Thor : Ragnorak - Son and Dad Instant Review

 

Do You Like Green Eggs & Ham?

 

2017 Summer Movie Awards

Movies seen - Fast 8, Guardians of the Galaxy, Wonder Woman, Cars 3, Spider-Man:Homecoming, Baby Driver, Logan Lucky

Best Flick : Wonder Woman

Best Dude : Tom Holland - Peter Parker/Spiderman -- This kid is SPIDERMAN.  He delivered on how Spidey and Peter should be growing as a kid and trying to be what he wants to be, a superhero like Iron Man.  Michael Keaton is a close 2nd here with his rendition of the Vulture is perfect too!

Best Dudette : Gal Gadot - Wonder Woman -- Well Hollywood, here is your female action super hero and she kicked some major ass.  

Best Scene : Peter going to pick up Liz for the homecoming dance and the big reveal (SPOILER!!) that Liz's dad is Adrian Toomes.  Peter knows exactly who he is and Adrian uses all his interactions with Spidey to figure out that that he is Spiderman.  Toomes then does the "dad talk" but also threatens Spiderman.  

Best Fight :  Wonder Woman, shedding the cloak in the trenches and taking the shield and entering "No Man's Land" and taking on the Germans, leading the American's and Steve Trevor and crew to break through.  - Wonder Woman

Biggest Dud : Fast 8 – The series for the most part has been going on an upward trend, and this is the first flick, since Tokyo Drift, that Paul Walker’s Brian wasn’t involved, and I think that this flick misses him a lot.  The reliance on Dom and the Rock is prevalent and they need to expand a little more on the sub characters and bring them up.   Baby Driver was more Fast and Furious than this one was.

Anticipated Sequel : Spider-Man 2 / Avengers Infinity War

Movie not seen that I want to see the Most : War for the Planet of the Apes 

Wonder Woman

 

I’ve really not a Wonder Woman fan, I view her as a female Superman (I’m also not a Superman fan) and I’m also not really a DC fan, BUT this was  a really good flick and the best thing DC that’s not animated, since The Dark Knight Rises. 

Gal Gadot is PERFECT in this role, and she does some major kicking.  She portrays the Amazonian Princess better than anything in the cartoon and this was written perfect showing her origin, flashing back from her first performance in Batman v Superman. 

Chris Pine brings a nice little comedic humor to the flick and knocks Steve Trevor out of the park.  I kind of compare him to Steve Rodgers (not Capt America) and maybe some Saving Private Ryan Tom Hanks.

The rest of the cast, Connie Nielsen, Robin Wright, Danny Huston, and rest of Steve Trevor’s crew were excellent.  The battles and action sequences were great too, and I would say very comparable to that of the first Captain America flick.  There are so many comparables to each film that IMO it shows how good both films are.  There is also a nice twist at the climax that I didn’t see coming. 

The payoff of the film is the battle sequence when Diana shreds her cloak and shows off her armor and climbs into “No Man’s Land” and takes on the Germans and leads the allied forces to a victory in battle.

The only negative I would say is I think the final battle/action sequence was a little long. 

The film was DC’s best in a LONG while, like I mentioned.  Gal is perfect in this role and can’t wait to see how she progresses in this universe. 

7/10 Stars

South Dakota / Black Hills

Last week the kids and I went on our Summer Vacation to South Dakota/Black Hills.  Going into the vacation I told the kids NO ELECTRONICS.  They had to make the whole trip with a book or 2 to read, an activity/coloring book and a journal, to write about what we did.  Going into it I was curious how that would go, and we had some rough spots but in the end it was great and I’m doing that again!

Day 1 – Left town about 6 am, the kids crashed in the car for about 2 hours.  First stop was Mitchell and the Corn Palace.  It was ok, it’s a gym basically in a building with Corn on it.   The Willie Nelson décor of corn was cool though.  After gasing up and lunch we headed towards Wall Drug.  I kept bugging Addy to read the billboards for Wall all the way there.  It was a lot smaller than I remember.  I thought it was a huge venue when I was kid going there, and it may have been but its really just a huge tourist trap (Let’s be honest, most of SD is).  Before Wall Drug we did the scenic route to what I think was the kids favorite part of the trip, the BadLands.  We got out of the car a few times to hit some climbing and hiking.  The ground was soft rock, and learned later it deteriorates an inch a year.  It was cool to see the kids there and climbing and all that.  We also saw some wild sheep, rams and prairie dogs.  Speaking of the later, the other thing they liked I think was feeding the prairie dogs.  They ran all around with the peanuts to give to them.  We ended the night all around Rapid City with supper at Firehouse Brewing and walking around Rapid City seeing the President Statues.

