Movie Review: Breach

Based on the true story of the greatest security breach in U.S. history, FBI upstart Eric O'Neill (Ryan Phillippe) enters into a power game with his boss, an agent who was ultimately convicted of selling secrets to the Soviet Union.

A very interesting film, especially knowing it's based on true events, that is very dramatic and suspensful. It's well acted and scripted both, and I was on the edge of my seat more than once. It does lack much action like big Summer blockbusters have with car chases, fights or explosions, but there is enough intrigue and solid character building to keep it from being boring at any point.

Phillippe had a tough part, playing a go-getter but being likeable though on the verge of cocky, while showing us what it's like to have to lie to his wife for the good of the country. The tension between he and his wife as well as he and his boss that he's spying on makes his role doubley-difficult, but he pulsl it off. As good as Ryan Phillippe is, Chris Cooper as his traitor boss is even better. Perfect casting.

It's a spy movie, but psycholocical suspense is more at the forefront than action. Not too cerebral to enjoy though.

So yeah, if you can't tell, I liked it quite a bit.

8/10

Movie Review: Primeval

A news team is sent to South Africa to capture and bring home a legendary 25-foot crocodile. Their difficult task turns potentially deadly when a warlord targets them for death.

First off I love crocs and gators. Secondly, I love big ole monster movies. So you'd think this film would be perfect for me right? Not to be. It really didn't bring much new to the table. I heard it called "Jaws of the Jungle", but I'd like to slap whoever said that because Jaws is one of the greatest monster movies of all-time and this is.... well, this ain't.

It's the same extremely formulatic creature feature we've seen in Anaconda or Orca or even Congo, nothing new is added. They want to find the giant croc deep in the jungle, he finds them first, he stalks them, people get eaten... etc and so forth. Lots of one dimensional characters do bad jobs of acting while making stupid decisions. As for the croc himself, he was just too CGI and I didn't think looked good at all. In a nutshell, he was just a few notches above the special effects on the Sci-Fi Channel's Saturday night feature movies (and that ain't good people).

One thing they did attempt was to put sort of a political message mixed in with chompings, but it just felt forced.

Not bad enough to be fun, not fun enough to be good. But what the heck, it did have a huge crocodile and people being turned into din-din.

4/10

Movie Review: Ghost Rider

Synopsis: Based on the Marvel Comics character, stunt motorcyclist Johnny Blaze (Nic Cage) gives up his soul to save his father. But after being tricked by the devil he becomes the devil's bounty hunter and a hellblazing vigilante.

I've seen a lot of complaints on this film... but c'mon here, first off you have to go into this with a realistic approach. I mean it's a movie based on a comic book about a dude on a flaming motorcycle with a flaming skull and "magic" chains he uses. You think the plot is going to be tight or even fresh? Think again.

It is what it is... another Marvel comic superhero movie. Ghost Rider wasn't even a major comic character but these things are making money hand-over-fist so they're digging down pretty deep for ideas.

The movie itself is OK I guess, for what it is. The special effects are pretty cool and Eva Mendez is stunningly attractive, so it's got that going for it. Otherwise, it's very cheesy and it's all over the place really... with ideas on Christian theology, plus some cowboys, motorcycles and how hard it is to wield superpowers and still try to pick up chicks. Deep stuff.

Nic Cage is Nic Cage... you can't tell when he's ad-libbing, reading lines or even awake really.

Catwoman bad? Oh hell no. Spiderman good? Nope. Somewhere in between.What did you expect, Casablanca?

5/10

A Few Vacation Pics

I've been getting caught up since I've been back but here are a few of the vacation pics:

Back To Reality

Well, I'm back from vacation I guess. One of the worst parts of taking a vacation is packing all the stuff back in the car and making the long drive home. In this case, an 8 1/2 hour drive from Gulf Shores back to the Rock. The good part is getting home and seeing my dog Shakes come rushing at me at top speed when I go on the back deck. Good to know 1 person (or dog in this case) missed me. He probably just missed his walks and snacks, but that's close enough. It was also nice to pop open a beer and hit the couch to watch some overflowing DVR programs that had recorded in my abscence. Good to be home.

