Author Archives: Doc

The Darkest Minds

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No… these characters are NOT the X-Men.  Nope.  Not at all.

A mysterious “illness” swept across the country doing one of two things to all the children.  It either killed them or it gave them some sort of super power through genetically altering them (see…not X-Men.  No mutants!). The government responded to this, of course, by rounding the remaining children up and putting them into camps.

Each child was tested and they were given a level of danger, ranked by color.  Red was the highest and followed by orange.  These two sets of children were automatically put to death.  The remaining levels of yellow, blue and green were kept in the camps and forced into manual labor.

Even the President’s son (Patrick Gibson) was one of the altered kids, but the president (the terribly underused Bradley Whitford) apparently cured him.

Meanwhile, young Ruby (Lidya Jewett) survived the disease but had not shown her ability until one night she accidentally wiped herself out of the memory of her parents.  Taken to the camp, she spent six years there as the time jumps forward ( I guess nothing of importance happened in that time frame).  Teen Riby was then played by Amanda Stenberg.

At this point, she escaped and joined up with a ragtag bunch of mutan…errrr … um… survivors to try and find the mysterious Slipkid, a rebel helping powered people learn their powers (so NOT Charles Xavier).

Okay, I am going to go really geeky on you for a minute because this really distracted me throughout the entire film.  These power levels were so messed up.  First of all, those characters with mind control powers were listed in the orange section as the second most dangerous.  Ruby was one of those, and, at first, she could only do her mind voodoo if she made skin-to-skin contact (no NOT at all like Rogue), but she later developed it into being able to use it at a distant.  If anyone thinks that mind control isn’t at the highest level of danger, they are just foolish.  Then, when we see Red level characters, they are simply fire breathing characters.  Scary visual but nothing to it.

Then, in the blue level, they included telekinetic powers.  No way.  These powers are way more dangerous than the fire breathers and should be in the orange section while the mind control should be red.  One of the ragtag bunch Ruby meets is Liam (Harris Dickinson) and he is a TK.  At one point in the film, he (SPOILER, if you care) kills a group of five reds by himself easily.  That should prove how dangerous he was.(END OF SPOILER).  He even speaks of how the League (which is a group that are militarizing the survivors to do battle with the government) was trying to teach him to break arms with his TK.  Um… how much longer before you are breaking necks, baby?

Sorry, but that whole color thing distracted me the entire film.

The characters are basic and not that exciting.  They are clearly tied closely to the X-Men and are lesser versions.  Amanda Stenberg is good, but she does so many dumb things that I couldn’t believe it.  I wanted to yell at her to wake up.

This film is based on a YA novel of the same name by Alexandra Bracken and that was something I did not know at first, but it makes sense.  The whole thing feels thrown together with too much included but not enough world building for the movie to be effective.  I assume there are more details in the novel that might help put this into context.  Like, for example, have people stopped having children now?  The film never covers that but it certainly implied that there were no children left. If this was a disease, shouldn’t it be okay for people to have more children?  Is that disease still in the air?

The other problem was that the ending of the movie is completely unsatisfying and exists to simply encourage a sequel (HINT, HINT… this one ain’t getting one of those).

This was a very poorly executed movie with characters that will be so much more entertaining and fleshed out when Marvel Studios finally puts out their X-Men movies.

1.5 stars

 

 

Christopher Robin

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Christopher Robin Movie Poster

I really feel like a Woozle right now.

I was very disappointed with the saccharine-sweet Christopher Robin, the new film featuring the characters of A.A. Milne which tells the story of what would happen if Christopher Robin grew up and forgot about the Hundred Acre Woods and his dear friend Winnie the Pooh.

I was really looking forward to this film because I was a fan of Winnie the Pooh as a youth.  Heck, as a child, I had a stuffed Pooh bear on my bed for years.  I anticipated an emotional swelling with tears and a sweeping wave of nostalgia to overtake me making me wish for the old days passed.

Instead, I have a tooth ache from all the sugary sap that was shoved at the story, a story that was sadly too simple to suffice.  And yes… that was a lot of alliteration.

Yes, there are some scenes that work here as well.  Christopher Robin is not a total loss, but they really try their best to remind you of your childhood.  The characters such as Tigger, Eeyore, Piglet, Rabbit, Owl all get their classic lines, and Pooh himself spouts off his backward wisdom throughout the movie.  Most of that is harmless and fun.

Much of the film concept is similar to Hook, the Robin Williams movie where Peter Pan grows up and loses himself.  This time though it is Christopher Robin (Ewan McGregor).  I have to say, I never thought Robin was his last name, although it was in this film.  I always thought it was a middle name and that fact distracted me every time he was called Robin by one of the rotten businessmen such as Giles (Mark Gatiss).

The movie was desperately predictable, formulaic and took zero chances.  It was exactly what you would expect if you heard the premise.

I did like the design of the animated characters.  They were made to look very much like the stuffed toys that they are.  There were some sight gags that were used with this, but those grew tiresome quickly.  Brad Garrett voiced Eeyore, a role that he has been playing since Everybody Loves Raymond.  Hayley Atwell is here too as Christopher Robin’s wife Evelyn, but she is wasted having little to do.  And speaking of wasted, Toby Jones (who voices Owl) is one of the office workers at Christopher Robin’s job.  There is not one office worker that Christopher Robin is trying to keep employed that is anything more than a glorified extra.  I’m not sure why I should feel anything for these people losing their jobs.

Ewan McGregor does fine as the Gin Rummy-hating adult Christopher Robin, who is shown as a deadbeat dad to daughter Madeline (Bronte Carmichael).  There is not much to the character of Madeline.  She’s basically a little girl.

You wouldn’t think they could mess this up, but the Christopher Robin movie is simply not what it should have been.  You can take your kids to the movie and they should like it enough but there is nothing here that will make you fall in love with Pooh and his friends if you aren’t already invested in them.

The disappointment makes this movie feel worse than it is.

2.4 stars

 

EYG Top 10 Break-Up Movies

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EYG23

Another Tuesday and another Top 10 Show.  This week’s list was a tough one to guess.  I thought maybe we would go negative with worst spy films, or maybe we would do something connected to Christopher Robin, but instead, in honor of The Spy Who Dumped Me, the topic became Top 10 Break-Up Movies.

This was still a challenging list to compile as this type of film generally falls into a category that is not my favorite.  I must say though that I really enjoy my current schedule with Tuesday off which allows me to watch some of the recommended films from John and Matt before I have to write my own list.  I watched 3 films today from this genre and two of them have made the list.  Unfortunately, I only have a few more weeks of this to enjoy as school will be restarting later in the month of August.

I ended up liking my list quite a bit as I had several on here that neither John or Matt included.

#10.  Legally Blonde.  The tenth spot continues to be that film that is a guilty pleasure and this week, the Reese Witherspoon vehicle, Legally Blonde lands here.  Reese’s character Elle Woods breaks up with her boyfriend because he was going to attend Harvard and she wanted to prove to him that she was more than a beautiful blonde.  The film was silly and quite a bit of fun with the fish-out-of-water trope.

 

#9.  La La Land.  This was the spot that I debated over.  It was between this movie and about two other choices.  I wound up choosing La La Land but truthfully, I could have swapped it out just as easily.  I was never a giant fan of the musical, but I did enjoy the dancing and the music, in particular.  The end of the movie was a gigantic risk and turned out wonderfully, playing off the characters’ development and struggles.  It was a well done movie that wound up a bit overrated.  Great performances from Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling.

