SO.....

Some TV reviews. 

I tried, I really honestly tried.  I found Twin Peaks on Pluto and set down to watch it!  I remember LOVING the weird entertaining show when it first aired in 1991.  But I also remember losing interest during the second season and giving it up. 

So the first season (8 episodes) was just amazing!  Just as I remembered. Tons of possible murderers!  Tons of weird strange people.  Tons of intrigue and subplots.  And it was riveting!

When the second season started, I could tell a difference.  It was....weirder.  And weirder just for the sake of being weird.  Kinda like the writers thought "Let's see what we can get away with!".  Still the first 8 episodes were entertaining, not as entertaining or good as Season 1, but still watchable.  In episode 8, the murder of Laura Palmer was solved.  And after that...well things got so weird as to be unwatchable.  And indeed I did stop after about another 6 episodes, not watching the remaining 8 or so.  Just couldn't do it.  It's unfortunate, actually. 

********************

I found The Shining streaming too, and sat down to watch that.  I thought I had not seen it all the way through before, but as it went on, I realized I DID see it all the way through.  It is a good movie, but I don't think it's as great as a lot of people claim.  I'm still trying to find the 90's miniseries of The Shining, which is much closer to Stephen King's book, and one that I remember liking very much watching it as it aired.  But I don't think it's streaming anywhere now. 

********************

The Last Of Us.   LOVED the first season.  I'm about ready to give up on it now.  I have never much liked the Ellie character, and this season I like her even less, even, at time, hating her.  She's rude, obnoxious, arrogant, reckless, self centered and endangers her friends and of people in her community.  I can't think of a single redeeming value that she displays.  

Sadly, with Joel no longer a viable option, I assume she's going to be made the 'star' of the show.  Which is unfortunate.  I guess they'll try to portray her as dark 'anti-hero'.  Turn her into a tough dyke kind of character, who's always right...now matter how wrong her actions are.   

It's sickening and sad.

POLT

I fought the law, and the law won....

 So I binged the late 80s/early 90s tv show L.A. Law, starting October 12, and I finished the last episode of the 8th season yesterday. 

The first 5 seasons were, excluding perhaps The West Wing and ER, some of the absolute best tv drama I have ever seen.  Season 6 deteriorated slightly.  Season 7 was just totally off the rail horrible, just God awful.  The last season, number 8, it got a bit better, but not up to the level of the first 6. 

All in all, a great legal drama.  The Practice 10 years later was good too, albeit in a different way.  I'm glad I binged them all, I remember watching them when they aired (although maybe not the last two seasons, so much), and then they were in reruns on Lifetime several years ago, and I caught a bunch of them then.  But it was great to just watch them all, one after the other in a little over a month. 

POLT

Check this out, real quick, don't know if everybody know (Part 3317)....

 Check This Out!

Recently I watched the Netflix movie: Fire Island.

Starring SNL's Bowen Yang, Joel Kim Booster (who wrote it), a few other cute gay guys and Margaret Cho.

It's a gay rom-com.  and like most rom-coms, it's very light fare.  But it's fun, and sweet, and cute, and totally enjoyable (if not a bit predictable too).  A pleasant bit of fluff to entertain. 

I thoroughly enjoyed it, and not just for the eye candy, of which there is plenty.  I'd hightly recommend it to anyone who thinks they might even remotely enjoy it.   Cause you absolutely will. 

POLT

Who could ask for anything more.....

So I was flipping though the channels this afternoon and stumble upon An American In Paris.  I had never seen it, but knew it had won several Academy Awards (6 to be exact, including Best Picture), so I checked it out.

God, what a waste of time.  It was horrible.  The main character pressures a woman into going on a date even after she forcefully told him no.  That same woman how eventually agreed to a date is already dating another man, and agrees to marry him as the movie carries on. That man, brings her back to the main character at the movies end and basically gives her to him, with a SMILE (?!) on his face.  A rich sugar mama is basically bipolar through most of the film.  None of the main characters were sympathetic, and I cared not a whit about them.

And worst of all, was the last 20 minutes....it's some ballet/dance sequence which has nothing to do with the main storyline, at least as I far as I could tell.  It's like they filmed and an hour and a half of movie and then said, "Hmm, not long enough. Let's tack on a surreal dance bit to make the film longer!"

Despite how bad the whole thing I was surprised to see, in bit roles, Lois Lane from the 50's Superman TV show, Aunt Harriet from the 60s Batman TV show, and Colonel Bellows from I Dream Of Jeannie!

But anyway.....6 Oscars?  Nope, I don't get it at all.

