Draft Day

                Draft Day came out in 2014 and was directed by Ivan Reitman.  It starred Kevin Costner who played the general manager of the Cleveland Browns. This film grossed about $29.5 million in the box office.

                This movie is about the general manager of the Cleveland Browns (Kevin Costner) deciding what he should do in the NFL draft. He trades with the Seahawks to get the first overall pick so they can get the reigning Heisman winner, Bo Callahan. However Costner isn’t sure that he wants to pick Callahan and looks into why he shouldn’t take Callahan. When the draft starts Callahan decides to pick Vontae Mack who he was going to choose at his original draft spot. Later Costner trades with the Jaguars for the sixth pick. He then trades with the Seahawks to get his original picks back and a punt returner. Costner then is able to get Ray Jennings in the next pick.

                Most of this movie is just people on the phone. However they handle the phone scenes very well. The way they split the screen is kind of interesting. They didn’t just split the screen in half; they brought the people who were talking into the foreground. The place they were talking looked more like a background for them.

(Word Count: 215)

Taken

                Taken is the first movie in what will be a trilogy. It came out in 2008 and was directed by Pierre Morel. This movie grossed over $225 million in the box office. This movie stars Liam Neeson and is often seen as the film that changed his career and redefined him as being more of an action star.

                Taken is about a former spy for the CIA who is played by Liam Neeson. His daughter asks him if she can go to Europe with a friend. He reluctantly agrees even after he finds out that she plans to follow a band all over Europe. When she and her friend get there they meet a supposedly nice guy who asks them if they want to go to a party. Later when Liam’s daughter is talking to him on the phone some men break in and take her and her friend.  Liam then goes to Europe to rescue his daughter. He is told that he only has 96 hours to rescue him before he would never see her again.

                First Liam finds the scout that talked to his daughter but he dies before Liam can get any information from him. Liam then meets with an old friend who doesn’t help him much but does point out where a gang prostitutes women. He then goes there and follows one of the gangsters to a brothel at a construction site. He saves the girl wearing his daughter’s jacket and then asks her about where she got the jacket. He goes to the house she tells him about and finds the person he talked on the phone with. He wounds him and kills all the others. He later tortures this man to discover who they sold his daughter to. Then he goes to the home of his old friend and gets him to give Liam the address of where his daughter was sold by injuring his wife. Liam then goes to this mansion and manages to find to the room where the women are being sold. He recognizes one of them as his daughter and forces the man in front of him to buy her. He is soon knocked out by the owner of the mansion but when he wakes up he is able to free himself and kill everyone. He then chases a yacht where his daughter is being held. He kills the boats guards and the owner of the boat, freeing his daughter.

                Liam Neeson is just awesome in this movie. He plays his role very well. He understands the type of drive that a man would have when trying to save his daughter and is able to portray this on screen very well. In every part of this movie he looks like a man on a mission. He also does very well with the action scenes of the movie. He makes it look just so easy. Taken is a very good reason and I believe that Liam Neeson is the biggest reason why.

                This movie has some very memorable moments in it. There were some moments that were randomly comedic. For example it was kind of funny when the person is running and he thinks he got away and just randomly got hit by a truck. Another kind of funny part was at the end when the man who bought Liam’s daughter his holding a knife to her throat. He tries to talk to Liam and tries to make a deal when Liam just shoots him in the face. One of my favorite parts in this movie is also one of my favorite parts from any movie I’ve seen. It is near the beginning when Liam talks to one of the kidnappers on the phone.

(Word Count: 625)

Impractical Jokers

                Impractical Jokers is a show that premiered on TruTV in 2011. It is a hidden camera, practical joke reality series that is directed by Peter Fowkes. The stars of Impractical Jokers are the four members of the comedy troupe named The Tenderloins. Their names are: Brian Quinn, James Murray, Joseph Gatto, and Sal Vulcano.

