Archive for "Reviews"
Terminator 2: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
Posted on January 5, 2008 by Brian under Reviews.
Recently, I was honored with a screening of the new “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles” TV series that will air on Fox with a special two night premier on January 13 and 14. This small screen adaptation of the widely popular “Terminator” franchise fills in the gap between the 2nd and 3rd Terminator movies. It tells the story of Sarah Connor (Lena Headey) and her quest to stop Skynet and the destruction of humanity. While giving us a glimpse of the steps she takes to train John (Thomas Dekkerin) to be the leader of the resistance in the event that she fails. In this pilot episode, she is still running. Not content with the destruction of the man and the labs responsible for creating the machines. She is still haunted by a strong feeling that she will never be safe. Her fears are realized when a Terminator unit tries to kill John in his class room but is saved by a second Terminator unit named Cameron (Summer Glau) (a girl in his new school that he thought was interested in him for other reasons) who was sent to protect him. To top it all off, she is being perused by an FBI agent named James Ellison (Richard T. Jones). He is determined that Sarah is crazy, a threat to everyone and should be locked away for eternity. In the pilot you can see that Agent Ellison is beginning to realize that there are some things going on that he can not quite understand and is beginning to question weather Sarah is really crazy or in over her head. Originally, when I saw the previews for this series I was a little frightened that it might be cheesy and that the special effects would not translate well to the small screen. However, I was pleasantly surprised with the amount of technical precision that was put into the make up and special effects. In one scene the Terminator unit that tries to kill John cuts his leg open to retrieve a gun hidden inside. The exposed endoskeleton that was shown was impressively detailed and didn’t look cheap at all. Other recent TV adaptations of films like “Flash Gordon” have been seriously lacking in not only the special effects department but in the writing as well, coming off very campy and almost child like in its approach. “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles” is a good example of what movie adaptations should be like, allowing the writing and special effects to draw the viewers into the story instead of just simply relying on the popularity of the films to bring the viewers in. I think that if Fox keeps up this level of quality with the other episodes then they will be contenders with other Sci-Fi based series like “Heroes”, “The Bionic Woman” and “Stargate Atlantis”.
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Stargate Atlantis Premier
Posted on January 4, 2008 by Brian under Reviews.
Tonight was the premier of the new season of Stargate Atlantis. I have to say that this was one of their better openings. The alliance between the Wraith and the Atlantis team proved to be a worth while venture and the added support of the drift folks that Shepard ran into a few episodes back turned out to be a pleasant surprise. However, I have a feeling that Shepard’s little crush is going to pose a serious threat in the future. She has proved to be a very devious and cunning adversary and now that she knows the location of Atlantis I foresee her trying to exert her new found power over the team. As will be the Wraith that fled the battle in the end, you have a Wraith high guard out their that controls his own fleet of hive ships that knows the location of Atlantis, can we say security threat. And lets not forget the surprise ending that i am sure left some jaws dropping. The presence of Dr. Elizabeth Weir on an Ancient battle cruiser with her own crew and this announcement of a plan proved to be very interesting. The question now is, which Weir is this, the one that volunteered to be decoys or the Weir that is supposed to be dead. Hopefully the next few episodes will shed some light on that and help to unfold the mysterious plot that she is going to set in motion. All-in all, the series premier was very excellent and the visual effects were stunning as always, it gave be goose bumps to see that fleet of ships jumping into hyperspace. As I had stated before, I hope the creative team of Stargate Atlantis will continue with this momentum and provide even more exciting and complex story arc’s. I look forward to the future episodes and I am sure I will have more to say about the series later.
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Dinner at Tokyo on Thurdsay
Posted on December 29, 2007 by Ching under Family, Food and Drink, Life, Reviews.
The last time we were in Derby (Christmas eve) I noticed a new resto — Tokyo Steakhouse. Brian and I both like Sumo and Kobe so we figured we would give this place a try. We managed to talk Jen into going with us. Here is her colorful account of the evening:
Arriving at Tokyo, and realizing that my sister had not made reservations, I started making a mental calculations of how long we would be waiting based on how many people were sitting and eating, how far along they were at eating, and how many people were standing around waiting for a table.
As we waited I noticed I really pissy looking hostess. She was short and thick, and had those faces you just immediately want to slap. No clue why. Then beside her, another hostess, this one super tall and super skinny, and her mannerism kinda made you feel like she’d been picked on for most of her life. I couldn’t help but watch them really, because as the people piled in at the waiting area their attitudes started really showing. The skinny one kept looking at the seating chart, looking around, looking back at the seating chart and periodically she kept putting her elbows up on the table and burrying her face in her hands. I think she was trying not to make eye contact with the patrons, now growing impatient, and all watching both of them to see who was going to be seated next and when. The pudgy one kept walking from the back of the restaurant and back to the hostess table, and she was carrying this air of importance that you could tell didn’t belong to her. I guess, Brian overheard an argument between the two of them on whether to seat people on the empty tables or wait for thsoe that actually made reservations. In the long run, skinny chick won.
