24: Season 8: Part 1

If there was ever an example of jumping the shark, Season 8 of 24 is probably the best example of it.

I think one of the underlying problems with season 8 of 24 (And there are A LOT of problems) is when you get to the end and you ask yourself... how the flying fuck did we get here? How in god's name did this season start off with Jack watching cartoons with his granddaughter to him almost assassinating the President of Russia and going on the run as a fugitive from the federal government?

Almost all of the complaints from my review of the pilot stand. They should have kept Henry Taylor in the mix, bringing CTU back was still stupid, Cole Ortiz is still bland, and they still should have brought Renee Walker in earlier.

But some of the complaints, while they remain, they are only taken to the next level by the end of the season and its tough to watch near the end.

So where do I start?

Well let's start with something I kind of overlooked in my pilot review. The administration of Allison Taylor in the 8th season goes from boring to worse throughout the season. In the 7th season, the Taylor administration was suppose to be a change from the fear inducing administration of Powers Boothe, AKA Noah Daniels. In a sense, Allison Taylor was suppose to represent a sense of change within the United States that was suppose to be representative of the Obama administration. While the Obama administration hasn't been the shining example of demilitarization and a change of the Bush administration in reality, I don't think that's what they were going with in this show. And the best example is the reinstatement of CTU.

While Allison Taylor was not my favorite fictional president on 24, there was no doubt that she is a shining example of moral character. She was willing to let her daughter go to prison because she hired an assassin to kill Jon Voight. Even though Jon Voight deserved it, Taylor is just a character of integrity. There are things wrong with the 7th season, but its not Allison Taylor.

So then season 8 comes along and she suddenly starts doing some really stupid, and eventually really unethical things. In the first episode in fact, there's a possible credible threat against Omar Hassan and there's the classic two sides of the argument, should we tell Hassan that he's a target for assassination...? Wait why wouldn't you tell him that?

The two sides of the argument is that if he knew his life is at risk it would put the peace agreement at risk... how? How would that put the peace agreement at risk? But of course, Taylor doesn't tell him. And he figures out. Wouldn't you think that would put the peace agreement at risk more? But nothing happens. Not only that but there is never an inkling that the peace agreement is at risk... ever.

Its decisions like this that just kind of pointless and just discredits Allison Taylor as a character. Breaking down that moral high ground that she had held the entire time. But then it just gets more and more convoluted and just breaks down into horrible bullshit by the end of the season.

Cause then they bring this joker in. Don't get me wrong, I love Charles Logan. He's a great villain and frankly he needed to return... just not like this.

I'll get back to the last act of the season and Charles Logan is an intricate part of that, but to finish up with Allison Taylor, Charles Logan gets her in so deep that she actually becomes somewhat of a villain, all in the name of this stupid peace process. And while she does reconcile... in a way for her stupidity, Allison Taylor was just kind of a disappointment by the end of the season.

Her cabinet was just as silly. Rob Weiss, Ethan Kanin, just everyone. I would say that the parts with people involved with President Hassan were good... but they weren't. His daughter was whiney and just kind of annoying.

There is a plot line of how Hassan is weeding out people not loyal to him because his brother was a mole. This was actually an interesting plot line because while it showed how Hassan becomes a little paranoid and starts calling people out by association. Its an interesting storyline that kind of just goes away and amounts to nothing. And its all kind of undermined by the fact that Omar Hassan is killed.

But talking about Omar Hassan brings us to the villains of the 8th season. While its easy to assume that all terrorists are middle eastern. However, 24 tries to vary that assumption by having different nationality and ethnic groups perform these terrorist acts.

This season however was the contrary when they tried to have the villains be middle eastern. Its not like this has never happened before. However, whenever they do any villain, they need to have a comprehensive story and they need to be an intriguing villain.

With this season, the starting bad guys are Hassan's brother trying to smuggle nuclear rods back to his country and assassinate his brother so the peace process fails. However, as the day goes on, they bring in another villain who I'm still not totally sure who he is.

He first delivers himself as a henchman of Hassan's brother. But then he turns on Hassan and suddenly is the leader of this group. Throughout the entire season there is little to no explanation as to who this guy is. He's just a straight up terrorist. Its the same problem I had with Abu-Fayed in season 6, a ruthless terrorist who doesn't really have any other back story or cover other than just being a terrorist. They're not interesting bad guys and they don't make for fascinating characters.

The Russians also turn out to be a main villain in the season. But I will talk about them and the entirety of the final act of the season in a second review because I already foresee this going longer than I wanted it to.

Somewhat connected, we have the refurbished CTU and all the problems that go along with that. Like I said before, Freddie Prinze Jr. is bland, Brian Hastings is boring. You've got Arlo who I guess they were trying to make the quirky hacker, however he just ended up as a pervert.

And then you have Dana Walsh.

When I first saw this season, I absolutely hated everything about Dana Walsh. I hated her personality, her story, the fact she ends up as a mole, everything.

I think some of that changed when I saw Battlestar Galactica and started actually enjoying Katie Sackhoff as an actress. Looking back, I didn't expect her to be the mole, mainly because her annoying backstory threw me off her scent.

That being said, I still think the whole plotline about her ex-boyfriend blackmailing her was really stupid and did not need to be in the season, at all.

But before I end this post and move onto the second part of the review mainly focused on the last act of the season, I want to talk about the parts of the season that did work.

First, like I said in my pilot review, the beginning of the season was really good focusing on Jack and his new family. He's actually happy and it works really, really well. He's happy and that has never happened in 24, at least to the level he makes it to.

Furthermore, everything with Renee was really good. Things get kind of dark when she's with the Russian mob (which in itself is kind of weak but not anything regarding Renee) but everything works really well. The relationship with her and Jack is kind of rushed, but it works enough for the show.

Some of the other great parts of the show is the different characters and actors that did do a really great job. Annie Wersching, Anil Kapoor. There were som pretty good actors and actresses within the show.

