Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Jamón Jamón

 

Jamon Jamon is a movie from 1992 starring a young (about 23-year-old) Javier Bardem, an even younger (about 18-year-old) Penelope Cruz in her film debut, and Jordi Molla. The movie itself is bad. It is a very over-the-top soap opera (think every stereotype of the telenovela that has ever been shown on a US TV show lampooning Mexican or Spanish soap operas). It is part comedy, part drama, with a lot of WTF thrown in. Essentially, the story boils down to Cruz's character becoming pregnant by the son of a local underwear manufacturer (Molla) and then having an affair with Bardem's character, Raul. As I said, you do get to see a very young Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz in a movie that I would love to hear their honest thoughts on now.

The Blu-ray itself is very bare bones. It includes just the film, with the ability to play it with or without English subtitles. The movie itself is in Spanish. The video transfer and audio quality are okay for a low-budget foreign film from 1992. It is definitely not a great remastered transfer, but it is not the kind of movie that would ever get that.

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: The Informers

 

The Informers is a 2008 movie starring Amber Heard, Winona Ryder, Kim Bassinger, Billy Bob Thornton, Mickey Rourke, Jon Foster, Brad Renfro, and Chris Isaak. I was kind of lukewarm to the movie, even though I liked a lot of the actors in it. Kim Basinger and Billy Bob Thornton play an estranged couple trying to make their marriage work. Their son (Foster) is a drug dealer who, along with his girlfriend (Heard), is sleeping around with his large circle of friends. The Mickie Rourke storyline just seemed unnecessary and shoehorned in without being tied to anything else going on in the movie. His only "tie" to the other characters is that his nephew (played by Brad Renfro in the last role before his death) worked in the building where Amber Heard's character lived. Also, the title refers to a band that is seen throughout the movie, but the movie has very little to do with any of the band members after about the first third of the movie. The band is just mainly there in the background.

The Blu-Ray's A/V quality is fine but not spectacular. I think the movie looks and sounds about as good as you'd expect a non-sci-fi, non-big-budget movie that is almost 10 years that did not get a high-quality HD transfer to look and sound. That said, there are some great shots of Hollywood that look very nice in HD. The only extras are a 15-minute behind-the-scenes feature, a commentary on the movie with the director and some of the cast members, and then some trailers. Overall, the movie is good but not great. It is a very dark movie that really boils down to being about excess and immorality, with a focus on the sex, drugs, and rock-and-roll culture of the 1980s. There is a storyline about AIDS, storylines about infidelity, kidnapping, etc., but it is kind of a jumbled story where the characters are all somewhat tied together but it is telling separate stories about them. Because of that, it can be hard to track everything happening in the movie and you really do have to pay attention to it in order to follow it. Many people will and do hate the movie, a lot will love it, and some will be in the middle. I do think it is worth checking out, but it is not a must-see by any means.

4k-UHD/Movie Review: Fifty Shades Freed

 

Fifty Shades Freed is the 2018 conclusion to the trilogy of movies based on the novels by E.L. James, 2015's Fifty Shades of Grey, and 2017's Fifty Shades Darker. The movie again stars Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan in the main roles of Ana and Christian. Eric Johnson, Eloise Mumford, Rita Ora, Luke Grimes, Kim Bassinger, and Marcia Gay Harden have supporting roles. By now, pretty much anyone getting the movie knows what the series is and what it is not. This film definitely has more story to it than the other two movies (and is the best story of the three). Parts of the story are a bit silly, but it definitely introduces kind of a thriller/suspense aspect (mostly involving Ana's ex-boss, Hyde) that the other movies did not have. It also delves deeper into Ana and Christian's relationship now that they are married (which happens at the very beginning of the movie). While it is still not an awards contender in any category (except maybe cinematography), it makes for an enjoyable wrap-up to the franchise.

