Ravings of an Angry Ranter

Nick vs. Buffy the Vampire Slayer Part 1

2017-06-11T18:53:00.000-07:00

Well shit, it has been a little while, and while I have had plenty of ideas that could have brought me back to write on a more constant basis I decided not to. Something to ponder however, those things that your friends love that for whatever reason you can't stand, for instance as much as my friends (and the whole world) love Captain America: Civil War it does nothing for me. So the premise of this and all upcoming post is very simple, I am going to let someone pick a TV show or a movie that I have publicly stated I dislike, and I am going to re-watch this show with the hopes of either trying to find new love for something I hate, or to discover if I am right. We are going to call this segment, Nick vs. and we are going to start with Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a show created by Joss Whedon and stars Sarah Michelle Geller in the title role. It ran from 1997 to 2003, and has developed a sizeable fan base. Going into this I will just state outright that I never understood this shows appeal. However because said friends cannot stop raving about it I have decided to give it a shot. This is what I like and don't like about the first three episodes of the series.

Pros.

I think what has grabbed me the most this time around, is the lore. In a time period where classic monsters have been given the twilight treatment, it is refreshing to see that someone recognizes that monsters should be scary. Vampires that feel threatening, is a real treat and in the first two episodes I really liked the idea of this town being a gateway to hell can lead to some really interesting ideas, that is what I am looking most forward to seeing.
Xander Harris is for me at this moment the best character in the show. Where characters like Buffy and Giles already occupy this strange world, Xander stands out as the only character where it feels like he grasp the situation. Of all the characters that I have been introduced to so far he is the one that most feels like a normal character. Whether it be because he is trying to appeal to a girl, or because he doesn't play off issues like it is just a fly that is bugging you, he is the character for now that is gonna make me come back.
There is some solid action in the first few episodes, albeit in really dark shots. People may complain about the darkness of the DCEU, but at least I can see what is going on. That doesn't mean the action is bad, far from it.

Cons.

The characters for the most part are weak to start this series. Buffy is a one note character and while I am sure she will grow as the series progresses it is hard not to notice that she is not super compelling outside of one concept but we will get to that in a second. Willow would feel more useless if they had not given her the super power of hacking, for the record I hate hacking characters, they feel more like plot convinces then anything. Giles might become more interesting to me as we go on, but it was just off putting how whenever the plot got going there was no emotion from him until the third episode when he was arguing with the "monster of the day."
Cordelia, yeah I know mentioned characters but honestly she is so bad she gets her own post. She is the Rachel McAdams from Mean Girls with none of the charm or likability. I hope she dies at some point so I can move on.
Honestly the dialogue is pretty weak up to this point. I am most ashamed because I know Joss is a better writer then this. I found myself laughing at three jokes in the first three episodes, and yes there were more then three. The fact that it relies on High School humor is lost on me, that may still appeal to some people, and yes you can make high school media that appeals to adults (Edge of Seventeen) but for me its not working.
A little too much 90s for my taste
I want to mention what I think is really holding this show back, and that is the technical's. Bad camera movement, really poor lighting choices, choppy editing, have pulled me out of the story, in the two part pilot I could hardly see anything that was relying on tension for me to be invested in. Lucky that was changed in the third episode but for now, this show feels less like a network or cable show, and more like the stuff I am doing as a film student. While this isn't a story problem, this does suck the enjoyment out when I am too busy critiquing the film stuff.
Finally I want to mention that the acting has been sub par. Their is no emotion when things happen except with Xander. Alyson Hannigan delivers each line like she is not sure of what she is saying. Giles feels like he is bored by what he is given, and Sarah Michelle Geller as of this moment is not a bad ass Slayer, she is trying to play both the bad ass and the high school student, but cannot play either of them with any conviction.

So at the start of this experiment it is 6 cons to 3 pros, and while that is not a good start it doesn't mean that things can't change. My verdict for the first three episodes of Buffy is a 5/10. The idea of a bad ass slayer fighting classic horror villains in a relatable way will keep me coming back, but only if the idea can be fully realized and for now, I don't see it.

Score: 5/10

No Sin, No Sinner

2013-03-23T16:08:00.001-07:00

In a first season episode of The Boondocks, the character of Uncle Ruckus after having a dream where Ronald Reagan informs him that God created different heavens for different races, in order for him to enter White Heaven he needs to preach to the world the evilness or sin of being black. Its terrible and ridiculous, the character of course is wrong and later when asking for God to strike him with lightning if he doesn't speak the truth, which "God" does proving to the people how wrong he is. At least in the show there is a resolution that allows for us to see the error of this way of thinking, in real life unfortunately this is not the case. In the case of this characters actions an audience member proclaims that it makes sense to hate the "sin" not the sinner.

Seen here: God punishing those who actually deserve it

Lucky for us people who argue that people who are black are either not even a blip on our radar, or have been shamed into changing there tune (looking at you Mormons). For the bigot of the 21st century however there is a more acceptable group to hate. LGBT rights have been moving forward a little slower then the other civil rights movements that came about in the 60s and 70s but its hard to ignore the progress. Whether its the obvious of getting Homosexuality off the list of mental illnesses, or the more recent elections where Maine, Maryland, and Washington legalized same-sex marriage by popular vote rather then by court order. With all this in mind there is a trend I have noticed a little bit more often then I would like to admit, people who say that they don't hate gay people, just the "sin" of homosexuality.


The new beacon of Progress

What does it mean to hate the sin but not the sinner? Well the explanation I have been given means that as Christians they must love all but they must not condone the sin they commit. And from the outside that is kind of a nice idea, hey you know I may not agree with what you do but as a person I love you all the same. But lets really look at what they are saying in terms of our topic. What is being said is that I may not like that you love another member of the same sex but I still love you the person. Despite how much religion has made us try and deny this our sexuality is a major part of who we are. Its not something to be disgusted by or to be ashamed of, embrace it. That all being said a major part of being gay much in the same way it is in a straight relationship is having sex. What you are really saying is that I don't mind that you are gay but I would really like it if you didn't have sex with another man or if you are a lesbian another woman. Its a special kind of bigotry, a bigotry that is candy coated in fake kindness. Don't be fooled by this kind of argument it sounds like its coming from a reasonable person, trust me its not. I might even call it unfortunate if the people weren't contemptible humans.

It has been told to me that in the case of Women's Rights or African-Americans Rights, that you can't change them because they were born that way they deserve the full rights of being an American. But gay people don't get special treatment because of there choice or lifestyle. I won't get into the science of homosexuality, or even the fact that love by its nature does not discriminate. I think anyone with half a brain can look past the stupidity of this argument. Do you understand what you are saying when you make a claim like that. What you are saying is that you have such a hatred for your fellow human that you are willing to look past the fact that as a fellow human they deserve the same treatment as everyone else because you don't like there lifestyle. And you want to create laws that make the government force your narrow minded view of the world on everyone, which for me is always hilarious coming from the small government folks.