And I have to give credit where its due. The show is really extraordinary to be going for 8 seasons. Its kind of like the prequel Star Wars films. There is too much background and too many nostalgic moments for me to absolutely hate this season. I just can't do it.

However, the worst is yet to come with the final act of the show. I will explain that in my next rant.

Give your comments on what I've talked about or anything 24 related below. I want to know your thoughts.

To be continued...

The Sentinel

Ever have one of those movies where you're the only one who knows it exists? The Sentinel is that movie for me. The movie came out in 2006 at the height of the popularity of the show 24. And if you haven't already deduced, I happen to love 24. Its one of my favorite television shows and its so easy to just binge watch.

So when a movie came out with Kiefer Sutherland in the Secret Service looking for a mole int he service, this was a movie I absolutely needed to see. Not to mention that I find stories about the Secret Service to be incredibly interesting ones because its an interesting topic.

The Sentinel actually follows the story of Peter Garrison (played by Michael Douglas) a secret service agent assigned to protect the First Lady (played by Kim Basinger). The two of them actually become romantically involved and someone discovers the affair.

Along with that, one of Garrison's colleagues brings up the possibility of a hit against the President of the United States. From there, an investigation starts that begins implicating him in a conspiracy to assassinate the President.

While Garrison is on the run, an old friend, David Breckinridge (Sutherland) and a protege of his, Jill Marin (Played by Eva Longoria) are on his trail.

There's not a lot more to talk about plot-wise without giving away anything on the plot. The interesting part of this movie is all the intricacies of the Secret Service that the movie educates the audience on.

An example of this is the fact that while most police officers are trained to draw their weapon and take it off safety in two motions, Secret Service agents are trained to do it in one motion. If they use their weapon they intend to use it. The movie is a little bit more of a educational video on the secret service than a really in depth movie.

That being said, it is a fun one. The good parts about it are the action scenes, the conspiracy element of it, and the acting talent that is in the movie. Douglas is great, of course I'm going to love Sutherland. Longoria even does a pretty good job.

The problems with the movie mainly lie in the details. There's a couple elements of the movie that are just under developed and under played. There isn't much of an explanation as to why these guys want to kill the President. In fact, the people behind the conspiracy are really nameless people in the end. Its not totally clear why they want to kill the President, they just do. Its more focused on Michael Douglas clearing his name.

And that was another thing, from the very beginning, we're pretty sure Michael Douglas is innocent. When this movie first came out, I thought it was going to be unclear whether or not Michael Douglas is actually the mole or not. But I'll let you know now, he's not.

If there was any doubt if Michael Douglas was the mole the entire time, I think the movie would have had a little bit more of an interesting plot and would have had the audience on their toes the entire time.

Another element is the lack of development of some of the characters. The President for example is one of the most under developed characters ever. He's just the President, he's not an extraordinarily interesting President, he's just the President and of course we don't want the President to die. But it also applies to some of the main characters. Breckinridge, Sutherland's character is an old friend of Douglas's but they were split over Sutherland's wife. There's a little bit where Sutherland thinks Douglas slept with his wife. But that's not important enough to carry on through the story so they kind of forget about it. Furthermore, Sutherland's character is only known for being someone who follows all the evidence down to a logical conclusion. Beyond that, he's just a Secret Service Agent. Nothing too complex. Even Douglas's character is really not that strong. He's initiating an affair the a married woman, believed to be cheating with Sutherland's wife, they don't develop him enough to prove all these things wrong or give us something more in depth so he's kind of a weak character.

That being said, this isn't a movie expected to be really high caliber. Its a fun conspiracy movie with a good cast and some good action. Watching this years later, I'm not disappointed with this movie as a simple action movie.

Could it be better? Yes it could. Does it necessarily need to be better? No. Its entertaining and worth a watch if you're interested in learning about the Secret Service, or you like any of the actors involved in this movie. I enjoyed it, maybe you will too.

So have you seen The Sentinel? What did you think of it? Are you a Michael Douglas fan? A Kiefer Sutherland fan? What are your thoughts? Leave comments and discussions below.

I'll leave you with this. I was going to leave this in my 24 Season 8 review but I need a video for this review so here it is. One of the new trailers for 24: Live Another Day. Enjoy!

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

So here it is finally, my first review of a movie before it actually came out. So here's the story. I had a buddy who managed to grab pre-release tickets for Captain America: The Winter Soldier, because we happen to be military. I took the hour drive to the Mall of America and sat in a room full of military guys and gals and watched Captain America. I highly recommend it.

This will be my non-spoiler review. Hopefully I can review it without giving too much away, its going to be hard because there are a lot of things I want to talk about with this movie and I can't because its not out yet.

The Winter Soldier obviously picks up Steve Roger's story after the Battle of New York and the events of the Avengers. However, this movie was a little bit different because it is actually set two years after the events of the Avengers. Whereas Iron Man 3 and Thor 2 made a ton of mentions to the Battle of New York, The Winter Soldier really doesn't make any mention at all.

Look, making mention to that event was important for Thor 2 and Iron Man 3 because in the case of Tony Stark, he's still having PTSD about it, its apart of the plot. In the case of Thor, Natalie Portman hasn't seen Thor since the first movie and the only thing they can talk about it New York. With Steve Rogers, its not really necessary to mention the battle. It happened, the audience knows that the two movies are connected, there's not need to beat the bush. So well done right off the bat.

So Rogers is having a little bit of trouble with a little bit of an identity crisis. He is a soldier of a different time stuck in a world where there's a huge question of liberty over security. SHIELD is reaching out to take more and more power in the name of securing the safety and freedoms of America. And the Captain isn't sure he agrees or can be apart of it. This really brings out a different elements of film, something that Marvel/ Disney is getting really good at. This is not just a superhero film, its a political spy movie. There are some ethical and political debates on how much freedom, if any we should give up for the sake of being secure. There's a great quote from Rogers when he's talking to Nick Fury about the measures they're taking. He states that "the Greatest generation" or the people of World War II did some crazy stuff but it was always in defense of liberties and the greater good. The measure that SHIELD is taking seem to be more about inciting fear and fighting an enemy that has no means of fighting back. It brings up dialogue about the arm of the military and what we tend to fight these days and its fantastic. The movie doesn't get too bogged down in the political ideology though and it makes for a really good action, conspiracy spy movie as well as being a Captain America film.