POLT

Watch it spin and marvel at the breakthrough.....

So yesterday, right after work, I caught a matinee showing of Captain Marvel.

My review?  In one word: disappointing.

Brie Larson's acting is very VERY wooden.  I don't know if she lacks real acting skills or if this is way the director wanted her to do it, but man, was she bad.

The story itself was convoluted, confusing, and had plotholes big enough to drive a Kree warship through.  I'm more confused now than ever about the timeline of the Tesseract.  The Skrulls were criminally underused.  They're not a devious, sly race that's a threat to the universe, instead they're.....victims.

Two big action fight scenes were so dark I couldn't tell who was punching who or who was getting thrown where.

Many characters, especially among the alien races, remain nameless, interchangeable figures in the background.  And they're not always easy to tell apart.

Annette Benning couldn't save this movie.  Jude Law couldn't save this movie.  Hell, Nick Fury and Agent Caulsen themselves couldn't save this movie!

There were a few little things thrown in for the comic book fans (Project Pegasus, the little girl Monica Rambeau and who she'd become), but by and large....it's a dud.

There were TWO really good things about this: 
1) all the music was from the 90s (when the movie took place).  It was great to hear the soundtrack of my 20s again.
2) this movie proved what I always knew about cats... I mean, flerkens!

The movie as very light, not very humorous (although it tried) and not really fun or interesting.

Still, if you've seen all the other Marvel movies, and want to see the Avengers movie next month, go see it.  You'll need to see and know what's going on.

But honestly, this movie is on par with Thor 2 or Iron Man 2.  I know Marvel can't bat 1000 every time, and but this movie surely ranks as one of the worst Marvel has produced.

Sadly.

POLT

So tonight, I got to see Avengers: Infinity War!

My review?

WOW!

I'm going to see it again.

It's long, like 2.5 hours long.  But, basically from the very start, it's non-stop action.  

Plenty of humor that's NOT forced, but naturally arising from the characters personalities.

Practically everyone who's every been in a Marvel movie shows up.  (I mean, the Red Skull from Cap's first movie even has a cameo, for God's sake!!!!)

A little overblown on the melodrama (on the very few instances they have any),  and during some battles, with the CGI, it's hard to tell who is exactly fighting whom.

But those are really pretty much all the gripes I can come up with this time.

I'l have to see it again before I can say if it unseats Captain America: Civil War as THE best Marvel movie ever....but right now I'm leaning towards yes (although that could still be the afterglow of just seeing it).

My final statement on the movie: Go see it!

POLT

Last night, ALCMDPP and I went to see Thor Ragnarok.

I was thoroughly entertained. 

It was not the best movie, not like the Avengers movies or Captain America: Civil War.  But it was certainly the best Thor movie of the trilogy.

It was fun.  And funny. A little too funny at times.  I rolled my eyes a few times, thinking "They're trying WAY too hard to make Thor 'cool' and 'hip', and trying to put too many one-liners in."  Butcha know what?  I didn't care.  I knew they were doing it, but hell, I was having such a fun time, it didn't really bother me that much.

In his one shirtless scene, Chris Hemsworth STILL is hot as hell.  Cate Blanchett is, as always, amazing in whatever part she's given.  Idris Elba is still easy on the eyes.  The character interactions were funny, but yet, totally in character.  Jeff Goldblum makes the Grandmaster out to be something of a joke....not really the other worldly powerful menace he is in the comics.  But still, hell, I don't care.  I enjoyed his portrayal.

Overall a fun time.    Didn't add much to the line of Marvel movies....although I suppose it explains how Thor Hulk, and possibly those with him, and in the fight with Thanos.

POLT

Your protector, your defender, I will be there till you wake up.....

So last Friday, Netflix released "The Defenders" and I binged it over this past week.

This is, in case you are unaware, the Marvel heroes dark, gritty, grim, street level series.  It teams up Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage (Power Man) and Iron Fist (Danny Rand).

I was, unfortunately, underwhelmed by the entire time.

There was too much mysticism, too much K'un L'un, too much The Hand, and immortality, and Elektra back from the dead, and so on.  See, in Daredevil, and Jessica Jones and Luke Cage's own series, there was a lot of fighting ninja, and gangs, and street crime, and that's the way it should be.  Then Iron Fist (which was the weakest of the individual series) had a whole bunch of Eastern magic, and ancient mystic martial arts and so on.  And unfortunately, all of the Iron Fist crap is what permeated the Defenders series.  It wasn't grounded in street crime or the criminal underground or gang violence, it was all about magic this is and mystic that and frankly, the other three members weren't in their element.

