Friday, April 29, 2016

Act 153: Midlife Vices

Masked Blogster is getting old and has decided to bring on some new and old vices.  Blogster is joined by Handsome J, Mandy and Kevin Moyers to chat about beer, cigars, summer movies, Phoenix Comic Con and playing video games at The Grid: Growlers and Games in Mesa, AZ.

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Legends of Tomorrow Review: Season 1 Episode 13 "Leviathan"


Legends of Tomorrow Season 1 Episode 13
“Leviathan”

Synopsis:
Rip takes the team to london in the year 2166, three months before his family is killed. He Believes this to be their final opportunity to take out Savage who is, unfortunately, at the height of his power.

Review:
The team arrives in 2166 three days before the death of Rips family. The goal is to stop Savage before he can kill anyone, things go awry during the first attempt to grab Savage.


The team decides to kidnap the second in command, however when captured they learn that her name is Cassandra Savage; the daughter of Vandal. With his daughter kidnapped, Savage unleashes his giant weapon.

After Snart was able to convince Cassandra that her father is evil. She agrees to take the team to attack Savage, at the same time Ray needs to defend against the Giant weapon which is out to history the ship.


The Episode ends when Kendra is unable to kill Savage due to his power over Carter hall.

Final Thoughts:
This was one of those episode, I wasn’t the biggest fan but I understood it and appreciated the direction. This show continues to be the biggest mystery to me. I am not sure if the main story is just bad, but it seems some of the best episodes are the filler episodes.

Loved that we got to see The ATOM increase in size, that was a nice comic book nerd moment for myself.

Another overall solid episode, It will be interesting to see how they ramp up the last three episodes of the season. Let us know your thoughts and leave your comments below.


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Thursday, April 28, 2016

Supernatural Review: The Chitters


Supernatural Review: The Chitters

Director: Eduardo Sanchez

Writer: Nancy Won

Staring: Jared Padalecki, Jensen Ackles, Lee Rumohr, Hugo Ateo, Kandyse McClure, April Telek

Synopsys: Sam and Dean are visiting a small town in Colorado where people are mysteriously disappearing every 27 years. While they are investigating, the boys encounter a pair of hunters seeking revenge on the monster causing the disapperances.

Finally back from the short hiatus and we have a monster of the week type episode. For all of you long time fans this episode had a Wendigo feel to it, more of a scary movie vibe if you will. The opening of the show is two boys, Matty and Jessy, heading out to go fishing when suddenly Matty is taken by some weird naked monster.  This looks like a job for those Winchester boys and thankfully it didn’t take a lot of convincing.

It’s been a while since we have seen the boys come up against a monster they know nothing about. Luckily for Sam and Dean, they run into two other hunters that seem to know what they are dealing with, one of them has some experience with these monsters. Jessy, who is now grown up, is out for revenge for his brother.  It’s refreshing to see Sam and Dean split up and work with other hunters, it’s not a balance we don’t get to see much of in the show. Sam and Jessy go to ask the former sheriff questions while Dean and Cesar look for where ever these monsters are hiding out in the woods.  


The two sets of guys going of in separate directions was a creative way to tell the story faster. Rather than having to do all the research and then go hunt, we are able to see the hunting done by Dean and Cesar while Same and Jessy get answers for what had happened in the past. Both sets of guys have their on struggles to overcome, but I really enjoyed the separation. It was a little storybook in the end how it perfectly came together for everyone to end up meeting and then going back into finish the job, but its smile worthy.

I really like the idea that Sam and Dean considering to bring in a hunter or two to help with the Darkness. Fresh eyes and extra muscle probably would be good for this big battle coming up, but it shows how much Dean has grown as a person in this show when he tells them they don’t need help. Its nice to see Sam and Dean agree that when two hunters make it to the finish line you don’t mess with it.

