Last Be Reel- Infinity War

Over the years, the world of Marvel has conjured a web of tales of superheroes and human anomalies that, eventually, all begin to cross paths into a complicated story line.  After carefully laying the groundwork, we are emerged into Avengers: Infinity War by the writers of Marvel.  Thor, Iron Man, The Hulk and other key Marvel characters join forces against the evil Thanos.  Their mission:  to overtake the powerful Titan Thanos and his posse by collecting the six powerful gems called The Infinity Stones. Doctor Strange explains that each stone is the offspring of the Big Bang.  They are Mind, Soul Space, Power, Time, and Reality and they make the world what it is.  Thanos plans to collect all the stones first and use his special designed device to wipe out half of all existence throughout the Galaxy.  The Avengers must race to keep Thanos from succeeding in his evil plan.  True to Marvel cinematic excellence, the film is action-packed with suspense around every corner. The film starts right where Thor: Ragnarok left off with Thanos attacking the Asgardian refugee ship. In the attempt to stop Thanos Thor and Loki turn The Hulk loose on him in hopes of stopping him. After it looks like the Hulk would succeed, Thanos fights back and humiliates The Hulk making him look like a child. This is the last we see of Hulk in the rest of the Movie since he is too embarrassed to come out and fight again. Thanos, already having one stone, pushes to have Loki give him the second stone. Loki refuses so he threatens to kill Thor and soon enough Loki gives in. He later tries to kill Thanos leading to his demise. This is that first of many dealth’s that would occur in this film. Thanos will obviously slaughter countless extras but he will also bring down main characters. Thanos did not only kill others but he killed his own daughter in pursuit of his obsession. In order to obtain the soul stone which he needed to sacrifice what he loved most and although he did not love much, he did love Gamora. Therefore he had to throw her thousands of feet to her death. After being only two stones short he goes to Titan to retrieve the time stone where the avengers come very close to defeating him but its all ruined by starlord. Thanks Chris Pratt you screwed us all. Ultimately Thanos gets all the stones in the end and snaps his fingers and suddenly disappears. People begin to fade away and turn into nothing. It is very sad to see as now all that is left of the hero's are the Original avengers as the rest are dead. But soon to follow is a scene where Nick Furry calls up Captain Marvel who is the most powerful hero of all. So what does this mean? Are they all dead forever? Will Thanos finally rest? Will Captain Marvel save us all? Guess we will all have to wait and see.

What sets The Avengers: Infinity War apart from all others is the fact that it has been six years in the making.  Marvel released the first Avengers movie in 2012 where Iron Man, played by Robert Downey, Jr, Thor, played by Chris Hemsworth, The Hulk, played by Mark Ruffalo, Captain America, played by Chris Evans, Black Widow, played by Scarlet Johansson and Hawkeye played by Jeremy Renner all team up to take on Loki played by Tom Hiddleston who terrorizes New York with an alien army. What is unclear is where this alien army came from, but is revealed that none other than Thanos sent the alien army and Loki as well. Since this time all Marvel Movies are pointed in the direction of Infinity War. This movie makes all of the previous Marvel movies look like mere subplots in anticipation of Thanos coming. On top of this even though this film is PACKED with people, every hero gets their moment to shine. What also makes it unique is that the good guys do not win. The cliff hanger ending leaves everyone with one looming question:  “Are all the superheroes actually gone?”  Here is a video that explains how they could come back.

https://www.thewrap.com/most-plausible-avengers-infinity-war-fan-theories-spoilers-marvel/

Be Reel Blog: Heathers

       Heathers, directed by Michael Lehmann is an 80s classic based in a regular high school setting. Veronica Sawyer (Winona Ryder) miraculously makes it in the most popular clique in school, "The Heathers." The leader of the three, Heather Chandler (Kim Walker) is a sociopathic tyrant who terrorizes everyone and claims to be teaching kids "real life." After Veronica gets fed up with Heather's cruel shenanigans, she seeks out help from the dark, but strangely attractive new guy, JD (Christian Slater). What starts out as innocent revenge quickly turns into a vile plot in offing the popular kids ans staging them as suicides.
     
     Me, and a lot of us being born into a post Columbine world, where stuff like this is no longer shocking, but on the rise thought to myself they can never make a movie like this again. During the 80s when this movie was being made, it was such an outlandish idea that something as crazy as students killing other students would ever happen. Viewing this movie then, as opposed to viewing this movie now are two completely different experiences.
   
      If a movie like Heathers was made today, it would be considerably made in poor taste, because of our country being number one in school shootings and mass murder, but for this movie to be made in the 1980s and be considered a funny teen satire then, goes to show how much we as a society have changed in the past 30 years.
 
     The movie itself is in a typically obnoxious 80s style. The characters themselves don't have too many layers or dynamics. It is very straight forward in that sense. Veronica sticks out from the rest, I believe this is 100% intentional. She had the option to graduate elementary school and go straight to college. She felt her incredible IQ was being wasted on "choosing what kind of gloss to wear" She later uses it in a terrible way, by forging suicide notes for a manipulative JD's agenda.

     Heathers was an instant staple in film history and became an 80s cult classic, but there will never be anything remotely similar again.

Recommended: The Lost Boys, Freaks and Geeks, 16 Candles
     

Be Reel Trailer Park Boys Netflix vs. Original

Trailer Park Boys season 8 was the first season of the show made after the actors for Bubbles Ricky and Julian acquired the rights to the show. They then began producing season 8 in a partner ship with Netflix. Season 7 ended with a happy ending, everyone's story lines where wrapped up and everyone lived happily ever after, it was hard to think about how season 8 could pick back up from that. Season 8 started like the first episode of the original with a new contract v for the camera crew that follows the main residents of sunnyvale. The show got a new level of shine the show was in HD which in my humble opinion made it lose some of it's charm. It took me a little bit to get used to the new level of shine but after a couple of episodes I grew to like it. while I still miss the old Trailer Park Boys that I grew to love the new episodes are very promising It's helped given the show more of a mainstream appeal and if more people watch the show the higher the rates get, and the higher the rates get the more funding the show gets from Netflix and with more money means higher quality episodes. I'll always miss some of the classics jokes from Trailer Park Boys like the Swayze Express  Patrick Swayze's prized model train. I have even more laughs to look forward to in the seasons to come. My only real concern with the new Netflix episoides and what they are going to do to deal with the death of John Dunsworth the actor who played Mr. Lahey the lovable bumbling drunk bi-sexual trailer park supervisor but I guess I'll have to wait until season 13 comes out. All and all the Netflix episodes are GOOD || GOOD   although it will never be the same as the Pre-Netflix days it's still as funny as every


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Hells Kitchen Be Reel

What a sad day indeed. This is not only my last entry, but everybody else's final be reel blog entry. But fear not, for there are now countless new television programs and movies that have been recommended. As for me, my final recommendation is yet another Gordon Ramsay show- Hell's Kitchen. 