Another great part about this movie is the connections Steve Rogers still has with his past. As I mentioned in my rant about the Marvel universe, Captain America has his own exhibit in the Smithsonian in DC. Rogers goes there and sees his past something that is in a museum. This was something that was kind of glossed over in the end of the first movie and in the Avengers because they needed him to do his Captain America thing. But now he's actually dealing with it. He goes and visits an old Peggy Carter, his love interest from the first movie. This movie is a lot about Steve Rogers assimilating to the modern world.

With all this happening, there is a mercenary out there that is creating havoc called The Winter Soldier. He soon becomes an intrical part of the plot of the film.

Now if you don't know who the Winter Soldier is, I won't ruin it for you. Though you should know who it is. If you read comics, you definitely know who it is. But even if you do, I don't think you know the motives and other elements behind it. Its still a really great storyline and its actually one of the ambiances of the movie that I really enjoy. But that's something I discuss in my spoiler review. In short, the Winter Soldier is an incredibly important part to the plot and action wise, he's really one of the coolest characters and villains made in the Marvel films.

Unfortunately, there's only so much I can say about the villain(s) of the movie. But I will say, I really enjoyed this plot. The one weakness of some of the Marvel films is the fact that there isn't a really good villain out there. Loki was Marvel's golden goose for the majority of the first phase and now they have to move onto something else. The villain(s) of The Winter Soldier are really, really good. The Winter Soldier himself, the bad guys, they're just good all around in this film. While I don't know how much it really opens up for villains returning from this film, it does open up a world of possibilities that you can only understand if you see the movie.

Other great elements about the movie is the cast. Chris Evans returns as Steve Rogers, Scarlett Johansson returns as Black Widow, Samuel Jackson as Nick Fury. The got Robert Redford to play one of the top men of SHIELD and he does a phenomenal job. That was a big thing about this movie was the fact that Robert Redford was in it and that was one of the first critically acclaimed actors to start being in these superhero movies.

In short, he doesn't disappoint. And he really helps the edge that this movie is going for. Like I said before, there's very much elements of government conspiracy movies in this movie and it works perfectly for a character like Captain America. This is not the world of spies and espionage that Captain America is used to and its a great contrast. He's told not to trust anybody and you really start to question everybody he comes in contact with, what their motives are and whether or not they'll help him or stab him in the back.

As I've said in my Marvel universe rant, the end of this movie really opens things up and changes directions a little bit with the future of these movies. It goes in a way you may not have expected and I freaking love it.

Chris Evans and Scarlett Johansson are both fantastic and they're chemistry in the movie is really good. In short, this movie made Black Widow an interesting character.

Speaking of interesting characters, this movie introduces, Sam Wilson, or The Falcon. When I first saw the posts for the Falcon, I wasn't that excited. I mean its a guy with bird wings, how interesting can that be. Turns out, this guy was probably my favorite character in the film. In the end, his presence wasn't totally necessary as they could have just put Hawkeye in there, but I'm really glad they have him in this movie.

Sam Wilson is a veteran who works at the VA hospital in DC. (Already a standup guy) But when things go to hell, Steve Rogers goes to him for help because he doesn't know who to trust. He's played by Anthony Mackie who just does a downright brilliant job. I would have liked to see more action on his part but the movie really made me love this character and I want to see him return in future movies. I really hope they don't miss this opportunity.

There are a lot of easter eggs in this movie that are just bonus for people who know what they're looking for. I'll be talking about them in the spoilers but I think that's a really great way of doing it. The movies don't have to go word by word from the source material but as long as there is some fan service in some form, I don't see the harm.

I wouldn't say the mid and post credit scenes are the best credit scenes I've ever seen but they're up there. They really do tease some great stuff for Age of Ultron and opens up for a brilliant story arc in the future.

In short, The Winter Soldier made me only more secure in the idea that Marvel/Disney knows what they are doing and they know exactly where they're going with this. Everything seems to have a purpose and they don't seem to be building this story off the seat of their pants. The events of this movie will have implications throughout the next few movies just as the first phase movies did. I'm really excited to see where they go with some of the storylines, all of which I will cover in my spoiler review.

In short, I freaking loved Captain America: The Winter Soldier. I've definitely come to the conclusion that it is my favorite of the Phase 2 Marvel movies and its up there in my top 3 at least. This movie made Captain America my favorite Avenger and when it finally does come out, see it as soon as you can.

So those are my thoughts on Captain America: The Winter Soldier. You excited for it? When you see it, what did you think? Let me know and comment below.

I'll leave you with this. I always like to put Honest Trailer or something from Cracked. And here is the Honest Trailer for Captain America: The First Avenger. Its pretty funny, enjoy!

The Marvel Universe

So I saw Captain America: The Winter Soldier in a pre-release given exclusively to people in the military and their families. I swear, I will do a review of Captain America, most likely today. But there was something that I noticed from the movie that every time I have tried to do a Captain America review, I always get stuck on this one ambiance of the movie that I think is just simply brilliant and Marvel has just nailed right out of the park.

Everybody knows the scene that broke all conventions of superheroes when Tony Stark said at the end of Iron Man the words, "I am Iron Man".

There had never been a super hero movie where the secret identity of a super hero had ever been revealed so publicly. The entire Marvel world knows that Tony Stark is Iron Man.

But that's old news right? That happened in the first Iron movie and since there's been several other movies including God's gift to humanity, THE AVENGERS!