Hypocrites in 1776 Hypocrites now

You might be asking why do you even care Nick, you aren't gay this doesn't effect you. You are right but that doesn't change the fact that I don't want to see any kind person be denied basic human rights. Also I have never be a fan of people hiding there hatred in bullshit kindness. The next time someone tells you that they only hate homosexuality not the person themselves you have my permission to tell them to piss off or any variation be it angrier or nicer of that phrase. Because we can not move towards progress when we still allow this kind of bullshit arguments to maintain a hold in our national dialect.

Till next time

Ravings of a Cheerfully Angry Ranter- Reverse Discrimination

2012-10-04T12:56:00.000-07:00

David Hollingsworth is a friend of mine and a fellow member of the Cabbage Stack Kids. When he is not busy trying to save the world you can find him on his blog Flying Knees, Politricks, Cheerful Existentialism. Here is his first guest spot on my blog which I am going to title Ravings of a Cheerfully Angry Ranter. Enjoy!

Hello, readers of Ravings Of An Angry Ranter. It is I, Punchline, the one responsible for Flying Knees, Politricks, Cheerful Existentialism. You may be wondering why I would be doing a guest spot on this blog when neither of our blogs have a particular subject matter, and therefore there isn’t any particular subject that warrants me writing a guest spot. The answer is that my blog has a more comedic and laid back style. This blog is for angry ranting, and that is what I am here to do.

This post is dedicated to everyone who cries about “reverse discrimination” when called out on their racist, sexist, homophobic, or any other type of discriminatory bullshit. This will not be like my last blog about “nice” guys, where my tone is more playful and constructive. The tone of this one will be more along the lines of “fuck” and “you.” And that’s why we are here on Nick’s blog.

More Fuck Less You

So, first and foremost, if you think when someone calls you out on your bullshit is “discrimination against the discriminator, and therefore equally bad,” a big, hearty “fuck you” is in order. You are so inadequate at living that you feel the need to bring down the rights of others, and you are so inadequate at rational thought you think someone calling you out is them “oppressing” you. Anthropologists will someday study you as irrefutable proof that we came from lesser beings. And, speaking of anthropology, it takes an Australopithecus with a severe concussion to talk to you on your level, which is why I am not wasting my time.

You have the right to believe its okay to take away the rights of others, and should definitely have the right to express this- in fact, I wholeheartedly support this right because it lets me know whom I could still talk to if I ever got a lobotomy, was given a book by Glenn Beck, and wanted to find someone I could connect with. But I’m supposed to “respect” this backwards ass opinion? I’m supposed to smile and nod about the fact you want to deny the rights of people who just want equality and if I deconstruct what you say, I’m being rude?!

Clearly a Reasoned Argument

No. To quote one of the wisest minds of our time, “eat a sack of baby dicks.” If I explain to you why your racist bullshit is racist bullshit, why your sexist bullshit is sexist, etc, that is also my right to free speech. Free speech means no legal consequences for your actions and your well being not being jeopardized by what you say. It doesn’t mean you can say what you want without any sort of consequence or response from anyone. In fact, wanting that to happen is infringing on their rights to free speech!

Continuing that train of thought, if other non-shitty human beings decide that, “hey, maybe we shouldn’t associate with someone who believes in this bullshit,” that’s not even close to the same thing as what you want to do to the people you hate for no valid reason. This is for two crucial reasons.

The first is that by choosing to not associate with you, they are actually not taking away your rights at all! You still have all the rights and privilege you had in the beginning. None of that is taken, not even a little bit. Nowhere in the law books does it say “you have the right to multiple state mandated friends no matter how shitty your outlook as a person is.” You can still go outside without being arrested for what you said.

The second reason is because being a shithead is not an integral part of who you are. Your skin color, whether or not you have a Y chromosome, who you are attracted to, etc, are integral parts of who you are that you can’t easily change and shouldn’t need to because there is nothing wrong with these things. You being a bigoted dipshit, on the other hand, is very changeable. You could decide not to be one this very instant!

Or wait till your secret comes out

As human beings we have some shitty tendencies hard wired into us, and making certain groups of people “others” is definitely one of those. But we also have self-awareness, the ability to understand and evaluate ourselves. We have the ability to be conscious of our beliefs and actions. Notice how when we want to punch someone in the face, we have the ability to slow ourselves down and say “no, I want to, but this is a bad idea” and not punch them in the face? You have the same ability to do that with your bigotry right now, tomorrow, or at literally any other point in your entire life!

So yes, your claims of “reverse discrimination” are utter bullshit. Much like your entire world view. Now go back to the comment section on Youtube videos and Yahoo! News articles.

Clearly the last beacon of freedom

I would like to thank David Hollingsworth for his always fun opinion, and we hope he comes back for more rants in the future.

What Have We Learned?

2012-09-12T20:00:00.000-07:00

Today is 9/12 which means it has been 11 years since the terrorist attacks of September 11. I like the rest of the people who will read this has not forgotten that day and will probably always remember what I was doing when I saw the news that day. The deaths of thousands of people are always tragic and when done for such a terrible reason just makes it that much worse. However it has occurred to me over the last eleven years that we tend to forget a few things when it comes to big tragedies, the most important of these being the “what did we learn?” aspect of the events.

As a man who has a great love of history, and it is always important for me to put events into perspective. Just think of every tragedy we have ever had, or better yet let us just look at the tragedies that have happened in this country.

No words for this picture

I’ll start in chronological order:

1898- Sinking of the Maine

More fun then living in Maine

The Maine was a battleship commissioned by the US navy, after being sent out to protect US interest in Cuba during the Cuban revolution from Spanish control. Sadly the ship met tragic end when it was blown up (most likely this was done to create the outrage to go to war with Spain). In the end what we learned here is that the United States was ready to be a major player on the worlds stage and also that certain people in this case journalist had the power to sway popular opinion to war.

1915- Lusitania

All the fun money can buy

I swear every major early tragedy took place at sea, but as it happened the Germans warned the people that if a ship entered British water where they had U-boats stationed they would get sunk. I don’t know if there was a major lesson here but it was the event that helped take us into another war in this case World War One.

1941- Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor

I don’t need to explain Pearl Harbor I just need to point out that once again we are being taken into war. Also maybe we learned the consequences of not only blocking out Japan from resources but also moving in on their territory. Also I tend to think about in this time I think about when people tell us about all the rights we tend to have in America. This event lead to us seeing the US government taking the rights of the Japanese-American citizens taken away. Which is another sad reaction to tragedy, our rights being taken away.

