The best part of this movie was the beginning, not the beginning scene…no it was the moments right before that.  When you saw the ship on the ocean and the credits were rolling on the screen.  It was at that point that I was at the apex of anticipation…I was hoping for this movie to rival the “yippie kia a mother-f…” days of action.  Then I saw them…the thing that would dash all my hopes….the terrorists.  It isn’t that terrorists are bad in action movies, quite the opposite…they are vital to the genre as a whole.  Without the terrorist who would be blown to bits?  It was what the terrorists were doing that was lame.  They had hostages (of course), demanded money, said “you don’t care about your people so we are killing some…”  This was obviously designed to give you the impression they had already asked for money and give the “expendables” a reason to be there.  As expected our hero’s pop up over the edge of the ship and blow the hell out of everyone.  Apparently it was decided at some point that Jason Stathom would be a knife wielding stud, while stallone would work on his quick draw with a revolver.  Dolph Lundgren goes a little over board by trying to hang a pirate…so they decide to kick him off the team.  This was key for their “plot” I suppose, but it did miss out on one key element of the team action movie formula.  To have a successful action team you need characters so simple it’s best described by looking at the A-Team.  You need a brain, someone good looking, a tough guy, and comic relief.  They missed out on the unstable tough guy…sort of.

The next scene gives you that bad ass feeling as they are rolling in to their “hide out” on their bikes…some pretty kick ass looking choppers and then Stathom on a crotch rocket…

The tattoo shop they call home and the scene there in illustrates just how poorly thought out this flick was.  Stallone had a tattoo he was finishing up…which is fine it happens lots of times with big tats…they get done in pieces.  What did he need to finish?  Two letters…small letters…who the hell would stop with two letters left to go.  Then of course, following the tough guy mantra, Micky Rourke starts drawing on him with no gloves…blech.

It would be easy to break this movie down scene by scene and list everything that is wrong with it…but the main problem that runs all the way through it from beginning to end was the total lack of character development and chemistry.  We never got a feel for any of these characters or why we as an audience should be emotionally invested in them.  Why do I care if Stallone or Statham die?  We’ve seen the plot a million times, corrupt FBI agent, commie dictator…bunch of bullets and explosions…roll credits!

This movie felt like Stallone trying to capture some of his pop that he had while he was a big movie star.  He was involved in all the action sequences, tons of close ups…etc etc etc.  It seemed like the other guys just played bit parts to his lead.  Maybe the other guys are all bit actors, aside from Stathom, but it would have been nice to see them develop a little bit.  The only “alone time” Stathom got was when he showed up at his girl friend’s place to get dumped and again when he beat the hell out of some people for hitting her.

Overall, this movie should have gone straight to DVD…not just DVD…to the 5 buck DVD bin.  I’ve read online there is a sequel planned, hopefully they also plan on hiring some writers this time.  This was easily the worst movie I’ve seen all summer…and I took the kid to eclipse, if that gives you any idea how bad it was.

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I haven’t been excited about a madden game coming out for years, probably since the first one or two I got on the original xbox.  I played 2k10 on the wii, and it’s obviously not the ultra high end versions available for xbox 360 and ps3 but it’s still fun to play.  The control is pretty interesting, the way they use the remote and so forth.  I’ll probably give the new one a try when it comes out.

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Anyhow, I finish up and start screwing with the new bag I bought for the bike…the little girl comes out side with a piece of paper in her hand.  I saw her out of the corner of my eye but was focused on what I was doing…then she began to speak.  “listen to me entirely before you just say no” After that line, I figured it was either a movie, the dog park or someone staying over.  Those are really the only things she asks for on a regular basis.  This time it was a movie.  She starts looking at the paper she carried out, “I have a list of movies, the times they are playing and where they are playing at.  Can we go see one?”  She came organized and prepared…I’m good with that, she put some effort in to making the decision and gather information so we decided to go catch Despicable Me.

I’m not a huge fan of catching movies in the theater anymore.  The last one I went to that was worth the price was Inception, but before that I’d have to go back to Star Trek before that.  There are so many movies that just aren’t worth the 9 bucks/ticket + snacks.  I had a free ticket and some free pop corn thing…seemed like a good time to use them.  If I was going to pay for everything it would have run me 9+7+7=23 bucks for 1.5hrs of entertainment.  The price/value just isn’t there for me in that case.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this movie.  I’d seen previews but wasn’t interested at all.  After watching it, I can’t say that as an adult it’s a “must see” flick, but it is something that an adult can take their child to and watch and get a few laughs out of it.  To me it felt like a full length animated Spy vs Spy movie (remember that comic strip from MAD magazine?).  The drawing was really similar, the ideas and gadgets were crazy cartoony over the top and the two bad guys seemed like the black and white spies.

