sedativchunk

I re-subscribed to Hulu after learning of the release of "The First" starring Sean Penn. I am a hardcore sci-fi buff, especially for films or TV shows that have to do with space-flight and traveling the stars. "Apollo 13" is my favorite movie of all time. A true masterpiece that combines drama and spaceflight into one night package. I also love many films of the 2010's, including "Interstellar" and "The Martian". I went into this show thinking and hoping that I was getting what was at face value; a TV show about the exploration of Mars. What I got, instead, was a family drama

The show opens by the accidental (and predictable) explosion of the first ship on route to Mars that Sean Penn's character was originally supposed to command. The premise is about Sean Penn's character coming to terms with the recent suicide of his wife and his teenage daughter trying to overcome a drug addiction all while training to be the commander of the next (first) flight to Mars. In between this main plot, a glimpse of light is given into the lives of the other astronauts as well as the drama and politics of initiating a flight to Mars. Natascha McElhone plays what feels like an Elon Musk inspired character, a type of philanthropist, billionaire leader of the organization running the trip to Mars.

The problem with this show; it has little to do with Mars. Let me say this; the acting is great. The plot is great, the drama is great. This has the markings of a quality TV show. But at the same time, I can't get over the fact that this show feels marketed as being a show about space exploration. And I also can't get over the fact that you can intertwine drama with spaceflight, again Interstellar or Apollo 13 both pull it off flawlessly. The show opens with this epic, 2001-esq orchestral music and a shot of Mars. We're then instantly taken into storytelling on Earth after seeing that epic shot, and we don't leave Earth until the final episode.

As the title suggests, I'm not sure how to feel about this show. I want to see more, I think the cast has great chemistry. I just think that this could have been, at the very least, branded differently. Or taken in the direction where they were already in space and/or on Mars, and there were backdrops of the Earth drama told in-between. For what it's worth, I'd like a season two to give this show it's chance to actually take us to Mars now that all these characters are established.

I write this as Apollo 13 is on TV right now for about the third time this week. I've been a fan of Apollo 13 since this movie came out. This movie came out when I was five years old and was my first exposure to the world of the amazing Tom Hanks. I absolutely adore this movie. I dressed up as one of the astronauts as a kid in elementary school. Ron Howard's Apollo 13, to me, is simply a masterpiece. This is truly captivating film from beginning to end that tells the real-life tale of the Apollo 13 disaster. Everything about it just feels so authentic. Not just the amazing attention to detail with the spacecraft's and mission control. But to the acting and characters. The late Bill Paxton, Kevin Bacon, Ed Harris, and even Clint Howard, everyone was so perfectly cast in this movie. True, grade-A acting from the whole cast. You really feel connected to all the characters on an emotional level.

Ron Howard did his best work here. Everything about this movie and the directing and editing is perfectly executed. At no time to things ever feel like they drag on. Scenes are always appropriately cut between the drama of the spacecraft and the drama of Jim Lovell's family. We get a true sense of teamwork between the astronauts and mission control as they desperately work to solve each problem the dying spacecraft is having.

I also commend the unforgettable soundtrack. From the uplifting main theme song to the dramatic moments of watching the CO2 meter go down, the soundtrack just perfectly compliments this film. Not just that, but the mix, appropriately hearing the sirens and alarms going off when things go haywire on the spacecraft.

I just... I have absolutely nothing bad to say about this movie. I've watched this movie a thousand times in the past 20~ years and every time I watch it it feels like I'm watching it for the first time. My eyes are just constantly glued to the TV when it's on.

I think I can say that this is quite possibly my favorite movie of all time. I own it on blu-ray. I've never not liked it. It's stood the test of time to me. It still looks great today. It's a good run time. It's not bloated with CGI like the films of the 2000's. It's just a telling tale about this real-life scenario of three astronauts nearly losing their lives on a mission to the moon. Whether you are a fan of space films or not, this is a must-watch if you have not seen it.

Let me begin by saying I love DC Universe and despite its hate, I thoroughly enjoyed "Batman vs. Superman" and thought it was a pretty solid movie. I can't say the same for Suicide Squad. I was really looking forward to this movie but ultimately felt disappointed when I left the theater. This moving lacks in everything from acting, writing, storytelling, emotion, direction, editing, and even the sound mixing. Suicide Squad simply put is a jumbled mess, especially in the writing and editing department. Scenes are thrown together all over the place. There's no pacing and no proper "arc" to the story. We spend a significant portion of the movie introducing the characters but not enough time actually growing to like any of them. One of the things that really bothered me about the story line and pacing (related to editing as well) is that, there was no real motivation to initially form the Suicide Squad by Viola Davis's character Waller. She just happened to put them together, then immediately following there was a big, terrorist attack by the evil enchantress and her brother. She just then happens to have the Suicide Squad available. Wouldn't have it made more sense for the terrorist attack by the enchantress to motivate wanting to use extremist "bad guys" to fight her and not just conveniently have them? This is but one of many poor areas in both writing and editing of the film where things didn't make sense.

Another thing that didn't make sense was Joker's involvement in the story. His character ultimately felt completely pointless to the storyline of this film. I almost feel as if they just threw him into this movie to make people want to see it because it would have the "Joker" attached. I firmly believe the writing, story, and editing would have fit better if they weren't trying to give us some silly and pointless side-plots with the Joker. This movie also spends too much time back-tracking on past events about how the characters go to where they are instead of actually letting us learn who they are by dealing with their predicaments and situations in the movie. I have no real comments about Leto's Joker because his character was ultimately wasted and he never really had his proper place in the spotlight. Furthermore Suicide Squad is way too aggressive in throwing in classic-rock soundtrack anywhere where it seemed fit. I can't believe this is something I have to make a point about, but it's so bad that I have to. I don't mind a solid soundtrack to a film, but Suicide Squad thoroughly abused it. Instead of tastefully throwing in classic soundtrack from time-to-time in an effort to tell the story better, the movie just abuses it, throwing in classic soundtracks wherever it seemed fit. Furthermore, they often use the music in at wildly inappropriate times, and also blasts over dialog to the point where you couldn't hear what the characters were saying. How bad does a AAA-budget Hollywood film have to be to not even have a proper audio-mix? I ultimately felt like this movie was trying too hard to piggyback off of "Guardians of the Galaxy" with the success of their soundtrack instead of trying to be original about it.