 


Final thoughts: Kudos to Eduardo Sanchez on his Supernatural directorial debut on the show. This episode had a horror movie vibe to it that hasn’t been so apparent on the show for a while. Wither a lot of fans noticed it or not, I’m sure it was appreciated. After all, that is something that got a lot of fans into it the show to beginning with. I don't know who came up with Dean calling the monsters "Junkless" but that was priceless. There is also some supporting cast that I really enjoyed in this episode. Lee Rumohr and Hugo Ateo did a wonderful job portraying a gay couple with out it looking over the top or cheesy, which sadly happens a lot on TV and in movies, it could have really taken away from the episode, the subtlety spoke volumes. I believe a big part of that is the writing from Nancy Won, thank you. Also, April Telek played the other character that I loved in this episode. Etta Day making a pass at Sam and Dean reacting to it was hilarious. I don’t know what it is, but I love it when one of the boys is put in an awkward situation like this and the other is just sitting there watching and letting it happen. There are only 4 episode left in this season so buckle up everyone its gonna get bumpy. YAY!

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Arrow Review: Season 4 Episode 19 "Canary Cry"


Arrow Season 4 Episode 19 
“Canary Cry”

Synopsis:
Oliver and the team struggle to come to terms with laurel’s death, especially Diggle who is overwhelmed with quilt for choosing to believe Andy had changed. Meanwhile, Lance refuses to believe his Daughter is really gone and asks Nyssa to help bring her back.

Review:
With the entire team trying to put the pieces back together after Laural’s Death, another person has taken up the mantel of Black Canary.


Oliver, trying to stop the tarnishing of the Black Canary’s legacy, is also dealing with mourning of a friend and the grief of the team and their self blame. Diggle is the one taking it the hardest, as he is blaming himself for not listening to Oliver when he was warned that his brother could be playing both sides. This cause Diggle to snap and he goes after Ruve Adams.

With Adams using the attack on her as an excuse to go after the Vigilantes and also blame the death of Laural on the black Canary. It leave Oliver with only one choice, which was to announce at the funeral that Laural was the Canary and she died protecting the city.


Final Thoughts:
Not only have the last two episode been great, but there has been a feel to them which hasn’t been around since season two. This is a very solid news, especially going into the last few episodes of the season.

Once again it looks as if the time line between Arrow and Flash has been thrown off, We see Barry show up at the very end of the episode at the grave. Nice little tease, as he walks up to talk with Oliver, but ends up speeding away when done. I will say that it was nice to see that Barry does have his powers back, 

This was a solid episode ad regained some faith in the searies…..Who am i kidding, I will always love this show even when it gets bad.

Let us know what your thoughts of the episode where and leave your comments below.


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Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Monday Night Raw April 25, 2016


Monday Night Raw April 25, 2016

The show starts how it should, with the In Memory of Joanie Laurer “Chyna”. While I do believe that she should have been put in the Hall of Fame years ago, she clearly had her own demons that stood in her way. This was a one of a kind woman, the 9th wonder of the world. She could stand toe to toe with damn near anyone in the business in that ring. She was a Women’s champion, a Royal Rumble participant and an Intercontinental Champion. She will be remembered and missed by all who were fans of the Attitude era.

Shane McMahon is first out to start things off for Raw, it appears he is in charge of Raw once again. Shane promises that things are going to keep going in this new era, but this is WWE. It doesn’t take long for Stephanie McMahon’s music to hit and for her to come out. Stephanie announces that this will be Shane’s last night running Monday Night Raw. At Payback Vince will decide who will be running Monday Night Raw moving forward. After Shane politely asks Stephanie to leave and she refuses, Shane asks for security to escort Stephanie out of “our ring”. The crowd gets a good na na na na na heh heh heh goodbye going. Poor security though, one of them takes hard slap to the face in the process.


Shane kicks off the action for the night announcing the first match is AJ Styles up against Sheamus. This match was a great start to the show, for a moment it looks like Styles is going to tap out, but AJ is able to connect with the Phenomenal Forearm and get the victory of Sheamus. As AJ Styles is celebrating is his friends Luke Gallows and Carl Anderson make an appearance on the stage. It cuts to the back where Roman Reigns is watching, him and the Uso’s establish, as if we didn’t know, that they got each other’s backs.

New Day Rocks!!! New Day Rocks!!! New Day Rocks!!! It feels like its been a while since we have gotten some quality time with the New Day on the mics, but no worries they are hear to talk about the tag tournament, also, nice ode to Prince thrown in there, kudos on that. The Vaudevillian’s and Enzo and Big Cass make their way out to the ring as well to put in their two cents.  While the Villain’s and Enzo and Cass go back and forth seeing the New Day in the background is great! I’m really excited for this match at payback to find out who will be the number 1 contenders.


