A Slippery Slope

Today, the Supreme Court of the United States (henceforth known as SCOTUS), upheld pretty much all of President Obama's healthcare law, including the individual mandate, which says that individuals are required to have health insurance.  In the 5-4 majority ruling, John Roberts, Chief Justice of SCOTUS, said that while the Commerce Clause does not allow the Federal Government to force individuals to purchase a product, the individual mandate is essentially a tax and Congress can levy taxes so therefore, it's legal.  Do you follow that?  SCOTUS said that the Federal Government forcing an individual to purchase a product is a tax!

Let's forget for a moment that President Obama said way back in 2009 in an interview with George Stephanapolis that the individual mandate wasn't a tax.  "You can't just make up that language and decide that that's called a tax increase," is one of the quotes from the interview.  Let's just think about the consequences of this ruling...it is now considered constitutional for the Federal Government to force you to buy a product under the guise of it being a tax.  What's next???

-Don't want to buy those fluorescent light bulbs?  Too bad, you have to, it's just another tax.

-Hate working out?  That's too bad, we're an overweight society so you have to join a gym.  Don't worry, it's just a tax.

-You have to buy a more fuel efficient vehicle.  Sorry, just another tax.

-All Americans have the right to defend themselves, so everyone has to buy a gun.  Just a small little tax.

Are some of those absurd?  Maybe, but even 5 years ago we would have thought the Federal Government forcing people to buy health insurance was absurd.  Where does it end?

This is one of the worst decisions ever made by the SCOTUS.  Right up there with saying slavery is okay back in the day.  I expected the 4 liberal judges to go this way because they don't typically follow the law, they just advance the liberal cause.  But Chief Justice Roberts is supposed to know better.  I guess Washington D.C. corrupts some faster than others.

If there is a bright spot in all this it's that President Obama now has to defend this atrocious law all through the election, and maybe we'll all finally find out what's in the law, unlike the people who actually voted on it in the first place.

Recent Funnies

My wife and I love to watch comedians together.  Recently we've watched two comedic specials:

Jim Gaffigan:  Mr. Universe - Jim Gaffigan continues to be one of the funniest comedians going.  Following "Beyond the Pale" with the famed Hot Pockets riff was gonna be difficult, but Gaffigan knocks it outta the park with "Mr. Universe".  Taking shots at his own physical fitness, McDonald's, Disney World and overweight whales, my wife and I were laughing from start to finish. 

I highly recommend watching "Beyond the Pale" before you watch this one, or at least one of the jokes won't make a lot of sense to you.  Gaffigan ranks right up there with George Carlin, Bill Cosby, Jeff Foxworthy, Bill Engvall and Mitch Hedburg in my pantheon of great comedians.  This is a 5 star comedy special and definitely worth watching.

Gabriel Iglesias:  Hot and Fluffy - "Hot and Fluffy" was recommended by a coworker of mine.  I had never seen Gabriel Iglesias before, so I wasn't 100% sure what to expect.  Overall, Iglesias is a fairly clean comedian that loves to make fun of himself, his friends and the police.  While not as funny as Jim Gaffigan, this was a fun comedy special that kept both my wife and I laughing.  I'd give this one 3.5 stars and I'll commit to watching more stuff from Gabriel Iglesias.

The Reason for Bad BBQ

Today I was instant messaging with my good friend Nuke during lunch.  I was lamenting the fact that we don't have good barbecue where I live, with the exception of a food truck that is only open part time.  We don't even have a Famous Dave's, which is top notch chain BBQ.  You would think that a community with a reported metropolitan area of over 250,000 people would have some good ole' BBQ, but alas, we do not.

Nuke asked me if I had any theories as to why it was this way, and it hit me like a bolt of lightning...Democrats are to blame for the lack of good barbecue around here! 

Before you say "Jake, you're nuts", hear me out.  Where I live in Iowa is an increasingly Democratic area.  We have a democrat Congressman and we voted for Obama in the last election.  Add to that the fact that the best BBQ comes from the South and Texas, traditional Republican strongholds, and one can easily see that Democrats are to blame for the lack of good BBQ in my city. 

But let's take it a step further.  What do Democrats value?  Farmer's Markets!  And we have several kick butt farmer's markets around here.  I don't think I need to say any more.  I believe my point has been made.

With this knowledge, I'm now resigned to the fact that I will have to make my own BBQ or travel for good BBQ until such time as the Republicans seize control of the population in my little corner of Iowa.

Another Trip, More Movies To Review

So, my blog has basically become a movie review blog.  I just got back from another trip to Brazil, and I watched 3 more movies:

"Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows":  I watched this movie on the way to Brazil.  I liked it a lot...at least a 4 star rating.  In fact, I think it's better than the first "Sherlock Holmes" movie.

Robert Downey Jr. is back as Sherlock Holmes and Jude Law is back as Dr. Watson.  The two actors are really great in these roles.  In this movie, Dr. Moriarty is more than a shadowy figure manipulating events, he is now Holmes' #1 nemesis, and is capable of matching wits with Holmes throughout the movie.  In fact, it seems that Moriarty often has the upper hand.  With the fate of all of Europe hanging in the balance, Holmes has to overcome his greatest nemesis to stop all out war.

As I said above, "Game of Shadows" is a very good movie.  With lots of action and humor, I found this was 2 hours well spent.

"We Bought a Zoo":  I have to admit, I was very skeptical about "We Bought a Zoo", but after hearing rave reviews from many friends, I decided to give it a try on the way home.  I was glad I agreed to give this a shot, as it turned out to be a really nice feel good story.  And anyone who has read this blog knows how I love feel good movies.

Matt Damon stars as Benjamin Mee, a recently widowed journalist raising two children.  When his son is expelled from school, Benjamin decides to move the family.  The family settles on buying a great home in the country that has one small catch, it's also a zoo.  With the help of the zoo staff, led by Scarlett Johansson, Benjamin and his family set about repairing the run down zoo, and in the process they repair their family and learn that life moves on, even after great loss.

This is a very touching story.  It's based on actual events, but from what I've read, Hollywood changed it up a bit.  Matt Damon does a great job in this role.  Add in the always capable Johansson, rising star Elle Fanning and Thomas Haden Church as Damon's older brother, and you  have a cast that melded really well. 

There is a little language and innuendo, but I think this is a family appropriate movie.  I think we'll watch it as a family at some point.  I give "We Bought a Zoo", 4 stars.

"Haywire":  Don't watch this movie...1 star.  Sometimes when on a plane, you pick a movie because the time it runs happens to fit the schedule you want prior to going to sleep.  That was the case with "Haywire".  It's a really stupid movie, and I'm sorta ashamed that I watched the entire thing.

The biggest thing I don't understand is how the producers got Michael Douglas, Antonio Banderas, Bill Paxton, Ewan McGreagor and Channing Tatum to appear in this movie.  Didn't they read the script? 

Avengers Assemble!

At the Super Bowl about 16 months ago, the first trailer for "The Avengers" debuted.  This was before we had even seen "Captain America" or "Thor".  That's a lot of hype to live up to...and "The Avengers" lived up to that hype.

Marvel has done a wonderful thing here starting with "Iron Man" in 2008.  For the last 4 years and 5 movies, Marvel has been building toward this...the first big super hero team up movie.  And while I don't think "The Avengers" qualifies for "best movie ever" status, it is an exceptional film.  I do think Marvel has elevated the super hero movie with this film, and I expect it will be hard for others to keep pace in the short term.  I'll be really interested to see what Chris Nolan does with "The Dark Knight Rises" later this summer.  "The Avengers" is gonna be really hard to top.

This movie picks up about a year after "Thor" ended.  Loki (Tom Hiddleston) has allied himself with an evil alien race, and is planning to use these aliens to help him take over the earth.  Loki's grand plan is to rule the planet his half brother, Thor, loves so much.  Somebody has "family issues".  To secure the aid of the aliens, Loki must give them the Tesseract (see "Captain America"), which is currently on earth.  So, Loki begins a war, which S.H.I.E.L.D, led by Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) is powerless to wage.  But, Fury always has a plan.  He enlists the help of Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Captain America (Chris Evans), The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Thor (Chris Hemmsworth), The Black Widow (Scarlette Johannson) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner).  But, these heroes have egos and agendas...can they co-exist in time to save the world?  I know the answer, and you'll find out if you go watch. 

Joss Whedon directed "The Avengers" and did a masterful job.  No one character dominates...in fact, Whedon does this movie so well that fans of each hero will be satisfied with the role their favorite hero plays.  Each character has his or her moment to shine, and the cast meshes very well.  Robert Downey Jr. and Mark Ruffalo seem to really mix well on screen.  I hope we will see another standalone Hulk movie with Ruffalo playing the part of Bruce Banner...he's perfect.