The 4K set is a two-disc set with a UHD disc and a regular Blu-Ray disc. The A/V quality of the UHD disc is great, as the movie looks and sounds wonderful in the ultra-high-definition format. Some of the visuals (especially when they are in the mountains) really pop in UHD. As was the case for the other movies, the UHD disc just has two versions of the movie (the theatrical and the unrated version). The unrated version does not add much to the storyline; it just adds a few minutes to the movie. The rest of the behind-the-scenes featurettes, deleted scenes, and music videos that make up the bonus material (about an hour's worth altogether) are on the regular blu-ray disc. Ultimately, if you liked or loved the other movies, you will probably feel the same about this one. If you hated the other ones, then this is not going to do anything for you. Certainly, many of the same issues that plagued the first two movies persist in this one, chief among them the lack of chemistry between Dornan and Johnson. And, of course, the movie still has a ton of sexual content and nudity, so it's not family-friendly or for the easily offended. If you come in with realistic expectations for it, that it is a decent but certainly not the greatest romance movie, with some drama and suspense, it is enjoyable.

Workout Update: 645 Cardio/MBF Day 10

On day 10, I did 645 cardio in the morning and the upper body burn workout in MBF in the evening. The MBF workout was hard, even using light weights. The combination of exercises was hard, as was the fact that there was no rest once the workout started.  So, even on the exercises that I would normally use a heavier weight on, like rows, I was using avery light weight and still struggling. 

4k-UHD/Movie Review: Ex Machina

 

Ex Machina is a 2014 thriller directed by Alex Garland and starring Alicia Vikander, Oscar Issac, and Domhnall Gleeson. It is a visually stunning movie that will also make you think. The basic premise is that a coder for an internet search engine (played by Domhnall Gleeson) wins a competition to hang out for a week with the reclusive CEO of the company (played by Oscar Isaac). In reality, he is there to test an artificially intelligent robot named Ava (played by Alicia Vikander).

The 4k set is a two-disc set containing a UHD disc and a regular Blu-Ray disc. The movie looks and sounds wonderful in the UHD format, and the cinematography and location shots from Norway really pop in 4k. That is especially true if you are watching on a large screen. The UHD disc has just the movie itself. All the other extras are on the regular blu-ray disc. Those include a 40-minute making-of featurette, a panel discussion from the 2015 SXSW festival, and then 8 shorter behind-the-scenes vignettes. A very good amount of material for a movie that clocks in just under two hours.

Overall, the movie is well-written and very well-acted. It does have a lower-budget independent movie feel to it despite there being a lot of CGI. It does have a bit of nudity (mainly toward the end of the movie) but it is not really gratuitous, as well as some violence, again toward the end of the movie. I would say it does earn the R rating, but it is not as hard an R rating as some other movies have, where there is a ton of sex and violence just to have sex and violence.  There are a lot of themes throughout the movie, including the role of computers and technology in our lives, whether computers could ever become sentient, and, if so, how humans would treat them. And, of course, if they do, how they would treat humans. It has a pretty nice twist ending that I will not give away, but it is not necessarily one that you would expect. It is a great movie that is definitely worth the time to watch.

4k-UHD/Movie Review: Constantine: City of Demons

 

Constantine: City of Demons is an animated movie starring Matt Ryan, Damien O'Hare, Laura Bailey, Emily O'Brien, and Rachel Kimsey. The movie is part backstory and part stand-alone story separate from the live-action series that aired on NBC in 2014. It gives a backstory for Constantine and Chas, in which Constantine must save Chas' daughter from a demon. Matt Ryan reprises the role of Constantine again, but in this version, Chas is British instead of American, and none of the other characters from the series (that I can remember at any rate) make an appearance.

The 4k set is a two-disc set with a UHD disc and a regular Blu-Ray disc. The A/V quality is very good, especially for an animated show. There are no extras on the UHD disc, but on the regular blu-ray, there is a making-of feature and then a 20 min Wonder Con panel discussing the movie, the animated CW Seed series, and the future of the character in general.

Overall, I think it is a good story. It is a lot more violent than the series was (and it was pretty violent), and they definitely amp up the sex and swearing. Given that the character was brought into the Arrowverse, with appearances on Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow (the latter of which Ryan was added as a series regular), it is pretty easy to accept the character that what was in the series is different than what you get now. Had this come out shortly after the live-action series ended, I think it would feel more off. I would not call this a must-see, but if you are a fan of the character, it is worth checking out.