Not too long ago I did a review of Kitchen Nightmares, the sequel in many ways to Hell's Kitchen. Gordon Ramsay's television empire all began with Hell's Kitchen. The structure is a reality television show that follows a progressive elimination format to narrow down a field of 12 to 20 aspiring chefs to a single winner over the course of the season. The grand prize which is awarded to the last man (or woman) standing is typically the head executive chef of a successful and prominent restaurant as well as $250,000. The show is primarily filmed in a modified warehouse in Los Angeles which includes the actual restaurant, side by side kitchen facilities, and dorm rooms where the chefs live while on the show. At the start of each season, Chef Ramsay breaks the chefs into two teams. The red team always consists of the women applicants, and the blue team is made up of the male applicants. The odds of being selected for this show are extremely slim considering that every year there are tens of thousands of people trying to get some screen time. This structure of gender divided teams is normally followed up until the very end when only two people are left. But Ramsay will occasionally put one woman on the men's team or vice versa to add more challenge in the kitchen or if he feels there's too much drama. Every episode begins with a challenge followed by a dinner service later in the same day. When the red team or the blue team wins a challenge, they are rewarded with some sort of recreational activity outside of Hell's Kitchen. For example, one of the episodes that I watched earlier today showed the men's team getting the opportunity to fly to Las Vegas for the day and stay in a VIP suite at Palms Resort.  On the contrary, Chef Ramsay always makes the losers stay inside the restaurant and do difficult, menial work for a punishment. This can be cleaning all of the rooms, prepping both kitchens for the next dinner service, taking large deliveries of food, wash both teams' clothes, and so forth. 

From an objective standpoint, the purpose and structure of the show are well formed. I enjoy shows that involve some sort of competition where someone gets eliminated at the end of each episode. Since the contestants are always chosen at random, the group of people in Hell's Kitchen is always diverse in experience and skill. For the vast majority of the time, Chef Ramsay is berating the men and women on goth teams. As the expediter, he has to check every dish that leaves the kitchen and make sure it is living up to his impossible standards. Shockingly, most dishes are prepared incorrectly and have to be made again. Almost all the dishes are sent to Chef Ramsay grossly under cooked or overcooked. As teams that consist of all chefs in some capacity, it's hard to believe that most of them can't properly create the appetizers, entrees, or deserts. In addition, I enjoy the editing present in Hell's Kitchen. Every episode there is some sort of dramatic feud that takes place or somebody makes themselves look like a complete fool. When something entertaining happens, the emphasis of the show is put upon that and non diagetic audio is always added to enhance suspense or comedy. A perfect example of this is present at the end of every episode when one or two people from the red team and blue team are put up for elimination based on their poor performance. The dramatic music in the background always kicks in and keeps you guessing who will be sent home.

As I've previously stated in my review of Kitchen Nightmares, my favorite subjective aspect once again in Hell's Kitchen is Ramsay's quick temper and assertive presence on the show. He screams at members of the red and blue team during every single dinner service if they are not living up to his standards and often flings insults at them. Furthermore, I really enjoy the moments of comedic relief when they're available. Ironically enough, Ramsay is actually very friendly and funny outside of the kitchen. Sometimes he accompanies the winning team on one of their rewards and behaves in a completely different manner. He is always very kind, making people laugh, and expresses his pride in whoever wins the show and the head chef position grand prize. 

My final rating of Hell's Kitchen is Good Good. Here is a video of the signature dish challenge in season 10, the introduction to every season. Watch it here. 

Be Reel Blog - Jurassic Park 3

Jurassic Park is one of the most iconic film series of all time. Almost everyone has seen the original Jurassic Park and a lot of people are big fans of the rest of the series. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is the 5th film in the series and actually came out today. However, before we can get to that movie we're going to focus on the third film in the series, Jurassic Park III. In my personal opinion, Jurassic Park III is the best film in the series (I still haven't seen Jurassic World or Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom). This is for a few reasons, for one Jurassic Park III is more of a horror film than an action film. In the 1st and 2nd Jurassic Parks most of the movies are trying to figure out how to research and tame the dinosaurs but in the 3rd film it's simply attempting to escape the island while being chased by dinosaurs. In the beginning of the movie we see a paraglider crash land into the dinosaur infested island. Next Dr. Alan Grant claims he will never go back to the island because he almost got post traumatic stress and almost stopped being a paleontologist. Later, wealthy couple Paul Kirby and Amanda Kirby bribe Grant to fly over the island. Grant would bring his young colleague Billy Brennan with him. While flying over the island Alan notices the pilot is going to land and he questions what he is going. Another guy on the plane knocks out Dr. Grant and when he wakes up they were already landed on the island. As it would turnout Paul and Amanda were actually not rich business men; They were the parents of the paragliding kid from the beginning of the movie and they wanted Dr. Grant to show them around. There's one problem though, Dr. Grant has never been to this island so he has no idea what he's doing or where he is. The rest of the movie proceeds with these characters making an attempt to escape from the island while being chases by velociraptors. They get chased by velociraptors because Billy stole their eggs but no on else in the group knows that he has eggs. Billy said he took the eggs to try and get money for continuing their research project, and when Dr. Grant finds out he is really, really, mad at Billy for not saying anything. The velociraptors are now able to talk to each other and communicate better than primates are which creates for even more tension and is pretty much straight out of a horror film, Think about it: blood thirsty dinosaurs chasing the main characters throughout the movie is terrifying. On top of the velociraptors, there's T-Rex's and other menacing prehistoric beasts out there trying to get a snack. In Jurassic Park 1 and 2 this is just simply not included. They are more about making cash by testing and protecting and showing off the dinosaurs. So in conclusion, it's quite clear why Jurassic Park III is the best Jurassic Park of the first 3 for the reasons mentioned above.

This film can be rated as a good good because subjectively, I loved it and objectively, I believe it was made excellently. It was subjectively great because of the most of the things I said above and also, who doesn't enjoy watching people run for their lives from the biggest creatures that ever roamed the earth? I know I love it and I'm sure you will too. Objectively, it's a Steven Spielberg film which means it already has an excellent, credible director behind it. On top of that this film has some of the best editing I've ever seen. It is not easy to make a film with fake dinosaurs and people interacting with said fake dinosaurs. This movie is easily on my top 10 films of all time list and I would recommend seeing it as soon as possible. It has an excellent plot (that is easier to watch rather than write about) and once seen you will fall in love with the series. Before you see this movie make sure to watch Jurassic Park and Jurassic Park II: The Lost World and then enjoy Jurassic Park III. Afterwards, make sure to finish the series by watching Jurassic World and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. I truly believe this is the best series of all time (yes better than Star Wars or Harry Potter) and can't wait to see the new movie. Sit down, grab some popcorn and candy, and get ready for the ride of your life, when you watch the good good film, Jurassic Park III.

