Bitter Wintery Blues

Hey all,

So, can you believe the north east got hit with a freak (I might be exaggerating) winter storm and it's only October, and Halloween's tomorrow! It's crazy that a storm like this hit so early. In all my years of existence, I have never seen snow this soon. The earliest at least here in NYC is early to mid-November. Of course, we get cold temperatures, so most of us here are bundled up or in the first stages of winter preparedness. However, this year, it seems as though we been preparing a lot sooner as cold temperatures arrived faster, and then this snow storm!

And here's the kicker! It's sunny today, as I am sure it is over the rest of the north east, and there's practically little or no snow left on the ground! The only indication that anything happened is the snow still on the roofs of buildings and cars. It's still pretty cold out, so that there. Whew! If it were 90 degrees I might go crazy!

But seriously, yesterday was the beginning of wintery discontent. I don't enjoy the winter, or the summer, no, let me restate that. I hate the extremes of both seasons. I always prefer a nice mid-combination of both; although, if I had to choose, I prefer summer temperatures and climate. Some place tropical though.

Despite the ugly weather yesterday, I still went outdoors - first to downtown Manhattan then to the Bronx. What a trip! Freezing temperatures that my hands were freezing even after I put on gloves. The snow came down in large clumps and stuck to ever thing. I honestly didn't think it would be this bad, but I guess I was wrong. But, the snow didn't last for long as it turned to sleet then pure rain! I was miserable during my excursion downtown. People were out in full force though and that's what you have to love about New Yorkers, we don't really give a damn! We'll complain but we'll get stuff done no matter what conditions are like. However, personally, I hate being cold!

Then I get to the Bronx to visit a good friend of mine, and unfortunately, I was still freezing. The best part, wouldn't you know it, there was no heat in his building! That sounds just about right because there was no heat in my building as well. Damn it! We sat around, talked politics, and how freakin' crazy this weather had gotten so suddenly. All the while, my feet and hands were icy cold.

I got home later that evening and the heat was still absent. No surprise there. What the hell Mr. Super? Why don't you turn on the heat? Why is it that you only turn it on for an hour at a time and/or only at odd hours of the evening? Ahhh, winter is such a great, bone-chilling, miserable time of the year, don't you think so? I know that further upstate and up north the storm has been much worse then what I'm complaining about here. I hearing story of power outages in certain areas and that is just horrible. With no electricity or running water in some cases, the conditions are literally below standards. Yet, I envy and admire those who endure under such undesirable extremes. Real troopers!

Well, that's it for now. Stay safe and warm out there!

Hanna: Movie Review

 
What up, Movie Lovers,

Well, I pulled out another movie that I bought months ago and finally watched it. This time the selection happened to be the film Hanna. Now I have to say that I only heard about this movie because the stars of the film were at the San Diego Comic Con a couple of years ago promoting its release in theaters. I didn't know much about its premise except that it centered around a young girl assassin.

Of course, the premise attracted my curiosity. I mean, why not? A young girl, long blonde hair, blue eyes, trained in weapons & hand-to-hand combat and special intelligence tactics! What more could I want?

Despite these intriguing details, which I didn't know about at the time, the film interested me. I caught the trailer for it several months after, but like every other movie I am only now watching it for the first time. Saoirse Ronan plays the title character Hanna, and Eric Bana takes the role of her father Eric Heller. The movie begins by establishing Hanna as a rogue nature hunter as she hunts, kills and gathers the meat of a wild buck. Her father confronts her and engages her in a series of offensive and defensive fighting techniques. As I watched it, the scene opened up the idea of remote training and survival skills, but the intention was not made clear yet.

During the next 15 minutes, the film continues to reinforce her father's training as Eric tests and attacks her with a series of different tactics. The only clue we get from all this is that her father has been preparing her for when she has to venture outside of the sanctity for their secluded shack in the woods of Finland. When Eric finally believes she is ready, the first plot is revealed that he was part of a covert CIA group. Certain other details are withheld, but an intelligence officer, Marissa Wiegler played by Cate Blanchett, is now pursuing them.

