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    Gas Manager

    Gas Manager

    Finance and Productivity

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    Designed for anybody owning one or more vehicles (cars, motorcycles, etc.), Gas Manager allows you...

What We Left Behind: Looking Back at Deep Space Nine (2018)
What We Left Behind: Looking Back at Deep Space Nine (2018)
2018 | Documentary
Where would we be without DS9?
Maybe the best Trek of all time?

Sisko, Odo, Kira, O'Brien, Dax, Quark, Bashir and the rest of the massive cast brought Star Trek to life as never before in this vastly different "station"ary style of Trek.

At the time, syndication was where it was at for reruns and additional revenue for a TV program. DS9 bucked the trend of wrapping up everything within one episode and began a TV serial which pretty much ran almost the entire run, much to the dismay of studio executives. Nowadays, shows like The Walking Dead, Lost, or Game of Thrones do this every week, but in the mid 90s this was not common.

Sandwiched in between The Next Generation and Voyager, DS9 did not get a lot of respect during its initial run at all. Also at that time, Trek TNG movies were in full swing so the show had to compete with that as well. Television stations would often preempt the show, skip a week or run the show in the early morning hours which made it even harder for its audience to keep track of the action.

DS9 certainly got a 2nd life with the current popularity of "binge watching" on your favorite streaming service. Having the ability to watch multi-part episodes or entire seasons within a few weeks brought back to life the en genius writing, acting and production quality of the series.

For this documentary, former showrunner Ira Steven Behr took several years worth of cast, crew and fan interviews, clips, behind the scenes footage and compiled a wonderful interesting film for any Trek fan. Many cast members major and minor as well as producers, writers and tech workers told tales of working on the show and how they very much enjoyed their time.

Throughout the many iterations of Trek, original creator Gene Roddenberry felt the show should entertain as well as provide social commentary on the issues of the time and DS9 was no exception. Throughout the show's 7 year run they dealt with issues such as racism, homelessness, same sex relationships and even genetic engineering.

One of the most fun subplots of the film was gathering the show's original writers in a room to formulate the first episode for the fictitious "Season 8" which will never actually happen (although I wish it would). The ideas, plot points and arcs they went through and came up with were extremely interesting, keep with the high level of writing the show originally produced, but also through us a few curveballs with some fun surprises.

Through the cast interviews we got to hear how the crew got along, some of their favorite and least favorite episodes and even the friendships they have maintained with one another.

The DVD set I received also had included a vast assortment of additional footage featuring even more nuggets and stories of what made the show great.

Overall, this film was one of the best documentaries I have ever seen about one of my favorite television programs in my lifetime. I might have to start binge watching the show again very soon.

Did I mention my name appears in the end credits?!? 😊

  
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Chad Miller (121 KP) Jul 23, 2019

I am dying to see this!!!!

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Eleanor (1463 KP) Jul 24, 2019

One of the few TV series that starts off poor but then gets better to keep going from strength to strength. Will have to give this a watch.

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Darren (1599 KP) rated Aloha (2015) in Movies

Jun 20, 2019  
Aloha (2015)
Aloha (2015)
2015 | Action, Comedy
1
3.7 (3 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Story: Aloha starts Brian Gilcrest (Cooper) who dreams of going into space but his dreams go sour after teaming up with billionaire Carson Welch (Murray) before getting a chance to go back to Hawaii. He is now a representative for Carson due to a war injury who has to deal with his ex-girlfriend Tracy (McAdams) but has to follow orders from captain Allison Ng (Stone), while meeting back up with former friends.

Brian working for Carson as he wants to introduce a space program to Hawaii but first Brian needs to negotiate with the locals. All this while Brian ends up in the middle of a love triangle with Allison and Tracy.

Aloha is a film that just never pulled my attention, be it the bland characters slow moving love triangle or whatever Carson was meant to be doing. I personally am not sure what was meant to be happening, everything that did happen just seemed to be very slow moving and offering nothing to really root for. You simply jut didn’t care what was happening. (2/10)

Actor Review

Bradley Cooper: Brain is an injured war veteran who has sided with billionaire Carson to look into making space travel happen, he has to return to Hawaii where he ends up having to see his ex-girlfriend and be followed around by the golden soldier of the local military. He is here to help create a deal to make space travel in Hawaii. Bradley gives a very average performance not getting a chance to show his real talent. (5/10)brian

Emma Stone: Allison is the most prized soldier of General Dixon who has to show Brian around, she admires him and doesn’t want you to forget she is a quarter Hawaii. While many people criticised the character created she was one of the better things in this film. (6/10)allison

Rachel McAdams: Tracy is the ex-girlfriend of Brian who lives on Hawaii with her new husband and family, when the two get to spend time together they get the closure they never really got. Rachel gives a plain performance that really doesn’t seem to do much. (4/10)

Bill Murray: Carson is the billionaire who is looking to make his own space program on the island of Hawaii and he give Brian one last chance to prove himself to him. Bill tries to bring his quirkiness to this role without really pulling it off. (5/10)

Support Cast: Aloha has the standard attempted comedic actors trying to pull this off but they had little to work with.

Director Review: Cameron Crowe – Cameron has given us some great films in the past but now he has managed to give us his worst. (2/10)

Comedy: Aloha doesn’t have many laughs at all can hardly be called a comedy. (2/10)

Romance: Aloha tries to give us an engaging love triangle but doesn’t really succeed to make us care enough. (3/10)

Settings: Aloha tries to give our location something special with the idea of putting it all on Hawaii for the beautiful setting and doesn’t even get that right. (3/10)

Suggestion: Aloha is one too miss this year, if anyone says to watch just say no. (Just Say No)

Best Part: The end.

