Section 31 Movie - More Wars Than Trek

Finally got around to watching Section 31 last night. I guess didn't hate it as much as I thought I was going to, which is faint praise, indeed. The biggest problem is labeling it Star Trek when it had nothing to do with real Trek. It was a movie without a purpose or heart (or compelling characters, plot, etc.) It looked pretty, but other than that... 

Rosalie nailed it when she said it seemed more like Star Wars and I realized that's exactly the problem. Alex Kurtzman wants to make Star Trek into Star Wars instead of allowing Trek to be Trek.

Rob's Review: Coffee-Mate Pop-tart Brown Sugar Cinnamon

While I'm still waiting for Coffee-Mate to resume production on my favorite Creme Brule flavor, I've been trying different flavors, and even tried creating my own version of Creme Brule. Currently my default flavor is Coffee-Mate's Kahlua, which I reviewed a few months ago. Coffee-Mate just released a new "Pop-Tarts" inspired Brown Sugar Cinnamon flavor, and I got my hands on a bottle at our local Walmart yesterday.

I was very excited by this as Brown Sugar Cinnamon is my favorite Pop-Tarts flavor, and it's pretty awesome everywhere else, so I had high hopes for this combo, in spite of the fact that it's being touted as a limited time only offering. And I do have to say that it's pretty good, if maybe not the best ever flavor. The flavor of the creamer alone is quite good, but it doesn't compliment the coffee flavor as well as it might. I'm thinking it might need a stronger brown sugar flavoring or something. Maybe I just need to get used to it. It's not bad, though, and I'll definitely be adding it to my rotation until I can restock on Creme Brule, and maybe keep it for a change-of-pace flavor as long as it's being offered. 

Overall grade: A-

Rob's Review: Treason

There's a new 5-episode limited series on Netflix right now called Treason that Rosalie and I watched over the last week. I'm always up for a good spy story and it stars Charlie Cox who plays Daredevil, so I was predisposed to be interested and to like the series.

I liked a lot of the series. It all takes place in Britain so it's a nice change-of-pace to a lot of the political spy stories I'm used to seeing that are set in the US. Cox does a great job and is always enjoyable to watch. The supporting cast seems strong, as well, and the plot is decent, if a little convenient, but not that deep or compelling. It did have a nice twist at the end, courtesy of being a limited series.

Overall it's fairly enjoyable (although it wasn't Rosalie's cup of tea, as the British might say). I don't know that it was something I would necessarily watch again, and I don't know that if it had been longer that I would have stuck with it, but at five episodes I figured I'd give it a shot. Overall it was okay, but there's probably more compelling shows you can spend your time on, unless you are a big fan of Charlie Cox, in which case you'll like it.

My grade: B

Rob's Review: Avatar - The Way of Water

I finally had the opportunity to see Avatar: The Way of Water today with my sons, Jordan and Jonah. We ended up seeing the movie in 3D down near the Cities. Here are my initial impressions.

The movie is obviously a spectacle and special effects masterpiece. It should definitely be viewed in the theater for the full impact. I don't know that 3D is necessary (especially given the premium prices 3D commands), although it was excellently done and not distracting at all. I would also be interested in seeing it in standard 2D for comparison, but I'm not sure I'm up for another 3 hour 10 minute movie experience real soon.

The movie will do well partly because there's nothing else out right now that's especially compelling as far as movies go. And it's a greatly-made movie, if not a great movie. It's certainly enjoyable enough, especially as I went in with low expectations. 

I enjoyed the characters and the rudimentary plot, but I wish they had spent as much time on the story as they did on the special effects. The acting was top notch, but I wish the characters were developed a little better or at least had more to do. There was a lot of time spent "sightseeing" and showing off the special effects, but it did little to add to the actual story being told. The run time could have easily been pared down to 2.5 hours or less with some judicious editing. I imagine they didn't want to cut costly effects, but the movie suffers as a result. 

Would I recommend it? Sure. It's fun to watch - good eye candy - and a great way to kill several hours. But I doubt if I'll be watching it again any time soon. 

My grade: B+

Rob's Recommendation: The Codex Alera Chronicles

Jim Butcher is probably best known for his urban fantasy series, The Dresden Files, which is maybe my all-time favorite series. But he has another fantastic series called The Codex Alera Chronicles. And I got a note that the first book in this series, Furies of Calderon, is currently on sale in e-book format for only $1.99. 

