S U C K E R * P U N C H

Once again, off the top I will say that was a fantastic movie.

Having said that, it would seem that it is also a polarizing movie when it comes to reviews and opinions.

I'm reminded of The Matrix: Reloaded, The Usual Suspects. Either you get it or you don't. And if you don't, there isn't much anyone can say to you to change your mind.

Granted, the movie is pretty simple when you dry out the plot. But, then so was The Matrix. And that didn't stop it from being a mind blowing experience.

It's all in the execution.

Now I wasn't a big fan of Snyders from his previous works. I didn't much care for 300 or The Watchmen. I only really liked the remake of Dawn of the Dead. And, that was pretty much in name only. Since I'm a fan of Romeros original. And his version wasn't much like it.

SuckerPunch is a typical action fest, composed primarily of 5 if I remember right action pieces. With a pretty thin dreamlike wrap around story.

Now, this is definitely a movie.. Not a film as I have mentioned in previous entries.
You buy your popcorn and go to be entertained, and wowed.

And this was the movie for that.. Giant mini-gun wielding 25 foot tall Samurai, World War I Clockwork soldiers, Steampunk, Mechs and engaging a fire breathing dragon with what looks like a WW2 bomber in the skies above a ruined castle. While the girls clear house like Delta force with assault rifles against medieval knights.

If all this sounds like live action anime, that's because it is. And there seems to be an above average amount of music, and dancing interspersed with the action pieces.

Somewhat like Inception (And this is where that comparison ends) the movie takes place in three layers. The metal hospital, the brothel and the separate mission locations. And they do all relate to each other. I have read a good review that walks through how all three tie together closer than they seem. But, I would need to see the movie again to pick up on more than the obvious pieces. As also mentioned in entries before, I'm relating how entertained I was or not.. Not a scene by scene analysis.

So, was I entertained?? Yes. And what could be a deciding factor. Am I an Anime fan?? Yes. So, take that with a grain of salt.

Oh, and Scott Glenn was awesome.. And when I saw him it just screamed David Carradine. But since we don't have him, Glenn was an awesome choice.

4 out of 5 stars

The Adjustment Bureau

Right off the top I can say that the movie was more than enjoyable. But, it wasn't anything extra special, or Shakespearean in scope.

But it did entertain me for a couple hours to see how Damon and Blunt were going to get together, and why they were being kept apart.

Once I saw the end credits, and found out that it was based on a Dick story, and Eric Kripke was involved. I would have known before I went in that it would at least be a good movie. I presume of course, that there isn't more than one Kripke working in Hollywood.

The Adjustment Bureau wasn't hard to figure out, for awhile I thought that it was going to turn out to be some government agency like The Men in Black. But, I can say that I was glad that it wasn't. And I was more than satisfied with what they turned out to be.

I was just left with one odd question, knowing who they were. Why did they need what appeared to be technology to do their adjustments. When they could manipulate objects with the flick of the wrist??

3.5 out of 5 stars

Fringe Season Four

Airlock Alpha is reporting this morning that Fringe is being picked up for a fourth season.

That's fantastic news. Fringe is one of the most interesting, and I find consistant in quality genre shows on TV that I am watching at least. Now that SGU has been cancelled..

Between Fauxlivia, Walternate and Bellivia most recently, it's all at least interesting. Apparently it would be good for them to get their numbers uphttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif for a shot at a fifth season. But they go on to mention that their numbers are good for the timeslot and network that it's on.

So, hopefully they will increase next season. TV shows in the modern day now, never seem to get any time to develop or come into their own anymore before they get cancelled. Just look at the Sarah Connor Chronicles.. It just seemed to be getting to know itself and it was cancelled. And yet V is still on the air.

Now, I do like V.. But it just has this air of mediocrity or amateurishness about it. Like you can see how it has potential but it's not getting there. Even though this season has been getting better, and could be on the right track. But that's a subject for another entry.

Ted Dibiase: The Million Dollar Man

Just finished another wrestling biography book. This time for one of the greatest heels I remember growing up. The Million Dollar Man. Who can't remember the vignettes that the then WWF ran every week for him.

The kids at the pool, the kid dribbling the ball or the kid kissing his feet after a match (Which interestingly would grow up to become the whole F'N show Rob Van Dam)

Lots of great stories, but this book was more about his experiences and not as much about the business as previous books I have read.

It was a fantastic read, and I never knew what a huge star he was well before he ever came to the WWF in the late 80s. With no internet, or anything of the sort. It was impossible really to know.

