Goodbye Blockbuster

It would appear that the entire chain isn't going away. But the local BB here is. I got my membership card way back 15 years ago when they first opened up shop.

And I will have to admit, that I was not and never have been much of a customer of theirs. We only have one location, on the other side of the city from me. And their rental prices were always higher, more often than not double that of a local store just 5 mins walk from my house.

And buying movies from them was always a mixed bag, due to their prices as well. I found when I used to collect movies that around Xmas and New Years was the time I would shop for good deals there.

But in the the last two years I haven't bought many DVDs / Bluray since I tend not too watch things more than once or twice with rare exception. And Netflix has come around, and has worked out well so I could divert that money into another hobby beyond collecting movies. Which have as much retained value as week old meatloaf, and about as much fun.

But the one spot where I did take advantage was their Game Pass system. For one monthly fee you could rent one game at a time, and switch it out as often as your like. Or keep it as long as you needed to finish it. And it was much more convenient to deal with them for this, than the online ones who offer the same services, and cheaper. But dealing the mail was a real pain. But it seems with a handful of items coming out this fall that I wanted to play, and buying is not an option really. Since games have hit $70+ a pop here new, and like movies I don't usually play them more than once. And don't normally dip into DLC. Renting is my best option. I will have to return to the online renting, for Gears of War 3, Mass Effect 3 and several other titles on the horizon. Hopefully Canada Post will be back to work by then.

Pirates of the Caribbean 4 : Stranger Tides

Someone tell me why this movie was made?? I can at least say that the 3D wasn't bad. But as for the rest of it??

The whole movie just didn't seem to really gel all that well. Even Jack Sparrow didn't seem to be himself.

Not much to say I guess, the whole thing just seemed to fall flat. The check cashing party they must have had when they all got hired was probably more entertaining than this 2hrs + of wasted time was.

Forget you even heard of this movie.

Move along, nothing to see here..

2 stars out of 5

This week in Wrestling 05 / 23 / 11

Just thought I would toss out some random thoughts about this weeks episode..

It looks like Big Show is taking some time off?? Or least in regards to his being hit by a car I hope so.. because if he doesn't he must be having whatever it is that Cena partakes in on a weekly basis.

Speaking of Cena, when will they start to sell cans of Spinach with his picture on it??

Huge pat on the back to CM Punk for his Over The Limit pose, and certainly his Raw Main Event appearance in Savages ring attire.. Very nice.

Another Divas match swept under the rug, big surprise. As much heat as TNA, oops sorry Impact Wrestling gets they at least let their Knockouts do some work. Even if it is in skimpier outfits. I at least feel like they take the division seriously.

Evan Bourne.. maybe I didn't get the memo, but is there a reason this guy doesn't get any pushes?? Shouldn't he be in with Rey Mysterio, Sin Cara, Chavo and all the guys his size.. Why does it seem like such a waste of talent.

Apparently Ziggler is back to being Blonde.. Thank god..

OTL I Quit Match, what a joke.. We watch Miz and Riley beat the tar out of Cena for like 30 mins just for him to eat his vitamin and beat Miz in 8 seconds.. So not looking forward to Rock vs Cena next year

Impact Wrestling taking the ball and running with 'Wrestling Matters Here' Glad to see it. Hope they actually do it. With the WWE being more entertainment than wrestling (Now literally with their name change or alteration)

OTL Christian Vs Orton.. best match of the night. First real entertaining match I've seen lately. Back and forth, false finishes. All around well executed. We need more of this.

OTL King Vs Cole.. Let this be the end of it, please. Great surprise having Brett Hard on hand. Didn't really see the point of having Eve out there. I'm sure Cole pissed off a lot more people.

Speaking of Cole, and on Raw he just comes and shakes hands and all is forgiven. Could they given us a few weeks for things to settle first??

Kharma... Anyone else not impressed with her so far or all out confused at what t
he hell their plan to do with her is??

R-Truth Keep it going, liking his heel turn. Lets crank it up a notch. His beating Rey at OTL was a welcome surprise, because I sure didn't expect him to win.

RIP Randy 'Macho Man' Savage

Sad news yesterday as a real Legend of Professional Wrestling has passed away. As has another piece of my childhood.

