PyTom83 Reviews

WWE: Macho Madness - The Randy Savage Ultimate Collection (2009 Video)

I love it!

[8/10 · 11 June 2009]

I've been waiting a long time for this DVD and I love it and it was worth the purchase. Here are a few thoughts that I have about it… - I loved Savage's debut match! I miss the "has a little fight in them" jobber days. I'm surprised by how much I liked this match.

• I totally forgot how smart of a wrestler Savage was. He has the ring psychology that is missing from many matches today. Every move has a rhyme or reason for doing it. Examples: He will punch the sholder and use armlocks to set up an ax handle from the top rope into the arm. He will kick the thigh area before putting on a leg submission. etc. Simply put, the man was a virtual wrestling clinic in the ring. I forgot how great Savage looked in the ring. Every one of his matches tells a story and just makes both stars look better.

• The cutting of the "Jake slaps Elizabeth" annoyed me. It was a MAJOR part of the feud.

• One interesting note was when Savage came out for the Nitro match with the posse of ladies including Woman, the lady at the very front is none other than Linda Bollea aka the future ex wife of Hulk Hogan.

• If it was 2001/2002, I wouldn't be saying this… but why do they still claim to have "DVD bonus content" on DVDs? VHS is no more, and hasn't been for a long time, so wouldn't this just be the normal content on the DVD and not "bonus" content? - Striker and Maria are HORRIBLE. I'm put to sleep between every match… it's as if they are sleep walking through the words.

• I'll be like the other 1000 people and say that I wish there was a documentary on this DVD.

WWE: Extreme Rules (2009 TV Special)

Pepsi for everyone!

[6/10 · 11 June 2009]

US champion Kofi Kingston d. MVP, Matt Hardy & William Regal, Trouble in Paradise — pin Regal (**1/2). This would've been more interesting without Regal. Nice match, though a bit short. I guess that means more air time for Vickie and Santina!

Chris Jericho d. Intercontinental champion Rey Mysterio in a no holds barred match, roll up — pin (***). Your winner and NEWWW Intercontinental Champion and now the NINE time IC champ… and the greatest IC champ of all time dammit… Jericho! End came when Jericho countered the 619 by stripping Rey of his mask and pinning him with a roll up. Great ending as I thought Rey was going to win after he smacked Jericho with the chair. The crowd was into it and it was good back and forth match-up.

CM Punk d. Umaga in a Samoan strap match, Punk got the GTS on Umaga — hit the final turnbuckle (**). This show has been ridiculously Smackdown heavy so far (not that I'm complaining, Raw has sucked, though I do like Raw's beating on senior citizens). Anyways, this is my most hated stipulation; confusing for the audience and just very dull. Kind of like TNA's matches. Anyhoo, this was a pretty boring match; kind of a downer after Jericho-Mysterio. Surprisingly, the crowd was more into Umaga than Punk.

Meanwhile, Gregory Helms (why is Hurricane doing the interview?! What's up with dat?!) is backstage with Christian. Xian says he's going to miss Tommy Dreamer, then Dreamer cuts in and says Xian will not be the ECW Champion, then Jack Swagger cuts in, but Christian and Dreamer just walked away when Swagger started talking. LOL @ the Swagger diss. I always wanted someone to walk away like that.

Tommy Dreamer d. ECW champion Christian & Jack Swagger in a Hardcore match, DDT — pin Swagger (**). WWE put the last remaining 5 ECW fans in the front row as Dreamer went straight to them after he won. Anyways, this is Dreamer's first title in like a gazillion years, aside from some throwaway Hardcore title runs. This is also his longest reign as ECW Champ. He's earned that second third slice of cake. Speaking of which, I guess they're going to have to break out the old Mark Henry belt extensions for Tommy.

Santina d. Vickie in a hog pen match to become Miss Wrestlemania, roll up — pin (DUD). The filler/bathroom break and if this match follows Santina's Raw ratings, this might be the first PPV match to lose buys. Why is this even on pay per view anyway?! And they wonder why Smackdown is the better show. This is what I don't like about WWE; the stupid soap opera 'funny' matches. Shame, Chavo is a clown now. Speaking of which, those pigs were scared when Chavo got tossed over the fence. Sadly, this goes on longer than the first few matches of the night.

Meanwhile, Chavo and Vickie Guerrero run into Goldust and Hornswoggle. Goldust asks her to sign a paper and launches into a torrettes spasm. OK, tourettes Goldust is pretty awesome.

