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, June 15, 2024

4k-UHD/Movie Review: Ant Man and the Wasp

 


Ant-Man and the Wasp is one of the 2018 entries in the MCU slate of movies. It was directed by Peyton Reed. Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Douglas, and Michael Pena all reprise their roles from the first movie. Walton Goggins, Michelle Pfeiffer, Hannah John-Kamen, and Randall Park are all newly added cast members for this movie. The story is mostly a sequel to Ant-Man, focusing on rescuing Hank's wife (Pfeiffer) from the quantum realm. It is set in the aftermath of Captain America: Civil War with Scott being near the end of a two-year-long house arrest for his violation of the Sokovia accords. He has a dream about Hope's mother/Hank's wife the original wasp Janet Van Dyn, with Hope and Hank springing him from house arrest (in a pretty hilarious manner). I will not give too much away, but it basically becomes a game of keep-away with Hank's tech from the various people after it, including a shady tech dealer, played by Walton Goggins, and Ghost, played by Hannah John-Kamen. Scott also has to keep ahead of the FBI. The events of Infinity War are tied in during the mid-credits scene. I will not give away exactly what happens, but we do see the consequences of Thanos' snap play out, and it sets out where the characters are going into Avengers 4.

The 4K set is a two-disc set containing a UHD disc and a regular Blu-Ray disc. The movie looks and sounds great in the UHD format, especially if you have a large screen. The UHD disc just has the movie itself, and all of the bonus content is on the regular Blu-ray. There are about 22 minutes worth of behind-the-scenes and making-of features, a short gag reel, and a few deleted scenes. The bonus features probably amount to between 30 and 40 minutes in total. Ultimately, the movie is one of more than 20 in the overall MCU story arc. It is written so you do not have to have seen the others to follow most of it, but it will definitely help if you are up to date with the overall story arc that has played out throughout the other movies. The entire cast, from the stars to the supporting characters, are all great in their roles. Evangeline Lilly does a great job as the Wasp and really seemed to be having fun with her more expanded role. As long as you do not have superhero movie fatigue, this is definitely worth checking out.

No comments: