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. 

Showing posts with label Babylon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Babylon. Show all posts

Sunday, August 25, 2024

4k-UHD/Movie Review: Babylon

 


Babylon is a 2022 movie about Hollywood in the 1920s starring Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Diego Calva, Jean Smart, Jovan Adepo, and Li Jun Li in the main roles. It also has a large ensemble supporting cast, including P.J. Byrne, Lukas Haas, Olivia Hamilton, Katherine Waterston, Tobey Maguire (who was also one of the producers), Flea, Eric Robert, Ethan Suplee, Samara Weaving, and Olivia Wille (among others). In it, Pitt plays Jack Conrad, the biggest silent-film star of the time, and Robbie plays Nellie LaRoy, an aspiring actress who gets her big break into silent films when she is seen dancing at a lavish party at the beginning of the film. Calva plays a gopher for the studio who eventually becomes a studio executive after Jack takes him under his wing. Li plays Lady Fay, a cabaret singer who also writes title cards for the silent movies, and Adepo plays a Jazz trumpeter named Sidney Palmer.

The 4K set is a two-disc set with a UHD disc and a regular Blu-Ray disc. The UHD disc just includes the movie, and the regular Blu-Ray disc has the movie and the bonus features. The movie's A/V quality is outstanding. It was shot on film to recreate the look of older Hollywood films, but it looks and sounds great in the UHD format. The extras include a half-hour-long making-of featurette featuring interviews with the cast and crew, about ten minutes of deleted and extended scenes, and a couple of shorter featurettes about the movie's costumes and score. All totaled, the bonus features run about 45 minutes. 

Ultimately, the movie is very good. It starts as a dark comedy and turns into a dark drama by the end. One of the movie's central themes is the transition from the silent movie era to the "talkies," and how adding sound to movies was challenging for the studios and the actors, and how the transition ended some careers and caused others to flourish. The other central theme is the excess of the Roaring 20s, especially in Hollywood. The storyline spans several decades, starting in the 20s and ending in 1952, but most of the movie is set in the late 1920s and early 1930s. It also deals with racism and homophobia. It is absolutely not a family-friendly film, as there is a lot of swearing, drug use, nudity, sex, and smoking throughout. The movie is very long, lasting just over three hours, but does not really drag. It is funny at times, sad at times, and downright weird at others. It is well-written and very well-acted and is absolutely worth watching.