Air and Space Museum

October 12, 2013 — Leave a comment

On a recent trip to the Washington DC area, I stopped by the Air and Flight Museum in the way to the airport. What a great last minute decision. Air and Space turned into one of the highlights trip.

The museum begins with man’s first flirtation with flight – hot air balloons up to the United States’ achievement with the Space Shuttle and everything in between.

A must do is the flight simulators. You can climb into the cockpit and pretend you are an ace pilot. Unfortunately for my friend, I’m not. After spending most of our “training” as the gunner and my friend as the pilot, she decided he didn’t want the job. It was left to me. Once we strapped ourselves in, we spend several minutes doing the 360s in my effort to fly left. After I finally righted us, the ride was over. Don’t let my failures fool you it was still a hell of a ride.

Once the federal government reopens check it out if your in the DC Metro area. Like all of the Smithsonian museum admission is free.

Air and Space

Quick Movie Review – Riddick

October 2, 2013 — Leave a comment

I’m a little late to the party but here it is:

If you were not amused by Vin Diesel’s character from Pitch Black and The Chronicles of Riddick don’t bother seeing this movie. Riddick picks up from Riddick’s reign as the lord of the Necromongers. This film doesn’t spend the first five minutes explaining his past. It just jumps right in assuming you’re a fan. It’s a little slow in the beginning reestablishing Riddick’s lone wolf persona, but with this installment you’re getting more action, more suspense and a new planet with some strange creatures on it. Now that his interplanetary reputation has gone from menacing murderer on the run to the crowned leader of an invading army, Riddick’s every move becomes legend. Enjoy the ride.

Quick Movie Review – Prisoners

September 22, 2013 — Leave a comment

The suspense and intensity in this movie are enough to make your blood pressure rise. In a wintry suburb tucked away in nowhere-specifically-America it’s Thanksgiving Day. The Dovers (Hugh Jackman, Maria Bello) and The Birchs (Viola Davis, Terrence Howard) are breaking bread together as a creepy RV is parked down the street. With the 2 teenagers from both clans parked in front of the television in a tryptophan haze, the two sets of parents suddenly realize that their youngest daughters never returned from a trip to the Dover home for a whistle. The RV is gone and so are the girls.

Jake Gyllenhaal plays laid back Detective Loki with a record of solving all of his cases. His cool as a cucumber demeanor severely clashes with the two families already at their boiling points. As Loki keeps a cool head and searches for the kidnapper, Keller Dover takes matters into his own hands by kidnapping the man he thinks is responsible. Prisoners has many spicy twists and turns that will keep you on the edge of your seat. It’s hard to take a side when you don’t know who the bad guy is. So I guess you’ll just have to wait until the end.

For another take check out (i.e. listen to) Cherry Davis vlog Prisoners Review

Quick Movie Trailer Review – Gravity

September 14, 2013 — Leave a comment

The only reason to see Gravity is Alfonso Cuaron. With a Cuaron film it’s surely going to be a visual feast. The plot is pretty straight forward – two astronauts struggle to survive in space after an accident. But this movie is not about the plot or the actors but about what a top notch director can achieve at the height of his career.

Release date: October 4

Quick Movie Review – Mortal Instruments: City of Bones

September 4, 2013 — 1 Comment

Riding the ebbing tide of movies based on Young Adult books, Mortal Instruments has finally hit the theaters. My approach to these movies is to leave my brain at the door and (hopefully) enjoy the ride. Unlike my previous experiences with Hunger Games and Beautiful Creatures, I haven’t read these series of books yet, so I had no expectations going in.

To my surprise I quite enjoyed the film. Clary Fray (Lily Collins) is your typical teen lead with luxurious hair and a slightly rebellious spirit. As her eighteenth birthday approaches she begins to draw a particular symbol over and over and has no idea why. She and her BFF, Simon, decide to hit a poetry reading and a later on a club to celebrate. Once she arrives at the club, that’s where all the fun begins. She starts to see people and incidents that no one else around her notices. A sexy pair Jace and Isabelle attack and kill one of the club goers. And of course, Clary is shocked that no one arounds reacts. Jace intrigued by the fact that Clary noticed him sets off to find out why. I won’t give away to much of the plot but it contains the usual Supernatural suspects, big spooky headquarters, Vampires, Witches, Warlocks, Werewolves, oh my. Nothing new is done with these characters but there are a few entertaining elements here and there.

There are a few plot holes that one needs to overlook and there’s obviously scenes up set to be revealed in the planned sequel, but the movie has a fast pace and a likable cast so it is an enjoyable diversion. Unfortunately, Lena Headey and Jared Harris are completely wasted in their roles with the material given them. But Jonathan Rhys Meyers chews the scenery like no one else can and there is plenty of eye candy with Godfrey Gao in a small role as Bane.

My cohort and fellow blogger Cherry Davis and I have decided to implement a new feature — dueling reviews. So check her thoughts at cherrydavis.org.

