Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom review

     This is the most underrated movie of the Indiana Jones franchise. A lot of people didn't like this movie because it wasn't based on any historical story. I don't believe it's as good as Raiders of the Lost Ark, but it's still a fun adventerous film. The pace of this movie is great. The writers did a really good job at moving the plot along.  
      The movie starts out with Indy in China. He gets in trouble when some Chinese mobsters are after him and he escapes. His plane crashes in India and he takes a mission to free a village's children who have been captured as slaves by an ancient cult. In this movie Indy has a new assistant 5 year old Short Round. I really liked this character and the relationship between him and Indy is very entertaining. Also in this movie there is a new female accomplice Willie Scott. I thought this character was very annoying. But she did take a lot of punishment which made things a little better. One thing I loved about this movie is there's some great character development especially in Indy. When Indy was bad for about 5 minutes and then he snapped out of it and became a stronger character.
     One interesting fact about this movie is the original script had much more action than what was actually in the movie. Another thing is a lot of people were applaled that the movie had a PG rating. people wanted it to be a PG-13 rating because it was much darker than Raiders of the Lost Ark.  
     Overall This movie wasn't as good as Raiders, but still very enjoyable. There were great characters, good acting, good plot. I give this movie 4.5 stars out of five.

Indiana Jones Raiders of the Lost Ark Review

     First of all, I apoligize for how long it's been since I've posted anything. Thank you for your patience. Since the Indiana Jones movies have just been released on blu-ray, I just watched the first three movies today, so I decided to review the movies. I'll start with Raiders of the Lost Ark and I'll review the others in the next couple days 
     George Lucas and Harrison Ford teamed up again to give us another iconic movie franchise. Harrison Ford plays Indiana Jones. An archeologist who must find the Ark of the Covenant before the Nazis do. Indiana Jones is a fun character; he's smart, he's sarcastic, and funny. That's one thing I love about this movie it's an adventure/action movie but it's also a comedy. Harrison Ford was fantastic as Indiana he had that persona down. One thing I love about this movie is the action, I was on the edge of my seat the entire time the first time I saw it. It's a great thriller. Another thing I love is the villian. A lot of people think that Belloq wasn't a good villian because he was not a physical threat to Indy. But he was very good at manipulating a situation and getting the outcome he wanted.
      John Williams' score for these movies is iconic and remains one of my favorate movie soundtracks of all time. It makes you feel like you're actually in these enviornments. When a soundtrack does that, you know it's great.  
     This is a movie I would really want to see in theatres. I'm not sure if it has ever been released in 3-D, but if it hasn't I'd love to see it. I'm not even a fan of 3-D. I'd just love the scene when Indy is running from the boulder because it would look like the boulder is rolling towars you. Overall, I love this movie it's one of my favorate movies of all time, of course it gets five stars out of five.

The Dark Knight Rises Review

     I give Christopher Nolan credit for 2 reasons; first of all, he made Batman awesome again. The Batman movies that were made in the 80's and 90's wern't that good. Also, he was able to keep important spoilers from leaking onto the internet. Was The Dark Knight Rises an amazing end to the saga, or was it a major disappointment?   
     Christian Bale returns as Bruce Wayne and he was amazing as he was in Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. Micheal Caine returns as Wayne's trusted butler Alfred. This was the best performance Caine gave in this series. Tom Hardy plays Bane and he was absolutley menacing. He was intelligent, he was powerful, and he was the biggest threat to Gotham in the series. Joseph Gordon-Levitt played Blake, a Gotham City police officer, I think he had one of the best performances in the movie. Gary Oldman was fantastic as Comissioner Gordon, I believe this was his best performance in the series as well. The one question I had about this movie was Anne Hathaway as Catwoman. In the trailer, it didn't show her doing too much, but she pulled it off. I couldn't have been any happier with the acting.  
     I've heard some people complaining about the special effects in this movie. They said that in some of the fight scenes, you could tell that it was staged, but I didn't see any problem with it. I think the fight scenes were fantastic.
     Overall, this movie was very compelling. It's exactly what you want in a Batman movie. It's what I was expecting with this final chapter in the series. Batman Begins was emotionally compelling, The Dark Knight was even more so, The Dark Knight Rises wasn't as compelling as The Dark Knight but it was still very good. It gets five stars.

