All I knew about Hancock before I watched it was that it stared Will Smith and that he was some kind of super hero. I know the movie received a lot of hype before it was released.
The film starts out with a high speed chase going on. Hancock is shown as a bum sleeping at a bus stop bench intoxicated. A little kid wakes him up and tells him that a crime is going on as if to say "ain't you going to do anything about it". Hancock zooms in the air and starts crashing into all kinds of things, even crashing into some birds while in the air.
For some reason I was thinking to myself that this is going to be a terrible movie.
He takes care of the villains but the film lets you know that the population isn't too crazy about Hancock. Even though he helps fight crime he is pretty messy about it and the public don't like it. Hancock also ignores all of the court subpoenas from the city of Los Angeles for all of the property damage that he has caused.
Later in the film Ray Embrey (Jason Bateman)becomes trapped on railroad tracks with an incoming freight train. Hancock saves Ray's life, but he causes the train to derail and nearly injures another driver. Hancock lets everyone know how stupid they are for blocking the intersection but Hancock is also jeered by other drivers for causing more damage, but Ray steps in and thanks Hancock for saving his life.
At this point I started enjoying the movie. It seemed kind of funny to me how the super-hero of the movie would talk crap to the people.
Ray offers to improve Hancock's public image, and Hancock grudgingly accepts. The spokesperson convinces the alcoholic superhero to permit himself to be jailed for all of the outstanding subpoenas so they can show Los Angeles how much the city really needs Hancock. When the crime rate rises after Hancock's incarceration, the superhero is contacted by the Chief of Police. With a new costume from Ray, Hancock intervenes with a bank robbery, rescuing a cop and stopping the leader of the robbers, Red Parker. Hancock is applauded by the public and even tells the police "Good Work". Sometimes he seemed to be trying to hard and was over polite.
Ray later discovers that Ray's wife has superpowers like he does, though Ray nor anyone else knows about it. She tells Hancock that they have lived for 3,000 years with their powers, having been called gods and angels in their time. She explains that they are the last of their kind and that their kind are paired.
Hancock meets Ray and Mary back at their house. Mary explains that Hancock is technically her husband, explaining that they were built in twos, and that they are drawn to each other over time and great distances. Hancock is later shot twice in the torso when he intervenes in a liquor store robbery. After being hospitalized, Mary enters and explains that as the pair of immortals gets close, they begin to lose their powers. She also explains that Hancock was attacked in an alley 80 years prior, his skull was fractured, causing amnesia. Mary deserted him then in order for him to recover from his injuries. After her explanation, the hospital is raided by the bank robber Red Parker and two other criminals that Hancock had encountered during his incarceration. Mary is shot in the process. Hancock is able to stop two men but is further wounded by them. When Red attempts to finish Hancock off, Ray comes to the rescue and stops the bank robber with a fire axe. With Mary nearly dying, Hancock uses the last of his strength to flee from the hospital so that their parting would allow her to heal with her powers. He later winds up in New York City, working as a superhero.
Though many so called professionals movie reviewers gave mixed reviews, Hancock did not turn out to be the terrible movie I thought it was going to be. I really liked this movie and think Will Smith was the perfect guy to play the part of Hancock. Charlize Theron as Mary and Jason Bateman as Ray also filled their rolls to near perfection. I found the movie to be quite funny at times, even though it is not a comedy flick. I guess that will happen whenever Will Smith is in a movie. The super-hero effects were pretty good too. During the making of the film, to give a realistic appearance of superhero flight, Smith was often suspended by wires 60 feet above the ground and propelled at 40-50 miles per hour. I was fully entertained and I think it is a must see movie for everybody.