We had a great time all week. I celebrated my birthday in fine style on Monday during a huge rainstorm at the beach. Fortunately it wasn't raining in any of the pubs or restaurants we hit so all was well then we walked home along the beach in the moonlight sometime in the wee hours of the day after my birthday.

Really, the rest of the week is wrapped up pretty simply; we ate at some great restaurants (Geno's, Mickee's, Lulu's, Lambert's) and toasted some cold ones at some cool pubs (The Pink Pony, Bahama Bob's, Mud Bug's, FloraBama) and spent the rest of the time on the beach soaking up the surf and sun. The weather sucked on Monday, was decent Tuesday and perfect on Wed, Thurs and Friday. The only time we left the beach area was for some shopping at the big outlet mall, visiting a cool alligator farm called Alligator Alley and going on a sunset dolphin cruise. We did see some dolphins on said cruise so that was cool and nobody got eaten at the gator farm so that's all good too.

Somehow I managed not to even get sunburned, always a plus!

It's a great place to visit around the beach, but as the saying goes... I wouldn't want to live there. A week or 2 a year would be nice though. It sure is beautiful along the gulf shores.

I'll post some pics this week.

You Say It's Your Birthday?

It's my birthday too!

Well, I keep getting older it seems I guess. Last year on this day I woke up in Little Rock, Arkansas and ended up having a steak and a cold beer in New York City about 3 blocks off of Times Square. This year I woke up in Hattiesburg, Mississippi and will end up having crab legs and oysters with a cold beer in Gulf Shores, Alabama. A bit of a change I'd say. Last year I'd just met a beautiful woman and this year she'll be sitting across the table from me, so things went well during the 40th year by my calculations. Cards won the World Series too, can't forget that.

Anybody watch the US Open yesterday? See Tiger's arm? The dude is huge now. So unusual to see a guy so ripped and playing pro golf.

Reading magazines on the way down here, and the latest People magazine (I think, may have been Entertainment Weekly or something) had Matthew MaConahottie as their sexiest bachelor. I love that guy myself, but he doesn't use deodorant right? C'mon now, is that sexy really? Just wondering. Kenny Chesney was 3rd. Has he ever been photographed without a hat? Just curious.

I should mention that the Cardinals scored 25 runs in their last 2 games at Oakland. Boo-yah!!

The Weather Channel is calling for rain for the first couple of days on the beach. Discouraged? Oh hell no. I rainy day on the beach is better than a sunny day at work.

Santa? You Reading This?

Here's what I want this year:

The Refreshing Taste of Cucumber?

TOKYO -- Japanese are staying cool as a cucumber this summer with Pepsi Ice Cucumber -- a new soda based on the crisp green gourd. The soft drink, which hit stores here Tuesday, doesn't actually have any cucumber in it -- but has been artificially flavoured to resemble "the refreshing taste of a fresh cucumber," said Aya Takemoto, spokesperson of Japan's Pepsi distributor, Suntory Ltd. "We wanted a flavour that makes people think of keeping cool in the summer heat," Takemoto said. "We thought the cucumber was just perfect."

OK, first, "the refreshing taste of a cucumber"? Does that really make anyone at all think of keeping cool in the summer heat? It makes me think of what they probably serve in hell. At no point in my life have I finished mowing the lawn on a hot summer day and said, "whew! I'm parched! Honey, fetch me some cucumber juice or anything with artificially flavored cucumber in it!"

In all fairness, no I haven't tasted it. But I haven't tasted kitten barf either (and don't plan on it). Let's just say that I'm safe to assume Pepsi Ice Cucumber tastes a lot like failure. With a shot of gag-a-maggot on the side.

Makes me wonder what those marketing geniuses might have left on the drawing board. Turkey and Gravy Pepsi? Fruitcake Mountain Dew? Vinegar Diet Pepsi? Pepsi Bismol? Chalk Pepsi?