 

#8.  Her.  Joaquin Phoenix and Scarlett Johansson are amazing in this film.  Johansson is, arguably, never better despite never actually appearing on screen.  The futuristic film was a strange one to watch, but, despite that, really covered the realm of human emotion and loneliness that we all have felt at some point in our lives.  Wouldn’t we all have loved to have had a Samantha to talk to and share our lives with.  Her was written, directed, and produced by Spike Jonze.

 

#7.  Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.  This is a huge cult hit despite the fact that it was not much of a box office smash.  Based on a graphic novel, Scott Pilgrim is played by Michael Cera who has to fight off the legion of ex-boyfriends of the woman of his dreams, played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead.  One of the ex-boyfriends is played by the always epic Captain America, Christ Evans.  The video game style movie ending was fun and creative too.

 

#6.  Silver Linings Playbook.  Bradley Cooper lost his wife after coming out of the psychiatric hospital where he was for his bipolar disorder and his life was crashing around him.  A young woman, played by Jennifer Lawrence, agreed to help him try and re-win his wife.  In exchange, she wanted him to join her in a dance contest.  This does not sound like a film that I would have enjoyed that much, but I really did like it.

 

#5.  Casablanca.  One of the greatest movies of all time was another film that did not make it on the Top 10 list today, which is surprising.  Maybe they did not consider it enough of a “break-up” movie because the break-up ends at the end of the movie.  Although Rick Blaine and Ilsa Lund did have  a previous relationship that ended in a split up.  “Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine.”

 

#4.  (500) Days of Summer.  This is one of the three films I watched today for this list and I found this one remarkably charming and original.  I really enjoyed the format of the film which was narratively different than any film that I had seen.  Joseph Gordon-Levitt was great in this film where he was in love with Zooey Deschanel, though she specifically tells him she does not want a boyfriend.  Again, it was not a film that I would not be quick to watch, but I was engaged the entire time.

 

#3.  Mrs. Doubtfire.  The Robin Williams smash hit featured the immediate break up of the parents Daniel and Miranda Hillard after Miranda (Sally Fields) just can’t take it any more.  Because of the break -up, Daniel went to some extremes in order to spend time with his kids.  Robin Williams is his typical frenetic self as he is dressed in old lady drag and using that quick wit to make each ridiculous situation extremely funny.

 

#2.  Eternal Sunshine of the Spotted Mind.  Here is the second film to make this list that I watched today that I had never seen before.  It was another one where the narrative was not just told int he same old manner and it was remarkably creative and original.  Jim Carrey gives a really strong performance throughout, mixing mostly serious with a few farcical scenes.  I love how some of these movies take the same basic idea and include some amazing creative ideas to provide us with a new viewing experience that is unlike anything we have seen.  Along with Carrey, Kate Winslet, Kristin Dunst, Mark Ruffalo, Elijah Woods and Tom Wilkinson are all fantastic in this movie. I am so glad I got a chance to see this.

 

#1.  The War of the Roses.  As I was researching these movies, War of the Roses popped up and I immediately said, “That’s number one!”.  I loved this dark comedy with Michael Douglas and Kathryn Turner as a married couple who just cannot stand one another any more but who both want to keep the house that they built together.  Instead of compromising, the Roses, try to pull every trick int he book which devolves into maniacal efforts against each other.  Danny DeVito is awesome here as the lawyer who just wants to help this couple get away from one another.  The War of the Roses really takes the break-up of a marriage to a new level of discourse and is unbelievably dark and funny.

 

Honorary Mentions:  (The film I watched today, but did not make the top 10) Chasing Amy, Manchester by the Sea, Kramer vs. Kramer, The Room (Ha Ha).

 

+EYG23

Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind

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There have been a few times where a celebrity death has affected me strongly. I mean, I am always sad for the loss or for their family, but very few have been a reaction for me.  Robin Williams’ death was like a kick in the gut.

I remember where I was when I learned of the death of this iconic man.  I was at the movie theater in the Quad Cities (now it is called Cinemark, but it may have been something else at the time) waiting to watch a Fathom Events special premiere of The Giver and I had checked Twitter.  I could not believe it.  The film had a pre-show live event and they spoke about him on it as well.  They interviewed Jeff Bridges who was clearly in shock over the news.  It was a surreal night.

I loved Robin Williams and that loved dated back to his days as Mork, first on Happy Days and then on Mork and Mindy.  He was larger than life and I had never seen anything like him.

You get that feeling again in the HBO documentary, Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind.  It is a marvel that someone like Robin Williams was able to be shared with us for such a short time that you never really believe how lucky we were.

The documentary tells Robin’s whole life, touching on his childhood, but focusing much more on his rise to fame and his effect on people around him.  We hear from his famous friends such as Billy Crystal, Bobcat Goldthwait, Pam Dawber and his family members too.  The documentary does not shy away from the drugs and alcohol which was a constant struggle for the comedian, though it only touches upon the depression over a diagnosis of Parkinson’s late in his life,

The main component of the doc though is to show just how remarkable the man was.  They shared stories about Robin, highlighted with clips from movies, stand up specials and other events that clearly established how incredibly quick witted and explosively funny Robin was.

There were a lot of videos that I had not expected to see, including Robin in an improv class among others.

And I laughed hard at several of the scenes.

2018 has been a great year for documentaries as this is the fifth exceptional one I have seen so far.  With RBG, Three Identical Strangers, the Andre the Giant one, and Mr. Rogers, the Robin Williams doc is in great company.  If you are a fan of Robin Williams, you need to see this movie.

4.3 stars

The Verdict (1982)

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There was a tweet late last week from John Rocha, one of the Top 10 Show hosts and film connoisseur, recommending the film starring Paul Newman as an alcoholic, down on his luck lawyer who was handed a huge case in The Verdict.  I had heard Rocha and his co-host talk about The Verdict on another show and I was interested in seeing it so I searched it out.

The Verdict is a wonderfully acted and taut story of a pregnant woman who had been given the incorrect anesthesia during a surgical procedure that led to her having brain damage and slipping forever into a coma.

Lawyer Frank Galvin (Paul Newman) turned down an initial offer of $210,000 from the Church and the hospital in Boston where the two highly respected doctors involved were on staff.  This was probably the one area where I had some problems with the film.  It is known that a lawyer is duty-bound to present any settlement offers to his/her clients before rejecting it.  In the movie, Frank rejects the offer without checking with the victim’s sister and the sister’s husband.  In fact, the couple were very mad at turning down the money, since they could have used it.  That was a major faux pas.

Frank started the case for the money, but along the way, after he went and saw the victim, he gained perspective on life and the unfairness of the situation.  Newman really played the character well, highlighting the desperation and guilt over the chance that he could lose the case.  You can see the progression of the character from an angry drunk to someone who is ready to fight.

The Verdict seems to also have something to say about the way the court process works, as the judge, defense attorney and even Frank himself are shown doing things that benefit themselves that even border on malpractice.  The Judge (Milo O’Shea) is a reprehensible figure who tanks a round of questioning by Frank because he wanted to break until the afternoon and lunch was waiting for him.  Justice was far from his mind. Then the defense attorney, a big time lawyer named Ed Concannon (James Mason), had his own dirty dealings in the case.

Charlotte Rampling, who played Laura, a woman Frank met and became intimate with but who had her own reasons, felt superfluous to the story and did not drive enough o the story to warrant her inclusion.  She did fine in what she did, but it just felt unnecessary.