You know the funny thing about Pearl Harbor is that it was the biggest tragedy for our country until 9/11 and it seems that it has long since been forgotten by some people. Also a strange pattern I have seen is that these tragedies tend to put us into a state of war. I bring up these three historical events because it shows how often history repeats itself. Also I have to point out that it seems we just never learn do we.

However I did not create this blog for the sake of a history lesson I want to now turn my attention to 9/11. I sit here before you and ask you what have we learned? I can tell you up to this point is seems that we haven’t learned anything. We never stopped and learned why the people attacked us on 9/11 (maybe over 50 years of western occupation of Middle East land), we never asked the questions of what to do next. We never how we should handle this situation, we already had the answer WAR. The only thing we have at the end of the day is what came about due to the events of 9/11. Two pointless wars that sucked out trillions of dollars, and I think most importantly the continuing loss of rights.

Carlin

The death of thousands will always be tragic, but I think in these situations we need to look at the whole picture and see that in the shadows of 9/11 what ended up being more damaging is the loss of rights. The Patriot Act, the Bush presidency using 9/11 to defend warrantless wiretappings, drone strikes without warning. We now live in a world where we have people to fear that the government is always watching them. Sadly though it might be true, we lost life on 9/11 we have lost lives in the two wars and for this struggle to gain revenge what we got in return wasn’t even the oil we were promised. No instead what we were given in return is a big fuck you the American people and the furthering of power for wealthy and the loss of rights for the rest of us.

For a little more fun of a read please read my Review of Aladdin

Also try David Zafra's blog on commonly misunderstood movies

David Hollingsworth and his post about "Nice Guys"

Finally two episodes of Daves of our Lives with me as the guest again

First, Kids these Days:

Finally Relationships part 2

At Least You Hate Your Life

2012-08-16T18:23:00.001-07:00

Hello readers, in my world travels (really just Southern California) I notice a lot of trends but the ones that stick out to me the most are witty sayings or phrases. You see I have always felt that we as a species like to grasp on to catchy sayings and stuff cause they are easy to remember and hey everyone else is saying them. And even I over the years have got caught up in these catchphrases, hell you will still find me saying "dude" or "sweet" and when I know I have nothing intelligent to say I will also spout some catchy new age lingo to make someone feel better. But I am not here to talk about those phrases, I have noticed this recent trend by the older generation to say a bunch of seemingly good advice.

You see there is an issue with a few of these words though, not only are they not really helpful, but they are also are kinda mean spirited and sometimes just downright stupid. Listen we understand that some of you elders have led shitty lives and are now just bitter but hey you still in all your lives could have come up with something a little better to say. I am talking about phrases such as...

1. At Least you Have a Job


We never complained about our low pay either

This particular phrase tends to follow someone telling another person that there current place of employment sucks Ron Jeremy's dick. The elder statesmen will come up to you and tell you that in this time and age you should just be happy you have a job. Really you maybe saying Nick, this really isn't all that bad really you shouldn't be complaining when a lot of people don't have a job. To that I say hey stranger how did you get into my room, and that's not the point. For the point I will give the floor to Chris Rock:


No witty comeback here

It's not that we are upset that we have to work for a living, and its not that we just want a free handout its that we for the most part are getting paid really nothing to serve assholes all day. It's the fact that we know our job sucks and that we hope that this is motivation to do something better with ourselves. Telling each other that are jobs suck is not hurting anyone its just releasing some frustration on the shitty situation we are in now.

2. Back in my day when something was broke we didn't throw it away...


And look how happy its made them

It never ceases to amaze me how often I find this quote spamming my Facebook. It's almost as if they think that by making there current shitty relationship situation better by looking at the 50s and using social trends of that time to make them feel better. You know at the time divorce was while legal not looked on with any kind of reverence. And its not that I am saying that when a relationship goes sour that you should just brake it apart, what I am saying is that this advice is kinda faulty at best. The people who post these things still think that the quality of something is based on how long it last, be it life or relationships. Sometimes you have a good run with someone things go south and then you go your separate ways. Why would you argue for keeping something going longer then you know it should last. Think people sometimes what works for that aging couple up there is not whats best for you so really stop thinking that your relationship should be bulletproof and just play things by ear.

3. we had ____, they have____


The Depressing Past


The Sad Future

There seems to be this revisionist history when it comes to pop culture from the past in comparison to the future. A few weeks ago I saw a post that seemed to be bragging that Aaron Carter was vastly superior to Justin Bieber. We will ignore the fact that both of them make terrible music and instead just focus on the stupidity of this argument. Listen we all had stuff from are childhood that we look on with fond memories. Off the top of my head I can list a few; Pokemon, Batman, Star Wars, McDonald's with standards.

What we tend to do is ignore the fact that not everything from back then was all that great, for every new Pokemon game we still had to deal with Superman 64, and for every time I saw The Empire Strikes Back I have to be reminded that Attack of the Clones exist. And yes I had to listen to Aaron Carter when I was growing up, and now I have to listen to Justin Bieber but here is the thing they both SUCK. The only thing you are saying when you make the claim that one is better then the other is that your taste clearly hasn't changed much over the years. And much like Aaron Carter the only thing we will remember about Justin Bieber is what drug he got addicted to during his inevitable downfall.

Till next time

And after you are done reading this please read my good friend David Zafra's new post about Actors that aren't as good as we think they are.

And you should still be watching our customer service video on Daves of our Lives

And for more things about about relationships here is this old Daves of our Lives video

F**k you Paul Ryan

2012-08-13T19:56:00.001-07:00

Well everyone we are in the swing of things when it comes to the upcoming election and just when you thought that all of the reasons to dislike Mitt Romney had been all used up he went and picked Paul Ryan to be his running mate. Ladies and gentleman there is but one rule when it comes to picking a Vice President, when you are a douchebag you don't pick another douchebag to run with you.


off screen they are laughing at the poor

You see my loyal readers that when it comes to politics most people involved are totally unlikeable assholes. And really for the most part I can not blame them for that, their job involves taking it from behind from big business you tend to understand why these people are hateful bastards.


How I imagine the meetings go

But just to prove how much of a douche Paul Ryan is lets do a little commentary on what he stands for because really me just telling you this would piss you off so lets have some fun with it.

1. His budget plan that was meant to counter Obama's would allow people like Romney to pay no income tax and pass the burden on to people like us. And really when you get right down to it you kind of understand why he feels this way, he wants to make life a bit easier for the assholes that have led this country to recession. Hell when he took this plan to his district in Wisconsin he was booed. If you can't convince the people that vote for you to go along with your obviously horrible plan then maybe its not a good idea.