Quick Movie Review – Elysium

August 12, 2013 — Leave a comment

After hitting a home run with his debut picture, District 9, Neill Blomkamp hits the dreaded sophomore slump with this follow up Elysium. Matt Damon (Max) plays an average man in Los Angeles, year 2154. The earth has been wrecked by overcrowding and pollution. The uber-rich are able to leave the Earth and live in a paradisal space station, Elysium, orbiting the planet. Back on earth, Blomkamp draws parallels to modern society ills: police brutally, high unemployment, lack of health care, etc. Jodie Foster (Delacourt) is the Secretary of Defense on Elysium and it falls under her domain to get the less desirables for access the space station in search for a better life. Sharlto Copley (Kruger) is the psychopathic bad guy hired by Foster, to help her achieve her goals.

One of the many weaknesses of the movie is the lack of empathy for the main characters, We meet Max and his childhood BFF, Frey in flashbacks and see a tiny window of their bond. We never see the relationship between Max and Frey as adults, so there is no investment as to what happens to them. Matt Daman is his usual affable self but is given very little to work with. Jodie Foster is one of today’s best actors but in Elysium, she comes across as very stiff and mannered. Sharlto Copley is clearly miscast as the bad guy. As great as it is to see a diverse group actors on the screen, the dueling accents: South African, Mexican, Brazilian and whatever the hell Jodie was doing was very distracting.

Neill Blomkamp is an interesting director and I hope he returns to form with his next feature film.

Quick Movie Review – Trance

May 3, 2013 — Leave a comment

Trance tried really hard to be as complex and intellectual as Inception (2010), but only succeeded in making less sense than Memento (2000) or The Butterfly Effect (2004). Famous paintings have hit the auction block in England and somebody’s wants to steal one. Despite the training the employees have received on how to protect the artwork, James McAvoy’s character Simon drops the ball and gets suffers a head injury during the robbery.

Once the criminal mastermind behind the scheme (Vincent Cassel from Black Swan) realizes that Simon hid the painting without detection, he makes it his mission to pick up where he left off once Simon is released from the hospital. Rosario Dawson’s (Unstoppable) character Elizabeth Lamb is a hypnotherapist whose skills are employed to help Simon remember where he hid the painting. Unfortunately, her inability to keep her clothes on throughout the film discredits her clinical contribution, weakens the strength of her character and feels like a desperate attempt to make a simple story racy.

5 out of 9

Guest Blogger from Seattle

Quick Movie Review – Oblivion

May 3, 2013 — Leave a comment

I haven’t been this disappointed by a Tom Cruise movie since War of the Worlds (2005). In 2017 an alien race turns the moon into chalk dust irreversibly disrupting the balance of nature. With half of planet Earth rendered uninhabitable, the only scattered life forms remaining are the Scavs who waged the war for planet Earth after they destroyed the moon. In an effort to gather vital resources which sustain the lives of survivors who have relocated in space, Jack Harper and Victoria are left behind to repair the drones which guard the water rigs. With just 2 weeks to go before they are reunited with the rest of the human population in outer space, Jack makes a discovery that changes the future forever.

This sci-fi story sounds great on paper but its poorly executed. Once you figure out what’s going on early in the film, it’s anti-climatic and you can pretty much guess how it ends. Science fiction should always be about out-of-the-box creativity, creating a future with unlimited possibilities and stimulating the audience’s imagination. Oblivion played it too safe.

5 out of 9

Guest Blogger from Seattle

I Lurve Podcasts

March 12, 2013 — 1 Comment

As a nerd sitting in a cubicle all day, I like to listen to podcasts to pass the time. I have two new favorites:

Girl on Guy

I know that Aisha Tyler is the Queen of the Nerds but I just started listening to her podcast Girl on Guy. Fabulous. The eclectic selection of guest is off the charts: Rupaul, Baratunde Thurston and Wayne Brady. You find deep discussions on a wide range of topics: childhoods, breaking into the business and hustling. Hands down the best feature of the podcasts is “Self Inflicted Wounds.” The honesty and vulnerability found in this segment is deep and moving. I have found insight in each story.

Black Girl Nerds

As a follower of Black Girl Nerds on Twitter, I’m thrilled that they branched out into podcast land. It’s brand spanking new but shows a lot of promise. The first episode contains a thought provoking discussion on Blerds – BTW a term I hate – featuring points of view on both sides of the black nerd debate. I look forward to future discussions. The panelists showed balls by having callers on their first show. I tip my hat to them.

Check them out if you can.

http://www.girlonguy.net
http://www.blackgirlnerdy.blogspot.com

Quick Movie Review – Dark Skies

February 26, 2013 — 1 Comment

The less you know walking in, the more you will love it. Based on the movie poster I assumed that Dark Skies was a horror movie. In the end, I think that this movie created a whole new genre because it seriously creeped me out while suggesting a whole new way of looking at the human experience. It’s just another sunny day in suburbia for the Barrett family until the lights go out. After a series of disturbing events, Daniel (Josh Hamilton from Outsourced) and Lacy (Keri Russell from Waitress) use every rationalization in the book to avoid reality. Half of the terror in this movie is not knowing what’s going on. The other half is finding out what’s going on yet not knowing what you would do in the same situation. Once the audience is in the foxhole with the family anticipation just hangs in the air. Crawling towards the end of this story was like waiting for the last part of an earthquake – you want the intensity to stop even if that means discovering more cracks in the sidewalk.

8 out of 9

Guest blogger from Seattle

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