300: A Film Made Without Consequence or Responsibility

300: Rise of an Empire

It doesn't take long to remind yourself why you both love and hate 300. You both love and hate the ridiculousness of the battles. How a man can fight five against one easily. How a woman can cut a mans throat, then the back of his head and take it clean off with just a knife. It would seem ridiculous for a strong woman or man to be able to throw a head (13 pounds)  sideways over 20 feet without even looking in that general direction, but these types of acts are just part of the illusion of strength made by this film. I will say that over the course of history that ancient people were stronger (minus nutrition details) due to the fact that many of them worked in trades demanding strength of body. These are also trades that we would not suffer as a people today.

I say this film is void of consequence and responsibility because it falls victim to the obvious pitfalls of a sequel. For instance...
The captain and his son is the same plot line from the first to second with different characters (that are underdeveloped).
The movie uses the legendary actions of the first to make a somewhat new plot line for the second (this is not always bad but for the most part it takes away from the present)
The main character is always far more intelligent than the audience or other characters in the film believe him to be. It's like opposite dramatic irony where the audience is left in the dark about the hero in order to make it more dramatic when he does something unpredictable. (Aka he does not appear to have any knowledge of naval warfare from the war fought 10 years previous, but is a great tactician later on.)
Character reuse is rampant and mundane. They try to use the same characters in the second that were good characters in the first except they have little development in the second.
They also have new characters to basically take the place of the old characters and never develop them except for a few lines of dialogue here and there. They want you to be emotionally invested in the character from the last movie except not he has a new face, less meaning, and you don't care if he lives or dies.
They are also unable to produce a new hero that is different from that of the first. He has all the screen time in the world, but hardly differed from Leonitus in any way. It makes for a boring version of the character Gerrard Butler made awesome.

The film does have some great one liners, but they are forced. I will say that the women characters do have great diction and delivery. I am one of those people who is saddened by the lack of strong female roles and in film and yes I do find it odd that you would find strong woman roles in a frat fest like this. Often I think these strong male oriented piss contests for movies are one of the only venues a woman can be strong in film today. I will not defend them by saying that even a small minority provide this venue. This is a recent trend in film. I can't say I feel the empowerment of women in them but I will write that I am hoping these types of women characters are used more often in film (not television) I am not saying these films are a template, but merely a stage to stand on.

The similarities between the two 300 films are enough to make them sequels but not enough to make this film independently great on its own.

It seems the director had freedom without consequence or responsibility for making a poorly written film.

Gravity (2013) This May Be The Worst Movie to Ever Win An Oscar

Gravity (2013) Warner

As the Oscars loom, I am trying to update myself with all the nominees which is why I decided to watch Gravity. It was directed by Alfonso Cuaron who subsequently directed the third Harry Potter film so I should’ve known this film was going to be a nightmare. His foreign films like “Y Tu Mama Tambien” was good, but it is also more than a decade old.  

It’s hard for me to describe in words how awful this film truly was from top to bottom. I think the only way to enhance its viewing experience is to do so smoking pot so that the cinematic visuals might actually equate to something existential rather than a waste of film. Some of the Earth shots were nice to look at, but the story is so bland and unappealing that I wanted to detach myself from the film so that I could float off into space in the opposite direction.

When Tina Fey made the joke that “George Clooney would rather float off into space and die rather than spend one more minute with a woman his own age” she wasn’t really joking. Not only is Clooney’s character forgettable, but there is no attachment whatsoever to both of the characters involved. From the beginning I wanted to pay more attention to my dog licking himself then I did caring about either character and the longer the film went on the more boring it became.

I don’t mind dramas, they are usually the best films, but to call this a drama is far from the definition of the word which is defined as “an exciting, emotional, or unexpected series of events or set of circumstances.” Not only was I not entertained by it, emotionally tied to it, I also thought the events were totally predictable. I called the accident before it happed (it was obvious), I called the part about her daughter (easy), I could see through her hallucinations in a heartbeat, and who thought she was going to die? These personal one character stories have been done before, but take into consideration that Cast Away (2000) was done with one character just like 127 Hours (2010) and both had characters you actually cared about.

The movie itself has some great visuals but the zero-gravity made me want to yack. It was the most convincing part of space besides Bullocks’ lack of knowledge about astrophysics. I am not sure how most reviewers considered this to be a masterpiece of film. This movie was not gripping, emotional, inspirational, interesting, or worth watching. Those are usually some of the themes tied to Oscar winning films.