2. He once called the Generals that stated they were OK with Obama's defense cuts that they were liars. Which really is like the pot calling the kettle black. Listen if you are ever in a situation where a known liar calls you a liar then you must be doing something right. This really is more about the fact that these people, these Republican assholes are only concerned with the way they view the world, any one who even questions this is a liar or as we have heard in the past not a member of Real America.


Real America from the last election

I could go on about this guy but I feel that you as the reader can go along and find millions of other blog post and articles about this guy and you would all read the same thing. He is a terrible awful person, if you even considered voting for Mitt Romney before this, then I am sure this selection is not going to change your mind. I didn't even go into the fact that he wants to replace medicare with a voucher program that would not keep up with rising medical cost and would most likely cost us more money in the long run. And that and one point he voted to prevent gay couples from adopting which is an evil on a level I can describe. Mitt Romney has proven time and time again that he just doesn't know how to relate to us on any kind of level. He is a rich dickhead who thinks that the only rule that matters is who ever has the gold makes the rules. He is going to surround himself with like minded assholes who will only further the big business, pro evangelical Christian agenda to the detriment of the rest of us. I am not saying that Barrack Obama is the best man for the job but it seems that at this point we have discovered that Obama may just be the lesser of two evils. Till next time.

Oh and for those who would like to see here is Paul Ryan being Booed:

Also you should check out my guest blog on my friend David Zafra's blog where I review Beauty and the Beast.

Finally check me out on a guest Vlog on Daves of our Lives where we discuss customer service:

Didn't read but I hated it

2012-06-15T18:31:00.001-07:00

This isn't really going to be a long article but its something I really need to get off my chest. Recently I did a blog about people who claim that there religion is less a religion and more a relationship with god. For the most part the people who read it gave me so good feedback, along with some interesting responses. However I also got some people who either were pissed off because of what I said or flat out said they were not going to read it. Listen I understand that when it comes to a persons beliefs people can be really guarded and defensive. That's fine and trust me I am not trying to take anything away from those people, but for the people who said they wouldn't read it just because of the title or the description what the Hell?

Truth be told I really didn't attack a specific religion just the way we frame our beliefs in a way that doesn't make sense to me. Every time some one tells me that they have a personal relationship with God I ask what that means and I never get a satisfying answer. That's all I want really someone to give me a decent answer. If you disagree with me fine, that's good, hell that's what I am looking for a good argument. However if you are going to run in fear every time someone says something you don't like then you have stopped listening and have just accepted one version of what you think is the truth. So the next time you read something you don't like instead of just saying you don't want to read it just based on the title, how about not getting offended and read it. You never know you might just learn something.

Personal Relationships with Who?

2012-06-11T00:24:00.000-07:00

You know when I discuss religion with people and before you even say it I know you are thinking "oh Jesus he isn't gonna talk about religion again is he" and it is of course followed with "oh Jesus I am sorry for taking your name in vain" but when I bring it up one of the biggest points of contention I get is me calling Christianity a "religion" they prefer to call it a relationship with god. Its almost as if they are saying hey what Muslims worship is a religion but what we do man that's just something special. It really just makes me think about the concept of personal relationships, hell the way Christians would have you believe going to church is really just a more spiritual form of couples therapy.

Yeah I just don't think the Good Lord listens that well

The thing that gets me all the time is really the idea of saying you have a personal relationship with someone you never met. And before you bitch at me for say that you may have not have met God but you have felt him, guess what? It doesn't count. You know why because you can really only form interpersonal relationships with people you have had contact with. Clasping your hands together and talking to the sky doesn't count. Furthermore you really need to have a conversation with the person you are claiming you have this great relationship with.

Let me ask you this my superstitious friend, how many times has god called you in the last week? How many times has he sent an e-mail to you? Has he sent you any Christmas time family photos with a family newsletter? If you answered yes to any of these then please I have a excellent therapist you have to call now. Really though relationships are built through mutual understanding and through working out differences and forming bonds through things you share in common. I have a relationship with my girlfriend built through an almost year of being together. I have a relationship with fellow bloggers David Hollingsworth and David Zafra due to years of mutual interest. Also helps that I can see them and know that they are real.

At the end of the day really when you say that you have a personal relationship with god you are trying to push away the label of religion. You want what you believe to be so much more then a system of beliefs but really its no different then when I say I have a personal relationship with Batman.

Batman on his way to my house

Its nice to say and its a nice concept to think about but really what we are doing is making ourselves feel better about our beliefs making them bigger then they should be. It goes with out saying that its hard to have a personal relationship with someone that can't be bothered to show up when you really need it. Unless of course you got money then he always seems to be on line one.

Same-Sex Marriage: Really America?

2012-05-10T16:33:00.001-07:00

You ever notice that when ever someone talks about same sex marriage in this country we are always willing to give the side of obvious bigotry the same amount of air time as the people who are basically saying hey whats wrong with equality. Originally I myself who had a socially conservative upbringing didn't have a problem with telling off people that I felt were of obvious lower moral standing then myself. However much as how we have evolved for generations as a species so too has my thoughts on this very topic.

To be honest with you when I think about what I used to say and think when it came to same sex marriage I have nothing but disgust for myself, I mean who am I a heterosexual male to tell a homosexual friend that I am somehow superior to them. To be honest when I really sat and thought about it, it made sense that people want to be treated equally, I mean hell as it is right now marriage has a 50% chance of survival from the get go. Yet I see all of these twice or three times divorced "conservative" politicians claim that they hold moral superiority to us when it comes to love and marriage.

This guy above is one of them men who is claiming that his 3 marriages are more sacred then a gay couple who wants to try and make one attempted marriage to work. This asshole who left one wife who was sick for a "better" wife. Yeah forgive me if I don't defer to this guy for advice on family raising.

American Tofu up here is another guy who will claim that marriage is a sacred union between a male and a female. The big thing with Romney is that he like all the others in this country who claim this increasingly outdated belief will state they don't have a problem with gays, its due to there bible which claims that homosexuality is wrong. Funny because they didn't seem to believe the old testament to continue following it. Its just now that they need to selectively pull bible verses to suit their own bigotry.

As you have already read by now President Obama has come out in favor of same sex marriage. Is it a political move, most likely, but at least now the president can finally say he was on the right side of history, because eventually all couples regardless of orientation will gain the right to marry as they should. And when the story is written and the movie is made and the villain is chosen the Social Conservatives will again be vilified for the petty assholes they are increasingly showing us that they are.

I can only hope that in the near future when we have moved on to our next civil rights issue we can look to this as we look to the civil rights movement and finally look at the issue and say hey that's not right. And this time instead of fighting for far too long on "morality" we instead just do whats right.

Till next time.