The Verdict was a fascinating movie filled with flawed people and a jury system that has its bugs as well.  Newman is outstanding and the whole cast does great work.  The Verdict was a five-time Oscar nominated film, including for Best Picture, Best Actor (Newman) and Best Supporting Actor (Mason).

vintage

Image result for the verdict movie poster

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LOST Episodes Ranked

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Here it is.  The official EYG LOST rankings of episodes #113 to #1.  This has been a fun month or so rewatching this EYG Hall of Fame series that redefined so much about television.  Placing this list in order is very difficult because there were very few poor episodes of LOST.  Most of them were really good to exceptional and fell together.  Because of that, some episodes that feel like they should be a higher number may be lower than expected.  Anyway…here we go.

#113.  S3 E9 Stranger in a Strange Land.  This is the easiest of the episodes to rank because it is clearly the worst LOST episode.  Jack and his tats.

#112.  S 2 E11 Fire + Water.  Charlie dealing with his drug addiction way too late and doing things way out of character.  This is the birth of Dark Charlie, but it thankfully only lasted a few episodes.

#111.  S1 E13 Hearts & Minds.  Boone is in love with Shannon and Locke gives him some weird-o commune drugs to make him see what the Island wants him to see… which is Shannon getting killed by the Smoke Monster.

#110.  S1 E22 Born to Run. Kate enlists Sun’s help to try and poison one of the guys on the raft so they cannot leave and Kate can continue to run.

#109.  S2 E5 …And Found.  Sun loses her wedding ring and we meet Jae for the first time.

#108.  S6 E10  The Package.  Desmond is brought to the Island in Charles Widmore’s sub.  Sun hits her head and forgets how to speak English.

#107.  S4 E6  The Other Woman.  Juliet has a relationship with the married Goodwin, and Ben doesn’t like that.  This is one of the few episodes where Ben shows some kind of crazy stalker desire for Juliet.

#106.  S2 E16. The Whole Truth.  A Sun and Jin flashback episode where Sun finds out that she is pregnant.  Jin wants the whole truth and Sun lies to him, though we do not know that she is lying.

#105.  S1 E3 Tabula Rasa.  The first flashback episode as we learn more about Kate and Mars.  Sawyer shoots Mars but misses the heart forcing Jack to put him out of his misery.

#104.  S3 E1 A Tale of Two Cities.  Jack, Kate and Sawyer are brought to Hydra Island and we are introduced to Juliet.

#103.  S1 E21 The Greater Good.  Boone’s funeral and Locke returns leading to trouble.  Shannon tries to shoot John because she thinks he killed Boone.

#102.  S1 E6 House of the Rising Sun.  Sun reveals to Michael that she can speak English as she tries to protect Jin from a misunderstanding.

#101.  S2 E22 Three Minutes.  Michael’s trip after Walt in detail.  He is captured by the Others and offered a deal that if he finds a way to release “Henry” that he and Walt would be reunited.

#100.  S6 E3 What Kate Does.  Kate escapes Mars again in her flash-sideways and hijacks a taxi with Claire inside.  However, Kate does not run and returns to help Claire.

#99.  S4 E10 Something Nice Back Home.  Jack’s appendix needs to be removed which falls to Juliet to do.

#98.  S1 E12 Whatever the Case May Be.  Kate discovers a pond and in the pond is some more wreckage of 815, including the case carried by Mars.  Inside there is something that Kate must have back.

#97.  S5 E5 This Place is Death.  The group continues to flash through time on the Island and John is ready to do what he can to stop it.

#96.  S1 E15 Homecoming.  Claire returns suffering from amnesia after being grabbed by Ethan.

#95.  S1 E5 White Rabbit.  Jack chases after the vision of his father who leads him to water and Adam and Eve.

#94.  S3 E2 The Glass Ballerina.  Sun flashback episode where her infidelity is revealed.  Jack and Ben make a deal over his back surgery.

#93.  S4 E8 Meet Kevin Johnson.  The Island is not through with Michael yet and so Michael is pulled back from the edge of suicide to find himself on the freighter as Ben’s spy.

#92.  S4 E2 Confirmed Dead.  We see how the characters from the freighter are recruited by Widmore.  Meanwhile, the people on the Island start to doubt the motives of the freighter crew.

#91.  S6 E5 Sundown.  Down goes the Temple.  The Smoke Monster attacks the Others at the Temple killing them all.

#90.  S1 E17 …In Translation.  The same story basically as House of the Rising Sun, but from Jin’s POV.  Someone set the raft on fire.

#89. S3 E3 Further Instructions.  John Locke living at a commune.  On Island, Locke tries to save Mr. Eko from the polar bears.

#88.  S4 E4 Eggtown.  Kate is on trial for her list of crimes after she returns as one of the Oceanic 6.

#87.  S2 E18  The Long Con.  Sawyer sets up a long con in order to get his hands on the guns and the medication.  Sawyer says there is a new sheriff in town.  This might be higher up the list if Sawyer had maintained the attitude for longer.

#86.  S2 E18 What Kate Did.  Kate blows up her “step”-father Wayne and tells her mother about it.  Mistake as she turns Kate in to police, starting her time on the run.

#85.  S3 E12 Par Avion.  Claire meets her real father Christian.  On Island, she tries to catch a migratory bird.

#84.  S3 E11  Enter 77.  Sayid, Locke, Kate and Danielle find a Dharma outpost with Mikhail manning it.

#83.  S2 E19  S.O.S.  Rose and Bernard flashback episode where we learn that Rose had cancer before coming to the Island, but that she was now cancer-free.

#82.  S3 E18.  D.O.C.  Juliet takes Sun to the medical Hatch to see when she conceived her baby.

#81.  S2 E15 Maternity Leave. What happened to Claire during the time that she was abducted by Ethan?  We find out here, including several tidbits about the mysterious Others.

#80.  S3 E15.  Left Behind.  Kate and Juliet wind up being handcuffed together in the jungle as the Others left them behind.

#79.  S1 E8  Confidence Man.  Sayid and Jack strap Sawyer to a tree to torture him in order to find Shannon’s asthma medication.

#78.  S5 E2 The Lie. The Oceanic 6 agree that they must tell the world a lie about where they have been in order to protect their friends they left on the Island.  Hurley is very uncomfortable.

#77.  S1 E10. Raised by Another.  Claire is told by a psychic that she must be the person to raise her child or else bad things will happen.  This would also be higher on the list if the credibility of the psychic isn’t called into question.

#76.  S1 E9 Solitary.  Sayid leaves camp, ashamed about his actions against Sawyer and he finds Danielle Rousseau, the French woman.

#75.  S4 E7 Ji Yeon.  The show plays both a flash forward (Sun giving birth) and a flashback (Jin rushing to hospital for business).

#74.  S5 E6  316.  The Oceanic 6 (sans Aaron) get on the Ajira flight 316 that is heading over the window of the Island, according to Ms. Hawkins at the Lamppost station.

#73.  S5 E9 Namaste.  Sawyer arranges for Jack, Kate and Hurley to be on the sub and join the Dharma Initiative.

#72.  S6 E8 Recon.  Sawyer heads over to Hydra Island to see what he can find out about the Ajira plane.  Instead, he finds Charles Widmore.

#71.  S1 E14 Special.    Michael and Locke need to bond together in order to save Walt from a polar bear.

#70.  S2 E4 Everybody Hates Hugo. Hurley is put in charge of the food in the Hatch and fears that everybody would turn on him, just like everybody did when he won the lottery.

#69.  S5 E13 Some Like It Hoth.  Hurley and Miles have a bonding moments talking about their fathers and their super powers.  Miles reveals that Dr. Chang is his father.

#68. S1 E11 All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues.  Jack turned his father in for being drunk while he operated.  On Island, Hurley takes a census and discovered that Ethan was not on the plane.

#67.  S2 E6 Abandoned.  Shannon sees a vision of Walt.  She runs into the Tailies coming across the Island and Anna-Marie shoots her by accident.

