movies

Top 15 Movies of 2014…

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Here it is, my choices for this year’s Top 15 Movies of 2014. I’ll go backwards like always! The No. 1 choice will be my favorite film of the year.

Here’s the list… enjoy!

15. America: Imagine The World Without Her
(This is a well made documentary by film maker/author Dinesh D’ Souza. I know he isn’t a favorite by the liberals but this film should be seen by every American. It’ll give you a reality check of what’s going on in America. People would think of this film as full of Obama hating but it’s not that at all, really. Like the title says, it’s about what the world would have been like without the United States which is a scary thought if you think about it.)
America
14. The Purge: Anarchy
(If you didn’t like first Purge movie with Ethan Hawke then I think you would like this one a little better. It’s what the first one should have been. The sequel was a slight improvement and better than the first. The writing was better and the acting was better too. It was more of an action movie than horror, though but I enjoyed this film.)
The-Purge-Anarchy
13. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1
(Not the best of the Hunger Games franchise but I liked it. All this was is just an introduction of what’s about to happen in “Mockingjay 2”, a buildup. Even though there was less violence and action in this film, it gave the film a chance to have more plot and story which is what I liked about it. Still a fun movie, though.)
2014, THE HUNGER GAMES - MOCKINGJAY
12. Robocop
(I was skeptical of the Robocop remake at first but when I actually went and saw the remake in theater, I was pretty surprised. It was actually a great film. It’ll never be better than the original Peter Weller film which is a classic but the remake was still good for what it was. The action scenes were a blast to watch in the remake, plus Michael Keaton played a cool badguy!)
RoboCop-2014-Grey-Suit
11. Expendables 3
(Not the best Expendables movie but still, I liked it. Still pretty good. I like the story and action; however, the film was still missing something. There was less gritty violence and swearing. Despite that, it was still a fun Expendables movie. I loved Ronda Rousey in this film as she was pretty hot and Mel Gibson played a great badguy as well!)
The-Expendables-3-Cast
10. Edge of Tomorrow
(This is one of Tom’s best sci-fi films in a long time, in my opinion. This is not just an action film and sci-fi film. The film also had a story and plot! Lots of twists and turns. Kept you guessing ’til the very end. It’s not over yet, though ’cause I think the ending left open for a sequel. Tom Cruise is not everyone’s favorite but love him or hate him, the guy’s a genius in Hollywood and that can’t be denied!)
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9. X-Men: Days of Future Past
(I never saw the new X-Men flick in theater so I waited for DVD rental on it and to my surprise the film was really good! It’s the best X-Men film, in my opinion. It was awesome to see Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen reunite on the big screen together. Most importantly seeing the original X-Men reunite as well. The story was very good and such an entertaining as hell film. I wanna get the BluRay to this film soon.)
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8. Godzilla
(This was a great Godzilla movie. It has everything that a Godzilla fanatic would want. Giant monsters fighting each other, crashing into buildings, wrecking the city, etc. Just an awesome and kickass movie!)
Godzilla
7. Disney’s Maleficient
(Angie Jolie does it again! “Maleficient” was a wonderful film. I hate most new Disney flicks especially their live-action films but finally, “Maleficient” was really good. I had to put this one on the list and I’m a proud owner of the BluRay.)
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6. Unbroken
(Just seen this one earlier today and loved it. A great war movie with a serious story to tell. It was powerful and yes, I think it’s gonna get some Oscar nominations for sure.)
Unbroken
5. John Wick
(Another film that I was pretty surprised with. One of the best action films I’ve seen in a long time. Keanu Reeves is just a badass in this film. I know Keanu Reeves is not everyone’s favorite actor but give this film a chance and you would love it yourself. It’s a great revenge movie.)
John Wick Film 2014
4. Dawn of the Planet Of the Apes
(As always I’m a huge Planet of the Apes fan and so far this is the best one. This one is a lot more action-packed than the first one. This film is a lot darker than the first one but it’s an amazing film. This film is pretty intense too. This is one of those movies I could watch over and over.)
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3. Guardians of the Galaxy
(Man, I wished I saw this film on the big screen when it was out but I missed it. This film is amazing all-around. Fuckin’ LOVED IT!!! I think it’s the best Marvel film and sorry, GOTG is way better than the Avengers. I really loved Dave Bautista’s role, he was very entertaining and his character is probably what made this film very successful. Finally, we get a superhero movie that adds comedy and humor to it. It’s such a great film. Had to be high on the list.)
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2. Gone Girl
(David Fincher at his best. I was totally blown away by this film. It’s a masterpiece for sure. I know Ben Affleck is not everyone’s favorite either but I thought he was great in this film. So was Rosamund Pike! This film is amazing all the way through. I can’t wait for the BluRay!)
gone-girl
1. Interstellar
(Are you surprised that I picked “Interstellar” as my no. 1 movie of the Year? I’m sure you’re not but this is a pretty fucking amazing movie. Chris Nolan never disappoints every time he comes out with a new film. This is Chris’s best film. Long movie but worth sticking through every minute. I also think this film is gonna land some Oscar nominations. Hopefully it will land a “Best Picture” nomination but I don’t think so. Still though, ya never know… we’ll just have to wait and see. “Interstellar” also blew my mind.)
Interstellar

