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, May 16, 2026

4k-UHD/Movie Review: Edge of Tomorrow

 


Edge of Tomorrow (sometimes billed as Live, Die, Repeat: Edge of Tomorrow) is a 2014 sci-fi/action film directed by Doug Liman, starring Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt, and Bill Paxton. The supporting cast includes Brendan Gleeson, Noah Taylor, Kick Gurry, Charlotte Riley, and Franz Drameh. The movie is partly a war film, almost reimagining World War II as a battle against an alien race, called Mimics, and partly a futuristic action film. Most of the movie's events are set in 2020, which, at the time the movie was made, was six years in the future. 

The premise is that the mimics, which operate as a hive collective, landed on Earth in 2015 and took over most of Europe. The world's nations band together to fight them. Cruise plays a public relations officer, Major William Cage, who is ordered by Gleeson's character, General Brigham, to cover the planned invasion of France from the front line. When Cage tries to blackmail the general, he is arrested, tranquilized, demoted to the rank of Private, and sent to join the invasion infantry under the command of Paxton's character, Master Sergeant Farell. During the battle, Cage kills a mimic while dying in the process as he is covered in the Mimic's blood. Cage then discovers that he can reset and relive the day every time he dies. Blunt plays Sergeant Rita Vrataski, who Cage learns once had the same ability, and the two form a plan to kill the "brain" controlling the mimics.

The 4k release is a two-disc set containing a UHD disc and a standard Blu-Ray disc. The UHD disc just contains the film itself, and all the bonus content is included on the standard Blu-Ray. The A/V quality of the UHD disc is outstanding. The movie looks and sounds great in UHD, especially if you have a large screen and a 7.1 Dolby Atmos sound system. The standard Blu-Ray contains a little over an hour's worth of content. The most extensive extra is a making-of documentary that runs about 43 minutes and features interviews with Liman and various cast and crew members. Then, there is an "adrenaline cut" of the beach invasion scene, a making-of featurette on the beach invasion scene, featurettes on the weapons and creatures, and about seven minutes of deleted scenes. There are also some previews that play before the main screen loads. 

The movie is a good action film that, despite being a big-budget release, did not feel cookie-cutter. It was mostly well-written (though some parts of the plot could have been cut) and well-acted. It has a nice blend of action, humor, and even some drama. Regardless of what you may think of Cruise in his personal life, he does a great job in almost all of his roles and dedicates himself to the movies he does. Blunt is a great co-lead, and the supporting cast members all do a good job in their respective roles. While the movie relies heavily on CGI, they used as many practical effects as they could, and the CGI that is there looks seamless. Ultimately, if you are a fan of sci-fi and/or action films, this is absolutely worth checking out and adding to a physical media collection. 

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