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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014)
2014 | Action, Sci-Fi
2
6.0 (20 Ratings)
Movie Rating
I’m kind of like everyone else out there. I grew up with the Ninja Turtles. I loved the cartoons, the comics and most of all the toys. I remember the pizza shooter. Boy, did I get into some trouble with that. When the movie came out in 1990, I begged and begged by father to take me to it until he finally did. I loved that movie! And while it may not for most, it still hold up for me today.

I wish that I could speak with as much enthusiasm about 2014’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The truth is, as I sat there and watched I found myself shaking my head “no” more often than not over the course of the hour and a half. My worst fears for the movie came true, and I am ashamed of what this may do to the franchise. And be warned, there are most definitely spoilers ahead.

TMNT is about a “gang” called the Foot Clan, who are robbing chemical shipments, banks and all sorts of places in New York City. April O’Neil, a local news reporter, is looking to make a big break and thinks she may have found it as she happens upon a robbery in progress by the Foot Clan. But before she could any good pictures or footage, mysterious vigilantes show up and save the day. This leads her to investigate and find out that none other than our favorite heroes in the half shell are said vigilantes. We find out that the partner of Shredder, the head of the Foot Clan, was running experiments using a chemical compound not of this world. They were injecting, you guessed it, four turtles and a rat. Now the turtles must stop the Foot Clan from carrying out there ultimate plan, which leads us to a final showdown between our heroes and Shredder.

First off, bad move changing the origin story like that. A mutagen made from an alien compound? It totally lacks credibility especially as it is only slight referenced in one scene, and then never spoken of again. Plus, losing “the ooze” origin totally closes doors (though maybe not all the way) on other characters in the TMNT universe (i.e. BeBop and Rocksteady). It’s just really lame to see them veer away from what was tried and true.

The turtles themselves, their new look actually grew on me. I think that some of the accessories may have been a little overboard, but the basics were there. I especially liked that the bandanas weren’t identical. However, the look is where it ended for me. I do not think that they cast the voices right. It just didn’t sound like they are supposed to sound. We’ve had the iconic voices from animated series to the old series of movies that just stand out. I didn’t get that here.

Also, I just don’t get the deal with Megan Fox. I get that some guys find her attractive, but that doesn’t mean she can act. She was the absolute worst choice for April O’Neil. She just didn’t look the part. Maybe Michael Bay was trying to prove a point about the rumors going around for why she wasn’t in Transformers 3. Will Arnett, however, did an excellent job as Vern Fenwick, O’Neil’s camera man. He had some great comedic timing and relief from the action sequences.

If you ask me, they showed Shredder’s face way too early in the movie. And then they way overdid him, right off the get go. Shredder was a formidable foe because of his cunningness and martial arts expertise. But ladies and gentleman, they introduce Super Shredder almost immediately off the bat. Or, as I like to call him in this film, Swiss Army Shredder. He looked like a freaking Transformer, in the worst way. I swear I even heard the Transformer sound when he jumped and landed one time. They way, way over did it. I know, I’ve already said this. But it seems to be a theme of the night.

I walked out of the film wishing I had never agreed to do this. Unfortunately, though, someone’s got to take one for the team. And if it means that I can warn others, than I am glad to have done it. The movie was entirely bad; there were a couple of funny moments. It just saddens me to think that this will be some people’s first exposure to what was always such an awesome universe. I will most definitely not be picking this up on Blu-ray. I will, however, be watching 1990’ Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Now, I understand that some of you may see me as being a fan boy obsessing over nostalgia. But if you have read any of my reviews, you know that I always am kinder and look for the entertainment value of movies. This movie just made me sad. But if you don’t believe me, or doubt my opinion… go check it out. You’ll wish you hadn’t.
  