Batista d. WWE champion Randy Orton in a cage match, powerbomb — pin (*1/2). Both guys delivered a turkey of a cage match that was over quick. Big Dave just roided up and won clean. So far, the longest match of the night has been the Hog Pen match.

John Cena d. The Big Slowww in a submission match, STF — submission (**). Once again, it's up to Edge to save the PPV. Anyways, I don't need to know Show's ring and shoe size every time he wrestles. We get it, he's the largest athlete in the world and it's physically impossible for C-na to make him submit. Cena tries to overcome the odds, but the odds are too big! Then again, Cena has ALWAYS shown indomitable spirit and heart when it has mattered most! So, if anyone can do the impossible, Cena can! OMG! Cena once again showed his superhuman ability to overcome the odds! It's a miracle! Cena inspires the world again!

Jeff Hardy d. World champion Edge in a ladder match, Jeff yanked Edge's whole body in between two of the rungs — retrieves the title (***1/2). Sweet Jesus, did there REALLY need to be about 30 ladders out there?! And what's the deal with the champions coming out first nowadays? Anyways, both may have snapped their careers in half, BAH GAWD! End came when Edge went for a spear and Jeff mid-airs a Twist of Fate! This was a GREAT match as Smackdown's roster delivered in tonight's show.

CM Punk d. Smackdown champion Jeff Hardy, two GTS's — pin (DUD). PUNK WINS!!! PUNK WINS!!! PUNK WINS!!! Holy crap! Punk cashed in! Money in the Bank, son! Punk is now a 2 time champ. Smackdown saves show again! Hardy just had the shortest world title reign probably ever. And one can only hope this means a Punk heel turn as it looked like Edge was starting to go face earlier on. I want WWE to bring back the "Better than you" gimmick.

Final Thoughts: Action action action! Five title changes in one night! Nobody's got more surprises and twists and turns than us! This was the greatest night in the history of Nitro~! *guitar* WWE really needs a crusier tag belt to fully complete the evolution to 2000 WCW.

Prison Break: The Final Break (2009 Video)

Should have been the real Finale

[8/10 · 11 June 2009]

Plot Michael and Sara get married, but during the celebration, Sara gets arrested and put into a prison because there's no space in jail. The General and T-Bag are in prison together and General finds out Sara is in prison and puts a hit out on her. Meanwhile, there's lots of lame prison feuds similar to Michael in S1. Mahone is hired by FBI to find out what Michael has planned as Michael's first plan was sabatoged by Mahone. His next plan was to PARACHUTE into the prison and somehow break her out, but Mahone switches and helps Michael turn this plan better. Michael and Sara then meet in a chapel on the grounds and go to an underground route. Michael is then forced to unplug the power in the prison and short the electricity, killing himself in the process. Everyone gets away. Michael makes a video for Sara and Lincoln that ends the show in a nice way and T-Bag's ending up in solitary was pretty hilarious.

Thoughts Why would they air it in Israel first? Anyways, The Final Break was way better than the Series Finale as it felt like Season One again as they kept it simple with no mass conspiracies. Just the basic plot of getting Sara out. And for the first time Sara was not useless and boring, but actually the center of the plot and SWC was way better than usual. The special went from "WTF they can't be serious", to a good conclusion as the ending was far sadder than the Finale. I admit, there was a lump in my throat at the end.

WWE Judgment Day (2009 TV Special)

PPV turned from PPV of the year to snooze fest

[7/10 · 11 June 2009]

Umaga d. CM Punk, Samoan Spike — pin (***1/2). So why is Umaga battling Pepsiman anyway? Anyways, hometown rule applies here as Punk does the job, though it was a really good opener otherwise with lots of nifty spots like G2S countered into a Samoan drop. I don't understand WWE's obsession having their talent ALWAYS lose in their hometown, unless you're Jim Ross, then you're embarrassed on a grand scale.

ECW champion Christian d. Jack Swagger, handful of tights — pin (***1/2). I really enjoyed this match and loved when Christian jumped down from the top rope over Swagger and ran to the other side ha ha… classic Christian. End came when Swagger went for the gut wrench power bomb, but Xian flipped out, went for the killswitch, as Swagger pulled away, then Xian did a roll up, with a handful of tights FTW and to further the feud. I guess Christian is the new dirtiest player in the game. Kind of a lame ending, though. Too bad Christian isn't "popular" enough to have a clean win.

