Ray Donovan: Season 3

Ray Donovan is getting back to its beautiful roots of Ray being a badass and not taking shit from anyone. They did a great job in casting bringing in Ian McShane (Most famously Al Swearengen in Deadwood) and Katie Holmes. I'm so happy this episode is much less weird family drama and past drama and a lot more Ray just TCB'in it (Takin' Care of BIZNESS). I've enjoyed Terry being in prison thus far. Bunchy running the gym has been a waste of time, but it has some potential. It's been a great start to season 3 that I couldn't be more excited about. Two episodes in and the sky is seemingly the limit. Bottom Line: 8.8 out of 10. We're back on track and hopefully a trail of bodies will soon follow.

Entourage: The Movie (A 90 minute episode in other words)

I was a big fan of Entourage since I found out about the series my Freshman year of college. It's been entertaining as long as it kept to the simple formula of gorgeous women, awesome toys, Ari Gold and partying. The movie is equivalent to a 90 minute episode. The drama of this one isn't Vince trying to find a role, it's Vince trying to direct a studio film with a $100 million dollar budget. It's wash, rinse, repeat. Drama is still a neurotic idiot, Turtle has actually changed and instead of being their weed guy, he owns a mansion. E is still a whiny bitch who someone gets gorgeous women 8 points out of his league (on a ten point scale). Vince still effortlessly gets the most beautiful women in the world while being self-conscious about everything. Ari kicks a lot of ass, though he's sadly toned down a bit. There are more cameos, a bigger budget, and that sums it up. Bottom Line: 6.1 out of 10. Watch season 1 episode 1 for a recap of the movie.

A Most Violent Year

I took a flyer on A Most Violent Year since I have 1/2 off rentals for the next two weeks. I was fascinated by the movie since I saw the first trailer and I really like Jessica Chastain and Oscar Isaac. The movie follows Isaac primarily, and his family, including his wife Chastain. Isaac is owns and operates an oil company (Standard Oil) that delivers heating gas to families throughout New York. He has dreams of buying a large storage and holding facility along the Brooklyn (I think?) River that will allow him to store oil and purchase it from any barge he pleases along the river. He needs to come up with $1.5 million dollars and put up his life savings as collateral. His trucks start getting hijacked and violence is widespread in New York, hence 1981 was indeed the most violent year on record. Isaac is outstanding, so is Chastain, Albert Brooks, David Oyelowo (underutilized), and pretty much the entire cast. It does move a little slow, but it unfolds very well and keeps pace enough that it isn't boring. Bottom Line: 7.8 out of 10. Interesting period piece showcasing excellent independent film stars/crew. Worth seeing whenever it hits cable TV.

Fast & Furious 7: This Seems Familiar?

I had a free rental from Family Video, so I utilized it to rent Fast & Furious 7: The Most FURIOUSER of Them ALL! I knew what I was getting into and it's nice that they no longer have to waste any time on "character development" besides Statham's random bad guy Deckard Shaw. This is shocking, but the "Family" needs to get back together and go on crazy missions with cars and action included. Statham's brother was the guy killed in F & F 6, so he's mad and wants revenge despite not being close at all with his brother. He kills Han and blows up Vin Diesel's house, so now everyone's pissed off. He gets into a giant brawl with Agent Hobbs (The Rock) and an explosion injures THE ROCK, keeping him on the sidelines for a good chunk of the film sadly. The find Shaw THE FAMILY needs to recover "God's Eye", a device that utilizes all cameras and microphones around the world to find someone. They need to rescue the hacker responsible, and then the actual technology. I'm glad Tony Jaa was brought in, though he was tragically underutilized. The car and action scenes are similar in the insanity and scope of the previous movies. Despite being heavily armed somehow they always find themselves in hand-to-hand combat. It's two hours of crazy car/fighting action that is thoroughly entertaining. Things don't need to make sense always. There is a very nice tribute to Paul Walker at the end, but I was hoping to find more in the special features, but there was nothing. I found the special on how they create/find the cars they use to be excellent. Their car purchasing guy clearly loves what he does and that's entertaining. Bottom Line: 7.1 out of 10. It is an action movie through and through that manages the moments where you want to shake your head and call "bullshit" on. If you've seen any of the others, especially the last few, it's very similar shockingly.