If you are an e-book reader at all, I'd highly recommend this. It's a great introduction to the six-volume Codex Alera series and sets up plot threads that get paid off in later novels while still standing on its own as a great novel. Butcher writes lively and compelling characters and plots that are interesting and intricate while still being eminently understandable. I can't recommend the series enough. 

Here's the blurb from Amazon's site: 

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Dresden Files series: The people of Alera have always battled their enemies by relying on their bond with the furies. But with the lord of the land weakening, Alera’s future rests with Tavi, an unsuspecting boy who may possess powers far greater than he realizes.

The e-book is available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Google. You can also pick up a paperback for only $7.99 if you're not the e-book type.

My grade: A+

Rob's Review: Ms. Marvel

I finally got around to watching Ms. Marvel. I had put it off for a while because I had heard some mixed reviews from various sources. So I went in with some low expectations and was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed it. 

The casting is great, and the writing is sharp and funny. The plot is interesting enough although a little too much time is spent exploring the main character's culture. At times it felt almost like an infomercial for an idealized Disneyesque Pakastani American family culture. Nevertheless, it was an enjoyable series and at only six episodes the action moved along nicely.

I'm only peripherally familiar with the source material comic books, so I wasn't thrown by the change in origin stories or powers. Instead, I just decided to enjoy it for what it is and that was a good move. It's only six episodes and while it seems to skew toward teens, it's something an adult can easily enjoy as well. 

The one challenge I had with this show was understanding all of the dialogue. Many of the words used were unfamiliar and often spoken so quickly that it was impossible for me to understand without the close captioning enabled, so I ended up with that on the entire series.

Overall, if you're interested in the Marvel Cinematic Universe at all, you should check it out. Even if you're not, you still may enjoy it, as Rosalie did.

My grade: B+

Rob's Review: Wakanda Forever

I finally got a chance to see Wakanda Forever (aka. Black Panther 2) with Jonah this afternoon. As I anticipated, it was very enjoyable and kept me engaged the entire 2 hours and 40 minutes of the run time. It was a worthy successor to the original Black Panther.

I would say that if you haven't seen the first Black Panther movie, you will be fairly lost watching this movie. I only saw Black Panther one time when it first came out in 2018, and although I remembered most of it, there were several scenes in the movie which presupposed that you were very familiar will all the characters and what had happened before. So this movie would have benefited from a little more time (or any time!) reintroducing all the characters or recapping the first film. 

Nevertheless it was a fun afternoon with my son and an enjoyable way to spend an afternoon. If you are a Marvel fan and have seen the original movie (and remember it well), I'd recommend it. If not, go see the first one first.

My Grade: B+

The Walking Dead Sputters to an End

I watched The Walking Dead finale last night. (No spoilers if you haven't seen it.) My expectations were fairly low as I've been underwhelmed for the past couple seasons, so that was good, because the finale matched my expectations. 

It's a shame, because The Walking Dead started out so, so great. The pilot episode was one of the best pilots ever and set up this wonderful world with a great lead character. It just did so much right, and then the rest of the short first season just knocked it out of the park. Second season was just as strong, in my opinion, and the third, fourth and fifth seasons were almost as good. The characters and the writing were spectacular. There was a sense of danger as any of the main characters were at risk of dying at any time.

But the show began to falter in later seasons for whatever reason. Partly the cast became too big and it was hard to follow so many different people over the lengthy season breaks. And the risk factor went away for the most part. For example, the series finale saw the loss of, what, two or three minor characters and one longer-term character? Really? I guess you can't kill people off if you are planning a bunch of spin-offs featuring those characters! Money over concept integrity.

I blame the writing and leadership (showrunner), but there's other issues at work such as maintaining the concept over 11 seasons. There's a great article here titled The Walking Dead Didn't Survive It's Own Success that does a great job of outlining the history of the show and some of the problems it encountered as it aged.

I won't go into a lot of detail because I don't want to spoil anything for those who may be interested in watching. I talked to someone recently who was watching the first seasons. My advice would be to watch through season 5 maybe. Sure, there were some good episodes after that, but the decline story-wise was noticeable. 

I'm sure there's some application or takeaway to this, but I can't think of it right now, other than to say that any narrative has to have a clear theme and guiding hand and not just keep going for the sake of making a buck. Sorry, Walking Dead. I'll remember the good first half of your run, and the rest can be a cautionary tale.