What really interests me about the movies like this are the background characters that do the screwy stuff.  In this movie there were the “minions” that were the background comic relief.  I can’t really explain the stuff they were doing, but it was your typical cartoon comic relief.  Some of the stuff was pretty funny, the only part that felt a little forced was when one of them was xeroxing his ass.  But it’s those scenes that will bring a smile to an adult’s face.  A child wouldn’t really understand the humor involved in xeroxing one’s ass…but adults may have done it and probably know someone who has and got a kick out of it.

There was also the option to watch this movie in 3D.  I didn’t think it was “shot” in 3D so it wasn’t worth the extra scratch.  There was only one scene in the amusement park that might have gained something from being in 3D.  I would almost bet that scene was an after thought when 3D became a way to get more money from flicks.

The story ends with a predictable story line to some extent.  It went a little further though in that it showed via flashbacks, which didn’t seem forced and flowed fairly naturally, that getting to the moon was this guys life long goal.  At the end, obviously the little girls melt his heart…blah blah blah.

If your kid is still in to cartoons, it’s worth letting them see…if they aren’t old enough to watch a flick themselves it’s quite tolerable for the adults.

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????Another premium MMORPG is testing the free-to-play waters. Soon Sony Online Entertainment will be launching a service called “EverQuest II Extended” (EQ2X) that allows you to enjoy EQ2 without paying for a subscription.

“What does ‘free-to-play’ mean? It means that you can download the game and play all of it (except the most recent expansion) all the way up to level 80,” said senior produce Dave Georgeson on the game’s forums. “Your character is restricted in a bunch of different ways (limited class selection, limited races, limited coin, etc.) and to unlock those features fully, you’ll need to subscribe to Gold level membership. Which, coincidentally, is $15/month. Sound familiar?”

EQ2X also features a “more robust” marketplace than the regular EQ2. You can spend real money there to unlock additional classes and races or buy items for your character. Georgeson is careful to point out, though, that the best items can still only be acquired through questing and tradeskills.

For all of your questions about the service, check out the official FAQ.

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I’ll put up my thoughts on it a bit later.  I don’t want to give away any plot or twists to anyone before people have a chance to see it.  If your interested in spoilers you can find plenty on the net.  I will say the movie did make me think about some stuff for a few min.  It wasn’t something that will change my life, but it is nice to watch a movie that does provoke a little bit of thought.

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A three-judge panel in New York says a rule on unscripted expletives on live broadcast TV and radio creates a ‘chilling effect’ in violation of the 1st Amendment. The ruling is a major victory for broadcast networks.
A federal appeals court on Tuesday struck down the government’s longstanding prohibition against indecency on broadcast television and radio, ruling that the policy was “unconstitutionally vague” and created a “chilling effect” that violated the 1st Amendment protection of free speech.

The ruling by a three-judge panel of the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in New York is a major victory for the broadcast TV networks, which jointly sued the Federal Communications Commission in 2006 in the wake of a tougher crackdown on indecency over the airwaves.

The suit stemmed from an FCC ruling in March 2006 that unscripted expletives uttered impromptu on live broadcasts, such as awards shows, violated indecency rules and were subject to fines.

The same court found in 2007 that the FCC’s policy on such so-called “fleeting expletives” was “arbitrary and capricious.” The FCC appealed the ruling and the Supreme Court upheld the crackdown on fleeting expletives that began in 2004.

But the Supreme Court’s 5-4 ruling was focused on the way the FCC enacted its tougher policy and sent the case back to the New York court to decide the broader issue of the constitutionality of the ban on profanity on the broadcast airwaves.

That policy dates back to a 1978 Supreme Court decision stemming from the radio broadcast of comedian George Carlin’s “seven dirty words” monologue. The FCC began a tougher crackdown on indecency in 2004 under the Bush administration.

Congress voted in 2006 to boost the maximum fine for each violation tenfold, to $325,000, in the aftermath of singer Janet Jackson’s so-called wardrobe malfunction during a performance in the Super Bowl halftime show in which one of her breasts was briefly exposed on live TV. Each station that airs an indecency violation can be hit with the fine, putting networks on the hook for as much as $35 million for each incident.

