Movie Review - Battle: Los Angeles

Honestly, I had really low expectations for "Battle: Los Angeles", and as I've said numerous times on this blog, low expectations is key for a good movie watching experience.  Surprisingly, this movie wasn't terrible...in fact it wasn't even bad.  And, as a bonus, there was no Michael Ironside, which I was expecting in this movie...he's typically in any movie like this.

In "Battle: Los Angeles" meteors are crashing to earth, at least that's what the silly humans think.  But, it turns out the meteors are aliens, and they are bent on taking over earth and using it's resources.  Yes, we've seen this movie before.  This is where we meet Staff Sargent Nantz (Aaron Eckhart), who is part of a group of marines responsible for clearing civilians from a lost area of Los Angeles before the Air Force bombs the snot out of that specific area.  The remainder of the movie follows these few marines as they save the civilians and eventually find the key to defeating the alien invaders.

Aaron Eckhart is actually really good at Sgt. Nantz.  I've been seeing Aaron Eckhart in more movies lately, dating back to "The Dark Knight".  I really like him as an actor.  The rest of the cast is not memorable, but Eckhart manages to carry the cast well enough.

The story is interesting.  Usually these types of movies focus on the President and some other "top level" guys who are trying to stop the invading aliens.  Sometimes they even have Wil Smith, just because it always helps having Wil Smith when facing off against aliens.  So, to see a relatively small group of "regular guys" just carrying out their part of the job was sort of refreshing.  Of course, having them save the day was also important to making this a true "Hollywood alien movie."

I think I'll rate "Battle: Los Angeles" 4 stars.  It might have been 3 if I would have had higher expectations, but given the low expectations I started with, I'm pleased with how much I enjoyed this movie.

Book Review: The Power of Six

The Power of Six is the 2nd book in the Lorien Legacies series by Pittacus Lore (a Pseudonym for the 2 guys working on this series).  You will recall that I really liked I Am Number Four, and I liked the 2nd book as well. 

This 2nd book continues to follow John Smith (a.k.a Number Four), but in this story, we also get to know Six, who we met at the end of the first book, Seven (a.k.a Marina) and Nine.  The Power of Six takes place over a very short period of time, and thus moves extremely fast and is packed with action.  The story continues to follow the conflict between the Lorien's (good aliens) and Mogadorians (bad aliens) on earth.  The Mogadorians are trying to exterminate the remaining Loriens before they attain their full power...yes they have super powers.  Trust me, it's a good story.

You will discover that this book does not have top notch writing.  I mean, it's not terrible, but I wouldn't describe it as literary genius either.  Still, this was a great read and I'm excited about the third book, which will probably come out next summer.  My brief internet search did not reveal a title, and I'm too lazy to keep digging.

If You Love Me....

Remember back during the 2008 election when we Conservatives were saying that Barack Obama has a Messiah Complex?  Well, maybe not all Conservatives, but definitely Rush Limbaugh, and me, to name 2 prominent Conservatives.  Personally, I still believe that, and this week, President Obama gave me further confirmation that I'm correct on this one.

During a speech in North Carolina, President Obama, presumably off the teleprompter, said "If you love me, you got to help me pass this bill!"  If the teleprompter told him to say that, I question whether the teleprompter is doing his job.  This statement was made in reference to Obama's notional jobs bill.

How does this prove that Obama has a Messiah complex?  Well, to borrow from Nuke, let's look at scripture.  In John 21:15-19 we have the famous exchange when Jesus asks Peter 3 times if Peter loves Him.  After each time Peter professes that he loves Jesus, Jesus gives Peter a command.  For another example, let's go back to John 14:15, where we hear Jesus say "If you love Me, you will keep My Commandments."

In the light of what I just cited above, what Obama said does sound like an attempt to sound Messiah-like, doesn't it?  Again Barack Obama is making it all about himself, rather than about the people in this country who are out of work.  Rather than making some emotive statement like that, Obama should try to lead and actually present something that makes sense for creating jobs and growing the economy.  But, I truly believe he doesn't have the faintest idea of how to do that.

