The guys watch the movie of the year. IMDB's description is "A dramatization of the 1980 joint CIA-Canadian secret operation to extract six fugitive American diplomatic personnel out of revolutionary Iran." Come listen to the Skyped in episode of Movie Knights.
"Once you decide on your occupation... you must immerse yourself in your work. You have to fall in love with your work. Never complain about your job. You must dedicate your life to mastering your skill. That's the secret of success... and is the key to being regarded honorably." -Jiro Ono
So it's that time again for a movie of the week. So I obviously went ahead and chose another documentary! YAY!! As you can tell from the title of the film, this movie is about a man and his love for making Sushi. It's quite interesting see all he has gone through, and how seriously he takes his work. He's work very hard at being the best at what he does, which he has apparently succeeded at. (Though he keeps working at his craft, trying to get better and better.)
My MAJOR issue with this film is the subtitles. They're SO hard to read. I feel like it would have been really easy to figure out a font/color that would work better. Seriously, it was damn near impossible at times to see what the hell they were talking about.
Outside of that, this is a great documentary. It's on the Netflix instant queue, so I'd suggest you check it out.
Eureka is one of those show that I kept putting off. When it first came out I was intrigued but never watched it. I don't remember why I didn't watch it, but I was happy to see if on Netflix. All but the last season, so I had to torrent that one. Don't look at me like that! I'm paying for a streaming site and they don't have all the seasons of a show, what am I suppose to do? Wait? Pssh, whatever.
What is Eureka? It's a science fiction show that takes place in a town called Eureka, were the world's best scientist all live and work for Global Dynamics to develop tomorrows technology. And something is always going wrong. It's a near perfect blend of comedy, drama,and sci-fi. Your main character is the every-man Jack Carter (Colin Ferguson), a US Marshal appointed new town sheriff after an accident incapacitated the old one. Jack gives the show the dumbed down talk you some times need for the science/technobable they spue. I am a fan of science and learning things, so a lot of the time when they used their science speak, I actually understood it. Most of it deals in theory, but in the show they have put it into practice. I remember one episode with they are talking about an experiment where they could discover the Higgs Boson particle, and it's going blow up the town unless the contain it. In real life,the Higgs Boson was just discovered, about four years after that episode aired and all that happened was the news tried to explain what it was and the best they could do was dub it the "God Particle." But this is good, it means the show isn't completely full of shit. It is basic somewhere in reality.
The humor makes this show watchable when things get dumb in a few episodes. That only helps a little when the plot get so far fetched that it's tough to swallow, I am speaking mainly of the time travel episodes. You will get attached to the characters, like Henry, Fargo, Jo, Stark, and the new ones they add near the end. They will tug at the heart strings a bit. My favorite character for a while was Dr. Nathan Stark.We was short with people, a smart ass, he saved the day a lot and I loved it. He was later replaced as my favorite by Wil Wheaton's character Dr. Parrish, just a fucking dick. So Awesome. Douglas Fargo (Neil Grayston), on the other hand, was the weak link for me. We was the comic relief for the show that didn't really need it. A lot of stuff breaks or fucks up because of him. I remember the episode when my thoughts of him turned south. It was a clip show episode (Yes, they have a shitty flash back episode) but they do it in a different way, with using technology to record peoples memories for a time capsule. Then Fargo fucks with the code to change all the memories of him in the database so only good memories are left but it starts erasing peoples actual memories outside the machine. This is like season 3, and this dude does these horrible things, cost millions, if not, billions of dollars worth of damage. I would have fired his ass a long time ago, and thrown him in jail for terrorism of a small town. But no, he gets a slap on the wrist and an "Oh that Fargo! Wah Waaa, Derp" moment instead. To the credit of the writers though, they turned his character around after that and made me actually like him. He even dates Felicia Day's character. I wanna date Felicia Day.
There are a lot of great episodes with a bunch of mediocre ones thrown in so you don't get spoiled. I thoroughly enjoyed this show. And if you enjoy shows like Star Trek, Sherlock, and Big Bang Theory, you'll like this one. Also, unlike some other programs, it actually has an ending, so you aren't left feeling empty knowing it's cancelled going in. Fours stars, easy from me. Go watch it!
On this weeks show we review Kevin James latest attempt at making a movie. IMDB says it's: "A high school biology teacher looks to become a successful mixed-martial arts fighter in an effort to raise money to prevent extra-curricular activities from being axed at his cash-strapped school." This episode is way shorter than our last one. Hey, think there is something we should review? Tell us in the comments!
"When terrorists seize control of a boarding school, a group of troublemaking boys decide to resist them." - IMDB
Whenever I try and tell anyone about this movie, people always respond with, "Oh, Toy Soldiers? Isn't that the one where all the little toy robots voiced by Tommy Lee Jones attack people and stuff?" to which I usually respond, "What?! No! Fuck, no!...that's Small Soldiers!"...and then I stab them. In all seriousness though, this has been one of my favorites for a long time and it should be yours too, dammit, cause it kicks ass! I may be somewhat biased though cause I grew up with this movie, but I digress...