My Tribute to Rick Santorum

2012-04-17T22:19:00.000-07:00

As always my friends and readers who accidently stumbled acrossed this page, I am always a little late to the game. So as you all should know by now Rick Santorum has decided to end his bid to be president of the United States. Now I know what you are thinking, Nick why would you want to give this guy more attention, he is old news, why not bring up Mitt Romney since he won. The anwser imaginary audience is that when you get right down to it Mitt Romney is just so boring

Look at this poor bastard, this man is the human equivalent to Tofu, he has no flavor unless you add some other pieces to it. This I think is a wonderful analogy to his political career, because in Massachusets he was a moderate, but now he feels the need to run away from any history where he has helped people. However I don't want to talk about him I want to talk about Rick Santorum.

Now I am not going to recap this guys whole run, nor the fact that he proves the idea that when America has the choice between Boring and Evil they will always pick boring. But Nick is it fair to call Rick Santorum "Evil." Yes this is a guy who wanted to be our leader, but was living in a reality that fit more the 12th century as opposed to modern times. This was a man who believes that government should stay out of the lives of Americans, but has no problems telling women and homosexuals that their rights are a threat to our way of life. This is a man who doesn't believe in the theory of Evolution, do I need to elaberate on how stupid that is. If you are in a dilema and the choice to get out of it is picking a thoroughly researched solution or "god will save me" then you deserve what's coming to you.

But I think the most telling part of the Evil of Rick Santorum is the fact that even though he claims to be a Christian, but supports the wars in the Middle East, he supports the death penalty, he would rather go to bat for the super rich then help the poor like Jesus would do. If you are sitting at home and wondering how I can call this a tribute save your breath, I gave you the positives of Rick Santorum, this man is and always will be a giant reminder of the people who still run this country, ignorant politicians who steer the ship of state not with a compass but with a belief. The very idea that this man could have gotten elected scared me more the any other thing out their right now. Now we can only hope that boring gets shot down soon too.

Btw you can see yours truly on an episode of Daves of our Lives with fellow bloggers David Hollingsworth and David Zafra visit this link to see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acoN6P8_Des&context=C4e9e02aADvjVQa1PpcFP1EKC28g2vBNRFs2QfIj9HlcAnoHKaE3k=

Till next time

Religious Persecution

2012-04-09T17:10:00.005-07:00

You know if there was ever a topic that we can ever agree on its that every one always feels like a victim in this world. Also if there was one topic on this planet that we all have some kind of opinion on is Religion. Well honestly its the topic that we try to mostly avoid and I really don't know why, well I do but hey we should be able to talk about religion like I am able to talk about Batman. This being said I will be the first to admit that in this world we have a lot of religious persecution, Muslims in America can't get around with out being branded terrorist for instance. There is also the fact that Atheist can't get elected into public office due to belief that what someone believes is the most important thing in vetting there guy for office. Cause you know who needs to consider things like qualifications and if the person isn't a crook, cause when I think of a qualified person for office I think the Pope.

Now if you are wondering where all of this is going, I got a story for you, but first a minute for everyone to get comfortable.

So I was sitting in class the other day, speech class to be exact, but in this case we were talking about picking subjects for speech when we got towards the end we had a guy who wanted to talk about Christianity. Now as a long time atheist when this comes up I tend to block it out but this guy insisted on going on and on about how he can argue about the truthness of Christianity and when asked if he recognized other religions he said I do but that they were WRONG. You know there are so many things that could be said but lets move on. The next guy said he wanted to talk about the United States becoming a country that persecutes Christians. I knew then that I could never talk about movies again and that this was always going to be my calling.

Listen you want to talk about religious persecution in our country thats fine but don't for a minute assume that just because we don't want to live in a theocracy that tells us that if we don't convert we die, you know like Iran, that doesn't mean we are trying to keep down Christians. You want to know the number 1 indicator that the christians are going to be just fine in this country? When these guys:

Are still allowed to preach their kind of hate and get away with it then Christians are doing just fine. And trust me we know that in places in the world where Christians can't talk freely about their beliefs but America is not one of those places. Hell you guys make up 80% of the population of the country and anyone who wants to be in politics has to say they are a person of faith. I guess what I am trying to say is you guys run the show, enjoy it and stop bitching. Till next time

Academy Award Rant: with guest blogger David Zafra

2012-02-08T11:56:00.000-08:00

Good Day ladies and gentleman. Two weeks ago the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science released the nominees for the Academy Awards. Well not all of us were really happy and no person personifies this hate the David Zafra of the blog philm-with-dzafra.blogspot.com who has been so nice as to rant for us on the Academy Awards.

Here we are ladies and gentleman our first guest blog.

Unfortunately for me I ranted before, and didn't save it. Since then my anger has slightly dissipated, but all I have to do is look at that shity list of best picture nominations to feel angry again.

"But David, didn't you like Moneyball, The Artist and Midnight in Paris"?

Why yes I did "imaginary guy", but we have a much larger probllem at hand and that problem is: the Academy is regressing! You may be asking

"Why do you say that"? To which I respond with the question,

" What did the subsequent two years have that no other year has had"?

To which I answer,

"AWESOME MOVIES"!

Every year has some really good movies, but the last two years had a great range of different genres and styles. Nothing delighted me more than seeing the critics putting Inception in the same list as The Kings Speech or District 9 vs An Education. As Peter Travers stated in his most recent rant on the Oscars, the new number of nominations were supposed to made to add popular movies to the mix.

What doesn't make sense to me is that the Academy seemed to want to try something different in an attempt to either a) try something new to catch up to the times or b) attract a different audience. I assumed "b" was the reason they hired James Franco and Anne Hathaway to host last year.
"This is what the kids are into, right"?

The list of best picture nomination would have been fine if they had stuck with 5 movies that were expected. Tree of Life, Midnight in Paris, Hugo, The Artist, and Moneyball, were all movies that the critics had been talking very well about, and would have made an acceptable list; give or take The Descendants. Even add The Descendants, (which I didn't like, but the critics did) and make 6. However the last 3 or 4 nomination should have been given to films that actually mattered. The Help did well, so it makes sense, though other movies did much better. And The Help would be fine, if it wasn't clear Oscar bait. But then add two other Oscar bait movies? War Horse and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close were not popular enough with viewers or critics to be nominated for a best picture award. It really doesn't make any sense. I loved Moneyball too, but it was enough of an Oscar bait movie, that we didn't need the other ones when they could have been replaced with something DIFFERENT.
I hate you

It's like the Oscars stopped trying to avoid the stereotype and chose to accept it instead. I don't get why. I ignored the Golden Globes the best I could and assumed that the Oscars would come around and do much better. Boy was I wrong. I know I'm repeating a lot of the same complaints that have been going around, but the real disappointment is not that the Oscars are bullshit, because we always knew that. It's that they picked a bunch of stupid movies to TRY to impress us with how relevant they were, but ACTUALLY ruined their credibility. There's plenty of movie-smart-non-critics that would rather see Drive nominated than Extremely Loud, and that's the audience that is being pushed away. So fuck you Oscars. Fuck you for picking movies you THOUGHT people liked, instead of picking movies like Drive, 50/50, Harry Potter or Rise of the Planet of the Apes. I don't much care for the other categories either, but I feel like I made my point.