It was a pretty good year for movies. Could have been better still but Hollywood is slowly improving.

Kev

movies

Film Review: “Unbroken”…

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Starring: Jack O’ Connell, Domhall Gleason
Directed by: Angelina Jolie

Earlier today, I’ve just seen the Angelina Jolie directed WWII film, “Unbroken” which is about the real life POW war vet, Louis Zamperini. Here is my review:

Plot/synopsis: An Olypmian track runner named Louis Zamperini was deployed to fight in a plane during World War II but he ended up getting stuck on a raft for 47 days in the Pacific ocean after the plane was shot down. Then later he was captured by the Japanese and sent to Japanese prison camps.

I know this film is gonna get a lot of criticism ’cause it’s directed by Angie and I know she’s not everyone’s favorite person but I loved her for a long time and still do. I’ve supported her work for years and for a long time now, I had a feeling that she was gonna turn into a director someday and she’s making her directing dreams come true. One thing to keep in mind, though that this isn’t her directorial debut. Her film, “In the Land of Blood & Honey” was her directorial debut. “Unbroken” was her second directorial film.

I thought “Unbroken” was really really good. It was a pretty powerful and sad film. It kind of had the same feelings of “In The Land of Blood & Honey” which was also a great film. I thought Jack O’ Connell was perfect to play a young Louis ’cause him and the real Louis look almost exactly alike if you google the pics.

I thought Angie did a great job with her directing style. The camera work was very well done and the cinematography was well done too. Angie seems to know what she’s doing. Even if she haven’t had much directing experience in the past, I’m pretty sure she learned how to direct by acting in movies over the years of her career. She spent most of her life acting in film and I’m sure she learned directing just by watching other directors. I’m sure other directors taught her some stuff as well. It seemed like she took this movie seriously and definitely seemed like she knew what she was doing.

The script was well-written too, in my opinion as the Coen Brothers helped write the script. 4 people wrote the script to this movie and the Coen Bros. helped them out.

I thought the acting of the entire cast was well played and was impressed with Domhall Gleason (who’s one of the cast members of “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”.

The torture scenes in the film can get quite graphic and disturbing, though. The torture was the whole point of the movie ’cause without the torture, it wouldn’t work. I haven’t read the book which the film is based on but maybe I should read the book pretty soon.

After watching, “In the Land of Blood & Honey” and this film here, I think Angie is gonna be a great director. She already is a great director and she has a huge directing career ahead of her. I’m actually glad that she wants to move on from acting and start directing. I thought she did a great job.

I’m sure people are gonna accuse her of chasing an Oscar for this film but I don’t think so. She wanted to bring America’s attention of what Louis went through and to show that he was an American war hero. It’s a pretty important and serious film that should be seen by all Americans. It wasn’t really made for your popcorn entertainment. If you’re expecting, “Black Hawk Down” or the “Hurt Locker”, look else where. This isn’t that kind of war movie.

I’ll give “Unbroken” a score of 5 out of 5 as in “excellent”.

Kev

Politics/war

Of course, the White House refuses to respond to North Korea’s internet outage… no surprise there…

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When was the last fucking time the White House responded to something? I’m not surprised that the White House is silent on North Korea internet outage just like they’re silent on all the controversies, crimes and scandals that surrounds them. Have the White House responded to Benghazi? Operation F&F? Obamacare? IRS? NSA? The Bergdahl prisoner swap? The V.A. Scandal? This long is too long. No, they haven’t responded to anything.