The Avengers of course is a ground breaking movie because its one of the first wildly successful movies that took superheroes from different movies and brought them into a collaboration just as they did in the comics. There had always been movies of superhero origins and these superheroes fighting villains in their own line of comic books. Batman fighting the Joker, Superman and Zod, Spiderman and the Green Goblin, X-Men and Magneto. And the great thing about the Avengers is that all the superheroes involved had their own villains to face prior to the Avengers. Thor versus Loki, Iron Man versus Iron Monger (Obadiah Stane, Jeff Bridge's character in Iron Man 1), and Captain America versus Red Skull. These films were all great standalone films (with the exception of Iron Man 2) and brought such depth to the characters. Depth that would help them in this ground breaking collaboration.

But again, that's old news. We know and have known for a while that these people exist in the same universe, have interacted with each other and in some way have had their actions affect the others.

Enter Captain America: The Winter Soldier. I'll try not to go too in depth with the story or give away any spoilers because I know more than half the world has not seen it yet but there is an important element of the movie that is the main reason for me writing a post about the Marvel universe instead of a review of the actual movie.

There's a part in the movie where Steve Rogers goes to the Smithsonian in Washington DC and goes around the exhibit that has been created all about him. The Smithsonian, a real and globally acclaimed museum, has an exhibit on Captain America. Now you may think, what's so great about that? Think about it. The universe that Marvel has created is now a universe where Captain America is a huge part of history. World War II: There's the attack on Pearl Harbor, D-Day and Captain Freaking America.

I won't say its as big of a change in history as they did in Watchmen, but its still a huge change in history nonetheless. The Marvel universe is a world where people like Captain America exist. Genetically modified soldiers. And its not like its a secret military experiment. There's an entire exhibit on it in the Smithsonian! Not only that, but this is a universe where a guy can get frozen in Ice for half a century and come back and be a superhero that everybody knows! Again, this is a world where secret identities don't really exist (maybe with the exception of Bruce Banner) Tony Stark already revealed that he is Iron Man. Everybody knows that Steve Rogers is Captain America. Furthermore, they're known beyond their individual cities. For example, Bruce Wayne is a big name in Gotham. But Tony Stark is known world wide. He threatened a terrorist. The closest thing the Dark Knight trilogy did to make Batman a global phenomena was having the President of the United States acknowledge that the world will not forget Gotham when Bane takes it over.

What's more, is that the Avengers are a cultural symbol. People walk around with Captain America T-shirts, same as you and I can buy but in this world, Captain America exists. The Avengers are apart of the American way of life and its crazy when you think how hard that is to make in a movie. It takes multiple movies, and really good writing. Marvel has created a world and a culture, not just a city.

Also if that isn't cool enough. Think about this. SHIELD is a quintessential element of the international community. Remember those faces on the screens in the Avengers who Nick Fury was talking to, they're international leaders of the different branches of SHIELD throughout the world. But they're not a secret organization at least not secret enough that the US government doesn't know about them. They answer to the US government, they have legislative hearings about them. And after Captain America, nothing is ever the same. That's all I'll say, but the Marvel universe is just a little bit different after the events of the Winter Soldier.

And what's more is that they're creating more than a world, they're creating a universe.

We've seen from the Thor movies that there is different dimensions and different world beyond Earth and live in collaboration with the different kinds of superheroes. Again going to Captain America: The Winter Soldier, there is no mention of aliens, other worlds, but at the same time, you realize, this movie exists in the same universe that Guardians of the Galaxy exist in.

Watch the trailer if you need some context

This is a universe where Thor is the God of Thunder of Asgard, the same universe with Frost Giants, Dark Elves, and the Teseract. Remember, this is a world where New York City was demolished by aliens. That's the reason all the phase two movies have taken place in other places, Hollywood (Iron Man 3), Europe (Thor 2), Washington DC (The Winter Soldier), because New York has been wrecked by aliens. This is that kind of world. So not only do Superheroes exist out in the open, not only are they apart of American culture, not only has this universe created a governmental organization working to control all of this stuff, but oh yeah, there's world out there that people have not discovered.

So what does that mean for the future of Marvel's movie universe? I don't think we're anywhere near the end of it but the question I have to ask is, when, if ever, does it end? I mean these people are not going to want to do Superhero movies for the rest of their lives. Robert Downey Jr. is already talking about stepping down as Iron Man, a role he's been doing since 2008. Chris Evans is talking about stepping out soon. Even Joss Whedon has to say to himself eventually, its time to stop. It happened with Christopher Nolan and its gotta happen with Marvel Superheroes. So what does the future look like for the Avengers?

Well Marvel is really in uncharted territory. All the other Superhero franchises are solo features. Batman has the Dark Knight trilogy. Spider-man has his own films, old and new. X-men have been going for a while but what makes the Marvel films different is that they have a franchise nobody has ever seen the likes of which before. They have individual films that are great on their own but at the same time they're all building towards a larger goal called the Avengers. But we've already got that cross-over nobody thought was possible. So where does Marve/Disney go from there?

Well first off, they continue to do the right thing. Make great stories for these characters on their own. They can't come together if they are not solid by themselves. Captain America: The Winter Soldier is my favorite of the phase 2 Avenger films. These movies just keep getting better and better.

They also need to expand out. I was wary when I heard that they were making Guardians of the Galaxy and pulling the Avengers more into the cosmos the way that the comic books did, but now that I think about it, that's the only place they can go.

Once again going to the Winter Soldier, it is very clear that normal bad guys with guns are no match for Captain America, who some have considered "the weakest" of the Avengers. They're running out of earthly things to throw at the Avengers to stop them because they don't seem human themselves. So the stakes needs to keep on being raised and the threats need to be more and more deadly. And that's where Thanos and space technology come in.

But what happens when they reach Avengers 3 and we're done with all the movie scheduled at this time? Do the Avengers just beat the bad guys and continue fighting on? Does Disney keep pushing out movie after movie until the series is dead? Or does everyone die? Its hard to tell because we're not there yet.