As in the individual series, Iron Fist was the weakest.  I like Jessica Jones, the best.  She had the best lines, and the best attitude, and was criminally underutilized, in my opinion.  Luke Cage was very well done also (and sexy as all get out) maintaining his Do The Right Thing Always way of looking at issues....and being bullet proof when needed.  Daredevil was, frankly, pissing me off.  "Oh Electra didn't kill me the times she had the chance, so I KNOW I can get through to her and SAVE her!"  PFFFFFT!  Stupid.   And Iron First was whiny, childish, and uninteresting, which is unfortunate, because he's the cutest guy on the show.  (Luke Cage is a sexy hunk, Iron First is a cute twink).

Oh and Sigourney Weaver was simply wasted in this whole endeavor.  Very disappointed with her whole character.  Although I still LOVE Madame Gao.  I have since the first Daredevil movie, and through Iron Fist, and I still love her now!

So as far as I know, The Punisher is up next, which I'm sure I will NOT enjoy, as I don't like the character in comic books and I did not like the portrayal in the second Daredevil series.  And that's all I've heard of that's planned (athough I might not have heard of it if they're planning something else).

It is what it is.  If you've seen the others, then watch it.  But don't go into it with any expectations.  And if you have seen the others, then don't watch it, cause you'll have no freakin idea what's going on!  Watch the others first!

POLT

So, a few weeks ago, I saw Spider-Man Homecoming, on it's opening weekend.

My review: The BEST Spider-Man movie yet made.  There's an opening sequence where Peter Parker films a bunch of stuff from his perspective that took place during Captain America: Civil War.  That five minute sequence is better than all five of the previous Spider-Man movies put together!  (well at least the first four, cause the fourth was so God-awful I didn't even bother to go see the fifth one....and I don't believe I missed anything).

The movie was fun, funny, exciting, and entertaining.  Tom Holland LOOKS like he could be a teenage in high school, unlike the previous two actors.  And he acts and talks like a teenager, the character is very well written.  

There was a surprise that occurred that neither I nor ALCMDPP saw coming, and that's rare in any movie.  Iron Man was a fine supporting character and did not overshadow the main character as some feared.  The villain had a motivation that made sense, was rooting in the history of the Marvel Universe, and was more than just "take over the world!"  Again, well written.  

All in all, a great movie.  I've said it before, I'll say it again: Marvel knows their shit when it comes to Marvel movies!  Unlike Fox with the previous Spider-Man and Fantastic Four movies.  And with some of the movies of the X-Men franchise also.  And unlike DC with ANY of their dark, dismal, depressing, shit on the screen movies.

I look forward to the next Marvel movie now, and the future SPider-Man ones!

POLT

SO....

Today was my first day back to work this week after being off yesterday for the snow.  It was an okay day, nothing great or awful happened.

After work, I made it to Physical Therapy, which was a little tough, cause my shoulder, arm, and upper back were a little tight due to the shoveling yesterday.  But on the plus side, my therapist said, because of my progress, she was cutting me back from three days a week to two days a week!  yay!  Yay for progress, not having three days a week tied up, and not having to pay for three days a week!

Right after that I drove to the theater and saw Moonlight, with Mrs. ALCMDPP.  I didn't ask HIM to go, cause I'm pretty sure he'd have no interest in seeing it.  But I thought she wouldn't mind seeing it, and she agreed to go with me.

Not sure what I thought of it.  Lots of eye candy.  Kinda depressing.  I just felt so sorry for Little I wanted to just give him a big old hug!   And I was hoping for a lil chocolate on chocolate action there at the end with Black and Kevin, but twas not to be.  And it was a little slow at parts, BUT, it was slow because things were happening even though nothing was said.

I gotta say, the teen who played Chiron was an amazing actor.  He didn't say a whole lot of words, but my GOD, the emotions he conveyed with just his eyes and facial expressions....amazing.  Even Little said a LOT with just his eyes and the inclination of his head.  I'm shocked at the ability to do so of both actors, both so young.

And even though it took place in a poverty stricken area, and dealt with drug selling and drug abuse, and did have firearms IN it, there were no gunshots, not car chases, no screeching tires, or tits, or gratuitous nudity or violence.  It was a very A-typical Hollywood movie.

After the film ended, I wasn't sure if I liked it or not, but now that I've a few hours to ruminate on it and think it over, I gotta say I did enjoy it.  Quite a bit.  And the more I think about it, the more I liked it.

Great movie, all in all.

