Star Wars: The Force Awakens Teaser Trailer #1

With a little over a year to go, JJ Abrams, Lucas Film and Disney give us our first look at Star wars Episode VII The Force Awakens!

First off that was the fastest 88 seconds of my life! I love the aesthetic of the trailer, it looked and felt more like the Star Wars I grew up with than the PT ever did. 

No sign of Luke Leia, Han, Chewie, R2, 3PO or Lando.....where are you Lando!!!

We see Boyega in a Storm Trooper uniform apparently running from someone or something on what appears to be Tatooine, Daisy Ridley (Kira) driving some type of vehicle that somewhat reminds me of a Podracer, and Oscar Isaac  piloting an X Wing over a lake...I like the Voice Over, it almost sounds like the Inquisitor from Star Wars Rebels. I'm not feeling the new light saber with little blades on the hilt, but the Falcon doing a barrel roll was sweet! I suspect we'll be getting another trailer soon which will showcase the OT actors and then in May a third when Avengers 2 hits theaters we'll get a full trailer.

Movie Review: Big Hero 6

So I just got home from my 7 day vacation at Walt Disney World on Friday....I'll be updating my YouTube channel with video's from my trip and I have over 3000 pictures to go thru.
Saturday I went with my wife and son to see Big Hero 6 and we all loved it, especially my son!
Big Hero 6 has alot of heart and NO singing, so fellas you can breathe easy knowing you wont have the kids singing in the back of the minivan on your next road trip.
Visually Big Hero 6 is gorgeous, San Franciscokyo (???) blends the two cities together into one stunning megalopolis that is a joy to see as Hiro and Baymax fly across it's skies....think back to the feeling you had the first time you saw RDJ as Tony Stark fly out of his lab in IM1...just as impressive in Big Hero 6!
The amalgamation of Tokyo and San Francisco in this movie was similar to Macross Frontier's.
The story deals with Hiro grieving the loss of his brother Tadashi but the message is very positive and never becomes sad or depressing.
Baymax's matter of fact personality is hilarious when paired with Hiro's adolescent energy and exuberant outgoing personality. Don't be deceived by Baymax's emotionless appearance, the big inflatable bot has a big heart!
I also liked the message the movie gave little kids that science can be exciting and fun, the other members of the team were all unique and enjoyable, Gogo, Wasabi, Honey lemon and Fred.
This is a Marvel property so be sure to stay for the post credits scene.
Big Hero 6 was a fun movie from start to finish that kids and adults can enjoy. It's chock full of emotion and humor and the visuals are gorgeous.
A-

Star Wars: The Force Awakens Speculation/Theory #2

Based on Friday's article on io9 I have taken all I've read so far and come up with a plausible theory of how Episode VII may play out. Kira finds Lukes lightsaber and shows it to the local tavern/cantina owner, he doesn't know what it is but the crazy ol Cyborg von Sidow spots the light saber and suddenly becomes coherent and offers to help Kira. The cyborg happens to know someone whose  very interested in Jedi antiques. Han and Chewie just happen to be doing some honey do job (find Luke...he's our only hope) for senator Leia Solo-organa-skywalker in the very same place is asked to take them to planet (x) to meet with this antique collector (think Walter Donovan from IJatLC). Before they leave the cyborg contacts someone and says "It's been located". So Kira, Hann, Chewie, and the mysterious cyborg set out to meet this antiquity collector, once they meet he shows them his impressive collection, Han spot Vader's helmet in a glass case but acts like he's unaware of what it is. The collector  hires them to find some other Jedi/Sith artifact which eventually will lead them to the planet Luke has been hiding on for the last 20/30.

Like my original theory Luke becomes a hermit because of his fear of how powerful he's become as mentioned in the io9  article . Perhaps Luke has discovered the same power Darth Plagueis had mastered....eternal life by becoming one with the force without leaving his physical body.

I think it would be pretty awesome if Kira tracks down Luke similarly to how Indiana Jones tracked down the Holy Grail in IJatLC and must go through rooms full of traps 

 

at Lukes temple to save (Han?). Once she finds him at the rumored temple Luke is in a room in such a deep meditative state that he appears unconscious but levitating slightly off the ground with stones levitating around around the room. He is unaffected by Kira's presence but when the villain enters moments later his eyes open and stands up from his levitating sitting stance, the stones drop to the floor and there is a luminous glow around him. Kira is shoved to the side as the villain ignites a lightsaber and charges Luke. Luke's new lightsaber levitates from under his robes in front of him and parries the attacks in a similar way Vader parried Lukes attacks in TESB. The villain attempts to force push Luke as Luke floats closer towards the antagonist but Luke isn't budged as his robes show the force of the villains force push. Luke counters by force pulling the antagonist towards him.

