Author: judog24

Tapped Film Review

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A documentary about bottled water, it sounds simple enough.  Then you realize there are more issues with these bottles than just recycling.  You will quickly become thirsty, and have second thoughts about reaching over for your bottle of water.  Is this documentary convincing enough to stop you from using water bottles?  Maybe, but the information presented here is interesting, and at the very least you will learn how most companies get the water required to fill all of the bottles.
The effects used to present maps and statistics are nice.  With a movie about water, I would have expected the color scheme of these parts of the documentary to be in various shades of blue instead of relying on oranges and yellows.
The documentary mentions that if consumer habits continue the way they are today, then our water supply will be depleted.  It is not a stretch to say that this will happen.  The problem lies with how this idea is expressed, which is by mentioning droughts throughout the United States.  While it is a problem, it would have been interesting to see how our water usage affects the entire world, especially in locations which do not have easy access to clean sources of water.

Frightening statistics about the amount of plastic in samples of ocean water show the damaging effects that bottled water have for our health.  As one of the major issues being addressed in this documentary, a thorough job was done showing the various aspects that water bottles have on people’s health.  
Did this documentary make me change my water drinking habits?  No, they are too convenient.  Would I consider using a reusable bottle?  Perhaps, but that would assume I want to drink water at any moment of the day.  It was interesting, even if it was a bit more serious than I was expecting.  It only begs to ask what other common everyday items have such a huge impact on environmental health.

Everyday Atrocities: 3D Glasses

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The improvements made in 3D glasses have been great.  No longer are they made out of flimsy white cardboard and red/blue lenses.  Now they provide a better image, are more comfortable to wear and less stressful on your eyes.

 
Some people find them so comfortable that they wear them as sunglasses.  It looks idiotic and does not help at all in protecting your eyes.  The plastic sleeve the glasses come in address that, but I doubt many people actually read the warning.
 
It even has a diagram!
The new plastic sleeves are less attention grabbing.
I wonder how many of those sleeves are just tossed on the ground or thrown away.  It seems wasteful.  The glasses themselves use even more plastic.  They must be relatively cheap to produce.  I bet that it costs more to create the perforated tab to open the sleeve housing the glasses than it does to create the frame and lenses.
 
Box office statistics show that even with the insanely high prices for tickets and popcorn there are a lot of people going to theaters.  Let’s take the Avengers as an example.  It grossed $622 million.  Now you have to take into account that this number is just for the amount it made in the US and includes both 2D and 3D ticket sales.  For a moment, let’s assume that all of the sales were in 3D and the average price for a ticket is $15.  You have a total of 41,466,666 people.  I would say that is a very large number and this is just for one movie.  Just imagine the dozens of other blockbusters that are released in theaters and how many 3D glasses have to be produced to keep up with the demand.  A crazy amount.
Imagine all of the plastic being used.  Sure, there are announcements in movie theaters saying that you should recycle the glasses, but how many people actually do that?  Lazy people toss them in the trash.  I keep all of my glasses as a souvenir.
 
 
Is it even necessary to produce so many glasses?  Why not encourage people to keep and reuse them just like those eco-shopping bags.  It could potentially lower ticket prices.  What exactly are theaters charging extra for admission to a 3D movie?  Maybe 3D is just a fad that will die out in a couple of years.  It is infecting film design with purposely done shots that are just awkward to watch without wearing those wasteful glasses and that’s atrocious.

Resident Evil: Retribution Impressions

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I was hesitant in writing a complete review for Resident Evil: Retribution as I had not seen any of the other movies in the series.  It was completely unexpected that I watched it on its opening day.  I would have chosen Finding Nemo instead, but the person I went to the theater with was a huge Resident Evil fan.  I will just go over my impressions of the film.
Along with never watching the movies, I have not taken the time to do a full play through of any of the games.  One day I will play through Resident Evil 4 which I hear is brilliant.  I have a small understanding of RE lore and was concerned that the plot for Retribution would have been convoluted.  Oddly enough, almost the first five minutes of the film are spent recapping all of the major events in the previous movies.  I had never seen a movie do this before.  It was useful, but it did not feel like all of the background information was needed.  The plot was very easy to follow and was just showing an execution of an escape plan.
The length of the film is what bothered me the most.  I think I have just gotten used to long movies but 96 minutes felt short, especially when you take into account the giant cliffhanger ending.  It felt like they accidentally a second half (Yes, accidentally a second half).  A lot of scenes were done in slow motion.  It really makes me wonder how much actual content they had.
In the end there were some satisfying kills, but there really was not anything special about it.  Wesker did not look like a real person.  The dubstep that was played at the end bothered me; at least it had the wobble bass.  I find it hard to recommend to a person who is not familiar with the other movies.  Now I have to watch the next one just to see what happens.