Workout Update: 645 Cardio/MBF Day 9

Day 9 was 645 cardio in the morning and the core circuit workout from MBF in the evening. Both workouts went pretty well. Most of the core circuit workout repeats the same workout from last Tuesday. The biggest changes are to the core blocks in which mountain climbers are swapped out for plank jacks and you do exercises like flutter kicks and side planks. All of the exercises in the four-minute AMRAP block are the same, however. I was able to get a little over five rounds done in the AMRAP block, which is a little better than last week.

Book Review: The Algebra of Wealth

 

The Algebra of Wealth, written by Scott Galloway and published in 2024, provides a strategy for saving money and investing smartly. The author does not recommend one investment type over another but presents the basics on the most common forms of investment (e.g., stocks, funds, bonds, real estate, etc.) and gives readers the pros and cons of each type based on factors such as income level, age, and the like.

The hardcover version of the book has just under 260 pages of substantive text, with a few pages of notes and an index following that. The author's advice is good but definitely tailored for a beginner. The younger you are, the more helpful the advice in the book is likely to be. But there is helpful information (such as using your time wisely) that will benefit people who are in their 40s and 50s who are closer to the end of their working lives than the beginning. Ultimately, the book does have some good advice and points. Some of the information may be too basic for some people, depending on your level of financial knowledge, but most readers will likely find helpful information even if they already know some of what the author discusses. 

4k-UHD/Movie Review: Alien Covenant

 

Alien Covenant is a 2017 horror movie directed by Ridley Scott. It stars Michael Fassbender, Billy Crudup, Katherine Waterston, and Danny McBride. Noomi Rapace, James Franco, and Guy Pearce all have minor roles. The movie is a sequel to Prometheus, set a decade after the events of that movie. We discover that Shaw (Rapace) and David (Fassbender) found a planet full of Engineers and crashed there. I will not give anything more away because to do so would spoil it, but essentially, the crew of the USS Covenant finds the planet, and what you would expect to occur does.

The 4k set is a two-disc set containing a UHD disc and a regular Blu-Ray disc. The movie looks and sounds great in 4k, as you would expect. On the 4k disc, you just have the movie with the option to play it with or without the commentary track by Ridley Scott. The extras are all on the regular blu-ray and include deleted scenes, some of which set up the movie, and some are extended scenes from the movie. There are also some shorter behind-the-scenes featurettes and an almost hour-long making-of feature titled "Master Class with Ridley Scott." Finally, there are some trailers and photography stills. So, this release includes a lot of good material for those who like a lot of extras.

This movie is definitely tied to the storyline from Prometheus, but it is not guaranteed that your feelings about Prometheus will carry over to this movie. For example, if you hated Prometheus because it was not a direct prequel to Alien, which many were expecting, this movie may be closer to what you would have liked that one to be. Just be aware that this is still not a direct sequel to the original movie, either. On the other hand, if you liked the direction that the story in Prometheus went, especially giving more backstory to the Engineers, this movie diverged from that quite a bit, so it may disappoint you. Since Ridley Scott has taken over the franchise again, so the movie has a very similar feel and tone to the others he has been involved with. He is reportedly working his way through a series of movies that will eventually lead to the direct prequel to Alien. So, looking at this as a piece of a much larger overall story, I think, gives it the context it would not have as a stand-alone movie. While the movie is not perfect, it is definitely worth watching.

4k-UHD/Movie Review: Avengers Infinity War

 

Avengers: Infinity War is the first of the epic two-movie crescendo to tie up the initial run of MCU films. The movie was directed by Joe and Anthony Russo and brings back the entire slate of MCU characters and actors, including Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johannson, Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Tom Holland, Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bettany, Benedict Cumberbatch, Anthony Mackie, Tom Hiddleston, Don Cheadle, Chris Pratt, Sebastian Stan, Zoe Saldana, Vin Diesel, Chadwick Boseman, Jeremy Renner, Bradley Cooper, and Karen Gilian. It also, finally, sees the arrival of Josh Brolin's Thanos after multiple teases in various movies or end-credit sequences.