If you've actually seen this movie, ask yourself the following question; who was the main character of the film? Was it Deadshot? Or Harley Quinn? Or the Mexican guy with fire, or the lizard man? Did you even remember the names of some of these characters if you aren't some die-hard comic book fan? And can you also properly describe some of the characters and why they're important? The point I am making here; the movie is easily forgettable. It failed to tell me a story or make me care about any of these characters. In fact, it made me not care about some of the characters so much, that I either forgot their names overnight or forgot they were even in the movie. Are those the qualities of a good quality, Hollywood film? Now the movie did try in some ways to do this. They gave some backstory to all the characters, especially the big-names like Deadshot played by Will Smith. Will Smith was fighting for his daughter, and wanted to prove he was more than a "piece of crap" serial killer. But other than his character, who did they make us care about?

Ultimately this movie is just a big mess. They tried to put too many characters in one film without us actually caring about any of them. This is easily a forgettable movie, which is a shame. It had a lot going for it. The action was solid, the costumes were solid, I liked most of the cast. But the story-line and character development were severely lacking. Follow by the the poor timeline of events followed by the mediocre editing makes this one film, I have to say you should pass on on this one. 5/10

I am a trekkie who has watched everything Star Trek related from the past 50 years including every film and TV show. Although I've enjoyed the rebooted films, they never quite had the same magic as the originals. Until Star Trek Beyond, that is! Star Trek Beyond is the third installment in what is being called the "Kelvin timeline" of Star Trek with the rebooted universe of Kirk's storyline. Compared to Star Trek 2009 and "Into Darkness", this film felt astronomically more like a Star Trek film. I was absolutely blown away; what I thought was going to be a mindless, action-oriented Star Trek movie, was actually a brilliantly written and directed Star Trek film that felt more than fitting in the Star Trek universe.

The spoiler-free storyline; the Enterprise is sent to investigate the disappearance of an alien race's crew in a nebula. The Enterprise (per the trailers...) ends up getting destroyed and the crew held hostage on an alien world that is used as a "booby trap" for countless other species that have also been tricked into exploring the nebula in one way or another. Throughout the story, we are not only introduced to new alien races, but also are introduced to past elements of Star Trek, included a desolate/abandoned NX-class starship! This film pays enormous tribute to not only "Star Trek Enterprise" and it's story-arch, but other Star Trek films/shows as well. For the die- hard trekkies, there is plenty to think and talk about after seeing the movie, as there are tons of references and connections made to the rest of the Star Trek universe (including ancestors of Star Trek characters seen in later series...).

Furthermore, the movies makes a touching tribute to the death of Leonard Nimoy, by announcing the death of Spock Prime. It was done in a very tasteful and respectful way, and I believe most trekkies and die-hard fans would agree that it was only fitting to announce the death of his character in the film. Simon Pegg and the new director did a phenomenal job on this film. It felt so much more like a Star Trek film, at least to me, than the previous ones. The storyline was much more original than the retelling of the "wrath of Khan" events. Chris Pine is also really starting to hone-in on his role of Captain Kirk. Not only was the acting better, but the script this time around made him much more into the masterful Captain Kirk we grew up with in TOS and less of a party-boy.

Overall, Star Trek Beyond fantastic Star Trek film. I can't believe I am endorsing and praising it as much as I am, but in my opinion, they got it right this time. After seeing this, I am starting to have more faith/confidence in the new cast continuing the Star Trek legacy and I look forward to the new films that come out in the series. If you're an old-school fan, give this one a try. It's a fun adventure and feels appropriate in the Star Trek universe.

"What On Earth" is a newer series on the Science Channel about anomalous places on Earth. The show literally revolves around a group of people (or "scientist") finding something on Earth via Google Maps that doesn't make sense, and making a TV episode about discovering with the anomaly is. The show fails miserably at trying to be something serious, making unexplained locations and phenomena of Earth sound like some big, scary conspiracy only to reveal that said phenomenon is something very stupid or practically explained.

"What On Earth" isn't a terrible idea for a TV show. There really are places on Earth that are mysterious and difficult to explain without physical observation. One of the subjects of this TV show was the island "Sandy Island" which really is a mysterious and unexplained phenomenon where an alleged island on the outskirts of Australia literally disappeared. The problem with this show is the very poor execution of subjects and unnecessary build up in trying to explain what some of the phenomena are.

Who they pass for scientist to back up some of their research is a complete joke as well. One of the men on this show that was a supposed scientist/professional was wearing an "Aperture Laboratories" t-shirt. Aperture Laboratories is a fake laboratory in the video game universe of "Portal". Who were they trying to kid? This show is also notorious for over-advertising itself and re-suing old footage in new episodes constantly. They also drag on the subjects of interest far too long. Do we really need to be given a 30-60 minute episode of drama and build up to be told that volcanic sut is making it look like an island appeared out of nowhere in the ocean? You can tell use that in 10~ seconds, we don't need a one-hour long episode on something like that.

This was a good idea for a show, it's just poorly executed. It has some nice visuals of Earth and helicopter views of locations on Earth. But that's about it. The concepts of this show are uninteresting. once you've watched a couple episodes, you've watched them all. Baffled about one of the locations o this show? Type it in on Wikipedia. You'll get a thorough explanation of the phenomenon without watching a boring, one hour episode of fake scientist speculating about what it is.