Be Reel Blog - The 40-Year-Old Virgin

While scrolling the Netflix's catalog of movies and shows, The 40-Year-Old Virgin caught my attention. With Steve Carell as the main character and a great supporting cast, I knew it was going to be a great movie, and I was right. Spoiler alert ahead by the way for anybody who has not seen this movie yet. This movie, directed by Judd Apatow in 2005, is about the awkward, geeky Andy Stitzer (Steve Carell) who collects action figures and lives a very bland life trying to finally lose his virginity with the help of his coworkers David (Paul Rudd), Jay (Romany Malco), and Cal (Seth Rogan). Andy's coworkers try everything to help him with his sex life. David gives him a big box full of pornography to help him get more comfortable with sex, the guys take Andy to speed dating to practice talking to girls, they set Andy up with a prostitute to try and get it over with but the prostitute turns out to be a transvestite which Andy did not like in even the slightest amount, and they let him hang out with them to socialize more and meet girls. In the store Andy meets a girl named Trish (Catherine Keener) who gives him her number and they eventually go out on a date. Andy still is not comfortable with sex yet by this time and the two agree to not have sex until they have gone on 20 dates, unbeknownst to Trish that Andy is still a virgin and is nervous about having sex. Once the 20th date comes to a close, Trish is ready to have sex but Andy is still very hesitant and gets flustered. He storms off to a nightclub and gets wasted after they get into a big fight about why he does not want to do it after all this time and goes off with a girl named Beth (Elizabeth Banks) from the club to have sex. After her daughter tells her to make up with him, Trish leaves her house to find him to apologize. While Beth is warming up for Andy, he gets scared of her and goes home on the advice of his coworkers who followed him to Beth's house. Andy goes home to find that Trish found all of David's pornography and starts to think Andy's trying to kill her, so she runs off with him frantically biking after her. After he finally catches up to her and crashing through a double sided billboard, he finally reveals to her that he is a virgin and was nervous about having sex for the first time. She understands and they kiss in the middle of the street. Some time later the two get married and finally Andy loses his virginity.

The decisions this movie makes really make the film as good as it can be. The costumes on all the characters work very well in showing how each character is personality-wise. Andy is nerdy and socially awkward, and his more formal costume conveyed that personality to perfection. David, Jay and Cal's casual clothing shows that they are more outgoing and laid-back. The character's work uniforms tells the audience what their job is in the store, for example the uniform of gray shirt with no tie shows that a character is a stock supervisor while the blue shirt uniform with a tie shows that a character works on the sales floor. The acting further supports each character's personality, as Carell acts childish and antisocial for most of the movie which tells the audience that he does not like to go out much and that he would rather spend his time by himself while Rudd, Malco, and Rogan act confident in their endeavors, showing that they have experience in what they do and that they like to go out and live life to the fullest. The set designs really send home what a character's personality is like. Andy's place has action figures all over the place, affirming the fact that he is geeky. Although we do not really see where any of Andy's coworker's live, the places that they go like the nightclubs and speed dating places set in stone that they like to meet girls and try to mingle. Overall, I give this movie a Good Good rating and I highly recommend anybody who likes Steve Carell's work to check it out.

Be Reel: Life's Journey - Life; Planet Earth

Similar to one of my most recent blogs, “Be Reel Blog : Planet Earth Two” I'm going to review another series that is also documentary based around planet Earth and everything this beautiful blue marble has to offer to us. In this series Life; also done by the people who produced Planet Earth. And it is also voiced over by the same voice actor David Attenborough, making watching this series a relaxing yet informing series.

Ever since I got hooked into watching nature documentaries with Planet Earth I Can't seem to find myself wanting to stop.  The series just like all the others this series provides countless hours of pure entertainment with the cost of just a subscription to Netflix. But what differs this from the other planet Earth series is how well organized and structured it is.  the series is split into 10 different chapters that reach from primates living on the savanna of Africa all the way to jellyfish in the depths of the Mariana Trench. No matter what you feel like watching, you can! Personally when I find myself winding down at night before I go to bed I like to watch at least 30 minutes of an episode before falling asleep. the beauty and the pure entertainment that it gives me is on comparable to any other television series. I absolutely recommend this to you if you love watching nature documentaries just as myself.

Ever since I was little I was always interested in environmental studies and everything that the Earth has to give us. With this being my last Be Reel Blog, I'm headed off to college. I plan on attending Rutgers for a  bachelor's degree in Environmental Studies. These films don't only teach, but also give me more and more energy to strive to better myself in this topic.

This year in Film As Literature has been a blast together, and best of luck to everyone in college.

Here is a preview on the Plant's episode if interested:

Other Recommended movies:

Frozen Planet

Blue Planet

Nature's Great Events

Planet Earth

Final Be Reel Blog - Silicon Valley

Silicon Valley is a TV show aired on HBO and is based around computer coders. The show stars Thomas Middleditch as Richard Hendricks, Zach Woods as Jared Dunn, Kumail Nanjiani as Dinesh, and Martin Starr as Gilfoyle, all of which are excellent actors and all hysterical. The show was created by John Altschuler,  Mike Judge, Dave Krinsky and it was first aired in 2014. The show is about a coding team named Pied Piper that is constantly coding different programs. Their first was just a compression algorithm and now they have pivoted into a completely different idea. In season 5 Richard and the Pied Piper team have decided to make a new internet. Pied Piper wants to create a decentralized internet so that it isn’t controlled by anyone. The internet will be spread worldwide. They plan on accomplishing this by spreading the internet across everyone’s phones and everyone will have a tiny piece of the internet stored on their phone that will take up a minimal amount of storage.

Season five starts out with Richard Hendricks and the rest of Pied Piper attempting to hire a staff of about fifty. This is new for the team because in the past they have only been a team of five. Later in the season Pied Piper starts to have their first eight companies join onto the network to beta test it and so they have server space to run the internet. Everything was going well until one of the companies put artificial intelligence onto the platform. The owner of that company was unhappy with what the artificial intelligence learned when it was connected to the internet so he decided to attempt to crash and destroy the new decentralized network. It was up until the very last second that thing were looking bad but the team ended up saving the network and they moved on without that company.

The internet needs to be connected with multiple devices so when each person gets onto it they own a certain portion of the network. In the season finale two companies are attempting to get to be connected with their own devices and they are trying to reach fifty one percent so that they can gain complete control of the internet. Pied Piper is attempting to stop this and it is a fight to the end  to make sure that they don’t lose control over the network. They end up saving the network by making a patch to send over the network but before they send it out they need to regain fifty percent on the internet so they team up with this gaming platform that a friend of theirs created to get a bunch of other users to join and team up with pied piper. After this was done they uploaded the patch and regained control over the network for good. At the end of the episode the team bought a huge building that used to be their competitors work space and are now working there for the next season.

This show is one of my favorite shows to watch and I can never wait for the next season to come out. Each season only has around eight to ten episodes in it so that is the one downside to it. The show thrives in the comedic aspect mainly because of how they use all the stereotypes of coders and introverts. In the show Richard Hendricks has panic attacks often so he has to visit the doctor. These scenes are always funny because the doctor always either messes with Richard or in one scene he explained how one of his patients made the same mistake as richard did and ended up trying to kill himself but failed to do so and now that person is blind. The doctor then goes on to explain how to properly commit suicide to Richard and that is where the comedy comes in because it is ridiculous for a doctor to explain how to kill yourself. Another way that the show uses comedy is through some of the people who are “Normal” pointing out what is typical in programers. One of the areas that this was used was in a scene that Gavin Belson, the CEO of Hooli, noticed all programmers travel in groups of five and they always have the same type of people in each group.