Finally, the ring debut of Luke Gallows and Carl Anderson as they face the Uso’s. I’m super excited for this match. While the Uso’s fast pace offence keeps the Uso’s on top for a while, Gallows and Anderson brut force quickly turns things around as they target Jay Uso’s injured shoulder. It looks like Jimmy is going to be able to turn things around when he gets tagged in, but Anderson and Gallows win the match and continue the assault after the match until Roman Reigns comes out and takes care of business.


While Renee is trying to interview AJ Styles, Gallows and Anderson interrupt saying they want a moment with their friend. They adamantly state that they will not get in his way for his opportunity at the title and that they have his back to make sure the Uso’s don’t get in the way either.

After a very nice video package for the Sami Zayn versus Kevin Owens match at payback, Zayn goes up against Rusev. After a hard faught match Zayn pulls off the win with a roll up on Rusev, and a not so happy Lana throws her shoes at Zayn. This is good momentum for Zayn going into payback, but Kevin Owens attacks Zayne from behind to send a message of his own.

Dean Ambrose is in the ring, he expresses that there is no Ambrose Asylum this week because he isn’t in a good mood after Jericho attacking him after his match on Smackdown. Ambrose invites Jericho out to the ring, Ambrose is ready to get this fight started now rather than wait for Sunday at Payback. Side note, whenever Jericho says idiot, I automatically smile. I don’t know why, it just makes me laugh. Jericho takes some time and tells Ambrose that Ambrose should thank him for even getting in a match. Then tells Ambrose he should apologize to him for disrespecting and for stealing the Highlight reel. Ambrose apologizes, but not for what Jericho wants him to apologize for. Ambrose quickly attacks, punching Jericho and throwing him to the out side, Jericho takes advantage though and ends up getting Ambrose in the Walls of Jericho on top of the announce table.


AJ Styles approaches Roman Reigns as he heads to the ring for is match and lets him know at Payback he is taking the Title. Reigns made one statement, that Styles must have already bought ring side tickets for Anderson and Gallows.

Main even for the night is WWE World Heavy Weight Champion Roman Reigns versus Alberto Del Rio. Even with Del Rio having control of most of the match, Reigns is able to pull out a superman punch to get control. Queue Gallows and Anderson’s music, even with the distraction though, Reigns is able to pull off a spear and get the win. Gallows and Anderson attack Reigns, Styles comes out to stop them and is thanked with a superman punch, but while Reigns is dealing with the other too, Styles pulls off a Phenomenal Forearm to put Reigns down. Things will be interesting on Sunday that is for sure.



Final thoughts for this Raw, while I’m sure there was something on the regular 3 hour raw, it sucks that there wasn’t anything on the Hulu 90 minute version for the women’s division. They have been so hot and to leave them off the show completely really puts the breaks on their momentum. 

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Monday, April 25, 2016

The Binge Watcher Review: The Challenger (2015)


The Challenger (2015)

Starring:
Kent Moran, Michael Clarke Dunacan, S. Epatha Merkerson, Justin Hartley, Michael Rivera, Rob Morgan

Synopsis:
When they are evicted from their home, struggling Bronx auto mechanic Jaden Miller will do everything in his power to save he and his mother from living on the streets. With help of legendary trainer, Duane Taylor, Miller soon finds that boxing is their ticket to a better life.

The Good:
Another feel good Boxing movie, The story was solid and the acting great. With so many movies always having some sort of mid film redemption moment, The Challenger never went that direction and it was refreshing. 


The Bad:
With Boxing movies like Creed and Southpaw which the fights are show to perfection, The Challenger had a little improvement in this department. There were moments where the hits came across weak and choreographed.

Final Thoughts:
A good boxing movie never gets old, I don’t care if its the 8th Rocky movie or something new. With that in mind The Challenger did not disappoint one bit, it was a solid feel good story about a man trying to save his mothers home and pay for her medical expenses. 

The sad part of this movie had to be it was the last film Michael Clark Duncan performed in prior to passing away. I love him in any movie he has done and his performance in The Challenger did not disappoint.


There was some room of improvement in this movie, but in the end this movie was really good. My overall opinion is this movie is one which you must see.