The North Korea spokesperson  does have a point that they should show proof before pointing fingers and they also have a pretty good point on what would happen if they made a similar movie about Barack Obama.

http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2014/12/27/white-house-silent-on-north-korea-accusations-against-obama/

So I’m hearing that “The Interview” is getting some pretty negative reviews mostly and that doesn’t surprise me either. I probably won’t bother watching it at all, then.

Kev

Politics/war

White House hiding Obama Benghazi photos? Wouldn’t surprise me if they are…

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So what was Obama doing during the 13 hours the night the compound and CIA annex were being under attack at Benghazi on Sept. 11th, 2012???

Sharyl Attkisson says the White House are hiding photos of what Obama was doing during the Benghazi attacks. She tried to get the photos herself from the White House but of course they were uncooperative.

While it maybe true that Obama may have possibly been sleeping in bed during the Benghazi attacks to rest up for the fundraiser in Vegas the next day, I’m sure he wasn’t sleeping throughout that whole night. While I’m sure Obama got a good 6 – 10 hour sleep that night, I’m sure he was awake for a few hours to check in on how things were doing and to see what was going on.

I would think Trey Gowdy himself would want to get his hands on those photos and I’m sure he’ll be after them at some point. I think America needs to know what Obama was doing during the 13 hrs.

Why are these photos important? Well, when a serious attack or tragedy happens on Americans usually photos of White House officials are released so they can prove to Americans that they were active during the time these things were happening but for some reason they won’t show these photos during the Benghazi attacks. Why did they have to hide the photos? Not only that the photos could potentially land Obama in a lot of trouble, it would also put a lot of government people in trouble. They probably didn’t want to show who was involved in the attacks and all that stuff.

There’s a lot of speculation of what Obama was doing during the 13 hrs. but we need those photos to prove what he was really doing. Trey Gowdy needs to get his hands on those photos. I’m sure those photos will get released for all to see. Want to take Obama down over Benghazi, releasing these photos would probably do the trick. If nobody is talking on where Obama was during the 13 hrs, we’ll somehow get the truth ourselves.

Sharyl Attkisson: White House hiding Obama pics

Kev

Random/off topic posts

Honestly, I don’t think I’ll need studio monitors…

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For the past couple of days, I’ve been researching on the best studio monitors that I can get for home recording that’s affordable. I just read somewhere that you don’t really need studio monitors ’cause they were designed for hearing the mix in a studio. Like when you’re mixing music on a computer or those huge studio boards with all those controls, that’s when you need studio monitors. For someone that records at home and when you’re doing it just as a hobby, you don’t really need studio monitors.

I’ll just get a regular stereo amplifier and stereo speakers for my computer to listen to playback with. Not studio monitors. I think it’s better that way. I like using headphones when recording guitars and vocals anyways. I’m gonna soon buy a stereo amplifier and stereo speakers so I can listen to playback of my songs, listen to music through Itunes or play PC Games with. Yes, I can play PC games on this computer now since I have a video card on it. So I think I’ll scratch the studio monitors idea.

I still need a new audio interface and DAW software, though. All the old stuff I already got won’t work on a Windows 7 64 bit software so I’m gonna have to get a new everything. Stereo amplifier/speakers first, then audio interface and then DAW software.

Kev

movies

If it weren’t for the hackers, “The Interview” would have been a huge hit…

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“The Interview” made $1 million when it showed in a few theaters on Christmas Day which is actually pretty impressive! If the hackers never threatened Sony and the release of the movie, I’m sure the film would have played everywhere on Christmas Day and the film would have been a huge hit! Instead, Angelina Jolie’s WWII flick, “Unbroken” takes the box office draw on Christmas Day.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/sns-rt-us-northkorea-cybersecurity-boxoffice-20141226-story.html

With all of this going on, I have grown some interest in wanting to see the film myself. I won’t pay to see it… I’ll just wait for it to get on Netflix streaming ’cause you know it’s gonna make it’s way there pretty soon.

I never really liked James Franco or Seth Rogen. Like I said there were only a few good films that Franco was good in like, “127 Hours” and the first “Planet of the Apes” movie. I never really liked Seth Rogen either although, I’ll admit his take on the “Green Hornet” was actually pretty good.

I’m planning on seeing Angie’s WWII film, “Unbroken” tomorrow, btw, and looking forward to that one.

Kev

Politics/war

Sharyl Attkisson, “Where was Obama” during the Benghazi attacks???