#66.  S2 E2 Adrift.  The story of what happened to Michael and Sawyer and how they survived on the raft is told.

#65.  S5 E11 Whatever Happened, Happened.  After Sayid shot little Ben, Kate and Sawyer go to extreme measures to save the life of the child.

#64.  S3 E6 I Do.  Kate’s marriage to Kevin is shown.  Meanwhile on the Island, Jack’s plan to get Sawyer and Kate to safety is underway.

#63.  S5 E10 He’s Our You. The Others take Sayid to their “torturer” in order to get him to tell the truth.  Sayid does, but they do not believe him.

#62.  S1 E19  Deux Ex Machina.  Locke meets his real father, Anthony Cooper, who cons Locke out of his kidney.

#61.  S2 E7 The Other 48 Days. This episode tells what happened during the first 48 days on the Island to the Tail section survivors.

#60.  S5 E4 The Little Prince.  The Island is flashing through time causing the on Island people to start to get nose bleeds.

#59.  S1 E20 Do No Harm.  Boone dies in an emotional moment.  Jack planned on amputating Boone’s leg in an effort to save him, but Boone was a “sacrifice that the Island demanded.”

#58.  S3 E4 Every Man for Himself.  In flashback, we see Sawyer con his way out of prison and we learn that Cassidy had Sawyer’s baby, Clementine.

#57.  S3 E16 One of Us.  Juliet arrives back at the survivors’ camp and is not very welcome.  Claire gets sick and Juliet is able to help her.

#56.  S2 E8 Collision.  After Ana-Lucia shot Shannon, she holds Sayid prisoner and demands supplies from Michael.

#55.  S4 E3 The Economist.  Sayid has become an assassin and he is killing people involved with Charles Widmore…all for Ben Linus!

#54.  S1 E7 The Moth. Jack gets trapped in a cave in and Charlie tries to get him out, despite suffering form withdrawals from his heroin habit.

#53.  S2 E11 The Hunting Party.  Jack, Locke, Sawyer go after Michael, who has taken off after Walt.  Kate gets captured and the Others, led by Tom, shows their strength.

#52.  S6 E13 The Last Recruit.  Sawyer leads a rebellious escape from the Locke/Smokie, but jack decides to stay on the Island and jumps off the boat.

#51.  S5 E14 The Variable.  Daniel Faraday thinks he has the answer to their time travel trouble.  He says detonate the Jughead bomb in the Swan station electromagnetic pocket.  He says that it would change the future.

#50.  S2 E21    ?.  Locke and Mr. Eko find the Pearl station and Locke loses his faith even more.

#49.  S3 E17 Catch-22.  Desmond has one of his visions of Charlie’s death, but this time, Desmond wants the vision to come true.

#48.  S6 E12 Everybody Loves Hugo.  In the flash-sideways, Hugo meets up with Libby and they break  out of the spell and remember.

#47.  S5 E15 Follow the Leader.  The 1977 Losties start to leave Dharma and violence erupts.  Locke starts to lead the Others to Jacob.

#46.  S6 E5 Lighthouse.  Jacob had Hurley take Jack to the Lighthouse and show him the wheel in order to get them out of the Temple.

#45.  S4 E1 The Beginning of the End.  Hurley, one of the Oceanic 6, winds up back at the mental institution when he starts seeing Charlie coming to see him.

#44.   S1 E18 Numbers.  Hurley wins the lottery by playing the mysterious numbers, 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42, which brings Hugo nothing but bad lick.

#43.  S4 E12 There’s No Place Like Home, Part 1.  The first part of the season finale for season 4.  Some of the survivors are transported to the freighter. Locke and Ben head to the Orchid.

#42.  S1 E16 Outlaws.  Sawyer kills a man in Australia, mistakenly believing that it was the real Sawyer.  On the Island, Sawyer and Kate hunt a boar that seems as if it has a grudge with Sawyer.

#41.  S2 E20  Two for the Road.  Michael returned to the camp and winds up shooting Libby and killing Ana-Lucia in order to help “Henry” escape.

#40.  S2 E1 Man of Science, Man of Faith.  Locke and Jack argue over the Hatch.  Locke eventually heads on down and we meet Desmond for the first time.

#39.  S3 E5 The Cost of Living.  Mr. Eko confronts the Smoke Monster and gets killed by the smoke.

#38.  S2 E14  One of Them.  We meet “Henry” for the first time, trapped in one of Rousseau’s traps.  Hurley and Sawyer hunt a tree frog.

#37. S4 E11 Cabin Fever.  We see the early life of John Locke including the never aging Richard coming to see the prematurely born Locke.

#36.  S1 E23 Exodus, Part 1.  We arrive at the Black Rock for dynamite to blow open the Hatch.  The raft starts on its journey.

#35.  S2 E17 Lockdown.  A buzzer goes off causing the Swan station to go into lockdown.  John’s legs get pinned under the blast doors and Henry helps.

#34.  S3 E21 Greatest Hits.  Charlie remembers the best moments of his life as he prepares to head down to the Looking Glass on a suicide mission.

#33.  S3 E7 Not in Portland.  Juliet gets recruited by the Others to come to the Island.  In present time, Jack completes Ben surgery and Kate and Sawyer escape after Juliet shoots Danny.

#32.  S2 E10 The 23rd Psalm.  Mr. Eko confronts the Smoke Monster and we get the best look at the “security system” yet.  The Smoke Monster leaves Mr.Eko alone.

#31.  S2 E18  Dave.  Hurley starts to hallucinate on the Island, seeing the imaginary friend he had while in the mental institution.

#30.  S5 E1 Because You Left.  Jack and Ben try to reunite the Oceanic 6 and convince them to return to the Island.

#29.  S6 E4 The Substitute.  In the flash-sideways world, Locke tries to come to balance with his paralysis and exactly what he “can’t do.”

#28.  S1 E24/25 Exodus, Part 2.  Part two of  the first season finale, where Locke blows open the hatch and Danielle kidnaps Aaron.

#27.  S3 E19 The Brig.  John Locke comes and gets Sawyer so he can kill Anthony Cooper, who is now mysteriously on the Island.

#26.  S5 E12 Dead is Dead.  Ben summons the Smoke Monster and is judged for his allowing Alex to be killed.

#25.  S6 E16 What They Died For.  The penultimate episode of LOST where the ghost of Jacob comes to the remaining candidates and answers their questions.

#24.  S5 E3 Jughead.  In their flashing around time. John, Faraday, Miles, Sawyer end up in the 50s and come to the Others camp.  The Others have a bomb.

#23.  S3 E14 Expose. Paolo and Nikki’s flashback episode where we find out that they are diamond thieves and their own selfishness leads to them being buried alive.  Many fans dislike this episode, but to me, it is one of the best.

#22.  S2 E3 Orientation.  We get a chance to see the first orientation video, this one for the Swan, where you have to keep pushing the button to save the world.

#21.  S6 E15 Across the Sea.  The origin story of Jacob and the Man in Black.  Mother finds the pregnant woman, helps her give birth, takes the twins and kills her.  This is another regularly hated episode that I believe is really strong.

#20.  S5 E8 LaFleur.  We see how Sawyer, Juliet, Jin and Miles become part of the Dharma Initiative and we see Sawyer talk to the never aging Richard.

#19.  S6 E7 Dr. Linus.  Ben has the desire for power in the flash-sideways, but will he sacrifice Alex’s future to get it?  This is very much a parallel to what happened on the Island and Ben makes the right choice this time.

#18.  S6 E1/2 LA X.  It seems that Oceanic Flight 815 landed safely at the airport in LA, but there are some strange differences.  Then, how are they all still back on the Island, now in present day?