When we got seated, Ching started getting really concerned about whether they served sushi or not. I’m not sure why, because she didn’t want to order sushi, but she was really concerned. And she also started jotting bits of information about the night, I think for her review. Like she would have a really hard time recollecting the night or the food if she decided to sleep before writing about it. So she sat there looking around for a sushi bar, and jotting things down on an Inspector Gadget looking notepad. And then when the hibachi chef came by, the show really started. Not because he was anything different than all the other hibachi chefs we’ve seen, but because Ching was really into interacting with him. In a fairly somber table, she was trying to out-joke the guy whose job it was to make jokes. I think this happens because she rarely drinks, and my theory is that your body has to expel weirdness and absurdity. Usually people that drink have an outlet, but with Ching you just get it randomly, whenever her body feels it has to expel these things to make more room.
Either way it was a great meal, but for my money, I still prefer Kobe’s.
I haven’t written my review for Foodies yet, but that is coming. First, I need to find my “inspector gadget-looking notepad” and get some “weirdness and absurdity” out of my system.
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It’s not just a hobby, it’s an ADVENTURE!
Posted on September 1, 2007 by Ching under Reviews, Sponsored Post, Toys, Web.
My father and I have been restoring a Vietnam Era M151-A2 Military jeep that he purchased from a private owner. As part of our restoration we have been purchasing several items that we use in displays in shows that are held around the country. We set up these displays to be judged and admired by everyone. One of the hardest things to get is real replica’s of the weapons that were used with the Jeeps. At first we wanted to be authentic and get decommissioned real guns that were used in the Vietnam Era. However, after searching for a very long time we found that not only was it almost imposable to get these weapons it was very expensive and we just could not afford the price. One night I was looking around the internet and came across a web site that offered air rifles at really reasonable prices. Airgun Depot was the answer to our problem by offering realistic replicas at a very reasonable price. We perused the site and found the weapons that we needed and after purchasing an M16 replica we received it home and looked it over. We were surprised that even up close this air rifle was very realistic and fit our purpose perfectly. We purchased several other air rifles for the display and have not been disappointed with the products at all. The web site was very easy to navigate and the shipping and delivery were excellent.
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Curse of the Golden Flower
Posted on June 16, 2007 by Ching under Movies, Reviews.
“Who told you this movie is good?” That was Brian’s first reaction upon watching Curse of the Golden Flower. I guess he didn’t like it. I liked it, though. If you think your family is dysfunctional, you ought to watch this movie. It will make you feel better. LOL.
Hey, at least this movie is dubbed in English so Brian didn’t have to endure reading subtitles. Unlike Pan’s Labyrinth. Brian’s main complaint on that one was that it should have been dubbed in English. I’m sure they’ll release an English-dubbed version eventually.
Despite having to read subtitles, Brian paid enough attention to the movie to recognize the religious references. He commented about Ofelia’s true father, the king, being a God-like figure; her mother being a metaphor for Mary; and her infant brother being a representation of the baby Jesus. While his observation is on a more literal or physical level, I observed something similar. Taking it a step further the story line itself reminds of biblical, religious stories about the origin of man I was often told as a child. Only this time, you add fantasy and special effects and turn it into a fairy tale.
Princess Moanna, the daughter of the king of the underworld, ventures to the human world above to experience what it is like to be mortal. While living on the surface, she forgets about her previous life. She grows old and dies as a mortal, but the king believes that her spirit will return someday. Her spirit returns in the form of Ofelia. Ofelia has to pass several test in order to prove that her “essence is intact” before she can return to live with her father in the underwold.
Basically, Ofelia represents the children of God–mortals like you and I living in this world. We came from the heavenly kingdom but now we are here. Before we can return to heaven (for those folks who believe there is such a thing), we must prove ourselves. We face trials and tribulations each day of our lives. These are like the tasks or tests that Ofelia had to complete. Our choices demonstrate what we are made of, whether we have moral fortitude–whether our “essence is intact” so to speak. In the end, how we have lived our lives determines if we are worthy of returning to our Father in the heavenly kingdom.
Anyway, I was telling this to Brian and his reaction was “Have you been smoking dope and why aren’t you sharing?” Of course, I haven’t. The parallels just seemed glaringly obvious to me. Watch the movie and you’ll see what I’m talking about. It makes perfect sense.
Beyond the surface of the movie (a fairy tale loving child with a wild imagination cannot cope with the environment that she has been cast into and has gone completely insane) there is a definite religious tone. I think the closing throne scene with the mother, father, and baby–how the scene was costumed and presented–hammers this idea home. Like, if you don’t get the moral of the story we’re going to hammer it into you real obvious-like.
I don’t know. You watch the movie and tell me what you think.
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