He did make one comment, that I feel is the problem with the wrestling business today. And he touches on it, towards the end of the book. When he discusses his various attempts to stay in the business, but behind the scenes. And how so much had changed, and for lack of a better term passed him by while he was away.

And that comment was.. He always felt he was a Wrestler who Entertained. NOT an Entertainer who Wrestled.. I feel that says it all really..

And backed up by what I have read lately about how the WWE doesn't want it's people referred to as Professional Wrestlers.. Their Superstars and Divas. Sounds like someone is forgetting their roots.. And what got them there unfortunately.

4 out of 5 stars

The Survivors

Was a BBC Post Apocalyptic series. Some strain of the influenza virus strikes, wiping out something on the order of 99% of the population.

The series follows the struggles of a main cast that forage, and cope with the struggles of getting along amongst themselves, and with other survivors.

I'm only about 6 episodes in, not bad really. The show doesn't come to a good close from what I've read. Seeing as how the series was canceled for poor ratings on a cliffhanger. Seems like any decent show of this nature never lasts. Jericho comes to mind.

But at least AMCs The Walking Dead is apparently doing quite well. So here's hoping it will last awhile.

In the mean time, you should check this out if you don't mind BBC series' and post apocalypse genre stuff to boot.

3 stars out of 5 (Could be adjusted once I finish the entire series)

Morning Glory

What do we have here?? A movie about an up and coming television producer who gets a job and attempts to revive a morning show akin to NBCs Today show.

In this process she ends up enlisting the aid of a grizzled, grumpy and veteran TV personality in Harrison Ford who just wants to sail through the end of his contract playing golf and collecting a paycheck. That is until she reads his contract and makes him join her show.

And the resulting sparks begin to fly as he grates against his co-host.

So what have is a movie about Ford being grumpy, and pissy for a couple hours. That your bound to get a chuckle out of. But, doesn't make for much of a movie. Or all that entertaining either.

2 out of 5 stars

Call of Duty Black Ops

Managed to finish this game on the PS3 recently. Can't say I was all that impressed. For the record, I don't play them online. But, I do like a good shooter from time to time.

I've been playing them all the way back to Doom, Doom 2, Hexen.. In recent memory my favorites have been Gears of War I and II, Modern Warfare I and II.

So, needless to say I'm looking forward to Gears of War III and maybe whatever Infinity Wards successor intends to call Modern Warfare 3 when they get around to making one.

I found Black Ops to play well, graphics were good enough. It's just that the disjointed story was boring, and bouncing all over the place. And by the end the twist wasn't much of a surprise.

But then the last game they did didn't impress me much either. As this installment was done by Treyarch and I didn't much care for World at War either.. Bit of a pattern here.

So with that I would give it a 2 out of 5. Worth a rental, but barely I enjoyed the demo of Bulletstorm better.

Stargate Universe

The last episodes of SGU are somewhat depressing to watch, having known that the series has already been cancelled.

But, this weeks past episode was a very good one. The end of the arc that was in progress with the Aliens that the ship had encountered at the end of the mid season break.

I found it to be a very entertaining time travel episode, that works well within the SG Mythos with using the gate too close to a star, and having Rush come back from the future with a warning about that endeavor.

The series has been a great, gritty, hard SciFi breath of fresh air compared to the original two shows. Who were mostly TV Action / Adventure with a stab of comedy thrown in. Which was great, I have all the DVDs. But, Universe was also a wonderful show, and taken in a new direction. With a good cast of characters. With no cut and dry good and bad guys.

I just wish they would have had the knowledge so they could have wrapped the series, because apparently from what I have read they didn't know until after the season had finished. And the idea of possibly a TV movie is being tossed about. Of which I won't hold my breath, seeing as we still haven't gotten the rumored third SG movie, SG Atlantis movie either..

Battle : Los Angeles

I've seen that some reviews have given this movie an abysmal 0.5 stars.. I'm left wondering exactly what it was that the reviewers expected when they went to see a movie of this type. Same things happen when all the big summer blockbusters and action movies come out. You know, the ones that you never see at the Oscars. And when you do, they never win any of the big respected awards (Inception)

Anyway, I feel that this movie would have worked a lot better if it had of been made into a 10 part HBO mini series produced by Spielberg and Hanks and having one of the largest budgets ever.. Because this was essentially a war movie. But instead of WW2 it was modern era with Bio Mechanical aliens that not much is known about.