I am a huge fan of the Hit-man video games and have been playing the games for several years. I could resist but to give this movie a shot because I simply love the Hit-man franchise and will support anything they put out there. The positives - this movie hit the nail on the head perfectly in some areas. Hit-man really looked like "hitman" at times. The lead actor I found to be a fine choice for agent 47 and had that kind of creepy look to him like in the games. And the moves, costume changes, props (including the silverballers and fiber wire) were well demonstrated. Some parts of the movie very accurately portrayed the behavior and attitude of Agent 47 based off his video game persona. I also have to say that in general, the movie was also well directed/produced with no major flaws and it fell like a well- budgeted film.

The negatives - first, the action sequences were a bit over the top. Being a fan of the video games, Hit-man was always a stealthy assassin. But this movie turned him into some gun-and-gun super soldier at times. Some parts of the film they did so right but then others they got a bit carried away with. There were definitely one too many car chase scenes (with some obvious Audi product placement...). If my memory serves me correct, not one time did you ever drive a car in the Hit-man games. Hit-man was always a character that went for his contract, kill who needed to be killed, and leave with a clean job. This movie is polar opposite of that. Besides the action, the story, although passable, felt very generic. Final verdict - I would say this movie is average at best, a 7/10. Part of my wants to like it more, but I felt like I wanted more out of this film. Also, I have to say if you are NOT a fan of the video games, well, I can't see you liking this movie too much, not compared to more superior films of it's style. With that being said, I did enjoy it and I would love to see a sequel made. I think if they continue the story things could get more interesting and better developed with this reboot.

Terminator Genisys is awesome from start to finish. Good storyline, great cast, and Arnold is back! This movie has plenty of nostalgia for fans of the original film from the 80's. Whether you are a Terminator fan or not, you should check this one out!

Plus sides - loved the casting. Emilia Clarke looks very similar to Linda Hamilton. Jayson Clarke was GREAT as John Connor, and I enjoyed his portrayal more than that of Christian Bale in the previous film. Jay Courtney was also awesome as Kyle Reese, bringing back an old but favorite and vital character to the storyline. Great soundtrack by the legendary Hans Zimmer. Simple storyline with likable characters and gets serious when it needs to while still leaving room for the humorous Arnold one-liners. I also have to add that the CGI used to bring back a young Arnold was phenomenal!

Down sides - this movie has another typical "time traveling" storyline, although it wouldn't be much of a terminator film without one but they do get slightly repetitive! The story is a bit rehashed as well, with Arnold coming back in time once again to play the good-guy Terminator, although it really wouldn't work without him! This is also a "PG-13" Terminator, so some of the violence, language, and sex (or lack thereof) included is a bit toned-down versus the originals. Lastly, despite being a GREAT film, it doesn't quite "hit the spot" with how the original two James Cameron films did. It was very close, though.

I really loved this film and it feels like a tried and true sequel to "Terminator 3", more close to the premise of the original films than "Terminator Salvation" was. Also it was great to see Arnold on the big screen again. It's not "The Terminator" without him!

I have seen Interstellar twice now. Once in IMAX on the big screen and now at home on blu ray in my home theater. Let me begin by saying I am a huge science fiction fanatic. I've watched everything over the years from the typical Star Trek and Star Wars films to the classics such as 2001, 2010, Forbidden Planet, the Terminator, both versions of the Day the Earth Stood Still, the "Alien" franchise and many more including old B list movies such as "The First Spaceship on Venus". So I know science fiction. Strong above all, I consider Interstellar the best science fiction film ever made, period. If not, one of the top 10 best films made in the history of cinema. Great acting, great storyline, great visuals, captivating soundtrack, and overall just a solid film. Interstellar is the pinnacle of great filmmaking. This movie is truly a masterpiece from beginning to end. It only gets better when you rewatch it a second time, and unlike some films that are just eye candy in the theatre, this film looks and sounds great from the comfort of your home. The space scenes are brilliantly done and the alien landscapes are truly captivating.

I simply don't know how to put it into words. Matthew McConaughey blew this one out of the water and then some, as well as the rest of the cast. Christopher Nolan did an amazing job with this film. There is simply nothing I can think of to say badly about this film. Whether you like science fiction movies or not, you should not pass up on watching Interstellar. This film is an epic masterpiece. Anyone bashing the science aspects of the film, plot, or other details are simply hating on this film because it is so good. And that's coming from someone with a college background in science and astronomy outside of my love for science fiction. This movie is not scientifically accurate 100% of the time, but it is easily overlooked at the general quality of the film itself.

Do yourself a favor and watch this movie. Whether you like space flicks or not, this is a fantastic movie inside and out. I would rate it higher than a 10 if I could.

10/10 review, your eyes do not deceive you. "Mortal Kombat", simply put, is not only the best best game- to-film adaptations ever made, but one of my personal favorite movies of all time. I first seen this movie in the theaters in 1995. I was only five years old at the time! Back then it was a fantastic film, and in 2015, it's still a great film! Maybe it's nostalgia, but on the other hand compared to all the other overrated junk of 2014 and 2015, I consider this movie excellent and it is one of my favorites. This film and franchise even encouraged me to study martial arts for almost 15 years now.

Mortal Kombat, simply put, is a movie rendition of the original "Mortal Kombat" arcade video game. It's about a group of warriors from Earth who compete in an ancient martial arts tournament for the fate of the world. In more than one way, it borrows many concepts/ideas from "Enter the Dragon", but on the other hand, it has it's own unique twist and storyline to it.

