X:Men: Days of the Future Past

The newest installment of the X-Men series focuses on the comic book saga where the future is one giant genocide by the Sentinels. In this feature Wolverine goes back in time to 1973 (I think) to help foil the assassination of Bolivar Trask (Peter Dinklage) by Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence). The goal is to reverse the events that follow where Mystique is captured, her DNA is harvested, and Trask's greatest creation of the Sentinel is perfected to become adaptable to anything because of Mystique's DNA. Professor X is in whiny bitch/drunk mode (James McAvoy), Magneto (Michael Fassbender) is imprisoned for Kennedy's assassination, though apparently wrongfully. Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) is the only person who can withstand being sent back in time by Kitty Pryde (Ellen Page) and I didn't know that was her power either. It is a little strange that Professor X is all fucked up because I never knew his character went into that mode, but I do like the 70's styles and costumes they roll with. Cast is VERY strong and impressive. I like the story, though time travel often lends itself to ridiculousness, though this movie doesn't dabble in it too badly. Bottom Line: 8.2 out of 10. I was impressed by the cast and most of the film. I wasn't blow away by anything, but it was CERTAINLY worth the $3.00 to see it at the cheap seats. I'd pay that just to see Jennifer Lawrence in the Mystique character.

Riddick: Yup, Still Garbage

Knowing this was going to be shit-garbage I took a flier still on Riddick. This one sucks because it's the same shit, different movie, almost the same name. Riddick is on a standard God-forsaken planet with crazy beasts that kill everything. Despite lacking food of any kind as well for the beasts, there's 5,000 of the fucking things everywhere. Riddick is still amazing at everything and mercenaries are still tracking him down. The only twist is that now it's the Captain from Pitch Black's (I think) Dad looking for Riddick, as well as some other mercenaries. Riddick breaks them down and offers their lives for a ship from the beginning, but a bunch of bullshti needs to ensue where he kills half of them, then everyone gets on board with the idea. Katee Sachhoff is in it (Longmire, Adam's crackhead/bath salt using Girlfriend in the one episode of Workaholics) and I'm a huge fan of her period. Everyone else is garbage, but I liked seeing Johnny Tapia again from Bad Boys 2 though. He's still horrible at everything though. The action was nothing special either, but there is a decent amount of it, so that's a small positive. Don't rush out to watch this one anytime soon. Bottom Line: 4.8 out of 10. If you like Riddick, you may actually enjoy this crap. If you've never seen one, keep it that way.

The Butler: Lee Daniels has something to do with it too

I checked this movie out after enjoying a snip of the trailer that made it seem more historical than the movie was. I have no idea how based in fact or anything else this thing is, but the premise is a former sharecropper (slave basically) learns to serve and rises to eventually being on the President's personal staff for 7 Presidents starting with Eisenhower. His son takes the path of civil rights advocate, and later human rights advocate and attempted congressman. There is a lot of turmoil in his personal life and some interesting things at the White House from time-to-time, but overall this thing is terribly boring. I'm usually impressed at Oprah's acting, and again I think she's excellent in this movie. I didn't feel Forrest Whitaker was anything above decent as was most of the cast. Really nothing special to see on this film. Bottom Line: 5.9 out of 10. Nothing really worth watching, but it's not like it's terrible or anything.

61* AKA the Passion of the Crystal

Billy Crystal is a fanatical Yankees fan. It's impressive to hear him talk about them and his experiences. It's clear he's an autorhity on the subject. 61* follows the magical 1961 season where Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle pursue the sacred home run record of 60 in a single season by the almighty Babe Ruth. It's a portrait driven by Crystal's passion and knowledge, but also his talks with Mickey Mantle about that sacred time. He pulls from that incredible source and all the other sources of history, etc, to really give an amazing look at what was really going on throughout that amazing race to 60. I was impressed when I first saw the film, but the making of featurette took it to another level. Passion projects normally are flawed and overzealous, but somehow this one works out beautifully. Billy's insane love translates beautifully to the screen and the authenticity bleeds out of it. They actually look and play like, not only competent baseball players, but like Maris & Mantle. I was very pleased I sat down to soak this one in again and can't recommend it enough. Looks no further than the future successes Barry Pepper and Thomas Jane enjoyed after their great turns at Maris & Mantle respectively. Bottom line: 8.9 out of 10. Quality is everywhere in this film and it's worth a watch, especially for a history/sports buff. Watch the feature to really get a true appreciation for Billy Crystal's passion for this project.

Basketball Free Agency Insanity

Basketball has had a crazy offseason just because LeBron James returned home to Cleveland via one of my favorite pieces of writing of all time. Now it's a giant chess match of how to get to Cleveland, or how to compete with Cleveland with everyone else in the league. Miami panicked and overpaid severely for Chris Bosh and not as horrifically for an ailing Dwayne Wade. Luol Deng does not replace Lebron James, nor does any other human being on the planet, but Miami is no longer a contender. What I can't figure out is this crazy push to swap Love for Wiggins, but also Anthony Bennett and a first rounder was also getting trotted into the mix. Love for Wiggins is something I can't even get behind for Cleveland, but if the other deal was EVER on the table Flip Saunders would have rented an F-16 to get to Cleveland fast enough to ink that deal. The Cavs can't take the chance on ditching Wiggins for a flawed superstar like Love. Love gets great numbers, but can't defend anyone in the NBA. Wiggins can already defend in the NBA and has the POTENTIAL (Key word in this entire mix) to be a lockdown defender. Touting him as the Pippen to LeBron's Jordan is far-fetched and wrong, but Wiggins certainly has the ability to be a special NBA player. I still won't throw Bennett under the bus yet. He wasn't a star, but he had moments that made you believe he could be a respectable player including back-to-back double-doubles when Cleveland had some issues with injuries and he was given a lot of playing time. He also dumped in far more atrocious games than those fleeting moments of good basketball, but he's not just a throw-in. Cleveland also can't just pitch in first rounders either as, note the gold standard of San Antonio, you will need those picks to be affordable role players, OR if you're VERY good, stars to play alongside your big 3 of LeBron, Irving, Wiggins. Varejao, Waiters, Bennett, Tristan Thompson, Mike Miller, Jerome James, that bench isn't useless either. I think sacrificing a lot of reasonably priced potential stars (Bennett is a real enigma, but who knows) for Love, who will be getting a LOT of money, wouldn't make them prohibitive favorites, and that's the important thing. Love isn't enough to make you think, they can beat the Spurs, or whoever comes out of the West. I think that team still struggles with the Pacers, Wizards, and Bulls in the East. Love would also handicap your free agent potential for the next two year MINIMUM as nobody really knows how the new pending TV deal in two years will change things. The team with Love turns up the offensive potential, but being forced to trot out Irving & Love plus, probably Waiters (I think?) would leave 3 defensive liabilities for James and a fragile Varajao to attempt to cover up and that's impossible against better teams, especially in the playoffs. The T-Wolves need to purge Love before the February deadline and PLENTY can change before that, so I think holding pat is the best course for the Cavs. I just don't see Love making the Cavs an automatic Finals team and the cost is simply too great to roll the dice with that idea.

The Leftovers?

HBO came out firing on this one taking on a drama where 1/200 (not sure actually) of the world's population has disappeared. It's not a "rapture" movie, as some of the people taken were clearly douchers, but there is truly no explanation. The show instead focuses on a town, probably of decent size, but not too large, and how that town keeps moving on despite the craziness that people just disappeared. I recognize a few faces, primarily Amy Brenneman (I think, but I'm not looking it up) and Liv Tyler, but there are no huge stars by any stretch of the imagination. I'm on the fence after a couple episodes as I really have no connection with any character and wouldn't mind all of them shooting it out in the middle of town at this point, so that makes it hard to think I'm going to like this show. It is an interesting take and original, so I will try my best to pay it some just due, but I can't really endorse it at this point. The town is clearly fractured, and they certainly highlight some big parts of it. The sheriff loves to drink and then do stupid things, like shoot stray dogs in the middle of a city street while they feed on a huge deer they mauled to death somehow. There is a weird cult that wears only white clothes and refuses to speak, and despite those OBVIOUS limitations, that cult is growing? There's some random guy who apparently has some powers (Christ-like essentially) that makes no sense to me. I'm still giving it a shot, since besides the new 24 season (thank GOD Jack's back), television is pretty much garbage. Please, some network, save us.