Pizza Hut Melt? Melt Down is More Like It

One of the few times I watch television ads is when it's unavoidable, such as during a live broadcast of a Green Bay Packers game. One of the ads that showed up yesterday was for Pizza Hut's new Melts. If you've seen the ad, you know it looks really good - kind of like a combination pizza and calzone (which is kind of like a pizza anyway). Or it's kind of like a pizza without sauce, folded over with some seasoning on the outside and dipping sauce. 

I was still recovering from my recent bout with the flu or cold or whatever it was, and so nothing sounded that good to eat, but this actually looked appealing, so I thought I would give it a try. I ordered one pepperoni (Jonah's typical order) and one meat lovers. Then I headed down to our local Pizza Hut to pick up our treats (because I'm too cheap to order delivery unless there are very extenuating circumstances).

Our local Pizza Hut, like some other local restaurants, has not resumed in-store dining due to lack of staff following the pandemic, so I got in the line of about seven cars in the parking lot to pick up my order at the window. 

I finally received the order, checked quick to be sure that both were in the single box (as they looked too big on tv to fit in one box). They were there, so I headed home, only to discover that they had given me two pepperoni melts instead of one with meat lovers (maybe they thought I only loved pepperoni?) I get it - mistakes happen. Especially during a dinner rush when they are obviously understaffed, anyway. I would have preferred what I ordered, but I wasn't going to throw a fit over getting pepperoni over meat lovers. (If it had been veggies, we would have had to have a different conversation.)

The reality of what I received (see second picture) verses what was advertised was startling in the contrast. Really, it was just sad. A lot of the insides had melted out of it, and what was left was fairly tasteless. 

Now, I'm used to things not living up to the hype from an ad, but this was pretty bad. Unfortunately, this has become common with Pizza Hut for the past few years (or more?) I used to love Pizza Hut and have great memories of it as a kid, but it really has fallen on hard times, both in terms of product quality and overall service (or lack thereof). 

I still hope Pizza Hut can pull it together, but without a radical reinvention of their main products (and, trust me, the Melt is definitely not it), I fear for their long-term viability as a company. I should have gone with my first impulse and ordered a pizza from Casey's.

Melt grade: D

Pizza Hut grade: C- and dropping.

Rob's Reviews: Strange New Worlds

I've been laid up this week with a cold or a flu or something, so I've been catching up on some tv shows and movies that I've been meaning to watch. But I've also gone back and started rewatching Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. 

I realized that I blogged about this a week before it came out, but I never talked about it on here. It's amazing. 

I love all Star Trek, classic and new. Some series are better than others, of course, but they all have their strong points. I would have to put Strange New Worlds near the very top of my list of all Star Trek. It's got great writing, acting, and a wonderful premise (Captain Pike's adventures on the Enterprise ten years before Kirk became captain.) They do a great job honoring the original and reinventing some parts for a modern audience. I like to think it's what Gene Roddenberry would have done if he were making Star Trek today. 

If you haven't seen it yet, I'd highly recommend you check it out. You may want to watch Star Trek: Discovery season 2 for some background first, but it's not required. 

My grade: A+

Rob's Reviews: Breaking Bad & Better Call Saul

There's not a lot of TV shows that are able to really nail the landing when it comes to a series finale. (I'm looking at you, Lost!) I'm happy to say that Better Call Saul really is the exception here. They had a fabulous run and really wrapped up everything so well, which is difficult for a regular series, but they also had to dovetail their storytelling with Breaking Bad, seeing as how Better Call Saul is a prequel. 

I loved Breaking Bad, but in a lot of ways I love Better Call Saul even more. It has such well-developed characters and it provides a lot of tension knowing where they will end up. Or do we know? So many questions, and if you haven't seen the show, it's almost impossible to explain. I'd say watch Breaking Bad first. If you enjoyed that, you'll love Better Call Saul.

I will say that both deal with adult theme and have a lot of violence and some bad language, so I wouldn't recommend them to young people. But for adults or older teens, these are some of the best-written shows I've ever watched.

My grade to both: A+

Rob's Review: She-Hulk: Attorney at Law

I've waited a while to write about She-Hulk because I wanted to give it a fair shot. Having seen the first seven episodes now I thought I'd share my take on the TV show.

I've always enjoyed the character in the comics when handled by a writer who understood the humor, breaking the fourth wall, and so on. I loved John Byrne's run on the title. I really liked the lead acress, Tatiana Maslany, who did an unbelievably great job in Orphan Black, but I had a hard time imagining her as Jennifer Walters. Also, I had heard some other negative things about the show, so I was a little hesitant going in.

Turns out the show is a lot of fun!