Everything about this movie is awesome. Simple storyline with humor in the right spots, great casting, EXCELLENT choreography, and a fun soundtrack that still rocks today. In particular, this is one of my favorite fighting movies because the fights were excellently choreographed. Some standoffs between characters were extremely convincing and fun to watch. The fights were very dirty and not too over-the- top. They also paid homage to the video game with cool fatalities and even a funny "friendship" scene. Probably the ONLY weak spot in the film would maybe be some of the CGI (especially for Reptile); Reptile didn't look great in 1995 and the movie aging 20 years has not helped! With that being said, the non-CGI Goro looks better than any junk they would probably try to make today.

It makes me very sad that the franchise (as far as the big screen goes) is in limbo. But at least we have this great classic filmed by Paul Anderson! If you enjoy video game films, martial arts, or the new age MK video games, I recommend you check this film out. It is a fun film and worth adding to your DVD or blu ray collection.

I caught "Navy Seals" on the Encore channel and sat through the whole movie. Navy Seals is actually pretty good war-movie flick that wasn't too over the top or serious. It has lots of action, some civilian life of the seals, and overall enjoyable performances including from the ever so controversial Charlie Sheen.

There's not much more to say about this film. It's got a pretty generic storyline involving hostage situations and the atypical car chase scene with some with many other action-oriented moments. This movie doesn't shine so much in story as it does in just being an exciting action flick. An engaging action movie with an intense soundtrack and a film that has overall stood the test of time. It's not the greatest war movie ever made, but it definitely looks like inspired many movies (and videogames) alike.

A 7/10 slightly above-average score for me and recommended it if you like war movies or Charlie Sheen.

I first seen this film when I was barely a teenager around when it first came out. I just caught it again on Encore some fourteen years later and thought I would write up a review. Mission to Mars is actually a decent sci fi movie. It follows the tale of a group of astronauts going to Mars after one mission went weary and lost communication. A second backup crew is sent to investigate and make some interesting discoveries along the way. Along the way the movie has mystery, suspense, and a handful of other elements thrown in.

It's not by far Gary Sinise's best work or anyone else's best work for that matter. Mission to Mars is filled with cheesy dialog, bland music, scientific inaccuracies, and some cringe worthy acting in between. If you wanted, you could probably rip this entire movie apart finding tons of fallacies in the plot and everything else. The direction of this movie is questionable but in between, it has it's good parts. The set design of the NASA spacecraft's and Mars atmosphere is still pretty convincing in 2014. The suspense and dramatic moments are pretty engaging at times. And overall, even after seeing the movie a few times already in my life, I still enjoy sitting through and watching the movie. I won't give away the ending of the film, but personally I did not like it mainly due to CGI reasons...

At best, this movie is a 7/10. It's an average space flick and pretty enjoyable if you have an appeal to science fiction and astronomy. Overall Mission to Mars ends up being a touching story about the human endeavor to reach for the stars. There are certainly better films out there in this department and this isn't entirely the type of film I would add to my blu ray collection, but it's worth at least a stream if you can't find anything else to watch in the the space exploration department. With of all that being said, it would be interesting to see a reboot of this film done properly with some of the poor dialog and CGI revamped. 7/10

I caught "The Good Life" on TBS after watching something on TBS last night. This is probably the worst reality show on television, period. Unless you enjoy watching fat, sweaty black men pretend to be cool, that is, in that case this is your kind of TV show! "The Good Life" is a reality show about ceelo who is famous for singing that one annoying song on the radio about his girlfriend dumping him or something. He also hosted "The Voice", a show where he pretended to have some kind of musical talent and assisted contestants in becoming overrated pop star singers like himself. Ceelo quit his job at "The Voice" because he was too fat and lazy to do any actual work. So he politely asked someone at TBS if he could do a reality show so he could be fat and lazy somewhere else. Hence, "The Good Life" was born! "The Good Life" follows the ceelo around in his daily life. In the series, a camera crew follows around ceelo and his homies as they pretend to have a life cooler than yours while delivery cheesy, scripted dialog in an effort to fool teenager viewers into thinking this is quality, unscripted television. In the episode I watched, Ceelo decided to take pole dancing lessons (yes, I am not joking) just so he could pretend to exercise and make sexual innuendos towards the instructors. Meanwhile his homies tried to swindle fans by selling them cheap, spray painted merchandise at one of his concerts. Watching "The Good Life" makes "The Jersey Shore" look like quality, thought provoking television. This show is so horrendously bad that a middle schooler with a web cam could probably make something better than this. In the end none of this matters, because it's only a matter of time before Ceelo dies of obesity or he gets too lazy for this job like the last one. Well we could also hope he gets imprisoned soon for his recent drug and rape charges... 0/10 if I could, worst show on television I have ever watched, period. If you see this on television, quickly change the channel before you kill too many brain cells.

"The Colony" had all the right ingredients for a great science fiction film, but the end result of this movie was disappointing. To jump to the story line briefly, "The Colony" is a movie about a group of humans living in an futuristic setting where Earth has literally froze into a second ice age. They reside in an arctic outpost trying to survive, preserving plants, animals, and other necessities to preserve life. Things turn weary where another outpost sends out a distress signal. Without spoiling the film, I will just say that "The Colony" is a lackluster, B grade science fiction film at best. And that makes me sad because I really wanted to like this movie. Bill Paxton, a fantastic veteran actor of epic films like, "Aliens" and "Apollo 13" played a completely hate-able character in this film that was just too out of character for him. Laurence Fishburne had some decent screen time but also came off a bit short compared to his previous performances like in "The Matrix" and "Event Horizon". I don't think it was either actors faults but more so these cookie-cutter type characters they had to play. As far as the main role goes, it was played by Canadian actor Kevin Zegers. He was decent in this film but not the best choice in my opinion for the lead role. He just doesn't have that on screen spark for me.