John Morrison d. Shelton Benjamin, Starship Pain — pin (***). Sadly Charlie Haas has dropped the impersonation gimmick. While I'm excited to see the World's Greatest Tag team reunited, The Great Charli > WGTT. Anyways, this was a good match, but it was missing something. Maybe it was the crowd; they didn't quite seem to be buying Nitro as a face. Anyhoo. great stuff at the end as both guys hit some beautiful spots and in the end Nitro wins with his flippy spinny Indy move. Both these guys need more match time; they can put on a hell of a show.

Flying Batista d. WWE champion Randy Orton w/ out hair, attacking the referee — DQ (*1/2). Finlly, a toilet break match. Orton can be okay, but needs someone to help him, and that man is not Batista. Same goes for Batista. They just cancel each other out. Anyways, there was a sizable RKO chant and this was not a pro-DAVE crowd. This match just sucked the energy out of the show. Both of these guys are like video game characters. Repetitive moves, awkward animations, over excessive normal mapping, and occasionally victim to lag. If Orton's finishing move was a headlock, he'd win every match. End came when Orton deliberately got himself disqualified, attacking the referee in a cheap ending. Those kind of finishes just make you wonder why he didn't slap the referee two seconds into the match and leave. Post-match, Legacy came down to attack Big Dave, but a 90 year old man makes the save. Whoo. Dammit Flair, stay retired.

John Cena w/ odds to overcome d. The Big Show, Attitude Adjustment — pin (*). I love how Cena looks like he's about to cry when he's in that stare down. The Cena Sucks chant is way louder as it should be. And if I had a dollar for every time they said "No one evokes more emotion out of the WWE Universe than John Cena." and "The Worlds largest athlete." for this match alone I'd be able to buy the WWE 100 times over. And man, it's amazing how quickly and severely this PPV turned from possible PPV of the year to utter snooze fest. Anyhoo, in the end, Cena overcomes adversity and by God I am so inspired! Miracles do happen! Boring match, though. So if Cena is Superman, does that make having a good match with the Big Show his kryptonite?

World champion Edge d. Jeff Hardy, DDT off the top rope — pin (***). This has been a show where champions come out first. End came when Matt Hardy interfered and attacked Jeff, Cowboy Bob Orton-style with a cast on his arm. This was a good match going through until Matt Hardy came out. Judgment Day is then over and there's no Punk and no cashing in, just credits. I guess the hometown rule is still in effect. Still Edge is still the champion, so all is right with the world.

Final Thoughts: I didn't like Punk losing to Umaga, and the "beat the guys in their hometown for heat" thing is dumb. And he never should've lost to Kane either. Also the ending to Orton/Batista was the same ending as Orton/Cena at No Way Out 08 (consistency for Randy or just laziness?). Anyways, Cena/Show and Orton/Batista were the only blah matches of the night, but the rest were fun entertaining matches.

Unbreakable (2000)

M. Night's best movie

[8/10 · 11 June 2009]

Probably M. Night Shalalaman's best movie, though that isn't saying much, but yes this movie was great. I love the subtle way David Dunn's character is slowly built up and how Elijah basically mirrors him in almost every way; it's a very clever play of the fundamentals set-up by comic books but given a healthy dose of reality and believability with the beginning of American life as a boy and the boy's belief that heroes and villains exist, to a demonstration of how the extreme take on heroes and villains in a comic book is mimicked sometimes perfectly in our modern society. More than anything, it did what Heroes wasn't able to do many years later: transpose superheroes into a believable real world setting.

The movie also demonstrates M. Night's ability to use the camera to tell the story; there's a lot of imaginative and creative shots through the whole film (I absolutely love the film's opening with the little girls perspective watching Bruce Willis fumble his way through hitting on the female passenger). I also loved the way the shadows of his rain poncho on his face made it look like he was wearing a superhero mask.

My only problem with the movie was the ending; it could have been so much better had it just ended with Bruce's look of shock, and Jackson saying "they call me Mr. Glass." The text was very unnecessary. My other complaints was that it had a twist that was obvious, seeing as there was nowhere else for the movie to go after two hours and admittedly, the movie is pretty boring after watching it for a third or fourth time due to the crazy lengths of time where no-one is literally doing anything.