I would highly recommend this show to anyone who likes laughing and also knows a little about technology. This shows has me laughing out loud every single episode that I watch.   

Below is the best moments from all the seasons

This is a trailer for Season 5 

Be Reel: The Incredibles

The Average Family is More Incredible Than You Think

The Incredibles is a 2004 action/adventure animation box office buster, directed by Brad Bird. This Pixar animation starts out with the protagonist superhero, Mr. Incredible (Craig T. Nelson) finding true love with the one and only Elastigirl (Holly Hunter). The two superheroes create a very average middle-class family with new identities as Bob and Helen, because all superheroes and superhero activities had been banned by the government due to past trauma. Bob and Helen adjust to their new average life, have three kids, and a small house in the suburbs. Years go by when Bob finally cracks under the life of being average, goes through a midlife crisis, and gets himself fired from his cubicle job, right as opportunity knocks to be incredible once again. He takes the mission, and heads for a volcanic island to battle an out of control robot. Though Bob took this mission thinking it would only be a one-time thing he realizes how much he missed being super and takes more missions. Helen sees Bob getting into shape and sees an increased amount of income and positive attitude which she really enjoys at first. But when she eavesdropped a phone conversation between Bob and his employer she becomes skeptical of what he is doing during the day. Helen finds Bob by the tracker put in his new super suit and flies a jet to the island leaving her three kids at home with a babysitter. Everything is going smoothly until she finds out that she is not the only one on the plane.  Her first two children, Violet (Sarah Vowell) and Dash (Spencer Fox), had secretly accompanied her on the mission to find Bob. They are inevitably separated and that is when they are at their weakest, but the family together can’t be stopped and that is how they save the day.

This movie was made by Pixar and it generally targets young ages due to an easy to follow plot, basic jokes made, and teaches lessons that are important for kids to know. The Incredibles draws all kids in because who doesn’t love a good superhero movie, where the audience can look up to a girl, boy, or even baby superhero. This movie paks in the right amount of action, romance, and family bonding that makes it enjoyable for any viewer. The post-millennials fell in love with the Incredible family made a second appearance on the big screen June 15, 2018, and made $180million in the box office, blowing past Finding Dory. I imagine this is because the older generation is going crazy over the fact that an Incredibles 2 came out and even the young kids now are very excited about it.

Something interesting that the writers do with the characters is that who they reflect what their powers are. Mr. Incredible or Bob has the superpower of super strength. This relates to the fact that he is the one who has to be strong for his family because he is the “man of the house”. He is married to Elastigirl, also known as Helen. Her power is being able to make her body stretch any way she wants. The power relates to the fact that she is the mom and needs to be everywhere at every time, especially for her kids. Her first kid is named Violet and she had the power to turn invisible and make force fields. This relates to who she is because when she is shown at school she is very shy and introverted, so she keeps to herself. Her younger brother Dash and he has super speed, mainly because he is a young boy, and always needs to be doing something. Their youngest child Jack-Jack is just a baby, and his power is that he can shapeshift but it is hard for him to control making him unpredictable much like babies are.   

Personally, I really enjoy watching this film because it never fails to entertain the audience and it is a classic movie for the generation and I would definitely rate it "good good". The Incredibles was such a success when it came out that the creators decided to make a sequel, and the second movie did even better on its opening night that it is the best domestic start ever for an animated movie. This movie shows that family is always there for you even when you turn your back on them. When Bob secretly took a job to be a superhero again, he was working alone, just how he liked it. What he didn’t realize was that you are stronger with family and that even though he wasn’t telling Helen where he was going she, and their kids had his back when he was in trouble. I would recommend this movie to anyone that wants to revisit childhood, likes action, adventure, or someone that doesn’t like to think too much about what they are watching. The Incredibles is definitely a movie that will take you back to being a kid, and I can guarantee that it will be added to your list of classic movies.  

Related Movies:

Incredibles 2

Toy Story

Finding Nemo

Up

Be Reel Blog: Thor:Ragnarok - Sean Patrick Scully III

Thor:Ragnarok: A Hidden Gem?

As the last preceding film before Avengers:Infinity War, one of the largest grossing films of all time, Thor:Ragnarok did not receive much publicity as all attention was geared towards Avengers:Infinity War, however publicity is exactly what this film deserves. The movie revolves around the life of Thor (played by Chris Hemsworth), God of Thunder, starting from the most previous film he was featured in Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015). While this is a huge gap, and much has happened in the Avenger's cinematic universe since then, Thor thoroughly explains for the past few years that he has been attempting to find Infinity Stones but to no avail, and this plays a crucial part in the following movie Avengers: Infinity War, so I have no problems with the absence of Chris Hemsworth as Thor from the big screen. Aside from the plot itself, Hemsworth also does an excellent job playing as dynamic as a character as Thor who at most times must be the ruthless, powerful God of Thunder, but at other times a comedy piece for the audience. The film also includes stars Tom Hiddleston (Thor's brother, Loki), and Mark Ruffalo as the Hulk. While these are also great dynamic characters, we have seen them before, but what is enjoyable about Thor: Ragnarok is the new characters they introduce such as Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie, and Jeff Goldblum as a creepy, futuristic power figure.

Anyways, the plot of the film is objectively eventful and enjoyable. It begins with Thor fighting a huge creature that is supposed to spell the doom of his home planet, Asgard. After conquering that, he discovers that his father, the King of Asgard, has been put on Earth, and his brother Loki has taken his place and pretending to be King of Asgard. The pure dynamic between Loki and Thor is the most unique connection between two characters I have ever seen on film. Eventually, Thor and Loki's father warns them that their long lost sister, who is more powerful than them, is coming to take over Asgard, and as soon as he says this, he vanishes into death. While now, the main plot has turned towards fighting this new "sister", it takes an extreme turn when Thor gets misplaced in a teleportation realm where he ends up captured as a Gladiator, and is forced to fight his friend, the Hulk. Eventually, they both join forces to escape, and inevitably face the evil sister, who unfortunately is played by a sub par actress, but the on screen fighting and story line is still very much enjoyable. When Thor loses him infamous hammer in a fight with his sister, he realizes he must hone his own powers with the help of his ghostly father, and then finds the power to eventually defeat his sister, and kill her. This leads to the end of the film that takes us directly into Avengers: Infinity War, which was the perfect set up for this plot, and the development of Thor throughout the next movie.

Subjectively, as a huge fan of the Marvel cinematic universe, this was a very enjoyable and well-timed film. While the huge aspect of the film was setting up the plot and characters for the next film, it still kept us completely entertained as the fight between the Hulk and Thor ensued, inevitable trickery between the brothers Thor and Loki, and the introduction of new characters. Overall, I would rate this movie a good:good, and highly recommend it to anyone.