On a semi-related note, the theater was completely empty by the time the movie finished.  Not a single employee in sight.  It was creepy.  It felt like a zombie apocalypse was about to happen.

Battleship Film Review

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When suddenly, aliens. Then bursts of fiery explosions. BOOM. Insert a bad joke here, and repeat more explosions.

There is nothing more to be had with Battleship. It is all flash, no substance. The plot is absurd. If there is anything that comes to my mind when I think of the board game Battleship, it is anything but aliens. Uninspired acting prevents this film from conveying any sense of 

urgency that the world is about to be destroyed. At times I had trouble determining if it was trying to be a comedy or an action movie. Battleship tries to develop the protagonist, but even at the end of the movie he comes across as shallow.

Glancing over the absurd plot, the next evident problem is the pacing. Once the aliens begin to invade Earth, the action begins. Normally a movie of this nature will have some smaller fights in the beginning leading to the grand finale, but here the movie is just one giant battle. It is a spectacle to watch and the effects are well done. Maybe it is the inconsistency in the soundtrack with the use of modern pop songs and an original score being used together, but it did not feel as exciting as it could have been. Not that this film had much potential anyways.

Battleship would have been much better if it was not a movie based off of the classic board game and did not look so similar to Transformers. If the producers were going to use anything else but other ships as the enemy they should have went with something crazier such as apocalyptic whales. Nuke the whales, because you have to nuke something.

Airplane! Film Review

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Have you ever been so bored that you wanted to kill yourself?  I guarantee you will not feel this way when watching Airplane!.  It is essentially like watching a live-action cartoon with the way background characters behave and the physics of the plane itself.  Plenty of well timed over-exaggerations are to be found here.  This film has no problem making fun of itself.  Combine the humor with the outrageous plot of war veteran Ted Striker having to land a plane due to a mysterious outbreak of food poisoning and you have a complete package of comedic gold.  Surely, I can’t be serious, but I am.  This film literally has everything, jokes, innuendos, romance, war flashbacks and even Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.  His appearance should be a solid reason alone to see this film.  Over thirty years later, Airplane! is funny and is an excellent example of just how much movies with a PG rating could get away with back then.

Everyday Atrocities: Lines

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Getting on all of the attractions at Disneyland in one day is next to impossible. You will spend more time standing in line than you will get on rides. When seventy minutes is considered a short wait, you just know that you are in for a long day. Over at Disney California Adventure, I have seen the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror reach a waiting time of over three hours. Such times are just insane, yet it does not stop people from standing in line. Is the wait worth it? The rides at Disneyland are certainly an experience, but some of the rides are just too short to justify the wait. Disneyland and other theme parks do however provide excellent immersion and try their best to make waiting in line as enjoyable as possible.

Other places need to do the same. Imagine how much more entertaining it would be to wait in line at a bank if you had to make your way through a complicated and decorated pathway, instead of just going around some velvet rope. Adding a place to sit would be a nice addition. Even better, the seats could slowly drag you along until you get to the front of the line. It would certainly make waiting in line less tiring or maybe it will just show how lazy Americans have become. Either way it feels like lines go on forever and is that not what lines really are? Infinitely long.

If You Create a Text Post on Tumblr, You Are Going to Have a Bad Time

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Tumblr was just not cutting it as a blogging platform.  I imagine a blog as being a place where a user can share thoughts and opinions.  Very rarely did I see that in the form of text posts on Tumblr.  Sometimes a simple image can capture a moment perfectly and that appears to be the mentality of most Tumblr users.


As a source for images and animated gifs, Tumblr is amazing.  I will continue to use it for that reason alone.  The novelty blogs available can be hilarious with my personal favorite being the Same Picture of Dave Coulier Every Day.  I just think that a blog needs to be a more substantial than just a feed of images.  More specifically, a blog should host original content.  From what I have experienced on Tumblr it is just reblog after reblog.

Now I am here.  My recent statuses on Facebook have been far to long.  If a post is too long for Facebook then it is too long for Tumblr.

The Dark Knight Rises Movie Review

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It’s not the ending it deserved, but it’s the ending it needs right now.


That previous statement is invalid when discussing the Dark Knight Rises.  Christopher Nolan has outdone himself yet again.  Amazingly, TDKR surpassed all expectations I had for the film.  Very few movies deserve to be as long as TDKR.  Clocking in at two hours and forty-five minutes, you will witness stunning IMAX shots accompanied with a soundtrack that would make any scenario feel epic.  Anne Hathaway did an amazing job portraying Catwoman.  It is not perfect.  There is one loophole I noticed while viewing it a second time.  For the sake of avoiding spoilers, I will not go into detail about it.  

The Dark Knight Rises is a worthy conclusion to Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy.  It may just be the greatest superhero trilogy in existence.