John Wick: Why Daisy had to die

***Review main contain spoilers***

A man believes he's put his dangerous past behind him. He's moved on. Gotten married, and is happy. That is until his wife dies, someone steals his car and kills his puppy.

When I first saw the previews for this movie I was in from jump. Why? Because Keanu Reeves is in it. I know, he's not the best actor and chances are he'll never win an Oscar but the man knows how to party. So with that said, I wasn't looking for stellar dialogue and awesome cinematography or any of that stuff. I expected a bloody explosion of gun fights, chase scenes and car crashes and that was precisely what I got.

John Wick loses his wife Helen (played by Bridget Moynahan - Blue Bloods)--not because of anything he's done but because of an illness-we're going to say it's cancer since they weren't specific and Cancer seems to always be the movie fallguy for terrible illnesses and deaths of loved ones. And he has no idea how he's going to go on. Then a night later (which is strange because I don't know a delivery company that delivers so late) he gets a delivery of a puppy along with a note from his wife telling him in order for him to learn to love another woman, he should start with the puppy. Now as you can imagine, he instantly clings to this thing for it was from his beloved and the pup's name was "Daisy" which they never explained why that was significant.  Anyways, John drives this kick ass muscle car (I think it's a Mustang Boss) to put gas in it with the puppy. These punks see him and wants to buy the car but John tells them it's not for sale because I mean come on! The car is sexy! They couldn't take no for an answer, breaks into his house in the middle of the night, beat him up, steals his car and killed his puppy.

Yes, ladies and gents--they killed his puppy.

John Wick then sets out to kill the guys who killed his puppy--but other people kept getting in his way so they too had to die.

It's a simple enough plot I think. Some may believe him going for blood for the death of a puppy is a little too much but you have to understand. Emotionally he was just gone because his wife is gone and the one thing he has left of her, that one thing he's placed his love into because she was dead was ripped from him too. That is what the lovely people of Criminal Minds call a "stressor" and had to be appeased.

The fight scenes could have been better choreographed. For example, one scene in a club where John is fighting with the bad guy's henchmen, he punched one guy, was about to shoot him when he realized the gun was empty. The guy stood there, waited for John to reload and shoots him in the head. There were way too may gaps--meaning the timing was off on many of the fight scenes.

And I cannot end this whole thing without the Hotel for Assassins. Who came up with this nutball idea? This is a hotel where ALL the city's Assassins hang out....at the same time....and all know each other....and are polite and cordial....and one bomb could have taken them all out! Now I know this is a movie and in movies we let things go and use our imagination but gimme a break! I mean come on! And I'm not even going to talk about the cop who knocks on John Wick's door after the neighbours complained of noise, looks in, sees a dead body and just go "well, have a good night John!"

That's another thing - with all this mayhem he causes in the city, dead bodies, car crashes, there was no one cop in sight except for the patrol officer at the beginning of the movie--say what now?

There were holes in the movie--I mean a lot of them--I mean mundo holes. The final fight scene was more than a little bit chaotic. The camera angles could have been way better and much tighter. A lot more work could have been done with this movie to make it something people could really sit down and enjoy--even with the superficial plot line. This had potential. I mean there were some awesome cameos in it like John Leguizamo and the guy who plays Coach in Death Race with Jason Statham as well Lance Reddick from Fringe - but I was let down.

I don't know. I'm a little on the fence with this one because I adore Keanu so hard and was really hoping it was something I could really gush about. But, it needs work--a lot of work.  Even William Dafoe's star power couldn't save this one.

If it comes on TV and you are home and bored and want something you don't have to think about, watch it. But don't expect anything major. I really don't think Daisy was avenged at all. Daisy was probably watching it going "dude, I died for this?"

*hugs*
KATO

REWIND - No go

The other day I fell into the youtube black hole--you know the one? Where you go on youtube to watch a certain video then get fascinated by one or more of the videos on the side and that leads to another then another and soon you've spent like three hours on youtube and have no idea how that happen? Yup, that black hole.

Anyways, I went on to find a trailer for a movie called BIG GAY LOVE - it has that guy who played Zander in Buffy the Vampire Slayer in it so that equals hilarious. Then suddenly more movie previews popped up at the side and I clicked and clicked until I crashed into a full episode (and apparently the only episode) of a tv show that was made for SyFy called REWIND. The premise behind this show is as follows - and this is in my own words, okay?

Old guy loses wife, goes nuts, built a bomb, puts it in the middle of New York City, turned himself in, refuses to talk even through torture about how to disable bomb even during torture, ex-military guy goes on and tries to talk him out of blowing up the city, old crazy guy refuses, New York City and its 9 million residents went Kabloo-ey, military guy gets thrown into prison (still unsure of what charge they'd file against him), then military creates a time travel program....

The minute I started watching this show, I fall in love with the main characters - to add to my racing heart, the best friends are interracial and I am a HUGE fan of interracial friendships. But the whole scenario seemed eerily familiar. Then ten minutes in and it hit me - HA! SEVEN DAYS! Seven Days starring Jonathon LaPaglia, Don Franklin and a few others. This show was basically about a secret government program called Project Backstep, where they send Jonathan's character, Frank Parker, back seven days to stop a major catastrophe that happened in present time. It lasted from 1998 - 2001 and was a major success.

REWIND is a similar show but it only lasted one episode - from what I could see before it was dropped.

I think the major issue with this is that there is not much creativity in television these days. Think about it--most of the successful shows on tv are so called reality shows--Big Brother, Survivor (that's been on for like 20 seasons now), Bachelor/Bachelorette, Wipeout, American Ninja Warrior and the list goes on and on--not much writing or creativity required.