Now, I had some problems with some logic of the movie. But, I can chalk most of that up to the fact that it is a movie. And too much realism would and should mean that the humans would lose. And lose badly.. For one, why is that humans are able to get the drop, or sneak on said Aliens. The ones who traveled thousands of light years to another world With starships and bio technology.. But they don't seem to have thermal imaging, better sensors or what have you.. I know, their aliens maybe they don't see things the same way. But, it breaks my suspension of disbelief nonetheless.

And one other is easily explained within the plot, they didn't know what they were up against. Because, as I was watching this I felt like the aliens that were overseas were probably going to have a hell of a lot harder time with places where RPGs and what not are a lot more common. But, as I said the squad the movie was based on didn't know what they were up against. And were not carrying what they would have preferred to use I would imagine. Given so, I would think they would take more grenades, grenade launchers, and stuff of that nature. Which by the end of the movie they had adjusted some and were doing much better.

I liked the idea that the aliens were wiping out the resistance by tracking and destroying wireless radio communications. That seemed to be smart, if the enemy can't coordinate and communicate it's really going to hamper them.

And having the invaders being some kind of Bio - technological force was interesting. I did find it annoying that you never really get to see them. Even in the heavy fighting scenes it's like quick shots and shaky footage. Almost like they didn't want you too see them, because the CGI wasn't finished or something.

They don't waste much time getting started at the beginning. And for my taste I would have preffered to see more at a higher level. What happened to all the A-10s and heavier weapons. We only see a couple tanks, and lots of Helos and infantry but not much else. The aliens have some kind of mobile weapon on legs that walks around. Which seemed odd, right out of WW2 or something. Didn't seem fitting to a species that has interstellar travel to have a weapon that leaves their operators so exposed.

And yes, at one point thay say they came for the water. Because it's liquid here. (Water being one of the most abundant substances in the universe).. They can once again travel the stars, but come who knows how far because with all this technology and resources they can't melt their own ice into water.. Granted they did say something about the composition of out water.. yeah.. At least the water doesn't melt them like it did in Signs. All the people had to do in that movie was spit at the aliens and blow holes in them.. And it was said that were using water as fuel, so maybe they invaded for another reason. And the decision had more to do with an abundant source of fuel they could use to gain it.

But this is a lot of over thinking.. The movie was a good War movie to me. A movie, not a film. I expect different things from Films than Movies. And they are like two different kinds of visual mediums. I just wish we had more information about the invasion at large. And if there are no sequels than we never find out the aftermath. But at least no one was hacking into an Alien mainframe computer with an Apple Macbook computer.. /groan

3.5 stars out of 5

Unknown

If this is the direction that Liam is going to be taking his career than I look forward to his next movie. Between this and Taken, I've seen two great dramas in the last year both by the same actor.

Granted, I pretty much had the movie figured out in the first 10 mins or so. The question seemed to be (Not to give any spoilers for a change) who was the real one. And would it be Liam or not?? Seeing he was the star, I had an idea which way this would go.

Suffice to say, it was a great piece. And I almost didn't go.

Great cast, Frank Langella is always good. And even being a WB movie, I like the European look and feel of the movie. Reminds me a lot of Ronin. No glossy, happy pretty lens like all the American films seem to have. I especially liked the character of Jurgen. The German PI that Liam visits, was a good character and I liked the actor as well.

4 out of 5 stars

Dragon Age 2

Downloaded the demo for the PC via Steam and on the PS3.. Would have tried the XBOX 360 but I need a gold account for that, and I don't have nor plan to get one.

Finished it on the PS3. It was pretty good, I like how it played. Similiar to DA1 but seemed to play smoother and better. Maybe it had to do with the frequent cut scenes and story elements thrown into the mix.

On the PC I found it to be clunky to play with mouse and keyboard.. Which I found to be somewhat odd, since I'm like a 12 year MMO veteran.. I should be used to the hotkeys and moving and mousing etc.. I did not finish it on PC.

I plan to rent it next week once it's released. DA1 only took me a couple weeks to run through as a Warrior once I sat down and worked on it. Oddly the same amount of time it took to finish Mass Effect 2 which I vastly preferred and I spent a lot more time in that two weeks on it.

I didn't play the add on for DA1 as by the time I had finished I had my fill of the game. Maybe sometime down the road they will release a DA mega pack with DA 1 & 2 as well as their add ons and DLC packs.