Hancock Rating 7/10
Hancock Review
100 Million BC Review
In 100 Million BC we meet Dr. Frank Reno, a brilliant scientist who many years ago as a young man took part in a failed wormhole experiment, or as it can be referred to as the Philadelphia Experiment. Over the past 60 years or so Frank has been feeling real guilty because he sent a team of soldiers to the Cretaceous Period with no chance of rescue. Luck finally comes his way as some scientist discover in some ancient caves writings that say "FRANK, IT WASN'T YOUR FAULT". This proves to Frank that the soldiers survived. Erik, his older brother had been one of the ones stranded in the past as well as a pretty nurse he'd had a thing for.
Frank is now going to try to go through the worm hole again with a group of 2008 Navy Seal team. They are going to go to a time that is 6 years after that 1940,s team arrived there. They take their trip and when they arrive in 100,000,000 BC they are welcomed by acid-spitting plants, dinocrocs, pterodactyls, and raptors. Much of the team gets killed, many used as munchies for dinosaurs. Frank and his surviving crew end up running into his brother Erik and the nurse he had a thing with and a few others. Frank also finds out that most of his original 1940's team are dead. This pretty much summarizes the first half of the movie.
The second half is mostly made up of a T-Rex running around loose in Downtown Los Angeles. When Frank rescued his brother and everyone got sent back to 2008, the current year. The T-Rex (known as Big Red) accidentally with through the wormhole. A lot of chasing and running around LA to trap the big monster!
Clearly 100 Million BC was a B-movie and despite the slam that many critics have given it, it really wasn't that bad to me. I mean, I know we can all make fun of the cheap dinosaur animation but it was way better than Land of the Lost wasn't it. OK, I know, for 2008 the animation sucked. I'll put it this way though, the movie kept me entertained. It's a great movie to watch on a Sunday afternoon when you don't have anything else to do.
100 Million BC gets a 5/10 rating
Raging Waters Review
I recently took a trip to the Raging Waters water park in San Dimas, California. I hadn't been there for about 17 years or so. I took three of my children ages eleven, eight and five. Going there I knew that the adult price was $35.99 for adults and $19.99 for kids so I knew I was safe with $100.00 to get in the park. When we got there I was told that the child price was judged by height, not age. If someone was 48 inches tall or taller then you have to pay the adult price for them. Child price is only good for anyone under 48 inches. What if I was a freakin midget! Would I get the children's admission price for Raging Waters? What if you had a giant three year old kid? $35.99? Luckily I had some extra cash because it's cash only! Right away my day did not start out good but it got better.
The first ride we went on there was Thunder Rapids and the ride was great. We all got on a raft and right away it went down into the dark. I got to admit if I knew it was as wild as it was I wouldn't have gone on it but afterwords we all loved that we got on it! You could see now that I'm not a big thrill seeker? I am, but not when it comes to water. I never learned how to swim so I have a reason here. Next up was the Ragin Racer and then the Black Hole. Both where exiting rides and the kids loved it. A relative of mine then went on the ride called Drop Out. He wanted me to go on but there was not a chance in hell. It's basically a tall water slide that you just come down on. The thing is really high! Someone told me there that it is seven stories tall. For water thrill seekers you would love it. Time was running out as we arrived there really late so we weren't able to go on many rides but we wanted to check out the more mellow kids rides. The kids enjoyed Kids Kingdom and the Little Dipper but they enjoyed most Splash Island.
On a side not here I just want to say about the Raging Waters entry fee. Luckily when we went they had a buy a day and get a day free special going on so we will be returning soon. That makes the entry fee only about $18.00 for each of us. To me this should be the regular price because even though Raging Waters was real enjoyable it was not worth $35.99.
Would I recommend Raging Waters to anyone? Heck ya! The place is fun!