NBA Conference Finals 2000: A Reminder of Great Basketball that's Since Passed

I consistently defend the NBA as a fan who watches EVEN the regular season games. The game has evolved and changed, as all sports, but the NBA comes under more scrutiny for the erosion of the basics. Today I was watching a replay of the Lakers vs. Blazer game 5. The Blazers trotted out Scottie Pippen, Detlef Schrempf, Steve Smith, Rasheed Wallace, Brian Grant, Bonzi Wells, Arvydas Sabonis, Damon Stoudamire, and former UNLV stars Greg Anthony & Stacy Augmon. The Lakers brought Kobe, Shaq, "Big Shot" Bob Horry, Ron Harper, Glen Rice, Brian Shaw, Derek Fisher, Rick Fox, and then rookie Devean George. Two powerhouse lineups loaded with stars and veterans. I was enjoying excellent basketball featuring simple things done beautifully. Brian Grant perfectly feeding Steve Smith in the post as he drew 3 fouls that caused Kobe to foul out, got the Blazers in the bonus, and was just great to watch. I remembered the collapse of game 7 when the Blazers somehow lost a 15-point lead in the 4th quarter. On the other side the impressive Knicks vs. Pacers series was underway. Latrell Spreewell, Patrick Ewing, Larry Johnson, Marcus Camby, Allen Houston, Charlie Ward, and Kurt Thomas. The Pacers trotted out Reggie Miller, Rik Smits, Mark Jackson, Dale Davis, Chris Mullin, Jalen Rose, Derrick Mckey, and Sam Perkins. The Pacers hid Jonathon Bender (who Larry Bird called the best one-on-one player on the team), Al Harrington, Travis Best, and Austin Croshere for an amazing youth movement to back the stellar veterans. On paper it's disturbing the Blazers and Pacers lost to that Lakers team, but depth doesn't always matter in a best of 7. I was nostalgic and missed the depth and quality of play that I didn't see in today's game. The corner 3 wasn't utilized as the smart, statistical play and essentially the goal of every possession. There wasn't a huge pick-n-roll presence, but offense was still fluid and beautiful. The play was more physical, but also more skillful. I just found myself soaking it all in realizing that perhaps my 15 year-old self couldn't fully appreciate what I was watching at the time. I'm an ENORMOUS Michael Jordan fan, but the playoff matchups witnessed in 2000 eclipsed anything I remember from that era in terms of both conferences throwing great teams at each other in the Finals. Heavyweight slugfests for both the Eastern and Western conferences. It reminded me of the amazing fun of the strike-shortened Knicks team wearing the 8-seed as a badge of honor as they fought their way to the finals before losing to an unreal Spurs team that simply rolled Duncan and Robinson out and the Knicks had no answer. Bottom Line: Loved soaking in some old basketball from an era that I don't think is recognized and appreciated as much as it should be. I remembered some nuances like Travis Best being a really solid backup point guard and how the Blazers had several EXCELLENT scoring options that bounced around being option 1, but that ultimately was their undoing as in Game 7 NOBODY could grind a basket out to keep the healthy 15 point-lead safe from the Lakers. LOVED IT.

Black Mass: Glad Johnny Depp is Off the Weird Train

Black Mass is the tail of Whitey Bulger, who I sadly didn't know a lot about besides that he's a famous criminal. Depp plays Bulger, a Southy project legend of Boston. He's outstanding. Benedict Cumberbatch plays his Senator Brother and Joel Edgerton plays a "friend" from the same projects as the Bulger's Edgerton becomes an FBI agent who utilizes Bulger as an informant. It allows Bulger to have a certain amount of immunity as the FBI's main goal is the destruction of the Italian Mob. Bulger helps in that process and then rides the wave out as he dominates the Boston underground. I have no clue about the accuracy of the movie, but I can tell you that it's very good. Depp has a ton of range as Bulger and Edgerton is a great screenmate. Edgerton recently cranked out a great director/actor movie called The Gift that I already wrote about, so his star should certainly be on the rise. Excellent acting and an amazing story highlight this film. Bottom Line: 8.4 out of 10. I was a huge fan and certainly recommend viewing it soon. It kicks off Oscar bait season and I'm very excited.

Straight Outta Compton

This one scared me since it's so incredibly ambitious to attempt to tell the story of the formation and destruction of N.W.A., the Godfather's of gangster rap. The group was formed with Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, Eazy E, MC Ren, and DJ Yella. It led to the formation of Ruthless Records, which cranked out the N.W.A. albums and a few solo projects for Eazy E, MC Ren, DJ Yella, and later Bone Thugz-N-Harmony (Their mega-hit "Crossroads" was actually written for Eazy-E shortly after his death from AIDS). The group came on essentially out of nowhere. Eric Wright (Eazy-E) was dealing drugs and was recruited by Dr. Dre to spend some of his elicit money on music. Dr. Dre was already in a group, but had no problems working on music with Wright. Ice Cube was in high school at the time, but still penned most the rhymes used by N.W.A., specifically Eazy-E's and Dr. Dre's, in addition to his own. DJ Yella was a DJ with Dr. Dre in their group World Class Wreckin' Crew and came with Dre immediately. This movie does an incredible job of cutting through the around 7 years from their formation and meteoric rise, to the separations of Ice Cube and Dre from the group, to forming Death Row Records and Cube's solo projects, to Eazy-E's unexpected death. It covers so much ground, much of it deserving of separate films, but it does an excellent job. N.W.A. deserves a TON of credit for getting rap that wasn't meant for the radio and MTV to get mainstream play and success. I'm presuming without their contributions it would be impossible to tell when rap would've been so popular in all of America. The actors all do very well playing incredibly difficult, iconic roles that most people that watch have an idea of how they sound, look, and act. O'Shea Jackson Jr. finds the role of a lifetime in getting to play his dad, Ice Cube. Even later on the actors playing Snoop Dogg, Suge Knight, and Tupac do a very good job. The story was produced by Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, and Eazy-E's wife, so you were getting various points of view, etc, so one artists isn't focused on, or shown in a more favorable light than the others. Strong showing from F. Gary Gray as well, who is probably best known for directing Friday. Bottom Line: 9.1 out of 10. I'm biased because I like rap, but this movie does just an amazing job of covering a TON of ground and the basics + more about an amazing tale about N.W.A. and all that went with it.