So...

Went to see Star Trek: Beyond tonight.  It was okay.  It wasn't great, but I was entertained throughout the movie, even chuckling a couple of times.  It did seem overblown, and there was too much camera movement and some of it was a little too much Hollywood formula.  But it was nice to see Uhura kick a little ass.

Anyway, then I got home I tested my blood sugar (as I'm supposed to do every night, but don't).  It was 346, pretty big number, but not the highest it had ever been.  But I knew WHY it was that high.

For lunch, mom and I went to Red Lobster.  I had regular soda (three of them in fact), and the other food including fries.  Oh and three biscuits.  And for desert I saw this thing they called the Berry shore-cake.

Looks good, right?  And see the shortcake in relation to the spoon?  not THAT big, eh?  Oh NO!  When she brought it, the shore cake was the size of a normal sized pancake!  Both the top AND the bottom!  I mean, the thing was HUGE!  Crazy huge.  It was more of a desert for a pair or a group.  But it WAS delicious!  And I ate it all (well except for the couple bites mom had).  But I'm certain that after eating it, my blood sugar doubled.

All afternoon I just laid around the house, it was too hot and humid to go outside.  But then I left and went to the theater where I was seeing Star Trek (see above) with some guys I work with.  And while there I had a large (regular) soda and a large popcorn.  Naturally.

So the fact that my blood sugar is pretty high, I'm actually glad it's not higher.

POLT

Changing ages, changes thrones....

Okay, I've just finished Season 3 of Game of Thrones.  I'm about halfway through what's aired so far.  Here are my impressions (and there will OBVIOUSLY be spoilers):

It really drags at times.  Sometimes a few episodes in a row are slow and, honestly, somewhat boring.  And then they do a "The Rains Of Castamere".

I really did think the invasion of King's Landing near the end of season 2 was going to be one of the best episdoes ever.  And it was.  But then along came the aforementioned "The Rains Of Castamere".  Oh.  My. GOD!  I'm pretty sure I literally gasped out loud more than once during that episode.  Totally did NOT see that coming at all!

I'm very VERY much interested in the story about the Mother Of Dragons, and all she's doing.  But damn, it's like I'm watching an entirely different series when her stories appear.  And it's talking so LONG to get to where the story is going to end up.

There's a lot of eye candy in the series, but the leader of the Unsullied, Grey Worm....damn, he is one sexy mofo.  See?

Boobs.  Boobs, boobs, boobs, and more boobs.  Oh, there's a woman's ass, here's several more episodes of boobs.  Here's a snatch, there's another ass, and OH LOOK, more boobs!  SIGH.  It's obvious this thing was written by (and filmed by) straight men.

Yes, I know, there's been three full frontals for me (believe I've been counting, and one was Hodor) and there's been a couple man asses.  And plenty of shirtlessness from the guys.  But still.....this is HBO....would it kill them tio give us one, just ONE, full frontal erection?

The dragon special effects are pretty nice.

Two major things bother me: that WALL doesn't seem to do such a great job when, so far, a LOT of people have either gone over, through, under, or presumably, around it.  It's almost like its made of Swiss cheese.  The other thing is the traveling.  I don't get the impression Westeros is a small continent, and yet people seem to travel over it....great distances and surprising speed.  But maybe I've just been mis-estimating the layout of the land.

I wouldn't want to be the one to piss off the Warlocks.

I have no idea who Sam survived the finale of the second season, but he did.  And I didn't really foresee him becoming a character who gets all the screen time he does.

I'm surprised at how many actors I'm seeing that I know from elsehwere.  Gilly (Sam's girl) and the bastard who's a smith, both were in Skins; The Queen of Dragon's brother and the tall blonde kid who has seizures were both in Doctor Who (the same episode in fact), and of course Arya was a major character in Doctor Who this past year; the lord in charge of the Twins was the janitor in the Harry Potter series.  The guy who's been torturing Theron, I think his name is Ramsey, was in The Misfits.  And I'm sure there's other that I've forgotten about.

All in all, a very good, entertaining show.

POLT

Your own reactions, your own raves and reviews....

So I've fallen quite a bit behind on my movie reviews!  In reverse order of viewing them I give the following:

The Angry Birds Movie

I've been playing Angry Birds (and Angry Birds Seasons and Angry Birds Space and Angry Birds Rio and Angry Birds Epic and Angry Birds Star Wars and Angry Birds Friends) for almost as long as the five years I've had my iPhone. So when the movie came out, well I knew I was going to see it.  I didn't expect much as 1) it was based on a game you play on your phone and 2) it was marketed at kids.  And I'm glad to say I was not disappointed....in the respect that it wasn't much.