If you enjoy this film, I suggest checking out any other Avengers films as there is a huge list to choose from but specifically:
Avengers: Infinity War
Thor
Iron Man 3
Doctor Strange

Be Reel Blog - The Kissing Booth - Tori Flynn

The movie the Kissing Booth premiered on Netflix on May 11th, 2018. Elle Evans (Joey King), a pretty, late-bloomer who's never-been-kissed, decides to run a kissing booth as a fundraiser at her high school's Spring Carnival. She unexpectedly finds herself locking lips with her secret crush- the ultimate bad boy, Noah Flynn (Jacob Elordi). There is one problem however, this bad boy is her best friend, Lee's (Joel Courtney) older brother. The two best friends have a friendship pact and rule #9 specifically states that it is absolutely off limits to fall for siblings. Elle's life is turned upside down when she realizes that she must ultimately make a choice: follow the rules she has with her lifelong best friend or follow her heart. I read online somewhere  when this movie first came out that the film combines classic tropes of the genre and that it is like a  a low-budget mishmash of “Pretty in Pink,” “Never Been Kissed,” and “10 Things I Hate About You". Personally, after watching this film I thought it was alright and I probably wouldn't watch it again. It is just like every other movie out their in the Romantic Comedy genre. It was pretty predictable and you could tell how each scenario was going to play out. In the film there were many conventions all other rom-coms follow. Some of them were the conventions of the bad boy, the forbidden love, the single parent, the best friend, everyone gets what they want, the typical prom scenario, the happy ending etc;.  *SPOILER ALERT COMING* However, there definitely was a twist to the genre convention of the couple always gets a happy ending. When Elle picked Lee over Noah it definitely broke the standard cliche that the girl always gets the guy. Until 10 minutes went by, and she cried to Lee about how she loves Noah and then Lee immediately forgave her and then Elle got to have Noah. It was because of their rules again. Rule #18, Always be proud of your best friends successes. Overall I would rate this movie about a 4/10. It is a good movie to watch if you are bored and you have nothing else to watch but it isnt something I would watch again. If I was going to recommend this movie to someone these are other movies that I think parallel The Kissing Booth, A Cinderella Story, She's the Man and Mean Girls. For those of you that wanna watch movies that have Noah, Jacob Elordi, in them here is a link to his IMDb page.

Purple is the New Black - Black Panther - Be Reel Blog

Recently, I had the pleasure to watch the film Black Panther, directed by Ryan Coogler. This film was about T'challa, the new born king rising to the thrown after the death of his father. When a new foe arrives in his home city of Wakanda, T'challa has to fight off Erik Killmonger, Wakanada's new born threat in order to save his home from it's demise.

Spoilers...

The movie begins with a foreshadowing story, which is hard to understand at first but makes a lot of sense later on in the movie. This scene showed the motive for the antagonist's plan for Wakanda's future. T'challa began to retaliate in the begging against a man named Klaue, who stole an artifact from a museum containing a special element called vibranium along side Erik Killmonger. This element is the main source of power and energy in Wakanda, it is part of the reason why their home is technologically advanced. Keep in mind, Wakanda is in fact hidden from the outside world, so for this element to be found out by the public is a big issue (considering they want to sell the element). T'challa, does his best to take down Klaue, and succeeds to stop him, only to strive Killmonger for more greatness among himself.

Killmonger starts his new journey by killing Klaue, and challenging T'challa to battle for the thrown. Killmonger proceeds to win this fight, making it look as if he has killed T'challa (even though fans and viewers can tell that he hasn't died). Eventually, T'challa is brought back to life with magic from within Wakanda culture, and he proceeds to fight Killmonger in a battle against exposing Wakanda and Vibranium to the public eye. In the end, T'challa becomes victories and saves his homeland from its fate.

Wow. That is the first word that came to mind when watching this film. Black Panther, directed by Ryan Coogler has to be by far one of my favorite Marvel Movies of all time. The entire thing was just an immaculate display of action at all the right times, nothing overdone, and all the right perfection. Chadwick Boseman did an amazing job as T'challa, the Black Panther himself, and Michael B. Jordan was the perfect actor to play the villain in the story. I absolutely loved his new suit, and the idea that Wakanda's technology is still advancing to this day! The two suit designs instead of one was great foreshadowing of the soon to be battle between the black panthers at the end (T'challa and Killmonger). I knew during this scene that there was a reason for having two suits, and at first I thought that they would be used in different occasions for different reasons, but instead I taken back by the plot twists with the death of T'challa, and his re awaking to battle, and kill Killmonger. In my opinion, I think that T'challa should have been the one with the gold suit instead of Killmonger, because the gold to me resembles wealth and positivity, and the purple is just something that looks totally bad ass and almost sinister in a way. I think that the suit alone would have been cool, but the fact that there was an option between the two colors makes me think that the good guy should have had the brighter, more positive color, and the villain should have the darker more evil looking color. That is my only honest complaint about this movie. I loved everything else about this movie, from its choices in setting, to its choices in the plot. My favorite scene has to be the one in the city with the car chases. I love how the director chose to emphasize how advanced the technology was by not only giving them "ear pieces" to use that reach each other from across the planet, but also being able to control specific surroundings from afar as well. For example, when T'challa's sister is controlling the car for him from home, I love how the director (Ryan Coogler) decides to make cuts from the car where the girls and T'challa are to back in Wakanda so we can see the point of view and reaction of all of the characters in this scene. It helps build tension and makes the movie a lot more interesting and fun to watch. This has to be hands down one of the best movies I have ever seen, and one of the best Marvel movies out right now. I would rate this movie a good good, and would watch it again any day!

Luke Schmitzer
For this marking period bee real blog I chose to watch the purge. This was mainly because there is a new one coming out and people tell me they are good movies. So I chose to watch the first one with hopes to watching the next two and since I like the horror genre I was hoping to have it at least be somewhat Scary but have a lot of action in it. This movie was very enjoyable because I like the idea of the purge not because it would “cleanse” people like everyone in the movie says when they go punt purging, but because I feel like it would be a wild night as long as you stay alive. Also the movie went had a creepy vibe so the director did a good job of having the character wearing scarily creepy masks to have the characters who were purging to murder and cleanse themselves so they look like the cracked out weirdos in the typical horror movies. Also having the characters get saved at the last possible second every time they were in a sticky situation allowed for build up of suspense and relief with in seconds, which is another job well done by the director.
This movie was from my stand point and hopes and expectation was made very well and fit my expectations. The cuts that allowed for the suspense to build up when the main characters or the good guys were about to get it and then some one from earlier in the movie would come out and save them was amazing, and allowed for a mix of emotions quicker than most other movies. Also all the gun violence really fulfilled my hope that for all the action. Also the idea all the psycho purging characters wearing the creepy masks helped with the part of me that wanted to be scared during this movie. I'm happy I chose this movie and would have to give this movie the rating good good due to the reasons I listed above
Movies like this one are purge II, purge III, the conjuring, IT, and Anabell