I'm going to skim though most details to move along forward with this brief review. Well, Hanna and her father part ways, and the film follows Hanna as she escapes from the underground CIA base, travels through most of Europe with the help a vacationing British family and ultimately confronts Wiegler. The interesting aspect of the film is how we're shown Hanna's immersion into modern society. She interacts with and is genuinely surprised by the foreign technology, scenery and experiences that she is encountering for the first time. Many of these moments are captured in Hanna's interaction with the vacationing family, especially with their daughter Sophie. The two bond and share brief moments of attraction and curiosity.

One of the complaints I had was the secret agenda surrounding Hanna. The reason her father trained her and why Marissa is after her are the same. Hanna is actually an experiment to create a super soldier with heightened speed, strength and intelligence making her an elite special forces agent. I just kept thinking that the idea was nothing new and over used. When it was revealed, it didn't have the impact that I thought the movie was aiming for. However, that minor point is, for the most part, irrelevant because Hanna's journey is what I found to be the most interesting part of the film.

The action during the movie is fast and gritty in some cases. You see Hanna take her bumps and bruises, but she also delivers the intense hits as she battles foes. Saoirse Ronan really puts on a performance and shines as she both explores her characters motives and fights with such precision that Saoirse could've fooled me with her expertise. I know its all about choreography but it really shows in how well she moves and the editing. She fun to look at. In addition to the visual display of action, the music, composed by the Chemical Brothers, also added a fast beat of electronica that helped to raise the tension and/or pace of many of the scenes. The score played during the scene where Hanna is fleeing from her pursuers in the shipping yard is my personal favorite. While electronic it also felt very playful and upbeat. The music in that scene mirrored the fact that Hanna was playing around against her enemies.

In recollection, Hanna was a fun action, spy, young girl assassin movie with a lot of spunk and clever storytelling. In a way, I would almost consider it a story that took the Mathilda character from Leon: The Professional and based it on her. So, I would say that it was time that I spent being well entertained.

Surrogates: Movie Review

 
Hello all,

Another movie review coming at ya! This time it's the Bruce Willis Sci-Fi film Surrogates.

I have to say that my interest was piqued about this movie when I first saw the trailer a couple of years ago. However, I never got to see it in theaters at the time. Now that I think about it I don't watch that many movies in theaters, and I just catch them after they come out on Blu-ray or DVD. It wasn't until about a  month ago that I saw the trailer advertised on TV that I went out and bought it.

So, the premise is humanity has become completely dependent on the use of artificial robots/cyborgs to function or interact with society. In other words, when you get ready to go to work, you plug yourself into your robot/cyborg, known as a Surrogate, and go about your daily outdoor activities. Sound familiar? It should because it is the exact same plug-in/jack-in function used in The Matrix. Only, instead of plugging into a computer, you plug-in to your artificial clone. It's really a very intriguing idea. The movie explains that this new technology and mode of human interactive function has revolutionized humanity to the point that such things as crime are non-existent.

Of course, like any revolution or new concept, there are going to be opponents. These are known as Dreads, normal people/humans that refuse to allow technology/robots to replace man kind. I may be making this sound too much like the premise for Terminator, but its not this extreme. It has this feel much like Stephen King's The Stand where you have the two factions or social groups. In Surrogates, you have the society that accepts the robots as a means of social image, and the other society hates the robots for the same reason.

The story takes shape when a murder is committed with a device that not only destroys the surrogate but also its human operator. Bruce Willis plays FBI agent Tom Greer, and with Radha Mitchell (Agent Peters) the two investigate the crime which has roots reaching all the way into the surrogate manufacturing company VSI. I don't remember what the full name was, or if it was even mentioned, ha! Surrogates is a very decent detective story but at its core are the major themes that the concept of artificial dependence implies.

For example, all the surrogates are young while their human counterparts are older or aging. The reason I say this is because part of the story focuses on Bruce Willis' character's relationship with his wife Maggie played by Rosamund Pike. From very earlier on, we are shown a disconnect between the couple, especially after Tom is forced to pursue the investigation with out a surrogate. He realizes that his wife may have grown so dependent on the use of the artificial persona/image that she's lost sense of reality.

