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Savages: Movie Opinion and Lessons Learned

Posted in Movies, Reviews, tagged , , , , , , , , on September 5, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Savages

There are many reviews for Savages available online from critics far more eloquent and accomplished than I. So I wanted to forgo the review and take this opportunity to share the lessons I learned from this wild beast of a film.

But first I can’t resist offering a brief comment regarding my opinion of the movie in the form of a recipe. Savages is three and a half quarts of spectacularly brutal drug trade violence and suspense. Add in two tablespoons of “war on drugs” satire. Take a fresh pinch of Benicio Del Toro psychopath and mix it in with a dab of hilariously corrupt John Travolta. Grind up the lives of 3 people deeply in love before tossing in. Bake the entire concoction for 131 minutes in the Laguna Beach sun. The final dish should entrance, excite, and terrify you. It will be beautiful and haunting. Dare I say it willI be the best dish you’ve sampled this summer. Don’t forget to serve to a chilling Salma Hayek drug kingpin. Or maybe it was don’t forget to serve chilled? Regardless one bite will delight. The sensation is not unlike the tears of joy too many jalapeños bring.

 

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Gliding Over All: Breaking Bad Review

Posted in Reviews, Television, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on September 3, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Sorry for the late review, but Labor Day’s kept me pretty busy this time around.

I’ve overall felt that I’ve done a pretty bad job at reviewing Breaking Bad.  As I finished the episode and sat down and wrote my article, I went to some of my favorite other pop culture websites to see what they had to say.  To be quite frank: they’re better than me at this.  They’ve pointed out a numerous amount of things that simply went over my head and that I never would’ve came to conclusion to.  They theorize some of the most absurd but sensical things [oxymoron] and are all around better at discussing Breaking Bad than me.  So instead of riding on their coattails, and claiming their ideas be my own, I direct you to some of the most passionate Breaking Bad watchers out there.

I hope you enjoyed this season as much as I did.  It certainly will set up the season finale well and I can’t believe I have to wait 10 whole months for it to happen.

Upproxx Talks Breaking Bad

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9 Reasons Why You Should Watch The Newsroom

Posted in Articles, Lists, Reviews, Television, tagged , , , , , , , on August 29, 2012| 2 Comments »

 

Coming at ya with zero spoilers

1. There really is something wrong with the mainstream media

For those of you who have not seen the show here is the one sentence Wikipedia synopsis. “It features an ensemble cast including Jeff Daniels as anchor Will McAvoy, who, together with his staff set out to put on a news show in the face of corporate and commercial obstacles and their own personal entanglements.” The premise behind this news show is that it will be one that will present only unbiased facts that facilitate relevant, honest debate with the intention of informing American voters. I interpret this as a deliberate and exhilarating smackdown on the lacking mainstream media that people patronize today. I should mention now that this is a largely political show. A politically interested viewer will get more from this show. If you are not at all interested in politics… still watch the show.

 

Jon Stewart said it best. The mainstream media, particularly Fox News and MSNBC, is utterly biased towards “sensationalism, conflict and laziness;” in addition to “relentless partisanship.” I wholeheartedly agree with Jon Stewart and that is why, in addition to its quality drama, I think The Newsroom is so refreshing. Whether you agree or not The Newsroom will make you re-evaluate your opinion on how news is presented to you. And it will do so by respinning the biggest news stories of this past year.

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Say My Name: Breaking Bad Summary and Review

Posted in Reviews, Television, tagged , , , , , , , on August 27, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Breaking Bad aired last night and I’m reeling.  I admit I expected a lot of the events to happen, but the execution was exciting as always.  The soundtrack this year is absolutely astounding and fitting for so many occasions.  I even thought of Drive at a certain point.  Anywho, this episode, Say My Name, is the episode before the season finale.  As a whole after seeing this episode, I’m curious how it will all wrap up, considering that this episode didn’t really set up anything major to happen.  There was a lot of resolution in many places, and could honestly have been the season finale itself.  That means huge things will happen next episode and they’ll happen quickly.  Anywho, let’s summarize what happened last night below.  As always, major spoilers below!