Joe Paterno's True Legacy

     For years on end, Penn State football coach Joe Paterno ruled supreme as a great coach and overall good person. So when the sex scandal involving his long time assistant Jerry Sandusky first came to light, I didn't know what to think. I didn't know if Paterno was innocent or just as guilty as Sandusky. After reading the headline in the newspaper today, I know the truth. And it's disturbing. 
     It turns out Joe Paterno knew full well what Sandusky was doing. He knew full well all the horrible things that Sandusky had done. Even ttehough he knew that Sandusky was destroying the lives of many people, Paterno covered it up to protect himself, and his football program. I can't believe that the students at Penn State rallied in attempt for him to keep his job. Paterno had many chances to stop Sandusky. In 1998, A mother claimed Sandusky molested her son, Paterno lied to a grand jury and said he didn't. In 2001, Penn State president Graham Spanier, Vice president Gary Schultz, and athletic director Tim Curley were going to call child services on Sandusky, but Paterno talked them out of it. Paterno wasn't comfortable going to child services. That is the most selfish act I've ever heard of. lives of young boys and their families ruined to protect their comfort, and their football program. Joe Paterno protected a monster the way I see it, that makes him a monster as well. 
      The statue of Paterno on the campus of Penn State must be torn down for starters. The NCAA needs to deal out the largest punishment it can give. Spanier, Schultz, and Curley should go to prison for perjury. That school of monsters should be punished severely.

Why I Love Being a Geek

     First of all, what is a geek? My definition of a geek is a person who loves almost anything related to TV/film, video games, science fiction, and comic books. In this day in age, people look down at geeks like myself. I think it's because they think we're out of touch with reality. I say it's not that we're out of touch with reality, it's that being a geek is our escape when we need a break from life. In this blog, I wish to explain why being a geek is cool, it's not something to be looked down upon. 
    I'll start with an old favorate; Star Wars. The original trilogy, NOT the prequals. Star Wars when it was released in 1977, was way ahead of it's time. There were so many special effects that were very difficult to manage. Nobody thought George Lucas could make Star Wars. There were so many problems during the filming of the movie, but they pulled it off. It continues to be very influential to this day. The characters make Star Wars what it is. The character foundations are set perfectly in the first movie, and they develop throughout the next 2 movies.  
     I also want to talk about comic book superheroes.This year, Marvel released its masterpeice; The Avengers. I reviewed The Avengers about a month and a half ago, and I still love as much now as I did then. But There's more to Marvel than just The Avengers. The Amazing Spiderman is coming to theatres next week and I'm excited to see it. I think this series of Spiderman movies will be better than the series directed by Sam Raimi. Even though I always liked Marvel better than DC, I'm pshyched to see The Dark Knight rises. I've been waiting for this movie for 4 years, I have no idea how this is going to end, but I can't wait to find out.  
     The characters in these movies go through trials and tribulation in their adventures just like we do. Life is an adventure so we are the stars of our own story. Characters in movies rise to the ocaison. They don't let their tribulations get them down they stand and fight for what they believe in. They give us someone to look up to. That's why I love being a geek.

Never Give Up

     After I graduated high school. I started looking for a job. After months of looking to no avail, I started doing Volunteer work for my uncle. I did this because it's something to put on a resume, and to gain work expirience. After I started working for my uncle, I stopped applying for jobs. Even though I like working for my uncle, I would really like a paying job. 
    About 3-4 weeks ago I started Applying at places again. Last week I had an interview. Even though I'm still waiting to hear back, I didn't stop applying. Because I don't think it's a good idea to just sit around and wait for a phone call. I applied at 6 more places, I have another interview on Wednesday, and i'm really excited for it. It's exciting to think after my long wait, that my job hunt could be over soon. After just deciding to look harder, I'm starting to get interviews.  
     There were many times over the past year, where I wanted to give up. After finding out that I wasn't gonna get a job that I'd interviewed for, after I started working for my uncle, but I never did. I always kept looking. I knew that if I kept looking, I'd eventually find something. The lesson I learned is that even when a situation looks hopeless, even when things don't always go your way, keep trying and you'll eventually achieve your goal. I never lost hope either, I was always hoping that my job hunt will end, I'm still hoping that. as said in The Shawshank Redemption "Hope is a good thing maybe the best of things and no good thing ever dies."

Calico Joe Review

     Calico Joe by John Grisham, is about a boy named Paul Tracey. His father Warren, is a pitcher for the New York Mets. But Warren is not Paul's idol. His idol is a rookie first baseman for the Chicago Cubs named Joe Castle. Castle was called up from double A to replace the Cubs first baseman who got injured. As soon as he got to the big leagues, he started tearing the cover off the ball. He could hit, field, run, etc. He could do it all. All was well the Cubs were winning, Joe Castle was having a rookie year for the record books, until the Cubs went to Shea Stadium to play the Mets, where Warren Tracey was pitching.   
      One thing I liked about this book is that it was very well written. One chapter Paul is recalling his childhood, the next chapter it goes back to real time. The character development is also very good. You see Warren develop alot especially in the end. Paul develops alot too, he's trying to solve the mysteries of his father and his childhood idol. That always makes for good character development. 
     Overall, I found this book to be very enjoyable. There's nothing I didn't like about this book. I'm a little biased because I love baseball and this is a baseball story. But it's more than that as well. It's also a story of forgiveness. I give this 4 stars out of five.