Daredevil Season 1 Review

2015 is turning out to be a big year for Marvel properties. With an Avengers movie, Ant-Man, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Agent Carter and two new series via Netflix, A.K.A. Jessica Jones and Daredevil. You can't find a place to avoid superheroes these days. I am actually getting a little burnt out on the genre and formula. Why does everything have to culminate in a "Save the World" level climax? Luckily, Daredevil is a little bit different on that account.

Daredevil is a 13-episode series from Netflix, Marvel and series creator, Drew Goddard, is based on the comic of the same name starring a blind lawyer with exceptional senses who fights crime in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood in New York City. Matt Murdoch, Daredevil, is played by Charlie Cox (Stardust) and is joined by his law partner, Franklin "Foggy" Nelson (Elden Henson). Together they work to be scrupulous lawyers in a town fraught with criminals. They are helped by their assistant, Karen Page, who is played by Deborah Ann Woll (True Blood). Karen also gets help during the series from a reporter, Ben Urich, who is played by Vondie Curtis-Hall. Okay, enough introductions.

At a young age, Matt Murdoch saves a man from being hit by a car but is hurt himself in the accident, which leaves him blind due to a chemical spill. Murdoch's father is a bruiser of a boxer who does his best for his family while having to deal with the corruption around his sport. This is all seen in flashbacks in the first two episodes. When we first really meet Murdoch, he is preparing to defend his and Foggy's first client, Karen Page, who is accused of murdering a co-worker.

From there the story twists and turns through 13 episodes where we find that the city is being overrun by criminal elements all associated with one Wilson Fisk played by Vincent D'Onofrio. Fisk has pulled together a coalition of heroin producing Chinese, drug dealing Russians, Yakuza and a money-laundering business man. Together they are working to re-make Hell's Kitchen into a better future. What isn't clear is who's better future that will be. Maybe the drugs and crime are just a means to an end.

Over the course of the season, we get to see Murdoch become a vigilante hero who uses his martial arts training and heightened senses to do some truly amazing things. They even provide an explanation of sorts as to how it happens. We also get to see the motivations of the criminal element, who are just as deep and flawed as some of our heroes. The entire season is essentially one big story told in 13 parts. There are ups and downs in how well the story is told, but it comes to a satisfactory (if a little rushed) ending.

One of the challenges of the show is that it is very dark and gritty. Probably best watched in a dark room where some of the black edges of each frame will be a little more visible. Watching on my iPad mini in a bright room wasn't always the best choice. Daredevil also has more than its fair share of violence, but it seems to fit the grounded, not over-the-top powers of the main hero. On the plus side, D'Onofrio is fantastic as Fisk and truly scary at times. One of the other standouts is Rosario Dawson as Claire Temple, a nurse who saves Murdoch a time or two. Toby Leonard Moore as James Wesley, Fisk's right hand man, is fantastic and cultured and stable while his boss seems complete unstable at times. Another great thing, which is funny to say, is the opening credit sequence (seen in the photos here) where parts of the city are drawn with flowing blood. Amazing stuff right on par with Game of Thrones' intro.

When I started watching the show, my wife asked me "Why do you like these superhero shows?" I really don't have an answer. Maybe it is the escapism or the idea that a flawed person can overcome those issues to make a difference. In the case of Daredevil, I liked that it wasn't solely about destroying everything (though there is a lot that goes boom). Hard to say what it is I like, but I did enjoy it and will be back for more.

If you are looking for realism, you will need to suspend disbelief a few times as Daredevil chases cars by running over rooftops or heals quickly after taking beatings. What you do get is a more grounded story than most superhero shows/movies and while there is an ultimate battle for Hell's Kitchen, the whole world isn't at stake. In the next season, I hope we get even more of Nelson and Murdoch as lawyers and broaden the story to encompass more than one main villain. At the end of the day, this is a very good show. It won't be for everyone, but it has a lot going for it and Cox is convincing as the blind lawyer and ultimately, hero. I am hopeful for the other Netflix/Marvel shows coming in the next year or two. Daredevil gets 4.5 Mick Happies.