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Fall TV Preview

Posted in Reviews, Television, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 21, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Fall TV is upon us and it nothing is more exciting than scheduling days of the week with my favorite tv shows to look forward to.  The glorious return of some favorites such as Parks and Recreation, Happy Endings, and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia are sure to make the weeks better and then Sunday night is filled with madness as well.  Not football madness, but the 9:00 and 10:00 spot will be heavily competed for when it comes to Dexter, The Walking Dead, and Boardwalk Empire.  How do you guys cope with so much television?  Don’t you dare say “I don’t watch it”, because that’s inexcusable.  Just kidding, but anywho, I’ve compiled the trailers and expectations of some of my favorite shows, so check ’em out below!  The spoilers in the drama season are likely to be huge, so tread lightly!

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Buyout: Breaking Bad Review

Posted in Reviews, Television, tagged , , , , , , , , , on August 20, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Two more episodes until the ‘season’ finale of Breaking Bad.  I’m assuming this most recent episode is the final set up before the explosive finale.  There are a lot of loose ends to knot up before we get there, and hopefully most of them are finished up before we have to wait an entire year before we see the resolution.  This episode is primarily a quick wrap up of what happened last as what most episodes are, but this we learn a couple of interesting new things that make us guess twice about end game each character is aiming at.  Enough vagueness, read below for the spoiler filled summary and review of the episode.

All images belong to AMC.
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We’re On Your Side – Catching Fire Review

Posted in Books, Reviews, tagged , , , , , , , on August 17, 2012| 6 Comments »

It doesn’t take long for me to finish Catching Fire, Suzanne Collins’s second book in her Hunger Games Trilogy.  After the face paced finish of the first book, I was hungry for more Hunger Games [I bet THAT hasn’t been used before].  And with only 50 pages in, I got exactly what I was looking for.  Catching Fire forgoes a lot of the character development and setting up of Panem and dives deeper into its infrastructure and functionality.  It was overall neat as I was wondering how Katniss would be involved in all this, but I definitely wasn’t disappointed.

Although it seemed rushed and devoid of any of the vivid descriptions that made the first one more interesting and other books overall more colorful [George R.R. Martin could’ve spent an entire chapter of the Hunger Games describing a room vs. the quick plot advances in Collins’s style], I think Catching Fire was an overall better book plot wise and kept me even more glued to the pages than the first book.  And that’s definitely saying something. Major books spoilers below!

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Hope. It’s the Only Thing Stronger than Fear – Hunger Games Movie Review

Posted in Movies, Reviews, tagged , , , , , , , on August 15, 2012| 3 Comments »

I was able to view an early version of the Hunger Games DVD and was eager to watch it after reading Hunger Games so recently.  While I enjoyed the fast paced novel and seeing how well the casting fit, there were a couple of things I didn’t agree with.  It certainly wasn’t because the producers didn’t do a good job, but rather the idea of book expectations will never be matched with a movie.  I was happy to see the Utopia of Panem be rendered in real life.

Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) is a girl living is a dystopia where she constantly fights for her family’s survival.  The government has a political game created to keep its citizens in line where it forces the nation’s citizens to get in a ring and kill each other.  When Katniss gets involved, she learns she has to fight for her survival.  Major book and movie spoilers ahead!

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Dead Freight: Breaking Bad Review

Posted in Reviews, Television, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on August 13, 2012| Leave a Comment »

The most exciting episode this season I would say.  Plenty of crime, one-liners, and hair raising moments.  And then a fantastic finale to wrap up the most jaw dropping episode.  I say time and time again that this is one of the best original dramas on television and if you’re not watching, you’re seriously missing out.  I can’t keep not talking about it, so enough with the spoiler free talk, read below for my review and take on last night’s episode: Dead Freight.  As always MIGHTY spoilers ahead.

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May the Odds Be Ever In Your Favor – The Hunger Games Review

Posted in Books, Reviews, tagged , , , , , , , , , on August 10, 2012| 8 Comments »

I mentioned earlier this week that I would try to do a review on the entire trilogy, but I found it impossible to have all three read by this Friday.  As I write this article now on Tuesday, I know in balance with work and other things, I simply won’t have time to read and write about all three.  So I’ve decided since then to split all three of them up into separate reviews and sprinkle them in throughout August.

