Welcome

Welcome to my ever-evolving blog. It started out as a blog on Beachbody workouts and products, mainly when I was a Beachbody coach. I no longer coach, not because I don't believe in Beachbody's programs (I subscribe to Beachbody on Demand and use their workouts every day), I am just not a salesperson and hated that aspect of it. I am more than willing to answer questions about my experiences with their products and the various workouts, and I feel freer to do so without the appearance of giving a biased review of something.

I have also started adding reviews for various things I have purchased like movies, books, CDs, and other products. This was brought about by a fight with Amazon in which all of my reviews were removed over a completely bullshit allegation that I posted a review that violated their terms of service. After going back and forth with the morons in the community-reviews department (even after they admitted that my posts did not violate their guidelines) they restored my account (which took them six months to do), but I have been posting my reviews on my blog to have them preserved in case something like that happens again. And here, I will post uncensored reviews so I will swear from time to time and post reviews that may be longer than Amazon's character limit. Everything I post here on any topic or product is my personal opinion, and I take no compensation for any product reviews I post. I am a member of Amazon's vine program and because I get those products for free, I keep those reviews on Amazon only, but everything I have purchased with my own money, whether from Amazon or some other store/website/outlet, I will post here.  

I also plan to do some longer blog posts on various topics, such as how to learn physics, how to get through calculus, and longer reviews of workout programs as I do them. Basically, whatever strikes me as interesting at the time.  As you can see if you navigate around the blog, I had many years in between postings. During that time I was going back to school to get an engineering degree, and learning material that I avoided my first time through college was a different experience and one that gave me a lot of insight into how to do well in those classes, which I will try to impart here for those who are looking to get a science or engineering degree. 

Saturday, May 21, 2022

4kUHD/Movie Review: Captain Marvel

 


Captain Marvel is a much better movie than it gets credit for. The movie is set in 1995 and serves as an origin story not only for Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel, but also for Fury, to some extent Coulson, and the entire Avenger initiative. At the beginning of the movie, we see Danvers (played by Brie Larson) already with her powers believing herself to be a member of the Kree race and fighting a war with a race of beings called the Skrulls, whom she believed had her memory erased. After a battle with the Skrulls, she ends up on Earth and meets Nick Fury, played of course by ‎Samuel L. Jackson, who was de-aged using CGI, who is at that time just a grunt SHEILD officer. Then the movie is about Carol regaining her memory and figuring out how powerful she really is. The rest of the cast is rounded out by Ben Mendelsohn, Lashana Lynch, Jude Law, Djimon Hounsou, Lee Pace (making a cameo appearance as Ronan), Annette Bening, and Clark Gregg (who is also de-aged using CGI).

If you watch the MCU movies in chronological order, this one is the second movie in the sequence after the first Captain America. If you watch them in release order, it was the twenty-first movie and the one that comes just before Avengers Endgame. In some ways, the storyline makes more sense if you watch them chronologically, but on the other hand, this movie was really meant to be a flashback after the storyline and characters were established to see how everything started. So, watching it second without all the other movies to set it up I do think takes something away from it. Plus, the mid-credits scene only makes sense if you have seen Infinity War first, and without seeing Guardians of the Galaxy, Ronan does not have as much gravitas as he is intended to have.

For those who get the 4k set, the movie looks and sounds great in the UHD format. The UHD disc just has the movie itself, and then all the other extras are on the regular Blu-Ray disc. There are about 25 minutes of behind-the-scenes featurettes, about 10 minutes of deleted scenes, a short gag reel, and then a commentary track on the movie by the directors. What was included was okay, but it definitely does not has as many extras as some of the other movies received.

As I said above, the movie is better than it gets credit for, and a lot of the shit it gets is undeserved. It has a good mix of action and humor, with bits of drama mixed in as well. Larson and Jackson have great chemistry and really seem to enjoy working together, and the supporting cast all did a great job no matter how large or small their role is. The beginning of the movie also had great dedication to Stan Lee who passed away after the movie was shot but before it was released. And, it features a great 1990s soundtrack which will definitely give anyone who grew up in the 90s a major jolt of nostalgia. It does go a bit overboard on the girl-power thing in a couple of spots, but I don't think it is worth getting apoplectic over like some of the reviewers seem to. Those who think Larson's acting was wooden do not get that the character was written the way she played her, and why the character was written the way it was. Nor do they appreciate the dry humor, which Larson nails perfectly. While I would not say it was the best of the MCU movies, it is also do not think that it is the worst. Of course, that is totally subjective and there is a wide range of opinions on the quality. I definitely recommend it.

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