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 Bourne Series. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bourne Series. Show all posts

Thursday, January 2, 2025

4k-UHD/Movie Collection Review: The Bourne Complete Collection

 


This is a collection of the four Bourne movies starring Matt Damon (2002's The Bourne Identity, 2004's The Bourne Supremacy, 2007's The Bourne Ultimatum, and 2016's Jason Bourne) and the 2012 spin-off film starring Jeremy Renner, The Bourne Legacy. Most of the movies center around the character of Jason Bourne (Damon), who, in the first movie, is fished out of the ocean with no memory of who he is. He discovers that he has superior fighting and espionage skills and is subsequently chased by government agents. He begins to regain fragments of his memory, discovering he is an assassin for a CIA black ops group code-named Treadstone. In The Bourne Legacy (set during The Bourne Ultimatum's events), we learn that Treadstone was one of many black-ops programs, including one called Outcome, which was creating a group of super-soldiers. The movies had strong supporting casts, including Julia Stiles, Rachel Weisz, Joan Allen, Brian Cox, Chris Cooper, Karl Urban, Tommy Lee Jones, Edward Norton, Alicia Vikander, Paddy Considine, Clive Owen, and Vincent Cassel. The crux of each movie involves the heroes being chased down by the CIA or some branch of the CIA. They are mostly action thrillers with some drama (and humorous moments) mixed in. 

The 4K set is a six-disc set consisting of five UHD discs (one for each movie) and one regular Blu-Ray disc. The A/V quality of the UHD discs varies. They are packaged in a slim keep case, with all five movies held on their own base, which is held in an outer box. The audio quality of all the movies in UHD is outstanding. However, the video quality of the first three movies (Identity, Supremacy, and Ultimatum) is not much better than the 1080p regular Blu-Ray transfer. The video quality of Legacy and Jason Bourne is much better. Identity, Supremacy, Ultimatum, and Legacy can be played with a director's commentary track. There is no commentary track on Jason Bourne. The sixth disc has the remaining bonus materials, categorized by movie. They vary by movie but generally include deleted scenes, gag reels, and behind-the-scenes material. Each movie has an hour or more of bonus content. The bonus features are carried over from the original physical media releases of the movie. No new bonus material has been created for this set. Ultimately, this is a good set, but I would not call it a must-own if you already have the movies on Blu-Ray. You do not get anything new from those releases, and the A/V quality of the films in UHD is not a massive upgrade from the regular Blu-Ray (at least for three of the five movies). The movies themselves, however, hold up well and are worth watching if you are a fan of action-thrillers.

Tuesday, December 31, 2024

4K-UHD/Movie Review: Jason Bourne

 


Jason Bourne, released in 2016, is the fifth movie in the Bourne Franchise (which started with 2002's The Bourne Identity). It was directed by Paul Greengrass and stars Matt Damon, Julia Stiles, Tommy Lee Jones, Alicia Vikander, Vincent Cassel, Bill Camp, and Riz Ahmed. Greengrass (who directed The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum) returned to direct, and Damon and Stiles reprised their roles from the earlier films. The events of this movie are set about a decade after The Bourne Ultimatum and ignore the events of The Bourne Legacy (the spinoff movie that starred Jeremy Renner and Rachel Weisz). In it, Bourne is living in Greece, making a living as a street fighter. Nicky Parsons hacks into the CIA to expose the Black Ops programs (like Treadstone) and then seeks Bourne's help when she discovers a link between Bourne's father and Treadstone. From there, it becomes a typical Bourne movie in which Tommy Lee Jones's character (who plays the director of the CIA, Robert Dewey) sends an "Asset," played by Vincent Cassel, to take Bourne out. Alicia Vikander plays Heather Lee, the head of the CIA's cyber ops division, who is helping track Bourne. The storyline also includes the CIA planning to use a social media platform called Deep Dream, owned by Ahmed's character, Aaron Kallor, for real-time mass surveillance. 