Kung Fu Panda Review
Plot: Kung Fu Panda starts out with Po having a dream about being a heroic kung fu fighter. Po the panda is the biggest fan of kung fu on the planet even though he is a lazy slacker who enjoys eating more than anything else. His father has dreams of Po one day taking over the family's noodle shop but Po wants to be a kung fu master but dosen't want to tell his father this and risk hurting his feelings. When Oogway (Master of Masters) foretells of Tai Lung, a villainous snow leopard escaping from prison, he consults Master Shifu that the Dragon Warrior must be chosen to stop Tai Lung. News of selecting the Dragon Warrior is sent out from the Jade Temple, and the whole city along with Po, go to the celebration. The competition is between the Furious Five: Tigress, Viper, Crane, Monkey, and Mantis. Po accidentally enters the contest and is named the Dragon Warrior. Master Shifu must find a way to train Po and make him a Kung Fu Master. He realizes that it is almost impossible but finally finds a strategy that just might work to train Po. Po ultimately becomes a Kung Fu hero by learning that if he believes in himself, he can do anything.
Review: Kung Fu Panda was honestly a great movie that any adult can get into and as well as kids of course. The movie has a good educational tool for children as well. Through out the movie the Dragon Warrior has a destiny to be the one who opens up the sacred Dragon Scroll, which promises great power to the possessor. When Po opens it, he finds nothing but a blank reflective surface. Stricken with despair at the scroll's apparent worthlessness, Shifu orders his students to lead the villagers to safety while he stays to delay Tai Lung for as long as he can. As Po participates in the evacuation, he meets his father, who tries to cheer him up by telling him the secret ingredient of the family's noodle soup: nothing his father says. Things become special, he explains, because people believe them to be special. Po now seen what the Dragon Scroll really meant. If you believe in yourself you can do anything you want to do. That turns Po into the unlikely hero in the movie.
Kung Fu Panda gets a B grade. Great family movie that didn't need any improvements.
Want to watch Kung Fu Panda right now on your PC? The link below worked at the time of this posting.
Watch Kung Fu Master
Pandora Radio Review
1. Give it a thumbs up - which tells Pandora to keep playing more like this.
2. No response - do nothing and Pandora does nothing and will not change your preference.
(Note - This is usually what I do since I'm doing other things while listening).
3. Give it a thumbs down - which tells Pandora to not play this track again or any that are similir to it.
Almost forgot to mention that you can create more than one radio station. You can have 100 stations at any given time!
You can get this super great online radio now and the best part is that it's absolutely free! Check them out at:
pandora.com
Pandora radio easily gets a A+ grade!
Havoc - Movie Review
Review:
Havoc was a movie that I could barely say was OK and I mean barely. The ending to this movie was one of the worst endings they could have come up with and leaves many unanswered questions that were probably the main plot of the movie. The movie main character is Allison Lang (Ann Hathaway) who lives in a upper middle class neighborhood. The movie reveals her and her friends relationship at the beginning of the movie. They are a group of white high school kids who are infatuated with the hip hop culture and are pretty much wanna be gangsters. Some from the group are what some would call wiggers, they even have a name for their wanna be gang. One of the no-no's in the movie was that during the movie there is a high school student who is doing his own documentary on this gang of kids with his camera. Real point less for the movie unless you'll enjoy seeing Allison in a kind of sexy scene. Allison and her friends decide to go buy drugs on the other side of town from some East L.A. Chicano real gang members. After buying the drugs Allison's boyfriend Toby (Mike Vogel) realizes that he got burned, he decides to confront the drug dealer named Hector (Freddy Rodriguez). Hector then punks Toby and puts a gun to his head, making Toby urine in his pants out of fright. Even though she was worried about her boyfriend Allison can't help but to be intrigued by the lifestyle of the Mexican gangsters so the next night Allison and her three girlfriends go back to the location were they bought the drugs. There, she and her friends are invited to a party and she starts a relationship with Hecor. They have a good time at the party and after leaving can't believe what they just did. Later Allison and her best friend Emily (Bijou