This, as most are aware, is the movie that the entire MCU slate of movies has been building up to. As I said above, Thanos finally arrives, making good on his threat in the post-credits scene in Age of Ultron to do things himself. It starts where the end-credits scene in Thor: Ragnarok left off, with Thanos attacking the Asgardian ship. The movie then finds a way to weave in most, but not all, of the characters from the other movies in an attempt to keep the various infinity stones away from Thanos. The "main" Avengers lineup get the most screen time, while the amount of time the other characters are in the movie varies. I won't spoil anything for those who may not know how it turns out, but it has massive repercussions for the MCU storylines going forward.

The 4k set is a two-disc set. The UHD disc has just the movie itself, which looks and sounds great, as you would expect. The extras are on a regular blu-ray, with about 30 minutes of behind-the-scenes and making-of featurettes, a gag reel, deleted scenes, and a commentary track on the movie. It is definitely one of the best movies in the group 19 or so movies in the MCU that had been released up to that point. Even if you have a bit of superhero movie burnout, it is worth checking out to see all the stories finally tied together.

Workout Update: 645 Cardio/MBF Day 8

Day 8 was the start of week 2 of MBF, which was the lower body burn workout. The format is the same as last week, with two unbalanced blocks and two blocks in which the weight is evenly distributed. I did increase in weight from week 1, going from 12 lbs to 15 lbs for all of the weighted exercises. In the morning I did the 645 cardio routine. In that one, I did exercises that were moderately difficult for me. 

DVD/TV Series Review: Bull: Season 2

 

The 22-episode second season of Bull aired during the 2017/2018 TV season. All of the main cast members, including Michael Weatherly, Geneva Carr, Jamie Lee Kirchner, Freddy Rodriguez, Annabelle Attanasio, and Christopher Jackson, all return. The glaring omission in the cast is the character of JP Nunnelly, who was a character that was set up to be either a major recurring character or a series regular at the end of the first season. It was revealed that Eliza Dushku, who played Nunnelly in three episodes toward the end of the first season, left the show after alleging sexual harassment and mistreatment by Weatherly (who has subsequently claimed he was merely joking and apologized). Therefore, her character was written out of the show and never referenced in the second season.

The season starts off with a bit of a disjointed feel. This is due in large part because of a new addition to the showrunner team. The character of Bull was written as more of an egotistical jackass at the beginning of the season who would lay into the team for little or no reason. Thankfully, that did not last the entire season. There was more of a focus on the character's life outside TAC and the courtroom this season. Of course, that was still a large part of the show, but it was good to dig deeper into the characters' lives. 

The DVD extras include an 18-minute behind-the-scenes feature on the season, some deleted scenes, a gag reel, and the pilot episodes of the new shows Seal Team and The Good Fight. So, if you like bonus content, you get a decent amount. The show continues to be a good case-of-the-week procedural. Unlike season 1, this season ends on a major cliffhanger (actually a couple cliffhangers, one major and one more minor), which will set up a couple good storylines going into season 3. If you liked the first season, this one is worth watching.

Book Review: Star Wars: The Last Jedi Cobalt Squadron

 

Cobalt Squadron, published in 2017, is one of the young adult novels that is ancillary to the main storyline novels, set during the events of The Force Awakens, and leads into the opening of The Last Jedi when the resistance is evacuating their base. It is set around the characters of Rose and her sister Paige (who is seen at the beginning of The Last Jedi). The book details a mission that the bomber squadron engaged in to help the citizens on a planet under the heel of The First Order.

The hardcover version of the book is about 250 pages long. It is a very quick and easy read. Most people should be able to finish it in a day, at most. I think that most people who will read this book are those who collect the canon novels or really liked the character of Rose in the movie. The book tells a good story, but it is not necessarily a must-read.