I guess you could say that my opinion is tainted because of the fact that everyone is making a big deal out of this film, but it is not art. It is a worthless story about a woman trying to get home to nothing in particular. You don’t care about her or her journey and it feels like the entire movie is based around the zero-gravity concept they used in the cinematography. I can’t blame them for naming the movie “gravity” because that is all it was about.

42 (2013) The Shortened Hollywood Version of Jackie's Life (incl several others)

42 (2013) Warner Bros

One of the great disparities of this film are the themes which seem to be conflicting all the time. The story is about Jackie Robinson, but at some points it seems like it's about the reporter telling the story and there are many side plots that have nothing to do with the plot. It is somewhat distracting because you feel like the story is not very fluid. The GM of the dodgers is supposedly doing this because of his convictions about segregation, but tells his employees that it's for the money. If the information was meant to be held back in an effort to make it more dramatic, then it fell flat. All of these things are pertinent but disparities none the less.

The dodgers really did a great thing in choosing Jackie as the person that was going to break the color barrier because he was willing to take one to the face every time he stepped to the plate. It was a burden that no man should've had to bear, but he did it all the same.

I have been a huge baseball fan ever since I was a kid and it is Americans national past time. Every time I go to spring training I think about the fact that there are two locations where baseball is played. Phoenix and Daytona beach. A fact most people forget is that it used to be in Jacksonville and it was moved to accommodate Jackie due to the racial tensions in Jacksonville.

Being white, it's easy for me to feel uncomfortable during these films due to ‘white guilt’. The movie does a good job of making you feel like you’re in a shower and that the dirty water is pooling at your feet due to a clog. I don't feel personally responsible for the actions of others, especially when it comes to slavery. My ancestors went through the Holocaust, genocide, and discrimination in America, but I still feel horrible for their plight. I don't think it is easy for anyone especially if you are ethnic, African American, or Russian Jewish in my case. The great thing about America is that it shows us that many races can live together in harmony and that everyone has something to add to society here.

42 does a great job and explaining the racial tensions of the day and the upbringing most of the player and people were used to. There is a scene with a boy that starts yelling racial obscenities along with his father and seems conflicted about it. It is supposed to point out that racial hatred is learned and not inherent to a child.

One of the odd things about the film is that it switches around from character to character in order to involve a great many people in the story of Jackie Robinson. This is very different than what most films do when trying to highlight the life of a famous person. Those films are usually solely focused on the feelings of the one person according to the things around them. I don’t think it’s a bad thing, but sometimes you get the feeling that they are going for a really dramatic happy ending where everything works out for everyone, but you don’t see all of the characters enough to understand their feelings and difficulties. If we weren't on the road to see it then it’s hard to understand how difficult it is. I feel like we could’ve had a movie for Jackie's wife, Branch Rickey, Leo Durocher, Pee Wee Reese, Ed Charles, Wendell Smith, and Ben Chapman.

By the way I thought Alan Tudyk did a great job with his character and was very hate-able for a guy that just starred in two kid’s movie as Duke and King Candy.

Overall 42 was a very well done version of the Jackie story and although the ending was anti-climactic the real story was far different. He was able to end his career in Brooklyn, eventually win an MVP, and win a championship by the end. Although his abilities were on the decline he still managed to hit .256 that season and left on his own terms, which subsequently was the same way he came in.

Captain Phillips (2013) Good Film, Great Story

Captain Phillips (2013) Scott Rudin

I think most of us remember the tension of the event when we first heard about the real life Captain Phillips story. The situation was dire and the event horrific, but we were all pulling for our soldiers and our country to come out on top. Most of the country was not privy to the details of the event until far after it had passed. Of course the movie was a little dramatized, but the event deserved some recognition and the movie covered it well.

The film itself was somewhat politically charged and the plot was fairly accurate from what I have read from the situation. There were so many things I liked from the movie. First the acting was great and the script was written well. During the majority of the film you are surprised with how well the Captain handles the situation that you forget that it happened in real life. You are astonished by the actions he took and how he was able to save the lives of his crew members. The crew in the beginning was very against him and showed a bit of resentment for his stern behavior. The horn of Africa really is an unsafe place and because of how many journeys they go on they may forget about the dangers.