Phillips) go to a hotel party that the gang is having. While there they are having a good time playing cards and taking shots. Emily then wants Allison to ask the gang if they could be in their crew. Allison ask and the gang laughs at them realizing that these girls have no idea what a real gangsters lifestyle is all about. Hector and his home boys then decide to let them in their varrio but tell them that they have to get in the way other girls have. They have to row a dice and whatever number they get is how many guys they have to have sex with. Allison gets a one and chooses Hector, Emily gets a three. So entry into the gang begins but Allison has seconds thoughts in the middle of it and says she can't do it. For Emily things are going good at the beginning but when multiple guys are all over her she gets scared and starts screaming. Allison goes in the room to get her and they leave. Emily then charges them with rape and Hector is arrested. Allison then tells Emily's parents that it was consented and how they wanted to join the gang. When Allison's wanna be gang learn of the rape Toby and his boys decide to act like real gangsters and go to East L.A. with guns looking for revenge on the Mexican gangsters. Meanwhile, Hectors homeboys go to the wealthier neighborhood looking for revenge because of the false claim. They both have no look finding anyone. As Toby and his boys are driving home they notice the Chicano gangsters going the opposite way on the street. They notice the 16 tattoo in the back of one of their heads. The screen then goes black and we hear gun fire. That's the end of the movie! Who got shot? Who shot who? We will never know! Have to make up your own ending. What happened to Hector? They never mention him again. Even though I said that this movie is O.K. (barely) it really gets a low rating.
Rating: 5/10
Iron Man - Movie Review
I went into this movie completely blind about this movie. I had heard of the Iron Man but for some reason I kept thinking of the 90's animation movie The Iron Giant. When the movie began I was surprised to see Robert Downey Jr., thought he was in a rehab program still, just kidding. I will say that this movie was OK, not great but just OK. The movie was around two hours long and I'd say that we only got to see about 15 minutes of Iron Man action in the movie. The movie did not suck or anything just not nearly as good as all of the hype I have heard about it. Not that I heard anything of what it was about but just hearing about it so much.
Rating: 7/10
Plot: In the movie we learn about Tony Stark, who is played by Robert Downey Jr. Tony is a really wealthy genius and runs a weapons manufacturing company. Tony goes to the middle East to show the US military his latest invention, a super missile. Tony and his comrades are attacked and when Tony wakes up he is a prisoner in a cave. There is another prisoner there named Yinsen. Yinsen explains that he operated on Stark but was unable to remove all the shrapnel fragments from the bomb blast. Yinsen created a device-essentially a battery-powered magnet- that will keep the remaining fragments out of Tony's heart.The agents who captured Tony & Yinsen enter the room. Yinsen translates; they want Tony to build them a Jericho missile. Tony refuses, so they begin to torture Stark. Tony then has a plan to escape, he plans to build a powered weapon suit that he will wear and use to defeat the terrorists. Tony, fully powered, muscles his way through the cave. The guards try to stop but his suit easily deflects their weapon fire. Halfway out, Stark finds Yinsen, mortally wounded. Tony tearfully thanks Yinsen for saving him, and Yinsen encourages Tony to not waste his life as he dies. Tony turns his suit on the terrorists, igniting flame-throwers. He destroys their stockpile of weapons and uses a rudimentary jet-pack to blast away from the captive zone. The armor is ruined, but he is alive. Stark walks over a sand dune when a couple of US helicopters fly overhead. A group of soldiers, led by Rhody, come across Tony. Rhody is overjoyed to find that his friend is alive. Tony returns to the United States after three months in captivity. Pepper wants Tony to receive medical treatment, but Tony states that there are only two things he wants: an American cheeseburger and a company press conference. Hours later, Tony appears before a group of reporters and announces that he intends to shut down Stark Industries' weapons manufacturing division immediately. At the same time, Pepper is approached by Agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) of the Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement & Logistic Division agency. They want to talk to Tony Stark about his capture. Pepper schedules an appointment for them.