To those who are super cynical who are thinking right now, "Why is it ok for Jesus to say what He said?  Isn't He doing the same thing Obama is doing?", I would answer that the point is that it is all about Jesus.  It's an entirely different thing...altogether.  As Christians, we profess that Jesus is #1 in our life, and as such, when He says what He said in John 14 and John 21, we need to do what he asks. 

That's all I have to say about that.

Double Your Animated Fun

I've watched a couple of Animated movies with my kids lately.  So, I guess I should review them.

"Toy Story 3":  The third, and I think final, movie in the "Toy Story" franchise from Pixar is my least favorite of the three movies.  With that said, it's still a good movie...4 stars.  Disney/Pixar has managed to bring Tom Hanks and Tim Allen back for three of these movies, and I have to say that I'm grateful for that.  Without the same vocal talent, it's just not the same movie.

In "Toy Story 3", Andy is off to college, and the toys are facing the reality of life ahead of them.  When they are mistakenly donated to a day care, the toys learn the harsh reality of life on the inside.  Can our heroes make it back to Andy in time?  Will they ever be played with again?  Well, you have to watch to find out.

"Hoodwinked Too:  Hood vs. Evil":  My kids were really excited about this one.  We really liked the original "Hoodwinked", so my wife and I were looking forward to it as well.  Sadly, we were very disappointed.  "Hood vs. Evil" is only a 2 star movie.

For starters, Anne Hathaway is not back as the voice of Red, which really bugged me.  Hayden Pantierre is ok, but the change in voices just threw me.  Secondly, it just felt like the producers/directors were just going for cheap laughs rather than any substance.  Finally, the story just wasn't that good.  Everything just fell really flat with "Hood vs. Evil."

Not the Broncos of Old

This post was actually requested by a friend/reader that lives in Colorado.  So, in the interest of keeping one of my 11 readers happy, here's my blog about the Denver Broncos, and Tim Tebow. 

First off, with the NFL season starting tonight, let's just face it...the Broncos are going to be terrible!  If I were a bandwagon fan like Nuke and rooted for teams that win all the time, I wouldn't be a Broncos fan.  I'd be a Steelers fan, and I'd probably predict a Super Bowl title.  As it is, I'm predicting 4-12 for my Denver Broncos, so one more win than last season.  I'm basing this on the fact that I think John Fox is a slightly better coach than Josh McDaniels, and I think the schedule is slightly easier this year.

As far as the team...it's awful.  Yes, they added Von Miller at Line Backer, but he's still a rookie.  And yes, Elvis Dumervil is back from injury, but they still have way too many problems.  Here's the problems I see:

1 - The Defensive line is not good.  Line backers are not free to do the things that they need to do if they have to tackle running backs 5 yards down the field all the time.

2 - The Offensive line is unproven.  Maybe they'll surprise me, but I wouldn't want to be a Quarterback for the Broncos this season.

3 - They are still relying on Knowshon (don't call me Slowshon) Moreno as their #1 running back.  The guy looks like he's running in quick sand all the time.

4 - The secondary is old.

5 - The wide receivers are unproven and probably overrated.

6 - Kyle Orton is not the long term answer at Quarterback.

So, I got to the sixth problem before I got to Quarterback, which is the position most fans want to talk about.  A year ago, the Broncos drafted Tim Tebow in the 1st round.  Tebow is definitely the most polarizing figure in all of football.  The left in this country hates him, because he's a good, upstanding Christian kid, who was probably taken too early in the draft.  The right in this country loves him for the same reasons.  Tebow is definitely not the prototypical NFL Quarterback.  But, it's not his fault he was taken early in the draft, and it's not his fault that the offseason was lost due to labor issues.  The bottom line is that nobody deserves the criticism Tebow has gotten.  If an African American QB were criticized the way Tim Tebow has been criticized, the sports media in this country would have a field day with the criticizers.  But, since it's a white, Christian kid, the criticism goes largely ignored.