Besides focusing on the two big names in this film, the rest of the film just fell short. The movie (unlike other films) seemed to end to short and quickly. I was expecting far more. The character development was very poor as well and the whole angle of this movie just a bit off. This movie ended up being some freakshow horror film in the end and I think it it was focused on being a survival/adventure film more with a less hate-able role from Paxton, I think this film would have been great. Lastly on the plus side, this film does got some good camera work and visuals. Very pretty arctic scenery and the underground colonies look nice. But other than the visuals, I can't say much about the rest of this film. It was pretty lackluster. Regardless, I do think it's worth a watch if you like sci fi fans and are a fan of Fishburne and Paxton (even though their roles weren't that great). But chalk this one up as a "rental only" because in the end, this movie is just pretty crappy.

I randomly stumbled across the film "Capricorn One" (released before my time) and I had to check out. The premise of the film sounded very interesting and the movie looked like something that may be more about story and no so much theatrics like the films of 2014 and up. Watching this film I was not disappointed. The story is interesting and exciting, the acting is excellent, and overall this is a pretty good B grade sci fi film that has stood the test of time. I really enjoyed Capricorn One and I have to say this movie is a must-watch if you are a fan of classic and/or sci fi flicks.

In a nutshell, Capricorn One is a film about a NASA hoax where astronauts perform a Mars landing on a soundstage fooling the country and families of the astronauts alike. The film revolves around the drama and conspiracies of what is going on within the confines of NASA and the struggles of the astronauts trying to maintain the secret. The rest is pretty self explanatory and you just have to watch the film to see all the events of the film unfold! This movie has a lot of pluses going for it. Great cast, great storyline, and overall it is just a great film. For a while I forgot I was watching a movie that is almost 40 years old now! The only bumps in this movie are in the scientific area. The Saturn V was no where powerful enough to travel to Mars. The ships were too small to carry enough oxygen and supplies for such a trip. The LEM from the Moon was the same design for Mars, and the LEM was completely incapable of ever landing on Mars. One of the main (and only) reasons I am docking a few points for the film is that they blatantly ignored scientific facts about landing on Mars. Even someone that doesn't know NASA science that well should know that a LEM cannot land on Mars and how ridiculous the entire concept of the Mars mission in this film was. Besides the scientific fact, I won't spoil the movie but I was hoping for a more "satisfying" ending...

Overall, Capricorn One is a great movie.One of the reasons I think this movie has been "swept under the rug" (meaning you don't see it much on streaming services such as Netflix or hear about it much in modern times) is I think because of O.J. Simpson's notoriety. This film is a great movie with a diverse cast and you are missing out on a great film (as well as not admiring the performance from the rest of the cast) by avoiding this film simply because of O.J. Simpson. This film came out far before he ever committed any crimes or had any notoriety. If you get the chance, check out this film. It is very enjoyable and I hope some day it gets a proper remastering in blu ray!

I am a fan of Bam Margera and have watched his previous programs including "Jackass", "Viva La Bam", and "Bam's Unholy Union". As stupid as all of those shows are, they were all rather enjoyable and more entertaining than the typical reality TV show. With that being said, Bam Margera dropped off the grid for many years after his fellow Jackass star Ryan Dunn passed away in a violent car crash. Finally Bam is back on television now with this new game show titled "Bam's Bad Ass Game Show" (BBAGS) on TBS. BBAGS is a game show where a number of contestants compete against each other in dumbed down, "Jackass" style stunts. From riding in barrels to other wacky stunts, contestants are eliminated one by one until there is a last man standing, who wins $10,000 if they make it through all of the challenge.

BBAGS has Bam as well as a few other of his famous friends/guest in various episodes. To jump to the point, BBAGS is a bit lacking. The stunts as mentioned before, are merely dumbed down Jackass-style stunts. The games and stunts are rather unentertaining to watch and there isn't that fear of someone getting seriously injured like on Jackass. Furthermore Bam just seems a bit bored hosting this show. There's less of his antics and more focus on the game show itself (which isn't a bad thing), except the game show portion is just a bit stale. Furthermore you know a show is running out of ideas fast when they start running all young, hot female contestants to draw in more viewers as they did in the last episode. Last but not least, some of the "games" on this show are really stupid. One was a quiz round with extremely stupid/random questions that sound like something someone took five minutes to make up before filming. There's not much more to say at this point. This show is severely lacking in entertainment and excitement. The show is very budget-y as well filmed in some warehouses outside of Philadelphia. Overall Bam Margera's show is a bit lacking. It was watchable, but if something else was better on television at the time, I would probably change the channel. I do think there is potential with this show if they up the budget a bit more and do some more exciting games/contest for the contestants to compete in. But where it stands now, BBAGS is below average in my opinion and it looks like it's not going to change much.

I am a big fan of the original 300. It's probably in my list of my top 15 favorite movies of all time. The art style, action, and inspiration you feel when seeing those guys fight and rip their enemies to shreds is just awesome. With it's cliffhanger ending, I waited year after year for a sequel and thought it would never come. Finally in 2014, we got the official sequel "300: Rise of an Empire". I was a little worried about this film at first. How could they top the first one? More importantly, how can they do this movie without Gerard Butler, who was the quintessential Spartan leader? Well it turns out they did. And not only was this movie fantastic, but I almost feel as if I enjoyed it more than the original!

From beginning to end, this movie tells historical stories like no other. Fantastic cinematics, camera work, audio, and CGI that is actually enjoyable and doesn't take away from the filming experience. Even the sex scene of this movie was epic. These movies are very powerful and there wasn't a dull moment in this movie. More so than the theatrics, this movie has GREAT cast. Eva Green played the evil Artemisia so incredibly well that she practically was this movie. She so perfectly played that bad guy in this film that it was unreal. She is probably the most convincing, twisted villain in a movie since Ricardo Montalban did Khan in Star Trek II in the 1980's. She was just THAT good in this film! We also get to see some familiar faces from the first film, too, which was rewarding.