That evening, Obadiah confronts Tony about his actions, furious. Obadiah knows that the stock value for their company (and, by extension, their financial status) is going to take a serious drop because of this announcement. Tony wants Stark Industries to move forward with Ark Reactor technology, but Obadiah thinks that the Ark Reactor is nothing but a publicity stunt. Through the conversation, Tony ends up revealing his prosthetic power-heart to Obadiah. Stane convinces Tony to lay low for a while so the company can sort things out. Pepper watches a news report on the declining value of Stark Industries when Tony asks for her help. He's created an upgraded Ark Reactor but can't install it into his chest without someone to help. Pepper accidentally yanks out the cords for the old reactor too soon, putting Tony on the verge of cardiac arrest. They manage to complete the process in time. Tony tells Pepper to get rid of the old model since h's not a sentimental person. Tony comes to visit Rhodes and asks for help with a new private project. Rhody does not agree with Tony's approach; he thinks Stark is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder because of his capture and needs time to recover.Tony turns to his other best friend- JARVIS, the A.I. program- for help. Tony's plan is revealed to be an upgrade to his armored suit (referred to as "Mark 2," with the suit from the terrorist cave being Mark 1). Meanwhile, the terrorists who held Tony captive are searching the desert, gathering all fragments of the original armor. Tony decides that the first thing he has to do is perfect the armor's flight system. Since the leg-mounted jets prove too unstable, he creates arm mounted stabilizers to balance out the system. Pepper comes in when he is testing the stabilizers and they find that it also creates a powerful repulsion beam that could also be used as a weapon. Pepper leaves a box on Tony's desk. Obadiah visits Tony and reveals that the board of directors have filed an injunction to gain control of Stark Industries. Tony isn't worried; he still maintains controlling interest in Stark Industries. Tony finally manages to perfect his flight system, and is delighted at the prospect of flying. A new armored suit is soon finished, looking like a heavily-streamlined version of Tony's Mark 1 armor. Tony connects with Jarvis to monitor the progress in the suit. Tony decides to take it out for a test flight, and he is thrilled by everything the suit can do. Tony decides to push the limit for higher-atmosphere flying, but at such great heights the suit becomes coated with ice and his power supply shuts down. Tony is barely able to activate his thrusters in time to avoid crashing into the ground. Stark returns home, but the armor is so heavy that it crashes through three floors of the house. As Tony recovers from his crash landing, he opens the box that Pepper left behind earlier. It's his original Ark-Reactor heart, with a special border around it reading "Proof That Tony Stark Has A Heart." Tony analyzes more data and decides to rebuild the suit using gold titanium from an old project to solve the icing problem. Tony also instructs Jarvis to add some "hot-rod red" paint to the next suit, codenamed Mark 3. Tony then leaves to attend his annual benefit dinner while the suit is being painted.
At the charity event, Tony meets with Agent Coulson- who still wants to learn about Tony's incident. Tony then leaves to dance with Pepper and they share a moment together in the moonlight. Tony is confronted by Christine, the reporter from an earlier scene. She shows him photographs of his weapons being used by a terrorist group the previous day in the Middle East. Tony confronts Obadiah on the matter, and Obadiah reveals that he is the one who filed the injunction against Tony. Obadiah calls himself an "Iron Monger," and has no qualms about selling Stark Industries weapons to both sides of the conflict. Tony returns home, furious. When the new suit is completed, Stark steps in and essentially transforms into Iron Man for the first time. In a Middle East village, terrorists are rounding up civilians for capture & execution when they are confronted by a mysterious figure in red and gold. Iron Man has arrived. Within seconds, he defeats the terrorists and destroys the weapons they had obtained. As Iron Man leaves the area, two F-22 jets spot him. Col. Rhodes is asked about the status of any new developments. He contacts Tony, who claims that he knows nothing about what is happening. Iron Man tries to outrun the jets but they are too much for him. Tony calls Rhodes and reveals that he