DVD Quick Reviews - Attack of the 3.5 Mick Happy Movies

Feeling a bit lazy this week, probably due to too many hours playing Path of Exile, so here are some quick reviews of movies I have seen on DVD lately. All of the movies are out and available in the US through Netflix (and other sources).

I don't know about your house, but in our house we like to tease each other regarding our celebrity "girl/boyfriend" - those celebrities we think each of us secretly wants to end up with. This game tends to be more fun for my wife who has decided that there are several actresses I secretly want to date and there are very few actors that she cares about. Her ideal man would be Al Giordino from the Dirk Pitt series of novels by Clive Cussler. Basically a capable, no-nonsense, hands on guy with snarky humor who helps get the job done without having to have all the ego of the main character.  Which brings me to this week's movies - two of which star one of our girlfriend/boyfriend celebrities.

Byzantium - Neil Jordan's (The Crying Game) 2013 vampire movie starring Gemma Arterton and Saoirse Ronan. In modern day, we follow two woman, who look like sisters, as they move from one town to another avoiding discovery. This is a moody and sometimes violent movie that plays with the vampire idea (yes they can walk in the daylight - though they don't seem to like it). It is an interesting film, but a little angsty. My wife thought I only got this movie since it had my "girlfriend", Gemma Arterton, in it. Byzantium gets 3.5 Mick Happies. P.s., if you want to see more of Saoirse Ronan doing a fantastic job in a really good movie, check out Hanna.

The Heat - Paul Feig's follow up to Bridesmaids stars Sandra Bullock as an up-tight FBI agent who has to work with a shoot from the hip detective played by Melissa McCarthy. This straight-up buddy comedy takes us along for the ride as these two learn how to work together to stop a drug ring in Boston. There are laughs here and awkward moments but overall a fun movie. Not as funny as say The Proposal, but worth watching. Doesn't hurt that it had my wife's "girlfriend", Sandra Bullock, in it. The Heat gets 3.5 Mick Happies.

Pacific Rim - We round out this post with Guillermo del Toro's homage to the Japanese Kaiju (monster) movie. Here, gargantuan monsters invade Earth from a inter-dimensional portal under the Pacific Ocean and wreck havoc on the countries in the Pacific Rim. Enter the Jaeger (hunter) program consisting of giant robots piloted by two humans who have melded their consciousnesses to allow them to work together to run the huge machines. The rest of the movie is about mankind's fight to stave off these monsters and save the world. Standard science fiction fare here with some humor, an obligatory love interest story line and a guy who was a cocky hero, fell out and has to come back to try to save the day. There are some cliched bits to the story and nothing here is overly surprising. But it is a visually great film and there are lots of fun battle scenes if that is what you like. All in all, I give Pacific Rim 3.5 Mick Happies.

There you have it. A post full of celebrity girlfriends, action, comedy, vampires and giant robots. What more could you ask for?

Haute Cuisine Film Review

About a week ago a new French-language film popped up in Netflix's on-demand service. The film, Haute Cuisine, is directed by Christian Vincent and tells the story of Hortense Laborie, a renowned regional chef who served as the private chef of French President. Originally titled Les Saveurs du Palais, Haute Cuisine is the fictionalized real-life story of Danielle Delpeuch, the private chef of Francois Mitterrand.

In the movie, Laborie (played by Catherine Frot) is taken from her farm (bed and breakfast) and asked to provide all of the personal meals at the Elysee Palace for the President. To do this, she has to learn to navigate the bureaucracy of the government and even more importantly, the kitchens and staff of the Palace.

I enjoyed how the film introduces the viewer to the palace, overwhelming us just as Hortense would be on taking on the position of private chef. The story interweaves between Laborie's time in the Elysee Palace and what we assume is present day at a French research outpost off Antarctica where she is the chef. All throughout we get a sense of the lead character's ability to win over those around her through her strength and skill. While I am fairly certain I wouldn't care for the meals prepared in the film, I can recognize the skill that must go into the preparation.

Haute Cuisine is funny and endearing and if you speak French or don't mind subtitles, well worth your time. Not a spectacular film based on a true story like the The Intouchables, but very good. I give Haute Cuisine 3.5 Mick Happies. Bon Appetit.

