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 Gene Hackman. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gene Hackman. Show all posts

Saturday, July 6, 2024

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Heartbreakers

 


Heartbreakers is a 2001 romantic comedy starring Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sigourney Weaver, Gene Hackman, Ray Liotta, Jason Lee, and Anne Bancroft. Sarah Silverman and Zach Galifianakis also appear in supporting roles. It is about a mother-daughter pair of con women (played by Sigourney Weaver and Jennifer Love Hewitt) who con wealthy men in a marriage/cheating scam that leaves them with half his money. Ray Liotta plays the mark at the beginning of the movie, a wannabe mobster who runs a chop shop in New Jersey, and Gene Hackman plays the mark for the majority of the movie, the owner of a tobacco company in FL, who is the mark for "one last score" for Weaver and Love Hewitt's characters. The rest of the cast is rounded out by Jason Lee, who plays a love interest for JLH's character, along with minor roles for Carrie Fisher, Anne Bancroft, Sarah Silverman, and Zach Galifianakis.

The movie is meant to be a silly comedy with a bit of romantic comedy mixed. The story is very absurd, especially because Jason Lee's character would want to live happily ever after with Jennifer Love Hewitt's character just because she is hot, given how awful she is for most of the movie. But, it is not exactly meant to be anything but an unbelievable story. All the main actors involved were very good sports, as their characters were very over the top in a bad way. Gene Hackman as the chain-smoking, smoke-spewing, lung-hacking-up cigarette company executive was awesome, and they never missed an opportunity to put Jennifer Love Hewitt into a skin-tight, cleavage-baring outfit.

For those who get the Blu-Ray, it is a decent, but not great, video transfer. You will not get a big difference in quality from a DVD version, but you do the Blu-Ray anti-scratch coating, which is the only reason to upgrade. There are no subtitles, and the audio seems to dip in volume level, so I had to keep turning the volume on my TV up and down to hear some of the dialogue and then keep it from blasting during other scenes. There is about an hour's worth of extras, including a making-of documentary, a gag reel that also incorporates some making-of interviews, deleted scenes, and the trailer.

Overall, the movie is fun if you do not expect an award-winning movie. It is a silly comedy that does not try to be anything more than that. The Blu-Ray quality could be better, but it is not all that surprising that the movie, which came out well before the Blu-Rays were created, and was not popular enough to get a high-quality transfer. If you are looking for a comedy to kill a couple of hours watching, this is a good option.