Book Review: Sands of Dune

 

Sands of Dune, published in 2022, is a collection of short stories written by the duo of Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson. Herbert is the son of Frank Herbert, who wrote the two original Dune trilogies. The duo has also written several prequel and sequel novels to the original Dune novels. This book is the second collection of short stories (along with 2017's Tales of Dune) that Anderson and Herbert wrote with stories that are ancillary to the main novels.

The book is short—the hardcover version is just over 160 pages. It contains four stories. Two of them are set during the "Schools of Dune" trilogy of novels, specifically just after the Navigators of Dune novel, and two of them are set during the events of the original 1965 Dune novel. The stories fill in or add details to events that occurred in the main novels. For example, one of the stories details what Gurney Halleck was doing between the attack on the Atreides and when he resurfaces in the later part of the book. While the stories are not essential to understanding what happens in the main novels, they add interesting details and are worth reading.

DVD/TV Series Review: The Good Doctor: Season 1

 

Every few years (seemingly), a new medical drama comes along. The 18-episode first season of The Good Doctor aired in the 2017/2018 TV season. It starred Freddy Highmore, Antonia Thomas, Paige Spara, Richard Schiff, Hill Harper, Nicholas Gonzalez, and Chuku Modu. Tamlyn Tomita, Christina Chang, and Will Yun Lee. had recurring roles during the first season. To an extent, this one is centered around Doctor Shaun Murphy's character, played by Freddie Highmore (best known for his role as a young Norman Bates in Bates Motel). I say "to an extent" because his role is as a surgical resident, so he is a lower-level character in the hospital. While he is certainly the main character in the series, his character is sometimes in the background in the hospital scenes, not having much of a say in things. Without giving away too much, his character is an autistic savant, a longtime friend with an almost father-son relationship with the hospital president, Dr. Glassman (played by Richard Schiff). Glassman makes a deal with the hospital board to bring Shaun on, saying he will resign if Shaun does not excel.

The show was created by the creative team behind House. Like that show, it is an ensemble cast, but not as centered around Murphy as House was around its titular character. The remaining cast is rounded out with a mix of recognizable character actors and relatively unknown actors and actresses. Hill Harper plays the head of surgery, Nicholas Gonzalez plays the surgical attending who is assigned to be Shaun's immediate boss, Antonia Thomas is another one of the surgical residents, and Tamlyn Tomita, who played the female lead in Karate Kid Part 2, plays one of the board members of the hospital. It is a case-of-the-week procedural drama with serial storylines like many prime-time dramas. Unlike House, the focus is not always on one medical case in each episode. Some episodes are like that, and others focus on things like the personal lives of the various characters and the medical cases in the background. There are definitely themes that run throughout the season, with prejudice against Shaun because of his autism being front and center. Given the cast's ensemble nature, I think the show does a good job of giving all the characters storylines to generate interest in them. Although some characters get more material than others. There is at least some and for some characters a lot, of character development for pretty much all the characters over the course of the 18 episodes.

For those who get the DVDs, the extras include deleted scenes for most episodes, a gag reel, and a couple of behind-the-scenes features. Good for what is there, but not a ton. So if you only get DVDs or Blu Rays (which this is not available on) when there are a lot of extras, you may just want to stream this. Overall, though, it is a very good, but not necessarily great (although that is subjective) medical drama. The season ends with more than one character's storyline up in the air going into the second season, and if it continues to be well-written and acted, it can be even stronger in season two. Definitely worth checking out.

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Blockers

 

Blockers is a 2018 comedy starring Leslie Mann, Kathryn Newton, John Cena, Ike Barinholtz, Gideon Adlon, and Geraldine Viswanathan in the main roles and Gina Gershon and Gary Cole in supporting roles. The movie can basically be summed up as the premise from the original American Pie, centered around the parents who find out about the sex pact and try to stop it. The plot does not really need much more explanation than that. There are definitely themes like parents letting go of their kids, teenage pressure to have sex, etc. It was not nearly as good as the original American Pie, but pretty much on par with the two (non-direct-to-DVD) sequels.