Day 2 – We headed toward Crazy Horse first when I saw it was the route to Day 3, we turned around at hit up Mount Rushmore.  The kids saw it and I think were like…ok that’s cool.  It looks like the pictures.  I hope that when they get older they get the magnitude of what those 4 Presidents mean and how hard it was to make that.  Eventually after seeing Crazy Horse bray started to talk more about how they got it smooth and life like.  We then hit Bear Country USA.  First off I don’t remember how much that cost and I know it probably went up but damn.  Then also I thought I remembered a lot more bears and a lot less other animals.  And that also may have changed too.  But the kids liked seeing the animals and spotting them out and then the baby bears were their favorite.  The next part is a regret and a great thing.  I wish we would have cut a few things out and spent more time here.  We did the Alpine Slide at Rushmore Tramway.  I have a video of Ry and I riding it down and a great action shot of Addy near the finish line.  I wish we would have done the adventures in the trees more so then Hot Springs.  #lessonlearned  We ended the day with Miner Brewing Company, supper again at Firehouse, hanging out downtown Rapid City with a concert in the park, Dinosaur Park and swimming.  Met some great people downtown, Dan and Carol.  They were the nicest people, Carol went and got the kids some popcorn and gave us recommendations on where to go.

Day 3 – We rolled past Crazy Horse, which is what you do with Crazy Horse and headed toward Jewel Cave.  Needing a sweatshirt I got a souvenir in Hill City and so did Addy.  The cave was really cool and the kids really liked it too.  Probably their third favorite thing.  It was about a 90 min tour and that place was amazing with the colors and formations.  We then hit the Needles scenic highway.  Which was basically that, a road within the Black Hills.  We stopped about 3 times and again got out and climbed and this is what I really wanted for the kids to do.  They really liked it.  We got through there and rolled toward Hot Springs.  There we went to the Mammoth Site and saw all the bones and learned about the way they got trapped.  Also my pop quiz questions to them about why the red in the dirt (Iron deposits).  Had a stop at Wooly’s (that town is basically living off that site) and got some free mini golf with a stay in our old school hotel.  

Day 4 – We went Northwest to our 3rd state in Wyoming and to Devils Tower.  Approaching the tower it was cool and cloudy and then the rain just let loose as we could start to see it.  We stopped at the Trading Post to get cash and then to let the sun come out and figure our game plan.  We were going to roll up there then looked up and the sun that was there for 40 minutes it poured again!  We waited that out and had lunch in a little parkoff of the highway and it got sunny again.  We really wanted to go climb but Addy mentioned how wet and slick and muddy it would be so we decided to not do it.  Going toward Deadwood/Spearfish (our last stop) I was thinking of just going straight home.  I could sense some tension in the kids and I could still get home.  We stayed though.  We hit up the fish hatchery and feed fish in spearfish and then went to Deadwood and Wild Bill Days.  I think this was the kids least favorite and mostly because that town is an adult town.  We got to watch a dog jumping competition and heard some live music.  Ry even got waved at and made eyes to the Sawyer Brown guitarist.  Supper wasn’t even that great either and I was ready to get home.  The best part of Deadwood was Nakita at the candy shop in Saloon #10.  She was really great to the kids and we hung out there about 30 mins talking to her. 

Day 5 – We got up at 5am and rolled home.  Made it home at 315.   The kids got me (with Shawnnas help) a collage of them.  It’s cool.  We then went to Cars 3 at Flix Brewhouse and they all enjoyed that.  

It was a good trip and I learned a few things.  The kids CAN survive without electronics.  I wish we would have cut out Hot Springs and maybe crammed a few things in tighter to Rapid City and then also added in more of the Rushmore Tramway.  The big reason is it would have cost 200 bucks for 90 mins for all of us and we had all the other stuff to pay for too.  Which if I could have cut it out, we would have been able too.  But I really hope the kids liked it and enjoyed it.  It was something different than Minneapolis and St Louis from the years before.  Next year I’ll try something different again I think.  

Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2

 

There may only be 1 other movie with as much hype going into this summer as Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2.  (Spiderman Homecoming being the other)  GotGV2 catches back up with the group of a-holes lead by Star Lord.  The timeline is said to be a few months after the first one ended and starts out with some good action and introduces a some new characters, including Star Lord's dad.  

I was pretty hyped for this flick with the previews and I was totally taken for a spin.  FYI – I don’t go in to flicks by checking out a lot of what is going on and see all the clips.  I like to be surprised in the theater, and I was.  I thought Volume 1 was a great movie and is one of the best Marvel ones, so this one had a lot to live up to. 

#SPOILERS AFTER THIS#

The action in the movie, the beginning and the end, is really good.  The first scene with the fight vs the alien is pretty good, a lot of the action is in the background to that of Baby Groot dancing, and the interactions of Ayesha and Star Lord was a continuation from what we saw in 1.  The star battle sequence being video game like and with the sounds, was perfect too, that was almost perfect. 

Ego and the turn of him being in the villain was a shock for me.  I didn’t expect that at all.  They had some Kurt and Pratt and a great interactions but also some that didn’t feel genuine IMO.  Listening to the Comic Book Cast SpoilerReview, I agree with him, how did they not find the seeds that Ego planted?  Really?  In the 80’s when kids were free to wander more, everything was found.  How was that seed not found for 30 years?  So I didn’t like the end plan by Ego.  Trying to use Starlord, Ego then dropped on him a BvS, Civil War twist, of killing his mom.  (Please no more killing mom being the key to the final fight Marvel or DC.)  But the last fight with PacMan was decent. 

The Guardians seem split up a lot too, with Rocket, Groot and Yondu all together, and the Gamora, Drax and Mantis off on their own thing and then interacting with Nebula.  As much as a relationship is between father and son, the relationship with Gamora and Nebula I think was the best part of the movie being sisters.  I’m curious as to where that will go in Infinity War with Thanos in the middle.  I can see Nebula dying and setting Gamora off.  As much of a supporting character that Yondu is I felt that he was more involved than some of the Guardians in the flick. 

I think some of the humor was a little forced, Drax had some great lines and interactions with Mantis, but a few of the lines felt like they could have been done different.  Also at over 2 hours, this movie could have had about 20-25 minutes cut and it would have been just as effective.

Along with Dr Strange, this movie was visually amazing with all the colors.  As little as Drax was I felt involved, Batista did nail that role this time, just like I mentioned a few lines felt forced.  Rooker was good as Yondu, and it felt like this movie was more about him, rather than Peter. 

The post credits were a few too many, really only needed the teenage Groot scene and the Adam Warlock reveal. 

It wasn’t a bad flick, but it’s not great flick.  It will garner a ton of money, and it should, but it was fun to be on the adventures with this group again. 

4/10 Stars

Boston

Day 1
Flying out there, through St Louis the plan there was filled with Red Sox, Yankee and Cubs fans.  That was really cool and a picture of what was to come.  I got into town, did some Lyfting to get to my AirBNB, which was really nice, but maybe in an area of town I should have checked.  It’s not bad, and I really never felt bad, but did hear some gun shots.  But it worked well for what I needed it to be and was walkable to places.

I went straight to the Old North End and walked around.  I hit a place for lunch and had a beer with some clam chowder, that was pretty good.  I then walked toward the old bars, the Bell in Hand and The Green Dragon.  As I was walking to the Green Dragon I ran into “Liam Nesson” Freedom Trail guide.  This guy I met in 2015 and was one of the cool guys that stuck out that trip.  Well I walked by him and he noticed my Iowa gear and dropped a line about the Hawks.  Was awesome.  I walked then into the Green Dragon.  Great history with the bar and it has some great beer.  Sam Adams Boston Brick Red!  Sitting there a gal across the way started talking to me.  She was from Toronto there on a pharmaceutical business trip.  We talked for about an hour or so there and was really cool.

Wandered across the street to the Bell In Hand with the gal from Toronto and mozied up the bar.  On the way across ran into some kids from the NCAA Div 3 champion Hockey team and got a picture with a player and the trophy.  Kinda cool happening to just have that happen.  They were going to throw out the first pitch that night before the Sox/Yankees game.