I went to see it with Mrs. A Local Celebrity, Mr. David ParisPeking, and the three lil ParisPeking-lettes.  And it was fun to see them.  Perhaps, more fun to see them than to see the movie.

Nah.  I mean, the movie was okay, for what it was.  But as they say, it was what it was.  A few adult jokes that went over kids heads, and the animation was pretty darn good, certainly up to par for a current animated movie.  But really.......it was completely, just...meh.

X-Men: Apocalypse

This....now THIS, my friends, can be summed up in one word: disappointment.  It could have been SO much more.  There were hints of the great stuff that this movie could possibly have been.  But instead, it was just simply mediocre.

WAY too much time spent early on just talking.  And introducing characters.  And having those new characters talk to established characters.  And have the new characters talk to other new characters.  In other words....boring.  Eventually, we get some action, but even all that isn't all that great.

Don't get me wrong, it wasn't TOTALLY dismal.  Quicksilver has two great scenes!  There's some pretty nice shirtless eye candy a few times.  The kid doing Nightcrawler does him just like Nightcrawler should be done.  Alex Summers (Havoc) has a sweet hairthing. And......um, yeah, that's about it.

Some spoilers follow.

I do not like that they kill off Havoc.  I do not like Apocalypse, the big villain, is responsible for Storm's hair color and Pyslocke's improved powers (no problem with Angel becoming Arch-Angel, as Apocalypse actually did that in the comics).  I don't like the way Caliban was misused.  I don't like how they traverse the world in unreasonably, unbelievably short amount of times (Mystique and Nightcrawler get from East Berlin to Upstate New York, overnight, seemingly by his teleporting.  A helicopter flies from just north of NYC to the far western Canadian Rockies in little to no time.  They get from the Canadian Rockies to Cairo in little to no time.)  I dont like how Jean Grey is apparently becoming Phoenix just because she's born with the ability to do so. And Wolverine's appearance is totally gratuitous and unnecessary...and pointless as well.

Oh and at the end, Magneto says the exact same quote than Magneto said to Xavier in the very first X-Men movie.  *SIGH*  The biggest problem I had, though, was the lost potential.  It simply COULD have been so MUCH more....but it wasn't.

Captain America: Civil War

I can't BELIEVE it's taken me this long to do a review of this!  After seeing it three times and having plenty of time to think about it, I can easily, honestly, and clearly say: this is THE best comic book movie EVAH!  EVAH!  It's better than either of the Avengers.  It's better than any Batman movie.  It's better than the Watchmen.  It's better than any Marvel individual superhero movie.  It's the best EVAH,

Why, you ask?  Well let me tell you.  Obviously, there will be spoilers below.

Firstly, I do NOT like movies where heroes fight each other.  I think it's short sighted, non-imaginative and non-creative.  I think it's a boring, over-used comic book cliche.  I think there are PLENTY of other bad guys out there they SHOULD be fighting.  So yeah, don't like whole scenario, either in the comics, the movies, or tv shows.

Secondly, in this specific instance, I knew the heroes would be choosing sides.  And it made NOT sense whatsoever to me that bad boy, rebellious Tony Stark would be on the side of the government, and that Boy Scout, soldier Captain America would be working AGAINST the government.  Made no sense at all.

However, in the past, Marvel movies have not let me down.  In the previews they had for Avengers 2, they showed Hulk and Iron Man fighting, but it totally worked when you saw it all in context. So, I gave them the benefit of the doubt for the film as well.

And they did NOT disappoint!  The reason why Tony Stark went with the government totally made sense for the character.  Cap's reasoning was a bit hard headed, but not out of character at all.

Marvel films got the rights to Spider-Man back and they did a better job in a small part othis movie than ALL the other 5 films put together!  They got an actor who looked and acted like a geeky, anxious, teenager.  They didn't bother with his origin, cause everyone already knows it (unlike, say some really idiotic shitstorm of a movie from DC released earlier in the year which began, I'm told, with Bruce Wayne's parents getting shot AGAIN!  I mean, chrimeny, is there ANYONE alive who DOESN'T know that's Batman's origin? Sheesh!), they just went right into it.

They introduced the Black Panther (and DAMN is Chadwick Boseman a sweet piece of eye candy!  Especially with that accent he uses) and set him up as another hero in the Marvel Universe. (I'm totally ready for his own movie to come out!)  And he was one of the character who had the greatest character development.  But there was also some development in the personality of Tony Stark.  Very unexpected, that.