#17.  S1 E4 Walkabout.  Don’t tell John Locke what he can’t do!  The flashback shows John trying to go on his Australian walkabout but being denied because he is paralyzed.  Shocking surprise since we know Locke on the Island can walk fine.

#16.  S3 E10 Tricia Tanaka is Dead.  A funny Hurley flashback episode.  On the Island, Hurley finds an old Dharma Initiative van (the one with Ben Linus’s dead father in it) and decides that they need a win and they have to get it running. This features some of the best Sawyer-Jin dialogue of the series.

#15.  S5 E7 The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham.  We see how John Locke, after failing to get any of the Oceanic 6 to return to the Island, winds up in the coffin.  Ben killed him!  And that was after Ben talked John out of doing it.  A truly sad end for one of the best characters on LOST.

#14.  S3 E20 The Man Behind the Curtain.  We find out the back story of Ben Linus, including the fact that he was not born on the Island as he had always said.  We also learn that he, along with the Others, was responsible for the mass murder of the Dharma Initiative.

#13.  S4 E9 The Shape of Things to Come.  This tells us what happened to Ben after he turned the donkey wheel and wound up in Tunisia.  He ends the episode face to face with Widmore and told him he was going to kill his daughter.

#12 S2 E23/24 Live Together, Die Alone.  The Others capture Jack, Hurley, Kate and Sawyer.  Meanwhile, John has locked himself inside the Hatch and has decided that the button would no longer be pushed.  Desmond discovered that he accidentally crashed Oceanic 815.

#11.  S6 E14 The Candidate.  Jack, Sawyer, Kate, Jin, Sun, Hurley, Sayid, and Lapidus steal the submarine and try to escape only to realize too late that it was a trap from the Man in Black.  This is the episode that saw the deaths of Sayid, as well as Jin and Sun.

#10.  S6 E11 Happily Ever After.  Desmond Hume has everything he ever wanted in the flash-sideways, except for love.  Fortunately, there is Charlie Pace here to show him the flashes of another world.  One where love is what is important.  Too bad Charlie had to drive Desmond’s car into the water to make the Scot see.  Another wonderful Desmond and Penny scene here as well.

#9.  S3 E13 The Man form Tallahassee.  John Locke was paralyzed, but we did not know how.  This episode we found out.  When John is approached about Anthony Cooper, he goes to try and stop his father from conning someone else.  Cooper shoved John out of an eighth floor window.  Locke’s very own father tried to kill his son.  It is no wonder Locke was suffering from such a depression when we first see him in the chair.

#8.  S4 E13/14 There’s No Place Like Home, Part 2.  We finally see how the Oceanic 6 wound up back in the real world. Jin blew up on the freighter (not really), Ben Linus turned the donkey wheel which resulted in moving the Island and Lapidus’s helicopter went down. Desmond and Penny are reunited in a lovely moment.

#7.  S5 E16/17 The Incident. We finally meet Jacob!  We see Jack really kick Faraday’s plan into gear to find Jughead and detonate the A-bomb in the location where the Swan station was going to be built.  If there is no Swan station, there is no button to push and 815 never crashes.  Or… is this what always happened and Jack detonating the bomb was always the incident?

#6.  S1 E1/2 Pilot.  Arguably, the best dramatic pilot of all time.  The first 20 minutes is as epic as you are ever going to see with our new hero Jack running across the beach desperately trying to save as many people as he can from this devastating plane cash.  Plus, there is some kind of monster in the jungle.  And polar bears.  Guys, where are we, INDEED!

 

#5.  S6 E9 Ab Aeterno.  An episode that is as good as many feature films that focuses on the back story of the never aging Richard and his tragic background.  This episode confirmed that Richard arrived on the Island by way of the Black Rock.  The writers threw in a beautiful love story between Richard and Isabella, that, through Hurley’s ability to talk to the dead, is revisited on the Island, saving Richard.  One of the best single flashback episodes ever.

 

#4.  S3 E8 Flashes Before Your Eyes.  The first Desmond “time travel” episode as Desmond tells what happened after he turned the key in the Swan Hatch.  His consciousness shot back to his days with Penny when they were happy and in love.  Desmond planned on proposing, but Ms. Hawkins told him he could not because he didn’t do it before and he could not change the past.  Whatever happened, happened.  What would have happened if Desmond had gone ahead and proposed?  Who knows.  But this was one more example of the magic between Penny and Desmond.

 

#3.  S3 E22/23 Through the Looking Glass.  Season three finale where we had the loss of Charlie, sacrificing himself so Desmond would be able to live.  Charlie still took the time to let Desmond know that the freighter off the coast of the Island was “Not Penny’s boat!”  We also followed along with Jack in the real world as he was addicted to pills and having a breakdown.  When could this be taking place?  Everybody’s mouths dropped when we found out that it was taking place in the future.  Jack was off the Island!  So was Kate as we saw her too.  What does that mean?  Is it the freighter who gets them off the Island?  Who else made it home?  So many questions brought up by this, one of the best cliffhanger endings to a season finale ever.

 

#2.  S6 E17 The End.  The final episode of LOST delivered in all kinds of ways, and I don;t care what anybody has to say about it.  It was an emotionally beautiful story that saw the final fate of our favorite survivors of Oceanic 815.  We saw the final battle between Jack and the Man in Black/John Locke.  We saw Jack pass on the mantel of leadership to Hurley because he knew he was going to die.  The End has brought me to tears every time I have watched it.  I know there are haters out there who think that LOST dropped the ball or did not explain enough of what was going on and they are welcome to their opinions, no matter how wrong they are.  The End is an epic finale for the greatest series ever.

 

#1.  S4 E5 The Constant.  This Desmond episode is one of the best hours of television you are going to see anywhere.  I absolutely love The Constant as Desmond’s consciousness jumped back between present day and his past and he desperately tried to stop the jumps from happening before it killed him.  How does he do it?  According to Faraday, he had to find a constant, something in common between both time lines.  That meant Penny.  The phone call between Penny and Desmond is electric, crackling with energy and chemistry.  It is the most creative hour of the entire series, and that is saying something.

 

So there it is.  All of the LOST episodes in order according to EYG.  You may have some differing opinions and that is fine, but this is the list for me.  Honestly, who knows how it might change over time.  That’s the great thing about television.

See you in another life, brother.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Spy That Dumped Me

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The Spy Who Dumped Me Movie Poster

I saw a special preview of The Spy That Dumped Me tonight and it was probably not a good idea to see this movie so close to Mission Impossible: Fallout because there was no way to think about this as a spy movie after seeing that other one.

Audrey (Mila Kunis) had been dumped by her boyfriend Drew (Justin Theroux) and she, with the help of her best friend Morgan (Kate McKinnon), was trying to get over it.  However, she found out that Drew was actually a CIA agent and he gave her a package that needed to be delivered to Europe.  Suddenly, Audrey and Morgan are swept up in a convoluted story of international espionage and treason.

I’ll start with the positives, which this film did have.  I really enjoyed the chemistry on screen between Kunis and McKinnon.  They played best friends and they seemed to be that very way.  I bought the relationship between them and that is important since that is the true relationship driving the film.

There were some great actors and actresses appearing in the film beside them:  Paul Reiser, Jane Curtain, Gillian Anderson, and Hasan Minhaj.  Unfortunately, a lot of these actors had little to do in the story and were there for basic cameos.

We also see some growth in Kunis’ character as she goes from having a lack of confidence to being strong enough to become a kick ass spy.

