Monthly Archives: March 2014

My Review: Escape Plan

Movies

Arnold Schwarzenegger has been a really busy guy since leaving office, he’s in a few movies every year. They’ve been pretty good too! No real stinkers. Escape Plan with Sylvester Stallone continues that streak.

Sly plays Ray Breslin, a prison security expert who’s so good at his job that the feds hire him to break out of their highest security prisons across the country. If he can’t break out, no one can. After a job, Ray and his team get an offer (at double his standard rate) to break out of a brand new facility that is off the grid. So far off the grid that it’s existence isn’t acknowledged to any one. It was made to keep the world’s most undesirable people off the streets for good. After accepting the job, Ray is yanked away from society and quickly realizes that this isn’t a job. Someone wanted him out of the way.

Prison break movies are fun and you don’t see many of them these days. It’s a twist on the spy/action movie formula that always keeps you guessing. How someone gets in is the easy part, how they get out is the real question. The prison in Escape Plan is a doozy of a facility. It was built using Ray’s own notes so it pushes him farther and harder than any prison before it. It takes his knowledge and some new inside friends to come up with a plan that even has the smallest chance of working.

One of those friends is Rottmayer, played by Schwarzenegger. Being the ultimate 80’s action star team up that is really only teased in The Expendables franchise, the two quickly meet and team up (hmmm…). They work well together, it’s a lot of fun to see them co-star and they both get their time to shine in various action scenes. The set piece where Rottmayer gets his hands on a mounted automatic gun was clearly pulled out of the Arnold cinematic rulebook. It was probably the first scene that was written.

While the set up and execution work well enough, the obvious question always came up as things unfolded. Why was all the effort and expense put into this crazy prison when an assassination would be doing the same thing, but easier? The guys being thrown into this crazy prison are supposed to be really bad news, but you never hear why any of them are in there (it looks like there’s close to 200 inmates). It’s mentioned that people/groups pay this company a fortune to get and keep these prisoners, so why do that instead of a hit? Seems like a drive by or explosion would be the most permanent solution if you are going to pay millions to make someone disappear.

Despite that, Escape Plan is a fun, well made movie that’s great for a weekend rental.

TV in Mid Pulse

TV

The full fledged TV season ends in about 2 months, but a lot of the cable shows are right in the middle of starting and stopping.

Helix just ended on Syfy, while it has all the glory of having a Syfy TV show budget, I think it was pretty successful in it’s debut season. Enough people tuned in to the Arctic base to what the CDC duke it out with shadowy corporations to get another season next year. It’s all set up to be a much bigger global setting and I look forward to seeing what they do. Quite a few deaths and a kidnapping and a mole leave a lot in play. Face Off is getting down to the last 3 episodes and I’m shocked Niko is still in it. He finally pulled off a really great creation to save him from bottom looks when it really mattered, but I don’t know if he’s going to make it again. The others constantly put out much better work than he does. Jim Henson’s Creature Shop Challenge has started and it’s pretty cool. There’s already drama with a team who didn’t work too well together and the glimpses of future episodes show off some really cool looking creations.

The Walking Dead ends tomorrow and it’s been I think the strongest season. This last half especially. There’s been a good lack of stupid writing and with things looking up for the group with some reunions after the split, something awful is just waiting to pop off for the finale. By gut feeling is that Glen or Maggie aren’t going to make it to season 5.

Top Gear topped off a solid series with only 1 poor episode. The Burma trip continues their excellence in series “specials”. April is really big as Game of Thrones kicks off next weekend which a legion of people are waiting for. I’m in so I’m excited for it. A big shift in power and I really want to see how the dwindling Stark clan is going to stay alive. Mad Men is going to start it’s final season! Shame it’s been cut in half so the wait is going to be stretched needlessly, but I’m glad they are brining it in for a landing, feels like the right time. Orphan Black hits on the 19th on BBC America for season 2. Big fan of the first, the ads got me before it started and the show has proven to be a winner.

I also have my eye on The Stain from the mind and comic pages of Guillermo del Torro. Part plague (like Helix) /vampire outbreak that starts in NYC. That’s starting on FX in the summer I think, but coming up in April Fargo on FX. I just re-watched the great movie and the cast of the show leads me to believe that it could be really great too.