P.S. Short review this week. I have been spending my free time playing the full release of Path of Exile. If you aren't playing it or haven't tried, download it from the developer's website or through Steam. It is free to play and very good.

Quick DVD Movie Reviews

Over the last few weeks, I haven't been making much progress in the book I am reading, so no review of that this week. I also haven't been finishing any new games. What I have been doing is watching movies with my wife and daughter. What follows are some quick reviews of the movies we have watched on DVD from Netflix.

Oblivion - A science fiction action film set in the future where humanity has left Earth for Titan after aliens arrived and the fight to stop them devastated the planet's eco-system. Tom Cruise plays Jack Harper, a repair tech who keeps water harvesters drawing sea water to generate power. I enjoyed the post-apocolyptic visuals of future earth in this movie. The story also contains multiple thrilling movements along with several twists and turns. Oblivion gets 4 Mick Happies.

This Is The End - In the present day we are given a view into the life of several celebrities (playing extreme versions of themselves) when the apocalypse arrives. Starring Jay Baruchel, Seth Rogan, James Franco, Jonah Hill among others. I spent quite a while fast-forwarding this one. The story could have been interesting and funny, unfortunately it is over the top idiocy that is more a ego-vehicle for the stars than a actual story-driven film. Less then 2 Mick Happies here.

The Fast and The Furious - This past weekend we went for a double-header of street racing fun. The Fast and The Furious (2001) stars Paul Walker and Vin Diesel in a film about road heists of semi-trucks based in and around the world of Southern California street racing. Vin Diesel plays Dominic "Dom" Toretto, a tough racer with a police record is at the center of an investigation into a number of daring thefts. Big cars, loud engines and adrenaline. This was the film that launched a series of 5 sequels so far and is a thrill ride. The Fast and The Furious is 4.5 Mick Happies good.

The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift - This is the third film in the franchise and takes Sean Boswell (Lucas Black), is sent to live with his father in Tokyo after getting in trouble racing. Sean falls in with a crew of street racers headed by Han (Sung Kang), who teaches Sean how to drift so that he is competitive. The story follows the evolution of Sean and Han's friendship and the dangers of organized crime and racing in Tokyo. The visuals are amazing and the special effects are great - watching the special features on the DVD you learn just how good they were. This film introduces Han who is later in Fast Five and Fast & Furious 6. This is another adrenaline filled thrill ride and gets 4 Mick Happies.

Those are what has been on the tube the last two weeks. Definitely some good ones in there, but can't recommend avoiding This Is The End more.

Fringe Review (as spoiler-free as possible)

I admit that I never watched Fringe, the science fiction drama from J. J. Abrams, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci when it originally aired on TV. Our family has just finished binge watching it via Netflix streaming, consuming 5 - 7 episodes a week. Takes a while to get through 100 episodes even at that rate. Given the perspective of having seen all of it, I will do my best to give a spoiler-free review of the entire series.

Fringe is the story of a government team investigating scientific and/or supernatural events and crimes. Over the 5 season run, this story expands from a procedural format in seasons 1 and 2 to a broader story -driven format for seasons 3 through 5 as the show heads from one save the world type opportunity to another.

The main character is an FBI agent names Olivia Dunham, played by Anna Torv. She is work-focused and an extremely capable agent (a good strong female lead character). Also on the team are Dr. Walter Bishop (John Noble), Peter Bishop (Joshua Jackson), Astrid Farnsworth (Jasika Nicole) and their boss Philip Broyles (Lance Reddick). Together they solve often disgusting or gruesome crimes - some seem to be geared to try and gross-out the audience.

One of my favorite things about the show is the character of Walter Bishop, a brilliant though damaged scientist, and his interaction with Astrid who, despite being a Federal Agent, is great as Walter's lab assistant. Her suffering through working alongside the weird things that Walter does in the lab is great. I also liked the show best during the early seasons when it was more procedural in nature and the character development was deeper and fun to watch. Later seasons seemed to become too focused on the events happening around the characters and lost some of the fun of the earlier episodes.