Another interesting point shown in the movie is that it is a comment on some of society's idea or need to display or appear young or perfect. As a matter of fact, the modern surrogate society is visually represented as a stylish, and artificial rendition of what a perfect society would appear as. The surrogates represent every human operator's own ideal self image of perfection. It's vanity in its purest sense. Even more intriguing is the reaction that Tom gets when he emerges into society in his actual 'flesh' form. Even though it is not revealed how long it as been since he actually set foot out of his house, we see the immediate disconnect with human interaction. Tom has a huge sensory overload that he nearly collapses as he tries to physically move in a space which he only interacted with through artificial eyes.   

Again, I was really impressed by the detective story that revealed the ethical question of extreme dependence on artificial technology. Surrogates was an entertaining film with many thought provoking ideas. And the scene where everyone drops to the ground in unison was pretty cool to see, and the ending provided a ideal awakening.

A Perfect Getaway: Movie Review

Well, here I am with another movie review from my personal library. Actually, I bought this movie several months ago and only recently watched it.

Ahhh, I still have several other movies that I haven't watched yet, and my library will most likely keep getting bigger, ha!

Ever since The Fifth Element and the Resident Evil series, I developed a liking for Milla Jovovich and her bad ass take on female action heroines. I think many people were attracted to her portrayal of bright orange/white headed Leeloo and her tough super soldier persona of Alice, and I'll admit that I became one of the people who found her irresistible. So after reading the synopsis for A Perfect Getaway, I wondered how Milla would handle playing a character as normal as you and I. In other words, she won't have powers or speak a foreign language.

The results, in my opinion, were quite surprising and enjoyable.

The movie opens to a video replay of a wedding, and the happy couple isn't shown. However, by the next scene, the audience is introduced to the newly weds Cyndey (Jovovich) and Cliff, played by Steve Zahn, as they enjoy their honeymoon on the remote Hawaiian island. Right from the start, the two things that catch my attention are with Milla's performance and her character's last name. After being used to Jovovich playing a commando-like heroine, it was weird seeing her play a down to earth normal woman, very giddy and all smiles, like someone I'd like to spend a Sunday afternoon with. The other is the character she plays is named Cyndey Anderson. The reason I point this out is because it's ironic as seeing that Jovovich is actually married to writer/director Paul W.S. Anderson (Resident Evil series).

I found her performance interesting and carefree, again, like someone who's enjoying their honeymoon.

The story takes its first indication of - bump in the road - when Cydney and Cliff encounter another couple along the road and offer to give them a ride. There's a bit of a disagreement and both sides go separate ways on rather uncomfortable terms. This may seem like a minor hiccup, but when the news of the suspects (also newly weds) to a double murder is brought to their attention things turn awkward and suspicions begin to rise. The story takes another turn with the introduction of a third couple, Gina (Kiele Sanchez) and Nick (Timothy Olyphant). To keep this from getting too long, Cydney and Cliff suspect the first couple they met to be the killers and so they seek security in numbers by staying with Gina and Nick.

The first hour of the movie is spent Cyndey/Cliff getting to know Gina/Nick, and let me tell you, during the first hour I thought I was watching a comedy. The character of Nick was so over the top as a ex-special agent with so many anecdotes that he's hilarious, and hearing that Cliff is a screenwriter, Nick starts pitching ideas that 1) serve to humor and intimidate Cliff and 2) set the plot for the rest of the movie. Now, I don't know if this was done intentionally to guide the audience along in suspecting that Nick and Gina are an illusive couple. Or, if is was done to create this interesting fun and dynamic interaction. Either way, I enjoyed Olyphant's performance, and with Milla's giddy, happy California girl nature I found myself enjoying the movie more that I forgot that this was still a suspenseful thriller.

The twists and turns continue as the real killers are identified, and I won't ruin it here just in case others want to discover it for themselves. I will say that there is one strange moment toward the end where Nick goes through a moment of introspection and certain truths are put together. However my grip with this is when Nick's introspect switches to that of Cliff's. As this happened, I kept thinking about how this was possible. Were we in Nick's head or Cliff's, or both through some miracle of telepathy.

All together, A Perfect Getaway truly entertained me. The suspicions about who is really telling the truth about who they say they are, and Olyphant's mysterious yet hilarious performance kept me hook and laughing. Steve Zahn had a note worthy role. Of course, Kiele Sanchez was quite a sight, and Milla Jovovich's smile looked radiant when caught on film.

