Short Review

The Hunger Games

Book, Short Review

I recently read The Hunger Games trilogy

The story is about a post-apocalyptic world (i.e. North America) where there are no countries anymore. There are only 12 Districts and the Capitol. There used to be a 13th District but it was completely destroyed during the last rebellion of the Districts against the Capitol.

Now the Capitol rules with an iron fist and to prove their supremacy, each year the districts have to “provide” two children between the ages 12 and 16 – one girl and one boy. Then these 24 are sent to a fighting area which only one winner will leave alive.

The protagonist of the books is Katniss Aberdeen and she fights in the 74th Hunger Games for her very survival.

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Man on a Ledge

DVD / Blu-ray, Short Review

Director: Asger Leth

Sam Worthington … Nick Cassidy
William Sadler … Valet
Anthony Mackie … Mike Ackerman
Jamie Bell … Joey Cassidy
Genesis Rodriguez … Angie
Edward Burns … Jack Dougherty
Titus Welliver … Dante Marcus
Elizabeth Banks … Lydia Mercer
Kyra Sedgwick … Suzie Morales
Ed Harris … David Englander

Synopsis: Nick Cassidy is a former cop, then prison inmate, now wanted fugitive. When the police finds him next they don’t yet know who he is but he’s standing on the window ledge of a hotel window on the 21st floor threatening to jump. Everything he does seems only to further one goal: Buying time and hiding what his companions are really doing. Namely braking into the vault of the man who has framed him in the first place.

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Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome

Short Review, Web

Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome @ Wikipedia
Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome @ IMDb

This web series (to be released as a TV movie in 2013) follows the adventures of young Ensign William Adama, the later commander of the Battlestar Galactica. Now he’s just eager to get into his Viper and wipe out some Cylon raiders in the ongoing war. But for the time being he’s being ordered to pilot a Raptor instead of a Viper.

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Wedding Band

Short Review

Wedding Band @ Wikipedia
Wedding Band @ IMDb

The show follows a weekend band that plays on weddings and B’nai Mitzvah (that’s the actual plural of Bar Mitzvah, I had to look it up for spelling anyway ;)) while having “real” jobs during the week. The lead singer Tommy played by Brian Austin Green (Beverly Hills, 90210, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles) is a convinced single and he arranges for the band to play at the woman’s wedding “that got away”. Eddie is the lead guitarist and married man with children. The drummer is a Jack Black look-alike named Barry and the “new guy” Stevie is played by Harold Perrineau (LOST).

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X2

DVD / Blu-ray, Short Review
X2 (2003)

Director: Bryan Singer

Patrick Stewart … Professor Charles Xavier
Hugh Jackman … Logan / Wolverine
Ian McKellen … Eric Lensherr / Magneto
Halle Berry … Ororo Munroe / Storm
Famke Janssen … Jean Grey
James Marsden … Scott Summers / Cyclops
Anna Paquin … Marie / Rogue
Rebecca Romijn … Raven Darkholme / Mystique
Brian Cox … William Stryker
Alan Cumming … Kurt Wagner / Nightcrawler
Aaron Stanford … John Allerdyce / Pyro
Shawn Ashmore … Bobby Drake / Iceman
Kelly Hu … Yuriko Oyama / Lady Deathstrike

Synopsis: After an assassination attempt on the president himself he authorizes General William Striker to raid Xavier’s School for the Gifted. What he doesn’t know is that Striker has an agenda of his own. The X-Men have to work together with Magneto’s Brotherhood of Mutants to withstand this attack on their very right to exist.

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Elementary

Short Review

Elementary @ Wikipedia
Elementary @ IMDb

Sherlock Holmes, a former consultant to the British police is now living in today’s New York city. He’s just come out of rehab but very few people know that.
His family has hired a sober companion for him who’s supposed to stay 24/7 with him.
Her name is Dr. Joan Watson, a former surgeon who doesn’t practice medicine anymore.
Now he’s helping the NY police solving crimes.

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Nashville

Short Review

Nashville @ Wikipedia
Nashville @ IMDb

Rayna Jaymes (Connie Britton, American Horror Story) is an aging country star who doesn’t pull in that many concert visitor’s anymore.
Juliette Barnes (Hayden Panettiere, Heroes) is a fast-rising pop star whose concerts are sold out for months.
The record label thinks it’s a good idea to group these two together to pull in the other’s audience.
But both also have family problems. Rayna with her father who seems to solve every problem with money and plans to have her husband running for mayor when the current one doesn’t agree to one of his business plans.
The other with her origins, i.e. her drug-using mother who’s always looking for money for her next shot.

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U.S. Marshals

DVD / Blu-ray, Short Review

Director: Stuart Baird

Tommy Lee Jones … Chief Deputy Marshal Samuel Gerard
Wesley Snipes … Mark J. Sheridan / Warren / Roberts
Robert Downey Jr. … Special Agent John Royce
Joe Pantoliano … Deputy Marshal Cosmo Renfro
Daniel Roebuck … Deputy Marshal Bobby Biggs
Tom Wood … Deputy Marshal Noah Newman
LaTanya Richardson … Deputy Marshal Savannah Cooper

Synopsis: This is a sort-of sequel to The Fugitive featuring Sam Gerard and his team of the United States Marshal Service. During a prisoner flight one of the inmates tries to kill another prisoner and causes the plane to crash. The almost victim can escape during the evacuation and is now on the run. It’s up the U.S. Marshals to get him again.
But there’s a mystery surrounding this escapee because the United States Secret Service is interested in his capture and somehow even members of the Chinese embassy to the United Nations are involved. Very few things are what they seem.

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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

DVD / Blu-ray, Short Review

Director: Steve Barron

Josh Pais … Raphael (voice) / Man in Cab
Michelan Sisti … Michaelangelo / Pizza Man
Leif Tilden … Donatello / Foot Messenger
David Forman … Leonardo / Gang Leader
Robbie Rist … Michaelangelo (voice)
Corey Feldman … Donatello (voice)
Brian Tochi … Leonardo (voice)
Judith Hoag … April O’Neil
Elias Koteas … Casey Jones
Michael Turney … Danny Pennington
Kevin Clash … Splinter (voice)
James Saito … The Shredder / Oroko Saki
Toshishiro Obata … Tatsu
David McCharen … The Shredder / Oroko Saki (voice)

Synopsis: A crime wave is spilling into New York city and the police is simply ignoring the possibility that it might be organized instead of single acts. Only TV reporter April O’Neill is making this connection publicly and thus antagonizing the chief of police.
But she has help. A few years ago four baby turtles and a rat came across a radioactive substance in the sewer system – and it changed them. Their bodies and minds evolved. The rat took care of the turtles and taught them the art of Ninjitsu. Now they, April and another ally try to stop the Foot gang to take over the city.

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Outlander

DVD / Blu-ray, Short Review
Outlander (2008)

Director: Howard McCain

Jim Caviezel … Kainan
Sophia Myles … Freya
Jack Huston … Wulfric
John Hurt … Rothgar
Ron Perlman … Gunnar

Synopsis: Earth is actually an abandoned colony by the human race and of not much importance.
In the year 709 by our reckoning a spaceship crashes in the cold of Scandinavia. Aboard is a surviving soldier … and something else. Soon he’s captured by the local Norse warriors who think of him as a member of a rivalling tribe.
But then a beast of myth starts attacking their village except that this “dragon” is real and only the Outlander can help them defeat it.

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