I think a lot of people got down on the show due to some sketchy CGI in the first promos. Other people have criticized it for political reasons (mostly I think because Marvel is a Disney property and they don't like Disney). I haven't found anything at all objectionable about it. It seems to capture the lightness and fun of the comics in what is essentially a sit-com (each episode is about 1/2 an hour). 

I'd say if you're looking for something light, fun, and enjoyable, and you like the Marvel universe, you'll probably like the show. 

My Grade: A

Rob's Recommendations: Casey's New Orleans Style Kettle Potato Chips

My preferred way of eating potato chips is plain ripple chips (Aldi has great ones) dipped in Top The Tater dip (see my earlier blog post on this awesome treat). But every once in a while I enjoy changing it up with some flavored chips.

When I won some free potato chips on the Casey's app, I thought I would grab some flavored chips and figured I'd probably choose the salt and vinegar ones or perhaps barbecue. But then I came across a flavor I didn't recognize: New Orleans Style. The packaging described it as "a tangy combination of salt and vinegar, sweet smoky BBQ, and a hint of spice." I'm always up for a new flavor combo, so I grabbed a pack.

Wow. These are great chips. They have the tangy-ness of salt and vinegar with the barbecue kind of tones down the aftertaste. I never would have thought to combine those flavors, but it really works. I wish some other big brand names made this flavor as I'd buy it all the time and a larger size might be a little cheaper. A little googling shows that Zapps chips have a Voodoo flavor with a similar combination with a jalapeño kick, but I can't speak to how similar they might be. My guess is that Casey's copied the flavor or was at least inspired by it.

If you have a Casey's near you and are looking for a fun snack, give them a shot. 

My grade: A

Rob's Review: Quantum Leap (2022)

I’ve been looking forward to watching the new Quantum Leap series on NBC with a lot of hopefulness but also a lot of trepidation. I am an avid fan of the original, awesome Quantum Leap with the impeccably cast Scott Bakula and the wonderfully awesome Dean Stockwell. (I actually much prefer Bakula in this role to his role as Jonathan Archer in Enterprise.) Both were so amazingly perfect in their roles that it is hard to imagine that anyone could compare.

And it will be a comparison. You can’t step into their shoes without the inevitable comparisons. Fortunately the new series didn’t try to reboot the original but went with a continuation.

I have avoided spoilers and didn’t even watch trailers for the new show so that I could view the pilot without a lot of preconceptions. I was finally able to watch it last night and I have to say, I’m favorably impressed so far. They do a good job of honoring the source material but projecting it into the current day - thirty years after the original. The acting is good and I enjoy the dual plotlines with one following Ben (the new leaper) into the past while the other follows what is going on in Project Quantum Leap in the present.

I know Bakula has decided not to participate in this incarnation of the show... yet. But I hope he will change his mind in the future (or in the past, as the case may be.) Maybe we'll get more callbacks to the original, as well. Lots of promise in the pilot for that.

I’m still nervous because it’s a network show and I am concerned about network interference behind the scenes. But what has come across so far is pretty good and I’m excited to watch the upcoming season. I’m actually glad it’s a network show because that means more episodes a season than a streaming one.

If you haven’t watched it yet, I’d recommend giving it a shot.

My grade (so far): A

Retro-TV Review: Alias

I was talking with a friend the other day who is watching through the TV series Alias for the first time. This series was created by J.J. Abrams back in the early 2000s and ran for five seasons on ABC. Filled with improbable but highly entertaining adventures, this series featured Jennifer Garner as Sydney Bristow. She starts the series as a college student, who is really an undercover secret agent for an agency called SD-6. 

I won't spoil anything here, but it starts off as a kind of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (without the super powers) meets Mission: Impossible. But nothing is as it seems. Layers upon layers of fun, with a terrific supporting cast, including Bradley Cooper, who goes on to become a star in his own right.

Unfortunately, the series begins to flounder in later seasons due to a lack of direction (something Abrams will continue to struggle with later in his career), but it never ceases to be entertaining, and it's well worth your time if you haven't seen it before. I think it's currently streaming on Netflix. (I think I may have to rewatch it, myself!)

My Grade: A

Rob's Reviews: Cinnamon Roll Centers Blizzard

I had the opportunity the other day to try Dairy Queen's new limited-time offering, the Cinnamon-Roll Centers Blizzard Treat. It supposedly has "soft cinnamon roll center pieces and brown butter cinnamon topping" blended with their soft service ice cream.