Now, Kate McKinnon was hit and miss.  Her character was so over-the-top throughout the movie that at times she became annoying.  Other times, when she was downplaying her weirdness, the character was considerably more entertaining.  The dialogue between Kunis and McKinnon ranged from funny and witty to nothing but low brow jokes.  The inconsistencies hurt the film.  Then, if you really sat down and look at the plot, some of the twists make no sense and really screw up the narrative the film had been building.

The film also tried to be smarter than it is with a series of obvious twists that you could see coming a mile away.

There were moments in the movie where I found myself laughing, but it was never a lot of laughing.

I feel as if this movie had a chance to be better than it turned out and could have done with some rewriting to focus more on the characters and less on the events.  Though it was not as bad as I thought it could have been, The Spy Who Dumped Me was at best, average.  It certainly was not the best spy movie of the weekend.

2.5 stars

 

Three Identical Strangers

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There has been some really good documentaries this year and Three Identical Strangers is yet another one.  It is a story that is so unbelievable that your jaw will drop and you will shake your head.

In 1980. three men, triplets, who were separated at birth and all adopted by different parents, found each other in an amazing coincidences.  The story of the 19-year olds became a huge nationwide story and they became famous.  However, questions about what exactly happened bugged the boys and they wanted to find out the answers.

I don’t want to spoil anything here because part of the amazement of Three Identical Strangers was that I did not know anything about the story going in.  It really is a shocking story with a dark turn that is extremely emotional.

The film focuses on the nature vs. nurture argument that has been debated for years.  Director Tim Wardle reveals his story beautifully, slowly pacing the tale to the point where you can hardly believe this isn’t a made up story.

I can’t really go into anything else without revealing anything so I am going to cut the review short.  See the movie.

4.5 stars

 

Mission Impossible: Fallout

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Image result for MI Fallout movie poster

Whoa.

The latest film in the Mission Impossible franchise, Fallout is one freaking white-knuckle thrill ride with insanity ruling the day and action everywhere.

Tom Cruise is back as Ethan Hunt, leading his IMF team on a mission to recover three plutonium cores that they had lost in a failed mission.  The government is having trouble trusting Hunt so they send CIA Agent August Walker (Henry Cavill) to keep an eye on him.

Fallout is a true sequel to Rogue Nation, the fifth film in the franchise, and it would be a wise choice to have seen that movie to understand what is going on here.  Most of the Mission Impossible films have been basically stand alone/self-contained stories of the same group of characters, but this definitely feels like the second part of Rogue Nation.  That is not a complaint, mind you, but if you have not seen Rogue nation, there are some characters and situations that you may have a difficult time understanding.

The remainder of the time is Tom Cruise doing insane stunts and providing unreal action set pieces.  There is a lot of Tom Cruise running in Fallout so if you love that trope, this will please you.  There is a chance involving motorcycles and one with cars and one on foot and one in helicopters and… man, there is a ton of exciting stunt work.

Famously, Tom Cruise injured himself doing one of the stunts (which was left in the film) and you cannot help but be impressed with the level of commitment from one of the most successful actors in history.  There is no reason why we need Tom Cruise to hang off of a helicopter or learn how to fly a helicopter himself, but he does it anyway and that should be respected.

To its credit, the film does not just settle for mind-blowing action scenes.  There are several real moments of characterization and growth within here as well.  Everybody does a great job with their performances. Ving Rhames has a couple of specifically great scenes here.  Simon Pegg provides just the right amount of humor without pushing it.  Rebecca Ferguson returns and provides a wonderful counter balance to Ethan Hawk.

Henry Cavill is fine here (I am trying to avoid making a comment on the mustache) but I am not sure if the twist involving him was meant to be a twist at all.  If it was meant to be a surprise, the film does a poor job of keeping it.  Personally, I think the film lets the audience in on the twist early and kept it from Ethan and his crew.

It is 147 minutes long, but it did not feel that way.  It was so packed full that I never once felt bored or as if something wasn’t welcome.

My only criticism is that there are a couple of moments where what happened was so over the top that it stretched my willingness to believe (in particular, a scene with a metal hook and the helicopter).

Mission Impossible: Fallout is a fantastic movie with thrills from start to finish.  It has Tom Cruise at the top of his game and takes solid use of the remarkable cast around him.

Choose to accept this mission… you won’t regret it.

4.85 stars

Teen Titans Go to the Movies

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I can easily understand why a fan of DC Comics and their characters may hate Teen Titans Go.  The program takes a serious team of heroes and makes them childish and immature.  I mean…one of these characters is Robin, one of the oldest and most important characters if the DC Universe.  Teen Titans Go is directed toward a very youthful audience and I know there are comic fans who think that is insulting.

And while most of the Teen Titans Go series is not very easy to watch as a comic fan, Teen Titans Go to the Movies is extremely clever, funny and just a lot of fun.  Who’da thunk it?

That does not mean that there are not sections of this movie that are stupid and resorts to fart jokes, poop jokes and other low brow humor for their jokes.  These sections are still dumb and a weakness of this film.

However, the funny and surprisingly well-written parts of the film outweighs the limited amount of poop jokes here.

The Teen Titans, featuring Robin, Cyborg, Beast Boy, Starfire and Raven, are having trouble finding respect among the super hero community because of their immaturity and their likeliness to break into song.  Meanwhile, it seems like every super hero around is having a movie made about them.  Robin desperately wants to have a movie based on himself and he and the team think that if they can find an arch-nemesis, they would be taken more seriously.

That arch-nemesis would turn out to be Slade (Will Arnett), who has started a plan by stealing a specific gem from Star Labs and he uses his mental manipulation to fool the Titans.

The strength and the friendship of the Teen Titans must overcome their own ego and the strain it might put on the team in order to save the world from Slade’s evil plan.

Teen Titans Go to the Movie was quite a surprise.  It was way better than it had a right to be and I found myself laughing and smiling at most of it.

There were so many DC Comic characters in the movie that I had a heck of a good time just looking at the crowd in the film’s movie theater and trying to name everyone.  Never would you see such characters as The Spectre, Deadman, Ms. Martian, Shazam, Booster Gold, Zatanna, Plastic Man, Elongated Man, Jonah Hex, Swamp Thing in the same scene with Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Aquaman and Flash.  It was amazing to see the artists’ rendition of these comic book characters that many of the audience members (certainly not the children in attendance) would have no idea who they were.

But even more than that was the fact that Teen Titans Go to the Movies is really a satire of the comic book movie genre and provides some really funny self-deprecating humor on the subject.  Comic book movies are not the only genre the film targets as it has a remarkably clever Back to the Future section of the film, a series of strangely catchy musical numbers and meta/fourth wall breaking moments.

And there are two specific Stan Lee cameos (voiced by Stan the Man himself) and a pre-credit scene that might make the haters smile just a little.

While I have never been a fan of the show, this film was way better than I ever imagined and I found myself laughing throughout.  I was constantly amazed at what I was seeing on screen (I am not sure, but I think I saw a movie poster in the background featuring Superman with a mustache…hey there Justice League).  As a comic book fan, I saw Easter eggs galore in almost every scene and I was astounded by what they got away with.  The whole Batman origin joke made me laugh out loud (not sure anyone else understood it in my theater).

This was really good and, while I could use less fart/poop jokes, I understand why they are here.  I also think something like Teen Titans Go to the Movies could help the comics. How many people might wonder about characters they see here only to find that they are real DC characters?

4 stars

 

LOST Seasons 1-6 Best and Worst

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Originally from DarkUFO.com.  Found on http://amazingexgirlfriend.blogspot.com/2010/08/lost-cartoon-poster-with-95-characters.html

 

The Best and Worst of the entire series of LOST.