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Friday, April 22, 2016

Act 152: Master Debaters

It's getting to be that time of year when it's time to get out of that hot sun and into a movie theater.  This summer has a bevy of films that, so far have piqued many of the hosts interests.  Masked Blogster, Handsome J, Jessie Saenz and Mandy discuss the movies they are looking forward to seeing.  Movies discussed include Captain America: Civil War, The Good Guys, Free State of Jones, X-Men: Apocalypse, The Jungle Book and others.

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Legends Of Tomorrow Review: Season 1 Episode 12 "Last Refuge"


Legends of Tomorrow Season 1 Episode 12
“Last Refuge”

Synopsis:
The team is targeted by the Pilgrim, a deadly assassin who want’s to erase the Legend’s from the timeline by killing their younger non-superhero selves’s. 

Review:
With the Pilgrim assigned to eliminate the team, she will be going back in time to kill their younger Selves’s. The team races to stop her from completing her mission and their plan is to kidnap themselves before she can do an damage. 


Once they had all the kids, Rip decides the best place to keep them is with his adoptive mother. We get a little back story about how Rip become a Time Master. He was taken as a orphan and its Rip’s Mother who is charged to raise these kids until they are old enough to become Time Masters.


Meanwhile the Pilgrim kidnaps a loved one of the team and threatens to kill all of them unless the legends turn over their younger Selves’s. In an attempt to rescue everyone, Rip plans to turn over his younger self. The team sets a trap for one last attempt to eliminate the Pilgrim. 


Final Thoughts:
This was another solid episode, my only complaint would be that this show has so many filler episode for a 16 episode season. I am not sure why, but I would like to have a little more build up to the battle with Vandal Savage. Unless he will be a carry over Villain for the next season.

The best part of the last few episode has to be Rory, Every since he came back it seems the creative team has finally given him a more well rounded character who has been much more enjoyable to watch. Not that he wasn’t before.


This has been such a good show, there isn’t to many ups or downs it just solid and consistent. Its the best way to end to DC TV universe week. Let us know what your thoughts of the episode were and leave your comments below.


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Thursday, April 21, 2016

NXT April 20, 2016


NXT April 20, 2016

The show kicks off with a tag match, first out is Enzo and Big Cass up against the NXT Tag Team Champions American Alpha. The NXT crowd is chanting This is Awesome before the bell even rings. Out the of the gate, the American Alpha’s show they are the more dominate team when it comes to armature wrestling and the do not hesitate for a minute to prove it against Enzo. The dynamic changes though when Enzo is able to tag in Big Cass. Cass is able to use his size to turn things around, he uses his size to over power the American Alpha’s. It is short lived though as the NXT Tag Champs are able to pull off the win.


Apollo Crews takes a short moment to welcome Samoa Joe to the Age of Apollo before the next match, its quick and to the point.

The next match is between Alexander Wolfe and No Way Jose. These two opponents couldn’t seem any different. No Way Jose seems to work his dancing into his wrestling though and it is good enough to through Alexander Wolfe off of his game in the beginning. Wolfe is able to get the upper hand for a moment, but it is short lived as No Way Jose pulls off the win with his fastball punch to Wolfe’s face.

Austin Aries expresses his thoughts  on “luck” and his win over Baron Corbin, Aries also states that he came here to prove just how good he is.

Next Regal has an opportunity for guitar player Elias Samson and next week he will face Shinsuke Nakamura.

The women’s match for the night is Nia Jax up against Deonna Purrazzo. This match looks like it going almost be unfair. Nia Jax is clearly much larger than Deonna Purrazzo. Jax is easly able to throw Deonna all over the ring. In a dominant display Nia Jax pulls off the victory with a leg drop.


The main event for the night is ready to kick off, Apallo Crews heads to the ring first followed by Samoa Joe. Samoa Joe looks angry like always. The two lock up and both try to get the upper hand from a show of strength, Apollo is able to get control for a little bit and evade any kind of attack from Joe. It is short lived though as Joe lands a chop and several punches to take control of the match. While Crews gets some shots in a good portion of this match is Joe taking his frustrations out on Crews, possibly frustrations from losing at NXT Dallas.  While Crews gets some more offense in Samoa Joe wraps Crews up in Coquina Clutch to get the win by submission.


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