So when people get tasked with finding new actual show that requires writers and researchers someone screws the pooch by getting and thinking brilliant! Let's do that! without actually going in and looking to make sure the idea wasn't actually out there already. And repeating an idea isn't bad--but you have to go in with the idea this was done before so how do you make it better?

Either way, this show did not make it past pilot - The acting wasn't all that bad and the premise was solid, they just shouldn't have assumed no one remembered Seven Days.

Kato

[LGBT] Undertow

**May contain spoilers**

An unusual ghost story set on the Peruvian seaside; a married fisherman struggles to reconcile his devotion to his male lover within his town's rigid traditions.

Miguel (Played by Bolivian actor Christian Mercado) is a fisherman living in a small village where he has a pregnant wife and a family. His community of friends and family is what keeps him going and he thinks life is perfect - That is until Santiago (played by Manolo Cardona) comes visiting the small town and Miguel's perfect life goes spiralling out of control. 

Where to start with this movie. You know when television stations have this thing where they give you a free preview for a month so you can check out some of their stations and after the month if you don't sign up they take the station away? I was lucky enough to have OUT TV for a little while at my place and one night I scrolling through the channel and noticed a movie was starting. I left it where it was on the channel and tuned in to this movie. I didn't know the actors and the movie was in Spanish. Even though I do speak some Spanish I was thankful the movie had subtitles. The moment the movie began I was sucked in. It started out giving a view of life in a small village and everything (the good and the bad) that comes with it.  Miguel seems happy at first but as you pay closer attention you see just how miserable he is and when he and Santiago get together, it just proves to him and the viewers what happiness is for he

Christian Mercado

laughs more.  But the truth of the matter is, in small towns or villages, secrets come out faster than usual and when they do, someone almost always winds up dead or in big, big trouble.

Even though life sucks, Miguel manages to carve out a routine - he'd spend some time with Santiago, basking in real love with this man, laughing and critiquing Santiago's art. Then he'd go home and cater to his wife who soon becomes pregnant.  He fights to be a family man, to hide his gay secret from the people he surrounds himself with and to be happy. Then Santiago dies and Miguel suddenly have the perfect boyfriend--well aside from the death bit. He can walk down the street with Santiago and hold hands with him for only he can see Santiago. But Santiago's death doesn't make life any easier for their love. If anything, death merely complicates it.  To make matters worse, they enter Santiago's place and found naked artwork of Miguel littering the place.

Manolo Cardona

This movie was heartbreaking. It shows what happens when you want to be true to who you are and what you are but life just doesn't want to corporate.  When you force someone to play inside a box that doesn't fit them it can lead to madness and when the smoke clears everyone and everything would be destroyed.  There is such a poignant love story in this movie, a love that transcends death and mortality. It didn't matter that the true love was between two men your heart will just sob for them. There is such misery in losing a life you believe is yours and no one else's. 

And when the person you love isn't the person society thinks you should love, what happens when the love Society endorses find out about the other? Do you fight for what society wants or what you want? Do you fight to save face and break your own heart or fight to do what's right for someone who, at least for a moment--however fleeting, gave you the best moments of your life and loved you more than you ever thought possible or could ever understand?

Undertow is a brilliantly written, wonderfully acted and the music--perfection. If you're looking to a movie that rewards you for watching and feeds you in ways you've given  up on movie ever doing in these days of remakes and superhero fluff, this movie will do it. 

Oh and have a box of kleenex or two handy, you are SO going to need it.

Hugs,
Kato

GODZILLA ***Small Spoilers*

The world's most famous monster is pitted against malevolent creatures who, bolstered by humanity's scientific arrogance, threaten our very existence (Imbd).

When I first heard they were going to make a new Godzilla, I thought here we go again. I mean, I don`t trust these remakes as far as I can throw them because most often than not, they screw it up. So let's break it down, shall we?

The movie begins with some 'historical' footage of people nuking things - am talking mushroom cloud kind of nuking. Fast forward years later to  1999 where Dr. Serizawa and his team are flown into the Philippines because a mine they were digging at caved in and they found some fossils and a weird looking cocoon thing hanging from the ceiling of the cave.  Around that same time, Joe Brody (Bryan Cranston - Walter from Breaking Bad) his wife and son live in Japan--a place called Janjira. He has a job like Homer Simpson at a nuclear power plant in Japan - and incidentally he works there with his wife and he's been picking up some strange readings--sorta like aftershocks from earthquakes and they're getting bigger, more forceful--to make matters worse, they're picking up major EMP interference.  All hell breaks lose when something cause the power plant to be destroyed, killing Joe's wife and most of the people working at the plant. 

Now skip ahead fifteen years, Joe's son Ford is all grown up (played by Aaron Johnson - Kick-Ass from Kick-Ass), a high ranking soldier in the army with a wife, Elle (Elizabeth Olsen - yes she's sisters with the twins). He just gets home when he gets a call telling him his father was arrested for trespassing in the quarantined zone - Janjira. Now Ford has to go back to Japan to save his father and somehow gets talked into going back to the quarantined zone. Soon, the two are caught up in a game of cat and mouse with two large cockroaches looking monsters and a Godzilla on the hunt.

For the beginning of the new Godzilla was slow. While I understood why it was like that, I couldn't help sitting there thinking, wow--it needs to move on already. About forty five minutes in, things picks up. Though it leaves some confusion as to where they're going with the story. While there are some things, militarily that would never go over well with the real military and the soldiers never once saluted or stood at attention when their superiors entered a space - that I found a little problematic. Why? Whoever research military procedures really screwed up on that end.  There were a few times when I thought someone didn't fact-check a few things and other times when I wondered what the point of a scene was for they carried the story to a certain point then merely let it go and you're left wondering.  There were a few times I found I was laughing with my friend because of something that probably wasn't meant to be funny. A few times everyone one else in the theatre erupted in laughter as well.