The only minor, little thing that makes it hard for me to give this film a perfect score is the following... although Sullivan Stapleton was great as Themistokles, his performance wasn't quiet on the same level as Gerard Butler's was in the original 300. From his muscular physique to his overall screen presence, I just didn't connect with this guy as much as I did with Gerard Butler. But he was still excellent in the film, and I don't blame him as much as the writers/director. They tried to cram a lot into this movie with telling Atermisia's side of the story, but it worked out well with her in the film. Although I normally complain that a movie is too long, though, this one I think could have been a bit longer to develop his character more, even by just another 5 or 10 minutes of film time. All in all, fantastic film. Eva Green's performance alone is worth seeing it over, she was a true villain in this movie. I recommend it whether you are a fan of the franchise or not. I took my 61 year old mother to see this for her birthday coming up and she also enjoyed it and typically doesn't like gory movies.

I'm a big Science Channel fan (and scientist in general), majoring in computer science and having my fair share of astronomy and astrophysics classes through my way up in college. I get hooked on shows like "Futurescape" pretty easily, especially when they got some great scientist like Michio Kaku backing them. To top it off, I love when they get celebrity host to do these shows because it adds another dynamic to it. James Wood is pretty awesome on this show and has a cool, dark voice that keeps your attention. With that being said, as of now I'm finding "Futurescape" to be an average science/educational TV show so far. An average episode is about 45 minutes or so (with commercials) and the premise of this show is to introduce the viewer to ideas and technology of the future. For example, computers that can record and save your brain memory, tapping into the human DNA to create the perfect human, and etc. are some of the ideas talked about on this show. Typically the show will introduce us to scientist and other important people doing research in that field to back the ideas and claims they are talking about happening in the future.

The problem with this show is that, the combination of the topics and delivery of the topics are a bit clunky. They give us a great deal of factual information combined with cutscenes to the future. The problem is, the delivery is just awkward and often they reuse the same clips over and over while James Woods talks over them. A perfect example; a recent episode I watched where they talked about humans using robotic body parts, they kept using this scene of a guy helping walk an old lady up the stairs who was carrying grocery bags. They must have reused the same clip about 15 times in the episode. They also stuck around the question "will we lose our humanity?" a bit too much in the episode rather than talking about more exciting research in the field. but at the end of the episode I just say to myself "well, that's cool I guess." Lastly in this episode, Dr. Michio Kaku's appearance felt very forced. You could hear it in his voice that he was taking stabs at the subject and the material really wasn't written well. He's a theoretical physicist and as crazy as it sounds he is not an expert in every subject this show talks about and you can hear it in his voice. I'm not sure if he does the actual research for the show/ideas, but it doesn't feel like it. This feels like a show he is taking a paycheck for more than actually giving us something interesting to think about.

I know I picked at one episode here, but I've watch pretty much all of them and they are in the same format. This show currently doesn't grab my attention or challenge my thinking the way that programs like "Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking" does. And it doesn't quite meet the quality of Morgan Freeman's "Into the Wormhole", other similar Discovery/Science Channel series. Amongst this, some of the ideas of the show are rinse-and-repeat ideas (like the warp bubble space travel and living on Mars, these are just kind of reused ideas from other shows). With all of that being said, I do like this show and I do feel that it has potential. But I think they need to give it a more generous budget and not force Michio Kaku into it. I love Dr. Kaku but there are other scientist in these fields that they should share the spotlight, he's one of hundreds of well known physicist in the world. Get some more interesting ideas into it with less reusing of certain clips and this could jump up to a 9/10 show for me. But at this time, I'm going to have to give it a 6/10.

I'm a science fiction fan and love space movies. With that being said, I can't believe I missed this movie on the big screen, if it ever really made it to the US (I love Mars movies). Nonetheless, I discovered this movie on Amazon Prime and absolutely had to check it out. The premise of this "The Last Days on Mars" is pretty simple. There turns out to be an alien bacteria on Mars that turns human beings into freakish zombie creatures. The entire movie is pretty much spent trying to find a way to beat the virus and return to their ship in space after a six month or so voyage of exploring the red planet. That's the most I will say without spoiling the film.

Whether you are a sci fi fan or not, I recommend you check this movie out. Our of all the red planet movies, I honestly consider this one of the best ones. I see a great deal of unnecessary hate for this film on the web. "The Last Days on Mars" doesn't deserve any hate, really. Number one, the set design, ships, costuming, and works, everything visually is absolutely beautiful. This is one of the most realistic red planet films I've ever watched, if out of all of them. It looks like a genuine recreation of what we would see if humans actually traveled to Mars. Number two, the acting is pretty damn good, especially out of Liev Schreiber. Lastly, another good thing going for it, love the soundtrack, very subtle space music with up beat brass sections for the spots that need it. Where all the hate comes from, I think, is from the scientific inaccuracies. Opening air locks quickly, lack of a chain of command, and other technical spots probably rattle some people hard. Although "space zombies" sounds kind of silly, we never know what other life in the universe might do or how it would pose a threat to humanity, so I'm willing to have an open mind about alien virus. Besides the technical challenges of the movie, I believe other people discredit the storyline; let's face it, aliens on a manhunt for humans is not exactly a new idea. These problem spots are the only thing to dock a rating from me, really. Other than that, I thought this movie was really well executed.

"The Last Days on Mars" is not a perfect movie, but I really loved it! Again I recommend this film whether you a sci fi fan or not, although the hardcore female audience that likes romantic comedies might be turned off from it. Fun space movie and looks like a nice budget film. The other 2013 hit "Gravity" was filled with scientific inconsistencies, yet people praised that film (and I also seen it in 3D). I don't believe this film deserves any less credit, just because it has a list of B list actors behind it doesn't mean the film isn't good. If you watch this movie and keep an open mind about it, I think you will really enjoy it. It's a fun,believable story with a good blend of story and action. Probably better executed than "Prometheus" in many ways. Lastly for the naysayers, I am scientist myself and have studied astronomy and astrophysics. If I can get past the technical inaccuracies of movies, the general audiences should too!