As with any great super hero movie, you need a great villain.  Tom Hiddleston provides that great villain as Loki.  For those that thought he wasn't evil enough in "Thor", he's one bad dude now.  Hiddleston is the perfect actor for this role, and he has great interactions with each character, but especially with Chris Hemmsworth (Thor).  You can really see that Thor wants his brother back, but Loki has truly grown to despise his brother, which makes for very good on screen dynamics.

As with all Joss Whedon directed movies and TV shows, "The Avengers" is very funny, but not in a ridiculous way.  In fact, the mix of humor, action and drama is just about right.  And the length of the movie is not overwhelming.  Though it's about 2 and a half hours, nobody was getting up to go to the bathroom...in fact, I didn't even check my watch.  Time flew by.

So, "The Avengers" is a 5 star movie.  I highly recommend it.  I think PG-13 is the right rating, but it could really be PG-11 or so.  There is nothing gratuitous, just a lot of fantasy action, and a few scary moments with The Hulk.  I'm gonna take David to see it later this weekend. 

Recent Movies

Another Double Movie Review...and fittingly, the first movie is...

"The Double":  This is a movie that Nuke described as a "twist-a-thriller".  I like that description, so I'm gonna steal it, but give credit, so it's not really stealing.  "The Double" is similar to "Salt" in a lot of ways, except instead of Angelina Jolie, it has Richard Gere and Topher Grace.  I'll leave it to you to decide which is better.  Honestly, I think the two movies would be great in a double feature.

I really liked this movie.  I don't think Richard Gere is getting too old to play these roles, which was one of the comments Nuke made.  What I really liked about "The Double" is we get a twist in the beginning, another twist at the end, and a satisfying ending. 

I wish I could tell you more about the plot, but it's hard without giving things away.  If you like "twist-a-thrillers", I suggest you give "The Double" a shot.  I liked it enough to go 4 stars on my rating!

"The Eagle":  I have to admit, I was semi-disappointed by "The Eagle".  From reading the latest Percy Jackson books by Rick Riordan, I was very excited about this movie, which mixed in the Roman Eagle.  I thought we'd get an action packed, thrill a minute, sword fighting, axe wielding action flick.  Instead, we got a largely dull film, punctuated by a few really good action scenes.

Channing Tatum is fairly wooden as the lead actor, which I think contributed to some of the dullness.  Despite this, I think the Eagle had a lot of promise until the end when the last battle sorta fizzled in my mind.  I'll give this one 2 stars and recommend you stay away.

Why Don't These Super Heroes Have Movies?

I am very excited about the upcoming "Avengers" movie.  In fact, I may be excited enough to go to the midnight showing.  I can't really decide if the midnight showing is for 30 something married dads though...but I digress.

Over the last 15 years, we've had tons of super hero movies.  Everyone from Spider-Man to the X-Men, from Daredevil to Elektra, from Superman to Batman has had a super hero movie made.  Well, that's not true...not everyone has.  Here are some of my favorite super heroes who have yet to grace the big screen, but should be considered very soon. 

Author's Note:  Come to think of it, Marvel will make a movie about any character they have (Ghost Rider, The Punisher, etc.), so this list is going to focus on the DC Universe.

-Captain Marvel - ok...maybe a story about a 10 year old boy who says "Shazam!" and turns into Superman's equal is a bit awkward, but come on, we had to sit through 3 Blade films and soon to be 2 Ghost Rider films!

-Wonder Woman - She had a run on a TV series...but it's time for a movie.  Yeah, the costume is a bit out of date, and the invisible plane is sort of hokey, but she is the queen of the DC universe.

-Aquaman - Ok, so he's not that powerful out of the ocean, but who didn't love the underwater scenes with Jar Jar Binks in "The Phantom Menace"???  This could work...couldn't it?

-Green Arrow - It's gotta be better than "Green Lantern", doesn't it?

-Martian Manhunter - This is one I'd really like to see...the others are sorta tongue in cheek.  Martian Manhunter is one bad mama jama...this would seriously be a cool movie.

Ok, if we actually got Martian Manhunter, Wonder Woman and Aquaman movies, to go along with the lame Green Lantern movie, The Dark Knight series and the new Superman film, we could easily roll into a Justice League movie!  That would be most excellent.  Hey, if they can pull it off with "Avengers", why not the Justice League???  It would be superb!