If you have ever lived in a dangerous area you sometimes forget about the problems that can arise if things go wrong. In my younger years I lived in a ‘ghetto’ area and I remember there were a lot of places to avoid. Most of the drug dealers and gang members would leave me alone because I lived in the area, but sometimes there were problems with the drug deals and weapons would be drawn while I was walking home from school. Most of the time it was pretty safe, but some situations arise that you can’t prepare yourself for. I was never taken hostage, but when the Captain was, I could absolutely relate in certain ways of feeling unsafe in an unsafe situation because having weapons drawn on you can be terrifying.

Tom Hanks did a great job with the role and was able to accurately portray this character in this horrible situation. I feel like as Americans, we aggrandize ourselves in many situations. We like to talk as if we are the greatest nation on the earth because of the people that we have here in America. Some of them are great some of them are not, but when we see an average Joe outsmart terrorists from African nations and sacrifice his life over that of his crewmen you can really feel proud of our country.

As soon as the seals show up I was ready for them to do what they do best. They are merchants of death and every one of those pirates probably deserved death even though it is not my place to judge. I personally am displeased with the progress of many of these underdeveloped counties and it is easy to see why so many people get caught up in piracy or any other similarly awful choice. The film is gripping and you cheer for our boys in uniform for doing their job and keeping Americans safe from future attacks. 

I thought Captain Phillips was a solid film and definitely a movie I would recommend to others. 

Last Vegas (2013) Who Knew?

Last Vegas (2013) CBS

At first thought, you may wonder what this movie is actually about. I thought it was going to be the last hurrah for a few older gents that wanted to relive their glory days of chasing tail and giving each other a hard time. They do make fun of each other a lot, but it is never maliciously done. I honestly was not expecting a drama about guys who have been friends for over 60 years.

Each character comes from a different circumstance of elderly life. Morgan Freeman comes from a situation where he is being babied by his family because they are worried about his health. De Niro is an old curmudgeon that lost his wife and his will to enjoy life. Michael Douglas is a rich man who never found real love. Kevin Kline was still with his wife, but felt trapped by his life with her.

Each character embodies a different style of a person in the later years of their life and the film has very little to do with trying to get women half their age in Vegas. During the film you can see how each character has lived over the years and De Niro is probably the most honest of the four about his life and the way the others live theirs. He criticizes them for running away from their lives and not being able to confront their problems although he hasn’t as well.

Although there are so gratuitous moments of the film, there is no nudity. Being a Las Vegas native I can testify to the authenticity of some of the situations they are caught up in like being the judges of a bikini contest. Stuff like that and meeting transsexuals is not out of the question.

The characters have some problems that haven’t been resolved since they were kids and they are understandable secrets to keep. Too many years have gone by since they happened and it would be difficult to talk about them now.

Last Vegas was much more diverse than I expected it to be and I ended up enjoying it to a point. I am not saying it’s a great film, but if you are interested in what I have already written then you might have a fun time watching it.

I was happy to see Jerry Ferrara back in a film because he was a great character in Entourage. The last time I saw him was in the movie Battleship (2012) which like this film was much better than it looked. I am hoping he has a good performance in Lone Survivor (2013) so that I can officially say he is back.

Last Vegas was fun, heartfelt, and provided interesting point of view. Maybe my expectations were supremely lowered due to the marketing of the film, but I thought it wasn’t a waste of time like I expected. I may never watch it again, but for a one time watch it was good. 

True Grit (2010) Pretty Well Figured

True Grit (2010) Paramount

A few days ago, I realized that I had not seen a western this month which is a fact I cannot live with. Whether it be a remake or the original a western is a western. I consider it a shame not to at least view a western a few times a year because it gives us a good perspective on how simple life used to be here in America. Before the big cities and the modern conveniences, Americans used to have true grit. It is hard to actually come across a person these days that has put their shoulder to the plow and not on some dude ranch vacation.  When you watch a western you gain a thankful heart that you do not have to spend your days worrying about how to feed your family or if they will die from some disease.

True Grit is the story of an old marshal that has out grown his time and a young girl who seeks justice fort the violent murder of her father. In those days there wasn’t much justice to be had without paying top dollar, so the young girl Maddie aims to find a real tough guy to hunt down the murderer and bring him some.

