Movie Review "Spectre"

Wait, is this movie called "Spectre" or "SPECTRE" as in SPecial Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terriorism, Revenge and Extortion? According to IMDB it's "Spectre", but the movie is about James Bond going up against the evil cabal, SPECTRE. Actually, now that I think about it, I am not sure this movie ever actually defined SPECTRE or even illustrated what SPECTRE is. Maybe they decided to ditch the acronym SPECTRE and just call the bad guy group, Spectre. That would probably be fine especially since SPECTRE is an awful acronym. Great name for a bunch of espionage bad guys, but awful acronym. In fact, any acronym whose creation clearly began with the selection of an applicable word or phrase before the actual word components of that acronym were known is generally bad (sorry, SHIELD, this includes you). If they did get rid of the acronym, SPECTRE, thats probably not a bad thing. It's maybe the only traditional James Bond thing that these newer James Bond movies have done away with that is arguably a good idea.

Movie Review "The Martian"

Sometimes movies try really, really hard to be as scientifically accurate as possible even though Hollywood has a much longer list of great, fun, and entertaining movies that don't worry about pesky ol' scientific accuracy than it does of equally good movies that exhibit impressive scientific rigor. This movie manages to belong to the latter as it is hard for me to imagine anyone not enjoying it and, while I am no physicist yahoo, as best I can tell, its pretty sound scientifically. That doesn't make it free of certain head scratchers. The most glaring of these, obviously, has to do with Matt Damon's facial hair. Upon finding himself trapped on Mars with virtually no hope of rescue what does this guy do? He continues to shave his face. Seriously. He is seemingly shaving almost daily. Sure, he also plots and implements the highly improbable means to keep himself alive until rescue could possibly reach him, but during all this he keeps his face freshly shaven? Come on, man! I mean, I almost want to be stranded just to see what would happen to my beard. You know, let it explore the space, but this guy, all alone for months, keeps his baby face? No way. Then after keeping that routine up for months and with a rescue team nearing him, thats when he decides to give this whole shaving thing a rest and grows the nappiest of beards? Makes no sense. Did his razor break or did he just lose it? If that is just the unfortunate nature of Matt Damon's beard then I guess I understand why he shaved for so long or maybe beards and spacesuits just don't mix, but if either of those are the case, why start growing one so late during his solitary stay? Some people have suggested to me that the poor quality of his beard was the result of him being almost certainly malnourished, but Cast Away faced similar nutritional challenges and he grew a magnificent beard, worthy of the Halls of Valhalla. Maybe beards just don't grow too well on Mars? You know, increased cosmic radiation or something like that. Or maybe Matty boy should have been growing that beard from day 1 of his "crud, I'm stuck here on this rock, all alone for maybe years" so that when the rescue mission is about to take place, NASA has to tell him to shave what I can only imagine would have been a Gandalfian wizard beard in order to not be overweight for all the upcoming rocket take offs and whatnot. At least, thats what I would have done. Still, like I said, its a good flick and even makes a noble effort to make the science mumbo jumbo all mostly on point, but boy, it does raise at least a few conspicuous questions.

Movie Review "Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation"

Look, I get it. People think that Tom Cruise is a weird fellow. Granted, most actors are probably pretty weird, but Tom Cruise gets special attention. He earned that distinction with some wonky and kooky antics a while back, plus he looks funny when he runs. As best I can tell, being Maverick should probably absolve him from most of that, but people still seem to keep him at arm's length. Thats not so far as to prevent people from going to see his movies. Almost all of them do well and almost all of them are good too, including this one. Yet, we continue to shun him. Have you not seen the lengths he is willing to go to entertain us? The dude strapped himself to the side of a plane and let it take off with him out there! And we're still gonna harp on Tom because of some viral videos? Much lesser dudes have done much less impressive of things and have made inexplicably successful YouTube careers out of it. How weird do you think those yahoos are? My bet is pretty weird. I for one, am willing to move on and accept Tom for the superstar that he is. Especially as long as he keeps doing the little things, like hanging on the outside of a airplane while it takes off, just to impress us.

Movie Review "Ant-Man"

Imagine what it must feel like to get a call from your agent and hearing that Marvel wants you for a movie. Nearly every actor in Hollywood must be trying to get a piece of that pie, right? What do you think happens when you're told that they want you to play Ant-Man? I mean, you've probably never heard of him, but thats likely true of lots of Marvel heroes. Unlike Black Panther, or Dr. Strange, or Captain Marvel or any other Marvel hero you probably are unfamiliar with, Ant-Man has a name that lacks mystique or mystery or intrigue or, well, just general coolness. In fact, the name pretty much begs the "so, what, he's got ant powers, whatever those are, or something" question. I'd bet that Spider-Man originally had this problem, but became so popular that he overcame it, but I am not sure that Ant-Man is quite there just yet. Anyway, it's gotta temper that casting call enthusiasm a bit, doesn't it? Well, to Paul Rudd's credit, regardless of how that call went, he takes on the role and maybe even enjoys it, which I think may be saying something since it seems like Paul Rudd seldom enjoys any of the roles he takes. Plus, turns out that "ant powers" are pretty neat to look at. Once again, Marvel pulls it off, so just imagine what they'll do with those other unheard of heroes with the cool names!