Like I said before, Marvel has had the most success with their movies and they are the farthest on this trail that has never been treaded before. Maybe they'll have someone else take up the Iron Man mantle when Robert Downey Jr. decides to call it quits. While most people would say they wouldn't be up for that, I would be intrigued to see that. Because again, its unknown territory. We've never had another person actually pick the mantle of a superhero and continue the series. They alluded to it in The Dark Knight Rises that Joseph Gordon Levitt's character took up the mantle as Batman after Bruce Wayne but it was never actualized.

In conclusion, I'm just excited. I don't think Marvel/ Disney can do wrong right now and I say as long as the movies are good, make sense, and keep me interested, keep them going as long as you can.

I am just in love with the universe that Marvel has created and its fun because its something that has never been done before. I think we all saw the Avengers and were so shocked by the awesomeness of that movie at face value that we didn't really comprehend the real implications of this movie and what it means for superhero films for the future. Marvel is setting the standards and its going to be hard for anybody to try and push them from their throne. They've got a pretty good handle on it.

So that's my rant on the Marvel Universe. I hope it made at least a little bit of sense and I hope I got everything I wanted to say. What do you think? Am I just blowing this out of proportion? What do you think the future of the Marvel movies is? What would you like to see happen? Comment and let me know below.

I'll leave you with this. I've been talking about the Winter Soldier a lot and I've been trying not to give too much away. I just thought it was an eye opener to the awesome universe Marvel has created. That review will be coming in the next hours or maybe tomorrow. Its going to be a big review so its taking some time. In the mean time, I'll leave you with the trailer. Enjoy!

The Grand Budapest Hotel

It wasn't really my plan to go see The Grand Budapest Hotel. I had seen the trailer for it and it looked alright. I'm not a huge Wes Anderson fan but I enjoy his movies here and there. A buddy of mine wanted to go see a movie and we weren't really in the mood for Noah. The thing about it is, this movie is easier to write a review for than Captain America or the other shit I've been sitting on for a couple weeks now. Grand Budapest Hotel is fresh in my mind and that's what I'm going to write about. Captain America will come, no need to worry.

I think the fun parts about this movie is the all star cast involved. Ralph Fiennes, Adrian Brody, Harvey Keitel, Jude Law, Jeff Goldblum, Willem freaking Defoe, this cast is stacked. Not only that but the strange style and writing of Wes Anderson just makes it so these people had a lot of fun with this movie.

If you don't know what Wes Anderson movies are like, its a very dry humor and unique writing mixed with a certain style of cinematography. Watch The Fantastic Mr. Fox and you'll know what I'm talking about. Another fun thing about this movie is that I was half expecting Mr. Fox to show up the movies are very similar. It takes some getting used to and I think it would take a couple of viewings to really get some of the jokes but for what its worth, the movie is funny. However, I don't think its a comedy. At least not a total comedy. The movie has some interesting themes and moments that are actually kind of dark and emotional at times.

The story is a story within a story within a story. A girl is reading the book, the Grand Budapest Hotel. In the story the author is looking back on his time as a young man staying in the Grand Budapest Hotel. From there he is told the story of the current owner of the hotel and how he came to own it. That is the main story. The story mainly focused on Monsieur Gustave (played by Ralph Fiennes), the Concierge of the Grand Budapest Hotel and the Lobby boy, Zero Moustafa (played by Tony Revolori). Gustave is a charismatic host and becomes the mentor and guide to Zero. When one of the guests that Gustave was very close to dies, they go to the funeral and figure out that Gustave was left a priceless painting that the family of the old woman (played by Tilda Swinton) refuses to give up. They end up stealing the painting and are chased down by her murderous sons. (played by Adrian Brody and Willem Defoe)

As far as individual performances go, Ralph Fiennes obviously steals the show. He's this very blunt, very british, and just a hilarious character.

Tony Revolori plays a young Zero and he's kind of funny. The better part is the relationship between Zero and Gustave. Zero just idolizes Gustave and I originally thought that Gustave was just using Zero and would screw him over because he thought of him more as an employee than a friend. And while there is hints of that, its mainly the exact opposite. The relationship between the two is simply fantastic and they're a great pair for the majority of the movie.

They're being chased by Willem Defoe. Pretty much the scariest thing ever to happen to anyone but he brings probably the most laughs. Any time I saw Willem Defoe, I just had to laugh.

Along with that, Adrian Brody plays the older brother and the main villain of the film. He's not as good as Willem Defoe but he still had a fun part.

I think the one drawback about having so many big name actors in this movie is that the humor that they were going for was mainly trying to point out that there were so many cameos. Like hey look, its Bill Murray! He shows up for a scene and then leaves. Hey look Owen Wilson. He shows up and then leaves. The truth is, the movie didn't need all the cameos.

I kinda felt like I was watching the trailer that Jimmy Kimmel did a while on his show that featured all these well known actors.

Lots of the laughs in this trailer just came from the fact that these people were participating. And while its fun to be like, oh there's Edward Norton! that surprise and shock value only lasts for one viewing. The movie needs more than cameos to make the humor.

That being said, there are a lot of moments that are legitimately funny. And like I said before, the movie is not a full fledged comedy. Its very much a drama as well. And like I said, the dramatic moments really are in the relationships, mainly between Zero and others.

The stylistic visuals are great and it really makes the movie fun to watch. The pacing is actually really good and the cast is solid, as to be expected. Overall, I liked the movie. I think that I'll eventually need to watch it again and I have a feeling that the more times I've seen this movie, the more I will enjoy it. Right now it was fun. I won't rave about it because I don't think its anything you absolutely must see. Its good, its fun, especially if you like Wes Anderson films you will enjoy the hell out of this movie. If you don't, you're probably like me, you'll enjoy the film but won't really think much of it after.