In the end, it was a time well spent!

The Walking Dead: Season Two, Episode One Review

After about a whole year, I'm delighted to see the first episode of the new season. It felt like so long ago since I saw the last episode from season one and now zombie goodness is back on AMC.

If you've seen the trailers advertising the new season, the one word that described the mood and feeling was intense. The show picked up where the last left off with our group of survivors leaving behind the smoldering remains of the CDC in Atlanta and heading for Fort Bennett.

30 minutes into the 90 minute season premier, the entire group found themselves trapped on a congested highway when a herd of zombies arrives and has everyone scrambling to hide underneath cars. The fear that arose during this scene was so gripping that I found myself holding my breath at certain points. Each time the camera focused on a character all I saw was panic. To top it off I kept getting a feeling that here was where one of the survivors would meet their unfortunate demise.

The threat passed and everyone was safe except for a few bruises, zombie killings and a severely lacerated forearm. The rest of the episode took shape when Sophia was chased into the woods by a zombie, and the whole party took off in search of her. While the entire episode was spent navigating the woods and a secluded church, the real cliffhanger came at the end. Seriously, during a moment of peaceful serenity the unexpected occurred. When it happened I was shocked. The episode ended and I was left wondering why it ended so soon.

Yeah, I know, after an hour and a half, how could I say it ended so soon. Well, it just did.

There were some pretty intense moments and the writing continued to keep me grounded and interested as each of the characters developed further. One of the goals that this episode focused on was showing that while the entire group escaped together certain differences and objects weren't shared by everyone. For instance, Andrea's resentment toward Dale's decision to guilt her into escaping the final blast at the CDC led her to further lament remaining alive. In addition, Shane's growing frustration and envy of Rick causes him to start outwardly displaying his anger. Basically, the group begins to divide itself and it created a dynamic that leaves the viewer guessing who will remain and who will finally burst.

Other questions remain like what Dr. Jenner told Rick before they escaped from the CDC. At the beginning of the episode, Rick continues to radio his progress to Morgan and he is about to mention what Jenner told him but stops claiming it wasn't important at the moment. Also, speaking of Morgan, I'm still wondering what became of him and his son Dwayne. We left them during the first episode of season one and we don't ever hear or see from them again. Rick keeps communicating with them although we never hear Morgan return Rick's messages. 

The gore level is what we would expect with special make-up effects guru Greg Nicotero as lead supervisor. So I know that the effects will be top notch, and believe me this episode had one heck of a highlight with a zombie autopsy. It wowed me when Rick and Daryl cut open that zombie and started pulling out its innards to check the contents of its stomach. Talk about full on gross!

All of these elements came together nicely to provide a great first episode to the new season. Previews to the following week's episode only continue to provide glimpses of what is to be more drama and suspense. I'm looking forward to it and hope the writing continues to drive it as it has so far. It's good to have new zombie goodness back on TV!

Jet Li's Unleashed: Movie Review

Wow, 71 posts and I keep on chugging regardless of what's going on around me.

So this will be my first review of a movie that I already own. I hope to do these just a often as I write up my other reviews for movies that just debuted in theaters.

What can I say about Jet Li's Unleashed? Nothing short of profound and heartfelt.

I am a fan Jet Li and his movies, but this film is one of my favorites just on the shear magnitude of Li's performance as a trapped victim of an abusive upbringing. Just imagine how abusive pet owners can train their animals to be obedient through fear and deadly by constantly beating them to behave aggressively. Now, visualize controlling that dual nature through verbal commands and a leash and you have Jet Li's character Danny.

The trailers never did reveal this mechanism. They only showed an action movie with fights and gun fighting that we all come to recognize from this genre. So, when I first saw Unleashed, I had no idea that Jet Li would be playing such an isolated and tormented character. This new angle or role for Li was quite a shocking revelation because I have only ever known Li to play action hero types. You know, fierce, determined, aggressive, bare knuckle types. This change was nice and gave the audience a chance to see Li really act.