Anyway that's my lastest theory. It is said Luke saves the day in a bad way....I don't think Luke will die in VII but I do have a feeling he will in IX and by someone close to him...a phantom menace so to speak.
Darth Kira has a nice ring to it, doesn't it...

"He became so powerful, the only thing he was afraid of was losing his power...which, eventually of course, he did. Unfortunately, he taught his apprentice everything he knew. Then his apprentice killed him in his sleep. Ironic. He could save others from death...but not himself."

Charlize Theron's Ravenna vs Angelina Jolie's Maleficent

So my wife and I watched Maleficent the other night, we recently got Sleeping Beauty (the 1959 animated movie) on Blu Ray. I had never seen it before but I was familiar enough with the story and the stories antagonist Maleficent As far as villains go she is definitely up there on the nightmare fuel list! After watching Sleeping Beauty I thought to myself there is one evil bitch! But as an adult I want to know more about her, why is she evil? Has she always been evil? Apparently Disney thought so too after the relative success of Universals 2012 live action fairy tail Snow White and the Huntsman.
I remember seeing the trailer for SWatH and thinking "wow this movie looks promising". And for the most part it was, even with Kristen Stewart's Ctrl. C-Ctrl. V performance SWatH was good. SWatH had up and coming star Chris Hemsworth and A-lister Charlize Theron which IMHO elevated this movie from mediocre to better than bad. In all honesty Charlize Theron owned every scene she was in in this movie and rightfully so....the movie should have been called Ravenna's Quest for the Ancient Chinese Pearl Cream.
So getting back to Maleficent, I understand it's Disney's property and they can do as they please with their characters, but my wife and I were both let down by this revision of the story of Aurora and Maleficent. I do appreciate the alteration of the "true love's kiss will break the curse" much the same way as Frozen  poked fun at one of Disney's infamous tropes,..love at first sight->marriage-->live happily ever after. I'm glad to see Disney has outgrown the naivety of it's older films and have stayed relevant in our cynical day and age.
But herein lies my conundrum!  I want Maleficent to be that evil bitch I saw in Sleeping Beauty I feel like they neutered one of their most iconic villains! So in this case I think the 21st century version of Snow White's curse breaking kiss worked better, it allows Ravenna to be Ravenna...an evil bitch!
Both films have their strengths; incredible actresses that elevate their characters, impressive use CG for the fantasy creatures in both films, and a more truthful/believable explanation of "true love".
But both also have their short comings: weak performances from the title character coughsnowwhitecough, and too drastic a deviation of the primary villain and other key characters.    

Movie Review: John Wick

"People keep asking me if I'm back, yeah I'm thinking I'm back"
Shit happens and when it rains it pours, this is the case for John Wick, his wife dies, he gets a puppy, he gets knocked the fuck out in his house at night during a home invasion, his puppy is killed, his sweet 69 Mustang Mach 1 gets stolen.
I'm gonna be honest, there isn't much most women will find entertaining about this movie John Wick is 100% testosterone, from the cars, the music, the women (yeah I'm lookin at you Ms Perkins) to the gun fight in the club! That scene in the club could've felt long and overdrawn but didn't the pace was just right and the way they edited the action to the music was perfect!
Michael Nyqvist was fantastic and oozed confidence till the end I loved the scene where he explains to his son who John Wick is, and again the editing between that scene and Keanu "digging up his past" was perfectly done...."that fuckin nobody is John Wick" "He's the one you send to kill the fucking boogey man".
That scene could've come across so cheesy and roll your eyes bad but Nyqvist knocked it out of the park with utter believeability.


The idea of a hotel that caters to assassins and is where they congregate during jobs or between was a refreshing idea.
All in all I think John Wick has potential for growth similar to Jason Bourne, It would've been cool if they were able to put some cameo's in the continental such as Mat Damon, Daniel Craig, Robert DeNiro (Ronin), etc.

