Category Archives: reviews

Reviews / feedback / comments on books, movies, television, technology, food, etc. (These might be short snippets and not long reviews)

Fantastic Four – Rise of the Silver Surfer

For the effects I give it a big WOW! THe effects were amazing. Where were these movies when we were kids? We would have gone nuts over them. Now most comic story-lines are so complicated, you could never make a movie out of them.

The story-line was great but they had this constant sub-story line of stupid jokes and their powers bouncing back and forth which was just a waste in my humble opinion. Reed working around the wedding plans trying to save the world was interesting. And it was a lot faster moving than the first movie, IMHO. There was something odd about Jessica Alba, was it just that she was a blonde or was there too much make-up or what?

We lost power just before the end of the movie so a few of us were debating if it was going to end in a few minutes or if it was ‘to be continued’, I was for the latter, I felt that way before going to see the movie.

They had a bit of product placement, mostly by joking about sponsors for the team, which I enjoyed. And over at Population Statistic, Costa noticed that the name of the catering company was Edible Planet.

Being a comic fan when I was a kid I really enjoyed this movie movie even with the above comments. Just remember it’s a movie, not a comic and they take some liberties. Continue reading

Indigo Girls AND Brandi Carlile in Lincoln Park Illinois

IndigocarlileThis was the best concert!! It wasn’t just Brandi Carlile opening for Indigo Girls, a good part of it was Indigo Girls AND Brandi Carlile together!!! Not only that, it was like the concert that wouldn’t end! They just kept singing!

I went way early and upgraded my lawn seat to row H (the 7th row actually) since Ravinia lets you do that (which is great). I originally purchased a lawn seat because I just didn’t know if I actually was going to go. But due to some empty seats, I really spent most of the concert in rows 2 or 3!!!

At the beginning they did a song with Brandi and later she did one with them. Then Brandi did Michael Stipes part for Kid Fears and it actually gave me chills! Then she did who knows how many with them at the end (at least 4, maybe 6), some just backing but many performing with them. And they just kept playing, the fans kept cheering every time they played an additional song. They went way past when Ravinia says they normally stop playing (at least according to the brochure).

I will be posting more on this later: Brandi, IG and Ravinia will probably get some more entries…

Third Time’s the Charm!

So I’m at McDonald’s and I want my regular order, a number 3 combo (Quarter Ponder, Fries, Soda); so I order a “number 3, no pickle, no mustard” slow and articulated but as usual they have to ask me again what it is that I want. I don’t understand how they don’t get it the first time, it’s a limited selection of items that I can order even if I slur my voice someone should be able to figure it out, it’s not like I ordered an iPod with a side of onion rings. But that’s actually not my complaint today, she did get it correct and processed that part of the order quickly and accurately.

So they hand me my order, while the QP box has the “no pickle, No mustard” tag on it there is an excessive amount of mustard on the box which lets me know to check before I bite. Sure enough there’s mustard on it (maybe pickle too). So I sent it back. Minutes later I get another one, with pickle and mustard. So I send it back, it’s easily 5 minutes more until I get a correct sandwich. They did give me fresh fries (the first order was better than delicious) and offer me a pie (but they didn’t have apple so I passed). They handed the final order to me in a togo bag, was that a hint?

How much money (food and staff time) did they waste trying to make this sandwich correctly? We’re not even factoring in my time wasted and the fact that this is the most expensive McDonald’s around here.

Laura Veirs in Concert (Part 2)

Year of Meteors Laura VeirsSo I did a quick photo blog from the concert the other day but I’ve been so busy I never said anything else (actually I’ve barely said anything lately). Laura Veirs was excellent! The Magic Stick is such a great small venue, $12 at the door and you can get closer than if you had front row seats at a larger venue. The group talked to us and even asked for some requests. Then they explained their goofy outfits which I’m not even going to try to explain, I’ll look and see if anyone has any good photos somewhere on-line.