Beauty and the Beast in 3D

2012-01-16T19:23:00.000-08:00

You know every now and then in my rants I like to pause my Incredible Hulk anger and talk about movies that I like. You may be asking but Nick you haven't really been angry since Transformers. To that I reply how did you get my email address and then you tell me I have been following you on Facebook. We have all be there, man makes blog, girl reads blog, girl falls for man, man tells girl he has a girlfriend and then you have a stalking incident.

We have all been there guys. That is not what we are here to talk about today though. I have just returned from seeing Beauty and the Beast in 3D and while I have issues with 3D I am going to forgo that today and instead focus on the content.

Now again for a little honesty I love this movie, for me this is the greatest traditionally animated film that has ever been made. The music, the story, the colors, the atmosphere and really what else could you want from an animated film. I really was afraid that going into this movie that it would start to show its age. For instance when I left the Lion King I really felt that this movie that I had loved so much was less an amazing spectacle and more a stardard childrens movie. I am glad to say that this movie 21 years after its orginal release it is as amazing as it was when I first saw it when I was 6. The 3D was not distracting and mostly used to bring out the background .

It really is great on Disney's part to instead of adding a bunch of useless new scenes and stick to the classic (I'm looking at you George Lucus). I really could go on and on about this movie but really I don't need to. If now you haven't seen Beauty and the Beast you have no right to judge animated films. Its on of the few animated films that can hold its own against the new Pixar CGI films. If you have a night to spend with a date or with Family go and see this movie, or do what I am going to do and go buy it.

Original Score: 10/10
Todays Score: 10/10

Top Movies of 2011

2011-12-29T17:41:00.000-08:00

Well its that magical time of the year, a time when we get together with friends, and family and create those moments that we hope will last a life time. Oh I'm not talking about Christmas I know not all of us like celebrating pagan holidays and I don't want to leave anyone out (courtesy of David Hollingsworth, who you can check out at Punchline-Everytime.blogspot.com) I of course mean the end of the year movie list. I am sure all of you have gotten together with friends and family and complained or complimented the major award shows and who they do and don't mention every year. Me and my friends who probably watch way too many movies for are own good love to bitch and whine about what is and isn't getting recognition. Well I think I may be talking too much so lets get to the good stuff.

There are 8 movies I feel that deserve mention on this list and while I believe that there is a huge gap between 4 of the movies I want to give these other movies a proper mention.

You know if I am to be perfectly honest with you I can't really stand the X-Men movies, They are seemingly played more for the comic book fan then a movie goer and it really hurts the overall feel of the movie (see Green Lantern). However First Class much like Batman Begins before it finally gets the Characters right and no need to needlessly shoehorn Wolverine into the plot. Really sold by the performances of James McAvoy as Charles Xavier and Michael Fassbender as Erik Lennsher otherwise know as Magneto and hell even a good showing by Kevin Bacon. This is a good Sunday after dinner movie with enough action set up against the backdrop of the Cuban Missile Crisis giving both the film and comic nerd in me something to enjoy. 8/10

Much like the last movie I never got into the original Planet of the Apes series. No real reason why they just never did it for me, anyway this film took that idea and turned it into possibly the best summer movie of 2011. Much like how First Class is going to get you to somehow root for Magneto at the end, I found myself really rooting for Ceasar and his quest to be treated not like a pet but like the intelligent being that James Franco has turned him into. The action also isn't over the top its about as what you'd expect considering the situation and it features some wonderful shots of San Francisco. 8/10

The Muppet's humor will always be hit and miss with me, sometimes I will see Muppet Treasure Island and laugh for hours after the movies over and sometimes I will catch myself wishing I had chosen to watch a Jeff Dunham stand up special instead. That being said this movie will for me represent one of the few comedy movies that got it right this year. The jokes hit at the right time and honestly even the idea that the Muppet's are now down on there luck and forgotten really brings humor to the idea of a star looking for one last shot at the limelight. Jason Segal really brought his humor not only in his performance but in his writing. 8/10

5. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2

Well every year there is one movie that everyone says thats the movie we want to see. This was that movie, as someone who has been a Potter fan for as long as I can remember this movie really needed to be something special. Thankfully for everyone it was a movie that really was enjoyable enough for me to watch it more then once. That being said my initial love for it may have died abit and for the most part it is really is for pure entertainment. However unlike some Michael Bay movies we could mention they didn't sacrifice story for the sake of entertainment. 9/10

4. Moneyball

First confession; I am a really big baseball fan, so much so I attend games on a regular bases. I guess you might say that means I can take some pain because of how painfully slow baseball is. I get so much joy out of the game though. Second confession; Until recently I have never been a huge Brad Pitt fan, I can't say he is a bad actor cause I'd be lying really I just can't think of too many of his movies that I really care for. Moneyball is the story of the Oakland Athletics team that through a radical system can finally compete with the big money teams. Based on a true story it is something that we can all relate to, we all see inequality in the system we live in, and its good to remind us that you don't always need the most of something (in this case money) to compete. 9/10

3. 50/50

It takes a great mind and a really funny man to take a movie about cancer and make it uplifting and dare I say funny. Thats just what happens though in this tale of a man stricken with cancer and how he comes to terms with it. I can tell you going in that I had my doubts and that this movie had the potential to fall flat on its face. People tell me that cancer is just one of those topics that you can't make funny. This movie shows us that we aren't talking about your everyday Adam Sandler slapstick movie where cancer will be magically wished away at the end. Their is a sense that maybe the cancer is too much for him and at the end when you see him finally break down you felt it too. I know for a fact I was starting to get emotional towards the end. Joseph Gordan-Levitt and Seth Rogan are a comedy dream team that you wouldn't have thought was a legitamite dream team. 10/10

2. Warrior

Another year another great combat sport movie that really keeps raising the bar. The Wrestler in 2008, The Fighter last year and now Warrior. Warrior is the story of two brothers in a MMA competition each for there own motivation. Tom Hardy's character an Iraq war veteran to give the money to a platoon mates widow. For Joel Edgerton's character he needs the money to save his house and really to save his family from living on the streets. Really though what made this movie for me was Nick Nolte as the two main characters father. As a person who has some father issues himself I can tell you that I really was hit hard by a lot of his scenes especially ones where you see that he is trying to repent for hs past mistakes. I will not spoil the ending but this movie keeps you invested till the credits roll. 10/10

1. Drive

The best movies every year is a movie for the most part I can pin point on the calander and tell you that it was going to be awesome. This year however I found a movie so amazing, so fantastic, so perfect that I am racking my brain trying to find a problem with it. If you hate subtlty then this movie wasn't going to be for you. Ryan Gosling who has arrived as a major player in hollywood showed us this year that he can play in the romanitc comedy, he can do a political thriller and now he can do a stoic bad ass and really thats what The Driver is. Albert Brooks as a villain was amazing not overly done and the romance was again subtle a word that I use a lot when describing this film. I feel that I can't really do this movie justice so I will let the other David (http://philm-with-dzafra.blogspot.com/2011/12/this-years-fives.html) tell you about some of these movies and other great 2011 movies.

