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Friday, September 10, 2010
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
The Art of Travel
Starring:
Christopher Masterson
Brooke Burns
Johnny Messner
Directed By:
Written By:
I've recently started using the NetFlix Streaming service and it has introduced me to a whole new world of Independent Films. The movie is about a young man named Conner, who after finding out about his fiances infidelity, decides to go solo on his honeymoon.
His journey begins in Nicaragua of all places, because Nicaragua is no where near his original honeymoon destination. Flash forward to a coffee shop in Panama where Conner (Christopher Masterson) runs into Darlene and Johnny (Brooke Burns and Johnny Messner), an adventurous couple who intend on breaking the world record crossing the Darian Gap. He is supposed to return to the states to go to college the day following the meeting, but curiosity gets the best of him and he embarks on what turns out to be the journey of a life time!
I recognized Christopher Masterson immediately as the older brother from Malcom in the Middle and Johnny Masterson I remember most from Tears of the Sun. The whole time I was watching the movie I never really felt like anyone was "acting". The way the characters meshed made it seem as if I was just following along with a group of colleagues on their epic journey. The cinematography was beautiful as they journeyed to all four corners of the earth.
Somehow in the middle of all of this adventure a love story breaks out. A love story filled with adventure.
I would definitely recommend this movie to everyone. It has something for all tastes in movies.
The movie is rated R for nudity and language (nudity is very brief) and the language I really didn't even notice.
Overall I give this movie 8 out of 10.
Friday, June 18, 2010
America's Incredible Pizza Company Now Open in Draper
Ally saw the flier we got in the mail announcing that they were open and she just HAD to go!
I promised her if she was good we would go one day this week (this was on Monday). Before I knew it Friday was here and we hadn't gone yet. So today was the day!
Americas Incredible Pizza Company is located in Draper right behind the new Cowabunga Bay and is attached to the north side of the Outlet Mall.
The prices were reasonable. The all you can eat lunch buffet was 6.99 for adults. 5.99 for kids, 3 and under are free. Seniors eat for 4.99 all day. The best deal for kids is to get the 10.99 deal which gets you a $10 game card and the all you can eat buffet. You must purchase the buffet OR a $10 game card to get in.
I was very impressed with the buffet, the selection was huge. There was a full salad bar, 5 pizzas to choose from, a pasta bar, chicken strips, mashed potatoes, gravy, french fries, baked potato, biscuits, corn bread, mac & cheese, taco / nacho bar, hot dogs (with buns), cheeseburgers, AND a full desert bar (I'm sure I missed some items). As I was dishing up some chicken strips I noticed the guy come and replace the fries with fresh ones, but to my surprise he didn't put the old one back on top, he tossed them in the garbage. I went back to the table and told Grammy, Pop, and Nal about it and Nal said she had read that they are big on the freshness of the food on their buffet. I read up on this before I posted this blog and found that they do swap out the food every two hours AT THE LONGEST. This policy is truly reflected in the quality of the food.
The kids could hardly wait for the adults to finish so they could move onto the games! When you buy a game card they load it with however much you pay and then each game / activity has a price listed on it and a place to swipe the card. Most of the arcade / ticket games cost $.30. There was a play area for smaller kids to play in that was free. Mini-Golf and Bumper Cars were $3.00. The most expensive activity was Laser Tag which was $4.50 for a 10 minute round. They had Race Cars and Bowling too which I didn't catch the price of.. hopefully Nal can comment on here and let us know. The best part of the ticket games is THERE ARE NO PAPER TICKETS!!! The tickets are automatically added to your game card. If you run out of money on the game card you can charge it at a station similar to an ATM. I guess I should mention the shooting gallery they have there, it had a couple items that you could shoot and they would shoot water at you, this was a big hit with all the kids.