They showed some early, small signs of a relationship between the Vision and the Scarlet Witch.  Ant-Man was GREAT, as was Spider-Man.

And let's not forget the airport scene!  Oh. My. GOD!  Has there EVER, in any comic book movie, been a better, more fantastic, fight scene????  Despite being between the heroes?  Just unbelievably well done.  Every character got a share of the spotlight.

And one of the best parts of the movie: It was funny AND fun.  (again, unlike a dark, gritty, serious,  'realistic' shitstorm of a film released earlier in the year)  It was serious when it had to be (like at the end) but there were funny quips, humorous scenes, and great interchanges between the characters.

There were some minor issues I noticed, but frankly, the movie was SO good, I just didn't care.

This movie is everything a comic book movie SHOULD be.   Fox (with the X-movies and Fantastic Four movies) and Warner Brothers/DC (with ALL their movies) could learn MUCH from watching just this movie alone.

I anxiously await ALL the forthcoming Marvel films.  

POLT

So I've been watching things recently and I've got some reviews:

Bob's Burgers, season 5 (A+)

HILARIOUS!  There were a couple episodes that were kinda flat, but most of them had be laughing my fool ass off.  I'm amazed they can still come up with these great stories after 5 years....but then again, The Simpsons has been going strong since the FIRST George Bush was in the White House.  I'd highly recommend it, in fact I'd highly recommend all 5 seasons on Netflix!

11.22.63 (B-)

This Hulu series was based on a Stephen King book.  I LOVED the book.  It was 800 and some pages, and I finished it in 5 days back in 2014.  So I was looking forward to this series.  And the series was okay.  I wasn't really expecting a page for page copy of the book, but there were several things that just careened off into areas that were FAR from the book, and some, frankly, non-sensical.  Still I did enjoy the entire series.

The Walking Dead season finale (D)

Ugh.  We spend the whole second half of the season hearing what a bad ass Negan is.  We ALL know from the comic books he beats Glenn to death with a baseball bat.  And we know this is the 90 minute season finale.  So what do we get?  And hour of a group of them driving around getting stopped by roadblocks set up by Negan's group.  And then we get a then stumbling, somehow, into the middle of Negan's men, where it just so happens they already have Daryl and his group and Eugene waiting for them RIGHT THERE!  Then we get 15 minutes of a Negan soliloquy.  And then we get a POV shot of Negan hitting someone with the bat twice and blood on the screen.   Aaaaand, cut to black.

Pffft!  Waste of 90 minutes I'll get back in my life.

I dont really care at this point who he killed, but MY guess is it's Deanna's son.  He's the only one that's not from that group since before Alexandria.  He's the one we, as an audience, have the least amount invested in.  He's not been in the show much.  He wouldn't be a loss.  So that's who I think it is and why.

Although, since it can be anyone, if I were the writers, I'd do this: since they dont have to start filming the next season until the summer, what I'd do if follow all the social media comments on this and tally up who most of the fans think DID die, and then make sure it WASN'T that person or persons.  Just to show the fans can't predict this show (especially since everyone and their brother predicted how Glenn survived under the dumpster).

POLT

I'll murk you like Deadpool, decapitate you early....

Oh so over the weekend I saw Deadpool.

I had no intention of seeing this, I am NOT a fan of Deadpool.  But a few weeks ago, I saw a trailer for the movie, and saw it had Colossus in it.  And, I heard Ryan Reynolds was shirtless or naked in a good portion of it.  So, yeah, I was in.

I didn't like it, but I didn't NOT like it either.  I didn't like it for the same reason I don't like Deadpool in the comics: pretentious self-awareness.  I do not like that the character breaks the fourth wall.  I didn't like all the violence, frankly, even though that's what Deadpool's all about.

But there were some laugh-worthy moments.  And there WERE the shirtless/naked Ryan Reynolds scenes. And the special effects were pretty good.  But I still can't give it a thumbs up.  Nor can I give it a thumbs down.

So I give Deadpool The Movie a thumbs sideways.

POLT

Fear takes my breath away, I'm saving my skin...

Last night I watched, with StratCat, the 90 minute pilot episode of "Fear The Walking Dead."

It was okay.  Nothing special, but it did a very good job of setting everything up: introducing the character, the situation, and showing how it all began.    There were a few examples of the lazy writing that leads to stupid character actions that I've come to associate with some of the regular Walking Dead episodes.  But by and large, it was entertaining.