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Peter Strickland recommended One Day (2018) in Movies (curated)

 
One Day (2018)
One Day (2018)
2018 | Drama
(0 Ratings)
Movie Favorite

"This came out in late 2018, only I saw it in January this year in Budapest. I’m going to sneak it into this list, as it was ironically and frustratingly overlooked by many film writers when it won a FIPRESCI award in Cannes despite the abundance of articles complaining about the dearth of films from women in the festival that year. Zsófia Szilágyi’s micro-budget debut film about motherhood in present-day Budapest deserves all the praise it can get. At first, I didn’t regard the kids in the film as that much of a handful. No industrial-strength tantrums, nothing spilt or broken, no fussiness at dinner and so on. But maybe the focus is more on the logistics of parenthood rather than especially difficult moments with one’s children. I was initially too focused on what was missing from the film and in the process overlooked many other great qualities – the beautifully naturalistic acting, the relentlessness of getting three kids from different sets of A-B and back within a busy city and the sound design that teased out the various everyday noises we’d normally cancel out. Also, the kids do give the parents a run of sorts for their money, but more of a jog than a run. The acting really is first class and all across the board. I have no idea how Szilágyi got such great performances from kids so young. The dad isn’t around much and it’s pretty much a solo show for the mother struggling with work and kids. There’s a wonderful shot of her at the window of an all-night pharmacy buying painkillers for her son and looking beyond exhausted. There’s also a brilliant altercation between the mother and some typical alpha male in a car park. My favorite moment was with the “orrszi porszi,” which is a vacuum adapter that goes up toddlers’ noses. It’s the kind of gross-out contraption that you’d expect to find in an early John Waters film, but Hungarians swear by it. The Brits think the Hungarians are crazy vacuuming snot and the Hungarians think the Brits are crazy not doing anything about snot and maybe that’s why the film wasn’t picked up for distribution in the UK. The film’s strength is in showing us most of the moments that are glossed over in more regular fare such as the time it takes to dress young kids, the repetition and the complete lack of time for oneself. Although it’s very different from Chantal Akerman’s “Jeanne Dielman,” it still shares the dedication to a perspective and experience that is normally deodorized from cinema. I have to confess to being confused by the protagonist’s use of a mobile phone whilst driving, but then again, should all protagonists be perfect or is this an example of how pushed she is with all the multi-tasking she has to do with work and parenthood?"

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    Cut the Rope 2

    Cut the Rope 2

    Games and Entertainment

    5.5 (2 Ratings) Rate It

    App

    SWEET! Om Nom's shenanigans continue in Cut the Rope 2! With new characters, fresh gameplay elements...

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Aretha Franklin recommended track You Send Me by Sam Cooke in Soul Heartbreaker by Sam Cooke in Music (curated)

 
Soul Heartbreaker by Sam Cooke
Soul Heartbreaker by Sam Cooke
2017 | Rhythm And Blues
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Album Favorite

You Send Me by Sam Cooke

(0 Ratings)

Track

"That song came out in 1967, but I don’t care when you it it, it still doesn’t sound dated. It’s always current. You just can’t beat it. All singers aspired to be Sam. He was a beautiful man. Very charming, engaging – a great artist with a whole lotta personality. It was thrilling for me – and every other woman – to be in the room with him. When I first heard ‘You Send Me,’ I was driving down South, traveling with my dad, doing services in various city auditoriums and arenas [Franklin would have been about 15]. My sister Erma and I were in the car, and when that came on the radio, we had to stop. It was pandemonium. We got out of the car, and we were just running around the car, screaming, ‘Sam was on! Sam was on! Sam is on the radio! Listen to this song!’ And we were just having one fit on the highway. We were just thrilled, because he had just left the gospel field. That was the first time hearing what he did after he leaving it. So it was super exciting for us. Sam was what you call a singer’s singer. My dad used to tell me not to copy him, that I had a voice. He stopped that early on, and he was absolutely right. As a performer, he was very simplistic. He didn’t do a lot of running around on the stage, and because he knew he didn’t have to. He had a voice, and he didn’t have to do anything but stand in one place and wipe you out."

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Lee (2222 KP) rated Rampage (2018) in Movies

Apr 13, 2018  
Rampage (2018)
Rampage (2018)
2018 | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Dwayne Johnson (2 more)
The Action
The Humour
Too many underused characters (0 more)
Surprisingly enjoyable video game movie!
I have fond memories of playing the Rampage video game in my early teens. Me and my two brothers, huddled around my feeble ZX Spectrum, each of us taking control of one of three monsters. George the giant King-Kong style gorilla, Lizzie a dinosaur/Godzilla creature and Ralph the big wolf. The idea of the game was simple, but hugely satisfying - smash up city buildings until they collapse, while avoiding damage from the military who are out to stop you. Hitting your fellow monsters also takes out their energy, making it a great game for competitive brothers to be playing! Eating food you find, and even the soldiers trying to kill you, restores your energy. Lots of fun.