Whenever you watch these types of westerns you always think about how difficult it must be to find people out in the wilderness. If you are anything like me, I can get lost just hunting small game on foot. On horse, it would be somewhat easier to get around, but people could be making camp anywhere around you so it is not like walking to the front door of a house. Even lawmen through the fifties had a difficult time actually pinning criminals to the murders. The evidence was not much and witnesses were easily disposed of.

True Grit is a better remake than it is an original with John Wayne. Although “The Duke” is an American icon, this was towards the end of his career and not his best work. Jeff Bridges brings out an even better side of ‘Rooster’ and plays a great drunk. I will say that even Matt Damon has a good role in this film and surprisingly did much better than I expected even for a Texas Ranger. Bridges is an honest character and you could say that he was easily frustrated with the general public of the day. I would also consider this movie to be a comedy if you consider one-liners and arguments to be an art form. Rooster and LaBoeuf go back and forth with each other and it makes for a good time.

Although this film may have its quirks, it is an awesome tale about the man Rooster Cogburn and his last hurrah as a marshal and the gumption of a quick witted young woman. He is a drunk but he is loyal to the end. The ending was worth the watch and you are cheering for the hero Rooster and glad he is such an authentic American cowboy that speaks with authentic frontier gibberish accent.

For a movie with an estimated budget of 38 million and a worldwide gross of 245 million, you can bet it was as worth seeing it then and it still is now.   

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013) It Caught Our Attention Again

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013)  Lionsgate

Chances are that if you are reading this post, you are already a fan of the book or of the movie series. I have to admit that these movies are done incredibly well and are able to give the books their due justice. I am also a fan (I even named my car Katniss) and have loved the movies so far.

If you read my site (and I am hoping you do) you already know that I am a fan of JLaw and think she’s a great actress. She is fun and down to earth and everything you would hope a celebrity to be.

Catching Fire was my favorite book of the series and I say that because it is the last one that takes place in the arena and it had an ending I wasn’t expecting. I guess I was always hoping/expecting that Katniss would eventually stop being so selfish and do the right thing and try loving Peeta at least to keep up pretenses for the capital in the hopes that war wouldn’t be necessary. Sadly she is so hostile and untrustworthy that Haymitch is forced to continually lie to her in all situations. She fails to do the small task that President Snow gives her and causes the deaths of many people. You can’t blame Haymitch for his actions because who wouldn’t do the same thing? In order to protect her (even from herself) he is forced to leave her out of the big picture which causes unexpected consequences.

During the film you can tell that something is going on behind the scenes because everyone else is privy to knowledge that Katniss doesn’t know about. When I was emotionally involved in the story I always wished that Peeta would tell her something so that she knew that they would somehow live though this, but it would’ve been impossible. At times it is hard for me to watch the film because of the way the characters treat Katniss. I always felt she was much stronger than she was portrayed as, but I was willing to accept this as a movie flaw for exponential character growth through all the films.

One thing I disliked about the film is that Liam Hemsworth is in it. His gloomy faces and poor emotional deliveries make me want to punch him in the face as often as possible. I know he is loved by women for his looks, but he needs to go. Find a real man to play Gale. Seriously almost anyone else will do.

I liked that they spend a large part of the movie before the games to show the relationship between Peeta and Katniss as well as keeping the Gale triangle alive. I thought it would be hard to juggle all of them, but they did a good job making sure both characters are still relevant. I thought that they could’ve explained the feelings that Katniss had better because the book derives the majority of her personality from her thoughts. The only thing the two movies left out was the inner dialogue of Katniss and although it takes away from the general story of the movie, it is relevant and pertinent to the story as a whole.

For some minimal concerns I have, it is a well done movie and pays homage the book series in many ways. I thought that Catching Fire was the better of the two and I am already excited to see the third. 

Moneyball (2011) How Can You Not Be Romantic About Baseball

Moneyball (2011) Columbia Pictures

To start this review I should mention that I am already biased toward the A's because they are my favorite baseball teams along with the Dodgers. 

My friends are not big fans of baseball because they think it's slow and boring. I can agree with that assessment when watching it on the television. The in-game experience is much better to give baseball their credit. They will need to figure out something in the future to increase the viewership on TV. 

Moneyball is the tale of what it's like for the smaller market teams to compete professionally with the bigger market teams. Baseball has been hard to watch over the years because of the salary rules. They have a salary tax system where the teams that spend over a certain amount of money have to pay a percentage of that salary extra. It hurts the smaller teams because the bigger teams can pay top dollar for players that would otherwise be paid much less by smaller market teams.