The highlights of the movie were Gary Cole and Gina Gershon's hilarious sex-crazed characters taking full advantage of the having an empty house for prom night, John Cena's willingness to make fun of himself and put himself in the kind of crazy situations that Jason Bigg's character in American Pie found himself in. Cena has proven he has some good comedy acting chops. Of course, a professional wrestler turned actor can be anything from horribly bad (Hulk Hogan and Jesse Ventura) to decent (Bautista) to pretty good (The Rock). I'd put Cena in the decent category. I think if he has a future in Hollywood, it will be in comedies. I do not see him as becoming the giant action star The Rock has become. Leslie Mann and Ike Barinholtz do a good job as the two other parents trying to stop the kids from having sex, and each of them has pretty good moments as well.

For those who get the Blu-ray, the A/V quality is good. There are about 45 minutes or so of extras, including a gag reel, deleted scenes, and a bunch of short behind-the-scenes featurettes. There is also a director's commentary track on the movie. It is good for what is there and pretty much what you would expect from this type of movie.

I would say it is a fun movie but not necessarily a must-see. It does not really cover much in the way of new ground with the story. It just puts a twist on teen sex comedies. It has some very funny moments, but I cannot say you will be gut laughing the entire time. It is definitely worth checking out if you are looking for a fun comedy.

Workout Update: 645 Cardio/MBF Day 7

On day 7, I did 645 cardio, followed immediately by the MBF dynamic recovery routine. I did harder exercises in the 645 workout today since the MBF workout is really more of a flexibility and mobility workout and does not get your heart rate up.

Workout Update: 645 Cardio/MBF Day 6

Day 6 was the EMOM workout in MBF. Again, this workout has three blocks: two five-minute blocks and one 10-minute block. In the first block, you do weighted swings, the second block is push-ups, and the third block alternates between weighted chops and mountain climbers. The push-up block was the hardest for me. The other two blocks were challenging, but I was able to do all of the reps in those blocks. I did not do 645 cardio.

Workout Update: 645 Cardio/MBF Day 5

On day 5, I did a full-body burn in MBF and 645 cardio. Again, I did the 645 workout in the morning and MBF in the evening. The full-body burn was challenging, but as with the other resistance workouts this week, I had a better idea of the proper weight to use. For me, that meant erroring on the side of using weights that was a bit lighter than what I would use in Lift 4, Chalean Extreme, or P90x for the same exercises. 

Workout Update: 645 Cardio/MBF Day 4

On day 4, I did 645 cardio in the morning and the core circuit workout from MBF in the evening. The core circuit was similar to Tuesday's workout but with different exercises. This time, I was able to complete 6.5 AMRAP rounds. In the 645 workout, I did harder exercises than I would have done on HIIT day in Lift 4, but not the exercises that were the hardest for me. 

DVD/TV Series Review: Modern Family: Season 8

The 22-episode 8th season of Modern Family aired during the 2016/2017 TV season. All of the main cast members returned. The show also included many recognizable actors in guest and recurring roles, including Fred Willard, Nathan Fillion, Ernie Hudson, Martin Short, Joely Fisher, Shelly Long, Elizabeth Banks, Peyton Manning, Victor Garber, and Charles Barkley (to name just a few). Chances are, anyone reading this by now knows what the show is. It is definitely one of those sitcoms that finds what works and does not deviate much from the formula. That is not to say every episode of the show is the same. They are not. Even after 8 seasons, the writers have managed to come up with enough material to make the show enjoyable. All the characters are continuing to develop in different ways. The actors seem to still enjoy their characters and, even after all these years, do not seem to be phoning it in at all. While an argument can certainly be made that the show was getting a bit long in the tooth by the 8th season (it would eventually last 11 seasons), it was still worth watching.

What knocks the set down for me is the DVD presentation. It is another show that Fox is being cheap about with the DVDs. As some may know, Fox prefers to have people stream the shows. It will put out very bare-bones DVD sets for some shows, blu-rays for a very select handful of shows. The shows that do get physical media releases have almost no extras. The only extras for this season are about 6 minutes worth of deleted scenes and a 5 or 6-minute gag reel. There are no commentary tracks, no behind-the-scenes features, or anything like what has appeared in the physical media releases for prior seasons of the show. Unless you are getting the sets because you have the other seasons in a collection, you are not missing anything by streaming the show.