The first book in Suzanne Collins’s trilogy is The Hunger Games.  After coming so hot after A Song of Ice and Fire, I looked at the relatively small book and chuckled at it’s short length and large margins.  A quick read.  But it wasn’t because of the small number of pages or the size in between each line that made it quick to my surprise as I finished the book in about 5 or so hours.  The fast paced story and fascinating description of a dystopia had me turning the pages so quickly, that I would all of a sudden be a dozens of pages past of where I first started.  My breakdown of the story, the characters, and the style below.  Book spoilers below!

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Fifty-One: Breaking Bad Review

Posted in Reviews, Television, tagged , , , , , , , , , on August 6, 2012| 1 Comment »

Not a lot of Meth related drama on this week’s episode of Breaking Bad.  Instead we focused a lot of the family drama between Walter and Skylar.  This show definitely has its bad ass moments and heart thrilling scenes, but the acting is top notch.  For this year’s Emmys, 4 cast members are nodded with a best actor nomination, and based on last night’s episode, they’re reeling up for another one.  Read on for this week’s episode of Fifty-One.  Major spoilers as always.

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Seven Save Us All: A Dance with Dragons Review

Posted in Books, Reviews, tagged , , , , , , , on August 3, 2012| 11 Comments »

Seven save us all, I’ve finished A Dance with Dragons.  In the most recent installment of George R.R. Martin’s series, A Song of Ice and Fire, A Dance with Dragons intimidates us all with it’s 900+ pages and tiny text.  But if you’ve made it as far as the fifth book, you know as well as I do, a larger book means more things happening.  My first impression was that this book was just as large as my favorite book of the series, A Storm of Swords, so that means that this edition could possibly live up to the exciting and jaw dropping nature of it’s predecessor.  Following up the relatively short [in terms of ASoIaF] Feast of Crows, A Dance with Dragons brings us back to some more central characters [and more exciting in my humble opinion] as a follow up from the third book.

Even Martin said himself in a forward to the book that A Dance with Dragons first takes us back to the aftermath of A Storm of Swords to follow up some characters left out of Feast for Crows.  And at about ¾ of the way in, we would come back to characters that were left in a cliffhanger from Feast for Crows and the story would be in a unison real time.  So below is my review of the book as a whole.  It was difficult to organize in my head given the complexity of the nature, so hang on for a bumping ride.  Enough of the spoiler-free talk.  Dare to click ‘more’ for a full blown, spoiler filled, gush fest review of the most recent Song of Ice and Fire book.

Overview

In George R.R. Martin’s words, “This one was a bitch”.  Writing a review for this complex book is not easy.  So many things to consider and so many things to talk about.  I’ve essentially broken up this section into parts describing the main characters based on their point of views.  Some titles I took directly from Martin himself while others, I witfully fashioned myself.  In each section, you’ll find a brief summary of what happened to each character as well as my thoughts on what happened.  Feel more than free to discuss with me on some or all points!  I look forward to our geek-out.

I apologize for this article is likely full of spelling errors and the like.  4500 words is easy to lose track.

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Hazard Pay: Breaking Bad Review

Posted in Reviews, Television, tagged , , , , , , , , on July 30, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Breaking Bad was on last night and it finally looks like we got to some cooking.  A relatively calm episode in terms of crime drama, but we do have some personal stories mixed in.  The calm before the storm I think.  A storm that will definitely be rocking me side to side.  So as of right now, I’m taking in all of this set up and awaiting the climax of the season which should hit us within the next two episodes.  Here’s my review of the episode below.  Be sure to be aware of spoilers!  Because they’re everywhere.

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So That’s What It Feels like – A Well Written Negative Review on The Dark Knight Rises

Posted in Movies, Reviews on July 28, 2012| 3 Comments »

I went to the movies at 9 in the morning. Pretty sure that’s the earliest screening I’ve ever been to. Anyway, when I came home, my son immediately punched me in the balls. Honestly. I think he was trying to give me a hug, but was looking away, and he slugged me right in the junk. Likely, he meant well, but his grand gesture of adoration went awry and ended up a painful moment of shock and disappointment.

If you haven’t gotten it by now, I was crushed with disappointment after seeing The Dark Knight Rises. Oh, that was obvious? Well, if you’ve seen this movie, you know that everything must be explained and shown fully to occur. I’m just following suit.

