Ready to see Star Trek Into Darkness

Well, in just at 16 1/2 hours, I will be watching Star Trek Into Darkness. I have waited less than patiently for this film for months now. And of course J. J. Abrams has been VERY tight lipped about certain details of the film. Namely who the bad guy is. Speculation has been rampant and there are basically two camps. He's Mitchell or Khan. 

I personally am pulling for him to be Khan. Interestingly enough, the iMDB is now showing him listed as Khan. (A few month back it listed him as Khan/Mitchell) However, I'm not 100% sure this isn't just a ruse by Abrams to foil us movie nuts. I did see a blurb today that listed him as something completely different, like John Harrison or something generic like that. 

What's really killing me is that when I got home from work today and mentioned to my wife that I realized that the show did in fact open on the 15th and not the 17th, (I was trying to talk her into going tonight.. LOL) she informs me that she is aware of WHO the bad guy is and knows the ENTIRE plot of the movie from reading it online today! Then she starts teasing me about how she knows. But worst of all... she starts to pester me about allowing her to tell me what she knows. So far I have resisted her attempts to thwart my desire to be surprised tomorrow when I see the film.

So no spoilers here... Just one excited nerd... ready to see some kick butt Star Trek action!

See you at the movies!

-Red

www.jeffjake.com

Iron Man 3

Of course I went to see Iron Man 3 last night. Of the lengthy list of movies this summer, it was on the must not miss list. I have several that will have to be seen in the theater, no if ands or buts, and this was one of the first cannot miss movies to hit the theater.

I went with some very comic book savvy guys and they had some complaints about how certain characters were handled. Myself, I didn't notice. I don't read comic books so I didn't have any preconceived notions that could be smashed by the movie. I would like to add that both my friends still said the liked the movie and would buy it when it came out on DVD. So apparently, the rest of the movie made up for the slight.

I will say that for me, this may not have been the best out of the trilogy. At times, I felt like the movie drug along a bit. And... There is never enough action for my taste. It's a rare movie that I say, wow, I just couldn't take one more bit of action. Even though it may not be my favorite, I will be buying the DVD along side my friends.

Overall, I would give the movie 3.5 to 4 stars out of 5.

-Red
www.jeffjake.com

Easter Eggs... not the kind the bunny brings

Have you ever been watching a movie and realized they put something in from another movie or TV show? Maybe on a bill board in the background or something.

For instance, in the movie Aliens -

When Ripley confronts Burke about his having told the colonists on LV426 to check out the alien-infested derelict spaceship, she says, "I just checked the colony log. Directive dated 6/12/79, signed Burke, Carter J." This is not a random date: it's the release date of the original film.


The one that I recently found out about really was cool. It's from the movie Indiana Jones - Raiders of the Lost Ark. As you may know, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas collaborated on the movie. What you may NOT know is that George Lucas' C3PO and R2D2 make a cameo appearance in the Raiders movie. Don't believe me.... here is the proof....

The two lovable droids are part of the hieroglyphics behind Indian Jones (AKA Han Solo).

Look for more Easter eggs in future blogs.

-Red

www.jeffjake.com

Movies, Movies, Movies!

Man O Man.... this summer is packed with some great movies. I'm going to have to increase my entertainment budget. I've seen some summers that had two or three movies that I wanted to see... but this summer is crazy! The roller coaster starts April 19th and picks up speed from there.

Here is my list of must see movies for this summer:

Oblivion
Iron Man 3
Star Trek Into Darkness - Still upset that they haven't revealed who the bad guy is...
Fast and the Furious 6
After Earth
Man of Steel
World War Z
The Lone Ranger
Pacific Rim
Red 2
The Wolverine
300: Rise of an Empire
Riddick
Ender's Game... It made the list, but I'm not 100% yet
Thor: The Dark World
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

LOOK AT THAT LIST! Isn't that nuts? How is it possible that so many cool movies could be releasing in one summer... Well I use the term summer loosely. The Wolverine is July 26th. The rest are later in the year. Still What an epic year of movies!!

So what's on your list? Do you have some must see movies coming out this year? I'd love to hear from you, leave a comment and let us know what you'll be watching.


See you at the movies!


-Red
www.jeffjake.com

The $5.00 Bin

Have you ever sifted through the movies in the $5.00 bin at Walmart? I can't believe some of the good ones they have in that bin. I'm a movie nut, so I check it frequently. Today I scored two great titles. The Island and Timeline. For five bucks each... that is a BARGAIN! The even had Batman Begins in the tub. (I already had that one)

That brings me to a bit of a soap box. Why is it that they have to charge you $19 to $24 dollars for a new release? I just don't get it. Someone is making a boat load of money. You know it cost pennies on the dollar to knock out the DVD's. They stamp those babies out like pennies. 