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I too wanna know where Obama was and what he was doing during the 13 Hours the Benghazi attacks was going on. Everybody wants to know. Leon Panetta claimed Obama was absent and went to bed. Obama was active during the so called Bin Laden raid but he wasn’t active during Benghazi. The worst part is that during the Obama & Romney debates in the 2012 elections, Obama claimed he was active during the Benghazi attacks but you know that was a 100% lie.

http://sharylattkisson.com/unanswered-benghazi-questions-first-in-a-series/

It shouldn’t be too hard to find out where Obama was and what he was doing during the 13 hours. I’m sure Trey is gonna find out pretty soon. When he does find out, don’t expect it to be anything good ’cause I’m almost positive Obama was watching the whole attack in real time. Watching the whole thing in the Situation Room probably. That’s part of why they had to hide Obama ’cause he would get in trouble if he got caught watching a US government crime being committed and watching 4 Americans getting murdered.

I hope 2015 we’ll finally get some answers on Benghazi. Hope we don’t get another year with nothing.

Kev

Random/off topic posts

Time for a whole new recording rig…

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I’ve got a whole new PC now, a much better one and a much faster computer which I am happy with. Now I feel it’s time for a whole new music recording rig. Better equipment and something more professional sounding.

First, I would need a pair of studio speaker monitors. Not computer speakers, “studio” monitors. There is a difference between the two. When recording music professionally at home, you need studio monitors and I’ve been trying to find good ones online for the past week. I’m looking for speakers nothing too expensive. Somewhere around the $80 – $150 price range. I’m sure I can find great sounding speakers around that range. I want studio monitors with USB so I can hook them up to a computer and hook up the speakers to an Ipad.

I’m also gonna get a new M-Audio Fast Track Interface with MIDI on it. I already have a keyboard with MIDI on it. I’m not the best keyboardist/pianist but I’m gonna learn and take it more seriously. I would like to learn MIDI so I can make my own backing tracks for my music and stuff.

I would also need new DAW software. I think I’m gonna go for something much cheaper and affordable than ProTools. I’m sure there are great DAW software out there that is affordable like Reaper, Cakewalk SONAR X3, FL Studio, Acoustica Mixcraft, Sony Acid Pro, etc.

I’m probably gonna go with Acoustica Mixcraft ’cause it’s pretty similar to Apple’s Garageband… close enough anyway…

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/Mixcraft6Pro

Acoustica Mixcraft sounds pretty good as it is mostly getting positive reviews.

Not only that I have to get a whole new music recording rig, I also need new movie editing software as well. I’m getting into researching that. For now, I’ll just continue to record and edit videos on the Ipad until I get new movie editing software for the PC.

I’m gonna focus on getting all of these in 2015.

Kev

 

Politics/war

Your Thought For The Day: Stop Labeling…

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Yes, I understand that some police officers can be bad people but not all of them. Most cops are real good people and professional. I’m not denying that some can get carried away with excessive force. Some cops do go to far with excessive force like they did with Eric Garner (I’ll have to agree now that was pretty excessive) but some cops have every reason to shoot and kill to save their own lives and others, ya know? I’m not denying that some cops can be assholes and think they’re tough guys but all cops are different, ya know? Some cops are good and some are bad.

I do know that not all black people are criminals either. I love black people. Once again all black people are different. Some are good and some are bad. If they do something bad, we’re not gonna sit back and smile about it. If a black person is a criminal, they are a criminal… they should be equally as criminal as the whites can be. It shouldn’t matter the skin color. Everyone should be held accountable and take responsibility if they commit a crime.

Yeah, not all white people are racists as well. I know some are still out there but not everyone. It seems like in this day and age when a white person wants to call out a black person’s bad behavior they are automatically racist. That’s not always true. I know from experience ’cause I’ve been called a racist many times when I try to speak out my views on Obama and stuff like Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, etc. If it wasn’t for Obama, Holder, Sharpton, Jackson… then this country wouldn’t have been this way.

It’s real sad that this country have to be this way. This is not what MLK Jr. would have wanted. The whole goal of his 1963 march was that he wanted blacks and whites to get together and love each other. I’m sure MLK Jr. is rolling in his grave right now. MLK Jr. would have been disgusted that Obama and Sharpton have divided this country again. I know MLK Jr. wouldn’t have agreed with it.

Kev

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