The movie was great - if you look past the typical nit-picking that I'm doing with this movie.  I mean what movie doesn't have some continuity/scripting issues? The graphics were stellar, the monsters, the crushed buildings--it was so real. The acting was amazing. I was very happy to see Bryan Cranston playing the role of Joe Brody. The new spin of the Godzilla monster was something I welcomed, even found myself cheering for the him. Aside from a few Godzilla fat jokes but that as it. Sitting there, watching the newly designed model tear ass from Japan to San Francisco, I was positively giddy. 

All in all I had a great time with this movie aside from the typical.  If you want a good, kinda scary, plenty of eye-candy movie with monsters galore, then check this movie out. If you're obsessive compulsive about military procedures then you may want to skip it but everyone else - you will enjoy GODZILLA!

Hugs,
Kato

Gang Related - New Series on FOX

So, for a few weeks now I've been seeing ads for this new show coming to FOX called GANG RELATED and I figured, wow, okay, this looks promising. Then again I try not to get attached to shows on FOX because we all know what happens - They get canned like FIREFLY and ALMOST HUMAN - yes my friend, ALMOST HUMAN went the way of the dinosaurs. 

Anyway, I watched GANG RELATED what a load of bullshit! (pardon my French) but come on. Who writes this stuff? It's the same racist crap they've been trying to shove down our throats since forever. Well I guess Racist is such a strong word let's downgrade that to stereotypes--and not in the best of ways either. The question now becomes -  Why is it that this show has a visible minority cast and they are ALL dirty? Think I'm overreacting? Let's break it down-- oh and Bee-Tee-Dub, if you're going to watch this piece of crap, you may not want to read the following because there WILL be some spoilers.

1. The Korean cop has links to the Korean Mafia. The only saving grace is I LOVE Sung Kang (From the Fast and Furious movies - he plays Han)
2. The Hispanic cop (that dude from HOSTEL that got his fingers cut off) who should be the lead good guy turns out he's a dirty cop who is just on the force since his "adopted" father is the head of a Mexican mafia and his primary job is to find out when the cops are gonna go busting the others so he can go report it to his mafia 'father' - and this guy is also in love with his brother's girlfriend--oh wait, scratch that, fiancée 
3. The ONLY African American's in the first episode are a bunch of uzi totting, crack smoking bad guys
4. The Caucasian male - (That old dude from LOST and 5-0 - Terry Quinn I think his name is) is the head of a group of good cops on a task force .
5. A Caucasian ADA (that chick who played Quinn in One Tree Hill - come now ladies I know our eyes were somewhere else but she was in there, I promise- who incidentally is the daughter of the head of the task force *eye roll*
6. Another blond guy who is a part of Internal Affairs
7 Rza - he's in it and is a cop on the task force - I think- but you see him like twice in the whole episode but apparently he's in 10 episodes so far.

What makes me really upset? The in your face stereotypes in this television show. Trust me, you are not doing us any favours by putting on a television show with the main cast being visible minorities and still making them gun-crazed, disloyal, dishonest, egotistic assholes that no one can like.  

I think this television show is a load of crap. The acting is shitty, the writing is boring and it is the SAME old the Mexican has to be Mafia, the Korean has to be in a gang, the black has to carry around guns blowing crap to kingdom-come and the white guy always does the right thing and saves us all *eye roll* how predictable? The only thing missing from this barage of crappy stereotype is the black guy dying first!

Don't waste your time  (it's horrible) and don't get attached (it's on FOX). Go watch LONGMIRE over on A&E, it's better writing, better characters and a better soundtrack.

Kato

A Man from Nowhere

A Man from Nowhere is about a quiet, pawnshop broker with a mysterious past must take on a group of drug and organ dealers to save a little girl--who is his only friend.

Cha Tae-Sik (played by Bin Won of MOTHER) is living his life as a simple pawnshop broker in a quiet part of town. He wants to be left alone but this adorable little girl, So-Mi (played by Sae-Ron Kim from Can you Hear My Heart ), who's mother is a stripper and drug addict who by the way started this whole train going to hell to begin with by ripping off a drug drop. So-mi spends her time hiding from her abusive mother at Cha's place and painting his nail while he's asleep. She is so adorable.

Needless to say Cha goes on a rampage to find his little angel after she's taken by the drug dealers. He's calculated and methodical. He doesn't speak much with his lips but he has a way about him that makes the badguys quiver--not enough from stopping them from trying to kill him or pissing him off. They always end up paying for it in the end. This character is fabulous. His a mixture of Neo from the Matrix with kick ass martial arts abilities and the precision of trained killer. Then he looks at little So-mi and you can see his heart melts and something forms in his eyes and you melt right along with him. This movie was the first Korea movie I've seen so far that I have given five stars on Netflix. Why? I love it that much.  For those who love a good love story - this isn't that kind of movie. If you love blood and gore, knife wielding, gun brandishing, heads blowing off, blood spewing from amputation - then this movie is for you. If you're a girlie girl you may wanna go watch something else--something a little cutsie.

Bottom line, this movie is for all those action movie lovers with just the right hint of heart to make it sizzle and draw a few tears.

Bin Won

Sae-ron Kim

Hugs,

Kato

Leave It On the Floor

When his homophobic mother kicks him out of the house, Bradley (played by Ephraim Sykes of Dance Flick, SMASH, 30 Rock ) falls in with the House of Eminence trying desperately to fit in and make the most of a bad situation. This movie started out breaking my heart. It had me wondering how a mother could treat her son so unfairly and full of hate. She called him a loser, and that was the last thing she said to him before he left the house with his things to live in his car.