Of course the answer is most likely that they are having to pay "royalties" to some movie company. That's okay... I rarely buy a new release from Walmart. No need to. Our local movie rental store after about three weeks stickers them for $9.95 for a used blu-ray copy. AND... they guarantee that copy for 30 days. Thats a good price in my book.

How about you? Do you buy movies on DVD? Or do you just rent a copy?

What floats your boat?

-Red

www.jeffjake.com

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Twitter @MortisG187

Email jeff at author@jeffjake.com

Be sure to check out all my books at Barnes & Noble or Amazon.com

Popcorn

I like popcorn... No scratch that... I LOVE popcorn. When I was a kid, mom had a cool popper that you would add the oil and kernels, then watch it pop through the yellow dome. When it was done popping you would flip it and the dome was your bowl. Remember those poppers.

Now its all microwave. And that's okay... but sometimes I miss the oil covered goodness my mom used to make us. Salt won't stick to the stuff that comes out of the microwave. But with that oil popped... Oh yeah baby you could salt that stuff up gooood! I think air popped is the worst. NOTHING sticks to that stuff... And it's like eating cotton balls... ZERO flavor. 

When I was a kid, I always wanted to try the pans that you would put on the stove and the aluminum would expand into a dome as it popped. Remember those?

Mom never let me get one. : (

While popcorn at home is really good.... You can't beat popcorn from the movie theater. I swear they have some kind of addictive substance they put on that stuff. I cannot go to a movie and not get a popcorn. When I try to walk by the counter without getting any, I go into some kind of popcorn melt down. Once I made it all the way into the theater... sat down... and two minutes later I was standing at the counter getting popcorn. Does anyone else have this problem? Please... let me know if I'm not alone.

Pop it up!

-Red

www.jeffjake.com

www.facebook.com/jeffreyrjake

Twitter @MortisG187

Email Jeff at author@jeffjake.com

Take Me to the Movies!

Well I just watched the newest trailer for The Man of Steel. Next summers reboot of the Superman franchise. I almost geeked out over it as bad as I did the Star Trek Into Darkness trailer. It looks like they have given the supreme superhero a much grittier edge.

While it certainly looks cool. I know several people that are upset because they didn't just continue the Smallville cast to the movies. I think it's a legit question. They did it with Star Trek and Firefly.


So that brings me to my question for today. There are lots of movies that have used multiple actors for a main roll.

• Batman
• Spiderman
• Hulk
• James Bond
• Superman

I could go on, but I think you get the point. For me, at times, it can be disruptive. For instance, if they tried to replace Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man... I think heads would roll. For me, it was hard to see anyone other than Christopher Reeves as Superman. However, in other instances, I've adjusted well to the actor/actress change. I didn't have any problem moving on from Roger Moore as James Bond. (That is I've liked Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig)

So do you have a favorite actor/actress for a character that you hold dear? Have they been replaced? Or do you think they need to find someone better to play your beloved character?

Let me know your thoughts.

Until next time, here is the trailer for The Man of Steel.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/11/man-of-steel-trailer-superman_n_2278084.html?utm_hp_ref=entertainment

-Red


Follow me on Twitter @MortisG187 or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/jeffreyrjake

You can email me at author@jeffjake.com

www.jeffjake.com

The Mojo of Music

Here the other day I was driving in the car with my son. Like always, I had my iPhone hooked into the radio playing some of my recent downloads. I happened to be playing Adiemus. I wasn't to far into the track when he says, "Dad, this music is really relaxing." That comment opened up a whole discussion on how music can affect us.

We talked about the types of music that can relax you, and the types of music that can get you excited. For instance, Enya, for me, is very relaxing (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTrk4X9ACtw). On the other side of the spectrum, I pulled up the music from the rave scene in the movie BLADE (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKzqZY24gWg). It was a great talk about how music can influence our mood. I told him music is powerful. It can lift you up, get you excited, or even depress you.

From there we moved on to discuss how music can be used in movies to elicit an emotion. I pulled up the sound track for Batman: The Dark Knight. The composer used discordant tones every time the Joker was on the screen. I showed him how this music was deliberately set to put you on edge (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kRtLDeUKnI) when the Joker was on screen. Then we talked about how boring a movie would be without music. Most scenes that we call epic, would be nothing more than a fizzle with no music.

Here is a link that shows the difference. It's from one of the classic movies of all times, Jaws. The audio isn't the best, but I think you'll get the idea. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2K-YedETiI

So what gets your foot tapping? Who relaxes you and who fires you up?

-Red


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