Book Review: Dune: Deluxe Edition (#1 Publication Order; #14 Chronological Order)

 

This is a hardcover reprinting of Frank Herbert's original 1965 novel, Dune. It is the first novel in the now sprawling series of Dune novels, but if you read the novels chronologically, it is the 14th. The book begins on the planet Caladan, which House Atreides has ruled over for years until Duke Leto Atreides is ordered by Emperor Shaddam Corrino IV to take control of the production of Spice (a substance that gives humans longer life spans, gives some humans supernatural powers, and makes interstellar space travel possible) on the desert planet, Arrakis (which is called Dune by the people who live there). Leto, along with his 15-year-old son Paul, and his concubine (and Paul's mother), Jessica, move (along with the House Atreides hands and troops) to Arrakis, where a trap is set to be sprung by members of House Harkonnen, the Atreides' arch enemies. 

This version of the book was published in 2019. I purchased mine as a part of a collector's set containing the original trilogy novels. The book includes an introduction written by Frank Herbert's son, Brian, who has co-authored the (as of this writing) 13 prequel novels, 4 sequel novels, and two collections of short stories set during the various Dune eras. The book is 658 pages long. The actual story takes up 603 pages. The rest of the book includes three appendices that flesh out some of the events leading up to the events in the book and summarize the main characters. The appendices would also serve as the starting point for the prequel novels. The book ends with a glossary of terms.

The story is good, but it can be confusing. There is a reason that it is considered one of the hardest sci-fi novels to adapt to live-action. The book's first half has very little action but sets up what happens in the latter half, where most of the action occurs. There are also time jumps that occur in the book, but Herbert does not identify them when they occur; you just have to figure that out from the context as you read. It helps to read the series of books chronologically because all the characters have been developed in the prequel novels, and you have a better sense of why things happen in this book the way they do. It also helps to know what Mentats are and what the motivations of the Bene Gesserit are before reading this book. That is certainly not to say the book is impossible to follow without reading the prequel novels, but it is easier to follow this book if you know the background material. Ultimately, it is a great book with themes of political corruption, religion, caste systems, family, and the like. It is absolutely worth reading.

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Annihilation

 

Annihilation is a 2017 thriller directed by Alex Garland and starring Natalie Portman, Oscar Issac, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tessa Thompson, and Gina Rodriguez. It is hard to say too much about the movie without giving too much away. I will say it will probably take a couple viewings to really get what is going on, and you cannot really just have it on in the background, half paying attention to it. If you do that, you will miss too much, and it will make no sense. It basically tells the story of a group of military scientists led by Natalie Portman's character who enter a quarantined zone called "the shimmer." Portman's character is the only one to return from the quarantined zone (which has been expanding since a method landed in Florida). Much of the movie is about her being interrogated, while the story of what happened inside the shimmer is being told through flashbacks.

The movie was originally only released on DVD and Blu-Ray but has since been released in 4k-UHD.  On the regular Blu-Ray, the only extras are an hour plus worth of behind-the-scenes and making-of featurettes. The featurettes are broken up into 15-20 minute segments. While the movie has some action and suspense, it falls more within the intellectual sci-fi genre. It relies heavily on visuals to tell the story and looks great in the HD format. It is definitely not a movie that will appeal to everyone. It is not a non-stop action thriller by any stretch. If, however, you enjoy the kind of sci-fi movies that are not all about non-stop action it is worth checking out.

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: A Bad Moms Christmas

 

A Bad Moms Christmas is the 2017 sequel to the very underrated 2016 comedy Bad Moms. The movie brings back Mila Kunis, Kathryn Hahn, Kristen Bell, and Jay Hernandez from the first movie and adds Christine Baranski, Susan Sarandon, and Cheryl Hines, playing the moms of the moms. Peter Gallager and Justin Hartley also co-star. Christina Applegate and Wanda Sykes also reprise their roles from the first movie, basically making cameo appearances.

