The Media Room

  Big Brother 4 (2003) Rules Changes Golden Power of Veto - Golden Power of Veto became the default. Reduced Jury - The jury would be reduced to only 7 evicted house guests instead of 9. Sequester - The jury would be sequestered and only allowed access to certain information (The Danielle Rule)   Increased House Guest Pool - The number of house guests increased from 12 to 13.  Diamond Power of Veto - Clear in color. Allows the winner to not only remove a nominee; including the veto holder; but also name the replacement. Season Theme The X-factor: 5 of the 13 guests were ex-lovers of the other 8 House Guests Scott - Scott was the ex lover of Amanda and did not do very well with the X-factor twist. He was portrayed as being obsessed with her and went on the warpath when she was nominated in week 1. He became the second ever house guest to be evicted shortly before the first eviction Amanda - Scott's ex bore the brunt of his BS as there was discussion of pulling her down a...

Godzilla (2014) Watching the Movie:  For me personally, it's a very fine line for monster movies. I never really got into the old Toho films enough to have even seen one of them start to finish; much less be an authoritative source on their legacy. But I do know this much....Godzilla (2014) is FREAKING FUN!   Quick; what's the most terrifying thing you can imagine? Okay, is it scarier than being forced to jump off a railroad bridge in a pitch black tunnel to avoid a flaming train that is carrying a massive nuclear weapon on it right next to a Giant Monster who is going to destroy humanity. Didn't think so. So that's now the most terrifying thing you can imagine...what about if said monster destroyed the bridge so now the flaming train carrying a nuclear weapon is now FOLLOWING you off the tracks into the river below? That's what Godzilla as a movie is; one terrifying event immediately following another. It won't let you catch your breath until the credits roll;...

  Big Brother 3 (2002) So last spring, my wife and I decided to start watching every season of Big Brother in order. As someone who always enjoyed BB, and furthermore writing about BB, I decided it was a worthwhile cause to do write ups of each season in progress. The 70 episode slog that was BB1 shut that down in a hurry, so I decided to just do a single analysis of each season by examining each contestant in order of elimination. Season 2 being full of scumbags kind of took the taste out of my mouth for that. So, the end result is us now in the process of watching BB9 (Til Death Do Us Part) and I'm finally exploring BB3 after over a year away from writing. That's actually a shame because BB3 was baby bear's porridge and showed there could be a nice middle ground between Full House: The Reality Experience and Beyond Thunderdome   Key Rule Changes:    The Power of Veto - Once nominations have been declared; all houseguests are eligible to compete in the Power of V...

  The Lego Movie (2014) Watching the Movie:  Your enjoyment of this movie is going to depend entirely on how old you are. Ironically enough; I'm not all that sure that if I were a kid (say 2-12 years old) I'd get a lot of the jokes. I'd say the sweet spot for this flick is someone in their mid 20's who at least has a passing knowledge of the gags referenced but is also old enough to appreciate the just plain SAD moments that come on screen (and there are more than a few of them...) In fact, most of the little kids in the theater with me last night just got a kick out of "everything is awesome" and could take or leave everything else. Screening the Film:  Holy Christ is there a lot going on in this film. There's images of Sovereignty (by divinity, nationality, personally), particularly as it relates to Oligarchy (Lord/President Business has all the resources thus he has all the power) The Oligarchy as a tyrannical state; specifically focused on abuse of po...

The Bag Man (2014) Watching the Movie:  I want this two hours of my life back.  Screening the Film:  There is literally nothing even remotely worthy of analysis, or discussion here.  Best Dialogue:   Not Applicable. Every word of this movie is pure shite. The Bottom Line.  The A.V. Club gave this movie a D and said it was a Tarantino knock off made 20 years too late. That's being far too kind. I actually LOVED some of the poor man's pulp fiction movies that came out in the mid-late 90's after Tarantino's Masterpiece hit it big ("2 Days in the Valley" (1996) is still one of my favorites, and I think got the Good, Bad, and Ugly write up format way back in the day). I hated this movie like I've never hated anything before. I'm doing something I never thought possible....Negative rating. -1 out of 5

Max Payne (2008) Watching the Movie:  The biggest problem with Max Payne as a movie is that it really doesn't know what it wants to be. Is it a gritty crime drama? Is it an action oriented shoot em up? Is it a supernatural thriller? It tries to combine elements of all three together into one concoction; and the results are disastrous. At best the movie is disorganized and confusing and at worst it's flat out boring. It has some very cool visuals, but nothing worth sitting through the full two hour movie to experience; the 90 second trailer has the same effect. Screening the film:  Man's obsession and how it affects his reality; pharmacology and the role of drugs in American Society. Law enforcement and what a cop "should be", family life, private service vs public service. Some decent images of religion and mythology; and finally personal responsibility and accountability for his own environment. Best Dialogue:  "When the people a man needs get taken away fr...