We will definitely be going back, this place is much better than Chuck-E-Cheese. They have birthday party packages available.. check them out at http://www.ipcparty.com
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Book of Eli
Starring:
Directed by:
Written by:
I wasn't really planning on seeing this movie in the theaters, after seeing the previews I figured it was one that could wait till it came out to rent. That being said I can say that the movie did not disappoint, it was worth the price of a ticket.
I really expected there to be a lot more of a religious vibe to the movie than there turned out to be. The movie starts out in post-apocalyptic war torn United States. Eli (Denzel Washington) is walking cross-country, headed west to deliver a book to a place that he has been told it will be safe and put to use for good. During his journey he is careful not to get involved in other peoples problems and to stay true to his quest. He comes to a town (or what's left of it anyway) that is populated by a few of the survivors and their offspring. The town is run by a man named Carnegie (Gary Oldman) who has a group of men that he sends out on motorcycles with only one mission, bring back books by an means necessary. Carnegie is only looking for one book however, The Holy Bible. Carnegie is a survivor of the war and knows that all religious documents of any type were burned after the war because it was believed that is what caused the war in the first place. The war seared the sky and depleted the ozone so the sun is extremely lethal to those not wearing protective lenses and proper skin protection. Carnegie knows that if he finds a Bible he can use its words as his own to gain the worship not only of the people of his town, but people all over the country and possibly the world. Carnegie finds out Eli has a Bible and the chase ensues.
I am not used to seeing Mila Kunis play a serious role, so it was hard for me to not see Jackie from That 70's Show up on the screen, but overall I think she did a decent job portraying her character. She really didn't mesh well with Denzel Washington in my opinion. It just felt like that was a gap that needed to be filled the whole movie. Gary Oldman always plays an excellent bad guy role and he did not disappoint. I was first introduced to Ray Stevenson in King Aurthur and then again in the HBO Series Rome. I enjoyed his character in both of those roles and wish he had more lines and screen time in this film.
The movie is rated R for graphic violence and language.
The fight scenes were very well choreographed. I do wish there was a bit more about the "war" itself that describes exactly how the world came to be in the shape it was in.
Overall I would give this movie a 7 out of 10.
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Avatar
Starring:
Written and Directed by:
This was the first main stream movie I have viewed in the new 3D format. The effects were amazing to begin with, but add the 3D and it made them seem even more real. I must say James Cameron never does anything in small scale, and this movie proves that more than any of his others. His last big blockbuster was Titanic, which was a special effects marvel as well, but in Avatar Cameron has created a whole world for us to explore.
While the special effects were breathtaking, the actors and the characters they portrayed made this movie so enjoyable to watch, that there was never a moment when I stopped and thought, man this is really dragging! Which is something that is very rare for a movie with a runtime of almost 3 hours. Jake Scully (Sam Worthington) is the Avatar, a marine who is the only one eligible for the position after his brother who was originally chosen for the position and had begun training was killed in a random street mugging. The moon called Pandora is where the story takes place and the people of Earth have begun mining operations for a precious metal found in the ground, but soon find that the local population called the Na'vi might prove to be a bigger problem than originally thought. Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver) runs the Avatar program, whose only goal is to try and understand how the Na'vi seem to form "bonds" with everything the touch, even the ground itself. Colonel Miles Quartich (Stephen Lang) is a bloodthirsty commander of the troops on Pandora who convinces Jake to help gather valuable intel on how the Na'vi hunt, where they live, etc.. so that he might use it in an attack later on. The Colonel gets his orders from Parker Selfridge (Giovanni Ribisi) a businessman whose only concern is the precious metal and he will do whatever it takes to get his hands on it.
The movie delivers a pretty clear message, people will stop at nothing to get what they want even if that means destroying or displacing an entire race. This movie has set the bar extremely high as far as special effects go. The whole time you are watching Avatar you truly feel like they are actually filming on location on some alien world.
The movie carries a PG-13 rating for some suggestive dialogue and violence.
I'm going to give this movie a 10 out of 10 because I really can't think of anything I didn't like while watching the movie. It has definitely earned a spot in my favorite movies of all time.
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