“Under the current policy, broadcasters must choose between not airing or censoring controversial programs and risking massive fines or possibly even loss of their licenses, and it is not surprising which option they choose,” U.S. Circuit Judge Rosemary S. Pooler wrote in Tuesday’s decision. “Indeed, there is ample evidence in the record that the FCC’s indecency policy has chilled protected speech.”

The court cited the failure of several CBS affiliates not to air the Peabody Award-winning “9/11″ documentary, which contained some expletives in audio footage from firefighters responding to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Fox Broadcasting Co. cheered the ruling.

“We have always felt that the government’s position on fleeting expletives was unconstitutional,” the network said. “While we will continue to strive to eliminate expletives from live broadcasts, the inherent challenges broadcasters face with live television, coupled with the human element required for monitoring, must allow for the unfortunate isolated instances where inappropriate language slips through.”

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I found myself a little bit bored with this series around mid last season.  The story seemed to drag on a bit and meandered around.  I was so disappointed that Godrick was killed off right away, his character in just the couple of episodes he was in was so fascinating to me.  He was/is so revered by Eric and a few other vamps and was such a bad ass…in a 17ish year old boys body.  Sooo bad ass.  It was nice to see him in a flash back in this last episode.  It would be interesting if they told a little more back story via these flashbacks al la highlander.  Since these characters have been around so long it stands to reason there there is some rich history between them.  The audience is now hooked on the series…it would be a good move to take some time now and then to build some of this history and see how these characters interact and why they interact the way they have.

If you haven’t watched this series, catch the past seasons on DVD and tivo the new episodes…it’s worth watching.

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LONDON – Patrick Stewart has been upgraded from captain — to knight.

The actor — famous for playing Capt. Jean-Luc Picard on “Star Trek: The Next Generation” — officially became Sir Patrick Stewart when he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace on Wednesday.

While “Star Trek” introduced him to a different group of fans, Stewart is also a widely respected stage actor.

The 69-year-old actor discovered the theater as a child, and said “my heroes were Sir Laurence Olivier, Sir John Gielgud, Sir Alec Guinness.” Being “in that company is the grandest thing that has professionally happened to me.”

Stewart joined Britain’s storied Royal Shakespeare Company in his 20s, and in 2008 was nominated for a Tony award for the leading role in “Macbeth.”

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Honestly, I wasn’t terribly stoked up for Nickelback, I like their music well enough but I was more interested in seeing Shinedown and Breaking Benjamin.  All three bands play about the same kind of music.

The opening opening opening act was Sick Puppies.  They played for about 25min or so and didn’t totally suck…they only kinda sucked.  Over all they were O.K. but they didn’t quite know how to work the crowd like the bands that have toured more…it’ll come with experience I suppose.

Shinedown was up next.  I had anticipated these guys more than anyone else.  Some of their music is “tragic” but over all it’s pretty decent.  It’s got a good beat, some decent guitar and an O.K. voice over.  I went into this concert a Shinedown fan and came out liking them a little less.  The band leader is nothing but flat gay.  He was a pussy on stage with some of the things he said to the crowd “the women look so beautiful tonight…blah blah blah…” later on he said something about “i never had any brothers, and I’d like to apologize to (the other band members) because I’ve been a prick the past couple days…” dude seriously?  This kind of shit doesn’t matter to me, I’m here to party…kick it in the ass and lets go.  I wouldn’t pay to see these guys again.

Breaking Benjamin was up next.  They looked like your clean cut midwestern rock band.  There was nothing “bad ass” about these guys, they pretty much looked like the music they sing.  I haven’t been a big fan of these guys and seeing them live didn’t really change that any.

Then came on Nickelback.  They were loud…god damn loud.  They had some decent pyrotechnics, lots of fire and firecrackers.  They played the crowd really well, had a decent amount of banter and put on a generally good show.  If you know their music you either love it or hate it…it seems like there are no middle ground fans for these guys.  They sing the same type of song over and over again with slightly different words and roughly the same beat.  Overall, I do like the style of music.  I came out of this concert appreciating the show Nickelback puts on.

I think the money for this show was worth it.  It got to be a little long, standing there with no sitting.  We were packed in pretty good…constantly bumping in to sweaty people.  I wasn’t a big fan of that, I think if I went to another concert I would get a seat instead of standing room.  We’ll see, I like going to concerts…I think it’s a good value for my entertainment dollar.

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