Jason X (2001)

Terrible

[2/10 · 11 June 2009]

Terrible dialogue, terrible action, terrible acting, terrible plot, terrible concept. However, it was probably one of the funnier movies I've seen in a while. Not when it attempted humour - that just fell flat. Unintentionally hilarious. It was absolutely hilarious when he just could not be stopped by anything, to the point it got ridiculous. Also, the scene with the skanky campers was quite funny for something I think they meant to be comedic.

Anyways, Jason X was bad. VERY bad. At least Freddy vs. Jason was tolerable. Hell, Freddy's makeup in the last few scenes of him in FvsJ was incredible. He actually looked… scary.

Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (2007)

Enjoyable film

[7/10 · 11 June 2009]

Ridiculous film title aside, it's easily an enjoyable Alien/Predator film; the acting is actually decent unlike it's predecessor and in AVP:R, you actuality have a predator actually being badass hunter like they should be, you have xenomorphs actually acting like xenomorphs and being lethal and we even get a PREDALIEN hybrid! Do you know how badass that stuff is? Just take a moment to think about that… PREDATOR ALIEN HYBRID. I also liked how it created sci-fi locations out of mundane environments and the music was a little more faithful than the original, unlike it's predecessor.

Though, despite the good things it has going for it, it's not a great film as it's poorly shot and a bit too dark in a lot of scenes; I just wish I didn't have to squint to follow what was happening on screen all the time. And also, at times, it does feel like a teen slasher film. It also had completely unlikeable characters that served as nothing more than gore fodder to up the death. In original movies, you cared when people died.

Anyways, I enjoyed it a lot more than its predecessor, but that's like saying that having cancer is better than being dead, but at least AVPR wasn't a lame ass PG-13 cash grab; it was just a R-rated cash grab. Anyhoo, it's not that the concept can't work, it just hasn't been executed well enough… yet.

Slumdog Millionaire (2008)

Overrated

[7/10 · 11 June 2009]

It was pretty good, but the critics seemed to overrate it a bit. It just seems that every arty, substantial movie that gets made are sure to win Oscars. The cinematography and direction was great, but the story and characters was mediocre as the character development was ridiculous since the movie doesn't really show why Jamal loved Latika (let's not forget that he saw her only twice since they were kids). This was more of an obsession than real love. The only character that wasn't that two dimensional was Salim. Best directing and cinematography? Maybe, but the fact that the movie won best writing and movie is laughable. Also the little kid actors were awesome and other than that, there were better films released in 08.

And are we really supposed to believe that playing for such high stakes on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, they would ask a cricket related question, in India of all places?

The Ultimate Fighter (2005– )

Went downhill

[6/10 · 11 June 2009]

I don't really watch this show anymore, to be honest, as the overall ninth season kinda blows. For instance, the UK dude who was suppose to be way better than everyone else (allegedly) gassed after one round, and couldn't even answer the bell in the 3rd round despite not even being 'hurt'.

All I see is dudes gassed after 3 minutes this year… it's nuts! If I was DH or MB I'd just make my guys run, all day, everyday, set a curfew and bed time and toss all the beer out of the house. I don't see one UFC quality fighter in the bunch. These guys aren't even WEC or Strikeforce material.

Looking back at the years, there really has only been like one real UFC fighter from each season (season 1 was loaded though, season 2-3, had a couple, since then, its just been one guy).

X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)

Not bad

[7/10 · 11 June 2009]

X-Men movies probably have the best casting for a superhero movies. For the amount they had to cast, they kept the quality up pretty well, which is disappointing since they enjoy ruining the characters.

Anyways, this movie isn't that bad actuality. It's got some cliché bits, but overall it's not too shabby and was better than I was expecting, though to some extent it takes a while to get going; the scene in the intro is something that I thought was just so retarded that I initially wanted to leave the theater. The film also suffered from lazy writing. Yes, I know I am not watching an Academy Award winner, but still, wasn't anyone paying attention during the production of this film? Though, I was pretty happy with Deadpool's portrayal, especially in the beginning with Ryan Reynold's DP part.

I also felt that Gambit wasn't really necessary in this movie, it's like they just threw him in there for the fans. The movie had a cheesy part or two, but in the end you gotta remember that it's an action flick; some of the best have cheesy parts.

The finale sequence was in the movie was great, though too bad about the crappy fight and I loved how OTT cyclops powers are in this (tearing apart the school + reactor).

Also, this movie takes the cake for "Most awkward screaming moments toward camera"; the movie jumps off with Wolverine Jr screaming at the camera! This is definitely not a fan of bone-claw Wolverine.

