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. 

Monday, May 6, 2024

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Captain America: The Winter Soldier

 


Captain America: The Winter Soldier is one of the 2014 entries in the MCU collection of movies. It stars Chris Evans, Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, Scarlett Johansson, Emily VanCamp, Samuel L. Jackson, and Robert Redford. It is both a follow-up to The original Avengers movie (the events of which are lightly touched on in this movie) and to the first Captain America movie, The First Avenger. It is, not surprisingly, more of a follow-up to the latter than the former. In the movie, Steve Rodgers (played by Evans) is still trying to adjust to living in this century after having "died" in the 1940s. It also continues the S.H.E.I.L.D/Hydra battle that started during the events of the first movie when it was assumed Hydra was defeated. To say much more would be to give away too much of the plot, but Hydra uses their own super soldier (The Winter Soldier) who ties back to the first movie as well. And, of course, for those who follow The Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D series, the fallout from the events of this movie is also continued there.

There are multiple physical media releases for the movie now. The single-disc blu-ray includes a few short featurettes, some deleted scenes, and a gag reel. There is also a commentary track for the film by directors Anthony and Joe Russo. It's not a ton of material, but it's fine for what there is. Of course, the movie looks and sounds great on blu-ray.

The movie is very well written and acted. Some of the familiar notables (Black Widow, Agent Hill, Nick Fury), all play roles in the movie. It also introduces the character of Falcon (Mackie) into the movie. Scarlett Johansson probably has the biggest supporting role in the movie as Black Widow, and she and Evans have pretty good chemistry playing the straight-laced Rodgers against the not-so-straight-laced Black Widow. There are 2 scenes after the movie, one mid-credits scene and one post-credits that will set up the inevitable Captain America 3. All in all, if you are a fan of the Marvel movies, this one is one of the better stand-alone movies and sets up some of the larger storylines. If you liked the first Captain America movie then you will probably like this one as well.

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