I mean watch the trailer and you should know what I mean. You'll get a good feel of the movie after the trailer. The humor, the drama, you'll get it. If you didn't think the trailer was good, you probably won't like it. But take a look.

But have you seen The Grand Budapest Hotel? What did you think of it? Are you a fan of Wes Anderson films? Leave your comments below. Let me know your thoughts

I'll leave you with this. I may not be a huge Wes Anderson fan but I do love The Fantastic Mr. Fox. Here's a trailer for that. Enjoy!

Assault on Wallstreet

There's two reasons why I was intrigued by this movie. The first one is the fact that it stars Dominic Purcell. Purcell stared in Prison Break and that used to be one of my favorite shows on television. (At least the first two seasons) While Purcell wasn't the complete highlight of the show, I did enjoy him. There's also something about the title and the poster that just made the movie intriguing. Its one of those Netflix movies that you know is bad but the title and summary look like something you might want to waste a couple hours watching. I had the idea that movie wasn't going to be good when I watched it but I thought, what the hell?

Well... I was right.

Purcell plays a security guard who's wife is sick with a brain tumor... or something like that. Her medical bills and the financial crisis have made it so he is in incredible debt and left with little to no money.

Basically this guy's entire life just goes to complete shit. His broker screws him over, the banks screw him over, his lawyer screws him over and then he loses his job. In the meantime, his wife (played by Erin Karpluk) realizes that their entire life has gone to the shitter and she ends up killing herself to relieve the burden she is leaving with her husband.

Brought to the end of his rope, Purcell goes on what can only be described as a...

He begins shooting down Stock Market executives and brokers I guess to... get revenge?

As you can see the movie isn't really that spectacular of a film even in something as simple as the plot. Its about a guy who is down on his luck, everything goes to hell, and he goes on a vigilante rampage because there's suppose to be some form of justice in the fact he's killing a bunch of Wall Street executives.

 And the worst part is, (Spoilers) he gets away with it! There's a scene where just guns down random people from a parking lot with an assault rife. He runs into an office and shoots down every person in the room. And finally when everything's said and done and the shooting is done, he walks away saying, I'm going to kill again.

What kind of hero is that?

I know its really cliche but there's no moment where someone says, "Hey you know your dead wife who you're doing this for? Would she want this?" and that's usually the thing that pulls the character back and makes them see how far they've gone.

It kind of reminds me of another vigilante movie starring Kevin Bacon called Death Sentence.

Similar plot with the exception that in that movie, Kevin Bacon was going after a gang that killed his son. While that movie wasn't good, I at least understood the reasoning for it. And maybe that's the point that Assault on Wall Street is trying to make, that these people on Wall Street are just as bad as the gang member that murders Kevin Bacon's son and they deserve to die. They're not getting the justice they deserve so its time for Dominic Purcell to come in and serve that justice.

The problem with the movie is that it is so deep in the finger pointing at the fault within the 2007-2008 financial crisis. This movie is so very blatantly pointing the finger at Wall Street for being greedy and stealing money from normal everyday Joes of America. And while they probably have a point, this movie is putting a bunch of people just doing their jobs on the same level as Death Sentence puts a bunch of gang members who perform gruesome murders.

And what's more, he's not even consistent. There's a part where Purcell has killed several people at this point and he goes into the office and points a gun at one of the executives. The guy points at a picture and says, I have a wife. Purcell stops, shoots another guy and tells the guy with the wife to run. Why? How was the guy he shot before any different? Why make exceptions? And that's the weird thing, the morality of Purcell's character is just strange out out of nowhere.

Performance wise, Purcell does an okay job. Overall its just boring. He's very good at mumbling and staring blankly out into space and he does that a lot in this movie. Half the movie I swear is him staring out contemplating. No emotion, nothing besides that blank stare he has.

While the movie does an alright job at making this guy have the shittiest luck in the world and just having him get trampled on, he's actually kind of dumb. He's having all these troubles financially and when things finally are at the worst they can be, he pulls out this totally upgraded and decked out assault rifle. Like he couldn't sell that, get some money to pay for his wife medical bills? I don't know how much that rifle would go for but it would help and it would also be a good alternative to murdering a bunch of innocent people.

His wife was really boring. I'll give her some credit, she is really cute. There's no question that Purcell should be in love with this girl because she's just cute as hell. The relationship started out alright but then he's dealing with their financial issues and she's just there. She basically just sits around looking worried or sick and then she cries. There's no real interaction between Purcell and his wife after the first few scenes and then she offs herself. She doesn't get angry at Purcell for keeping her in the dark, she doesn't try to get out of debt her way, she just offs herself. The character is boring, and she dies too quickly for us to really care about her.

Purcell has some cop buddies that are concerned about him but in the end, their presence in the movie was really pointless. One of them helps him out with his financial woes for a little bit but there's only so much he can do.

Oh and John Heard is in this movie.

If you don't know who John Heard is, watch Home Alone, he's the dad. Or you'll maybe know him as that drunk guy from Sharknado. Either way, he's kind of a shitty actor, he's not very interesting, and his part in this movie is over the top and just evil for no good reason.

And that's kind of theme around this movie. Just in bad taste and falls flat on the message. I'm not quite sure if its trying to promote vigilantism or justice for the crimes that people on Wall Street have done but I think this movie was made for manly testosterone filled men who would be so bored by the first half of this movie that they wouldn't get to the part that brought them there in the first place. It doesn't work as a drama, it doesn't work as an action movie. The movie just doesn't work.

So have you seen Assault on Wall Street? What did you think? Leave your comments and discussions below in the comments.

I'll leave you with this. Because Purcell was in Prison Break, I thought I'd leave you with this video pranking people into believing a prison is escaping. Its not that good but hey neither was this movie. Enjoy!

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Trailer

March has not been nice to this blog. I've had a lot of other responsibilities and haven't had the time to both watch movies and more importantly, the movies and TV shows I've watched, I haven't been able to write anything on it. I have a number of movies and TV shows that I have watched and I'm still working on those reviews. I can promise, a lot of those reviews will come out by next week.