Rampage the movie begins out in space, where genetic editing experiments too dangerous/illegal are taking place onboard a space station. Things have gone badly wrong though and canisters containing an experimental genetic pathogen begin hurtling towards North America in what looks like a meteor shower. Back down on Earth we're introduced to Davis Okoye (Dwayne Johnson) - San Diego zoologist, ex-military (so, comfortable with guns, flying helicopters etc, could come in handy later...) and general all-round cool guy. In his care is an albino gorilla called George, who was rescued from poachers as a baby by Davis. They've built up a special bond ever since, communicating in sign language to the level where they are able to joke and generally take the piss out of each other. Overnight, one of the space canisters lands in the zoo and is released into the face of an inquisitive (or Curious?) George. From there he begins to grow bigger, and become increasingly violent.

Elsewhere, two other canisters have landed out in the wild. One right by a pack of wolves and another hitting a lake. The brother and sister team heading up Energyne, the company responsible for the space station and the genetic work (Malin Åkerman and Jake Lacy), dispatch a bunch of clean up guys with big guns to try and apprehend the wolf, which ends up going badly. Meanwhile, an ex employee of Energyne, Dr Kate Caldwell (Naomie Harris), who is also responsible for creating the pathogen, heads to the zoo. She wants to make amends for everything and bring down the company that fired her. Government agent Harvey Russell (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) also shows up at the zoo with a bunch of men of his own, looking to take George away by plane - something else which you just know is going to end badly. Morgan plays Harvey Russell as basically just a slightly toned down version of his Walking Dead character, Negan. Grinning cockily throughout the whole movie and when he first squares up to Davis, you fully expect him to start swaggering around, monologuing about swinging dicks or something. He tells Davis that "when science shits the bed, I'm the guy they call to change the sheets"!

The three monsters begin making their way to Chicago to start smashing stuff up, attracted by a beacon emitting a sound only they can hear. Something "the tech guys rustled up overnight" at Energyne. Davis and Dr Caldwell also head to Chicago to try and help George and end the destruction, eventually aided by Harvey Russell.

Rampage has the potential to be a trainwreck, another casualty in the long line of awful video game movies, especially when there are so many CGI-heavy monster-city-smash movies out there these days. It all works surprisingly well though. When the monsters begin trashing things, it's not an over the top assault on the senses where you can't even make out any sign of human life and the affect that all of this is having on them. The action is well done and enjoyable, and peppered with plenty of trademark Dwayne Johnson humour too. Outside of the action, it's also Johnson that holds the rest of the movie together and prevents it from dipping below average. Dr Caldwell is a very underused and forgettable character, serving only as sidekick to The Rock. Everyone else, aside from Harvey Russell, is also pretty forgettable too. But then at the end of the day, this is all about George and his monster buddies, and overall I found this to be a very enjoyable movie.
  
DO
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
<b><i>I received this book for free from Author in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.</i></b>
The first book in Kelsey Ketch's <em>Descendants of Isis</em> series is a book with very heavy romance.

Of course, I was highly aware of that upon reading the synopsis.

But I'm an absolute sucker for mythology of all kinds (This is why I am highly interested in debut author Heidi Helig's <em>The Girl From Everywhere</em>. I mean, <em>Hawaiian</em>. Saucer eyes RIGHT here! I intend on waiting until the book is published, though.) and I simply couldn't resist myself. So instead of moping about the possibility of a heavy romance, I replaced my "NUUU ROMANCE" hat with my "TOLERABLE ROMANTIC" hat (the caps are intentional), sat back with my tablet (after transferring the review copy from the computer), and just hoped Ketch would take me on an unforgettable journey.

Natti has just moved from London to a small town in California after her Grandmother's death, with her only clue in a necklace she inherited. Since the first day Natti starts at her new school, Seth O'Keefe starts pursuing her in the hopes of seducing her.

Plus, Tolerable Romantic (I'll stop capping my hats now) hat says it's not exactly love at first sight – Natti is completely resistant to Seth's attempts at charming her from the beginning, even though she sort of succumbs to his charms eventually. At that point in time, however, I know each of the characters well enough and have a particular fondness for each of them (for the first in a series) that it isn't awkward at all.

