Snowpiercer (spoilers if you haven't read the graphic novel)

In order to get a screening of this movie I had to drive to Grapevine because none of the theaters in my area are showing it.  I do not regret the decision to do this at all.

This movie has Chris Evans, Ed Harris, John Hurt, Octavia Spencer, Tilda Swinton and so many other people that I don't want to disrespect by misspelling their names.  It's based on the French graphic novel Le Transperceneige by Jacques Lob.

In this movie a failed attempted to fix global warming causes a second ice age.  There's a small percentage of the population that manages to get on a train that travels the world.  It takes exactly one year to make the full circuit.  During the time on the train a class system evolves.  People at the front are the rich people in first class, people in the back are the poor people in third class or the tail section.  The whole train was designed and built by a man named Wilford.

Chris Evans plays Curtis Everett, a man that is set to start a revolution that will actually succeed this time.  All he has to do is get to the front of the train.  To the engine.  He plans to kill Wilford and take over the train and then there will be no class system anymore.

The journey from the tail to the engine is a hard one with a lot of people dying along the way, including his best friend.  He's tortured by the fact that he has to choose between capturing the person that is essentially the second in command of the trail or saving his friend and he chooses to capture her which results in his friend's death.

Essentially, the "end of the world" happens on July 1st, 2014 (yup, four days ago) when a chemical is released into the atmosphere to try to cool down temperatures caused by global warming and ends up causing a second ice age.

The movie is very good and very well done.  The cast is brilliant.  Never in my life have I been as happy that a character dies as I was when Curtis (Evans) shot Mason (Swinton) in the face.  She was that kind of character and Tilda did a beautiful job.  Ed Harris plays Wilford and you find out a lot of very interesting things when he has a conversation with Curtis.  It's almost heart breaking.

Over all I give the movie a very high score.  I definitely plan on owning it as soon as that becomes an option and if it comes to a theater near me I will go see it again.  It's slow at the beginning but it does pick up about twenty minutes in or so.  The action is great and there is a lot of violence but that kind of thing is expected from a revolution.  The movie is rated R because of it, though.

I definitely recommend going to see this movie.  Chris Evans will break your heart in more than one scene, but then he's really good at that.  I've lost track of how many times I've been in a movie and just thought "Damn you Chris Evans."  because he brings on the feels in epic proportions.  I still can't believe I used to hate that guy.  I was kind of stupid back then.

If you have a chance, go see Snowpiercer.  You will not regret it.

Chef

Written, directed and produced by Jon Favreau, Chef did not live up to my expectations.  It surpassed them.  This is a movie that follows the decline and rise again of the career of chef Carl Casper played by Jon Favreau.  Favs actually managed to get me to like Sofia Vergara which is an accomplishment in and of itself.

Everything starts to fall apart for Carl when he receives a mediocre (at best) review from food critic Ramsey Michel who is played by the wonderful Oliver Platt.  That man is and forever shall be, in my opinion, the best Porthos in the history and future of Three Muskateers movies, but I digress.

With an all star cast which included Dustin Hoffman, Scarlet Johansson, John Leguizamo, and Robert Downey Jr, I honestly believed this movie would be good before I even bought the tickets.  I was wrong.  The movie is great.  It touches your heart in ways that I never thought a movie about food could.

John Leguizamo made my life in this movie.  I love it when he plays characters like this.  I feel like you get to see a side of him that he rarely lets out.

As for Marvin, played by Robert Downey Jr.  There could not have been a more perfect part for Mr. Downey.  I thoroughly believe that it was really just Robert showing up and being himself.  Marvin is off the wall and erratic and weird and that's the impression I get of Robert when he's not playing Tony Stark.  Or should I say Tony Stark when he's trying to convince everyone that he's really Robert Downey Jr?

Like the many fine meals that were prepared therein, this movie is a masterpiece.  If you love cooking, or even if you just love food, go see this movie.  I really did enjoy every minute of it.  And I loved the integration of social media into the film.  Gave it a real world vibe that you don't see much anymore.

Thank you, Jon Favreau, for making this movie and thanks to the people that helped bring it to theaters.  I will certainly be buying it when it becomes available.

And do stay for the credits.  There's a little behind the scenes moment right before the very end that is definitely worth the wait.  

Forget the men, I just want the cars

When people find out I am a Supernatural fan, the question is always asked "Would you rather have Sam or Dean?" to which I answer "Can't I just have Baby?"  That's right, I would rather pass up on both of the Winchester boys for a chance to ride in that car.  And that made me realize that it's kind of been that way my whole life, really.  As much as I would crush on the men in the cars, it was the cars I wanted more than anything else.

This is the car that started it all.  Maxwell Smart's 1965 Sunbeam Tiger.  Not only is it in one of my all time favorite colors, but it's a convertible too.  I loved this car so very very much.  I really hated it when they changed cars later on.  This one was my absolute favorite.  

My second vehicular love affair was the 1936 Auburn belonging to Remington Steele.  Yes, Pierce Brosnan buttered by bread back in the day, but it was that car that got my motor running.  Even though I was only like 10 at the time.  Didn't matter.  I wanted that car.  

And then there was KITT.  Voiced by the man who would later become Mister Feeny on Boy Meets World, this car was awesome.  A 1980s (not sure of the specific year) Pontiac Firebird Trans Am.  With all of those wonderful features that can only be found in the wonderful land of Knight Rider.  The car made me happy and I loved seeing it more than seeing Hasslehoff every week.  

