Theater Whore: Selma

Selma 6/10

I finally got around to watching Selma after the suggestion of a few people and my reaction was...okay. I already knew most of the information in this so I tried to watch this as a film and not attach myself to any inaccuracies for the most part. The look of the movie was good. Not a fan of the music, particularly when contemporary songs were used when so many good ones were around during that time period. Sure there are tons of copyright issues with that. But the film felt weird to me because of the acting.

In Defense Of Enjoying Wrestling

Recently wrestling has been talked about after the outrage of fans on social media regarding the 2015 Royal Rumble pay-per-view with their #CancelWWENetwork. People were mad about the way the actual rumble progressed and especially mad at the winner. 

In these interviews and talk shows that I've been listening to that normally never talk about wrestling they give the same statements that have been said for decades now and just make me roll my eyes. Let me give a little background on my connection with wrestling. This won't take long.

I have been watching wrestling for 32 years now. I was born at the end of the 70's so I was fed a steady diet of WWF, NWA, WCW, AAA, and somehow was able to watch stuff from the South and Texas. My favorite wrestlers were Macho Man Randy Savage, Bret Hart, Mr. Perfect, Rick Rude, Legion of Doom, and The Great Mutoh. At one point I watched 8 hours of wrestling a week which has now become about 15 minutes a week in highlights. I wrote columns for Tha O Show for six years and even got to be on shows with guys like Hulk Hogan, Iron Sheik, Ricky Johnson (The Rock's uncle), and Booker T. even though I couldn't talk to them. Its awesome to be able to listen to a show and know I am listed with them. Currently my favorite wrestling programs are PWG and NXT.

Theater Whore: R100 and Symbol

R100 Film 8/10

The other night Koko and I went to see a double feature of Hitoshi Matsumoto movies over at Cinefamily. I had never been to this theater before and I really liked the way it was set up. The first was called R100. It is about a guy that signs up for a strange ass club for guys that are into S&M. There is a verbal contract and the guy can not stop it once its started. He is a plain enough guy that works at a furniture store. His wife is dying and in a coma. He spends a little time with his son and his father-in-law.

Next thing you know these women start showing up and assaulting him. And its great. He is eating sushi and one appears out of thin air and starts smashing his food. He gets attacked on the street. Drowned in a pool. He loves it until the Queen of Saliva dies. There's even a woman that eats people whole and people who critique the movie as its happening that ask the questions we all wanted to ask.

Theater Whore: Boyhood

Boyhood 0/10

I was just telling Cam earlier today that I've only given a 0 to two films. Absent and Vampire Academy. Absent because I refuse to believe that that was a movie and VA for personal reasons. Boyhood has now joined that list. Why? Because it is bullshit. I am pissed that anyone said that this was a great movie. Gimmick? Sure. I'll give it that. But this is not even close to being a good movie. This movie meant nothing.

This is about a family and what happens between them over the span of 12 years. There's a boy who is not very interesting. An annoying daughter that isn't interesting. A father that is not around that may be but isn't on screen long enough. And a mother that has terrible taste in men. There is your main cast that you have to deal with for the next almost three hours.

Theater Whore: Vice

Vice 1/10

They didn't even try. The actors didn't try. The actresses didn't try. The director didn't try. No one tried in this “movie” Vice. This is about a robot girl that doesn't know that she is a robot, a place that lets you come and live out any fantasy for a price, and a cop that plum don't likes it one bit. It stars Thomas Jane and Bruce Willis and likely various others that have two names. I must mention that almost every guy in this is a horrible human being.

DVDiculous: Justice League Throne of Atlantis

I got to watch this new Justice League: Throne of Atlantis. This is an Aquaman movie that also features the Justice League because you can not have this character in a film alone. Aquaman aka Arthur Curry is getting drunk in a bar after the death of his father and chatting with a lobster. He gets into a fight with some guys who want to eat it and kicks their asses. 

He is damn near unstoppable. Meanwhile, a submarine is attacked by creatures and Cyborg gets involved. This movie is almost as much about Cyborg as it is Aquaman.

Theater Whore: Whiplash

Whiplash 9/10

Holy crap! Whiplash is great! Cam and I went to check this out doing a double feature of this and Inherent Vice which I'd already seen and makes more sense the second time. This stars Miles Teller as Andrew Neiman who is a 19 year old college student playing jazz. He is accepted into a class with a hard-assed conductor named Terence Fletcher played by JK Simmons. Going into this all I knew were the stars and drumming took place.