Facing the Truth Behind Scarface

A couple of weeks ago I watched one of the greatest old school movies of the 1980s era. A crime / thriller movie directed by Brian De Palma with multiple awards and a 65.9 million dollar box office revenue. Scarface is the three award winning film for best actor, best original score and also best supporting actor. After getting a green card in exchange for assassinating a Cuban government official, Tony Montana (Al Pacino) stakes a claim on the drug trade in Miami. Viciously murdering anyone who stands in his way, Tony eventually becomes the biggest drug lord in the state, controlling nearly all the cocaine that comes through Miami. But increased pressure from the police, wars with Colombian drug cartels and his own drug-fueled paranoia serve to fuel the flames of his eventual downfall.The main character Tony Montana plays an ebondent role in the movie. His act of evil is seen to be one of the best evils villains in that time and his way of being evil was none like any other. In my opinion Montana shows more passion of being a villain than any other villain. Montana devotes himself and shows more passion than any person that tries to shun him. In particularly one scene where drunk and drugged Tony Montana bad mouths to everyone in the restaurant. Tony cleary states why people hate each other, and he claims the only reason they hate him is because they can’t be like him. It is true in the real world that the world needs a bad guy to make them seem good. In this scene Tony knows how bad he is and he knows how everyone else portrays him to be. By far the most iconic scenes of any movie. Throughout the movie, Tony with all his hard work he is still lonely. From when he becomes famous with all the kingpins his death at the end foreshadows his loneliness. After he comes out of jail he meets up with sister for the time they lost together. He is very protective with his sister because she is the only thing he has left. At the end of the movie (spoiler) Gina Montana, Tony’s sister is shot and killed and it makes Tony go on a psychotic rampage. After losing the only thing that meant to him he is once again lonely. He accepts the fact of true loneliness and is somewhat satisfied with it. Another Hollywood movie scenes that are iconic. The ending to Scarface has the most brutal, sad, and heart pounding thriller.   In my opinion I believe from these three situation he is by far the greatest Hollywood badass. Alejandro Sosa another drug dealer kingpin did not approve of the actions Tony Montana had done. So Sosa sends an army to kill Montana. Montana goes in with a M-16 and grenade launches half of Sosa’s army. After a couple shots Tony goes down and proceeds to take bullets to the chest. Not giving up a guy sneaks up behind him and sends a shotgun shell right through his chest. The incredible fall from the balcony to the mini fountain is super iconic and will always be remembered. According to Rotten Tomatoes they rated this movie an 82% out of 10. A New York Daily News editor named Kathleen Carroll wrote a post on Scarface. She said, “Stone sticks all too closely to the dated plot structure of the original movie, and such melodramatic flourishes as Montana's incestuous attraction for his sister now seem completely ludicrous. She claims that the plot is to close to the original film. To be honest I have never seen the original film and she probably seen it so I do believe it's the same. In her second remark she says the attraction between the 2003 Tony Montana and his sister is completely insane. It is very unique were you see that a kingpin supposedly the toughest guy in the city has the hots for his own sister. It justs creates a new thing never seen before but maybe a new spark into the future of films. According to another movie critic IMDb ranked it a 8.3 / 10. We are not gonna worry about what they say because critics are critics who cares what they think.

Link to scene:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqO8tU1WQHk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VT_D4NC2tBE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCv9gYgWzUs

SPLITting apart the hit movie Split

Split, directed by M. Night Shyamalan, is a horror/thriller film released in 2016. I remember when it first came out there was a ton of hype around the movie but I didn't watch until about a week ago. The general plot is that there is this guy with a ton of different personalities and when these new personalities start taking hold he goes after three girls and kidnaps them. The whole movie is leading towards a personality called the beast taking over and this beast has crazy abilities and is crazy strong. The beast wants to cleanse the world of people who haven't felt pain and a general theme in the movie is how pain changes you and how it can make you stronger or weaker.

Some great things that the director did to create a thriller stressed theme is some audio choices he makes. For example, when the girls wake up and see the man outside of where they are locked some creepy music starts playing.

Another thing that creates such a creepy feeling is the amazing facial expressions that Kevin (James McAvoy) is able to make. You're able to tell which of the 20+  personalities he is experiencing just by his facial expressions and his voice. That takes true talent as an actor to do and definitely makes some parts extremely creepy while also making some comic relief when Kevin takes the personality of a small child.

The main problem that I had with the movie is that it's plot wasn't very interesting. I feel like movies that are mostly set in one place for most of the time get kind of bland and boring overtime. This was definitely better than most kidnap movies because they added a lot of backstory to the character and also filmed some good scenes outside of captivity. I think the editing done in the movie also made it super interesting when going between memories but subjectively I just don't enjoy kidnapping movies that much.

I really like how the director makes you feel like this guy is totally crazy in the beginning of the movie but then you realize throughout the movie that all the stuff this guy, Kevin, is going through is totally legitimate. The fact that the director can make you feel completely different about Kevin from beginning to end is extremely interesting and shows his talent as a director.

Overall I would recommend people to watch this movie because it definitely extremely well made. If you don't like kidnapping movies you might find parts of the movie to be boring but in total it's really interesting and you really get an insight into the eyes of Kevin. You even start to feel bad for him even though he kills people and is like a complete jerk. I would rate this movie GOOD GOOD because although it got bland at points it was really interesting in total and any movie that creates empathy for a murderer is definitely well acted and well created.

Be Reel Blog - The Incredible Sequel

After 14 long years of waiting the movie that most young people and their parents had been waiting for since the release of the original finally hit theaters. Incredibles 2 is a sci-fi/action film that people have been waiting for since the reveal of the Underminer at the end of the first movie. I myself have been excited for this release since I heard rumors of its production in late 2015. I also have to say that after 14 years of waiting, and all the hype this movie was getting from critics, it did not disappoint. The movie was loads of fun to watch and finally gave us the conclusion to possibly one of the biggest cliffhangers of my own, and many other kids, childhood. One thing that was very interesting about this movie however was its argument about today's social standards and politics in the world. Anyone who watched the first movie understands that a big portion of the movie has to do with a law that bans superheros from doing their job, keeping people safe. Whether it be from the damage they cause or the burden they seem to bring on society, supers were banned and forced to go into hiding. This causes the film to focus around their shift into to a "normal" lifestyle and introduces the main aspect of the movie and that is the emphasis on parenting. Incredibles 2 has a similar goal, showing how Mr. Incredible has to deal with Jack-Jack and the other kids however, the movie also introduces a lot of new social ideas. Many of these include; whether you can really pursue justice if you follow laws that don’t lead to the most just outcome, the challenges facing men who are accustomed to being "the man" when they’re tasked with caregiving instead, “new math” which refers to the common core and, a line about how most people trust a monkey throwing darts more than they trust Congress. However I believe the biggest focus is on women's roles in society and how having a strong female lead can be a better option. There are constant back and forths between main character Elastigirl and Evelyn Dever, talking about how women deserve more respect in society and should play a bigger role in it. These reasons all give the movie a good objective view along with the movies enticing story line and plot twists. The movie also has an amazing subjective viewing. Most critics gave the movie a 90% or higher and I would have to agree. The movie did not necessarily do what I expected as far as plot but I can say that I was nevertheless impressed and loved this movie. For that I have to give the movie and good good rating.