What I also enjoyed about this movie and I believe added to the effectiveness of the character of Danny is director Louis Leterrier's way of showing the audience an intimate look at his protagonist. We see Danny start out as a leashed animal trained to attack on command, but by the middle with the introduction of the secondary characters, we see Danny evolve to be more human. As this happens we are right there with Danny, watching him transform. We feel his timidness, anger and eventual compassion and I frankly enjoy this aspect of the film. Luc Besson actually wrote the script, but may have had some influence in the film making. Besson has this way of filming that I would refer to as portraits of a character's life in transition. We see this in his other films such as Leon: The Professional, The Fifth Element and Taken.

The character of Danny is very simplistic in that he only has one function. He is the muscle used by his abusive Uncle, played by Bob Hoskins, to persuade rapid collection of debts. However, as he transitions to developing emotions and compassion, Danny becomes a more complex character trying to escape his old life and settle in a new one. Morgan Freeman's character Sam and Kerry Condon's Victoria help Danny open up to reveal that he is not a leashed animal but a individual discovering a new future through painful forgotten and oppressed images of his past.

The fight scenes choreographed by Yuen Wo Ping also evolve to show Danny's progression. The opening scene depicts a brutal fight filled with raw energy and primal fury. I can't remember when was the last time I saw Jet Li display such an uncontrolled rage that is both efficient and instinctual. More importantly, within this chaotic barrage is a precision for an effective killer. Danny fights in a careless and reckless manor but with the clear intent of killing, and you can see it by how he rips thorough opponents. As he changes, Danny becomes more cautious and mindful that he's fighting to protect others (Sam and Victoria). He style becomes a bit more refined and tactful as opposed to animalistic. Jet Li's fight scene in the bathroom stall is the most impressive example of close fighting in confined spaces.

Other interesting notes include the fact that Luc Besson wrote the script with Jet Li in mind. The original title is fact Danny the Dog and not the US title title Unleashed.

I enjoyed this movie so much because it's more about discovery and escape as it is about action. Even the theme played at Victoria's recital is touching and as Jet Li's character finally finds peace and his own place makes me a little teary eyed. All-in-all, Unleashed is a very character driven story of internal and external conflict paired with survival.

Real Steel: Movie Review

Hey there folks! Well I'm back with another movie review. Boy, it seems like I'm making this my new job or hobby. Unfortunately, I'm not getting paid for this.

When I first saw the trailer for Real Steel, I thought, hmm, this looks interesting and vaguely familiar. Then it hit me! It's rock'em sock'em robots but on the big screen. Seriously, that's what this movie is when you look at it from the perspective that it has robots fighting in a ring. And, this brings me to my first non-movie related question.

How many of you out there in internet land know or have seen and played with a rock'em sock'em robot toy. Those things were fun! Bang! and the head gets popped up, ha!

Originally, I thought this movie would never live up to post-Transformers series hype. After the huge, grossly, uber-hammered success of the Baysplosion films, there could not be another smaller movie that used robots which made an impression and left a mark that didn't include things blowing up or a billion parts moving at the same time.

Whew! That was a long sentence.

Luckily, this movie came along and left a sweet, endearing taste in my mouth. On the surface, Real Steel is a film about human controlled robots battling it out in underground and professional fighting, sanctioned and unsanctioned, matches. However, at the core is a heartwarming tale between a father and his son, and that son and his robot. And it appeals to the kid in all of us who always wanted a robot, whether large or small, that we could control and have as a friend.

Hugh Jackman plays Charlie, a former professional boxer, now fighting robot operator who is trying to make ends meet by purchasing fight-bots and pitting them in matches with bitter results. He's the protagonist who is far from his glory days but still finding himself a part of that world and way over his head in debt. In a way, Charlie is still looking to find his gold ticket back to his former glory days but has no idea where it will come from and only continues to make unfavorable decisions that place him further in a hole. Doesn't this remind you already of our struggling economy?

At heart Charlie is a good character and this really emerges with the introduction of of son Max. Charlie never raised his son, and after Max's mother dies, Charlie is called in to sit at a hearing to determine custody of the child. Charlie decides to hand over custody to his sister-in-law and rich husband, but he also schemes to retain custody for a few months with the promise to be paid $100,000 upon transferring total custody to his sister-in-law after her short hiatus. Something about her going away for a few months but putting Max in Charlie's custody during that time.