Its an unfair system and the film exploits the fact that these smaller teams have fan bases that are let down every time a good player leaves to a bigger market for more money. The difference is that one man named Billy Beane is trying to change the way he looks at the game. He highers Peter Brand who studied economics. He believes he can help Billy Beane find a team of guys that no one wants by finding value in their statistics. They project what numbers they need in order to make the playoffs so that they can get another shot at the title. 

The movie itself features great performances from Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill. The script writing for the film was phenomenal and it provided the perfect foreground for the story of how they compile the team and the reaction they get from the fans and media.

I guess the film does what you expect, but the frustration was real and it was based on a real struggle as a general manager. Most films would not be able to transfer these types of feeling through film and you got a front row seat for greatness while seeing Brad Pitt.

Although the frustration continues for the A's, each year they are getting closer and closer to the championship based off the model that they started using in this film.

Baseball may not be the most entertaining sport, but this film highlights why baseball is still a great sport to be apart of as a fan. 

Sherlock (S03E03) Love and Other Drugs

Sherlock (S03E03) His Last Vow

At first you may notice that I did not title this “His Last Vow” even though it is the title of the episode. To be honest, I thought mine was more fitting due to the context of the material.

Spoiler Alert!

This episode revealed the bit a dialogue that mentioned in my last Sherlock post. I am glad to be proven right, but the connection was much different than what I expected. I thought it was amazing that she was a secret agent for the CIA. Mary was a real professional assassin with a background in Eastern and Western Europe.

I though the link between Mary and Watson was very interesting. Watson was addicted to danger (which led him to Mary), Sherlock was addicted to drugs (which was why he solved crimes), and Mary was addicted to John (and to some extent danger as well). This fact was exploited by Sherlock and made Watson really question himself as a person. It was dramatic to watch and full of great reactions.

I will attempt to make the argument that Mary was addicted to John. She loved him enough to start a new life with him and she was running away from her past. She finds solace in the made-up relationship she has created because of Johns addicted to danger and adventure. Although Watson is not aware of it, he eventually decides that Sherlock was right in his assessment (as he usually is). We are always learning new things about John.

I was sad however, to find out that Magnussen was not going to be in seasons 4 and 5 with have been announced. I thought he was a great character and to this day is the only one to outthink Sherlock. I kind of hated to see that he did. He brought the letters on purpose to keep the illusion that the evidence was all real. By the end you find out that there was no such thing and it was all a ruse in order to put Sherlock away in prison in order to put Mycroft in a difficult predicament.

By the end of the show I was less shocked than I should’ve been at the death of Charles Magnussen seeing as there was no other way out of the situation and the gun was fore-shadowed by Sherlock before they left. Maybe he did know that it was another option, but it didn’t really resolve anything. The same people in the government were still easily manipulated and his network of evil didn’t really go away. I am wondering if they are going to have Moriarty take over some of the things that Magnussen left.

Either way it was a fantastic episode that will leave us begging for even more. I guess until next year. 

The Fifth Estate (2013) Not As Advertised

I know this post will be short because I have nothing to say about this film. One of the most interesting things about this film was what happened off stage. 

I guess I had high expectations for this film because of the actors in it and the story it was going to tell albeit a one sided story. It never gave enough information for the viewer to judge. I really did not feel like I was watching the story promised in the trailer. I know that a book should not be judged by its cover, but I will probably never see this film again. 

The film itself was about the controversial rise and (to and extent) fall of WikiLeaks.com which is a website that has been known in the past to leak information about the corruption of governments and companies. It was an interesting film that had great buildup but little climax. It felt like amazing things were about to happen and then they had less of a splash then they should have. Although Daniel Brühl is now on my list of actors to watch (after watching Rush) I think that both actors portrayed their roles incredibly well. You hate them both at different times and are happy for their small successes.

One of the interesting things about this film happened in 'real-life'. Benedict Cumberbatch was emailed by the creator of Wikileaks Julian Assange to not participate in the film. When Cumberbatch asked to meet with Julian in order to get to know him better, his request was denied. 

