Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Downstream #4 "Growing Op"

A Coming of age tale set in modern suburbia. This film follows Quinn (Steven Yaffee) a teenager who has been home schooled his whole life by his pot growing parents. When they move from the country to suburbia the problems begin to rise. As high school senior that has never actually been to a high school, and has spent most of his years caring for marijuana plants. When Crystal (Rachel Blanchard) moves in across the street with her family, he quickly falls in love. Defying his parents he signs up for school with the help of the guidance counselor. Once he gets into school, he realizes that it's a concrete jungle.

When Quinn and Crystal start becoming closer, it shakes the social structure of high school. Instead of the Jock getting the girl the nerdy homeschooler is getting her. A lot of the films jokes and plot is based off of social structure within a high school. There is a scene where the 'outcast' is explaining the 'rules' to Quinn. It's a solid scene that really breaks down the social structure and how it works.

The great thing about this film, was that it was a unconventional stoner film. Instead of every main character being a super stupid and stoned at all times. Every main character is smart and is very aware of what is going on around them. This doesn't mean the film isn't funny. "Growing Op" has laughs throughout the film no matter who you are. Some laughs you do have to look for though. I have a strange sense of humor so I found most of the film entertaining to say the least.

The acting in the film is above par, it's nothing special but it's not terrible. The actor that plays Quinn is great for the part. He plays a quirky, loser teenager to a T. Quinn's Father (Wallace Langham) does a really great job as well.

The film as a whole is not perfect. It is a fun ride though. I won't ruin anything but, the ending will catch you by surprise. Then ending really made the film for me. It made a mediocre rom-com, a real solid film. I love when films do that, makes me wanna get writing on my script.

So this movie is new on the "Streaming Market" so I suggest you add it to your queue and give it a watch. It's definitely worth it. It's not the best film you will find on Netflix, but if your in the mood for unconventional stoner/rom-com film this is a good choice.

OVERALL SCORE


B+




Add this movie to your queue


-Magic

Mortal Kombat - Episode 5

Hello again internet.

I'm sorry for my lack of conviction and posts. It's been a week since I updated and a lot has happened in that week, Ill explain that in a different post. With that said, It's tuesday, and you know what that means. A New Mortal Kombat episode.

Episode 5 is what we call, um...let me find the words...Oh yeah a disappointment. This is the first episode of the series that actually lost my attention. It is the 2nd part of the Millena and Kitana story. It runs about 5 mins long. which is the shortest of the series thus far. It's mixed with animation and live action again. It's not that the animation is bad, it's just not what I signed up for.

With that said, You still have to watch it, the story gets filled in. You gotta remember, not every episode can be great. Just like on a album not all songs can be #1 hits. It's worth the watch, but only one watch.

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Mortal Kombat: Legacy - Ep. 4 - Kitana & Mileena (Part 1)

Ah, It feels so good to be back! Every Tuesday, I wake up and can not wait to watch the new episode of "Mortal Kombat Legacy". It seemed like I was alone last week, in thinking that the Johnny Cage episode was awesome. Luckily for me, this week, I think everyone will admit that this is a awesome episode.

This episode really builds up some backstory, which if you read my last review, you know I'm a sucker for. Episode 4 tells the backstory of Kitana, Millena, Shao Khan, Sindel and Baraka. Along with those five characters it tells the story of outworld and how it came about. This episode is a little different from the other ones. There is not much fighting, but the fighting that does happen is really well done.

Another difference in this episode is that it is intertwined with animated sequences. The animated sequences are really fun to watch, and also really well done. I can only assume the reason for the animated sequences are to keep everything under the budget. There is very little dialogue in this episode most of the episode in narrated. It's a nice touch, to say the least.

So as you can tell, I'm a huge fan of this project. Also, I'm a huge fan of Mortal Kombat in general. I had every intention of writing a review for the new game, but my Xbox died before I could finish it. So with that said, you should definitely watch this episode and the other ones if you haven't.





OVERALL SCORE

A

-Magic

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Downstream #3 -- "Scrubs" Seasons 1-9

As I started writing this review, I realized how hard it is to write about 9 whole seasons of one show. I'm used to writing reviews of 2 hour long movies. With that said, here goes nothing.

I saw "Scrubs" on netflix while looking for something to watch. I said to myself, "I never gave this show a chance, I'll watch the first episode." That was one April 6th, Today is the 27th and I have successfully finished all 9 seasons. With that said, I'm a huge fan of the series as a whole, and it is now on my list of favorite TV shows.

"Scrubs" follows Dr. John Dorian aka "JD" (Zach Braff) through his journey of the medical field. Seasons 1-8 are narrated by JD through daydreams and and voice overs. Season 9 the focus of the show shifts to Lucy Bennet (Kerry Bishe), but we'll get back to that in a little bit.

Alongside of JD is his heterosexual life mate Chris Turk (Donald Faison). His mentor, Dr. Cox (John C. McGinley). Head Nurse, Carla (Judy Reyes), and JD's love interest, Elliot (Sarah Chalke). The show revolves around these 4 mostly, but there are TONS of other lovable characters.

One thing that I loved about the show, was that all the episodes went into one another. Granted you could watch a random episode and still like it, but watching them all in order it tells a bigger story than just one episode at a time. Each season tells one big story, for instance season 2 one of the main story arcs is Turk and Carla's wedding. The way it is written reminds me of comic books. There are little story arcs (3 or 4 episodes long) that when the are all combined it makes one huge story.

