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. 

Friday, July 15, 2022

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Kick Ass 2

 


This is the sequel to the rather surprising hit movie Kick-Ass, in which a regular kid decided to try and be a superhero, finding out it was not all it was cracked up to be. This movie is set four years after the original with Dave Lizewski / Kick-Ass (played by Aaron Taylor Johnson) having retired from crime-fighting, but getting the itch and starts to train with Hit-Girl/Mindy Macready(played by Chloƫ Grace Moretz) to become a real hero. Chris D'Amico (played by Christopher Mintz-Plasse) whose crime boss father was killed in the first movie takes over his father's empire (calling himself The Motherfucker) and gets a team of bad guys to take out Kick-Ass. The movie then ends up with a team of heroes going against a team of villains.

The A/V quality of the Blu-Ray is very good. The colors are very rich and the effects look great in HD. The extras include a commentary track on the film with Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Chloe Grace Moretz, and Writer/Director Jeff Wadlow, an alternate opening, a storyboarded version of a "Big Daddy" scene that did not materialize because Nicholas Cage did not return, about 14 minutes worth of deleted scenes, just under an hour of making-of featurettes and a feature on one of Hit Girl's action sequences.

Like the first movie, this one definitely earns its R rating. There is a lot of over-the-top violence, dark humor, and a lot of swearing. Chloƫ Grace Moretz is really the highlight of the movie, as she was in the first one, and there is a strong supporting cast including, Ian Glen, Jim Carrey, Morris Chestnut, Donald Faison, and John Leguizamo. I think what worked for the first movie is that it was so different from much of what was out there, and was more of a tongue-in-cheek movie that was lampooning superhero movies that it really could not recapture what made the first movie so good, especially as the MCU movies were really hitting their stride. That said, it is still a fun action movie, and even though it does not have anywhere near the appeal that the MCU or even the DCEU movies have if you were a fan of the first movie, it is worth checking out.

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