But I saw something today and I thought I would give the 20 or so people that read my blog every day a little bit of a thank you and give my review of the new trailer that just came out today. Its for Transformers!

You may be saying, Connor, the Transformers 4 trailer came out a while ago. Mark Wahlberg's in it and Optimus Prime rides a dinosaur transformer.

This One

But no. Believe it or not, they're making another Transformer sequel. But this one is more of a spinoff.

Remember Mikaela Banes? Megan Fox's character from Transformers? Yeah she's getting her own spinoff!

I'm not gonna lie, this is a very strange looking spinoff. There were very few transformers in it and the few we saw, they look a little bit strange.

They look a lot like Turtles! I never thought they would go into that direction to make Transformers that look like Turtles. But hey, I mean if Optimus Prime can ride a Transformer Dinosaur why can't Mikaela Banes work with Turtle Autobots?

Now by this time, I hope you understand my thoughts of the recent trailer that I saw. I just saw the trailer for the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie that is coming out in August.

If you watch this trailer, it has Michael Bay written all over it. It only takes barely 10 seconds for buildings to start crashing down and things exploding. Now take out all the scenes with the Turtles and put in footage of Optimus Prime or Megatron and you've got another Transformer's trailer.

And this wouldn't be awful... if this was a Transformers movie. But its just another Michael Bay movie! We've seen it before, there's no reason for it to happen again.

Also, I am in no way a huge TMNT fan. I think its a funny pop culture reference, I may know a little bit more about it than the average joe. So as an outside observer... the Turtles look stupid. They looked stupid in the concept art, they looked stupid in the other live action films they did, and they look stupid now.

I mean yeah, the CGI version of this movie wasn't that phenomenal. But why do we need a live action flick? And if we're going to do the live action stuff, why make it the same old generic ninja turtles we've seen before? The "Cowabunga dude!" feel was not the original idea for the comics. They were darker. Why not go for a darker edgy feeling to it? Yeah its been overdone since Batman Begins but at least its a different approach for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Also, Megan Fox? Really? There was nobody else that fit the part of April O'Neal better than Megan Fox? Nobody better than Jennifer's body? Really? No one?

I am excited to see William Fichtner get a large role like this. I've enjoyed him since his part in Prison Break and I think he's been under utilized.

So... way to go William Fichtner. Again, I'm not a huge fan so I don't know the actual origin story of Shredder. I understand he was originally Asian, but frankly I don't care. I don't think there are a lot of Asians who are going to care. The only people who care are the hardcore fans of the series. And this film obviously isn't pointed at them, so who cares.

In short, I will probably not spend one dime on this movie. It looks silly, it sounds silly, and it Transformer Turtles. The only reason I may watch it when a friend buys it down the road and I'm drunk and watch it at a party when I can barely hear the sound, is to see William Fichtner.

So have you seen the trailer? What did you think? Do you think it'll be a good movie? Let me know in the comments.

If you haven't seen it, then everything you just read doesn't make any sense. Watch the trailer.

Sharknado

There's a special kind of movie that goes beyond the convention of bad and just goes into train wreck of hilarity. Such movies of this caliber have included Troll 2, The Room, and now Sharknado.

There's not really anything that can be said about Sharknado besides, its a movie about a tornado of sharks made by Scifi. If you were expecting them to try, you're kind of stupid.

Sharknado follows the story of Fin, a bar owner in Santa Monica. There's a large hurricane coming to hit California and him and his friends seem to be the only people who care about it. That's not really a plot point, its more looking at the environment around these characters and watching cars and people go about their daily business while a CGI shark flops on the hood of their car.

When this horrible weather not only brings rain but also Sharks, Fin decides he needs to go get his ex-wife (played by Tara Reid) and his daughter and get away from the Ocean and the rabid sharks.

Fin is joined by his friend Baz, and another bartender, Nova. Oh and John Heard but he dies pretty quickly.

Well they find his wife and daughter but they need to go save his son. When they get to his son, they have the brilliant idea of flying a helicopter into the Sharknado and throwing a bomb into it... I am not joking. Well it works and the Sharknado is destroyed, The End.

As you can see, the plot is not why you should watch this movie. This movie is a special kind of movie that you watch with your friends and laugh when people get sucks out of helicopters and into the mouths of sharks. When people run around with shotguns shooting sharks out of the sky. And when people slice sharks in half with a chainsaw.

This movie just falls into the category of its So bad, its good. The acting is shitty, the effects are shitty, the movie overall is just shitty but its actually a really fun time.

If you don't like shitty movies, you're going to hate Sharknado. Its less about story and just watching the weird ways people can die from a tornado of sharks.

Frankly, I don't know why this movie has such a following where other shitty Scifi movies don't but its a fun time if you're drunk or just want to sharp shoot... or shark shoot... a shitty movie and there's not much more to say about it.

Get some friends together, watch it on Netflix, I don't think you'll regret it.

So there are my thoughts on Sharknado. Its a short review cause there's not much to review. Its a shitty film but its so shitty its good. What do you think of Sharknado? Why do you watch it? Comment and discuss below.

I'll leave you with this. Here's a compilation of all the shark attacks and funny moments of the movie. You could probably watch this and be good. Its gory, its funny, Enjoy!

Machine Gun Preacher

This is one of those movies, the kind that have been on my Netflix list for a long time because of the good things I've heard about it, but never really got around to watching. The summary of the movie on Netflix is basically that this former drug dealer dedicates his life to saving children in Africa. Sounds like a good premise right? A good premise for a good action movie right? Well... sorta.

The main premise of Machine Gun Preacher is based on a true story of an actual guy named Sam Childers (played by Gerard Butler). The movie begins as he's coming out of prison and returning to his life of drug use and just all around being a dick. His wife (played by Michelle Monaghan) on the other hand has found Jesus and is an avid church goer. Its not until Sam hits an all time low that he begins his spiritual journey and grows in his faith. As far as I guess born again christian stories as you might call it, this one is actually pretty good.

