New Things to Talk About

First, for any who don't already know, Connie and I are expecting our second child. The baby is due November 15th. So far everything is going great. Anthony is still a little unsure what to think. But, I think he'll come around. 

Second, it's springtime so that means baseball, soccer and softball. Fun. It's been pretty hectic already between sports schedules, the baby, work, the house, etc. Good times at the Rich house hold.

Third, my dad was in the hospital over the weekend. He had been complaining about chest pain, so he went to the ER. Turns out he had a clogged artery. They unclogged the artery without having to do surgery for now. He's on meds and is at home recovering. Thanks for the prayers.

Last, but certainly not least, I went to X-Men Origins: Wolverine last week. I went in to this movie not really expecting much, being that X3 sucked...badly. But, I was actually impressed with the movie. Sure some things are changed, but then what comic book movie doesn't have stuff like that. I really enjoyed it. Not a bad flick at all. Fans were kind of pissy about the way Deadpool was displayed post Weapon X, but if you were lucky enough to get the one of the three extra scenes after the credits, you really shouldn't complain. Leads into a possible Deadpool spin off that's been rumored to be happening for a while now. I've also got tickets for Star Trek this week in the IMAX. Should be fun. It looks pretty impressive. I'll be back with more on that after Thursday.

Well, I think that about covers it for now. Off to work on my to do list. Later.

New Movies!!

I took my family to go see Monsters vs. Aliens this weekend. Overall it was a good show. It wasn't overly great, but it was good. I have to say though, I am not impressed with Dreamworks Animation movies as of late. Madagascar 2 and this film were kind of lacking in some areas. I don't quite know what it is that's missing, but whatever it is, I hope they find it soon. Pixar is killing them. I also saw, don't laugh, High School Musical 3. Now I know I'm gonna get crap for this but, it was pretty good. I liked the first two though. I though they were decent family flicks. So, let the mocking and slams begin. I can take it. For those of you liked the movies, I thought this one was a nice way to tie up the franchise. So there ya go. My 2 cents on a couple of films I had not seen previously.

On a little different note, I started watching Star Trek: The Next Generation on DVD. So far I think it's still as good as when it originally aired. In my opinion, this is still the best Star Trek crew. Don't get me wrong, I like the original crew, but these guys had a nice mixture of cast and character. Well, I'm off. Work is early tomorrow. Live long and prosper....sorry, I couldn't resist.

Review Time

This last week I've watched three movies that I had not prior. The first was Casino Royale, which was actually a good flick. I liked that it kind of relaunched Bond. No fancy gadgets, just good action. I think that Craig made a good Bond. I give it a 3 out of 4 stars. That being said, I also watched Quantum of Solace. This one..not so good. I didn't think it stood very well on it's own. I think if they wanted to do this movie, it should have been just an additional hour at the end of Casino Royale. 2 out of 4. Which brings me to the final movie..Twilight. You know, I'm not sure about this movie. I didn't hate it, but I felt it lacked in some areas. I thought Bella's character came across a little flat and I didn't think that James had enough screen time to make him stand out as a good villain. That being said, with the budget what it was and the flatness of some of the acting, I didn't think it was a bad movie. Trust me, I've seen some bad movies...Cloverfield anyone? I also wanted to point out that I have not read the books either, so maybe that helped a little. So, I give it 2 1/2 out of 4. Next, I plan on watching Bolt and Madagascar 2. Hopefully they won't disappoint. 

On a side note, I recently went to the musical Avenue Q. This was a great show. If you haven't seen it and it's coming to your town, go see it. What's not to love? Foul mouthed, vulgar puppets singing about life, love, and porn. Seriously though, it was really good. I really want to see Wicked in May, but I don't think I'm going to be able to this time around. Well, until next time.

Darn you Marvel Comics!!

I just read that Marvel has decided to push all their movies back thanks to the addition of Spider-man 4! Really? Because we all haven't gotten enough Spider-man. So, now Iron Man 2 is the only picture not affected. The list looks like this:

Iron Man 2 - 5/7/2010

Spider-man 4 - 5/6/2011

Thor - 6/17/2011

Captain America - 7/22/2011

Avengers - 5/4/2012

The part that kills me is that they said with the move of Avengers, they don't have to compete with Harry Potter. Umm...except now Spider-man, Thor, and Captain America now have to contend with the third Batman movie. Yeah, good luck with that. Not only that, but I'm pretty sure the second part of Deathly Hallows comes out in 2011 too. I don't know. Maybe I'm just being a little grouchy about the whole thing. I just would rather see some of the other movies instead of seeing a fourth Spider-man. Especially since the third one was so great....or not. Moving on.