Lets not forget Keanu was Neo and Neo was the fucking man in the Matrix trilogy even when Reloaded and Revolutions didn't live up to expectations.  Keanu has not been on his A game since the Matrix trilogy but this movie should give his career a boost of momentum. And for the record I enjoyed 47 Ronin I think Keanu was a terrific Jedi Master Kai.....
B+
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The Walking Dead S5E4 Slabtown

While Rick and the gang are on their religious retreat with Father Gabe and Abe, Rosita, Eugine and the rest of Z troop are on their rescue 911 road trip we finally catch up with Beth....ya remember her....Maggie's sister...
So while everyone else has been fighting to not be eaten by cannibals or bit by Walkers Beth wakes up in a soft hospital bed with clean sheets fresh scrubs and is surrounded by cops and a doctor! Beth has access to medicine, clean water yummy gerbils, so what's the problem? Well for starters Officer Dawn Lerner basically run's the hospital like some credit card companies, you're debt...being rescued or captured (however you want to look at it) whether you want be or not....the princiiple might seem within reach but the interest will keep you paying FOREVER! And if you're deemed valueless you get the shaft...literally! EXPRESS ELEVATOR TO HELL, GOING DOWN!
It's hard to keep the officers morale up when there's nothing but death and destruction every direction you look in, which leads me to problem number two...
You better be a master at a trade that isn't already taken in this hospitable because those who have a job at Shady Memorial will do ANYTHING to keep it, and if you don't have "skills" you might find yourself  sucking Officer Gormans'                                                          lolipop

What?

What'd you think I was going to say?

Good Episode, all the fresh faces were a nice change of pace, Beth's struggle reminded be ALOT of baby doll's struggle in Sucker Punch!

Remember Beth if you don't believe in something, you'll fall for anything.

Bad Robots

So I couldn't convince John Walsh to write this article and John Connor wasn't available so here we go!
Humanity is doomed, the sooner you come to terms with this the better off you'll be, if the Zombie apocalypse doesn't get us the Robots certainly will! And since I've been old enough to go to the movies I've been reminded that we will eventually be ruled by our own creations! God creates man in his likeness, man forsakes God for technology, man creates machines in their likeness, machines forsake man...we've seen that story line time and again...it's like we're predicting our own demise!
With the recent Age of Ultron trailer and the plot reveal for Terminator Genisys (ugh why!?) it dawned on me that we need to smash our technological shackles and start planting trees and realigning with the the erf!
So as a public service Free Swim is giving you Humanities 10 Most Wanted Robotic Criminals! (in no particular order)

1. B166ER (Animatrix): This robot pretty much told his owners to eat a dick and killed em! Tired of helping Evelyn put on her depends under garments he strangled Harvey and then cracked Evelyn's cranium like a fortune cookie.

2. Legion (Mass Effect) We can learn ALOT from the Quarians! They get evicted from their home world and then when you're forced to choose between the Geth and the Quarians in ME3 if you choose the Geth the remaining Quarians are exterminated by the reapers and Tali commits suicide!

3.Mark 13 (Hardware) Just when you thought it was safe to resume your love for sculpture with junk laying around  the wastelands of a dystopian future....

4. Ultron (Avengers Age of Ultron) He's gonna show us something wonderful..no strings on our boy Ultron

5. Megatron (Transformers) The ruthless leader of the Decepticons, hell bent on destroying the Autobots and ruling Cybertron and sucking the earth dry of it's natural resources..(energon).

6. T-800 (Terminator) Ahh Cyberdyne systems model 101 Out to kill the mother of mankind's last best hope but then to protect her son that in the future kills him but is reprogrammed and sent back to chaperon him to a bunker before Skynet becomes self aware and declares war on humanity....oww my brain!

7. Roy Batty (Blade Runner) Poor Roy the Replicant just wanted to live a little longer....don't we all.

8. Ash (Alien) A last minute change to your crew's science officer may raise a couple flags,,,Ash lost it because of Ripley's incessant nagging....shoving a news paper down the bitch's throat might not be the most prudent approach...

9. David 8 (Promethius) Ok David....you are a curious one aren't you? Obviously you have some degree of an a Oedipus Complex your working out.

10. Lore (Star Trek TNG) Ah the old Ying Yang of the Universe....For every Data there's an equal and opposite Lore...if you find the remains of a cyborg scattered across the galaxy, best to leave it alone! There's a reason.