The fallout from the film has been minimal, but what is more interesting is the commentary in the film about Julian Assange and where he is now. As of this moment he is in the Ethiopian embassy in London. I don't believe he is able to leave. It seems odd that he wouldn't just serve a term in prison rather than serving a different one be it in a really nice one. I know he doesn't think he has done anything wrong, but the man has leaked privileged information about certain countries which cant be good for him. I am not saying what he did was wrong because its hard to argue against the war crimes he has leaked to the public in numerous countries. 

I wouldn’t consider this film to be ‘must-watch’ material, but it did have some good moments. The cinematography wasn’t subtle and the payoff wasn’t great. I was also finding myself losing interest in both main characters toward the end because it was foreshadowed throughout and was inevitable.

The story was complicated to watch, but it wasn’t a great story or film.

Sherlock (S03E02) A Psychopath. No, A High Functioning Sociopath.

Now I know that Sherlock is a television series, but due to the fact that each episode has a run time of almost an hour and 30 minutes I decided it would be alright if I reviewed this instead of a movie.

This is the episode where John Watson is going to marry Mary Morstan which has been dubiously linked with the new super villain we have not met this season. I realize that I am not the first to have figured this out because I noticed another blogger had seen the link to when I was looking for a good picture of the toast. The link was provided by a small snippet that I am sure many people missed, but on the second time viewing was too blatant to miss (DVR's are great). When Sherlock is reading the telegraphs, he mentions one that says "To Mary, lots of love poppet, oodles of love and heaps of good wishes. From Cam. Wish your family could have seen this." After Sherlock mentions this, the spotlight switches to Mary and on the first go around I didn't give it a second thought, but this time I realized her reaction was panic and not sadness. She was worried about the person sending this telegraph. When you think about the name Cam you probably think of Cameron, but the name of our unseen villain happens to be Charles Augustus Milverton or the initials CAM.

Mind blown? SO WAS MINE!!!

Being a fan of this show for some time, you start to pick up on some of the nuances. When Moriarty was in the medical examiners room, it seemed out of place. Many times trying to see the whole picture of the story will end up like looking for Waldo, but every now and again they throw you a bone that is too blatant to miss (The pig skewer, the connection in uniforms, the constant picture noises to cascade between scenes, the overuse of the pictures at the wedding, the new character preview before the show).

The foreshadowing for the entire episode was a bit intrusive throughout. If you were wondering about who did the crime then you should know that it was riddled throughout the episode and if you didn't notice it then you missed a lot of a cinematography on top of some revealing references. You can always tell on the longer shots that are seemingly out of place that there is something wrong with them. 

The ever developing relationship between Sherlock and Watson has been a delight overtime. Every episode you are wondering if they will stay friends or if John will eventually give up on him. I'm assuming the latter will eventually have to occur only to make things more interesting for a minute. Maybe it's the fact they are always at ends because of Sherlocks' demeanor that makes their relationship so diverse and divisive. 

It was interesting to see Sherlock actually have to say something nice in the best man speech about John while also giving away a small snippet about their dynamic. Sherlock mentioned that he could only solve the crimes, but John was one that could save the victims. Something unique from the other episodes. 

Sherlock is bewildered by the reactions he receives from that speech which only magnifies his dissonance from society while also enhancing his flaws as a person. 

If you've ever given a similar speech you know how difficult it can be to describe you best friend and your relationship with them to all your fiends and their family. I gave a best man speech for my best friend and although I wasn't nervous about speaking publicly I was nervous about what people would think of me. Would I be too cavalier with the details of our exploits? Or would I offend some party in the process? It's a difficult predicament to be in and I felt like Sherlock accurately portrayed the moment in his own unusual way. 

The best part of Sherlocks speech is how spastic his brain is during the whole thing. To me it kind of shows how a man thinks. It's sort of a one track mind type that has difficulty sifting through two separate activities at the same time. Normally Sherlock is amazing when it comes to multitasking, but due to the speeches emotional draw it was harder for him to accomplish. 

I must admit I am a huge fan of the cinematography in this show. You get to view so many things from so many angles and even at times you are viewing complete fantasy. The one scene that stands out from this episode is where Sherlock sifts through the woman online. It was absolutely brilliant. The text of web pages on their faces on top of the construct of the room was quite simply art. The appearances of Irene and Mycroft were entertaining and beautifully crafted into his psyche. 