Throughout the five year run, there are multiple twists and turns with little clues laid along the way to where things are heading. Some of the twists are big and may lose some viewers while others are surprising and very interesting. As I noted before, I liked the early seasons best with Seasons 1 and 2 ranking in the 4 - 5 Mick Happies range. Season 3 and 4 are in the 3 - 4 Mick Happy range and Season 5 is at the 3.5 Mick Happy level. All of it is good and while my family would have liked a full on it all ends happily ever after, I at least can understand where the show runners were taking things.

A little blurry on purpose. Watch Fringe and you will understand.

If you like science fiction, weird occurrences and police procedurals with some laughs along the way, you should try Fringe. It will stick with you and make you think about the implications of what you saw on the overall story of the show. It will also make you care about the characters and hope for them along the way. Plus you can see it all on demand via Netflix (and probably other services). Enjoy

Starbuck Review

Last night we watched a Canadian film by director Ken Scott called Starbuck. It is the story of David Wozniak, a habitual screw up, who finds out his sperm donations as a younger man were used to father over 500 children. Those children now want to know who their biological father is and are suing the fertility clinic to find out David's identity.

The rest of the movie is a load of laughs as David, played by Patrick Huard, decides if he wants to reveal who he is while trying to prove he is worth being in his girlfriend's life. David is a sympathetic character and his efforts to learn more about these children he fathered and his interactions with his best friend lawyer are hilarious. The lawyer, portrayed by Antione Bertrand, practically steals every scene he is in. In all, Starbuck is amusing and fun without sex and with relatively few cringe-worthy moments.

The film is in French, so if you don't care for subtitles you may want to wait for the English-language remake starring Vince Vaughan, Delivery Man, coming in November 2013 and also directed by Ken Scott. Additionally, it can be a little odd to see people speaking French while wearing clothes depicting American sports teams. I, however, liked the old school San Diego Padres baseball cap.

This is a feel good movie right up there with The Intouchables. It is out on DVD through Netflix and other sources and you should see it. I imagine that it will be the better of the two versions when the remake comes out (the remake will likely be more slap-stick than Starbuck). Well worth your time, Starbuck gets 5 Mick Happies. To quote my wife, "It is so nice to watch a good movie".

Lost Girl Season 2 Review

Lost Girl is an urban fantasy television show created by Michelle Lovretta and airing on Canada's Showcase (and Syfy in the US). It is the story of a Succubus, a Fae that lives off sexual energy, named Bo who grew up not knowing that she was Fae. Bo, played by Anna Silk, learns in Season 1 that there are Light and Dark Fae and that she must choose a side. Instead Bo chooses neither and along with her human best friend, Kenzi played by Ksenia Solo, she becomes a sort of private investigator helping those Fae (and humans) who can't get the help they need from the leaders of the Light and Dark Fae.

Season 2, which is available on demand from Netflix along with Season 1, finds Bo and friends dealing with the effects of the end of the last Season. I won't spoil plot details, but relationships change, new ones form and under it all there are big problems coming for Bo and her friends. Through it all, the show is interesting and doesn't get stale with just a Fae problem of the week rut.

The characters in Lost Girl are smart and witty. The show has two strong female leads in Bo and Kenzi especially with Kenzi being a human who has to rely on her street smarts to keep up in the world of the Fae. They are joined by the Fae cops, Dyson and Hale, who are a wolf-shifter and siren respectively. Add in a human doctor, a bartender who is not all he seems to be and a bunch of light and dark Fae politics and you have the ingredients for an interesting show.

I like that the writers of Lost Girl don't make you wait all season to get to the meat of problems. Issues are encountered and dealt with fairly swiftly in the show with a couple of overarching plot lines moving throughout the season. There are also nice hooks to setup what will be an eventful Season 3. The show also does well with character development from Season 1 through Season 2. Throw in a few steamy sex scenes, some kick-butt action and Kenzi's snappy dialogue and there is something for everyone (including a Fae Tony Stark inventor to spice things up). The writers also don't mind poking fun at the actors themselves such as when they have Bo mention that Dyson, played by Kris Holden-Ried, has hair like Chris Martin from Coldplay (which my wife has said has been distracting her since Season 1 but she was finally able to get past it).