I’m always so happy with the smaller venues, I’ve got to pay more attention to people coming to town to see some people I would haven’t normally gone to see. And it’s really nice when they hang around and autograph their CDs! I bought two and got them both signed…

“Lake” opened for them and they were pretty good but it just wasn’t the sound that draws me in too much. Kelly Jean Caldwell was a local opener (I’m pretty sure she’s local) for them that I heard was excellent but I showed up late (my niece, Courtney Robb, was playing at a club down the street so I went to see her first) so I’ll have to keep my eye open for her to come back.

Laura Veirs in Detroit




Laura Veirs

Originally uploaded by garylapointe.

Laura Veirs at an excellent intimate show in Detroit at the Majic Stick. If you’re a fan and you didn’t come, you really missed out…

Spider-Man 3

Spider-Man 3 Peter DavidSo I had day off and it was raining so I finally took the time to go see Spider-Man 3. I really enjoyed it! Lots of differences between the movie and comics but these days with alternate universes and different story-lines (such as Spidey having a secret identity in one series and not in another) there are lots of differences from comic to comic too.

Lots of action and effects; all the sand and the black suit moved around really cool. Unfortunately, sometimes the action was moving so fast it was hard to see what was happening. Gwen Stacy was in this story which was interesting since the ‘falling off the bridge’ sequence from the first movie was originally taken from the comics with Gwen being the fallen. Toby (Peter) just played such a nerd, I don’t remember him being such a dork in the earlier movies.

What I don’t like about super-hero movies is they make the plots too busy; why have one villain when you can have three? They spend too much time setting things up and then the other half of the movie breaking them down. Not enough time spent with Gwen, Venom and Sandman. And who’s the dorky cute girl across the hall? Does she eventually become a hero or villian?

While I haven’t read it (yet) the novelization is by Peter David. Peter has written everything (books and comics) from The Hulk to Star Trek to the Little Mermaid so it’s certainly worth checking out.

Wicked – The Musical – Review

So I was in Chicago the other week and while I was there I went to see Wicked. If you don’t know what that is, it’s the story of the Wicked Witch of the West (from The Wizard of Oz) and how her story went before she met Dorothy and company. You find out why she’s green, why the monkeys have wings, why the wizard really decided to go back to kansas with the gang and lots more. The music is good (some songs are really great) the story is excellent, it’s neat how they make the different pieces fall into place. It was kind of like watching a time travel movie and you could see what was going on the past that made the future turn out to be the way that you know it to be. I started the book but couldn’t get through it, the musical was much much better.

Got really good seats for the matinee on a Sunday, ninth row in the center so you could really see everything. They put a lot of work and details into everything so that really made it enjoyable. I never new the munchkins could dance so well (or they were so sexy cute).

Like I said, it was really enjoyable so if you think you’d like something like that you probably will. I wish I had watched the Wizard of Oz again to fill in the blanks, I know I was wondering about a few things in the movie while watching the musical so you might to watch the movie again before you see it just to refresh your memory a little bit. Lots of fun!

Stranger Than Fiction – Movie Review

Stranger Than Fiction Marc ForsterI’m not a Will Ferrell fan but I really really enjoyed Stranger Than Fiction. I’ve heard several people (Kelly and Srah) say the same thing and since I thought the movie looked interesting I gave it a try. Before I tell you about it I’ll mention that it’s the slapstick / stupid / immature stuff that makes me not like Will Farrell but since I now know he can act I’ll pay a little more attention to his stuff; I feel the same way about Jim Carey and Adam Sandler, when they aren’t pretending to be one of The Three Stooges they’re pretty entertaining (hmm, the three of them as The 3 Stooges…).

So all of a sudden boring Harold Crick realizes he can hear the narration of his life in his head as his day goes along. It makes him think he’s a little crazy but the narration is hysterical (IMHO) in that it captures his idiosyncrasies perfectly. Eventually with lots of confusion as he occasionally speaks out to the voice he he seeks out a shrink and eventually ends up with a Literature Professor (Dustin Hoffman) who helps him to figure out what type of novel he is “in”. All of it really makes for some hysterical dialog and really has some “meaning of life” stuff in it if you think about the story you are participating in as you live out your life…

On a side note: I have a crush on Emma Thompson, but her semi-depressed chain-smoking character in this movie made that fade away; but they made up for it (with me) by having the lovely Maggie Gyllenhaal