Leave It On the Floor is an amazing movie full of music, heart break, love and so much soul. If you're not tapping your foot to the beat or wanting to get up and run-way walk through your room/house then you have no pulse. There is just something so catchy and endearing and just so spectacular about this movie and I don't precisely know what is it. It touched on the reality of some thugs who are out there, gay but has this reputation to uphold so they are on the down-low. It shows what happen when people lack respect for those around them and the repercussions of being young and foolish at times.

 This movie shows the ignorance that's in the world of people who can't put their hatred aside, even through loss and hardships. It's a sad narrative on the way most of us are; we see "gay" before "human."

 All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed Leave It On the Floor. I would highly recommend it. Oh and have a box of kleenex handy because you're going to cry, laugh, sing, dance--it's an amazing roller-coaster ride.

Hugs,
Kato

A Company Man

As you can see I found the foreign film section of Netflix and I've fallen heedlessly in love with the Korean movies.  All week I've been eyeing the poster on Netflix for A Company Man and with my schedule I just didn't have time to look at the movie much less watch the whole thing. But I've decided to start treating myself to some good views. I do pay for Netflix so I might as well make good use of it until GRUDGE MATCH comes out along with the new Riddick.

So, A Company Man stars So Ji-sub, Lee Mi-yeon, Kwak Do-won and Kim Dong-jun. When his new trainee gets killed on the job, an ambitious corporate assassin feels an obligation to take care of the kids family--but he takes his eyes off the ball and all hell is about to break lose.  

OMG! Where do I start!? There are so many deliciously good things about this movie I have no clue how to break it all down.

Oh first thing's first, this movie is IN Korean so you must be okay with reading subs to enjoy it.  But even having to read the subs did not take away from this movie. 

So this movie started out in a way that Hollywood movies wouldn't. We already know they'd start out in someone crap blowing up. But this is NOT a Hollywood movie--this was filmed in Korea. So their styles of making movies and writing is WAY different than ours. With that said, this movie blew me away at how intricate the story line is.  This company basically kills people, that's what they do undercover but above ground they're just a metal company. When Hyeong Do (played by Ji-Seob So) begins having second thought about his job and wants to get out of it, the people he's gotten close to are now in danger, right after they ordered him dead.  This movie doesn't have any high flying graphics but the action was amazing! Ji-Seob's character was so good. He plays the character perfectly--It was like Jason Statham meets Jackie Chan meets Rain meets Bad Ass and I loved it. 


The dead look in his eyes as he realized what he's been doing was wrong and the way it seems his soul was lost just broke my heart. Everything he did after that killed a little more of him, breaking him to the point where he just focused on his goal and kick some serious tail!

There were a few parts that had me blinking and going, "erm." But other than that I appreciate the closeness to real life. There were parts that made me cry and other parts had me giggling and going "awww."  The ending I appreciate though I would have liked to have seen a romantic connection but you will enjoy this movie.





hugs,
Kato

Tidal Wave [Haeundae]

Professor Kim, a marine geologist, recognizes the impending danger of a mega tsunami headed straight for Haeundae, a popular vacation spot on the south coast of Korea. He desperately attempts to warn authorities and alert the unknowing vacationers of the 500 MPH destructive force of nature headed their direction

This movie was getting some pretty bad reviews on Netflix but I generally watch them stuff and make up my own mind about them.  This movie wasn't as bad as everyone else was saying. One moron gave it a one start review because he didn't "like reading the subtitles because then couldn't focus on the movie." That review doesn't exist to me because if they tell you the movie is in a different language, going in you should expect subtitles. I really don't understand people who watch foreign films then their biggest issue with the movie is the fact it is not voiced over in English.

So here's my take on this movie.

A South Korean scientist kept trying to warn everyone he could about what would happen if a piece of an island breaks off during seismic activities in Japan. He told them it could cause mega tsunami but no one would listen - not his colleagues or his ex-wife (mother to his daughter who didn't tell his daughter she had a father).  They

didn't declare a disaster in time and soon it was too late. A giant tsunami - I'm talking massive is bearing down on Korea and the town of Haeundae is right in its path.

To make matters worst, the characters are going through all manner of issues from one brother falling in love with a wealthy man's daughter and having Hench-men beat him up, to another who manages to cause this elder man to die and now must take care of the man's daughter and his son (who by the way the mother walked out of his life and left him to be a single father) and his mother is a certifiably nutso. Then he had to deal with his uncle, who's trying to buy him out so they can build some state of the art condo/mall thing on their land--their private lives were hell.

This movie doesn't deserve a one star rating.  Sure, its not perfect and not a five start but its a three star at best. The emotional journey these characters went on just broke my heart. It was written in a way that was so real. If someone got hurt too bad they died and some characters were created just to die - there was no other possible outcome if the story was to work. It was raw and scary and after a while I kept thinking "OMG these writers are trying to kill me!"

There was some laughter and a lot of tears but all in all it was a pretty decent movie.  There was a strange humanity about this piece that shocked me. The way it ended wasn't all nice and sweet. It was a sort of happy ending but not the kind you'd think. If you like disaster movies - not MILLION dollar movies but a good disaster movie with great acting and raw emotion then watch this.  You might just enjoy it.

Kato

Bridesmaids

Competition between the maid of honor and a bridesmaid, over who is the bride's best friend, threatens to upend the life of an out-of-work pastry chef - IMBD

I know, this movie came out in 2011 starring Melissa McCartney, Kristin Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Rebel Wilson, but I didn't believe in the hype of it. I mean gimme a break. I often times never watch these popular movies until long after the crazy behind the whole thing dies down. This movie was no different. Anyways, so I went in being highly skeptical about the whole thing and while I enjoyed it immensely, I didn't see what was such a huge deal about it. Sure, Melissa McCartney (Mike & Molly and The Heat) was hilarious and just priceless, and the storyline was somewhat original, but I'm not sure how Rebel Wilson's career took off after it for you barely saw her in the movie.