I can remember nights watching Saturday Nights Main Event, WWF Superstars and, of course the famous Wrestlemania match with Ricky 'The Dragon' Steamboat.

Macho Man was one of the best, and he seemed to have gotten out of the business with his health, and some security. I hadn't seen or heard much of him in years before his marriage last year. And his return to video games with the recently released WWE All Stars. And it would have been awesome to see him inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.

So here's one for the Madness!

WWE Tribute Page

Prison Break

Just finally finished watching the entire run of Prison Break. It was a fantastic series, and I'm glad that it ended when it did. It ran it's course and ended, wrapped up.

It's very much a clone of 24, in a Prison on the run setting which I would have touched on in my first remarks. But, now that I'm done, I would say it was much better. But then it had the benefit of having 24 as a guide to go by. If anything I would say that Season 3 was weak.

But, in the end it was a pretty awesome ride. And I just loved the cast. They had an awesome ensemble working. T Bag especially. And Mahone.. Alex I gained a lot of respect for. I recognized the actor, didn't much care for him and the roles he's usually in. But this time he nailed it.

Great series everyone should see.

4 stars out of 5

Flash Forward The Novel

Just finished reading the book for Flash Forward. I haven't seen any of the tv show. But after reading the book, I would think that it should have worked. Or maybe even better as a mini series. Six or twelve parts.

With the way things tend to get twisted around when made into movies or TV or even games. Maybe the show strayed quite far from the book. I don't know. Maybe I will rent it if it ever comes out, or lands on Netflix or in reruns sometime. And see how close or different it actually was.

3 out of 5 stars

THOR

Took in Thor over the weekend. The latest in Marvels assault on the box office this year.

I have to say that it was a much better movie than I expected it to be. As usual the reviews I picked up didn't do it much justice. I liked the scenes and surrounding action on Asgard, much more interesting than any of the movie that was on earth.

It's too bad they went to earth at all, I would have preferred an expanded story up front all from Asgard and then at the end have Thor expelled. And leave it to a sequel. And have Thor 2 entirely on earth dealing with Thors issues.

As it were, I like the actor for Thor. Natalie Portmans performance seemed to be weak. But then, we know she can act (Star Wars not withstanding, and a good example of) when she has good material.

Anthony Hopkins was great as Odin. No problem with him at all.

If I had one solid complaint, it was the fact that I had to see it in 3D. I found the movie suffered from it. Some things just looked bad, like Thors flight scenes. They would have have looked a lot better in 2D. I haven't checked, but I get the impression that this was one of those movies that 3D was tacked onto.

In the end the movie was an enjoyable action comic book movie, and was worth the trip. Far better than Daredevil was..

3 Stars out of 5

FAST FIVE

The fifth movie in the Fast and the Furious movie series. It's been quite some time since I've seen the originals. But from what I can remember, they weren't all that bad. Action movies with a lot of cars. Speed and action, fast cars and big stunts.

This time around we have Vin Diesel back with Paul Walker and The Rock. The movie is basically a heist movie when you boil it down. Based in Brazil for a change of scenery.

To keep this short, I imagine you get the idea with it being a heist movie. The Rock is the fed, and obviously Diesel and Walker are back into it again.

If there was a major problem it's towards the end. The Rock is established as hard case Fed. The leader of an elite team to track down and bring back criminals on the run that no one else can seem to handle. Yet, he switches sides.. Now at the time he does it, if he wanted to live he wasn't going to be able arrest them. And with Diesel and Walker being somewhat moral, save him. But, that should have been it. I could even see The Rock turn a blind eye to them as they run in return. Before he calls in backup. But not switch sides. It was out of character.. Now if they had spent more time fleshing out his character maybe it would have been believable. But with what we know, it wasn't for me.

Oh, and at the beginning they steal cars that have been impounded and drive them off the train.. Why would the cops be transporting cars with full tanks of gas in them?? Wouldn't that be dangerous let alone make them a lot easier to steal. I would think they wouldn't have any more gas then they need for short distances. If they all would have carried a gas can when they took the cars it could have been inferred that they'd top them up once they got away from the train.. The little things..

Anyway, worth seeing. A good action movie. Vin doesn't get enough work. Paul Walker is good. And so is Dwayne Johnson.

3 Stars out of 5