The World's Greatest Rock and Roll Band!!!

Back in 1994, The Rolling Stones launched their Voodoo Lounge Tour and to my amazement they scheduled a stop in Salt Lake City. At the time, this seemed like the biggest thing that ever happened in my home town. They performed at the then called, Rice Stadium, only a few blocks from my house. I couldn't believe that Mick Jagger was going to be just a short walk from my home. Everyone was ecstatic, but to my dismay, they played on a day that I was unable to attend. I was heartbroken, but sat on my garage roof listening to whatever I could that reached me from the stadium. At the time, I had no idea if the Stones would ever come back or even tour again. Back then it wasn't commonplace that legendary rockers could just successfully tour forever. Of course, being the greatest rock and roll band of all time, they continued to tour for more than 20 more years and recently came my way. Well, sort of my way. They put on a show here, about 4 hours away from me.

My sister drove out from DC to meet me and so I was living the dream: seeing the Stones live, with my sister!

They put up a stage and created VIP, Gold, Silver, and Bronze sections for people to pile into, music festival style (no assigned seats, all general admission). You could buy tickets for any of these sections (prices ranging from around $70 all the way to about $300, with the VIPs being under just a $1,000), but they also offered something called a "Lucky Dip". These were more limited, but they could land you tickets in any of the above sections. You had to buy 2 tickets, but for just $35 each, it was quite the deal. I took the fiscally sensible gamble and when I went to pick up the tickets, I was handed a box with hundreds of envelopes and was told to take my "lucky dip".  I reached in, pulled out a random envelope, opened it and found these gold wristbands! Jackpot!

We entered our section and moved our way as close to the stage as we could while the opening act played. Unfortunately we were a little late so were weren't right next to the stage, but fortunately the opening act was Rascal Flatts and we missed most of their set, but we did catch their cover of that Tom Cochrane song that was everywhere 10 years ago. Just as the sun had set, the stage lit up, the familiar opening chords of "Jumpin' Jack Flash" erupted, and Mick, Keith, Ronnie, and Charlie took the stage!

Here's the entire setlist from the show:

• Jumpin' Jack Flash
• It's Only Rock 'n' Roll (But I Like It)
• Let's Spend the Night Together
• Tumbling Dice
• Out of Control
• Let it Bleed (by request)
• Wild Horses
• Bitch
• Honky Tonk Women
• Before They Make Me Run (Keith on lead vocals)
• Happy (Keith on lead vocals)
• Midnight Rambler
• Miss You
• Gimme Shelter
• Start Me Up
• Sympathy for the Devil
• Brown Sugar

Encore:

• You Can't Always Get What You Want (with Butler University Chorale)
• (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction

Yea, there's not a bad song there and they have so many hits they could have easily gone for hours and hours more. I'd love to have heard some others, but no complaints and plus, at the end of Keith's songs, he bid us all farewell with his "Gold rings on you all", which has become a favorite phrase of mine. 

Maybe we weren't right next to the stage, but we were close to the catwalk that was built for Mick to strut on. This meant that Mick Jagger danced out to us and was only 10 or 15 yards away, multiple times throughout the night!

Now, I've been that close to former presidents of the United States, billionaires, and Nobel Prize winners, but clearly Mick is bigger than them all! And during an extended version of "Midnight Rambler", Keith and Ronnie came out and joined him.

To think that 20 years ago I was on my garage trying to catch as much as I could of a Rolling Stones concert and now, here I was within just a short distance from them! It's amazing! I have no idea how much these guys love doing what they do, but they've been at it for over 50 years now and they are awfully good at it! As old as they are, they are still rocking and rolling more than most these dang kids these days ever will. Shoot, I mean Mick is nearly twice my age and he still has more energy than I've probably ever had in my life. It was just a great show!

It was July 4th, so afterwards there were fireworks. Lots of them and they were great, but honestly, following The Rolling Stones, they sort of paled in comparison. Probably the first time ever that a couple of fellas from England overshadowed our nation's birthday party.

I've never really had a bucket list sort of thing, but if I ever did, I'd have one less thing to list now. Really can't believe how lucky we were. I figured that we'd be able to say that we went to a Rolling Stones concert, but would have just watched a big screen and enjoyed the show. Instead we were right there with a great view and just next to them multiple times throughout the night! It all just fell into place. If they ever come your way, and you actually are human and like Rock 'n' Roll, I highly recommend you go and see them. Considering they are still going and that conventional weapons cannot kill Keith Richards, you just might get the chance.