Next time we will talk about some of the bad movies of this closing year.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

2011-07-18T21:24:00.000-07:00

Oh how great it is to feel like a kid again, which is exactly where I go every time I see these Harry Potter films that have meant so much to me over the last 10 years. Well Harry returns in the final installment of the most lucrative film franchise of all time. So i thought before I get going I would give my ratings for the previous films seeing that I wont get to talk about them ever again, hopefully anyway.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone: 7/10
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets: 7/10
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban: 8/10
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire: 8/10
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: 6/10
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince: 8/10
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 1: 7/10

Also I must point out that I love the book series and have really hesitated writing this review mostly cause I don't want to put this cap on my childhood but I guess as they say all good things must come to an end, and I have stalled long enough so lets get going.

Plot: 9/10
You know when you get right down to it the plot of the books and by extension the movies is kinda goofy and slightly far fetched. I mean a young wizard just learning his way around a world he never knew fighting off the most powerful dark wizard of all time and winning. So the job of the story is to make us buy it and I am glad to say they have done that perfectly the last few films. The story of this movie is simple Harry must not only find the last of the Horcruxes and destroy them but also upon doing so defeat Lord Voldermort and bring light to a dark wizarding world. They kept this movie short and too the point which meant that lucky for us we get a lot of action worthy of a Lord of the Rings sequel. The plot while of course taken from the source material is translated perfectly and even some things added even make you forget for a second that there was a book in the first place. The only downside was the unnecessary epilogue at the end of the movie which while in the book doesn't really have any thing of interest. Unless you didn't know the story ended on a Happy ending.

Characters: 9.5/10
I'll be the first to admit that even though I love this series the main character himself Harry Potter is completely boring. That being said over eight films Daniel Radcliffe has shown that he is a pretty good actor and has finally shown that he was a great choice to play the title character. Hermione is great as always yeah Emma Watson can really be over dramatic with her performance but I wont hold that against her and Ron is Ron like he has been for the last movies he is the typical side kick. So where does this high score come from you ask? Well like any great series its always the supporting cast that really helps tell a story. Lord Voldermort for me anyway is possibly one of the best villains I have ever seen on the big screen and Ralph Fiennes was possibly one of the greatest casting moves of all time. Severus Snape played by the always awesome Alan Rickman is for me the best character in this series, and I can admit to tearing up a bit at the scenes where we finally see what drives this character. Neville and Luna are great for the few times they show up on screen and the other teachers involved really get a great send off. Finally a shout out to Belatrix and Molly Weasly for only giving us an awesome fight but also the biggest cheer of the night.

Setting: 10/10
If you haven't seen a Harry Potter film first I don't know where you have been for the last decade, but I am sure you would recognize its distinctive look anyway. The film is shot really dark in keeping with the dark tone of the overall story. I really do love the look they have given these films, from bright and colorful like you would expect a children's movie to be. All the way to the grim dark tone you would expect of a coming of age fantasy story about the battle between good and evil. The magic looks nice but that's standard, Voldermort is designed nice but that's standard. I can't go on about all of this because well at this point most of you know what i mean when i describe a Harry Potter movie.

Dialogue: 9/10
You know the best parts of this series is seeing where they add spoken dialogue for scenes that it didn't exist in the first place. For instance they greatly expanded the battle between Harry and Voldemort and let them just destroy the castle. I mean its not like Warner Bros. is going to need it anytime soon. However I think where you really see the great screen writing is Snape's memory. Snape recounting his love for Lily and the task of watching over Harry even if he despises his father can only be shown through the great delivery of Alan Rickman. While like I said for the setting at a point everything becomes standard and you don't really have to describe something to fans any more this would be one of those situations.

Overall: 9.5/10
You know when I look back at my generation and how our pop culture is going to be defined by I know there are a few that are going to look back and think Twilight. However I think that my generations mascot is a boy wizard who discovered that not only is he a wizard but has a destiny to one day destroy the most evil wizard on the planet. This movie was the perfect ending to what was an amazing series, yeah it had its flaws but damn what a ride it was. To see this go from a child's book to adult fiction like it did and effortlessly and then to see them translate on the big screen like that is just short of amazing. This movie caped off not only one of the best film franchises of all time, but also but a great cap to one of the best parts of my childhood. This film will make a believer out of anyone who still doubts that there is no magic in this series. This movie to me is the best film I have seen since The Dark Knight.

On a side note I would also like to say that this film also has an awesome soundtrack that you should listen to now.

Good Night everyone.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon Review

2011-06-29T11:42:00.000-07:00

I should start off by pointing out that I Hate Michael Bay. Everything he has done has been terrible, his scenes are nothing more then set ups for the next big CGI filled explosion. The man knows nothing about character development, as the actors are equal props in his movies. That being said I went into this movie hoping to give it an equal chance to prove me wrong. What ended up happening is everything I thought it was going to be and less.

Plot: 1/10
The Plot from what I can gather is about the previous leader of the Autobots returning and revealing that he is actually working for the Decepticons. This leads to Sentinel Prime unleashing a technology that would help bring their home planet of Cybertron to Earth, enslaving humans to the robots and using our resources to rebuild the now barren planet. In a well done movie this plot actually seems like something worth checking out but here its really just becomes another subplot in a movie full of useless and boring subplots like; Sam looking for a new job or Sam jealous of his girlfriends rich and handsome boss, Sam feeling like despite the fact that he has saved the world he is a nobody. Also the whole time I am watching this movie I am thinking to myself dear lord didn't we just see this play out in the last two movies. Michael Bay has no idea on how to set up a scene and it really shows

Characters: 2/10
Don't let that 2 fool you there were absolutely no characters in this film trust me. Sam Witwicky played blandly by the equally bland and hopefully soon to be forgettable Shia LeBeouf is whinny and and the straight face expressions on his face are there the entire movie, when he is not yelling for Optimus. His new girlfriend who has a name but for the moment lets call her Not-Megan Fox cause that's what she is. That's not to say that Megan Fox is a good actress because she is not but I never thought I would watch a movie and be wishing for a Megan Fox performance. The US government is apparently run by morons cause they think that they can control alien lifeforms that can take the form of giant robots. The robots are played OK but how hard is it to really voice iconic characters like this. Also a waste of time was the final battle scene between Optimus Prime and Megatron, lasting maybe 30 seconds.The only character who gave me any enjoyment was Agent Simmons played by John Turturro, who is trying to at least have fun with his character, damn I wanted to movie to be about him every time he is on screen. The problem here is none of the characters are given enough time to really develop and give us a reason to care about what they are doing, scenes with the human characters go nowhere fast and they feel like you are watching a 2 hour long trailer for the movie.

