to being more about Wanda. Side note: It was a cool part of being a fan. They were in two different leagues, successful members in their own right. A part of two completely different concepts, but they always had that brother-sister bridge, back story to bind them (like so many other crossover comic book stories).
Have you ever watched, or seen something, small and insignificant at first but it changes your whole perspective on not just one thing but life? Something like that has happened to me. Now, I don’t usually watch the Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon or Jimmy Kimmel, but every once in a while I stumble across a Youtube video (like this video of Liam Neeson reading a bedtime story) that makes me think, “should I?”
The latest edition of funny things on those shows that I don’t watch but found the clips on social media is:
This video made me laugh to myself, cheering him on every time I saw Jeremy Renner on screen. Thank you to which ever higher power that had me see this before I saw the movie. It totally helped me galvanize Hawkeye as a character even more. I love the fact that I can enjoy such small things in life.
In an attempt not to be spoiler I will reserve some of what I want to write about the mid-credits/final scene (for all who haven’t seen it yet. Other reviews I could care less, but I don’t want to ruin any of it for a somewhat momentous event). Something about Thanos and the Infinity Gauntlet, he says something to the matter of “I’m going to take care of this myself.” How did Thanos get it from Odin’s Armory? Also, in the comics (and even referenced at the end of the first) he goes after the gems to kill two birds with six stones: to gain control over the whole universe, and in turn “court Death.” That was the neat part of it all. He wanted to get with Death, replacing Brangelina (maybe Deathanos?) as the most popular star couple ever… going from galaxy to galaxy adopting additional killers like Gamora and Nebula. In the future, I hope they don’t steer far from the courting Death aspect. I give Age of Ultron seven chimichangas out of a possible ten.
This is what we should’ve seen in the theatres over ten
years ago! First of all, I have to
applaud whosever decision it was to stick to the original content. As a retelling of the same story, this is a
captivating adaptation. With all of the
reboots and recent writers adding their own variations (which isn’t always bad,
like the Spider-Man movie serieses or hopefully the reports of the ape-shit
story for the new Fantastic Four piece… we will see…). Keeping most of the same stuff and undertones
from the Ben Affleck Daredevil, the Netflix series is more than a departure
from the notoriously tawdry version. This
turn is a stronger Daredevil universe on all levels.
The show gives off a "Batman: Year One" feeling,
spanning from Matt Murdock’s first attempts at becoming an avenger of the
night, forming the familiar stages of the man
without fear. I had imagined the
show would reveal a little more of how they would fold it into the other
factions of the MCU. Unlike the popular
DC shows (Arrow, Gotham and Flash [even contrasting the Marvel Films) Daredevil
and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. seems content on dropping very subtle hints, Easter
eggs, or teases, connecting them to past and future projects. Sometimes, while I watched DD, I yearned for
more and in other instances I enjoyed the idea, catching an obscure or subdued
reference that most wouldn’t. Either
way, I like how this show does it compared to the Arrow where it seems the
whole entire DC Universe is introduced and revolves around Oliver the
protagonist, better than Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. who has a large pool of
hero-star power potential and doesn’t use it…
If it fell short of any, it would be of Flash and Gotham, the shows make
me crave, encouraging me to tune in every week, seeing which or how each character/callback
will be brought to life.
For several, uncountable reasons the cast is superb. Vincent D'onofrio performs the Kingpin role
with gripping fortitude. Around half way
through the season, a lonely scared boy trapped inside a monster is brought to
the forefront. The viewer witnesses
flashes of Wilson Fisk’s background, a tasteful, sophisticated darkness as he
becomes the most prolific crime boss of Hell’s Kitchen. His deliveries are sometimes choppy, like he’s
still battling a weird nervousness, plus he gives some over the top
super-villain lines (I assume most of it intentional, lending to the sociopath
side of the character). His assistant James Welsey is an equally gravitating
baddie.
The unpredicted, undeniable gem is Elden Henson, as Foggy
Nelson. His fabulous chemistry with what
seems to be everybody. He owns this
clever, happy-go-lucky sidekick bit (making me at times wish he were the
focus. It is all you could ask for in a
supporting, sidekick friend). He
executed brilliant comic relief, but it made his serious moments ever so
slightly awkward (that, my friend, was a nitpick). “Foggy Bear” has come a long way from skating
for the Mighty Ducks.
Nelson & Murdock’s first
client and obvious soon to become assistant/secretary Deborah Ann Woll kicks
booty as Karen Page. The ravishing
damsel in distress, or glue that holds the whole home base together, she
definitely doesn’t shy away from the action.
As per usual for these roles,she finds herself in an incredible
amount of danger, handling it with surprisingly crafted grace. Janine
Melnitz would be proud.
Oddly, if I had to choose a weakest major cast member (using
this term lightly) it would be DD himself. Charlie Cox certainly isn't
bad, but a cynical, secret-keeping, morals twisting in the wind character… that
is blind, is a hard road to tow. He
nails about 75% of it but I feel occasionally lacks in the emotional
range. Between the civilian/lawyer by
day portions, the courageous hero portions or the defeated, pained, humble
portions, the writing and the follow through need to be kicked up a notch. I would even have to say that I connected
more with the young Matt Murdock, Cox’s child counterpart.
Some time before the release on Netflix I saw a “leaked”
picture (hail Hydra) of the newest DD suit.
Until then all the trailers and marketing only showed the old Frank
Miller black one, giving no hint otherwise.
There were many comments questioning its source or validity… but during only
the second episode, Matt mentions his costume is as a “work in progress.” I knew that moment that by the end of the
season they were either going to tease or reveal the iconic, horned devil
version (the one that I had stumbled upon earlier) in action. There’s no telling what reaction it would get
making the original outfit permanent, but the black and red suit is a fresh
live-action take on a classic.
In attempt to make this a “dark” extension of the cinematic
universe, Nolan’s trilogy had established most of this same territory, and the
“punch people in the face then interrogate them technique” is fluent through
both. (BTW, I often hear people
reference Nolan’s as the darkest or pioneering in that area of comic book movie
universes. Ones that don’t get brought
up enough and ones that I enjoyed a great deal [most specifically the first and
second] are the Blade flicks. Even the
ooold school [1989] Punisher, I know they’re not as popular or current but I
like to give credit where credit is due).
The fight scenes are well choreographed, especially the “one
shot” scene with the Russians. The
rotating camera sequences along with slow-mo are utilized just the right amount.
This show better resembles a light “R”
rating, which doesn’t affect my judgment, but makes me think of all the people
yammering on about how they wouldn’t attend a “PG-13” tagged Deadpool movie. Daredevil is the first of Netflix’s Marvel
series with Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Iron Fist on the way, then a mash up
of the four in the Defenders crossover. This is a good start, keep it going.
I give this a six and a half out of a possible ten Shazams.