I went into full-on internet lockdown when it came to reviews (or even images) concerning the third film in Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy. This was going to be hands down the movie of the summer, if not of all time. You can laugh at the absurdity of that all you want, but I was f–king hyped. And when I left the damn-near three-hour epic, I was in shock not only because the movie it wasn’t even close to being that good, I honestly felt for a minute that it wasn’t good at all.

Read the rest of this witty, well structured, review at Two Dollar Cinema. You’ll find here points that bring up plot holes and inconsistencies that don’t necessarily take away from the movie, but are definitely a good point or two to bring up before always blindly praising the film [much like I did to admit].

About 230/270 critics on Rotten Tomatoes deemed the Dark Knight Rises as a ‘good’ movie.  There was a neat uprising about a guy a couple of weeks ago who wrote a negative review who was so absurd in his points, that he was beginning to get death threats.  Now, the United States is a free country where you can say what you like without the fear of being attacked or put down, so this idea was absolutely insane.  Now today’s Weekend Reblog is something a little bit different.  I send you to Two Dollar Cinema, one of my longtime blogger friends, who writes a legitimate ‘negative’ review on his blog.  While he certainly doesn’t hate the movie, he does definitely brings up some good points and says, “TDKR was like a girlfriend that dumped me. All of a sudden I’m pissed about all the little things, but before I looked right passed them. ”  That’s the kind of humor you’ll find over there.  So check it out!

This reblog is a little different because he hails from rival blogging domain Blogger, but blogging friendship extends beyond that.  To get Weekend Reblogged, simply comment on any article between this post and next week to enter a pool of possibly getting reblogged.  I’ll look at recently posted articles that catch my attention.  Start commenting now by settling a long time debate at the Live Discussion:  Mac or PC? 

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Minecraft: The New Age Settler

Posted in Reviews, Video Games, tagged , , , , , , on July 27, 2012| 1 Comment »

The settlers must’ve had tough time settling on any land.  We’re all read about it in the history books.  You come with essentially nothing but your own hands, and you’re expected to create a profitable civilization in which you culture growth, safety, and prosperity.  There are many video games like that, where you build from the ground up.  Many of those being similar to Farmville or Tiny Tower types.  The type where you have nothing and then through many hours of tapping and harvesting, you create a somewhat sustainable living ground which you can then decorate and personalize.  Queue Minecraft.

Minecraft is a survival/creation game where you essentially start as a settler in an unknown, untamed land.  There you must build a fortress to protect yourself from the hazard of the wildlife.  Cut trees, dig holes, forge tools, do whatever it takes to survive.  In the process, you create a home for yourself in which you grow crops, mine jewels and ores, and live as prosperously as your own merit and skill can take you.  Below is a review on this addicting game that despite it’s simple design and objective, gives me one of the most pleasurable, emotional, heartbreaking, and back-neck-hair raising experiences I’ve ever had in a game.

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Gotham’s Reckoning: The Dark Knight Rises Review

Posted in Movies, Reviews, tagged , , , , , , , , , on July 24, 2012| Leave a Comment »

I’ve lived to only have seen one great trilogy. The Lord of the Rings trilogy set the bar high and absolutely astounded me from start to finish. Meaning all three movies lived up to their titles and I wasn’t disappointed by any of it. This past weekend, I’m proud to admit to adding another trilogy to that list. Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises is quite possibly the only way to end such a great trilogy. There haven’t been many great trilogies in our lives, not any as influential and culturally relevant as this trilogy. In addition to the recent Colorado incident, this will not be a movie I will soon forget.

The follow up to the Dark Knight might’ve cost Christopher Nolan the biggest undertaking ever placed on a director. That movie was simply a masterpiece, large in part to the late Heath Ledger. By merely meeting the audiences expectations, he would’ve accomplished something only so few people can. But of course, Christopher Nolan, who’s directing track record is nearly flawless, delivered and soared as to what can be said as the perfect way to end a trilogy. Minor spoilers below. Nothing back breaking. Or should I say Bat breaking. HA.