If you like shows like Supernatural (first 3-4 seasons) and Grimm Season 1 then you should check out Lost Girl. We just picked up our Season 3 pass on iTunes. This show is what True Blood should have been. Lost Girl gets 4 Mick Happies. On to Season 3.

Butter Review

Butter is a small budget film written by Jason A. Micallef and directed by Jim Field Smith. Butter is the story of a butter sculpting competition in Iowa where a young girl in foster care competes against the overly ambitious wife of a former 15-time Iowa state butter sculpting champion.

The movie has an all-star cast including Jennifer Garner, Hugh Jackman, Olivia Wilde, Ty Burrell, Alicia Silverstone, Rob Corddry and Ashley Greene. In Butter, Jennifer Garner is looking to parley her husband’s success carving butter into political success, but is derailed when her husband stops competing. Not willing to let things go, she decides to compete herself. Laura’s (Garner) dreams of the future are challenged by newcomer, Destiny; played well by Yara Shahidi, who has a talent for sculpting butter. Many of the funniest parts of the movie involve the side plots featuring a stripper played by Olivia Wilde. Silverstone and Corddry do well as Destiny’s foster parents.

Butter shows you several amazing sculptures made out of butter (my drawing above recreates on of the funniest, “the Scarlet Letter”).  The scene that I liked the best from the film is when Rob Corddry is sitting in the parking lot about to send Destiny in to sign up for a butter competition. They get into a fantastic conversation about how to deal with being nervous by imaging what is the worst thing that could happen when Destiny walks through that door (great parenting in my book).

Be warned, this movie is R rated – mainly for what the characters say and a couple of adult situations. It is worth your time and is available on DVD (I saw it on DVD from Netflix). Definitely worth spending 90 minutes to see – especially if you like the actors listed above. I give Butter three and a half Mick Happies. Here is the trailer for you to enjoy – it will give you a good sense of how the movie goes:

Sherlock Series Two Review

Sherlock is fantastic. By Sherlock, I mean the BBC television reimagining of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s detective Sherlock Holmes created by Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss (who also plays Sherlock's brother). The show is set in modern day with Sherlock Holmes, played by Benedict Cumberbatch, as a private investigator with incredible talents of observation and deduction. His friend and accomplice Dr. Watson, played by Martin Freeeman, is an Afghan War veteran and medical doctor who lives at 221B Baker Street with Holmes.

The show first aired in 2010 with a three episode first series that is currently available via Netflix streaming (go catch up). Each 90-minute of Sherlock focuses on a specific case and is more of a movie than a television show. The second series, which just aired in the United Kingdom and was released on DVD on January 23, 2012 also includes three episodes. The episodes in series two are: "A Scandal in Belgravia", a retelling of the original Holmes story A Scandal in Bohemia, The Hound of the Baskervilles (if you know anything about Sherlock Holmes, you have heard of this story), and "The Reichenbach Fall", which refers to the Holmes story The Final Problem.

There are several things that are great about this show. The acting is superb with Cumberbatch playing a very believable Sherlock Holmes and Martin Freeman is very good as his suffering sidekick (it’s hard to be Sherlock Holmes’ associate). The writing team translates the Holmes stories into modern times well and the twists and turns in each episode leave you guessing until the very end. They have even figured out a way to visually give you an idea of what Sherlock is seeing and how his brain works that don’t jar you out of the show, but enhance it.

Sherlock series two will be coming to America in May on PBS Masterpiece starting on May 6. Be sure to find it, this is great television – not to be missed. Sherlock earns 5 Mick Happies.

On a side note, I purchased series 2 of Sherlock on DVD and had it shipped from the UK to watch on a region-free DVD player. To rant a little, I am perfectly happy to pay for shows that I want to see, but I am often annoyed that good shows aren’t available because of distribution rights and nonsense that should have been resolved by now in our globally connected world. To content producers and providers: if you can stream or digitally distribute shows over the internet, do it. We will pay for it and don’t want to wait months for you to figure out how to distribute it in another region. Rant over.

X-Men: First Class Review

I have enjoyed the X-Men for many years. I know there are those that didn’t like some of the trilogy movies or only know the movies, but I have liked X-men since I watched the cartoon on tv and then went and read the comics they were based on. I had even heard good things about X-Men: FirstClass before it came to my home from Netflix.