The name, however, sucks.  Seriously, they couldn't come up with ANY better name than that?  "The Walking Dead 2" "The Walking Dead West" "The Walking Dead, Los Angeles" "The Walking Dead: The Beginning".  Yeah, not all of those are great either, but I think they're all better than "Fear the Walking Dead".  oh well.

I must say, though, the eye candy was quite prevalent.  I dont recall seeing so many cute guys in one show that isn't about cute hot guys specifically.  I mean, the show starts out with Nick in a tight shirt, but hanging wide open, showing off his slim smooth chest.  In fact, we see him walking around and running through a church and the street dressed exactly the same way.  That was a pleasant way to begin a show.  See:

Nice smooth twink sagging.

But let's look at the rest of the cute guys:

Fashion model cute drug dealing attempted murderer, Calvin.

Father hating son Christopher

Disappearing boyfriend Matt.

Sleeping in class student Russell.

And hey, even the random dead guy getting his face gnawed on was pretty cute.

All this makes me optimistic for the future of this show, what with all the hot guys so far.  Makes up for the relative lack of hot guys in the main Walking Dead series.

Although, I did find it humorous that the black guys are getting turned first: Calvin, for sure, and possibly Matt.  And the school's principal is black, and I'm pretty sure I saw him staggering down the hallway in a preview of next week's episode.

At any rate, I'll be sticking with the show, I'm looking forward to seeing just how society collapses.  And collapses without a President Trump in the White House.  Course society would ceratinly implode much quicker in the second scenario...but I digress.....

POLT

I'm dancing with the dinosaur, living my life....

So over the weekend Louis and I saw Jurassic World.  My opinion?  I was entertained for two hours, but still...meh.  

*SPOILERS ahead*

This was a pure Hollywood movie, with all the expected cliches and not a single original thought or idea included.  Stupid kids; Corporations/military is evil; Those in power wont listen to the little guy who knows; *SIGH*

One character douses himself in gas so a dino wont smell him, he never changes his clothes, yet the very next scene he's dry and no one mentions the gasoline smell (which honestly, I think would have been a hilarious running joke.  Everytime he got around someone new, have them comment on the gas smell...but whatever).  Characters jump into a lake, crawl out soaking wet, next scene are dry and their hair perfectly styled.  Some underage character know how to hot wire a 20 year old jeep, one which has spent those 20 years rotting away, and yet somehow still has all working parts and gas in the tank.  Flying dinos swooping over crowds picking people off, but a character can climb a top a table and yell for someone else, and not have any thing attempt to grab her.  Heroine and run through the mud, jungle, undergrowth, etc, all while wearing heels...and not breaking a heel even once.Characters make stupid, illogical decisions throughout the movie, which could possibly be  explained away with the kids, but NOT the adults!   Dino has been raised in the same enclosure all its life, watched and studied by scientists and care takers, yet no one knows dino can camouflage itself, or change it's thermal output.  Was there ever ANY doubt the fat guy in a hard hat was gonna die?  Or the evil government guy?  How about the park's owner, too concerned about the $26 million dollars they invested in the 'assest' to give security lethal means to contain the 'assest'?

There were a FEW highlights.  Firstly, the two big dinosaur fight scenes were amazing.  The special effects simply unbelievable.  Those two, in my opinion, are worth the price of the ticket alone (especially since we went during a half price matinee).  Can't praise those enough.

Number two: how refreshing it was to see the heroine did not just scream and hide behind the hero. I mean, she actually knocked a dino off the hero and shot it.  And she came up with idea of using the T-Rex and getting him there.  She had brains and bravery and took actions!  That was definitely NON-Hollywood.  And number three: When I saw the black guy assistant, I figured right then and there he was dino meat (which was a shame cause he was pretty hot), cause you know the black guy ALWAYS dies, and early on, in Hollywood movies.  Only this time, he didn't.  So there's another break with 'tradition'.

But other than those two, pretty much the same thing in nearly every other Hollywood movie.   Thus, why I give it a meh.  But as I said at the outset, it was entertaining.  I was entertained even though I sighed and rolled my eyes through most of it.  I can't recommend it, but if you're interested in seeing it, I'd say go.  It's nothing earth-shattering or 'ah'-inducing, but I'm sure you'll have fun.

POLT

The last two books I read, The Haunting Of Hill House and Killer Angels, were both on a list I found online back in April.

 

I dont recall the exact title of the list, but it was something about the greatest American novels ever written, or something like that.  Also on the list were things like The Great Gatsby, which I had read, and To Kill A Mockingbird which I had not.