I'm probably not explaining this properly, but who cares because this whole custody issue plays a very minor almost nonexistent plot to the story. All it serves is to place Charlie and Max together to center the father-son story arc. At first these two do not get along, but their common interests in robot fighting bounce off of each other so well that the audience can begin to see a unique chemistry and bond forming between the two. This especially becomes evident with the discovery of the primary glue factor that keeps them together and not so much focused on winning but figuring out that they need to be in each others lives. It is at this point that we are introduced to Atom.

Atom is the underdog sparring robot that they salvage from a junk yard, and Max immediately places his affections into the robot which becomes a surrogate father, friend and hope. Charlie sees how much time and effort Max places into Atom that he also encourages and supports Max's decision to make an old, 2nd generation sparring robot compete against other mashers. Here is where the most endearing moments of the father-son relationship take shape during the movie.

The fights are great and clean in terms of how they are depicted. It is what you would expect from big robots duking it out with each other in boxing matches. At times it is no-holds-barred, rock'em sock'em and other times it is very technical as it mimics even the flashiest of boxing movie matches. Either way it is pleasant to see, and since the robot designs are very non-complex, like the millions of moving parts in the bots from Transformers, it's good to see and recognize movement and action and not get lost. 

All in all, i was surprised and pleased with the end result. The special effects and CGI made the robots look and move hyper realistically. Even the moments where Atom shadows Max or Charlie's movements were spot on fluid and down right hilarious at times. Dancing robot, that's all I'm going to say about that! When I think about now, this movie resembles Rocky on so many levels. It's about an underdog robot and its struggling controllers overcoming adversity both in the ring and with each other while on the way to the top of the robot fighting league.

I remember when I heard Max give the robot a name, at first I thought he called it Adam, but later he spells it A-T-O-M. I was surprised because it feels like an homage to Osamu Tezuka the creator of Astro Boy. The original Japanese name of Astro Boy is Tetsuwan Atom which translate to Mighty Atom. I know this is a bit of a side note and maybe unrelated, but I felt that the writers were paying there respects to Tezuka by naming the films protagonist robot Atom.  

Honestly, I really enjoyed this film and Hugh Jackman's performance is a nice alternative to his tough as nails Wolverine character. Max's character is also very enjoyable as he both mimics his father's personality and balances him out as well. It's one of the few times where a film reminds me of something I also wanted when I was younger. I mean, who did want or still doesn't want a robot friend? I know I still do.

Now with all this robot action coming to big screen, when will Evangelion or dare I say Voltron get the big screen treatment? Come on, you know you're waiting for it too!

An Afternoon at Occupy Wall Street (UPDATED W/ VIDEO)

**Video located at the bottom**

So, I decided to venture out today and spend a few hours walking through Zuccotti  Park. It's quite an eye opening experience to see so many people from different backgrounds, social status and walks of life gathered together to protest against a single enemy.

I know that Zuccotti Park is only one meeting hub for many protesters and other meeting spots are appearing throughout lower Manhattan, but this was the original starting point, so it felt appropriate to begin here and take as many pictures as possible.

There's really no starting point to mingling to the sea of voices, signs and visible display of community. I must've walked thorough or around at least three times. With each pass I saw something new or different. I read a new message written on a piece of cardboard or heard another grievance that further revealed what's wrong with this country.

It truly is a huge forum to voice out your concerns and troubling issues that not only effect certain individuals but society as a whole. And, the display of solidarity from old and young, student to union worker, etc. added to the sense that these were real issues that affected all no matter where you came from.

I won't talk much from and let these pictures do most of the talking!

Okay, I'll still talking a little bit.

Many displays were constructed with great care and invited passersby and onlookers to contribute to the cause. Speakers attracted small or large groups to listen to their words of inspiration, awareness and action.

So many voices and signs. It was impossible to reach, hear or read each and every one of them. It might take more than once visit and walk through to get to see all of it. And, not only that, eventually, I may be able to see some of the other meeting/gathering hubs that appear.

Across Broadway is where many protesters have stood inline chanting and displaying signs of opposition against the corporate greed!

It was quite an experience to go and see this with my own eyes. The scope and magnitude is clearly visible and it's coming from everywhere.

All in all, I'm glad I went today to witness an incredible event!

**Update**  Video Taken from Zuccotti Park