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Madrigal: Breaking Bad Review

Posted in Reviews, Television, tagged , , , , , , , , , on July 24, 2012| 1 Comment »

Things are moving quite along for Breaking Bad.  Last season, we were given a look at who Gustavo Fring was and his motivations for things.  This background look at a supporting character was spine tingling, haunting, and delicious.  It appears that torch has passed onto Mike Ehrmantraut.  I’d say about 75% [if not more] belonged to him and I have to admit I loved every minute.  In this episode, we get a glimpse at a little bit of Walt and Jessie as well as a very key scene with Hank realizing something important.  Discussion and spoilers below!

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Live Free or Die: Breaking Bad Review

Posted in Reviews, Television, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on July 16, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Breaking Bad returned last night in full force.  Following up immediately where season 4 left off, the episode spent a large amount of time feeling the ramifications of what happened throughout all the characters.  I’m not going into any spoilers until after the jump, so enough of this vague introduction.  Let’s get into the what happened!  Major spoilers below!!!!!!

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Posted in Movies, Reviews, tagged , , on July 14, 2012| 1 Comment »

My Take

Andy from AndyWatches Movies writes reviews about movie he recently watches. This reblog is his review on Pulp Fiction. I like it when movie bloggers review Pulp Fiction, because everyone has a different experience with it. It’s such a unique film that it’s definitely interesting seeing what people say about it. I liked his words about ‘simple in theory yet complex in execution’. I like that particular line especially because I find that Pulp Fiction has 3 very simple story lines [like the one’s he outlined], yet are shown to us in such a distinct and stylish manner that has become largely known to us as Tarantino-chic. Anywho, take a peak at his blog and the full review. Congrats on the Reblog Andy, keep on reviewing movies!

Get Saturday reblogged from Banana Scoop by simply visiting and commenting on any of our posts in the previous week.

AndyWatchesMovies's avatarAndy Watches Movies

Pulp FictionMovie One Hundred Fifty Six

Pulp Fiction tells the tales of  several different completely different, but completely intertwining events.

It would be impossible for me to detail the entirety of Pulp Fiction’s plot(s) in just one paragraph so I’ll keep it high-level. Story line #1: There are two robbers (Tim Roth and Amanda Plummer) at a diner planning to rob it. Story Line #2: Vincent Vega (John Travolta) and Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson) both work for Marsellus Wallace (Ving Rhames) as hit men, and Vincent has to take Marsellus’ wife, Mia (Uma Thurman),out. Story Line #3: Marsellus tries to fix a fight with boxer, Butch Coolidge (Bruce Willis). All of these story lines intersect at least once, continuously adding to the cast of memorable characters.

While not his first film, Pulp Fiction is what firmly placed Quentin Tarantino as a name to watch and remains high on the favorites list of many. Pulp Fiction

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Louie, Louie, Loiue, Louieeeee! – A Louie Review

Posted in Reviews, Television, tagged , , , , , , , , , on July 11, 2012| 1 Comment »

I’ve finally caught up with FX’s Louie to season 3 and there are a lot of feelings.  Louie is not your traditional comedy.  It doesn’t play by the rules of other sitcoms.  The lead character is probably on the bottom of the tv totem poll of lead characters in terms of looks or glamour.  There is no useless eye candy of a character to buy in its viewers.  The jokes aren’t as obvious.  And the it’s definitely one of the harder shows to watch on regular programming.  But while these things are often used as a means to berate any given show, these are actually Louie’s strengths.

Louis C.K. the creator and star of the show says that this show of his is set around 5 years before he claims to ‘have made it big’, when he was a semi-struggling comic tasked with raising his kids from a joint custody divorce.  He’s overweight, balding, and is awkward in social situations.  His life has its ups and downs [mostly downs], but Louie seems to have a certain…’code’ he lives to.  And when the absurdities of society humanity try to warp and influence his code, he’s put in a fixed position: conform or defy.  Much of the optimism in a relatively dark show is displayed through these moments when Louis stays true to himself, but one of the show’s [few] problems is that it takes so long to get there, it’s difficult to stay along for the ride to wait for the punchline [which is ironically no punchline in some cases].  All in all, Louie boils down to many hard truths that are difficult to hear, but resonate with profound meaning…all while making us laugh at some of the situations he’s put into.  Check out my review and some of the highlights of what is definitely one of the smarter TV shows on air right now.

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