This movie blew my damned mind. I expected at the most some good performances and hopefully cool music. This movie had me literally on the edge of my seat during the last 20 minutes. I swear I thought JK was going to jump out of the screen and start slapping audience members. 

Ross Radio Show 168

This time I play some Donovan Sunshine Superman, Mellow Yellow, and Hurdy Gurdy Man. Tommy James & The Shondells Crystal Blue Persuasion, Draggin' The Line, and Crimson & Clover. Jimi Hendrix Foxy Lady, Hey Joe, and Voodoo Child. Click here for this and previous Ross Radio Shows. 

Theater Whore: Taken 3

Taken 3 – 2/10

“This is so stupid!” One of the many things I said while watching Taken 3. Liam Neeson is back once again but this time it is not his daughter being taken. Its not even him. Its his ex wife's life! Yeah, that's right. This movie is weird. The first Taken was awesome. Taken 2 was one of the best comedies of that year. This one goes between a boring ass story to cameras that stay on a scene for no more than two seconds. I counted!

TV Slut: Fleming The Man Who Would Be Bond

Cam told me about this BBC America series Fleming: The Man Who Would Be Bond which is based on the author and creator of James Bond, Ian Fleming. This is a four part series that is about 45 minutes each episode. Dominic Cooper stars as Fleming and continues to show why he is one of the best actors not getting the attention he deserves. You may know him as Tony Stark's father in the Captain America movies or from his great movie The Devil's Double.

Theater Whore: The Gambler

The Gambler 4/10

Meh. This movie The Gambler has a lot of great actors in it, stars an okay one, and somehow manages to be pretty mediocre. Mark Wahlberg is a guy that teachers in college and also has a huge gambling problem. John Goodman, Micheal K. Williams, and Jessica Lange are totally wasted in this. Lange particularly because whenever she is on screen its good. Maybe its the fact that I don't gamble and can't relate to gamblers but all of the gambling parts bored me. The best scenes involved Williams, Lange, and Goodman. The rest is me seeing a guy I don't care about playing games I'm not interested in. This isn't really worth running out to see. 

Click here for previous Theater Whore.

Theater Whore: Inherent Vice

Inherent Vice 8/10

Inherent Vice was a really good movie. I would have rated it even higher but it left a lot of unanswered questions and there wasn't enough of certain actors and actresses in it. Joaquin Phoenix stars in this and is very good. I haven't seen a ton of his movies so each time I have he is playing a very different kind of character. This is one of those movies that you'll have to watch twice to get everything that is involved with it.

Demand It!: Locke

I watched the movie Locke starring Tom Hardy. I had no idea what this movie was about but ended up really digging it. He plays a guy named Ivan Locke that is in his car getting phone calls the entire time. He is talking to coworkers, his wife, his son, as well as a chick on the side that he got pregnant that decided to keep the baby.

Demand It!: Under The Skin

I hate these kind of films. What kind? Ones that you have to “get.” The ones that if you don't like it people trash you and question your opinion on every film that you say you enjoy. Under The Skin stars Scarlett Johansson as an alien that seduces men and then kills them. When I say it like that it sounds good until you realize that most of this “movie” is her driving and taking to terrible actors. Turns out they were real guys. It takes place in Scotland where the decision was made to say “Fuck it” to subtitles. The director also did Sexy Beast which was awesome but it was as if he took everything I didn't enjoy about that movie (drawn out scenes) and stretch it even further.

Theater Whore: Foxcatcher

Foxcatcher 8/10

Wow. Foxcatcher was a really good film. Notice how I said film and not movie. That means its classy. I had heard how good this was and just never got around to seeing it a while back because there have been so many movies out. This is based off of a true story and one of those type of films that come out every few years. No explosions or anything, just really good acting by people you wouldn't expect this level of acting from.

Steve Carell plays John du Pont. He is a weird ass rich man from the du Pont family. He enjoys sports and since he can't play them and wasn't allowed to growing up he sponsors athletes. He calls on and brings in Mark Schultz played by Channing Tatum. He is an Olympic gold medalist with his brother Dave Schultz played by Mark Ruffalo. John brings in the younger Mark to help train a team for wrestling, Team Foxcatcher. Things quickly get very weird.