Toy Soldiers is the 1991 film adaptation of a 1988 novel by William P. Kennedy which I did not read. (when I was like 12, I got like 20 pages into it and decided the movie was good enough and reading was for chumps!) Basically, a boarding school gets taken over by terrorists. This boarding school houses the children of some of the richest and most powerful people in the country. The problem is, some of these kids are the sort that have been kicked out of all manner of other schools for basically being huge pains in the ass. This naturally does not bode well for the terrorists. Awesomeness ensues.
This movie is pretty much Die Hard in a school, but better than Masterminds. Masterminds can suck it! Sure the movie is a little predictable, and some of the effects are cheesy, but it makes up for it by being ridiculously violent! Also, there are plenty of familiar faces: Sean Astin, Louis Gossett Jr, Wil Wheaton, Denholm Elliott (Marcus Brody from the Indiana Jones movies), R. Lee Ermey, Jerry Orbach, Mason Adams, and that guy who played the stoner brother Kenny in Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead...oh shut up, you don't know his name! Anyway, I view this movie as one of those rare gems that seemingly no one has ever heard of before, but is well worth checking out.
So tonight was the premiere of the new A&E series, Bates Motel. I honestly JUST heard about this show a couple of days ago while browsing ON DEMAND. I was a tad skeptical at first, considering this is a prequel to a classic Horror movie, and we've all seen how horrible prequels/remakes/sequels to classic horror movies can be. Look at The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, it's had so many horrible sequels, a shitty remake, and a shittier prequel to the remake. So I think it was quite fair for me to not go into this with the highest of hopes. I was happily surprised by what I saw.
Now I will forewarn you, I do intend on spoiling a decent bit of the episode. If you have plans on watching the show, I would suggest watching it before you read anymore. With that being said, let's get into the episode. It starts off with Norman Bates finding his father dead. He is obviously very upset by this, but when he tells his Mother to come and see, she just seems more concerned for Norman, and doesn't seem to care too much that her Husband is dead. HMMMM...INTERESTING. We are then taken 6 months after this, where his Mother Norma surprises Norman with their new House and Motel. We also get to see their strong relationship, as they clearly love each other quite a bit.
We are also introduced to a love interest for Norman, Bradley. (Yes, Bradley is a woman, you jerks.) This is when you truly realize how things are quite different. Norman Bates has an iPhone. Yes...NORMAN BATES HAS A FUCKING IPHONE! I don't really mind that this show takes place WAAAY after the original movie came out and is still a prequel, it's just quite strange seeing him using an iPhone. It's interesting to see what would be viewed as the "cool" girl seemingly showing real interest in Norman. We also find out she apparently has a boyfriend, so we'll see where that goes. Another girl, Emma, who has an oxygen tank, seems to be another love interest. Good job, Norman!
Norman is outside doing some straightening up, when a member of the family who used to own the place before it foreclosed, shows up. He is REALLY pissed off, he wants what he feels is his. The fact that these people are living in "his property" clearly doesn't sit well with him. Later we see Bradley and her group of friends, trying to convince Norma to let Norman go "study at the library", but she says no, even though Norman clearly wants to. He has a fit, and sneaks out, but they end up going to a club and party. Also kind of strange to see. But what Norman doesn't know is that the man who wants what is his has come back while he is away. He breaks in and begins to attack and rape Norma. Norman comes home before it's too late to help his mother. The man drives Norma over the edge, leading to her stabbing him to death. This is clearly one of the major events in shaping who Norman becomes. There's also a scene where two cops show up, making us believe one of the cops is a love interest for Norma. This was more of a "let's add suspense, even though we all know nothing bad will happen" scene. The cops clearly weren't going to find the body.
There was still a bit more in the episode, but I feel like I covered the important stuff. (I also just don't feel like spoiling EVERYTHING, but Norman found a book.) Oh wait, Norman has a brother...he's kind of a dick. But seriously, this was a really solid start to this series. I especially enjoyed Vera Farmiga as Norma. I honestly am very excited to see where they go next. (Yeah, I know where we end up going, but I'm excited for the ride before all of that...dick.) The relationship between Norma and Norman is both very strong, and very strange. I really can't wait to see next weeks episode. Check it out!
This week on an Extended podcast, we review Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained! IMDB summery says "With the help of a German bounty hunter, a freed slave sets out to rescue his wife from a brutal Mississippi plantation owner." This movie won two Oscars, Christoph Waltz with best supporting actor and Quentin Tarantino for best screenplay. Come listen to use tear apart this movie!