This movie takes some of the concepts of the original movie and sets it around the stress of Christmas. Specifically, the pressure to do the holidays perfectly, combined with their own mothers entering the picture and making everything worse. Thankfully, the writers and producers of this movie did not fall into the trap that those of The Hangover II did and just make a carbon copy of the first movie. That said, there are not as many funny moments in this one as there were in the first. The big scene stealers in this movie were Cheryl Hines, who played the mother of Kristen Bell's character, and Christine Baransky, who played the mother of Mila Kunis' character. Justin Heartly also had a great role as a male stripper, and there was a pretty hilarious cameo by Kenny G. It is pretty standard comedic fare. 

For those who get the Blu-ray, the movie looks and sounds good. The extras are not extensive. They include a gag reel, some deleted scenes, and a music video featuring the crew members that is a spoof of the end credit sequence of the cast. Overall, I would say if you enjoyed the first movie, you will probably like this one as well, even if not as much. It definitely earns its R rating and is not a family-friendly comedy, but if you enjoy that brand of comedy, it is entertaining. It is definitely not as good as the first movie, and I think even people who loved the first movie would have been perfectly content if a sequel had never been made. As long as you are not expecting it to be more than it is, I do not think the movie will disappoint you.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: The Master: Complete Series

 

The Master was an action-adventure series that aired during the 1984 TV season. It is what you get if you combine any of the 1980's procedural action series like A-Team, Greatest American Hero, Night Rider, etc., with the Cannon Ninja trilogy (which had a big cult following). It never gained traction as a show and was canceled after 13 episodes. I was pretty young when the series first aired, and I loved martial arts and all things ninja. I remember watching some of the episodes when they originally aired. As a kid, it was easy to overlook the cheesy and sometimes downright bad acting and writing. Watching it again as an adult, the horrible acting and writing are far more noticeable. If, however, you were a kid back in the early to mid-1980s, this is a nostalgic blast from the past.

The series starred Lee Van Cleef and Timothy Van Patten, with recurring appearances by the star of the Cannon Ninja trilogy (Enter the Ninja, Revenge of the Ninja, and Ninja III: The Domination), Sho Kasugi. Van Cleef played John Peter McCallister, an aging Ninja Master returning to the United States to find his daughter. Kasugi plays his former student, Okasa, from Japan, who was out to kill him, and Van Patten plays Max Keller, who becomes his new student after the two meet in the mists of a bar fight. It is basically a story-of-the-week show where Keller and McCalister drive around the country looking for McCallister's daughter and eventually get involved in some local dust-up between (usually) a damsel in distress against the local bad guy(s). 

It does take a lot of suspension of disbelief on many levels to watch the show, including buying that either Van Cleef or Van Patten had anything close to martial arts skill (which you could see during the extreme close-ups during the fight scenes that they did not). Or, buying the fact that the McCallister character, who would walk around as himself in broad daylight beating up the bad guys, would need to change into his ninja uniform at night to beat up the same bad guys, with his same apprentice in tow (who was not in a ninja uniform). And even when he was in uniform he was always pulling his mask down, so there was never any real disguising who he was. And, of course, there was the carrying around tons of illegal weapons.

The Blu-Ray set is a three-disc set. The A/V transfer is okay but not wonderful. It is about as good a transfer as you would expect for an old 1980s TV show that was canceled halfway through its first season. The only extras included on the set are trailers for a handful of the Westerns that Van Cleef was known for throughout his career, as well as trailers for Enter the Ninja and Revenge of the Ninja, the two movies Kasugi had been in at that point.

I think most people who will get this are those who were kids in the 1980s and remember watching it back then. You will definitely not get it because of great writing or acting. Several very recognizable and good character actors and actresses were in the show. Also notable is that a very young Demi Moore had a guest-starring role in the pilot. Still, it was overall a pretty hokey and cheesy show. The pilot episode was even featured in an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000. The show's silliness is best exemplified by a scene in which one of the characters picks up a piece of uranium and sticks it in his pocket. Ultimately, if you watch it expecting it to be a fun blast from the past, it is enjoyable and even pretty funny. If you are expecting award-winning TV, you will be sorely disappointed.