I went into this one somewhat apprehensive, as I had read a bad review of this flavor online. So the bar was low, but I was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed it. I liked the "brown butter cinnamon topping" flavoring which was pretty well mixed through the vanilla giving the whole thing a cinnamon brown sugar flavor. I'm not sure that I would describe the pieces of cinnamon roll centers soft, exactly. And there were crunchy bits of brown sugar or something there too. I feel like it could have used another iteration or two in the development of the flavor, but it wasn't bad - just not as good as I think it might have been. 

Would I get it again? Sure. It's was pretty good. Was it the best flavor of Blizzard ever? No. Cookie-dough still reigns supreme in my book. But this one was a nice change of pace. I would actually like to try the cookie-dough pieces in with the cinnamon flavored ice cream here.

Overall grade: B+

Rob's Review: Eggo Frosted Maple Flavor Pop-Tarts

Okay, I was extremely skeptical about this when I first saw them in the store. Maybe it's the idea of something with "egg" in the name in my Pop-tart that was unappealing, or the yellow color on the box, but I was initially a little repulsed by the idea at first. After thinking about "frosted maple flavor" and knowing how much I like maple syrup, I thought I'd give them a shot.

I sometimes heat up my Pop-Tarts in the microwave, but thought I'd try these straight out of the box. I was pleasantly surprised by how great these are. Typically I default to the brown sugar cinnamon flavor Pop-tarts which are still unsurpassed, but these are a strong contender for second place, if not a tie for first! I don't know what makes it "Eggo" other than the branding, but the flavor is great. It's got a nice maple flavor without being overpowering.

One of the things I enjoy about Pop-tarts is that they are relatively weather-proof. In other words, I can take some in my backpack to a cross country meet and not worry about them melting. If they get hot, great! If they freeze, no problem. They are nice and portable, if a little fragile for riding around in a backpack. Maybe I can find a Tupperware sandwich carrier or something to keep them in.

If you're a Pop-Tarts kind of person, you should definitely check these out. They're a winner.

Rob's Reviews: Spider-Man - No Way Home

It's National Cinema Day, which is an attempt to get people to see movies on a typically slow day for theaters due to it being Labor Day weekend. So many or most theaters are offering movie tickets for $3. GTI Cinema in North Branch (and Cambridge) is going one better and offering most of their concessions for $3, as well. So I'm heading down with some students to see Spider-Man: No Way Home once again.

This movie ranks as maybe the best Spider-Man movies of the nine that have been made so far. It is great on its own, but if you've seen any of the others - particularly the movies with Toby Maguire and Andrew Garfield - you will enjoy it even more. It's a real treat for the fans and I'm looking forward to seeing it again. It's the "More Fun" edition with 11 extra minutes, so that's a nice bonus, but I'd see it again anyway.

I don't want to talk much about it because of spoilers. But if you enjoy the character, you'll love the movie. If you haven't watched it, it has my highest recommendation. (I only give and A+ to a movie I'd want to watch repeatedly.)

My grade: A+

Rob's Reviews: Uncharted

Finally caught the movie Uncharted last night on Netflix. I had been looking forward to seeing this one for a while but hadn't really had anyone to see it with. I thought it was okay - perfectly adequate adventure. The special effects were decent (which you would expect for a major motion picture) and the plot was okay, but nothing special. And not particularly believable, but that's to be expected for a movie based on a video game.

I enjoyed Tom Holland in it but didn't really feel like Mark Wahlberg was all that believable as a fortune-hunter con man whatever-he-was. His character was very underdeveloped, as were the supporting characters. Of course, you don't go to see a movie like this hoping for a deep plot and well-developed characters. It was just an enjoyable popcorn flick. It's nice that is was only PG-13, which meant that there was some action/violence (not bloody, though) and occasional language, but overall unoffensive.

If you're just looking for a nice way to kill a couple of hours you will enjoy this. If you're looking for more - keep looking. 

Overall grade: B-

Rob's Reviews: Tom Clancy's Without Remorse

Another Sunday afternoon means another chance to enjoy a fun action movie with my dad before he heads home later this week. Up today is the new Amazon original movie, Tom Clancy's Without Remorse starring Michael B. Jordan.

This movie is exactly what it appears - an exciting action movie that is similar in some respects to John Wick but much more realistic. The plot is decent if not revolutionary and the acting and action are both very good. It's rated R but there's no sex or nudity and only a little profanity, so it's a welcome change from some of the streaming fare of late.

If you like a good action tale with good acting, you could do a lot worse. This is an enjoyable way to spend the afternoon. 

My Grade: B