The Rundown

The Rundown (Widescreen Edition)I remember seeing the previews for The Rundown and thinking, “Great, another performance like for ‘The Rock’ like in The Scorpion King.” After watching the movie I was pleasantly suprised. Seann William Scott was his usual self, but I was impressed by the improvements in Rock’s acting since I last saw him. Rosario Dawson also stars in this movie and all I have to say is wet clothes = hotness!

The Rock is what they call a retriever and he is out to bring Scott’s character home to his wealthy father. In the process there is the search for a priceless treasure. According to legend, the treasure is supposed to set Dawson’s character’s people free.

There is a lot of action and good fighting scenes throughout the movie with a little humor added here and there by Scott. I give it a B since I didn’t expect much from the movie, but it delivered.


I Love Spring

Is there any better time of the year than spring? Not for me.

The sun comes out from hiding, the snow melts, the grass changes from brown to green, and you can feel the air getting warmer as each day passes. Spring also has that distinct smell that can’t compete with any other season. Everyone seems to be happier and more up-beat during the spring. Everything is changing in preparation for the coming summer. Spring brings new life and for some “love” is in the air.

The spring is my favorite time of year for sports. No other sporting event can compare to March Madness for excitement as far as I’m concerned. I never get really emotional, but when teams get down to the Final Four things get to me a little bit. The opening that CBS does before the games is just amazing and I almost tear up once in awhile. After the championship game they always show clips of the National Champ along with other teams that battled along the way. For those of you who don’t watch, it is always to the song One Shining Moment and it may be my favorite moment of the year created by sports.

Another great sporting event during the spring is The Masters, the grestest golf tournament in the world. It’s a beautiful golf club that hosts an amazing tournament every year. Every pro golfer’s dream is to win at Augusta National some day.

Both March Madness and The Masters have one thing in common that adds a special touch…Jim Nantz. Does this guy have the greatest voice for what he does or what? His opening to the basketball games and the golf tournament are the most soothing thing a man can hear in sports. It give me the chills every year and I always look forward to listening. I wonder if he realizes what kind of impact he has on the broadcasts…CBS must, because they haven’t stopped using him.

Spring also means that I’ll be out golfing soon. During the summer I could do nothing but golf every day and I’d be a happy guy. It never gets old until the end of the golf season when you need to wear a little bit warmer clothes to be comfortable on the course.

This year I’ll be moving in a few weeks, so the spring has some added excitement in the fact that I’ll have my own place.

Did I mention that I love spring?

XBOX Price Drop

Microsoft has dropped the price of the XBOX again. Now it’s down to $149.99, compared to $299.99 when it was first released a few years ago. Looking at Best Buy’s website, the PS2 hasn’t dropped their price, but I imagine they will soon follow. I just don’t understand how Microsoft can keep lowering the price since even at the recent prices they were losing money each time they sold a system. I guess they figure on making all of that lost money back on the sales of games, accessories, and XBOX Live subscriptions.

Black Horizon

Black HorizonYou know a movie sucks when they have to throw in a joke (or attempt at one) for the last line of the movie…”and sex ain’t bad either.” Black Horizon was a waste of time and money. The acting was horrible, the special effects were even worse, and the story wasn’t much either.

I’m not even going to look up the names of the people “starring” in this movie because I want to get this review done quickly. Black Horizon is another space saving mission where everything seems to go wrong. The scenes with the shuttle look like a they were done with a matchbox size space shuttle. When the characters do a space walk outside the space station you can clearly see the cables used to hold them up and create the scene. The set for the space station looked like it was made of carboard boxes spray-painted blue.

Do not waste your time watching this movie. I’m being generous when I give it a D.


Pavement

PavementI had never heard of this movie before and it didn’t take long to figure out why. It was pretty cheesy, not to mention the fact that the acting was horrible.

Lauren Holly and Robert Patrick play the lead roles and boy were they terrible. Holly was especially bad and after looking at the list of movies she had been in, it’s no surprise. The biggest movie she was in is Dumb and Dumber, which is a movie that almost everyone liked but me.

The story involves the search for a murderer and the way the movie is put together doesn’t gel very well. Holly plays the lead cop on the case and Patrick plays an expert animal tracker who has come to help in the search for his sister’s killer. If you are looking for cool special effects or surveillance techniques, choose a different movie.

I have to go with a C- on this one.


Gothika

Gothika (Two-Disc Special Edition)Different. One word that describes this movie is different. It is kind of a ghost story that flips the roles of patient and psychologist on the main character, played by Halle Berry.

Berry did a wonderful job playing the part of the beautiful psychologist turned crazy murderer. There were two ends to the spectrum and she meshed them together well. There is a reason she won Best Actress…because she’s good at what she does and this movie was no exception.

I was interested throughout the entire movie and really caught off guard with the change of events. While the ghostly part of the story wasn’t all that believable, the plot was. My grade for Gothika is a B.


Runaway Jury

Runaway Jury (Widescreen Edition)Watched this movie last night on the new TV and was pretty happy with it. It was an interesting plot line with a few twists and turns along the way.

I thought Gene Hackman, John Cusack, Dustin Hoffman, and Rachel Weisz did a great job with this movie. I didn’t recognize Weisz from any other movies, but she did well in this one. She’s also a fine looking woman, which never hurts. Hackman’s character is a man who makes a living by investigating possible jurors and helping a team of lawyers select the best possible matches to get the verdict that they are looking for. Throughout the movie there is a constant struggle over who has control of the jury and will end up winning the case.

I was really surprised at how good this movie was so I’ll have to bump the rating a little bit for that fact. It gets an A- and my stamp of approval (for whatever that is worth).


All I Can Say Is WOW!!

My TV is amazing! I’ve never seen a better picture before watching DVDs or playing XBOX. Mo came over last night, I whooped his ass in NBA Live and then we watched a movie.

Both my DVD player and the XBOX output an HD signal and the picture is unbelievable. Movies and games have never looked to real. Combine that with my surround sound and it’s better than being in a movie theater.

I’m definitely happy with my choice. One thing I’m a little disappointed with is that digital cable is exactly the same as analog. I seriously could not tell the difference between the two. So…I’m going to disconnect our digital. The reason being, when the digital cable box is connected to the TV, some of the features don’t work as they do when using analog cable. I can get the sweet Twin-View? feature to work, but it’s a PITA and is so simple to use when using analog cable.

I’ve had the TV for less than a day, so I really couldn’t recommend it yet, but I don’t have any complaints yet either. I’m glad that I bought the matching stand for the TV, because it really looks great. The stand appears as an extension of the TV the way it is designed.

Charter Communications is supposed to be rolling out HDTV in the Saginaw area in a few months and I can’t wait. ESPN HD is going to be kick ass on this thing.