                Impractical Jokers consists of the four members telling each other to do public pranks while being filmed by hidden cameras. The group sometimes has challenges they have to do. For example, sometimes they have to get someone to repeat a made-up word or get someone to admit that they know them. However while trying to do these challenges the joker has to listen to the other three and do what they say. If they don’t complete the challenge or they refuse to do something the other guys tell them to do, they lose. They do around 3-4 challenges each episode and whoever has the most losses at the end of the episode is the big loser for the whole show. This person then has to do something very embarrassing or something that they would never want to do. This is chosen by the other three guys and one of the rules of the show is that they can’t say no. They have to do what the other guys chose. This can range anywhere from being forced to sing at the beginning of a minor league baseball to taking a lie detector test in front of an entire school.

                This show is very funny but sometimes it seems like they take things a bit too far. Especially on the final challenge for the loser. Sometimes they would take the fears of the person who lost and use that against them. They sent someone who hates getting scared through a haunted corn maze. They forced the person who is scared of skydiving to go skydiving. Sometimes the thing they force the other person to do is just gross instead of embarrassing. They once hid someone’s keys in a big pile of elephant poop and forced them to search for them. Another time they told someone that they put their phone somewhere in a large pile of trash on a barge. The barge then started floating away while the other three guys reveal that they had the guy’s phone the whole time.

                This show’s authenticity, like many other shows on TruTV, is doubted by many people. Many people believe that the show is scripted and the people that they prank are actors. However the actors have said themselves that it real and the reactions are completely genuine. Also you can tell that it’s real because some people have their faces blurred out. They are blurred out because they didn’t sign the waiver that lets the show put their faces on TV. If the show was scripted it wouldn’t be near as funny and I would probably not watch it.

(Word Count: 493)

Clash of the Titans

                Clash of the Titans is a remake of the 1981 film which was also named Clash of the Titans. The new one was directed by Louis Leterrier and produced by Legendary Pictures. It was released in 2010 and grossed $493 million. Clash of the Titans was converted to 3D before it came out which forced it to be delayed about a week.

                Clash of the Titans is loosely based on the Greek myth of Perseus. Perseus goes on a quest to try and stop Hades from fighting Zeus and using the Kraken to kill humans. Perseus leads soldiers to a group of witches to try and find a way to kill the Kraken. On their way there, they are attacked by a bunch of giant scorpions. They still manage to make it to the witches only to find out that they need to use the head of Medusa to turn the Kraken into stone. Perseus defeats Medusa by looking at her using the reflection in his shield. As Perseus is going back to the city, Hades releases the Kraken. Perseus shows the Kraken Medusa’s head which quickly turns the Kraken into stone. Perseus then calls Zeus to help him defeat Hades.

                The mythological creatures in this movie almost seem real because they are so well done. For example Pegasus looks as elegant as you would expect from a magical, flying horse. The three witches are created very well and created in a way that people recognize them. The mythological enemies are terrifying. Between the giant scorpions and the Kraken you would think it would be impossible to survive. Nobody likes scorpions and making them huge makes them even worse.  Plus it isn’t just one scorpion; they are completely surrounded by scorpions. The Kraken is just massive. It looks absolutely terrifying. The scene where it roars for the first time is probably my favorite part of this movie.

(Word Count: 319)

 

Carbonaro Effect

                The Carbonaro Effect is a show on TruTv. It is a hidden camera, magic, practical joke TV show. It shows Michael Carbonaro, who is a very talented magician, pranking random people. He disguises himself as someone in a normal, everyday job and does magic tricks on unsuspecting people. He convinces people that these magic tricks are real and this freaks many people out.

                This show is entertaining mostly because of the people’s reactions to the tricks. The tricks are cool to watch but the real fun from the show is seeing the people react. None of the people can seem to wrap their mind around what is happening right in front of them. They all get so confused but still seem to roll with it. The funniest reaction are the people that believe the magic tricks even though they are completely ridiculous. For example, one time he convinces two people that there are fish that turns invisible if there is something in their bowl with them.  He then pretends to put one of the fish in a baggie and gives it to one of the guys. He believes there is really a fish in it and walks away carrying the bag, looking into it, and smiling.

                Many people believe that the show is fake. They think that they people that he tricks are actors and they are just faking their reactions. I want to believe the show is real because it would be very cool if he could really trick people like that. However many of the things he does is hard to believe was real. One time he goes up and talks to a security guard who is sitting in front of a shed that has a car in it. He then leaves and the security guard just sits there for a while. Eventually he turns around and the car isn’t there anymore. This is seemingly impossible and when I first saw this I thought it was fake as well. However after reading some comments with people explaining how they probably did it, I think that it might be real.