I love LOST.  Rewatching the show this summer was a areal treat and I was able to find surprises throughout and to analyze situations and characters in a different light.  I am anxious to get this out because I may try and do a LOST fan fiction that I have been thinking about before school starts up in mid-August.

The list of the episodes in order from lowest to best will hopefully get completed soon as well.

Best and Worst Episode:  I am saving these for the complete list of LOST episodes.  My choices are not uncommon among other lists of the same.

Best Character:  Ben Linus.  So many choices.  This could legitimately be Locke or Jack or Desmond or Kate or Hurley or Sayid.  Ben, however, goes through such a dramatic shift in his character over the years and suffers such pain and loss because of his commitment to the Island only to be rebuked by Jacob…Michael Emerson really brought so much humanity to what could have been a one-note villain that LOST would not have been the same without Ben.

Worst Character:  Achara.  She made no sense.  She was the reason Jack had tattoos but it was nonsensical. She appeared in one episode and never heard of again.

Biggest Waste of a Character:  Matthew Abaddon.  He should have been an huge character, but he just never got his feet under him and he was dispatched way too easy.  He went from a mysterious enigma to a true waste of time.

Best couple:  Desmond and Penny.  This really became the heart of the show.  By the time we reached the Constant, I wanted this couple to get together more than anyone.  They were magical and perfection.

Worst couple:  Nikki and Paolo They were one of the bigger failures of the show, even though I loved the episode Expose where they met their fate.  They were a response to some criticism that the background members of Oceanic 815 never had any story.  So…we got Nikki and Paolo.

Most tragic couple:  Jin and Sun.  Easy.  They were separated most of the time.  They wound up dying together in Widmore’s sub, never to see their daughter again.

Best Death:  Charlie Hume.  There are a lot of great choices here too but none of the deaths had the impact on the show as Charlie’s demise in season three.  Charlie’s sacrifice was all done to get Claire off the Island.  And she does leave.

Biggest Surprise Death:  Dr. Leslie Arzt.  He was supposed to be at the Black Rock because he knew how to handle dynamite.  Since Hurley had to pick pieces of Arzt out of his hair several episodes later, Leslie must have been exaggerating his abilities.

Best Character Centric episodes:  Desmond.  Every flashback episode for Desmond Hume was a great hit.  His story was vital to the story of LOST and showed us what a wonderful character Desmond was.

Best Quote:  “If we can’t live together, we’re gonna die alone.” -Jack Shephard.  This quote was reused multiple times and even comes into play in the finale.  There were a lot of great quotes, but this one really informed on character (Jack) and plot.

Best Season:  Season One.  This was a real tough choice as well as Seasons two, four and five had to be in consideration, but the elite first season really put this show on the map.

Worst Father:  Anthony Cooper.  On a show with tons of characters with daddy issues, Anthony Cooper is easily the worst.  He threw his son out of an 8th story window and crippled him.

Best Father:  Pierre Chang.  Although Miles did not know, Dr. Chang sacrificed his happiness with his wife and son to save them from what was going to happen on the Island.

Worst Mother:  Eloise Hawkins.  Yes, she sent her son, Daniel Faraday, to the Island knowing that he would go back in time and that she would unknowingly shoot him.

Best Mother:  Cassidy Phillips.  She got pregnant with Sawyer, but there is no evidence that Clementine was anything but wonderfully loved and taken care of.

Best animal:  Vincent.  Another no-brainer here as Vincent makes the entire series and is involved in the first scene and the final scene.

Best Tail Section Character:  Mr. Eko.  I would have liked more with Mr. Eko, but he was clearly the most interesting and compelling character to come out of the tail section.

Best Freighter character:  Daniel Faraday.  I really love Miles too, but Faraday was the most interesting and important character to come off that freighter.  He led us to understand the time travel as well as played a huge role in saving Desmond.

Best Actor:  Terry O’Quinn.  O’Quinn was always brilliant in his performance as John Locke or the creature that took John Locke’s place.  While there were other great actors on the show, O’Quinn gave the consistently most layered performance.

Best Actress: Elizabeth Mitchell.  I hated Juliet for a long time, which is what we were supposed to do and then when we needed to love her, Mitchell turned it around.  She broke your heart when she died and melted it again when reunited with James.

That’s all I have.  Episodes will be next…

 

EYG Top 10 Tom Cruise Movies Revisited

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EYG23

Good evening all.  This week, in honor of the weekend’s big movie release, Mission Impossible: Fallout, the Top 10 Show came back and redid the list of Top 10 Tom Cruise movies.  Matt and John said this was the third time they did this list, once on the original show and once on the Collider show.  They both said that their lists changed over the three times as opinions change.

Let me address something that happened during the show.  When John did not include Edge of Tomorrow on his list, Matt asked the audience to slam John’s Twitter account with a line and to tag Matt in it.  The line was “I don’t believe Rocha is such a schmuck when it comes to Edge of Tomorrow.”  It was a funny interaction between the two and so I tweeted it out with some funny hashtags about the SDCC flu.  Then, earlier today, I saw John post a tweet about how it has been a bad week and he seemed very offended at the schmuck comment and he talked about blocking those who did it.  I immediately deleted the tweet because I did not mean to offend John.  It felt like a fun jokey thing between Matt and John that we could all join in with.  I completely respect John Rocha and love everything he does to entertain me.  If he was offended by my tweet, I apologize.  It was not my intent.

So moving on, here is the EYG Top 10 Tom Cruise movies.

Image result for knight and day#10.  Knight and Day.  Here is the guilty pleasure on my list.  Tom Cruise is a spy who winds up getting caught up with Cameron Diaz, who is trying to get back to Boston for her marriage.  The pair have a fun action story and they do have a lot of chemistry between the actors.  It is quite the cheesy film, but I found myself really enjoying it.

 

Image result for Tom Cruise vanilla sky#9.  Vanilla Sky.  Written and directed by Cameron Crowe, Vanilla Sky is a science fiction psychological thriller that really takes some wild ideas and concepts.  Tom Cruise starts in a prison cell where he is telling his story to a psychiatrist.  Much of the story is told through flashbacks during this time that reveals how Cruise’s face has been scarred.  Then, it gets weirder after that.  It has been awhile since I saw this film and it might be one to revisit in the future.

 

Image result for mission impossible rogue nation#8.  Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation.  This is the most recent of the Mission Impossible movies and a film that was extremely fun and exciting.  It included Tom Cruise hanging off of an airplane as it took off.  It also had some awesome motorcycle stunts.  Rebecca Ferguson appears as a rival in the film and really hits it big.  Rogue Nation was a lot of fun and embraced what this series of films are like.

 

Image result for jerry maguire#7.  Jerry Maguire.  This is another Cameron Crowe movie with Cruise where Tom is a sports agent named Jerry Maguire who has left his agency to start his own little company and he needs that big time star to sign to solidify the company.  He is hoping that this would be Cuba Gooding Jr.  While that part of the film is going on, there is also a relationship between Maguire and Renee Zellweger  and her cuter than heck son.  This is the film where the phrase “Show Me the Money” came to be.

 

Image result for collateral cruise#6.  Collateral.  This was the film I watched today because it was the Top 10 Show’s number one film, but I was not sure I had watched it before.  I think I had seen it years ago, but my memory of it was sketchy so I decided to watch it today.  It was really good, with Jamie Foxx as a taxi driver and Tom Cruise as a hitman/assassin, but I don’t think it was as high as the guys had it.  I was distracted by the white hair on Tom Cruise’s head.  It is one of the few times where Tom Cruise played the villain character and he does it extremely well here.

 

Related image#5.  Rain Man.  I loved this movie.  This is another time where Tom Cruise played a character named Charlie who was fairly slimy.  He discovered that he had a brother with classic Autism and he tried to get custody of him to gain control of the money he thought his father should have left him.  Along the way back after removing his brother Ray, played by Dustin Hoffman, from the institution that he was at, Charlie started to bond with Ray and he softened his stance on what should happen with his brother.  Charlie showed great growth throughout the film and Cruise does a great job acting opposite a brilliant Hoffman.

 

Image result for MI Ghost Protocol#4.  Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol.  Now the guys only put one Mission Impossible films on their list, but I wanted to put two.  I think this is the best of the franchise.  When Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt is outside the building on that glass, the tension was palpable.  This was such a fantastic action adventure that saw the team having to go off the grid because they were being chased by the government.  Great stuff.

 

Image result for minority report#3.  Minority Report.  Another great science fiction film with Cruise working in an agency that uses psychic technology to tell the future and arrest people before the crime has been committed.  When, Cruise becomes the center of one of the crimes, he needs to look closer at the program to discover the truth.  Directed by Steven Spielberg and adapted from a Phillip K. Dick story, Minority Report is a fun mystery to try and figure out.

 

Image result for edge of tomorrow#2.  Edge of Tomorrow.  Here is the film that caused all the controversy today.  Tom winds up with the power to relive a day over and over again and so he could effectively affect the war going on with the aliens that have been attacking the earth.  Emily Blunt is awesome as the kick ass military officer that Tom Cruise’s pencil pushing Major has to try to convince about his ability.

 

Related image#1. A Few Good Men.  One of the great films.  Rob Reiner’s adaptation of a play brought Tom Cruise face to face with Jack Nicholson.  The courtroom drama has one of the most iconic scenes in film history with the “You can’t handle the truth” scene.  And while Nicholson delivered the amazing monologue, Tom Cruise matched him with every line and the scene would not have had the impact that it did without Cruise playing off Nicholson.  Cruise was so easy to root for during this movie that dealt with an issue that was hardly black and white.

Honorable Mentions:  Tropic Thunder, American Made, Jack Reacher, The Outsiders

 

EYG23

The Manchurian Candidate (1962)

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A US soldier was captured during the Korean War and he is brainwashed into being a sleeper agent.  Robert Shaw (Laurence Harvey), the son of an influential family in US, is placed in a situation to make himself look like a hero to the American public.  However, agents from China and the Soviet Union had set up an American handler to try to use Shaw to infiltrate the highest levels of the government.

The Manchurian Candidate has a definitive feel of relevance for the world we live in today.  There is some scary thoughts found here.

Angela Lansbury is just brilliant in the role as the mother of Robert Shaw and the woman who is giving her brainwashed son his orders.  She is wickedly frightening here.  She is certainly not Ms. Potts or Jessica Fletcher.

Frank Sinatra played Captain Bennett Marco, one of the men Shaw “rescued” from capture during the Korean War.  Sinatra was having dreams that made him think that something had happened that was not what they remembered exactly.

The last hour of this movie was about as good as it gets.  I really enjoyed the Manchurian Candidate.  I had not seen it previous to today’s viewing and it was surprising how much it felt like it could be a story happening today.

This is a great thriller with amazing performances.  Angela Lansbury is as bad of a mother as you are going to find in the movies and a tremendous villain.  The ending is both sad and satisfying.  The Manchurian Candidate has a lot of things going for it.  If you haven’t seen it, it is worth the two hours to see it.

vintage

 

LOST Season Six Review

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The final season.  You know, I liked this final season more on this watch than I did the first time. Maybe it was because I knew what the flash-sideways world was so I was able to look at it like it should have been looked at.  I did not have my own preconceived notions or expectations about what was happening that I was able to enjoy it more.  I also saw some new things that I missed the first time through.

Best Episode:  The End.  I don’t care what anybody says, The End was an emotional thrill-ride that was as satisfying as could be.  If you wanted them to list off all the answers that you don’t understand in a big exposition drop, then you’re gonna be disappointed.  If you want an awesome conclusion to the story about the Oceanic 815 survivors started six years prior, then you probably loved it like I did.  Runner-Up:  Ab Aeterno

Best Flashback:  Richard, Ab Aeterno.  Richard’s story finally told was the best flashback, forward or sideways of season six.  It confirmed a lot of the speculations that we had about Richard and it told a wonderful romantic story as well.  Runner-Up:  Across the Sea

Best Performance:  Terry O’Quinn.  Terry O’Quinn was remarkable all year long as he was now playing a new character and there were moments where he was spectacularly chilling.  There were other times where he seemed like our old friend Locke.  He played the layers to this villain whom you understood since the moment you found out who he was.  Runner-Up:  Josh Holloway

Biggest Jerk:  John Locke/Man in Black. I think it has to be because, it the end, he tried to murder the entire group by blowing up the submarine and he succeeded in killing Sayid, Jin and Sun.  Runner-Up:  Charles Widmore

Best Death:  Sun and Jin.  This one was a heart-breaker, but beautifully done.  Sun and Jin had been separated for most of the last two seasons, off the Island to across time.  They reunited and then, before you knew it, they were drowning.  Such a tragic end for the Kwons.  Runner-Up:  Jack Shephard

Biggest Surprise: Desmond hits Locke with his car.  Desmond is our hero.  He is here to help everybody…wait…what are you doing???  Stop!  Desmond plowing down a man in a wheelchair seemed to be going opposite of what he had intended. Yet our sneaky Scot apparently knew what he was doing.  Runner-Up:  Sawyer’s a cop?

Funniest Moment: Ilana blows up.  Like Dr. Arzt before her, Ilana needs to be more careful when handling dynamite when the Island is through with you.  Runner-Up:  Frank Lapidus reactions

Best Moment:  Everyone meets at the church. The final scene where the group gets together and gets ready to move on is a beautiful ending for these characters story.  Everything built this season to this moment and it big not disappoint. Runner-up:  Jack gives the Island to Hurley.

 

That is the season 6 review.  I plan on doing a season 1-6 review and expand it a bit and I will be listing the LOST episodes from worst to best as well.

The Sandlot (1993)

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The Sandlot

This weekend was the 25th anniversary release of The Sandlot, one of the great baseball films made during the 1990s.  Much like Stand By Me, the Sandlot has a group of young boys whose bond s strengthened by a common mission.  In the Sandlot, that mission is baseball.

The coming of age story can be over-the-top and fantastical at times, but the heart is clearly there and the feelings of nostalgia is obvious.

Scotty Smalls (Tom Guiry) moves into a new neighborhood which is tough as the young boy does not make friends easily.  He spends most of his time inside playing with his constructor kit.  His mom (Karen Allen) tries to get him to go outside and meet friends.  He wants to join a group of boys who play baseball, but there is a problem.  Smalls has no idea how to play.

With the help of the best player among the kids, Benny (Mike Vitar), the others eventually accept Smalls and he blends in with the group.  But when a baseball is hit from the sandlot, over the fence into the next door junkyard, the legend of The Beast is revealed.

The Sandlot is a lot of fun.  The kids do a great job with what they have to do.  Admittedly, there is not any real heavy lifting to do acting wise with the exception of Tom Guiry and Mike Vitar, but the other boys are engaging and funny.

There are some good laughs in the movie too.  The scene at the pool in particular with Wendy Peffercorn (Marley Shelton) as the object of Squints’ (Chauncey Leopardi) affection is wonderful.  As are the myriad of attempts to retrieve the Babe Ruth baseball from the clutches of The Beast.

It may not be the most perfect film ever made, but there is no denying that there is a lot of fun to be had while watching this movie.

“You’re killing me, Smalls!”

classic

 

The Sandlot