This a (spoiler free) review of "Dexter" from episode number one to the 2013 series finale episode. I've officially watched Dexter from beginning to end and now here is my review for this great series throughout it's highs and lows. A brief intro about this show for those whom haven't seen it. Dexter is about the character named Dexter Morgan based off the novel "Darkly Dreaming Dexter" by Jeff Lindsay. Dexter is a forensic blood spatter analyst at Miami Metro where he works with his police-officer sister Debra Morgan. Dexter is a fun, likable guy that brings in donuts to work and is an easy going guy... at least in the day. During the night, Dexter becomes "The Monster"; Dexter lives a secret life where he is a psychopath professional serial killer. Using his Miami Metro resources, Dexter fills his need to kill by hunting down those whom deserve to be killed; he finds and locates criminals whom have "slipped through the cracks", although from time to time others often enter his path. He takes people out where he then dismembers their bodies and dumps them in the ocean, often leaving no train of evidence due to the fact that he follows "The Code". The code, known as "Harry's Code", is a set of rules Dexter's adoptive father, Harry Morgan, created for Dexter to full fill his need to kill without being caught.

The premise of the show stays the same. Dexter typically has a need to kill at night. It's his life during the day where things change. He meets people, makes lovers, and even has children to take care of. With all of these complications in Dexter's life, it becomes difficult for him to satisfy "The Dark Passenger" as he likes to call it. This is where most of the drama of the show happens. Dexter is a great series because there is one big question that gets asked all the time; is it due-justice what Dexter does? Should he be allowed to kill these people who slip through the cracks? All in all, Dexter is a serial killer, but often fans are forced to be on his side when they see his inner psyche.

From season one to season eight, I have enjoyed nearly every episode. Sure, like all TV shows, there is a dud here and there. But all in all, Dexter is one of the best shows ever created on television. The deep, thought provoking storyline and great cast. It's just a solid TV series. Michael C. Hall is a legendary actor now, giving life to the character Dexter like no others could. Many people watched the show simply because of his performance. The supporting cast were excellent as well and most characters stuck around from beginning to end, giving the perfect blend of family members and comic-relief when needed. Lastly the set design, filmography, audio, and soundtrack were top-tier. This show gets a nice budget and was never too over-the-top.

I'll be honest. At first, I wasn't crazy about this show. When it first came out years ago, I was barely interested in it. But over time, I slowly started to pick up on this show. I eventually watched the show from beginning to end and watched the later seasons during the premiere every Sunday. Once I gave this show a good chance, I instantly got hooked. Dexter is a fantastic series and I am giving a perfect 10 out of 10. Many hardcore fans may disagree, but I think it's fair. Dexter has had it's highs and its lows like other shows. Some seasons and characters are more likable than others. But regardless of all this, Dexter is simply a masterpiece of this series and there is never a dull moment. And never have I watched a show that has given me nightmare's as much as Dexter has (which is a good thing)! Whether you are a fan of horror stories or not, I highly recommend checkout out Dexter. The only reason to not watch it is if you get disturbed from horror series/flicks, because this is an intense, dark TV show. Also, it's a bit morbid for the younger audience. But adults should totally give this show a shot. Thank you Showtime for delivering eight quality seasons of this wonderful TV series. It will forever be in my list of favorites.

It's Labor Day weekend and looking on Amazon Prime for a decent movie to watch over the weekend I ran across "Olympus has Fallen". I heard about it coming out but didn't know what it was about in detail or if it was good or not. But with a promising cast including Gerard Butler and Morgan Freeman, I had to give it a shot. Olympus Has Fallen is a movie about a terrorist attack on the white house. A former secret service agent who works in D.C. happens to be around when the white house goes under attack. He springs into action, killing terrorist, saving lives, and tearing it up throughout the white house. The rest of the plot, I'll leave to the viewer to learn the final story and events without spoiling it.

I rented it and watched it in one sitting. Bottom line - REALLY enjoyed this movie. Is it over the top? Yes. Is it completely ridiculous and unrealistic? Yes. Does any of that matter? Not really. This is a true, rock-em, sock-em, action flick with Gerard Butler's high energy driving it. I have to say the action really outweighed any downfalls/flops in the storyline. I really enjoyed it and usually I pick at movies like this. Honestly the only real thing besides the unrealistic side of the movie is the CGI. Some areas of the CGI were very budget-y and looked like clips out of a video game and not genuine elements. If you haven't seen this movie yet, I highly recommend it. A good date night movie or something to watch on your own one night. It's fun and entertaining and had me glued to the television from beginning to end. It's above average but I can't give it any more credit than that for a weak story and ridiculous action scenes. I did thoroughly enjoy it though and recommend to audiences.

I've always been a fan of "The Matrix" films for many years now. With that being said, I was only a teen when "Equilibrium" came out (which was supposedly stacked up against the Matrix films), and to be honest, I never heard of this movie or remember it being released until a few days ago when I ran across it on Amazon Prime. Coming from a post Batman era of Christian Bale (and his other great movies), I decided to give this movie a shot. Equilibrium is an action packed, "gun kata" movie starring Christian Bale. I'll leave the storyline to those who actually want to watch it. But moving on, in 2013, Equilibrium still holds up. Over 10 years after the release, I can say this is a fantastic movie to watch. The story is good, the action is excellent, and Christian Bale sells us another fantastic AAA movie. I'm sad that I did not realize this movie existed all of these years now, but it's definitely one I want to add to the blu ray collection.

