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, December 21, 2024

4k-UHD/Movie Review: The Bourne Ultimatum

 


The Bourne Ultimatum is a 2007 action-thriller. It is the third entry in the Bourne Trilogy, including 2002's The Bourne Identity and 2004's The Bourne Supremacy. It stars Matt Damon, Julia Stiles (reprising their roles from the first two movies), and Joan Allen (her role from the second movie). The new cast members of the franchise include David Strathairn, Scott Glenn, Paddy Considine, and Albert Finney. Paul Greengrass returns to direct the movie, and Tony Gilroy again wrote the screenplay.

In the film, we find out that there is a six-week gap between when Bourne leaves Moscow and when he calls Pamela Landy at the end of The Bourne Supremacy when she tells him that his real name is David Webb. Most of this movie fills in that six-week gap and gives more context to the call between Bourne and Landy. We also get Bourne's entire backstory and discover how he was brought into Treadstone. The film also reveals that Treadstone was a small part of a more extensive operation within the CIA. Julia Stiles finally has a larger role in this movie than she did in either of the first two films, and we get a couple of new antagonists.

The 4K set is a two-disc set containing a UHD disc and a regular Blu-Ray disc. The A/V quality of the UHD disc is good. The audio is outstanding, but the video is again upscaled from 2k, so it is not a huge leap in quality over 1080p. The UHD disc contains the movie, which can be played with the director's commentary track. The rest of the bonus material, including deleted scenes, a spy training guide, and about 45 minutes of behind-the-scenes material. You can also watch the movie in a U-control mode that integrates behind-the-scenes material while the movie plays. Ultimately, the movie is good and caps off the trilogy well. It is well-written and acted. Like the prior movies, you must suspend your disbelief and not try to think too hard about how Bourne survives the things he does, but if you can do that, it is enjoyable. If you liked the first two movies, this is absolutely worth watching.

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