X-Men: First Class stars James McAvoy and was directed by Matthew Vaughn. I have enjoyed several of Matthew Vaughn’s other films like Stardust and especially Kick-Ass. Here are some of the things I liked about X-Men: First Class:

·         The kids learning to use their powers

·         The cameos

·         Getting to see Professor X before he was Professor X

·         Getting to see the X-Men again in a movie

Okay, that doesn’t feel like a very long list. It isn’t. I am either becoming jaded on the whole superhero movie or it was just I was disappointed in this one. I think it was this movie. I had high expectations and it missed. I am male, so I understand and eye candy is enjoyable, but how many shots do we need in one movie specifically designed to show January Jones in her underwear? How many blow it up over the top explosions? The whole thing just fell flat for me and seemed a bit forced. There is potential there, but it never was realized in my opinion. That opinion was strengthened watching Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger soon after X-Men: First Class.

At the end of the day, I will wait patiently for the next Wolverine movie and give X-Men: First Class 2 Mick Happies.

Moneyball Film Review

I was very interested to see how the book Moneyball by Michael Lewis would turn out on film. So on opening night for those of us who aren’t in the media and don’t have friends, I went to see it. And…it was good.

For those who don’t know, Moneyball was an interesting book published in 2003 about the Oakland A’s and their General Manager Billy Beane. The book looked at the statistical tools that Beane and his colleagues brought to their selection of players and how those methods helped them compete with teams who had much larger budgets.

The movie, Moneyball, directed by Bennett Miller and starring Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill covers the same topic with Pitt playing the part of Billy Beane. I read the book several years ago and enjoyed it, but didn’t have all of the details fresh in my mind, so I can’t say if the movie is veers far from the material in the book. I do think the movie creates a story out of the underlying premise of the book and the dialogue and character interactions are often funny. You feel for this team and these people as they try to compete. You also get a sense of the demons that have hounded Beane throughout his career in baseball through the flashbacks that intersperse the main story.

I enjoyed the interplay between Pitt and Hill and everyone in the theatre laughed many times at Hill’s straight man responses. This is a fun movie, with tension, humor and some seriousness all wrapped up together. There is no reason that you couldn’t wait to see this on home theatre, but the big screen does make the stadium and game shots more impressive. It’s the story that makes this movie and the interesting characters. Overall, I give Moneyball 4 Mick Happies. Play ball.

Star Blazers: Quest for Iscandar Part I Review

If you are old like I am and were a kid in the late 1970s, your first introduction to Japanese anime may have been Star Blazers. The first season of the Star Blazers tv series was called The Quest for Iscandar and aired weekday mornings. I remember the series very fondly as it was the gateway drug for other shows like Voltron and, of course, Robotech.

The story of Star Blazers starts in 2199 with the Earth dying from radioactive pollution caused by bombing by an alien race, the Gamilons. Just as things seem most bleak for Earth, its last major space fleet defeated by the Gamilons near Pluto, a message is received from another alien culture from the planet Iscandar. The message states that if Earth can reach Iscandar, they will provide a cure for Earth. To help humans reach Iscandar, the message also provides details on a technologically advanced engine. Earth forces build the engine and place it in a sunken battleship from World War II, the Yamato. After rebuilding the Yamato for space, the newly formed Space Force takes off for Iscandar with only 1 year to get there and back to save Earth.

A year ago, my wife bought all three seasons of Star Blazers in DVD box sets and I hadn’t taken the plunge to watch them. However, the addition of season 1 on Netflix instant watch made it silly to wait any longer. The first season is split into six parts (DVDs) and the first part covers the first five episodes of the series. You can find a plot synopsis of each episode on Wikipedia or watch the shows on your own.

Star Blazers is an adaptation of a famous Japanese anime called Space Battleship Yamato. I have never watched Space Battleship Yamato, so I am unsure what, if anything, changed between the original anime and Star Blazers. However, on this re-watch after over 30 years, what stood out for me was how much more adult the show seems than most “children’s” shows. There are deaths, though mostly from a distance, and the characters in the story deal with those deaths emotionally. Characters have depth and everything isn’t just great and easy, there is tension and a little suspense. Additionally, the theme of a ravaged dying earth and some of the dialog seems more adult than Y-7 focused.