It was good for some laughs, of course, and some tears which brings me to the bit where Maya's character was supposed to be serious for a bit. I just...I don't know...I think the casting was a lil wonky there. I think Maya and Kristin should have switched characters. For some STRANGE reason, I cannot take Maya seriously at all. I am so used to seeing her in comedies.

But bottom line, would I watch this movie with a bunch of my girls while drinking wine and eat junk? Hell to the yes! It is just that funny.

Kato

[New Show] Almost Human

Once again, FOX has managed to developed a show with RAW potential. Almost Human stars Michael Ealy (Underworld Awakening and Sleeper Cell) plays a DRN Android name Dorian and Karl Urban (Star Trek and Dredd - Just in case you didn't see DREDD because you just KNEW like me it would SUCK he was also BLACK HAT in the movie Priest) plays Detective John Kennex. Not really sure how they came up with that lastname because it is a tad strange but it works. The show is about in the future where human cops must work with an Android partner.  Right off the bat, this show start in your face and rough--gun battle, cop being tough headed (well duh! Without a hard-nosed cop who isn't afraid to break the rules to get the job done, the show wouldn't work). The one thing that bothered me at the beginning was they explained why the detective dislikes Android in the first few minutes. If you don't pay attention you could quite possibly miss the reason but its there.

Anyways, Detective Kennex wakes up after about a year and a half in a coma. They went into a bust, turns out it was a trap and his whole team gets whacked, including his partner who he blames an Android for leaving them there to die.  Anyways, he wakes up and they tell him he MUST get a partner--an ANDROID partner. He is not pleased and the first partner met with an...er...untimely demised after he took a dive out of a speeding car. They then gave him a new Android partner since no other Android partners were available and it is one of the "crazy ones" as Kennex called them--a DRN model. These were made to be as HUMAN as possible. Which meant they can process feelings, has free will (to certain degrees). Apparently the DRN Dorian went buck while a while back and some bad shiz happened.

Now I waited until after two episodes to write this and even after then I was on the fence about writing it yet. I wanted to wait until after the third episode. But I decided to write this since I have to PVR the next episode because I might be working.  Anyways, here is what I think.

Almost Human has REAL potential. This show had me laughing so hard sometimes I find I had a tear in my eyes; especially when Kennex say things like "Never scan my balls again!" But the show also has heart-break and sadness and evil - I know it's only two episodes in but trust me. If you like this kind of look at the world--at what would happen if we gave over total control to robots - I mean these Androids make decision based on calculations and not heart - hence why Kennex's partner died. Think of the iRobot effect and the three laws. Only, these robots don't seem to have those three laws.

The first time I saw the commercial for this show, I wasn't entirely sold on Karl Urban. Let's face, it I don't remember him doing a TV show before and the first time I ever took notice of him was in Star Trek (though I loathe to acknowledge the existence of this movie). But he plays Bones in it then again in PRIEST and in that I wanted to strangle him because he was  bad guy. Karl Urban - Detective Kennex - is great as the tall, dark, handsome and deeply flawed character. I rather enjoy is brooding, his snappy come-backs and his bad-boy, rouge cop attitude. His has a leg that keeps talking and I wish he'd finish charging the thing, at least to make it shut up lol. Watch the show--you'll see what I'm talking about.

Michael Ealy - Plays Dorian-the first time I saw this man I couldn't help thinking what beautiful eyes he has. To be quite honest, he was the one character in the commercials that drew me to the show. The first time I noticed this actor was in Barbershop as Ricky Nash. And then from time to time I would be watching something like The Good Wife or Hawthorne and he'd pop up and I remember him but didn't really know what his name was until I used him as inspiration for a

novel I am currently working on. He plays a fan-tabulous DRN and I was pleasantly surprised how well he plays off Karl Urban.

Okay, so he makes a great DRN like I said. He seems to put Kennex in his place and that is something that comes as a fresh air and is needed. He isn't stuffy but for some reason just brings off an air of authenticity that I never expected.

All in all, I am enjoying Almost Human. There is something very, utterly original about the whole thing. The casting is great. While the captain is a woman, and I dig that - I am not wild about her. She has no personality and is a little stiff. Though she is written as a no-nonsense woman with a heart, it doesn't really come off because her smiles don't seem genuine.

So I will be keeping my eyes on him.

Minka Kelly (Gabby in Parenthood) is in it as Detective Stahl - I think she's going to be Kennex's love interest--I think...so far, I am not sure what I think of her character. I have to wait a few more before I can size her up.

So, yes, that was a little on the long side but I am enjoying this new show. Let's hope FOX keeps it around, but we have to wait and see.

Hugs,
Kato

What's Your Number?

A romantic comedy starring Anna Faris (The House Bunny) is a woman looking back at the past twenty men she's had relationships with in her life and wonders if one of them

might be her one true love.

This movie also stars Chris Evans (Captain America) which I have to admit is a perfect pairing because the two flows off each other amazingly. 

Now the movie is a simple enough concept and I have to admit I never want to see Anna Faris playing a serious role because it wouldn't sit well especially after The House Bunny. Sure, this movie isn't a stroke of genius. It's your typical romcom that you can pretty much tell how it's going to end (maybe it's the romance author in me but I could see the ending the moment Chris Evan's character, Colin, is introduced. 