I know that I have mentioned this before in my "Celebrity Husbands" post but it bears repeating.  The Ferrari 308GTS used in Magnum P.I. was a joy to me.  It's the only Ferrari I've ever actually liked, to be honest.  And it was a beautiful car.  Driven by a beautiful man.  And once again, a nice bright red.  

I can't talk about my love affair with cars without mentioning this beauty.  The 1983 GMC G Series that transported my favorite team of military criminals turned heroes.  I loved that van just as much as B.A. did.  And I was not the only one.  My dad had a 1977 Dodge van that he tried to paint to look exactly like the A-Team van.  It didn't work out well but he did try.  It was an awesome van.  

Of course I have to show Baby.  This 1967 Impala is the highlight of the show.  When the car that carries them around is an actual character in the show, you know it rocks hard core.  I actually feel worse about bad things happening to Baby than I do when Sam and Dean get hurt.  I love that car more than both Winchesters combined.  Hell, I love that car more than I love Crowley.  That should tell you something right there.  

And last but certainly not least we have my most recent vehicular love affair.  

The 1962 Corvette Convertible lovingly known as Lola.  I don't even car about all the fancy SHIELD gadgets in this car.  I would take her as is off the factory line.  Lola is a beautiful piece of machinery and I love her as if she were my own.  Clark Gregg is a very lucky man just for getting to sit in her.  Wonderful car.  

I'm sure there are more cars that belong on this list but those are the ones that are first and foremost in my mind.  Those are the cars that have made a lasting impression on me.  The ones that I would do anything to own.  

I should mention Christine in here.  The 1958 Plymouth Fury is a gorgeous car.  I think I didn't mention it originally because I've never actually seen the movie.  I just know about the beautiful car.  

Yet another beautiful red one.  I would own this car if I could.  I would own any of them if I could, honestly.  They're all amazing cars and I love them very much.  Almost as much as I love my daughter and certainly more than I love the people that drive them.  So there you go.  I would take cars over people any day.  Even one that is a demonically possessed killer car.  

Godzilla (2014)

This movie was very very good.  It did the old 1960's Godzilla justice, that's for sure.

I'm not going to go into a whole lot of details this time around because I feel like spoilers would just ruin your enjoyment of this movie.  I will say that the cast was amazing and did an excellent job.  David Strathairn always makes my life.

If Bryan Cranston does not get a million and a half awards for his performance in this movie I will be very, VERY upset with every kind of award issuing agency.  He was absolutely heart wrenching.  He needs to win everything.  Absolutely everything.

If you are a fan of the old rubber suit nonsense Godzilla you need to go see this movie because it is wonderful and I think a perfect addition to the Godzilla line up.  It's awesome.

Music hath charms to sooth the savage beast.

I found out today that the right music can make any day awesome.  So I turned on Pandora right when I got to work, which I do quite often when I'm taking out the trash and so forth, and it was playing what I call "Awesome Day Music."  The music was fun and I could dance to it and it was songs that I really like.  I don't remember most of them, but it was cool.

Also a lot of really awesome songs were playing on my iPod in my car.  Songs that I just have to sing along to like Techno Cumbia by Selena and other stuff.  Upbeat and fun.  Even some of the sad music that played still kept me in a good mood.

And all of this was going on while I was averaging less than $2 a delivery.  Today I took 9 deliveries and I only made $16 in tips.  But I am still in a good mood because I had amazing music to listen to all day long.

So there you have it.  Awesome music equals awesome day regardless of the actual events.

Spiderfoot!

So I am using this blog to plead for a little help for my friend comedian and painter Chris Bonno.  He was recently bitten by a spider and had some serious foot issues because of it.

http://www.gofundme.com/8wb23s

If you can please go there and donate.  It'd help him out a lot.  He's tried to help me with my fundraising campaigns and so this is the least I can do for him.

Thanks in advance peeps.

The Iceman

So I watched The Iceman today.  It's a very good movie.  A little on the strange side but what else can you say about a movie that is based on a book about a hit man.  The cast was amazing.  Ray Liotta tends to be very good at playing a dick.  I'm not sure why.  He just is.  And Winona Ryder did a wonderful job as well.  There were a lot of familiar faces in the cast that I don't know their names.

Michael Shannon plays Richard Kuklinski (say that five times fast) who is known as The Iceman.  He starts out working in the porn business and ends up being a hit man.  The story is a lot more involved than that and you really need to watch the movie to get it all.

Over all the movie was very good and I do highly recommend it.  Now, the main reason I watched this movie is because Chris Evans is in it.  Most people sit there and look at Chris Evans and think "He is Steve Rogers."  And I would agree with them.  But then I watched this movie.  In The Iceman he plays a fellow hit man known as Mr. Freezy.  This guy is sick and twisted and willing to kill children if necessary.  He works out of an ice cream truck and yes, he does occasionally sell ice cream.  Ice cream that he keeps in the same freezer as the bodies of the people he kills.  He freezes them so that the cops can't tell the time of death.  And not only does he freeze them, he dismembers them.  And seems to get a genuine joy out of doing so.

I think the worst part of this movie for me was how good Evans was at playing such a sick and twisted individual.  He was very convincing.  Scarily so.  He's just that good of an actor.

I know that I spent most of this review talking about one of the minor characters rather than one of the major ones, but all I can say is rent this film and watch it.  It's very good.  You won't regret it.