The Bell In Hand also boasts some history also as the oldest bar in America.  Another place with some exclusive Sam Adams beers, this time I had the 26.2, made only in a certain time in Boston by Sam Adams for the Boston Marathon.  Good stuff again.  Ended up sitting next to 3 fire fighters from Las Vegas, and their wives/others.  They were pretty cool.  Talked to them for about a half hour or so.  They kept egging on the gal about trying to go Vegas.  It was funny.  They were in town for the game that night verse the Yankees and then vs the Cubs the next night.  After they left, a group an older guys came in and sat by us.  Like most that weekend, they were in town for the games and to see Fenway, from Florida this time.  Hilarious group of guys and I’m sure they had an epic time based on the time I chatted with them and their plan.  Never saw a guy chug that much beer that quick than the guy there.  Gone quick.

I decided to get going and go see some history in and went toward the little area and also Paul Revere’s house and hopped on the trail.  This is where things got cool!  Went to Mike’s Pastry to get a cannoli.  This was a place I didn’t get to go to last time in Boston and made sure I hit it this time.  As I was walking there and putting cash in my wallet, I get to a street corner, and look up and see ANTHONY RIZZO!  The Cubs were off that day and I thought a few might be out on the town, but this was AWESOME.  Rizzo, his gf and looked like a brother and someone else all had cannoli’s.  I wanted to ask for a picture with him, but he had a mouth full of cannoli, and he really wanted probably just time to relax.  But I did talk to him asking him “how are you doing?” and “thanks for last year.”  I was still in awe and star struck but I at least got to get some words out.  That was FUN.

I followed the trail to Boston Common and wandered then into the Original Cheers and sat at the corner, ala Norm, by 2 gals from Chicago.  As I got there in the evening, you started to see more Cubbie Blue coming into town.  We sampled beers and chatted about the Cubs, the Rizzo meeting and the town and 2016.  They were really fun and basically continued the trend of people I met this trip.  All just really fun and talked and all kinda in shock that I went out there all alone and praised me for going out and living life.  They even took a picture of me and posted it on Facebook in order to create drama.  That was fun for them, and we’ve texted during the series.  It was all in good fun.  They left and went for seafood and had their own encounter and met Kris Bryant that night.  All cool for there for them.  I stayed for one more beer and talked to a couple there from NOLA that were LSU fans along with Cubs fans.  We chatted Hawks/Tigers and the Capital One Bowl.  They love Ferentz and the Hawks program with the loyalty.  Interesting to get their SEC perspective on the Hawks.  Talked life, kids and beer with them too.  Awesome people.

I ended the night heading to Harvard, and John Harvard Brewing Company, supper and more beer there and wandering around that campus.  In front of the non-John Harvard statue statue was a stage they had set up.  Life lesson, if there is a stage out there DANCE ON IT AND OWN IT!  So I did.  Out in the yard were some light up teeter totters for the students during final week.  They had music blaring and every time the teeter totter would hit the ground they would light up.  I sat there and watched kids spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on their education just sit there and act like 7 & 8 yr. old kids.  It was fun and refreshing.  Ended the night with another Mike’s Cannoli and then went home to crash.

Day 2

Woke up a lil hungover, nothing a donut and coffee (I thought) would cure.  Started out walking the town in the morning in a hoodie and jeans (and to foreshadow – maybe didn’t help me later in the trip).  I walked through the campus of Northeastern University, small little place that is just placed there right in the city between Fenway and the financial district.  At the financial district, I got to walk down the final meters of the Boston Marathon.  Looking at it, thinking of all the things that happened there 4 years ago with the bombing, and then the Mark Wahlburg movie kind of gives you chills.  The Finish Line was still painted and I got the picture of it.  It would have been cool to have myself running thru it but you know traffic was involved.

After that I went after more history on the Freedom Trail and hit the Granary Burial Ground.  Resting place of Samuel Adams, John Hancock and Paul Revere.  This place is really cool and the resting place of so many prominent individuals.  It didn’t give the chills as the Washington grave site but still really cool.  This moment was also the time I saw a preview of what I would see at Fenway with all the Cubs fans there.  Next then was lunch at Sam Lagasse’s, for a pastrami sandwich.  This place was on Diners, Drive Ins and Dives and was a decent and HUGE sandwich.  I only ate half of it, which may have been a good thing.