The bottom line is, I didn't expect Citizen Kane brilliance. I expected a few laughs, a few moment when I cringed and think was that TRULY necessary?  and other moments where I just shook my head with a quick roll of my eyes. Though I have to say strip basketball was something I never thought of before.   What I expected going in was what I got from this movie. I was shocked at a few more laughs than I expected but that is always a good thing. For the holidays or if you're stuck in an airport because they decided your flight is going to be late or your plane hasn't even arrived yet, this won't be a waste of time - it would be an amusing pass time.

Hugs,
Kato

Can't Curry Love

**LGBT MOVIE**

A handsome East Indian from London visits India, falls for a local guy, meets a trans-gendered 'hijra', and discovers a country he only thought he knew - IMDB

This is a short I found on youtube but I had to watch it. It's not at all ike Cinderfella or even anything I've seen before. I don't think it's right to call it a movie because it was only about twenty five minutes. You have to go into it and take it for what it really is. It's funny and cultural and romantic.  The thing about this little flick is, it was long enough to make me wonder about the characters, like his boss, or the trans-gendered encounter. It had the ability to be a much better full length film. I hope they consider it.

Anyways, awesome short.

Kato

Handsome Harry

**LGBT movie**

An ex-Navy man carrying out the last wish of a dying shipmate renews contact with old friends to break the code of silence around a mysterious, long-buried crime. IMDB.

For months since I signed up for Netflix, I've been seeing this movie in my recommended movies. I'm not particularly sure why because well, I hadn't at the time watched any LGBT movies on Netflix. But since it was still in my list, and it was scoring four and five star ratings and reviews I thought I should check it out.

Well, it was a waste of time. I'm watching this movie thinking, come on! Give me something! One girl said how it was a testament to human nature and our society and I'm watching this movie thinking what a load of crap! I continued to the very end of the movie thinking it just HAD to get better. I was wrong.  So it is about a man, seems to be a lady's man in the small town, who left his life in the navy behind and seemed to be doing quite well until his old navy buddy is on his death bed calls him.  So it sends him hurtling back to this night when they all beat the crap out of another sailor because he was gay. Okay, good premise so far right? Here's where the wheels fall off - or started to fall off - Harry goes to meet with his friend who quickly dies then sets off on a mission to get his friend (or himself) forgiveness. It's not clear which.

The movie was one big musical montage of sorts--at least it was good music--but he spent the whole movie driving from one state to another, finding these old Navy buddies who hates his guts - one guy was wealthy but disowned his son because his son is gay, then the man's wife left with Harry who spends a night in a hotel with her making love - I was so put off by this I almost stopped watching. Then one is now a born again Christian who in the middle of Harry asking about what happened back then tells Harry to "give your life to Jesus." I know it was a serious moment but the way he said it and the way it happened I burst out laughing.

Anyways, the movie was horrible. No one learned anything from any of it-not their actions in the past and not the life they were living. They all grew up to be well to do people who are miserable human beings. They were hollow and superficial almost as if the writer didn't bother digging into their lives and putting it on the screen. I was left feeling ripped off and outright irritated I'd wasted so much of my life watching the movie and got nothing from it.

By the time the movie ended I seriously wanted to cry because it was like watching the ending to THE SOPRANOS all over again. I was left falling off a cliff with not proper closure of anything which a movie like Handsome Harry should have.  The two saving graces--well three--were Steve Buscemi (the creepy guy singing He's got the Whole World in Con Air and from Boardwalk Empire) but he was only in the movie for a grand total of like five minutes and Jamey Sherridan (The captain from Law and Order: Criminal Intent and Robert Queen from The Arrow) who plays Harry. Then there was the music -- Amazing, AHH-mazing music. I was happy to see Campbell Scott (he plays(ed) Boris Kuester von Jurgens-Ratenicz in Royal Pains) in it as the older version of the kid they beat up. Both he and Jamey gave me some older man eye candy so that was good as well.

Bottom line, don't waste your time.

Campbell Scott - as David Kagan - the victim in Handsome Harry

Kato

[New Show] Sleepy Hollow

Normally, I would wait until after a couple of episodes before writing something like this but I'm not sure if I'm liking this show or hating it or just mildly amused by it. The story of Sleepy Hollow and the headless horseman and Icabod Crane has always been a favorite of mine. When I began hearing mutterings of them making it into a TV show I was for it--surprisingly--when I heard it was being developed for FOX, my heart broke. You see, FOX has this habit of discontinuing television shows that has promise but are either too cheap or too impatient to back. Want proof? One word FIREFLY. Enough said. Anyways, I ramble.

Now back to Sleep Hollow.

The story is modern take on the classic we know. Icabod Crane (Tom Mison - Secret Diary of a Call Girl) dies during a mission for George Washington (yes, THAT George Washington). He gets into a fight with this beast looking red coat and though he wound up killing said beast, he died from a blow from the beast. He awakens in 2013 in the Town of Sleepy Hollow and so does the Headless man he "killed" in about 1703.

This is something Abbie Mills (Nicole Beharie - Woman Thou Art Lose: On the 7th Day) doesn't need. But when her and her partner gets a call out and her partner ends up being beheaded by a headless man with an axe - there is no way she is going to join the FBI in Quantico now.

So this is where the story is.

This section could contain spoiler so stop reading here if you haven't watch the first episode yet and intend to.

Apparently her and Icabod are put together to now solve the strange happenings of the small town and try to keep the world from ending by the arrival of the Four horse men of the apocalypse. There are a few noted names in the first episode that did not make it to the end of the episode and this includes John Cho (yes, that John Cho from Star Trek as Mr Sulu. But most notably from the Harold and Kumar franchise.) It shocked me to see that John plays a bad guy who ended up with a broken neck in the end by some strange, axe-headed thingie before Icabod and Abbie could question him. He was actually working WITH the headless horseman, which kind of made no sense to me because the horseman was awakened with Icabod so when did he get time to turn a human? Or was the character human or something else?