The 4k set is a two-disc set, including UHD and regular Blu-Ray discs. The UHD disc just includes the movie. Unlike the prior films, this one does not have a commentary track. All the bonus content is on the regular Blu-Ray disc. It amounts to just under an hour of making-of and behind-the-scenes material. The movie is a good return to the Bourne Franchise. While I was not one of those who hated the spin-off movie, it was nice to see Damon return to the leading role (and he got extremely jacked for the role, which is no easy feat in your mid-40s as he was in when the movie was filmed). Personally, I would have liked to see him team up with Renner's character, but given that Legacy was mostly considered a flop, it is not surprising that didn't happen. It also seems like there may have been a falling out between Greengrass and Damon with Tony Gilroy, who was the screenwriter for the first four movies (and the director of Legacy) since he was not included in this movie (Greengrass and Christopher Rouse wrote this movie). Damon had made it clear that he would not return to the franchise unless Greengrass was the director, but none of the bonus features address any of that. 

The movie has a good storyline and is well-acted. It would have been nice if Julia Stiles had a larger role, but she was always a more minor character. It would also have been nice if this movie had included more of the fallout from the events of Ultimatum and Legacy (and maybe brought back Joan Allen and/or Edward Norton's characters). Still, as I said above, it ignores much of the prior movies, especially Legacy. Like the other films, it has a lot of action, including the requisite Boure chase scenes. This movie actually has two chase scenes, one early on and the other toward the end of the movie, going through the streets of Las Vegas. The storyline is mostly self-contained, so while it helps to watch at least the first three movies in the Franchise, you don't have to have seen the earlier movies to follow what is happening in this one. Ultimately, it is a good action-thriller and is worth your time to watch.

Friday, December 27, 2024

4k-UHD/Movie Review: The Bourne Legacy

 


The Bourne Legacy is a 2012 action thriller set in the "Bourne" universe of movies. It is directed by Tony Gilroy (who also co-wrote the screenplay). It stars Jeremy Renner as Aaron Cross/Number 5, an agent in a covert division of the government code-named Operation Outcome. Also starring in the movie are the nearly ageless Rachel Weisz, Edward Norton, Stacy Keach, Oscar Issac, and Dennis Boutsikaris. Cory Stoll (probably best known for his role in House of Cards), Zeljko Ivanek, and Elizabeth Marvel have minor roles in the film, and Albert Finny, Joan Allen, Scott Glen, and David Strathairn each reprise their roles from The Bourne Ultimatum. The movie was initially planned to be another Bourne sequel and bring back Matt Damon. Damon bowed out when Paul Greengrass decided not to return to direct, which caused the writers and producers to go in another direction with the story. 

The events of this film are set during the events of The Bourne Ultimatum. In fact, some footage from Ultimatum is used in this movie. In it, Cross is sent on a training exercise in Alaska, where he meets with another operative (Number Three), played by Issac, who may or may not be evaluating him. Because of the actions of Bourne and Landy, Operation Outcome, which is the main program under which all the other programs like Treadstone and Blackbriar are run, is shut down, and the agents (and anyone working on the program) are taken out. Of course, Cross survives and goes on the run with Weisz's character, Marta, a virologist who works for Outcome and also survives an attempt on her life.

The 4k set is a two-disc set with a  UHD disc and a regular Blu-Ray disc. The UHD disc just has the movie, which can be played with or without the commentary track. The commentary track includes Tony Gilroy, co-writer Dan Gilroy, editor John Gilroy, the director of photography, second unit director, and production designer. In the commentary, they do not get into the controversy about Damon and Greengrass not returning and just stick to talking about the film. They give a lot of information about the filming and casting process, including revealing that Issac was up for the lead role, but they felt he was not established enough at that point in his career. The rest of the special features are on the regular Blu-Ray disc. Those include deleted scenes and just under an hour of behind-the-scenes material. The A/V quality of the film in UHD is outstanding. Like the other Bourne movies, this one is upscaled from 2k, but the upscaling is better than the prior films received, so it is a bigger jump in video quality from 1080p. And the audio track is terrific, especially if you have a good surround sound system. 

Legacy is a good movie that gets panned/shit on much more than it should. It definitely uses elements similar to those of other films, such as multiple chases and fight scenes. So, it has a similar feel to the other movies (which is intentional), but it does tell its own story and is not a carbon copy of the Bourne Trilogy. The story in this film flows nicely from the Bourne movies and has the potential to be further tied into that universe, leaving open the possibility of a team-up between Cross and Bourne. Given how much time has passed since this movie was made and that Cross did not appear in the film in which Damon returned to the franchise (not to mention Renner's accident that may not allow him to do a movie this physical again), that is becoming more and more unlikely. Ultimately, it is a much better film than it gets credit for being. On its own, it is a good action-thriller, but it also makes sense within the Bourne universe. It is absolutely worth watching.