(Word Count: 353)

               

South Beach Tow

                Recently I have found a new TV show that I am hooked on. It is called South Beach Tow. I just cannot get enough of this show. It is so overly dramatic but at the same time it is funny. This show is on TruTV. It is produced by Jennifer Lopez’s production company, Nuyorican Productions. It is said that the idea for the TV show came from Simon Fields after he got his car towed.

                This show is based on the real Miami towing company, Tremont Towing. It features actors that reenact the day-to-day business of Tremont Towing. The events that happen in the show are real events that happened to Tremont but are reenacted in an overly dramatic way. Most of the show is centered on the cast towing vehicles and their interactions with the people who own the cars they are towing. Most of the people get very angry that they are getting towed and try to argue with the cast. Sometimes these confrontations will even go so far as turning to physical violence. Tremont Towing also has several bad interactions with a rival towing company called The Finest Towing. This towing company steals Tremont’s tows, injures their drivers, and put sugar in Tremont’s gas tanks.

                One of the reasons I like this show so much is because of how overly dramatic it is. Sometimes it gets so overly dramatic that it almost gets to the point where it’s dumb. However they do this very well and even though it could be considered dumb at some points it is still incredibly entertaining. Some of the show is hard to believe that it is based on real events. For example, one time Tremont is moving to a new tow yard and their building explodes. They are in the middle of an extermination process and someone throws a lit cigarette into it.

                My favorite characters on this show are Jerome (J-Money) and Bernice. I like these characters because everyone else on the show is kind of sketchy and doesn’t really seem to like each other. Everyone seems to get into fights with each other except for J-Money. He just sort of sits back and does his job. He seems to mostly stay out of the drama however he is still very funny. J-Money often tries to pick up girls when he is on the job. He is actually often successful at doing this but sometimes finds some crazy girls. One of the best things about J-Money is his laugh. His laugh is very distinct and easily recognizable.

                Bernice is not someone that you would want to mess with. She is built like a tank. She gets angry very easily and is able to knock anyone out. One time she got mad at someone for breaking her sunglasses and so she tilted the guy’s smart car on its side while he was in it. Another time someone backed their car into her. This caused her to fall off the second story of a parking garage. She falls to the ground and sprains her ankle but is still able to stop the person trying to get away. Bernice and J-Money are also the only people that seem to be fully committed to Tremont. Everyone else either has a secret side business or leaves Tremont at some point.

(Word Count: 557)

Transformers

                Transformers was a movie that was directed by Michael Bay. It came out in 2007. It was based on the Transformers toy line made by Hasbro. This film was very successful, making over $700 million. Michael Bay went on to make three more Transformers movies. A fifth movie is set to come out in the summer of 2016.

                Transformers stars Shia LaBeouf who plays Sam Witwicky, a teenager who just happens to get caught up in a war between two groups of alien robots. Sam’s great grandfather accidently discovered Megatron who was frozen in a block of ice. Megatron was part of the Decepticons and came to Earth to try and find the AllSpark. He wanted to use this AllSpark to build an army by giving life to all the electronics of earth. The Autobots want to stop the Decepticons and destroy the AllSpark to save the humans.

                This movie was very good and was probably the best of the Transformer movies in my opinion. Seeing the robots transform for the first time was spectacular to watch. The idea that these robots can transform into anything they want is also very cool. All they have to do is scan the object and then they can transform into it.

                The fight scenes in this movie were incredible. Watching these giant robots fighting was a ton of fun to watch. I also liked how they would transform in the middle of the battle if they needed to. For example, one of the robots could turn into a jet. He would land to fight the battle and then take off before he could be hurt. He also would transform midair to attack other jets and then transform back.

                I also liked the comedic side of this movie. In one scene the giant robots were trying to hide from Sam’s parents. However trying to hide five or so giant robots in the backyard isn’t very easy at all and was funny to watch. I also like all the characters that were pretty much there just for comedic purposes. Sam’s best friend had nothing to do with the story and was only in a small part of the movie. Also Sam’s parents were very comedic and said many things that made me laugh.

(Word Count: 380)