At any rate, I ordered these two because: The Haunting Of Hill House, "the best American haunted house novel" and Killer Angels: "the best novel of the Civil War".

The Haunting Of Hill House was.......boring.  Oh, there were some things going on that made me make sure my bedroom door was shut at night, but by and large, I wasn't that interested.  In the end, I don't know if the protagonist was being haunted, or just going mentally insane.  And perhaps that's the point.  But I didn't enjoy it.

Killer Angels, however, was amazing!  So well written. I have read a lot on the Battle Of Gettysburg, but nothing that made it come alive like this.  Like I was THERE!  Just incredible.

So in short, from me, The Haunting Of Hill House: meh.  Killer Angels: Thumbs WAY up!

POLT

Someone book me a room (Part 86)...

Chapter 3, Page 28...

Saturday, work as work.  Nothing out of the ordinary. After work, however, I went to the ParisPeking household.  I had been invited there for supper and then to watch the last Hobbit movie.

The middle ParisPeking girl was off to a sleepover, so that just left 5 of us at the table.  And the meal, was really really good.  Roast beef, mashed potatoes, peas and cole slaw.  Not Mama Polt quality, mind you, but very damn near it.  See?

I also had some company prior to the meal: Missy the Jack Russel Terrier.  She apparently doesn't like her photo taken, because I tried several shots, and she'd always look away before I could get the picture.  But when she was laying on my lap, sleeping, I did manage to wake her up and quickly grab this pic:

She does look terrified or irritated, doesn't she?  But surprisingly, this is the best photo I could get of her.

So after the delicious meal, we retired to The Mancave to watch the movie.  A Local Celebrity, Mr. David ParisPeking felt the movie was a waste from the beginning, and had no problems saying so.  And it turns out, he was all tuckered out and went to bed about an hour before the movie was over (mind you, this was about 7:30 in the evening.....he's worse than I am!).  But MRS. ALCMDPP and I watched it all the way to the end.

My thoughts?  Overdone.  Overlong.  Stretched out WAY too much.  It had that great look and feel to it that all the Peter Jackson Hobbit/LOTR movies have to them.  But frankly, I felt like I was watching a repeat of the last LOTR movies: A place under siege, the city outside under attack, and wave and wave of new and different armies keep entering the battle.  All the while, Gandalf talks to and explains things to a Halfling.  But still, overall, I enjoyed it..

And then I came home, putzed around online, and then went to bed about 1030-ish, I think.

POLT

Television light, shining through a hundred bedroom windows....

So I just today finished watching Ken Burn's Baseball, and it was amazing.

And this is said by a guy who's hated baseball all his life.  Do I like baseball now?  No.  But I might hate it a bit less.  And I think I'm kinda interested in going to a game this year.  Maybe.  I went to an Orioles game with my parents on a bus trip when I was a kid, under ten.  And that's, I think, been my last time to a ball park.  I may want to go to see a game as an adult, just so I can say I did.  And I'm sure I'll be bored out of my skull, and that'll cure me of my new-found....less hatred of it.

Also, this year, I watched all four seasons of Star Trek: Enterprise.  And I gotta tell ya, it wasn't anywhere NEAR as bad as I remember it being.  Well, if one ignores the second season, which truly was horrid.  But the third and especially the fourth, weren't too bad, all in all.  Even though some individual episodes sucked really badly.

The worst part of the entire series?  The damn stupid song at the beginning.  It's also kinda criminal how underutilized Anthony Montgomery was as Ensign Travis Mayweather.  I think it may have been because Montgomery simply wasn't a very good actor....he was kinda...wooden in most of his scenes.  And it appeared, once they realized that, they kinda shoved him to edges of the show.

Which honestly, woulda been fine with me, if they had used him properly over on the edges of the show.  ya know, as eye candy. I mean, this is really ALL we got of him:

And that's criminal.  Cause he looks SO good without a shirt and in those tight bright blue boxer briefs the guy wore.  Oh SURE, we get to see T'Pol fairly popping out of her suit every show and see Archer's hairy chest every third episode in 'decontamination' having gel slathered on him.  But we only get Travis once?  Criminal.

I mean, LOOK at him in some other stuff he did:

I mean, hell, he even looks real good in a wife beater!

And that was way back then, more than ten years ago.  Man looks good even today still:

And lest we forget...that SMILE!

They did, though, actually make good use of that smile on the show:

But it was still a shame they didn't use him more.  Still there were a few other enjoyable things about the show..

like....

And....

but all in all, I think Star Trek: Enterprise can be summed up in two words:

Wasted Potential.

POLT