Worst Part: It is over an Hour and half.

Funniest Scene: Woody and Brian’s ‘Conversation’.

Believability: No (0/10)

Chances of Tears: No (0/10)

Chances of Sequel: Please God No.

Post Credits Scene: I didn’t both to look.

Oscar Chances: No

Box Office: $20 Million

Budget: $37 Million

Runtime: 1 Hour 45 Minutes

Tagline: Sometimes you have to say goodbye before you can say hello.

Overall: Just watch paint dry it will be more entertaining.

https://moviesreview101.com/2015/11/07/emma-stone-weekend-aloha-2015/
  
    GraphNCalc83

    GraphNCalc83

    Education and Utilities

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    GraphNCalc83 is a modern version of the classic graphing calculator. The familiar calculator...

Black Widow (2021)
Black Widow (2021)
2021 | Action
After a delay lasting 19 months; the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) has returned to the big screen with “Black Widow”. The film takes place between “Captain America: Civil War” and “Avengers: Infinity War”; audiences get more of the backstory of Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson), as we are introduced to her early life before the Red Room.

This is not to say that the film is an origin story as it uses her backstory through a clever introduction that establishes her “family” as sleeper agents in Ohio before they escape and she and her cover sister are tuned over for conditioning and training.

Since Natasha is on the run from the authorities; she finds a remote location in Norway to bide her time. This does not last as a dangerous adversary known as the Taskmaster arrives and sets a chain of events into motion.

Natasha has been sent a package from her cover sister Yelena (Florence Pugh) who also went through the Red Room and became a top assassin in the years since she and Natasha last saw one another.

Despite her mixed feelings; Natasha ventures to Budapest and confronts Yelena who in turn reveals the package she sent her contains a compound that can free the other Black Widows from the control of the Red Room which despite Natasha’s insistence is still very much alive as is the head of the institute which she is convinced she killed long ago.

With Taskmaster and other Widows hot on their trail, Natasha and Yelena are forced to seek the help of their former “Father” the imprisoned hero Red Guardian (David Harbour), and their cover Mother Melina (Rachel Weisz), to find the location of the new Red Room; free the Widows, and end the program once and for all.

What follows is an engaging story with solid action and effects that remains at its core a character story as Natasha attempts to reconcile her cover family with her new Avengers family and the pain of her upbringing and conditioning.

Marvel resisted calls from some to release the film on Disney+ last year when the Pandemic caused multiple delays to the planned release dates. This decision to me was very wise as this is a film that needs to be seen and heard on the big screen as it is an experience that is best experienced in a cinema with others.

While many attempts were made over the decades to adapt comic heroes to film and television; most of them came up lacking and disappointed fans of the source material. Marvel for over a decade has continued to succeed as they have a clear plan, cast well, and have engaging characters that develop over time.

“Black Widow” fills in a missing gap of time in the MCU well and also sets up future adventures as a scene in the credits clearly links two of the live-action Disney+ series and shows that the long-term plan for the MCU continues and incorporates the film and television series well.

From the moment the Marvel intro and music appeared on the screen until the very end; “Black Widow” was a very enjoyable and engaging blockbuster adventure that shows Marvel at the top of their game; and why they continue to set event-level movies not to miss.
  
Hitman: Agent 47 (2015)
Hitman: Agent 47 (2015)
2015 | Action
Clinical and incomprehensible
The transition from video game to movie is notoriously difficult to get right. From box-office disasters like Super Mario Bros. to the poorly received Resident Evil franchise, it appears no film is spared from either financial woe or critically panning.

Hitman has become one of the most popular game series’ ever but the 2007 film of the same name failed to kick-start the franchise’s transition to the silver screen. Now, eight years later, Rupert Friend stars as the red tie-wearing assassin in Hitman: Agent 47, but does it succeed as a reboot?

Friend stars as the titular character, an emotionless killer hell-bent on tracking down the creator of the ‘Agent Program’ from which he was created. Alongside him for the ride is Hannah Ware’s Katia Van Dees, a young fearful woman searching for a man she does not know.

The usually excellent Zachary Quinto (Star Trek) also stars as a clichĂ©d villain in a thankless role blighted by stilted dialogue and cardboard emotions. This most certainly isn’t his finest work.

The story is incredibly simple, barely fitting into the film’s slender 96 minute running time and the clinical filming style of director Aleksander Bach really doesn’t help. Beautiful locations like Berlin and Singapore are wasted in favour of sleek office sets, populated by one-dimensional characters that we couldn’t care less about.

Nevertheless, Friend plays the emotionless Agent 47 with ease and is one of the highlights in a film lacking in any real punch – it’s all been done before, and better.

Ware is disappointingly wooden, though her veneer seems to crack towards the finale and we get to see the character she could have played. It’s a shame that for the majority of Hitman’s running time we see no real prowess in her performance.

The action sequences are slick and nicely choreographed but Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation did them only last month and in a more detailed and ultimately successful style.

However, clever gun-work is mixed nicely with the film’s 15 certificate and each barrel discharge feels much more real. It’s certainly more interesting than the two sequels to Taken and many other action thrillers that sport the 12A rating.

The climax leaves things wide open for a sequel, but the ending is incomprehensible to anyone who hasn’t played the games and leaves a bad taste in the mouth – probably not a great thing when trying to get audiences excited for a follow up.

Overall, Hitman: Agent 47 is much like its titular character. A slick outer shell hides not a lot underneath with a cast of wasted talent and a been-there-done-that attitude to the stunts. There’s some great sequences, but you’ll have to dig deep to find any real merit here.

https://moviemetropolis.net/2015/08/30/clinical-and-incomprehensible-hitman-agent-47-review/