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 26, 2024

4k-UHD/Movie Review: Skyscraper

 


Skyscraper is a 2019 action movie that stars Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson, Neve Campbell, Mckenna Roberts, Pablo Schreiber, Chin Han, Hannah Quinlivan, and Noah Cottrell.  Johnson stars as Will Sawyer, an ex-FBI hostage negotiator and amputee (thanks to the movie's opening scene) who has become a private security contractor. He is on assignment with his wife Sarah, played by Neve Campbell, and their two children in China to assess security for a new building owned by Zhao Ji (played by Chin Han, whom I will always refer to as "the television" because of the line in The Dark Knight). A group of terrorists starts a fire in the building, which boasts as the tallest skyscraper in the world, and manages to frame Will for it. The rest of the story involves Will trying to get his family out of the building and take down the terrorists.

The movie is a pretty standard action film and is derivative of movies like Die Hard and The Towering Inferno without being outright copies of either. If you have seen any of The Rock's action movies over the years, it definitely falls on the end of the ones where he is nearly indestructible and can overcome any obstacle. It is not as tongue in cheek as his role as Hobbs in the Fast and Furious movies, but almost. So, there is definitely a lot of suspension of disbelief that is required to get through it, so if you cannot do so or are hypercritical of unrealistic action movies, this is not for you.

The 4k set is a two-disc set containing a UHD disc and a regular Blu-Ray disc. The film looks and sounds great in the UHD format. The bonus material (which is included on the UHD disc, so you do not have to switch over to the regular blu-ray) includes deleted and extended scenes, a commentary track on the movie with the director, and a few short behind-the-scenes features. Good for what was included, but not hours worth of material. Excluding the commentary track, the extras probably clock in at around 45 minutes or so. Overall, it is a good movie, but not exactly a unique story. It is a bit predictable, but I think fun nonetheless. If you accept it for what it is, and what it is not, I think you can enjoy it. You do not have to watch every second of it to get what is going on and at just over an hour and a half, it flows well and does not feel too long.

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