The Da Vinci Code (2006)

Disappointing

[5/10 · 11 June 2009]

General consensus was that Da Vinci Code failed because it didn't live up to the book, though I've never read the book, so I'll just judge the movie on it's own merits; this was a poorly put together movie with bad pacing. The plot just felt way too rushed to be enjoyable. And Tom Hanks (who is awesome) looked completely uninterested during the entire film and that hair… OMG~! I'd say it would have been better as a much longer movie, except I have a hard time saying that about a movie I found boring to begin with. If I entered an alternate reality where it had a better script and was done by a different director, I'd probably give it a chance. There was potential there.

Also, when I say it could have been longer, I mean it could have been stretched out some while giving the plot some room to breathe, not have another 45 minutes of plot twists thrown in.

The other thing I thought was dumb was when Hanks and Sophie was about to be shot by the butler, and doves fly out of no where. Seriously, did John Woo direct that portion? Though saying that, I'm very much looking forward to Angels and Demons

Batman: The Brave and the Bold (2008–2011)

Batman returns to TV with a new animated series

[6/10 · 11 June 2009]

After what must have been almost a year off of TV (actually only a few months), Batman returns to the mini-world of television with a new animated series. Let's just get this out of the way, this is not Batman: The Animated Series. Hell, it does not even try to mimic the former. This Batman is a whole lot less serious, and has an assortment of sidekicks including Blue Beetle and Green Arrow. There is also the return of huge gadgets and talkative villains and it tries to emulate the Superfriends art style. Though, the throwback animation style does fit in with the story they are telling.

While this series is obviously intended for two year olds, I've quite enjoyed the first few episodes. It wasn't too cheesy, but had its screwball moments (most of it takes place in space in which apparently Batman can breathe quite freely) and the show has potential with the ability to pull in a variety of characters from all over the DC universe. Also, the actor who played Batman is already miles ahead of Rino Romano.

The longevity of the show is in question with the lack of creativity. This is the type of show that can start falling back on the material they are actually trying to parody.

24: Redemption (2008 TV Movie)

Jack Bauer vs The Candyman

[9/10 · 11 June 2009]

24 IS BACK. IT'S BACK AND IT'S REDEEMED! Good movie and it's a definite change up from "evil terrorist plot starting" stuff, though I still found the boring political B-Plot tiresome; it was truly a horrendous subplot. I thought they were going to get away from this stuff? Anyways, it was a nice touch to hear Jack say "events take place in real time" at the beginning again; they haven't done that since the first season and props to Sean Callery, who adapted the 24-style music nicely to the setting. It was also refreshing watching an episode of 24 and not having to hear that damn CTU phone ring every 5 minutes.

They also seemed to heavily borrow concepts from Blood Diamond and Last King of Scotland. Maybe a more appropriate title would have been 'The Last King of Scotland's Blood Diamond: The Series'. Also, what was the time difference between Africa and the States? Why was there day light in both places? And I guess Hillary won in the 24 universe, which must mean Powers Boothe = John McCain. Also loved the gratuitous tit shots when they were discussing important plot points over the phone.

I was also pretty shocked when they killed the kids; a first in 24 and I loved how Jack took out their whole army, especially with that stealth knife kill and that jump from the tree was awesome too. Also loved the "Why don't you go hide in the shelter with the other children" line.

They seem to be overdoing the whole Jack torture scene as it's reaching Mel Gibson self parody level now. Hmmm, The Passion of the Bauer? Though saying that, Jack's been in a Chinese prison for a year, you really think the Africans are going to mess with him? And I loved that KILL BY KNEE scene.

I was sad when Carl died (damn kids always screwing things up) though it was an awesome way to go out and it was odd how they didn't give him the silent clock. And even more oddly, they did the silent clock at the end of the movie; so either Benton had just died or Jack's soul did. And the "He's not coming. He's DEAD!" line was cooold.

The gun fight an the end reminded me of Black Hawk Down and I wish Jack would of shot that kid. I was also disappointed that the subpoena guy didn't die, although that was a sweet thing he did to get Jack back.

Oh, and they must have paid a lot to get less commercials in the first half, though we sure did pay for it in the second half.

Life After People (2008 TV Movie)

Great documentary

[8/10 · 11 June 2009]

I watched it when it first aired and It was really interesting and fairly awesome. I think the entire thing kind of reinforces my not being religious. I mean 10,000 years after we all die all of our buildings fall down, all of our paper rots away, and the entire place is all grass again. Plus, from the documentary, if you took the entire history of planet Earth and made it into a 24 hour day humans would only make up 30 seconds of that day. Our entire human existence is 30 seconds out of a full 24 hour day yet the world is here for us and made for us? Please.

We're just not that special or important. Probably the creatures with the highest intelligence that will ever walk the face of the planet but that's about it. The world wasn't designed for us, we're just here.

Survivor (2000– )

I personally just don't get this phenomenon

[4/10 · 11 June 2009]

You do realize that you've been watching the EXACT SAME SHOW for eight years, right? I could understand the initial curiosity of seeing strangers co-exist on an Island, but you'd think that after watching unkempt, stink-ladened heroes run roughshod through the bush with an egg on a spoon for half a decade would be enough to get you to commit to something a little more original (and interesting).

And I'm not even speaking of the shows validity which for the record I find questionable. It's just hard to suspend disbelief for "Bushy Bill" eating a rat when the entire crew of producers and camera people are housed in an air conditioned make-shift bio-dome sipping frosty mochcinno's with moxy.

What's the appeal here? I don't care about these people or their meandering lives. I just don't get it. But if you DO find yourself being captivated by hairy, unwashed people, I suggest you turn off your TV and just take a trip to your local bus station where you can see people like this in their TRUE habitat. They call them HOMELESS PEOPLE, and free of charge, you can sit back and marvel in their uncanny ability to retrieve various cigarette debris from a plethora of garbage canisters, eventually striking "pay-dirt" and fashioning a homemade Dr. Frankenstein-styled cancer-stick, all the while begging people for change for food when the stink of "Aqua Velva" on their breath is enough to suggest otherwise. And the best part? Much like Survivor, every week one member of the tribe "Leaves" the "Island" when they are unceremoniously sent packing to the local Institution when the frightening unmedicated state of full-blown schizophrenia kicks into gear! Now THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT!

Hercules: The Legendary Journeys (1995–1999)

Pretty good for nostalgia

[6/10 · 11 June 2009]

Been watching the episodes on syndication and I forgot how fun this show was (minus everything after the fourth season where they decided to mix all the different mythologies. ugh).

I'd say that the episode from season two where Iolaus has to serve as king in place of his identical cousin was the most entertaining of the episodes; Michael Hurst was pretty damn funny in this show as Iolaus.

The effects and such aren't not top notch, but it was very entertaining and did a good job of mythology for the most part. The later stuff started to get a bit too zany and slapstick.

Anyways, Xena was mostly trash as I hated that it started taking the limelight away from Herc when its popularity exploded.

Supernatural (2005– )

Great show

[8/10 · 11 June 2009]

I'll probably shed a tear or two when all is said and done. Only one season left, supposedly, but we can always hope for more.

Season 1 had lots of Monster of the Week, but good MOTW type stuff. Excellent horror. Somewhat like mini Horror movies, but good ones. The plot intensive episodes are awesome, and the last third of the season is quite outstanding. Season 2 and 3 get better at it, incorporating pieces of the story here and there, with a lot less MOTW stuff. Season 4 has almost been pure story from beginning to end. Definitely should get into. For now, pickup the first season on DVD or digitally download it.

My grades for the seasons:

Season 1: B Season 2: A- Season 3: B- Season 4: A+

Prison Break (2005–2017)

Thanks for the memories Prison Break

[9/10 · 11 June 2009]

One of my favorite shows ever, Prison Break, has gone away for good. And what a ride it's been. I'll never forget how compelled I was by the first season. I totally fell in love with the story and all of the well-fleshed-out characters inside Fox River, even with the weirdness and over the top things of it. There's not been any other show without "real" Sci-Fi elements or supernatural plots as crazy as this one. This show was truly awesome and T-Bag was one of the best villains I'd ever seen. Sure, there's been plenty of ups and downs along the way, and maybe they did run out of story after a while, but, all in all, it's been a blast. It's been a long time since we've seen a show this fun, and I'm really going to miss it. In it's heydey, it was like seeing a summer blockbuster action flick once a week on free TV.