I actually really liked how his life turns around and he really becomes a decent person. I'm sure its exaggerated for Hollywood and there are even parts in the movie where he's still an asshole but that's what works about it. Gerard doesn't do a 180 and suddenly once this guy finds Jesus he's a different person, no he's still the redneck he is from the beginning but he just has a purpose now instead of drug use.

Well when he goes on a mission trip to Uganda to help build houses for refugees, he takes a trip to Sudan he sees a lot of things that change his call to action. He sees a woman who's lips were cut off, children killed, and villages burned to the ground by Joseph Kony and his Lord's Resistance Army (LRA).

Yes, you heard right. Joseph Kony, that grade A asshole from the Kony 2012 videos that came out two years ago. Its amazing how that lost its fire so quickly just because there was so much criticism of how the funding was being used and how little it actually helped looking for Kony.

Don't get me wrong, this guy is a complete asshole and should be burned alive for the things that he has done to the people of Sudan and many other parts of Africa. But sending a video talking about him isn't going to kill Joseph Kony or save a bunch of people in Africa.

If you haven't seen the Kony 2012 video, its not really worth seeing, but here it is anyway. I guess its a good cause but in the end its really just kind of Slacktivism.

But what Sam Childers is doing, probably is helping somehow. Sam returns to America shaken by what he has seen and he decides to do something about it. He decides to build an orphanage in Sudan. He has a couple of set backs but eventually things get up and working.

Eventually, Sam decides that he's no longer going to wait around and see people be killed anymore and decides to fight back. And he does. He starts ambushing LRA convoys, and freeing children. It sounds like he's African Rambo... and he kind of is. And honestly, I thought this was going to be the entire movie. But this isn't really until about and hour into the movie that he starts fighting back. The use of violence in this movie is an interesting addition to the story because he doesn't really ask anybody if its alright for him to fight. He just does. It kind of goes in tandem with the motto Sam Childers has that he'll do what he can when other people won't. Speaking from an action perspective, this movie isn't about the action which surprised me. Its more about the person which was actually really refreshing and made the movie mean more.

But he can't save everyone. There's a scene where he finds a large group of children and can only take maybe half of them. When he gets to the orphanage and back, all the children are dead.

Sam then goes through a strange internal crisis. He gets really angry, at his family, at his work, and at God. Throughout the movie, when he's back in the US he is also a preacher at the church he built. His sermons just become angry. He begins to put his entire life into his work in Africa and it consumes him.

There's a part where he gets angry at his daughter for asking for a limousine for his formal. As great of work as he's doing, there is a line he crosses and he really kind of neglects his family. The main problem is, there isn't really a resolution. He has a conversation with a kid he saved, he plays soccer, he calls his daughter, and saves another group of kids and that's the end of the movie.

Its really kind of unfortunate because besides the main character not really being that likable and going a little bit nuts, the movie was actually pretty good. But its because he goes nuts that we need a climax, we need a resolution. Maybe he goes home and makes up with his wife, maybe he realizes that he needs to give as much love to his family as he does the kids in Africa. But that's not really the case. Which in the end doesn't really give a clear message to a viewer watching the movie. What was I suppose to get out of this besides learning about a real person in an exaggerated medium?

I suppose because its a biopic, it doesn't absolutely need to have a moral but then what am I suppose to learn from this guys life?

I still like this movie for what it is, an interesting story about an interesting guy. In fact I did some research on the guy (AKA I looked him up on Wikipedia) and I want this guy to win. I want him to succeed in what he's doing, I want all the criticisms of him not to be true. A part of me even wants to go help him do what he's doing. But as far as a movie goes, the ending and just strange plot lines kind of make this just a strange movie.

Basically there's a lot of strange stuff going on with his family. Michael Shannon plays Sam's best friend who is also a recovering drug addict and born again christian. When Sam is away in Africa, Michael Shannon takes care of his family, and there's a weird dynamic in that if this were a fictional movie, Michael Shannon would be having an affair with Sam's wife. But again, there's just something weird about his family. His daughter has this weird game with Sam that while cute looks odd because the daughter is definitely older than they're trying to portray her as. Even his wife is a little weird and really kind of one dimensional when she has no qualms at all about her husband going to Africa for most of the year and building an orphanage. She does come around and scold him for not caring about his family as much as he does the kids he's saving, but again, there's not much of a resolution of that and that's the last time we see her. I don't know if that's actually how it went down and if its accurate I guess we'll chalk it up to just a realistic biopic for you but as a movie goer, it was really unfulfilling.

Sam Childers is definitely an interesting person. I don't really know any other way they could have made a biopic about him than this. They could have given it a better resolution but I think considering what the subject material is, I think they did a good job. Overall, I don't really know what to think of it though. The ending really didn't resolve to anything besides being a biopic. And I've decided I'm not good at reviewing or really even like biopics.

I think Machine Gun Preacher is worth a watch if you're interested in the character of Sam Childers. Just don't expect a really great ending and expect some strange family dynamic. Overall I would recommend Machine Gun Preacher but with some reservations.

So that's what I think of Machine Gun Preacher. Have you seen it? Have you seen Kony 2012? What are your thoughts on both? I'm not going to do a review on Kony 2012 because I already gave my 30 minutes of activism. Comment and discuss, I'd like to hear your thoughts on the matter.

I'll leave you with this. There's a lot of questions, at least in my circles of what happened to Kony 2012? Well apparently this video explains all of that and more. I do know that the President passed a bill in 2013 pushing for more action against the LRA, I'm not sure what more can be done but I won't claim to be an expert and say that this is a good thing to stop an organization in the world that is just a hateful and evil organization. So if you wanted updates on Kony 2012 and The Invisible Children, here you are. Just be careful and know exactly what you donate to before you donate. Enjoy!