Now, here's where I get a little iffy on this new series:

Issue #1 - While as an aspiring actress myself, and I support giving new actors a start, it is strange to expect a show like this to survive with relative unknowns. Nicole Beharie who plays Abbie was only in one show I've heard of and Tom Mison was in a host of things but nothing really notable except the Call Girl TV show that didn't really survive that long. They tossed in John Cho but he was dead by the end of the episode and then there's Orlando Jones who plays their Captain. He was in Drumline, Madtv, The Boondocks. But I don't his star power is strong enough to save this show from FOX's axe. I am worried it will not make it so I wouldn't get too attached.

Issue # 2: This show is on FOX.

I will watch the second episode and see what I think. I wouldn't write it off either. It has promise but lets face it, as the guys from Terra Nova, Firefly and the numerous other shows that didn't make the FOX grind can tell you, no show is safe.  But a little tip, do not watch this show online. They have to count your viewership. If you watch it online it does not count (maybe on the FOX website it might count).

Anyways, check it out. It has mystery, creeps and Icabod is not bad to look at.

hugs,
Kato

Bones - Season Premier - *YAWN*

Finally! After almost a week of avoiding all my friends who watch Bones I finally caught it on a rerun. And the series premier had me shaking my head thinking stinking Pelant is starting to piss me off! And WTF is up with him and clocks?

So here's the run down of where they ended off last season. So Bones proposed, Booth said yes then Pelant calls and their world went downhill...AGAIN...this means he forces Booth to change his mind about marrying Bones who can't tell he why or Pelant will find 5 random people and whack 'em. So now Bones doesn't know why Booth suddenly changed his mind about marrying her and she is upset, questioning everything, their whole partnership--its not going to be pretty when Booth gets his hands on Pelant.

The season premier was filled with temper, anger, hatred and all around misery. Now here's where I say if you haven't watched the season premier yet and you ARE going to watch it, on your PVR or on Netflix later stop reading now. I'm serious, skip to the next review...one moe chance.... 

Still here? Cool beans. 

So Booth and Bones around each other and not talking is painful. It's almost heart wrenching when they go to solve the case of the guy who wound up dead in a giant industrial fan and have to work together. Cam tries talking to Booth, who swiftly told her to mind her own business, Angela tried working with Booth but only wound up screaming at him because he's breaking Bones' heart and should be ashamed of himself. I almost stopped watching it was so painful.

Booth and Bones try to have lunch together but you could have cut the tension with a knife.

Still, Booth tries to get Bones to go with him to the victim's place for a second visit but she tells him to take Sweets who wound up getting kicked on his behind by a random stranger in a grey suit who turned out to be a CIA agent and ex military from Booth's past and they seemed to be friendly! And you will NEVER guess who that agent was!

Now if you don't know who this guy is, it's not your fault. He hasn't been doing much since his days as a heart-throb in movies like She's All That, I know What You Did Last Summer, I STILL Know What You Did Last Summer and a bunch of other teenie, early twenties kind of deal movies. But this is Freddie Prinze Jr. aka Mr. Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy Summes from Buffy the Vampire Slayer - the series. The truth is when I saw him in this episode of Bones all I could think was OMG! Freddie got HOT! lol. 

But back to Bones, for those of us who still heart this man hard, the victim's apartment was scrubbed - CIA style - and Freddie's character is the one who they sent to do it. I know what you're asking. You're screatching her head at this very moment wondering what the CIA had to do with Booth and why this victim? Well my very amazing friends, they were involved because somehow the victim works or worked for the CIA and since they couldn't confirm nor deny we've watched enough movies and TVshows to know that is always code for he did work for them lol. Anyways, some say this episode was just to set up Freddie as a regular character in season 9 of the hit show.  It was a weird way to introduce a new character to show him twice in the episode for a grand total of about five minutes all together then expect people to want to see him for the rest of the season. I'm not sure what to make of that. Maybe they have a plan or maybe they just didn't know what else to do and decided to just, throw it out there and see what bounces back. 

In the end, Freddie aka Mr. CIA owes Booth a favour (Which I couldn't understand how that happened that the big bad wolf of a CIA now owes Booth a favour) but I guess we'll find out what that means later.

But, Bones, pissed off that Booth didn't want to marry her, tries to make sense of it all and tries using science to say Booth has fallen out of love with her and was going to strip clubs. Everyone around her thought it was laughable until she handed them proof--a match book from a place called Paradise Lost. Turns out its a bar owns by one of Booth friends, a ex priest turned bartender who Booth still confesses to even though he is no longer a priest (Mather Zickel) and think Booth holding the secret that Pelant is blackmailing him is a bad idea. 

Eventually, a woman's intuition won out and Bones goes to Paradise Lost and had a good talk with the ex-priest. Now, Bones and Booth have an understanding. Bones agrees to wait until Booth was ready. 

My overall take of this - I was not a major fan of this episode. Yes, parts of it was well written but I think there was a better way to get Freddie's character in there without the way he was introduced. I mean really? Who are they fooling? Booth chases a CIA agent, corners him in an empty school bus, both pointing guns at each other, had a few words, both put their guns away and CIA agent runs away and Booth just lets him! I mean in some ways I understand since they knew each other and Booth has had dealings with the CIA before he probably knew questioning this agent was a job infutility and he just didn't have the patience for it. But either way, it could have been done better.