The show is made up of mostly day dreams done by JD. It reminds me a lot of "Family Guy". Something happens in his mind that is pretty much irrelevant to the show, but it is ridiculous and funny. At first I thought I was going to find that super annoying, but I was wrong. I couldn't imagine the show without the day dreams. Each episode ends with a voice over from JD summing up everything that happened in the episode and telling you what he learned. It's like he was writing in his diary.

Season 9 was a little different which I assume is the reason the show got dropped. Most of the main characters from seasons 1-8 are still there, but they become the supporting characters. As previously stated the main protagonist shifts from JD to Lucy. Lucy is in med school and JD, Dr. Cox and Turk are all teachers at this school. So lucy and her friends are not even interns yet, it was like they wanted to start the show over. It only has 13 episodes, I think it got cut in mid season, Cause it sure didn't feel like a season finale. If you make it to season 9, you should definitely watch it. It's not as good as the first 8 seasons, but there are some laughs to be had in it.

So all in all, I'm a huge fan of the show. I really do recommend you add it to your queue and watch it in all it's glory. It only took me 21 days. =)


Add this movie to your queue


Overall score

A


-Magic

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Mortal Kombat: Legacy "Episode 3" -- Review

Ah, We meet again my fine internet friends. Thanks for coming over to the site, it is much appreciated. As I said In my post on Easter Sunday, I was kinda swamped last week. So I never got around to reviewing Episode 2 of "Mortal Kombat: Legacy". Although I did plan to, it just didn't happen. So what I'm going to do, is give you a two-for in this post. I'm gonna tell you how I feel about Episodes 2&3 and link you to both in case you missed em'.

EPISODE 2: Assuming you've already seen this, There will be SPOILERS. Well, this episode was definitely a good one. This is the episode 'everyone' wanted the first time around, I felt like where this episode ended could of been all in episode 1. That's really my only complaint, but I do like the pacing of the show so far. So the complaint isn't really that big of a deal.

Basically we get two action scenes, and a tad bit more of where the story is going. We see Sonya Blade do work on multiple enemies and the fight between Kano and Jax fishes off the episode. So far we have a common theme of cliffhanger endings in this show. The cliffhanger ending in episode 2 has to do with Kano's eye, and it made me hate that I have to wait a week to see what happens next. Needless to say it's epic.

If you have not seen episode 2 here it is in all it's glory.





EPISODE 3: Assuming you have not seen this, since it came out today, I will do my best to stay spoiler free. Ok, Now we are getting somewhere. As a film major I'm a huge fan of backstory and character development, and that was one thing the MK series always lacked. Sure, there was backstories to every character in the game. Unfortunately you only got 2 paragraphs and sometimes it was pretty hard to follow. So I like where they are going with the 'new' backstories of the characters.

This episode jumps from Jax, Kano, and Sonya to introduce a new character to the show, Johnny Cage. The episode starts off with Victor Lucas (The only reason I know his name is from G4 Electric Playground and Judgement Day. Both Great Shows and it was cool to see him still doing things). doing a 'E! True Hollywood Story' type of segment on the life of Johnny Cage. We learn that he had a Rise and Fall type of career and has been out of work since "Power Rangers" went off the air.

He is doing his best to try to get back on TV. To do this, he is showing the hollywood producers a demo reel of his new show that he wants produced. It's a "Dog The Bounty Hunter" kind of show but with Martial arts. The hollywood big shots shoot him down and let him go from the company. I'll leave the synopsis at that. I don't wanna ruin the cliffhanger ending, but just know this. It's finally getting to something good. Just trust the writing staff, this build up is going to be worth it, I can feel it.

Johnny Cage is played by Matt Mullins who is perfect for the part. He is a very skilled martial artist from what was portrayed in this episode. Also he looks the part, from the sunglasses and the hair to the spin kicks and split ball punching. They did a really good job forming the character that everyone knows from the MK series.

One of the main things that you will notice this episode, is that it is edited. The audio cuts out every time someone curses. This sort of thing shouldn't bother me, but it did. I gave it so much props early on in the first episode that they were using curse words. Not that cursing makes a show better, but I think it stays true to the situation. A washed up actor getting fired, is definitely going to drop a F bomb or two.

At the end of the episode there is a note, saying a uncensored version will be released Friday. So, who knows what their thought process behind that is. Perhaps, they are trying to get a younger audience, Or maybe they got complaints. I personally think the Unedited version should come out first and the edited version on Friday.

Either way, edited or not, I'm hooked. I can't wait till next weeks episode and see where the story goes from here.

Here is Episode 3, ENJOY!







Leave a comment and tell me what you think of the episode and if you like the series or not as a whole. I'm always up for debates and conversations through the comment section. Also tell your friends about us, It's much appreciated.

-Magic

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Happy Easter!

Hello Interent,

Just wanted to apologize for the lack of posts and wish everyone a Happy Easter.

The last week has been a hectic one. Don't worry though, I'll be back on schedule soon.


-Magic

Monday, April 18, 2011

"Trailer Park Chronicles #2" -- "Passion Play"

This is the official Trailer of the new film "Passion Play". Starring Megan Fox, Mickey Rourke and Bill Murray.

The Trailer is pretty solid. The movie doesn't look like anything too spectacular, but Mickey Rourke is one of my favorite actors and Megan Fox is one of my favorite pieces of eye candy. So, I figured it was worth posting.

Enjoy.


Leave a comment let me know what you think of it. Also tell me if your looking forward to it, or if your gonna skip this one and wait for the dvd.





-Magic.