Good story, good premise, excellent visuals that stood the test of time, great soundtrack, and a wide array of great actors. This movie has a lot of good things about it that make it a Sci Fi classic. The bad sides - yes, it is a blatant knock-off of the Matrix aesthetically. Some of the action sequences are down right ridiculous and over the top. Also, the ending of the movie seemed kind of rush. I was kind of hoping for more.

Still, all in all, good film. I would recommend it if you haven't seen it yet! Sad to see it never had any sequels/spin offs but in some ways, that's a good thing (look at the Matrix sequels, sometimes I think they would have been best off just having the original).

I've been tuning into "Ray Donovan" frequently since it's series premiere. I'm a huge Dexter fan as well as a fan other other crime drama's out there (including the classic Soprano's). With that being said, I just had to check Ray Donovan out. After watching all season, so far after so many episodes in to this show now, I just can't seem to get into it.

Ray Donovan has the perfect cast. The lead is great, the supporting cast is great, the whole vibe of the show is dead on to be a killer crime syndicate show. I have no problem with the actors. The problem is the overall storyline and pacing. The whole premise of the show is just boring.

Ray Donovan, unlike other crime dramas characters is a "fixer". This show is missing that intense element other shows like Dexter have where we can anticipate catching a high-value target or killing someone. Ray just kind of "bullies" people with their problems. The show gets very boring this way. Nothing exciting really happens. His daughter gets in trouble constantly and the dad just kind of screws around with everyone. The show drags on more and more, and nothing intense really happens.

Overall, this show is just boring. I wouldn't say bad, and I think it can get better. But right now, it's just missing something that other classic crime dramas has.

I just watched "The Objective" (T0) tonight. Being a sci fi fan I love everything from the 50's classics to new age science fiction films. I seen this movie on Amazon Prime and decided to give it a shot.

WIthout any Spoilers, TO is a movie about a CIA operative who takes a group of soldiers into the Afghanistan mountains to learn the truth about some strange occurrences in the mountain. The entire movie revolves around the operative and group of soldiers slowly learning more about the truth of their mission. The rest you will have to watch as I don't want the spoil this movie.

The good - this movie had fantastic cinematic work. The mountain ranges and reality of the harsh Afghanistan conditions, it was very surreal. Although a list of C list actors (as well as an ex real life soldier from Desert Storm), the acting was superb. The cast was fantastic and put on a very believable performance. Lastly the movie had an interesting storyline that wanted to make you watch till the end. I felt that it had a lot of good things going for it to be a good science fiction film.

The bad - the overall writing and pace of the movie was pretty awful. Some parts of this movie were really slow. After a while it gets kind of predictable the events of the movie. Although something I don't typically pick at, the CGI and special effects in this film were very poor. There was one scene, without spoiling anything, where a man jumps off a cliff. The scene was extremely laughable and made a joke out of what the movie was trying to be. Lastly the main thing that i didn't like. This movie had a terrible ending. At the end, I had more questions than answers. I did "get" the movie, I understood the premise, but I didn't really like it.

Overall strange film, somewhat hard to follow, budget CGI, and a poor cliffhanger-style ending makes this one a bargain-bin movie. Is it worth watching? If you are a fan of science fiction in general and appreciate some quality acting, then yes. But don't get your hopes high for some epic sci fi adventure.

I'm not even sure where to begin. But let me say this; whether you are or are not a fan of Tom Cruise or science fiction films, you should do yourself a favor and see this movie. Oblivion is probably the best science fiction film of the 21st century so far.

Oblivion, without spoiling any major parts of the film, is a movie that takes place in roughly 60 years in the future. Earth is a savage wasteland ruined by nuclear war with an alien race. Most of the human race is said to have relocated to another world. Two people whom are a couple (with their past memories and life experiences erased) manage a high-tech station in the sky on Earth. Their daily routine consist of "cleaning up" Earth by eliminating leftover aliens on the surface after the war using cybernetic killing drones. The main character Jack (played by Tom Cruise) goes out daily to repair drones that have been shot down or damaged.

After a series of events unfold, Jack starts to discover the truth about the drones, the aliens, and himself. He learns that his mission is not what it was said to be. That's as far as my explanation can go without spoiling this film. Oblivion is based off of a novel, which I have not read, but after seeing this film I would love to pick it up sometime to see the similarities between each.

Go see this film! Whether you are young or old, male or female, a fan of science fiction or not, there is something in this movie for anyone. Intense, action-packed combat scenes, state-of-the-art CGI, a telling and though-provoking storyline, a nice romantic subplot, and a SUPERB cast. Everything in this film was done perfect; music, picture, and the works, and everything was paced just right. Lastly whether you are a fan or not of Tom Cruise and the antics in his personal life, this is probably his best movie. Great acting, believable scenes and the supporting cast nailed it. Olga Kurylenko, Andresa Riseborough, and the legendary Morgan Freeman were the perfect choices for this film. Very few movies I give a perfect review for, this one gets it. 10/10.

I seen this movie on Showtime tonight. I'll make this review short and simple. This is quiet possibly one of the WORST movies I have ever watched in my entire life. The direction of this movie is really random. It tries to be a serious horror movie with a musical element. It didn't work.

This movie is the definition of garbage. The soundtrack is absolutely terrible. Horrible, whiny emo music, bad vocalist, and generic instrumentals. The horror story behind it is also bad. The bad guy is stupid. The premise of the film is bad. What more can I say? There's little to no quality behind the music, story, and actors behind this load of trash. Do yourself (and your ears) a favor; skip this movie. It's bad.

The only, ONLY reason I am not giving it a one star; I do LIKE the concept. I think a horror story/musical is a classic and different idea to visit for a horror movie. It's just that this movie failed miserably to pull it off. Would not watch again, do no recommend it to others. (actually in a way I do so they can laugh at how bad it is, if you have a "bad movie night" once in a while you are in for a good laugh!) 2/10