I would highly recommend re watching the original as well as many other Pixar movies that make their audience nostalgic such as; Monsters Inc, Finding Nemo, and Up. Or other superhero movies like; Avengers: Infinity War, Spiderman Homecoming, and Deadpool.

Be-reel blog: The Incredibles 2

Today, I had the utmost joy and pleasure to see Incredibles 2. This movie was directed by Brad Bird, who also directed the first The Incredibles. If you saw the first one, you know the general outline of the story already. But some of you have not, so I'm going to explain it. Mr.Incredible is a superhero that protects the cities of metroville from evil. He ends up marrying elastic girl (another superhero) and they end up having three kids; Violet, Dash and Jack-Jack. Violet has the power to summon forcefields, Dash has the power of speed, and Jack-Jack has the power of Jack of all Trades, meaning a lot of powers (no pun intended). By that time supers are illegal and all the superheros go into hiding. Mr. Incredible meets a lady that helps get back on the superhero path. All and all, they stop a giant robot at the end of the movie and Violet meets a boy and plans to go out on a date. That was where The Incredibles ended.

(WARNING SPOILERS AHEAD)

When the first The Incredibles left off, a villain called the underminer was planning evil in Metroville. He stole the bank and used his huge drill machine to escape. Fortunately, Mr. Incredible gets the money back from the  the Underminer. Unfortunately, the underminer escapes and there is substantial damage to the infrastructure of Metroville. Since supers are still illegal, the Incredibles are put under arrest. They are told under interrogation that insurance would have paid for the bank and the infrastructure, so the Incredibles made it worse for them. After the whole ordeal, the Incredibles go back to their shabby apartment (their original house was destroyed). They get a tops of two weeks at the apartment and then after that, they are homeless.

While the family is debating about what's going to happen in the future, Frozone tells Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl that he encountered a man by the name of Winston Deaver. Frozone believes that Winston can help make supers legal again. The group leaves Violet (who has no idea what's going on) to watch Dash and Jack-Jack while they are gone. When they get to Winston's house, he explains to them that he runs a company called DEVTECH with his sister, Evelyn. It is later revealed that Evelan makes the products and her brother sells them. Winston says that he wants to show the world why supers should be legal and why. He tells them that his father used to own the company and he loved the supers. But when the supers became illegal, his father knew that it was going to go from the worst. And it did. One night, two robbers broke in and his father tried to contact the supers, but no help came. His father was shot by the robbers and his mother later died of heartbreak.

Winston believes that he can reverse the law on supers by using elastigirl and Frozone as examples. He uses them to fight crime, then puplicises it all over the news to promote the law to legalize supers. During one of the missions, elastigirl saves a newly built monorail from going off the track. When goes to the cabin, she sees the driver in a trance. She looks at the screen and sees a hypno- grid over the screen. She shuts off the screen and the driver immediately regains his normal state. Elastigirl looks once more at the screen and she sees something being typed. "Welcome back, Elastigirl. The Screensaver". We know that this is a new villain in the movie. The movie then transitions to Mr. Incredible dealing with kids at home, since the mom is gone at work. Things get funny fast. Dash has to do math, but the school changed the way math is done, so Mr. Incredible gets angry fast. Violet figures out the one of the detectives erased her date's mind, so she is furious at her dad. Jack-Jack has trouble controlling his powers, so Mr. Incredible has to deal with lasers, fire, teleportation to other dimensions, and walking through walls on a daily basis. Things seem hectic at home.

Meanwhile, Elastigirl is in trouble. It is revealed that the screensaver is none other than Evelan. She takes control of elastigirl using mind control glasses and plans on permanently making supers illegal. She believes that supers make mankind weak and they must fend for themselves. She contacts Mr. Incredible to trap him and ends up taking control of him too. Forzone eventually falls too. On the DEVTECH yacht, representatives have met with other supers in hiding to sign the document to legalize supers. Evelyn plans on using the mind controlled supers to crash the yacht into metroville city to put her plan into action. The kids help free Mr. Incredible, Elastigirl, and Frozone from the control of Evelyn and save the city from the yacht. The police takes Evelyn custody and Violet meets to boy again and they start off from scratch.

Overall, the movie was excellent. There was so much detail that the artists of the movie did that astonished me, from the creases on shirts to every strand of hair blowing with the wind. The movie was a 10/10; very funny with a great plot and lots of awesome action. I would have to recommend really any Pixar movie; like UP, Toy Story, Monsters INC., and Finding Nemo.

Rudy!!! Rudy!!! Rudy!!!

I recently watch the movie Rudy one of the true great football movies of all time. The main story is set back in the 1970s during the peak of Notre Dame football when some of the greatest players to ever play at Notre Dame where on the team. Yet this movie was not about the all time greats or even the players who never got recognized on a the team. No this movie is about a 18 year old kid whose goal in life was to play at Notre Dame however he was not one of the best players at his high school and was never offered a scholarship to Notre Dame. So Rudy embarks on the long road to get on Notre Dame practice squad. It took a long time but the climax is when Rudy got to play. Some things that were well done in this movie was the soundtrack which creates a new sense of epic scale in this simple sports drama. The next thing that was well done was the way they shot the scene in the way that game play was filmed made it feel more dramatic in thoughts certain scenes. Another thing that made the film style in this movie unique is the way they captured the old timey fell of American football. This is show though the slow motion and players getting increasingly dirty from old fashion dirt fields. Overall I would say the film Quality is a very good for this type of movie.

Things I personal enjoyed in this film is the idea of the underdog being the thing that holds a team and a community together thought out the film Rudy proves that. An example that I think of is the end scene in which the entire stadium roars the name Rudy so he could get his four plays of glory. Another thing that makes this film unique is the lack of football that is played throughout the film. In fact I have had friends argue with me that this is a movie about faith and family more than about football and sports. It is understandable where they could share that view point it has a lot of ties to those core values. However to be a ture fan of Norte Dame football one has to be born into that love of the team with family who raises that love around you. Which was shown though Rudy father saying one day that will be you playing on that field. The faith part of this movie is hard to address because faith is not tangible and is different for everyone so I say watch the movie and tell me what you think.

