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 22, 2022

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Red Dragon

 



“Red Dragon” is a 2002 horror/crime-thriller starring Anthony Hopkins, Edward Norton, Ralph Fiennes, Harvey Keitel, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Emily Watson, Mary Louise Parker, Anthony Heald, and Frankie Faison. The latter two reprising their roles from Silence of the Lambs. This movie rounds out what ended up being a trilogy of Hannibal Lecter movies starring Anthony Hopkins in the starring role. It was directed by Brett Ratner and is a prequel to the iconic 1991 movie Silence of the Lambs, but it was made after the direct sequel to Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal, which was made in 2001. This is also a remake of the 1986 movie Manhunter with the same storyline which starred Brian Cox as Lecter. This one co-stars Edward Norton as Will Graham, the FBI agent who originally captured Lecter. We see how Lecter was caught at the beginning of the movie, and then for the rest of the film, he is in the familiar dungeon-like cell that we see him in Silence of the Lambs. This movie centers around a serial killer that is nicknamed The Tooth Fairy. Graham comes out of retirement to work the case and enlists Lecter's help to catch the Tooth Fairy. Lecter serves in much the same role as he does in Silence of the Lambs, but has a much different dynamic with Graham than he did with Clarice. 

The Blu-Ray's A/V quality is very good, with many great cinematographic shots, and it includes a substantial amount of bonus content. The extras include several deleted, extended, and alternate scenes, over an hour's worth of making-of and behind-the-scenes featurettes (that range from a minute or two to about forty minutes), an FBI profiling feature, and two commentary tracks on the film, one by the director and writer and one by the composer. Overall, the movie is good, but not as good as Silence of the Lambs. I would say it is on par with, or a bit better, than Hannibal. I think having Lecter in the advising role especially given Anthony Hopkins' age, works better. All of the actors did a great job with their characters with Fiennes and Philip Seymour Hoffman really standing out. So, even though it is not as good as Silence, it is still worth checking out.

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