Ketch writes the book in two views: Natti's and Seth's. Natti's comparison of British life to American life and big city to a small town is mildly hilarious (we totally do everything backward). Even though she would rather remain in England, she smoothly transitions into her new life after meeting Wanda, Kevin, and Jen and being tucked under their wings.

Also, she has a fire in her I kind of like.

I honestly feel having Seth's view works out in the book's favor; hearing from his point of view makes him a lot more human than he comes out as with the other Sons of Set: someone who worships the Egyptian god Set and spreads chaos in the world on his behalf, hoping to eventually come across a secret from the past. They also sound insane and just want to take over the world one woman at a time.

It basically puts him in an entirely different perspective for readers than simply reading what Natti thinks of him.
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<em>Daughter of Isis</em> is one of those books where I'll probably keep my Tolerable Romantic hat on for the entire series because the romance between Seth and Natti fits the story really well. The world Kelsey builds in a small town California where nearly everyone is under the thumb of the Sons of Set captivated me by the end of the book – I can't wait to see what trials the couple will face in the future of the series.

<a href="https://bookwyrmingthoughts.com/review-daughter-of-isis-by-kelsey-ketc/"; target="_blank">This review was originally posted on Bookwyrming Thoughts</a>
  
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Taryn K (444 KP) rated Otherworldly Izakaya Nobu Volume 2 (manga) in Books

May 15, 2022 (Updated May 15, 2022)  
OI
Otherworldly Izakaya Nobu Volume 2 (manga)
Natsuya Semikawa, Virginia Nitouhei | 2016 | Comics & Graphic Novels, Food & Drink, Young Adult (YA)
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
The characters are well written (1 more)
The world is beginning to expand.
Another quiet slice-of-life night at Izakaya Nobu
Much like volume 1, volume 2 of Otherworldly Izakaya Nobu takes us to the pub that sits between modern Japan and the rather medieval city of Aitheria. Again, we have Japanese, German, and English food terms going on, which keeps life interesting, but the explanations are handy, so there is minimal chance of confusion.

The book starts off with one of the soldiers from volume 1, Hans, stopping by the pub after training only to find out it's 'Kisu Day'. Hans is surprised to see Chef Nobu deep frying the tempura-battered fish and putting it on paper, which is a very expensive commodity in Aitheria. The little details really make this series special, I think.

In chapter 2, "Thief", we meet a new helper, a young girl trying to help out her family, named Effa. There is a bit of confusion, but we get to meet the new deacon in town, who has already become a regular.

Chapter 3, "An Uninvited Guest", Chef Nobu learns a 'new' recipe, and we are reminded that Shinobu can cook as well. A pompous little man and his gourmet aristocrat boss stop by in search of the Ankake Yudofu that pleased the bride-to-be in volume 1, as she praised it at her wedding. Each chapter builds ties to other people or builds ties between Shinobu/Chef and the regulars, which Is another thing I love. Ankake Yudofu is out of season, as it is no longer winter, so schnitzel is apparently just the ticket, if Chef just knew what it is.

Chapter 4, "Quarreling Craftsmen", sees two new characters introduced. Holga, a glassmaker who heard about Izakaya Nobu from the tax collector Gehrnot, who enjoyed the 'Spaghetti Napolitan' in volume 1, and Han's father, a woodworker named Laurenz. They spend most of the chapter arguing and trying each other's dishes, but it is a friendly rivalry that gets settled down by a surprising person.

Chapter 5, "The Commander's Weakness", is hilarious due to more puns on squid than I ever thought could be made, but Commander Bertholdt has to conquer his fear of squid before his arranged marriage to the daughter of a fisherman. Such a good chapter. One of my favorites. "He squidn't!"

Chapter 6, "Effa in Wonderland", sees Effa going through the back door of the pub into modern Japan. Not much cooking in this chapter, but we find out a little more about how the pub ended up being in two places at once. Thankfully, she gets back to Aitheria safe and sound.

I'm not completely sure about this being a review as much as a rundown of what happens. It's just a feel-good series, with just a hair of drama, but nothing that can't be resolved in a chapter or perhaps two. The characters are likeable, for the most part, and those who aren't are meant to be unlikeable. The interpersonal relationships are fun to see revealed. Definitely a good pre-bed book. 😊