Overall I think Rudy is differently one of my personal favorites of all time movies. I hope that by sharing this people can enjoy this great film as much as I have and truly rank it in there top five favorite movies of all time like I have. This was a easy review for me this was a clear good good and I hope everyone enjoys this movie as much as I have.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZI63g64kDgY

A "Shameless" show

Wow, is by far the best way to describe this unique show in one word. Shameless is a TV series set in the modern world but throws a few monkey wrenches into the plot. Like having one of the main characters be Frank Gallagher (William H Macy) who is a raging alcoholic and father to most of the other main characters. Specifically six other characters one of which is named Fiona (Emma Rossum) who I feel the show tends to focus on the most. Which is also a great narrative choice considering she took legal guardianship of the rest of Frank's kids around season three. Since then the show now has 8 seasons and counting. Overall the twist and turns the show has makes it all the more interesting to see a low income family try to survive on the south side of Chicago. Even in the very first episodes we here one the family members Ian Gallagher played by Cameron Monaghan who is absolutely perfect for the role more on that later, is actually gay. One great part of the show is its lack of hesitation, just a little later on in the same episode we see Lip Gallagher attempting to confirm if his brother is gay by taking him to a "study session" with one of his peers (who so happens to be a girl). A few minutes go by and when they think no one is looking Karen Jackson (the girl) goes under the table to confirm Ian's curiosity. Although this awkward moment doesn't last too long for the viewer because soon enough Mr. Jackson comes to the living room where the kids are "studying" and figures out what was happening, shortly after he chases them outside with a hammer. Take into consideration this was the very first episode of the series and things only seem to get worse from there. Nothing ever seems unbelievable. The directors (John Wells and Paul Abbot) and writers (John Wells and Sheila Callaghan) do a great job of making every scenario seem at least plausible. Although this wouldn't be possible if it weren't for the phenomenal actors.
   Since there are so many characters in this show i'll only be discussing a few on the phenomenal actors. Like Cameron Monaghan also known as Ian Gallagher who I mentioned before. Shameless was not the first show that I saw with him playing an important role in. It was actually Gotham which i made a review on earlier in this year. Both series he plays as someone who you can literally call crazy, and man does he do a great job at it. Although both shows take very different approaches to his "crazy" personality. Gotham focused more on a joker-esk style of schizophrenia, while shameless provided him with a much more realistic approach of Bipolar disorder considering in the show his mother suffers from the same mental health issue. Just the portrayal of his mental health throughout the seasons could not be executed any better. We as viewers get to see time and time again Ian seeming completely normal but suddenly take a turn for the worst; ie when he suddenly stole his boyfriends baby and decided to go on a road trip with no food or money. When it came to portraying these extreme mood swings Cameron Monaghan could actually have bipolar disorder for all I know. Next up comes Emmy Rossum the actress for Fiona Gallagher; she fills the shoes up for their family's missing mother. Their have been multiple instances where the family seems like they are going to be completely separated and placed into foster homes until Fiona steps up to the plate. Despite being very emotional and crying at least 5 times a season Fiona as a character is a strong one. Her actress Emmy Rossum expresses this in a way unlike many others by showing us the characters tears. You can tell that she really does care for this family and only wants to see it do well, even if their not her kids there still her family.
   All together Shameless is a show you should not watch with sensitive eyes around or in school. Considering it prominently features booze, drugs, and sex Shameless has literally no shame when it comes to showing the harsh life of "southside" (a term they use heavily as their home town). Which is also part of what makes the show so great. All because it doesn't restrict itself it can be a very harsh but realistic interpretation of the real world. We all know the world isn't all sunshine and rainbows but many shows try to make them seem that way especially American comedy series. Although Shameless metaphorically said "screw that" and made a show that is best described as a family of shit going through a lot of shit. So overall if your'e looking for a show that will send you through an emotional roller coaster, Shameless is a good place to start.

Rankings compared to other Netflix series:
1.) The Office
2.) The Punisher
3.) Shameless (would be on top but the others are just that good)
4.) Agents of Shield
5.) The Flash (first two seasons)
6.) Stranger Things
7.) Gotham
8.) Supernatural
9.) Luke cage
10.) Iron fist

 

Be Reel Blog: Longest Yard

Adam Sandler, Burt Reynolds, Chris Rock, Terry Crews, and Nelly are a few actors that were featured in this unique film. Longest Yard is a 2005 sequel about Paul Crewe(Adam Sandler) a former NFL quarterback gets caught drunk driving and ends up in prison with not so friendly inmates. Paul Crewe gets beaten as soon as he enters prison, but quickly makes a friend in Caretaker(Chris Rock). The two became close and were side by side when the Guards decided to organize a guards vs inmates football game. Paul and Caretaker formed a team and they were awful. Paul needed help and asked the "thugs" of the prison to play. They all angrily said "no" except for one person. Megget(Nelly), who plays running back, joined the team and dominated. Later on into the film Megget's whole crew joins the team and they look unbeatable. The day before the game the tone gets very sad as Caretaker unexpectedly dies from a fire in his jail cell set up by an inmate who is a rat for the Guards. After his death the next day was the big game. The "Mean Machine" aka the Inmates started the game off strong and were leading by 14 at half. During halftime the warden pulled Paul Crewe aside at half time and said "lose this game by 21 or you get another 10 years." Paul listens and starts to blow the game and gives the guards a pretty manageable lead. At the start of the 4th quarter Paul decides to win the game for the team and not for himself. Paul leads an epic comeback and makes the game tied with seconds left to play. For the last play Coach Nate(Burt Reynolds) suits up and gets in at runningback for the mean machine. He gets the hand off and scores to win the game. They complete the comeback and finish the movie with Paul Crewe giving the game ball to Warden.

The film will be considered an instant classic because of the star studded cast with Adam Sandler, Burt Reynolds, Chris Rock, Terry Crews, James Cromwell, Bill Goldberg, Micheal Irvin, and Stone Cold Steve Austin. I believe the film was well organized from the beginning showing Paul Crewe was "the man" with a big house, hot wife, and a lot of money. Then after one scene Paul's whole life went from being the man to being an inmate in a matter of 20 minutes into the film. Early scenes showed Paul would struggle in prison, but quickly made a friend to survive prison. Once that happened the film went up hill from there. I thought it was special because it was not only a sequel of the original longest yard, but i thought it was 10 times better than the original which is usually rare in film. Given the sequel had more to work off of it still broke my expectations as to what kind of film it would be. It gave an insight as to what today's prison trends could be like and how the guards really treated the inmates. Also the type of groups in prisons such as the "thugs to the non thug inmates. Besides the prison aspect of the film the football part was what got me to fall in love with this film. They had an NFL hall of famer in the film in Michael Irvin, who is a multi super bowl winning wide receiver. They had 2 WWE wrestlers in The Great Khali and Stone cold Steve Austin Last but not least had 3 stars in Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, and Burt Reynolds. Combine all these people onto a football team and it will get anyone out of their seat. The end result is what left me speechless, but also happy to see the inmates beat the guards. Paul Crewe started to throw the game away and suddenly came back to save the tea and ended up winning, Yes he might have to spend more time in jail, but i believe it was for good reason.

In conclusion, the film is forever an instant classic in my eyes and will be one i can watch and not get tired of it. Adam Sandler does a terrific job in this film and the story line makes it all that much better. Throwing in all the other stars in this film makes it a superior football film compared to others. Longest Yard is in the conversation for the greatest football film of all time and i can see why.