Watching the first five episodes, I noticed that some of the animation is dated and some of the visual effects are jarring compared to what we would find today. Overall, the plot and story are holding up and interesting and I am looking forward to revisiting the rest of the series. If you have Netflix instant watch, put it in the queue. If you don’t, the DVDs are a little steep at ~$135 for season 1 on Amazon or you can get the full season through Amazon instant video for ~$22. I give Part I of Star Blazers: The Quest for Iscandar 3.5 Mick Happies for the great nostalgia, more adult themes and decent plot. Only 361 days left for the Star Force to save Earth.

Source Code Review

Having the DVD of Source Code in hand, I sat down for a late night action film. The movie is written by Ben Ripley, directed by Duncan Jones, and stars Jake Gyllenhaal as an Army helicopter pilot, Colter Stevens, who wakes up disoriented on a train. Within the first several minutes of the movie, as Colter tries to figure out how he got on the train and the people around him, a bomb goes off destroying the train.

The story really begins there as we quickly learn that Colter is part of a government project that allows them to place a person’s consciousness into another person who recently died and experience the last 8 minutes of their life. What follows is a gripping action film with Colter bouncing between the train and current time trying to determine what happened on the train.

What I liked about the film were the nods to time travel and alternate realities. I am a big time travel fan and thought that the premise of going back and viewing/experiencing events of someone else’s life to be intriguing. The movie has several twists and turns and doesn’t hold off on giving you answers along the way. No holding off to the end for everything to be revealed all at once, there are twists and turns all throughout the film. In some cases, the trips back to the train had a Groundhog Day feel to me. As I don’t want to spoil the movie, I will stop there.

I liked Source Code and found that it was engaging and didn’t seem to have huge, gaping plot holes. Though that could be a result of watching it at Midnight. Overall, I give the film 4 Mick Happies. Definitely worth renting or getting from Netflix to watch at home.

Apple TV Review

About 2 months ago, I ditched cable tv. One of the key factors in doing that was the powerful combination of Netflix streaming and the Apple TV. Apple TV is a small box that you can connect to your TV through a HDMI cable in order to stream content from select web sources or from your home computer.

The Apple TV, version 2 was released in 2010, is less than 4 inches x 4 inches and less than 1 inch tall. It comes Wi-Fi enabled or can be connected directly to the Internet using an Ethernet cable and can connect via HDMI to most high-definition TVs. It is capable of 720p video output maximum.

The Apple TV will connect to your iTunes library through the Home Sharing function allowing you to wirelessly stream any content in your library directly to your television. You can access iTunes directly from the Apple TV to stream movie or tv show rentals to your television as needed. Additionally, there are several services that can be streamed to the Apple TV such as YouTube, MLB.TV, NBA.com League Pass and Netflix.  The user interface is straightforward and once you have completed setup of the device, you can jump right in. The setup mainly consists of connecting to your home Wi-Fi network, logging into your iTunes account and logging into Netflix if you have a streaming account. Once done, you are on your way.

In my home, I have three Apple TV devices plugged in and with the 3 DVD and streaming plan with Netflix, I can be streaming different shows to each box at the same time. The ability to stream shows and movies from Netflix to any tv in the house using Apple TV has allowed me to dump my cable provider’s $100+/month services. At $99, the Apple TV will help pay for itself in just a few months in the savings on cable tv alone.

There are some drawbacks to the Apple TV to be aware of. There is no power button. To reset the box, you have to hold the down arrow and menu buttons on the remote or pull the power cord from the back of the device. This is important to know as the Apple TV will go into sleep mode (depending on the settings you choose) and sometimes will not reconnect to the wireless network upon waking. I have found that by restarting the box (by remote or power cord) always solves the problem, but it is annoying.

Based on the ease of use, relatively low cost ($99), small size, ability to stream content from my computer or Netflix and relatively few drawbacks, I give the Apple TV 4 Mick Happies.