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, April 12, 2024

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Killers

 


Killers is a 2010 movie starring Ashton Kutcher, Katherine Heigl, Martin Mull, Catherine O'Hara, and Tom Selleck. In the movie, Kutcher plays a professional assassin named Spencer Aimes. While in France, he meets Heigl's character, Jen, and the two have a whirlwind romance that causes Spencer to quit his job and settle down in suburban life. After three years, Spencer's life unravels when a bounty is put on his head when he refuses to take another assignment.

The A/V quality of the blu-ray is outstanding. While there are not a ton of CGI effects (if any), the location shots in Nice, France, look awesome in HD, especially if you have a large screen. As far as extras, there are some behind-the-scenes features, deleted and extended scenes, and a gag reel. In total, the extras run just under a half hour in length.

Ultimately, if you take this movie too seriously, you will probably hate it. If you take it as a spoof of romantic comedies and spy movies like Mr. & Mrs. Smith and the like and see it as a movie that is very much tongue-in-cheek, it is entertaining. The only real complaint I have about it is the pacing. There is a little back story and set up to Kutcher and Heigl's relationship, then the story fast forwards three years and kind of stalls as they try to transition Kutcher's character from spy life to mundane suburban life. Once the story starts to pick back up, as everyone around Spencer in the mundane suburban life starts trying to kill him, the pace gets better. 

Yes, the premise and plot are totally preposterous. That is partly the point. If you can suspend your disbelief past that, however, I think you can find this enjoyable. Luckily, the movie is not so long that, unless you hate it from the get-go (and there are certainly people who do), it seems never-ending. Heigel and Kutcher are pretty much on the edge of who I would think of for lead roles in a movie, but since it was really not going for a serious blockbuster feel, they still worked as the leads. While it is certainly not the best movie ever, it is a decent combination of action movie and romantic comedy and worth the time to watch as long as you accept the movie for what it is. 

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