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 Timothy Olyphant. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Timothy Olyphant. Show all posts

Monday, March 18, 2024

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Hitman

 


Hitman is a 2007 action movie based on the video game series of the same name directed by Xavier Gens and starring  Timothy Olyphant, Olga Kurylenko, Robert Knepper, and Dougray Scott. Olyphant plays 47, a professional hitman who is essentially a part of a secret society simply called "The Organization," which engineers assassins and tattoos a bar code on the back of their necks to identify them. After 47 is tasked with an assassination, he is told to eliminate a witness (played by Kurylenko). When he realizes that she has never seen him before, 47 ignores the order to kill her and becomes engaged in a political conspiracy that has him being chased by Interpol, the FSB, and other hitmen from The Organization.

The A/V quality of the blu-ray is very good. The movie has a lot of stunning visuals that look great in HD, especially on a large screen. The extras include deleted scenes, a gag reel, the theatrical trailer, and several featurettes, including making-of featurettes and a couple about the video game franchise and adapting the game to a live-action movie. So, if you enjoy watching the bonus content, there is a lot there for you. The movie is a good action film but was never going to be an Academy Award winner.  It is very good for a shoot-'em-up action thriller. Olyphant (before his breakout role on the series Justified) did a very good job as 47. He played him as no-nonsense and serious, but there were times when he let emotion through that really made the character more than just a nameless assassin. Olga Kurylenko was also very good in her role as the tag-along that he was initially hired to kill (and, of course, gorgeous). The other standout performance was by Dougray Scott, who is the Interpol agent who has been tracking 47 (and investigating The Organization) for years.

The plot is somewhat convoluted but not that hard to follow. There are some really good action and fight sequences in the movie but the writing was kind of bad in some parts. It is not perfect, but if you are looking for an entertaining action movie, it is worth the time to watch.