Best $400,000 dollars ever spent:

Definitely not on my team…

Episode  9, The Suicide King

Summary:

After a long mid-season hiatus it is finally time for new episodes of The Walking Dead. I’ve been looking forward to watching this all day.

The ninth episodes starts off just where episode 8 ended, with Daryl being held captive.  The Governor wants to pit brother against brother, but even though it looks at first like Merle is turning on Daryl, he is just waiting for the right moment to try and save his little brother.

The rescue team gets Daryl out, with Merle in tow, which causes some issues. The rest of the group doesn’t want Merle coming back to the prison, and Daryl won’t leave his brother behind – again. In one way I get it, its his brother, but at the same time, what a horrible decision to have to make.

Back the prison the new comers seem like good people, but some of them want to try and take over the prison.  Which I blame Hershel for. He had to tell them not to get too comfortable. I would have thought that the party was getting too small, a few more able bodies would make the place more secure.

Rick is against letting any of the newcomers into the “family”. He is afraid he’ll make the wrong choice. Hershel tries to talk reason to him. Tells him he has to give people a chance, he can’t lock everyone out. He looks up on the second floor of the prison block and sees a ghostly outline of Lorrie. The others think he’s losing it, which maybe he is. The newcomers run, afraid he’s going to start shooting.

Overall, the mid season kick off was a strong episode. Now we just have to wait until next week to see what happens.

Things I loved about this episode…

• Daryl snagging his crossbow as they escape the town after the rescue.
• The uber messed up walker pulling back the sheet metal to get into Woodbury.
• The walker in the truck that jumps out at Glenn when they stop on the road. Glenn takes care of business, crushing it’s head with his boot.
• Andrea taking care of business when the walkers get into Woodbury. Even if she is on the wrong side at the moment.
• Beth giving Rick a kiss when he gets back. She’s a college grad in real life, but I’m not sure how old she is in the show, so I’m not sure if it is cute or creepy cute. She graduated college in 2006, so she’s an adult in real life, but she looks so young I can’t help but think its a little creepy.
• Beth with the baby and talking about Daryl and the way that Carl says that men like Daryl have a code.
• The Lil Asskicker bassinette. 
• H

Things that I didn’t like about this episode…

• The townspeople in Woodbury are way to comfortable around the walkers.
• Glenn freaking out and saying hurtful things to Maggie and Rick. I can’t believe Glenn would ever do that.
• The baby cries when Rick holds it. That just seems wrong. The look pain and indecision on his face is horrible. Is it even his kid?

The Walking Dead are back tomorrow!!!

I plan on watching several of the best episodes form Season 1 and Season 2 in preparation.

How about you?

Am I weird for thinking this is attractive?

On A Pale Horse by Piers Anthony

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is another one of those books I read when I was twelve or thirteen and haven’t touched since. I started to re-read the other day and was a little underwhelmed at first. The book started out a little slow, and I’d forgotten how much Piers Anthony loved puns.

I was about to go look for another book when Luna came into the picture. That was when things started to get interesting. The love story between Death and Luna was what really made the book shine. I’m glad I didn’t put it down a page too early.

So why a four and not a five? The match stick logic thing was a little silly and annoying (although I’m sure I didn’t think so when I was twelve). And the trip to see nature reminded me way to much of the Xanth series and getting to the magicians castle.

Pontypool (2 Out of 5 Graves)

Pontypool starts out strong with Stephen McHattie playing Grant Mazzy, a one time big market radio host apparently starting over in a smaller market. Mchattie carries the move easily with his performance. He is a strong, powerful actor.  I never read the novel (it’s on my list) but I have to imagine that the source material from Tony Burgess is mostly to blame for the lackluster finish to the story.

The tale starts strong and builds suspense nicely. There are strange things going on in town, and as weird as it seems, Grant Mazzy isn’t so sure he’s just not the new guy getting hazed, at least not at first. There are several genuine laughs, and McHattie hits every facial expression perfectly. The looks of disbelief, WTF, and shock are done perfectly. He has a strong supporting cast who played more minor, but equally important rolls. The fact that they built so much suspense while showing so little of the actual “zombies” until late in the movie spoke to how well done the first two thirds were done.

So what was the hiccup?  Why a two your saying?

The finish. The end. The conclusion. The build up to the reveal. And the reveal wasn’t that great. It was a half baked cake. Laurel-Ann (Georgina Reilly) kicks it off with a well done frozen freaky pose, then the good doctor appears to help narrate what is going on.

This is about where the movie jumps the shark. The concept seemed cool *Spoiler Alert* – infected language.  But there has to be more to it than that. It’s infected and makes you want to spread it, and you happen to eat people in the process? Doh, WTF happened? It just spun out of control while doing a really horrible job of trying to explain what happened. I’d rather have had the old Satan is using it to take them over explanation, as at least that is true to itself in some strange way. The life out of nothing viral language zombie explanation felt really poorly thought out.

And thus, a well done, powerfully acted movie with a great start finished with a two.

 

My youngest son was showing my videos of Feast of Fictions.

This was by far my favorite (although we are going to try and make noodles this weekend).

With a little patience it should definitely be doable.

Total Recall (2012) – 1 Out of 5 Graves

This movie has the dishonorable distinction of being the first 1 Out of 5 I’ve given. I write this in a cold rage, angry that I wasted time watching this movie. The original was so much better, even if the special effects have shown through with the years.

Reasons 2012 Version Sucked:

1. The dialogue and the action were so fast it was hard to follow.
2. The action is so twitchy and fast it was impossible to enjoy.
3. They fought so hard to make this one different than the first version that they just screwed it up. The part with the tear versus the drop of sweat really bothered me between the two versions.
4. What the hell was with the giant tunnel through the earth? Oh yeah, another example of how they screwed it up compared to the original. People commute every day up and down that?
5. There were too many scenes with Kate Beckinsale that looked like they were taken right out her vampire movies. The way she runs and jumps and lands in a crouch. I love those movies, but her action scenes gave me flashbacks to the Underworld movies.
6. The tattoo on his wrist at the end. This was the absolute worst. I hate the “trick” endings

In summary I don’t think the remake was well thought out or well executed. Which is a shame. There were so many great actors in it.

The bad version:

The good version: