Podcasts in Review

March 15, 2018 at 12:30 am | Posted in Podcasts, Podcasts in Review, Regular Feature, Reviews, Star Wars | Leave a comment

Here is this week’s Podcasts in Review.

Beltway Banthas: Interview: Dan Wallace of The Rebel Files kicks off with a little Star Wars Rebels discussion, then 14 minutes in, they hand it over to John Liang who interviews Star Wars author Dan Wallace. Dan talks about reading the scripts for Rogue One and The Last Jedi before the films came out, working with the storygroup, tackling the book and the various characters, his thoughts on the Rebel Alliance, New Republic and the Rebel leaders, the politics of the Rebel Alliance, and the extras included in the deluxe edition of The Rebel Files. Great interview.

Podcast Network: RetroZap, Runtime: 1 hour 5 minutes, Audio Quality: Excellent, Editing: Excellent, Hosts: Stephen, Swara, and John Liang, Rating: Great

Brews and Blasters: Episode 158 has Chris beating Joe to the Star Wars party yet again! Joe plays with his Panda Baba figure, they talk about the different versions of The Last Jedi home release, then they get into Star Wars Rebels. Specifically, they cover “Wolves and a Door” and “World Between Worlds” and they make some spot on predictions for the finale. They also go over the new Solo books and comics that are coming out, and they do some need’em got’em featuring the Black Series Captain Rex. Plus there’s listener feedback. Fun episode.

Podcast Network: Retrozap, Runtime: 1 hour 15 minutes, Audio Quality: Excellent, Editing: Excellent, Hosts: Joe, and Chris, Rating: Fun

Brews and Blasters: Episode 159 tries out some new music, heads into a burger discussion, then they dive into the Star Wars Rebels finale. They talk about Ryder’s betrayal, Hondo, the wolf battle, the royal guards, Thrawn’s end, the epilogue ending, Rex, and what could be done with the Unknown Regions. Another fun episode.

Podcast Network: Retrozap, Runtime: 1 hour 10 minutes, Audio Quality: Excellent, Editing: Excellent, Hosts: Joe, and Chris, Rating: Fun Continue Reading Podcasts in Review…

Movie Review: ‘A Wrinkle in Time’

March 15, 2018 at 12:04 am | Posted in Movies, Reviews, scifi/fantasy | Leave a comment

A Wrinkle in Time is, quite simply, a bad movie. With horrendous dialog, a childish story, and cliched characters, there’s not much to recommend. It was unclear from the promotion of the movie whether this would be a film for all ages or a straight up kid’s film, but I can certainly clear the air on that one – this is a movie for kids. And by kids, I mean young kids. Pre-teens and younger. Anyone else, I’d recommend staying far away from this one.

First off, this movie is based off a book. Unfortunately I’ve never read the book, so I can’t make any comparisons between the two. For those who haven’t read the book, here’s the synopsis. The movie stars Storm Reid, who plays Meg. She’s a kid whose father is a NASA scientist, but who disappeared four years ago, and ever since then she’s grown isolated and is picked on and bullied at school. She’s developed a very low self-esteem which she struggles with throughout the movie. Storm does a great job in the role, but no amount of great acting can overcome the limitations of the script in this film. Rounding out the cast, which isn’t very large, is Charles Wallace, Calvin, Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, Mrs. Which, and Mr. Murry. Charles Wallace is Meg’s adopted brother, who she gets along with great. However, he is an extremely perky, outspoken child. An extreme. In other words, he can be very annoying. Calvin is one of Meg’s few friends, and he has a huge crush on her. He also has some really corny dialog. Think Anakin in Attack of the Clones. The three of them are recruited by three very weird, mystical women named Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who and Mrs. Which. They kind of teach the kids how to travel through time and reveal to them that there’s this evil thing called The It that is spreading throughout the universe causing people to act bad and it’s holding Mr. Murry, Meg’s dad, prisoner. They’re looking for warriors to fight the It and they’re going to help Meg and her friends to get Mr. Murry back. Continue Reading Movie Review: ‘A Wrinkle in Time’…

Movie Review: ‘Gringo’

March 15, 2018 at 12:04 am | Posted in Movies, Reviews | Leave a comment

From the trailers, Gringo looked pretty good. With the premise and the action and the funny moments, it was set to be a fun, action filled comedy of drug dealers and out of place white collar characters. Instead, Gringo was a movie that didn’t know what it wanted to be, and failed to deliver.

The main plot of the story centers around Harold, played by David Oyelowo. Slowly but surely, his life is falling apart. His wife is spending all of his money and has put him in dept, there’s rumors that he’s going to lose his job, and things just get worse and worse. The trailers don’t reveal a lot of the plot points, as there’s some misdirection, but eventually the cartel does get involved and there is some kidnapping, car chases and shooting. There’s a strong cast of characters, and all of the acting is great, but the big problem with the movie is the direction of the story. Continue Reading Movie Review: ‘Gringo’…

Movie Review: ‘Game Night’

March 15, 2018 at 12:03 am | Posted in Movies, Reviews | Leave a comment

Game Night is a fun comedy that’s a bit over the top but has just the right mix of cliched characters and ridiculous moments that can keep you entertained from beginning to end and laughing out loud. The premise is pretty simple. A group of friends meet regularly for game night. They change things up by doing a role play murder mystery thing that involves outside actors and clues. However, a real life kidnapping happens and everyone thinks it’s part of the game, so they go with it, and the lines of reality and pretend get a little blurred as their chaotic night kicks off.

The movie stars Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams. They’re an extremely competitive couple who are perfect for each other. They’re joined by Kylie Bunbury, Lamorne Morris, Sharon Horgan, and Billy Magnussen who form their circle of friends for game night. Kyle Chandler plays the pivotal role of Bateman’s brother in the movie, as there is the constant struggle of trying to one-up each other, and Chandler is the one who gets kidnapped. Rounding things out, Jesse Plemons plays the really weird next door neighbor who is also a police officer. So you get the competitive power couple, the long time high school sweethearts couple, the odd couple of brains and dumb beauty, the next door weirdo and the super successful brother. Toss all of these people into a situation where there’s kidnappers, guns and desire to help each other out even in the most extreme circumstances, and you get a fun movie. Continue Reading Movie Review: ‘Game Night’…

Movie Review: Red Sparrow

March 15, 2018 at 12:02 am | Posted in Movies, Reviews | Leave a comment

Jennifer Lawrence stars in Red Sparrow, a twisting spy story littered with violence and sex. Spy stories aren’t for everyone, and I’m not a huge fan of the genre, but this one was pretty good.

From the trailers you get a good idea of what the movie is about. Lawrence plays a young woman in Russia who gets forced into the Sparrow program, a school that teaches men and women how to be spies without any morals. What the trailers don’t reveal is the true heart of the movie. This is a story about a character struggling to survive in a world populated by monsters. She has to out think and out maneuver everyone. This becomes an increasingly difficult task as her enemies begin to pile up and she falls deeper into the world of spies and espionage. Yet one of the strengths of this movie is how well the story twists around on itself to present intriguing new turns and character challenges. Continue Reading Movie Review: Red Sparrow…

Movie Review: ‘Death Wish’

March 15, 2018 at 12:01 am | Posted in Movies, Reviews | Leave a comment

I was hesitant when I heard they were remaking the film Death Wish. The original starred Charles Bronson and sparked a series of sequels that are cult classics. Now days, Hollywood churns out reboots left and right. However, the trailer looked like it had a few fun moments up its sleeve. Certainly nothing spectacular, but with Bruce Willis and some cheesy one liners, it promised to be at least an entertaining little action flick. Thankfully, Eli Roth knew what he was doing and delivered, as Death Wish is just that – a fun and entertaining action film.

If you’ve never seen any of the original films, the premise is pretty simple. The movie stars a doctor whose family is attacked and murdered. Seeking justice, Dr. Kersey takes matters into his own hands and hunts down the people responsible. He becomes a vigilante. The first Death Wish was a very serious film that focused on what people would call a bleeding heart liberal, and what it would take to turn someone like that into a gun toting vigilante killer. In this reboot, they start off serious and slowly transition to the more outlandish, action oriented and fun aspects that showed up in the old sequels in the franchise. For instance, in the trailer, there’s the scene where Bruce Willis tells the bad guy that he won’t kill him, but Jack will, and then he whips the car jack out of place to kill the guy. It’s over the top, but also kind of fun. Yeah, it’s violent, but you know what you’re going into with this one. Even with the serious tones and subject matter that creeps in, they manage to someone how give it that fun vibe at the end of the day. Continue Reading Movie Review: ‘Death Wish’…

Movie Review: ‘Strangers: Prey at Night’

March 15, 2018 at 12:00 am | Posted in Movies, Reviews | Leave a comment

Strangers: Prey at Night is yet another example of a bad sequel and a terrible horror film. The thing is, I kind of liked the first movie. It was a truly chilling film that followed a family being terrorized by a group of psychotic murderers. The ending of the film was something that stuck with you afterwards with it’s cold brutality. The sequel, however, achieves nothing. There’s no terror. There’s nothing memorable. It’s not even mediocre.

The movie kicks off with the strangers killing some old people in a trailer. It’s nothing too shocking or scary, thus kicking off the mediocrity of the film. Afterwards it picks up with the victims of the movie. There’s a family consisting of a mother played by Christina Hendricks, a father played by Martin Henderson, a brother played by Lewis Pullman (yes, he’s Bill Pullman’s son), and a sister played by Bailee Madison. Bailee is the delinquent daughter who is doing terrible at school so her parents are going to send her to boarding school. Thus she resents her parents. For some reason they head to a trailer park next to a lake where an aunt and uncle live (the two people killed at the beginning of the film). They arrive at dark and it doesn’t take long for the strangers to show up. They start killing people pretty quick. Unlike the first movie, they don’t start toying around with their victims until there’s only a couple left. In contrast to the first film, though, some of the strangers die in this movie. Continue Reading Movie Review: ‘Strangers: Prey at Night’…

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