Have I mentioned how much I love my Xbox 360? I've pretty much been playing MLB 2k9 for the last week. Love it. The game is so realistic it's crazy. I've already beat Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe. Now I play that for fun. I'm thinking about picking up WWE's Legends of Wrestlemania game. If nothing else it will fun to play as older wrestlers I grew up with. I'm also looking forward to Guitar Hero: Metallica at the end of the month.

Well I'm out for now. Later all.

Watchmen...

Well, I went to the midnight showing of Watchmen last night. I gotta say that I was very disappointed. Not really for the same reasons others have mentioned, but still disappointed. The movie was way over the top. I thought some scenes were unnecessary (like the 3 sex scenes), I thought the editing was awful, some of the song choices for scenes were way too cheesy, and seeing Dr. Manhattan's junk in every scene was a tad unnecessary. A long 2 and a half hour movie that just didn't live up to the hype, in my opinion. I thought Rorschach was the only thing that made it watchable. Props to Mr. Haley. He really nailed that part. I don't know...I just was expecting it to be a great interpretation of the source material, but instead I felt cheated. The ending was lame. I thought that it was a complete cop out. So, I guess what I'm saying is that I would wait for the dvd. 

I did however get to see a new Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince trailer. Looks great. This morning I also got to see a new Star Trek trailer. Again, looks great. Hoping that with Star Trek and Wolverine opening in May I'll have better things to write about on these posts, other than complain. Until then, I don't really see anything coming out that appeals to me. Other than Taken. I still want to see how good Liam Neeson is in that flick. Well, there's my two cents.

Finally..

So I got my Xbox 360 over the weekend. I have to admit it is very cool. It's not only graphically better than my Wii, but I will now be able to play all the games that I couldn't before. Yay me! Anyway, it came with Lego Indiana Jones, which I haven't played yet, and Kung-Fu Panda. I also picked up an arcade classic game and CSI for my wife. Neither of which we have played yet. Which brings me to the game that has me hooked into it. Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe. This game rocks! I don't care what anyone says. If you are any kind of MK fan you'll love it. Aside from the fatalities being kind of toned down a bit, anyway. Comic fans should be pleased by this game. I think they did really well translating the characters. For all those who think that it's lame that Superman is in the game and shouldn't have any competition, the story line explains that too. This game is actually very entertaining to me. There's some other games I want to pick up eventually also. For instance; MLB 2K9, Left 4 Dead, Street Fighter IV, and possibly Rock Band once I get Xbox Live running. The only complaint I have so far is some of the pricing. The network adapter for wi-fi is $100. I'm sorry, but that's nuts. I know it comes with an ethernet cable and all that, but I have a router and I have my computer in a different room of the house. Overall though, I love this system. I'm hoping to get my Xbox Live running soon.

In other news, I've got my tickets for Watchmen on Thursday night (12:01am). In the IMAX. I think this movie will be everything a fan has been waiting for and more. I've been really impressed by all the footage and behind the scenes videos I have seen. Only time will tell, but here's hoping. 

Also, the World Baseball Classic starts this week. Go USA!! With the regular season not too far behind. Well, I'm off.

Alex Rodriguez and the game that used to be Baseball

I'm sure many of you know the whole debate about steroids in baseball and how badly it's damaged the sport in the last few years, so I won't go into the details. More recently however, the admission by the so called superstar Alex Rodriguez that he used, has been kind of disturbing to me. There's been all this talk about whether or not to strip his records from the books. Personally, I don't think that's a good idea. 1.) Baseball is already damaged enough from all of this kind of crap. Taking away records and stats is only going to open up a world of pain and hurt for the sport. 2.) I think the only way you are going to stop this crap is to kick them out of the league. Every time someone does drugs or gets arrested, the league just slaps them with a fine and says okay..you're free to go. That is such crap. Also, as for as the fans' view of the A-Rod situation, at first they were mad, disappointed, even sad. Now, they could care less that he did it. It's as if it never happened. Again, from the fans this time, a slap on the wrist. It's getting ridiculous. They can ban Pete Rose from the Hall of Fame for gambling, but using steroids is just a fine or a suspension. I love this sport. There's no other sport like it, but all this crap is ruining it for fans. I am looking forward to the upcoming season. I just don't want to deal with having to listen to the steroid crap anymore. Especially since they don't do anything significant to those that use or who have used in the past. So, on that note, here's to the new season and...GO RED SOX!