The Pelant story is getting severely old. I've spoken to a few people who felt the same way I felt at the end of the episode. If they're going to run this Pelant story for the whole whole season I won't be watching it. I mean how long can they go on with it?  The writers of this arc is asking too much. Think about it...they expect us  to believe that Booth is a kick ass sniper--what are the chances he's going to shoot at serial killer who framed his woman for murder, tortured his friends and committed numerous murders and only catch a part of him? Let's be real here. If you're going to write a character to be such a bad ass, he's not going to miss, moving target or not. Let's be real here - Snipers don't shoot to maim because they are the last resort. Snipers shoot to kill and the good ones, like Booth don't miss from such a short distance.

Still....Okay, I'll bite. 

But there is only so much suspension of my belief I'm willing to divulge here. I am quickly running out of patience with the writers in this show. They know what the fans have come to expect and dragging this story on for more than another episode or two is just asking for trouble. So with that said, I say this, the fans these days are like kids with ADHD - if they can't get satisfaction from your show, they're going to get it from somewhere else. And Sleep Hollow is shaping up to be one helluva show. So guys move on, Pelant is an ass, we get it...that gravy train is swiftly pulling into the station, move on already!

Hugs,

Kato

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is a movie about a group of British seniors who, for one reason or another, get to retirement age and realises, oh snap! We don't have enough money for retiremen. They all see this ad about a hotel in India called The Best Marigold Hotel and decides, this paradise is where their retirement funds can be stretched to give them a wondeful rest of their lives.

The moment I first saw the commercial or this movie, I wanted to watch it. I'm not sure why. I've never been a huge fan of Judi Dench--I mean I never disliked her, it's just that I didn't seek out he movies to watch. I know her from being James Bond's handle in the new movies, and again as a Dame but she wasn't an actress I was goo-goo over. And I didn't know Bill Nighy (Viktor from Undeworld: Rise of the Lycans and Slartibartfast from Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy) and I definitely didn't know Dev Patel (Jamal of Slum Dog Millionaire and Prince Zuko in The Last Airbender) was in it. But from watching the previews I was absolutely enamoured with this premise. Maybe I'm biased because I love travel and the idea of picking up everything and just going somewhere to start over after your curent life just keeps kicking you in the grapes.  But for whatever reason I never got around to seeing the movie. After getting Netflix, it kept popping up in the recommended movies because I watched a part of another movie Late Bloomers that I just couldn't get through. 

So finally, I gave in, clicked on it and watched.

First let me say this. There were parts of this movie that was slow--and I'm not talking about a beautiful stillness I found in Ciao -- this was slow as in they could have edited out that bit. But those moments were few so its still a worthy, funny and heart-wrenching movie to watch.

The characters in this movie are many so I'm just going to push the main ones for length state and to avoid giving away too many spoilers.

Evelyn Geenslade (Judi Dench) just lost her husband and gets the shock of her life when she finds out he's heavily in debt. Not only that, in order to settle it, she has to sell the house she raised he family in to settle said debts, her son is taking control of everything and talking about her to the real estate agent as if she's not even in the room. She'd be damned if she goes to live with him like he planned and she'd be doubly damned if she allowed him to take care of things like his father did.

Then there's Graham Dashwood (The Lone Ranger, Batman Begins) a court judge who is tired of the retirement parties and the pretentious speeches they do every--single-time someone is retiring. He's in the middle of one when all the suffocating bullshit of these speeches and fake smiles applauds got too much and he merely lifted his hands and walks away.  As a young man he lived in India and has his secrets buried deep inside about why he's going back.

Douglas Ainslie (Bill Nighy) is married to Jean (Penelope Wilton - Isobel Crawley in Downton Abbey, Harriet Jones Doctor Who) and lord have mercy I felt sorry for poor Douglas. His wife Jean nagged, and complained, and bitched and OMG! This is a woman who tells him that "if she wants your opinion, I'll give it to you" when all he did was bend over backwards to please her. They are in India because well, Douglas' daughter wanted start up funds for a .com company so he leant her his and Jean's life savings expecting a good return on the money. The company didn't lift off the ground. So he's in his own version of hell on earth.

Muriel Donnelly (played by Maggie Smith, Mother Supeior from Sister's Act and Violet Crawley Downton Abbey) is a racist who after years of taking care of a household in England as her job, they hired a newer model and thanked he for her services. Now she needs a new hip and the doctor told her the best place she can get this done, cheaply and quicker was India. Oh the humanity!

Then there's the horny old man who just wanted to feel young again and the grand mother, tired of being treated like a babysitter to her grandchildren, who just want to be loved again.

The story picks up greatly in India at this hotel that isn't this grand, amazing, palace like the ad said. The phones don't work, most of the rooms have no doors and there are birds sleeping in some of them. They meet Sonny (Dev Patel) who is a dreamer - who sees the bright side of life always even though nothing ever went as he planned and he never succeeded at anything but he needs the Marigold Hotel to succeed because if it it doesn't he cant marry Sunaina (Tena Desae), the absolute love of his life because his mother will never allow it and he'll disgrace both Sunaina and his mother by being a failure.

Though The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel didn't get too deeply into Indian culture, they did touch on the Untouchables and what happens after you bring dishonour to your family. It's a heartbreaking concept that still happens there. And I was glad they at least touched on that part of the many other aspects of Indian culture.

This is a movie with a little of everything-love, sadness, arrange marriages, gay love and death. It is a spectacular vision of Indian sunsets and tuk-tuks and the speed and craziness of the rush of the country. It is a movie to move you, make you laugh then sob like a fool when the world has finally betrayed Sonny and he just let it all hang out there. It is a tale of second chances and finding love and adoration in the strangest places.

Though some parts, as I said before, could have been tightened up a little or deleted, this movie is still a classic and I know you check it out. You will not be disappointed.

Hugs,
Kato