The only thing I hated about PB was the way they screwed over characters. Sarah (from innocent and witty to annoying and souless), T-Bag (from cold hearted badass to sheep dog), Belick (from tough brute to weak and cowardly) and now Mahone. Character development… call it character deterioration. I mean WTF happened to Mahone's riddle solving ability? In season 2, it was a battle of wits between Micheal and Mahone. Cat and mouse. The whole premise was about who could out-think the other. Cop or fugitive? Now Mahone's character is just there for his muscle ability. He seems unable to bring anything constructive in planning a next move and unable to figure out anything. Then again, Mahone seemed to have lost his super intelligence when he cut the drugs. I guess the pills had the power.

Then again Mahone did figure out the photoshopped picture while Linc went LINCOLN NO SMASH PICTURE! CAR WRONG DATE! Seriously, Linc's Mom left that for him to figure out? Has she MET Lincoln? So long, Prison Break. Thanks for the memories and I'll miss the cliffhangers, weird twists after more stupid twists, plot holes, triplecrossing, triple-agents, no bad nor good characters, break-in's and break-outs from everywhere.

Smallville (2001–2017)

Average teen drama show

[5/10 · 11 June 2009]

Your show for low budget super hero drama! Despite the budget being ridiculously low, I'm fine with it. For the most part CG is getting so easy to do, and so cheap that even Smallvilles CG is keeping paces with Heroes, which is filmed on a much larger budget. And this show can't be worse than when the season finale battle included someone getting thrown out of a window and the fighting not shown on screen.

It's prop design that's really lacking on Smallville; they can't afford to film anywhere but the ten or so sets that they have. So seeing the same one room hospital, the same one street metropolis, etc is a bit hard to watch over and especially when they have to play a PSP off as a high tech GPS device from Queen Industrys.

Dexter (2006–2013)

Great show

[9/10 · 11 June 2009]

Dexter is a really good show, even if they did deviate a lot from the novels (which are also good and I recommend reading).

I hated that crazy bitch in Season 2 and the ending of S3 was very bad: Miguel dying in the episode before the last was not a good way to do things. The season felt like it ended with a thud rather than with a bang. Miguel was awesome as the show finally got an actor that could hold his own with Michael C. Hall. Every scene featuring the two was electric. It's something House could desperately use at this point. Overall I wasn't as glued to the Season as I was the first two.

IMO, it goes like this - S1>S2>S3. I enjoyed all three seasons and can't wait for the next.

Drag Me to Hell (2009)

Entertaining movie

[7/10 · 11 June 2009]

The cast didn't really do anything for the movie. There is no "Bruce Campbell" in this. Alison Lohman (was Ellen Paige originally attached to this role?) was okay, if not somewhat miscast, Justin Long was just a supportive boyfriend, concerned seance/fortune teller guy, etc. Mrs. Ganush was GREAT though, one of the best horror characters I've seen in a while.

The plot had some weak points. I didn't think that Christine's southern roots really brought anything to the table, they probably could have cut that out. I'm also guessing that you have to formally give the button to someone, because I thought Justin Long's character was going to have the curse.

In the end, it was just another fairly neutered modern horror film that lacked that good old spark. I have no idea why the horror community has embraced that one so much. It represent for me, all that is wrong with most modern horror films. It's all about slick visuals and no guts (quite literally) so to speak and it became too predictable after the late middle-half of the movie (The anvil, handkerchief on the way to the grave, the obvious button swap, awkward kitty conversation at dinner event).

It tried to be Army Of Darkness and ended up being closer to Scary Movie. But it's a damn beautiful looking film. It's utterly gorgeous.

Terminator Salvation (2009)

Good sequel

[8/10 · 11 June 2009]

Maybe it's just because I went in with really low expectations after the crappy RT score and generally negative reactions, but I thought the movie was a lot of fun. Definitely surpassed my expectations.

The movie had decent action and it appears to mostly make sense (at least on a superficial level), but I really can't shake that dull feeling that nothing happened. Like "why was this made? Why was Terminator brought back?" This added nothing to anything, and it's such a disappointment because I think we all wanted to see Connor in the future making it right.

It did feel like it was building up to something… that never happened. Now, that could (and probably is) be due to the ending re-write, but the movie we got felt like there was another reel to go before the credits hit.

But, after the mess that was T3, I was very happy with T4. The camera work/special effects were awesome.

Oh, and with the Arnold thing; for CG, it was great, but for looking like Arnold, I think he just looked way too young. I know it's from his 1984 model, but they could have added some lines to the face. It looked too clean, but I guess no computer technology right now can match up to reality.