Most of the actors in this show have wonderful voice and diction. They are able to deliver lines you are not used to seeing in regular television shows. It is very unlike American dramas that only involve sex and death with overly dramatic audible deliveries. Sherlock is not what I would call family friendly because of the nature of the crimes, but it is character driven and well scripted. The endings are somewhat hokey but that's not what the show is really about now is it? 

I have been SHER Locked for the past few years and I don't see that changing because this season has been great already. I look forward to the next episode. 

Runner Runner (2013) Run Away From This One

Runner Runner (2013) 20th Century Fox

By me watching this movie and by you reading this you can safely know that you dodged a bullet. At first, I was wondering how a movie starring JT, Gemma Arterton, and Ben Affleck was so poorly advertised, but found out after its run time of over 1 hour and 33 minutes. Runner Runner has the semblance of a decent film. I would call it the skeletal structure of a film, but lacks any meat. From the beginning of the film you are supposed to be interested in the character of Richie First (JT), but throughout the film you are looking for reasons to keep watching because he is THAT uninteresting. Furthermore the role Affleck plays is hopefully not a foreshadowing of what kind of work he will do in Batman. It looked like he didn't even try to be his character, it looked like he was just picking up another check. To be honest, I have only really liked him in Good Will Hunting (1997) and he was really carried by performances from Matt Damon and Robin Williams. The redeeming performance of the movie came from Anthony Mackie who actually had delivered some good lines in the portrayal, but sadly the character was as underdeveloped as the rest of the cast. I thought that Gemma Arterton had the good sense to stay away from scripts like this because of the goodwill she has built up for worthy performances like Prince of Persia (2010) and Clash of the Titans (also 2010). Both of those films weren’t the greatest but they were at least passable. Runner Runner was unable to portray the emotions of real people in a specific situation and you find yourself caring less and less about each character as time goes on. The plot line is somewhat similar to the feelings you have at a poker game. You keep waiting for a good turn card to lead up to the river, but it just doesn’t come. It’s safe to say that I did not enjoy the film and thought that even the cinematography could have used some work. For some reason you always feel far away from what is happening because the camera is always focused on the surroundings and not the characters which is a good way to pretty much sum up the film.

As a Sidenote: I have lived in Costa Rica and it was easy to identify they were not filming there although they did go through the ruse of having Costa Rican beer (Imperial) and jerseys from a basketball team from Jacó. The reason they probably went to these lengths is that there is a lot of bribery in the film and Puerto Rico did not want bad press for their police departments. I guess Costa Rica was just a scapegoat, but the landscape wasn’t even passable in most places. It was obvious from certain scenes that they were on an island. 

Rush (2013) A Thrill to Begin the Year

I have never been a huge fan of Ron Howard's films. Now that being said, Rush happens actually is an interesting film based on the true story of James Hunt and Niki Lauda and is certainly worth watching if you don't mind copious amounts of nudity, a badass rivalry that goes just as far as Angier and Borden in the Prestige, and features an ending that perfectly explains the mindset of the two men and how they lived. 

I think we all enjoy rivalries because we can all remember what it is like to have an opponent. Whether it is a school bully that has been mean to you or a teammate from a sports team, as humans, we all have the need to compare ourselves against them. Some people bask in the rivalry to become better and others allow themselves to fill up with jealousy and hatred. 

Lauda and Hunt are portrayed by Hemsworth and Bruhl. Brule has been fantastic if you have seen some of his german films and he was also featured in Inglorious Basterds. I say 'Hemsworth' because any film his unnamed brother has been in has literally brought me to tears of sadness. 

Both actors are able to portray the vastly different lifestyles of each person and of course like all Hollywood films, the story comes full circle to be retrospective. The only part that was somewhat less entertaining was the fact that the dialogue was very short. I guess the writing was easy to attack, but I found myself wanting to hear more from each character. I get the fact that not everything needs to be explained, but I wish there were more in a film that passes the threshold of two hours. 

I was somewhat depressed further to find the Oliva Wilde has been cast again as the same pretty girl where 'things just don't work out' because it is getting rather tiresome to watch.

Natalie Dormer (Game of Thrones) also has a cameo and continues to also play the same typecast she has previously received in other roles. I don't mind seeing her well crafted body, but I can't help but feel like she has more potential as an actress. 

All in all, Rush does a credible job of explaining a story and a better job of explaining a rivalry and a relationship between these two famous men. It is an enjoyable watch that will certainly leave you rooting for the character you are more like.