Setting: 5/10
I know that this is called setting but I also think that his includes the visuals of the movie and Michael Bay does no a thing or two about visuals. The movie itself and the visual effects are really done well and you do get a decent picture painted. That being said again this is all a retread of the past two movies and thus its no longer special is it. Yeah we have the robots but we have already seen that give us something exciting now but alas we are given the same formula and of course we are all going to eat it up. I am not immune to this I feel for it with the Star Wars prequels each time hoping that the last film wasn't just that one bad film in the series. You know watching robots kill each other isn't a hard concept to do and for the most part in the last two films Michael Bay has gotten that down, except now he knows that he doesn't have to try.

Dialogue: 1/10
Some of the lines in this moving seem more like what you would expect from a professional wrestling show that you find in the backyard of your cousins friends house, or that episode of South Park who did the same thing. I guess its not so much that because the characters are boring that the dialogue is not tolerable but its the fact that the characters haven't been given a chance to develop to make what they are saying even mean anything. This also brings me to the other thing that drives me crazy about Michael Bay. Michael Bay loves America and that I have no problem with, but his movies are all about Freedom and why America kicks ass. Every time Optimus gives a little speech its about freedom and how tyranny will never be allowed on his watch. Dear lord by the time I was done with this movie I was sick of freedom. Also of course these scenes are done with an American flag in the background to drive the point home. You get the feeling that the lines are meant to make us think of the war on terror and most of us are trying to put that behind us.

Overall: 2/10- EPIC FAIL
This movie was everything I thought it was going to be and less. Michael Bay has said that this is his last movie in the series and we can only hope that means that we never have to see this crap again. This isn't even bad anymore its really sad that this movie is going to get the money that its getting because like myself with the Star Wars prequels sad fan boys will rationalize that because it's Transformers it deserves there hard earned cash. The only think I liked at the end of the day was that I did not pay for this pop culture abortion.

Green Lantern Review

2011-06-27T22:42:00.000-07:00

The Daily Complainer loves movies. Since I was a kid i have been fascinated by first the bright colors of a Disney animated film. As I have gotten older I have come to see movies differently. That being said it really does take a lot to impress me so when I say that I like a movie or that it was a great movie you know that i really mean it. That being said we move on to Warner Bros. summer comic book answer to Thor and Captain America, Green Lantern, based off the comic book of the same name.

SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!

This movie starts with an introduction of a brief history of the Guardians of the Universe and Parallax. Parallax for you not into comic books is meant to embody fear. It then mentions Abin Sur defeating and trapping Parallax which is undone in 30 seconds after a few explorers are devoured by Parallax and then attacks Abin Sur causing him to go and find a replacement due to his fatal injury. Although just barely shown this scene is really just to get the plot in motion, I compare it to the dialogue between Luke and Obi-wan in the first Star Wars when discussing the fall of Anakin. Thus we are introduced to Hal Jordan as portrayed by Ryan Reynolds, who is a big bright spot in this movie, a bright green light if you will. Hal a test pilot for Ferris Aircraft's which is where we are also introduced to our love interest for the movie Carol Ferris played by the lovely Blake Lively.

This review will be broken down as such:
Plot
Dialogue
Characters
Setting
Overall

Plot- 5/10
The Plot while not horrible suffers from the fact that this movie was written as a comic book and not a movie but I will get into that when we talk Dialogue. The basic premise of this movie is about overcoming fear, much like another Warner Bros. DC movie Batman Begins. This is painted with the help of Parallax which is meant to symbolize fear. Our main character Hal Jordan's attempt to overcome fear due to the fact that he has the image of his dad dying stuck in his head. This wasn't done subtly either everything in this movie is very overt. At every chance they get they always mention that fear is the enemy of will, it drives what the lanterns do, also when Hal confronts the Guardians he tells then that what they fear is admitting that they are afraid. Also when Hector Hammond and Hal Jordan face off Hector states that he has embraced his fear. Overall the plot suffers from too many things going on and nothing being too developed.

Dialogue: 4/10
As much as I hate to admit it the dialogue in this movie is terrible. This isn't what you would expect in a Hollywood film, but a comic book. Before you say its a comic book movie that's the key word movie. Having a very charming Ryan Reynolds say some of these lines do make up for it but sadly much like the plot everything is very overt there is no subtly in this movie. You need subtly make a movie work no one wants to just be told everything they want to be able to think it over and form there own opinions, at least that's what i like.

Characters/Actors: 8/10
The saving grace for this film is the casting and the characters they portray. Ryan Reynolds was the last person I would have picked to play Hal Jordan. When I heard he was going to play the greatest Lantern of all time I shuttered. However watching him on screen I saw Hal Jordan not that Ryan Reynolds disappeared into this character he just was Hal Jordan. Blake Lively plays the standard love interest with a slight twist. She is a strict boss that clearly cares for Hal but understands that he is clearly living with fear. Also watching her save Hal was a great twist on the damsil in distress. Carol Ferris also while being a love interest also kinda serves as best friend as well, by that I mean she helps the hero realize that its not being fearless its overcoming fear by facing it. Hector Hammond goofy looking, in my theater everyone laughed when they saw him. He was never really developed and it would have served better if the movie was more focused on differences between Hector and Hal. Also he really didn't need to be in this movie, they would have served better if it was about Hal vs. Parallax if you really want to make this movie about fear.
Minor characters like Kilowag and Sinestro are done really well, really putting into are heads that Hal has a long way to go and making him doubt his abilities.

Setting: 9/10
Beautifully done is the settings for Oa, and while I have my issues with CGI its not going anywhere so we must learn to take it. Along with the settings is the fact that the Green Lantern costume is adapted to whoever is where it. Also the different life forms are shown to really be different from each other.

Overall: 6/10

Welcome to The Daily Complainer

2010-11-09T22:12:00.001-08:00

Welcome all to the first issue of The Daily Complainer. Right now since this is the first post i have nothing to complain about but don't worry its coming. I will be finishing up and then be posting as soon as I can hope to hear from people.