I hope Tim Tebow is successful.  My eyes tell me he won't be, but I hope I'm wrong.  I do not understand the team's decision to play Kyle Orton over Tim Tebow.  We know exactly what Kyle Orton is...he's a system Quarterback who can win with a strong defense and running game.  On this team, he will win 3-4 games this season.  By starting Orton this season, the team is just prolonging the inevitable.  They have sold way too many Tebow jersey's not to give the kid a shot.  Whether it's this season or next, Tim Tebow must be given a shot to succeed in Denver.  And I, for one, think that shot should come this season.  Throw him out there and see if he can perform.  He's surprised people his entire life...who's to say he won't surprise us once again.

So there you go...my pessimistic, rambling Broncos preseason blog.  Go Team!

In The Beginning...

There was Professor Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnserr.  It's the time of the Bay of Pigs invasion, and the Marvel universe is just learning about the existence of Mutants.  In "X-Men: First Class" we see the beginning for the famed Marvel X-Men, and the genesis of the villain Magneto.

As I said above, this movie is set in the early 1960s.  Erik Lehnserr (Michael Fassbender) is hunting the Nazis responsible for his imprisonment and his mother's death.  While seeking out the man he most blames for his mother's death (played by none other than Kevin Bacon), Lehnserr meets Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and a friendship is formed.  But, Lehnserr and Xavier have different ideas about the futures of Mutant Kind and Human Kind that comes to a head at the Bay of Pigs.  Out of this event, Professor X and Magneto are born.

I really enjoyed "X-Men: First Class".  I watched it while on the plane back from Brazil last week.  While not as good as the other Marvel movie of the summer, "Thor", "First Class" is one of the better X-Men movies.  The story was great, and while it was an action film, there were some humorous moments, including a cameo by Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) and several hair jokes by Charles Xavier (in the X-Men movies set later, Xavier is played by bald actor Patrick Stewart).

James McAvoy continues to be a fantastic actor.  From Mr. Tumnus to Charles Xavier, he gives his all to every role.  This was the first time I've seen Michael Fassbender in a movie, and he was terrific as Lehnserr/Magneto.  At times, he really steals the show.  Finally, any movie with Kevin Bacon is automatically excellent because we have another movie we can use for Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon.

"X-Men: First Class" is a 4 to 4.5 star movie.  If you are an X-Men fan or a fan of Marvel comics in general, give this movie a shot.

Famously Good

Ok, I'm probably going to catch grief for this one, but I really like Famous Dave's Barbecue.  I know it's a chain BBQ restaurant, and I'm sure those from the south will tell me that it's not nearly as good as the BBQ you get in Memphis or Texas or Kansas City.  But as a guy who grew up in the midwest who just wants some good hickory smoked ribs or pulled pork, it's pretty darn good.

This weekend, we were outta town in a locale that is not exactly a BBQ hot spot.  My family all really likes BBQ, especially my 10 year old.  He loves Famous Dave's spare ribs.  So, last night we went to Famous Dave's, and it was sooooooooo good.  I had the Georgia Chopped Pork, which I smothered in Rich and Sassy sauce.  I got the Spicy Green Beans and BBQ Chips as my sides.  I love to dip the BBQ chips in the different sauces.  My mouth is watering right now thinking about how good it was.

Some other items around the table included Baby Back Ribs, Spare Ribs and BBQ chicken.  Also, Buffalo Wings...they have really good Buffalo Wing sauce at Famous Dave's.  All of the food was very good. 

I still look forward to getting to take a trip to the south for some "real BBQ", and I'm planning to get a smoker and learn a little more BBQ cooking myself.  But, for now, when I'm in the midwest and I see a Famous Dave's, it will be very hard for me to pass it by.