is responsible for the "unidentified craft." Rhody is furious about Tony sending in unauthorized equipment, and horrified when Tony explains that the "equipment" is actually himself! Iron Man is hit by one fighter jet, sending him flying into the wing of the second jet. The pilot is forced to eject, but the parachute fails to open. Iron Man, still under fire, manages to fly in and successfully deploy the parachute in time to save the pilot's life. Tony convinces Rhody to pass off what happened with the jets as a "training exercise." As Tony arrives back at home, Pepper catches him removing the Iron Man armor. Meanwhile, the Ten Rings terrorist group is visited by none other than Obadiah. It is revealed that Stane paid the Ten Rings members to kill Stark, but they realized who Stark was and demanded a much higher price. Obadiah takes the remnants of the Mark 1 armor they have gathered. Tony tries to talk Pepper into helping him, believing that nothing else matters but stopping the people who he put in harm's way. Pepper is moved by Tony's dedication, and agrees. She goes into Obadiah's office with a tiny piece of equipment designed to copy files from the computer. As Pepper sifts through stored files, she finds a video from the terrorists proving that Obadiah was responsible for Tony's capture. Obadiah comes into the office just as she is leaving, but Pepper manages to get away. However, as soon as he powers up the computer, Obadiah realizes what she was up to. On the way out, Pepper is joined by Agent Coulson and he agrees to help stop Obadiah with his fellow agents.
Obadiah meets with his team of developers working on his own armored suit. They cannot figure out how to create a power source for the suit. Stane is furious; then realizes that he has one other option. Stane arrives at Tony's house and paralyzes him with a sonic weapon. Obadiah yanks out the power source from Tony's heart, taunting him all the while. After he leaves, Tony realizes that he has only one hope for survival- the preserved Ark Reactor that Pepper gave him in a display case. He gets the power source installed just as Rhody arrives. Pepper, Coulson and several other agents arrive at Obadiah's research facility. They spot the Mark 1 Armor and a storage location where something else was kept. Just then, a gigantic robotic suit comes to life and attacks them- it's Obadiah's counterpart suit, code-named the Iron Monger. Rhody watches Tony suit up, awestruck at the Iron Man costume. As Tony flies away, Rhody looks at the prototype silver suit Tony built earlier... then shakes his head and mumbles "Next time." Iron Man arrives and begins to fight Iron Monger. Jarvis warns Tony that he has only about half power in the suit; the older power source wasn't designed to wrok alongside the newer suit. The two ironclad warriors have a huge battle. Tony grabs the Iron Monger and climbs higher. Iron Monger struggles but before long begins to freeze up- his suit still has the same icing problem that Tony's other suit had. Iron Monger manages to escape from this, and Iron Man is now almost completely powerless. Tony instructs Pepper to overload the building's Ark Reactor, which will generate a shockwave strong enough to knock out the Iron Monger's suit. Pepper is hesitant, believing that Tony could also be killed. Tony manages to keep fighting while she builds up power to the Reactor. The Ark explodes, taking out Obadiah and injuring Tony. But the energy wave from the Reactor also manages to re-charge Tony's heart battery, saving him from death. Days later, Rhody holds a press conference about the incident with the two robots. Tony is impressed with the newspaper's coming up with the name "Iron Man," and plans to adopt it. Agent Coulson has released cover stories about Obadiah and the "truth" about Iron Man (who will be referred to as Stark's bodyguard). Pepper thanks Coulson but cannot remember the full name of the group he belongs to. Coulson just tells them to call it S.H.I.E.L.D. and states that they will be in touch again. Tony goes before the reporters once more, and prepares to comply with the cover story. But, before he can even start, Tony Stark throws away his notes and declares "I am Iron Man." Much later (after the credits), Tony returns home to find a mysterious man in black telling him that as Iron Man, Tony has become part of a larger universe. Tony asks who the man is. He turns around and introduces himself- Nick Fury, Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. (Samuel L. Jackson). He's come to talk with Tony Stark about an upcoming project- known only as "The Avenger Initiative."