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.

Saturday, December 14, 2024

4K-UHD/Movie Review: The Bourne Supremacy

 


The Bourne Supremacy is the 2004 sequel to The Bourne Identity. It is the second in the series of movies adapted from the Robert Ludlum novels. The film is directed by Paul Greengrass and brings back Matt Damon as Jason Bourne. Franka Potente, Julia Stiles, Gabriel Mann, and Brian Cox reprise their roles from the first movie. Chris Cooper also returns for flashback sequences. Joan Allen and Karl Urban are the main additions to the cast for this film, and Michelle Monaghan plays a small role in the movie as well. Without giving too much away, Bourne and Marie have been living off the grid in India. Bourne gets pulled back into the world of Treadstone when he is targeted as a part of a setup to frame him for murder. From there, the movie involves Bourne trying to uncover the plot against him while playing a game of cat and mouse with the CIA, specifically the new deputy director, Pamela Landy, played by Joan Allen. 

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 video is upscaled from 2k, so it does not look as good as a film in native 4k, but it is a bit of a step up from 1080p and better than the video quality for The Bourne Identity. The audio quality is wonderful, even without a great sound system. The only extra on the UHD disc is the director's commentary on the film by Greengrass. The rest of the bonus content is on the regular blu-ray disc, which includes several behind-the-scenes featurettes that total about an hour. Ultimately, this is a good action movie with some drama and humor mixed in. Damon (again) does an excellent job as Bourne and plays him with a wonderful level of intensity. Allen, Cox, and Stiles also do an excellent job in their respective roles. Stiles' role is still relatively small but different than it was in the first movie, and Cox's role is expanded in this film. If you liked the first movie (or are just a fan of the action thriller or spy genre), this is absolutely worth watching. 

Saturday, November 30, 2024

4K-UHD/Movie Review: The Bourne Identity

 


The Bourne Identity is a 2002 action thriller directed by Doug Liman and adapted from Robert Ludlum's novel of the same name. It stars Matt Damon, Franka Potente, Brian Cox, Chris Cooper, Gabriel Mann, Julia Stiles, Clive Owen and Adewale Akinnouoye-Agbaje. Sharp-eyed viewers will also recognize Walton Goggins (from the excellent series Justified) in a minor role. The movie starts with Damon's character being pulled out of the ocean by the crew of a fishing vessel. He has been shot in the back and has no memory of who he is or where he comes from, and the only clue to his past is a small laser projector embedded in his hip with the name and address of a bank in Switzerland on it. He discovers that his name is Jason Bourne, and throughout the movie, he realizes that he speaks multiple languages and is highly skilled in fighting and counterintelligence. Potente is a woman he meets at the American consulate in Zurich who agrees to help get him to Paris in exchange for $20,000. The two are then pursued by local authorities and shadowy assassins with the same skills as Bourne. Bourne ultimately discovers that he is part of a CIA black ops program called Treadstone, which is run by Cooper's character, Alexander Conklin, who works for the deputy director of the CIA, Ward Abbott, who is played by Cox. 

The 4K set is a two-disc set containing a UHD disc and a regular Blu-Ray disc. The UHD disc's A/V quality is good. The audio is outstanding, but the video transfer is not as good as it should have been. The only bonus feature on the UHD disc is the director's commentary track. The other bonus material, which includes an alternate opening and ending, deleted and extended scenes, and about two hours of behind-the-scenes material, is on the regular Blu-Ray disc. The movie itself is a good blend of action and drama with a couple of humorous moments mixed in. Damon does a good job in the lead role, and although he is not extremely physically imposing, he does an excellent job in the action sequences. It is well-written and very well-acted, and while you do have to suspend your disbelief to accept that Bourne could survive everything he goes through in the movie, it is entertaining. If you are a fan of action thrillers or the spy genre, the movie is absolutely worth seeing. The A/V quality of the UHD disc is not a major step up from the regular Blu-Ray, so if you already own it on Blu-Ray, you may want to stick with that version, especially if you are a big A/V wonk.