My Review: Riddick

Movies

Vin Diesel returns as Riddick in Riddick, the third movie in the series. The first, Pitch Black, remains the best one. This movie is more cute than anything, which is a weird thing to come away with from a sci-fi action movie with a notorious convict as it’s main protagonist.

Riddick has been left for dead (again) on a rather inhospitable planet. He MacGyvers it up, patching up his wounds and setting up a little home for himself. He even gets a space dog pet (it’s really cute as far as space animals go). Riddick gets to show off his good side. Everyone else just has a problem with doing whatever it takes to survive. Things go pretty well until he realizes that the natives will soon be making more trouble than he could handle. Finding an abandoned station, he sets off an emergency beacon to try and hitch a ride off planet. Two groups show up to claim the bounty on Riddick’s head, one dirty merc group and another with a more military background lead by a man who has ties to Riddick’s past.

The movie is more or less a survival tale. First against the environment, then people and then the environment again. Vin Diesel does what he loves, playing a bad ass in space! The movie hits all the marks of an VD action flick on a budget. It’s got copious amounts of decent CG that keeps on trucking. It’s just short of 2 hours, has some good action and sets up a sequel. If you’ve seen the other 2 movies, I say check this one out. It’s nothing special, but it isn’t half bad either. Does that sound too ambivalent?

Game of Throoooones!

TV

I finished season 3 and it was a great one! The war for Westeros seems to have ended just on the presapice of a new one starting. The Starks suffered some great losses, while some of the kids are scattered about, each with a large possible role in the future. With such doom and gloom being handed out almost every episode, it’s fun to watch Daenerys gaining steam in a positive way. She’s arguably the only source of light outside of the Starks and she got some really great moments this season. Tyrion gets some great lines despite getting clubbed over the head more than a few times. Can’t keep a good man down, even when they’re surrounded by lunatics.

The addition of the Tyrell family is a fun one, the politics between them and the Lannisters was something to see.

I’m all set for the next season which kicks off in less than a month. I’m left wanting more (which is why this show is such a phenom), it’s a great world to travel into. Great production values, the cast rules and the word that winter is seriously coming means a big shift is coming for everyone in Westeros.

Certification Complete

Life

On Monday March 3rd, I successfully completed the Microsoft Excel 2010 Specialist program at Ramapo College. I needed to seriously boost my skill and knowledge in Excel and I can now officially say I am a Certified Professional. Two month course, we covered a lot of material and the test is no joke. Haven’t been in a classroom in quite sometime, but I’ve kept my aptitude for note taking and studying!

There’s been a lot of TV action

TV

I’ve been on a movie hiatus as my DVR has been working overtime since my last post. Last month I talked about many of my favorite shows coming back and I haven’t been disappointed from any of them yet. Walking Dead came back from mid season in good shape and continues to be interested. The group has been split up and each episode has focused on the splinters as they manage to survive. It looks like some will be able to gravitate towards each other pretty soon. It’s been a struggle, there’s some new characters added from the comic and no main cast member has eaten it (ha) since coming back.

Face Off is going strong, we’re just passed the half way point with 8 remaining. There’s some serious pruning left to do, I can see 3 easily getting the ax, but the remaining 5 guys are real strong contenders. There’s some weakness in 2 of those I’m thinking of, but a bad week could be in store for any of them. Graham got saved this week by the judges so that life preserver no longer exists. In a brilliant idea by Syfy, Jim Henson’s Creature Shop Challenge will debut at the end of this month and I’m super stoked for that. It’s focused on fabrication/puppetry over make up, the JHCS is heavily involved which means more exciting art is coming our way.

Let’s see what else? The Americans returned last week and holy animal did it hit the ground running. We were left on shaky ground at the end of last season and we join the two KGB spies not too long after. Elizabeth is back in action while Phil has been holding things down, but a drop they get forced into makes a sudden and sharp turn which puts them on full alert. They life/cover they’ve managed to build in 15 years may be compromised. They’re now afraid for their innocent kids than for themselves. It’s showing massive moral questions that no training and protocols could have prepared them for. They may not have a contingency plan for what’s coming. Incredibly intense, brilliantly written and acted. Easily one of the best shows on TV, I hope it catches on with more people soon.

I’m half way season 3 of Game of Thrones and really enjoying it. I’ll be done with it next week which will set me right up for the return in April. Really looking forward to it.