One place I didn’t get to in 2015 that I watned to see was the USS Constitution, old Iron Sides.  On the way there I did walk right by the Garden and see the Bobby Orr statue.  I didn’t check if there was a Larry Bird one but there has to be right?  I got over walking to the bridge and ended up meeting a pilot from Delta as we were walking the same place.  We talked for about 30 mins, discussing the issues going on with United, North Korea, stuff in Boston and the ship and his upcoming trip to London.  Really cool guy, and hope to be on one of his flights, hopefully on the way home from DC in June.  Iron Sides had a bunch of scaffolding in dry dock to get it all fixed up so that was kind of a bummer but still it’s an amazing ship to view and think that it was in the navy for George Washington and named by him.  Really cool and sent that picture to dad.

At the USS Constitution I met up with Steph and we wandered down to a bar, had a beverage and talked a bit, and caught up with life about all aspects.  Always good to catch up with her.  We then walked our way to Regina’s pizza, the spot she showed us in 2015.  Good lil historic pizza place.  About this time I wasn’t drinking or eating on pace as I usually am, and well the ride back to the AirBNB to get the tickets showed that, got sick.  It was really quick but all over I-93.  Thankfully, hanging out of the Lyft, I didn’t get hit and ended up pushing through through the night, but didn’t drink up as much and it kind of took a bit out of me.

Next stop was Fenway, and I wasn’t letting getting sick keep me from there and the Cubs-Red Sox.  Again CUBS FANS EVERYWHERE.  Had a drink at the Cask n Flagon and got my 2 extra tickets sold.  SWEET!  And then wandered over to the Bleacher Bar.  At the Bleacher Bar had some water…aka Bud Light…and some gravey fries for the first time ever.  Steph ordered those, and I had a couple and went easy on my stomach all night.  Hence the Bud light.  Getting into the stadium, and walking up the ramp to see the green grass, sun light always give me chills.  Add in that it was a perfect day and the green monster looming over in left field.  It was awesome.

The tickets were in the old wooden seats in left field, and had some great people around us.  The gals from Maine were funny to interact with and the guy infront of me was hilarious.  And add on that had the Boston accent that I just wanted to hear him talk more history.  The Cubs had a bad first inning, made it a really fun close game but lose 5-4.  Kris Bryant crushed one over the green monstah in the 1st inning, but the rest was just blah.  I was pretty tame during the game due to my gut but it was still a good time.

Day 3

Didn’t sleep that well with the gut and heat, but Day 3 was all about Sam Adams.  Saturdays at the brewery, the trolley driver to Doyle’s is LEGENDARY!  I walked my way up through the town to the brewery and got on the first tour.  The tour was nothing really new from 2015.  The beer making process hasn’t changed at all and the hops still smell when you crush them in your hands.  I got the few samples at the brewery and then wandered out to the gift shop, where I ran into the trolley driver, Jason.  It was awesome.  Talked to him and got a picture with him before the trip to Double fist pump, DOYLES!

In 2015 at Doyle’s they had a beer called Black and Gold, that they only sold at Doyle’s and the Garden for Bruins games.  Great beer but didn’t have it.  The list was pretty limited this time but they had Cherry Wheat from the source!  Grabbed a couple of those and talked to a couple from New Hampshire that were Sox and Cubs fans.  Mentioning that I was from Iowa, a couple overheard me to the right who were Iowa grads.  Small world, and we had great conversation.  Nice young couple.  Even though I wanted to go easy on my gut, I had to get the Rueben.  The trolley driver raves about them and it was one of the best ones I’ve had.

With the Cubs losing the night before part of me wanted to hit the game Saturday to see a W, bought a ticket behind homeplat in the stands and walked toward Fenway again, and small world happened again.  Sat next to a gal from Sioux City most the game.  The Cubs ended up hitting 3 homers (Rizzo, Miggy, Zobrist) and won the game 7-4!  I got my W out there.

I spent the rest of the night just walking around Boston.  Getting sick had kinda been a damper, and I was missing a P.I.C. to carry me along the way and keep me going.  Walked around till about 9 and decided with the flight home early the next day to call it a night.

Overall Boston was a great trip!  Got to see 2 games at Fenway in a great series that should be a preview of October.  I hit Sam Adams, didn’t get a few other breweries hit that I wanted to but maybe again I’ll be out there.  I ran into the Trolley driver and Liam Nesson at the Quicny Market.  The worst part of the trip was not eating the seafood I wanted to get.  I missed out on that.  Luckily I’ll be in Baltimore later this summer and be able to get some there.  Don’t know when I’ll go back to Boston, but also next time I’m going to have some friends along there.