Movie Review: “Wanted” (Spoilers)

So this time, in an attempt to find a theatre where patrons understand the term “courteous,”  we travelled to Silver Spring, MD by hopping on the Metro Rail.  I was not aware of the acquisition of “Consolidated Theatres” by Regal Entertainment Group so this is another theatre to use the $7.50 movie tickets from Costco 🙂  Silver Spring is definitely up and coming and very busy tonight.  After dinner at the Austin Grill, which had a surprising Tex Mex menu, we caught the 7:25 showing of “Wanted.”  The previews got me interested.  Any spy like movie with Angelina and Morgan is definitely worth watching.  I have yet to see a bad movie starring either actor.  

I have to admit the beginning 30 min or so seemed to go on for a long time.  This was when the main character was introduced and his situation explained.  This movie seemed to be directed in a similar manner as “Batman Begins” and “Spiderman,” some of my favorite movies.  

To begin, this is not a movie for young children or those who are very sensitive to “swear words.”  The “f-bomb” is dropped a number of times.  The opening scenes reminded me of the classic “Office Space” complete with a miniature red stapler.  A guy stuck in a dead end job in a cubicle with an annoying nagging boss.  After a few run-ins with the “Fraternity” he grows some cojones by telling his boss off and breaking half of his ergonomic keyboard on his coworker’s face.  His coworker has been cheating on him with his girlfriend for quite some time, even leaving his wallet in the apartment!  Once that happens, he realizes his life is going to change and starts the training to become a member of the “Fraternity” of assassins.  

Morgan freeman is the head of the fraternity which gets kill orders from a 1000 year old loom which spells out the individuals to be killed in binary code.  The flaws in the weave reveal the the code.  No one questions the loom and the code dictates the swift assassination of those selected in order to save lives.  

The stunts in the movie are incredible.  A very strange twist is a recovery room.  This room seems to have multiple wax baths which speed recovery of wounds.  The main character wakes up disoriented unable to move.  

The main motivation for the joining of the fraternity is the main characters father who was said to have been killed.  He did not know his father.  He is trained and sent to kill his fathers’ assassin.  Hanging from a derailed train over a ravine, he does shoot his target who oddly enough catches him just a few minutes before preventing his fall.  As he is dying, he reveals that he is truly the father.  A friend of his father connects the dots for him and it turns out that he is on the wrong side and the loom actually has revealed that all of the current assassins in the fraternity are slated to be assassinated!  

Standing in a room looking for the leader, he becomes surrounded by a group of assassins and leader orders him to be killed.  After explaining what he has found, and a rebuttal by the leader that if it weren’t for him, they all would have been killed and he is now choosing who is to be assassinated.  One of the assassins decides to forego “the code”, but before he shoots, Angelina bends a bullet which ends up killing all of the assassins as it travels around finally striking her in the head upholding the code.

Morgan escapes, but in the end, goes on a hunt to kill the rogue assassin….but, in the same way his supposed dad was killed, Morgan is killed!  

So now that I have spoiled the movie, go see it!  It is a great one!

Flat Tire Number 2!

After I blew my first tire on the way from GU to Friendship Heights, I expected my next flat to be my front tire since the back went first.  Nope, tonight I had another flat back tire 🙁  This time I was past Hudson Trail Outfitters, so I walked to work and took the metro home.  I picked up a spare last time I was in, so I am going to do my first flat fix on my new bike.  Hopefully I will be able to find whatever punctured the tire so I can be sure to clear it before the new tube gets inflated to 100 psi.  I did not realize how fast I go through tubes, I should have picked up a few 4 packs from chainlove.com the other day.

Tomorrow is another hot day in DC..stay cool and have a nice weekend!

Chain Love.com

I don’t think I will forgive my coworker for introducing me to a “Woot” for the cyclist driven by Backcountryoutlet.com.  For those not familiar with “Woot” sites like this, the main idea is to take a seriously overstocked item which has likely become discontinued and discount it drastically.  “Woot” is cool in that the cost for shipping for 1-3 of the current deal is just $5.  Chainlove.com typically sells cycling products more than 50% off retail price and for a new cyclist like myself, has really brought the bargain hunter out in me!  I have placed 7 orders at this point and the first 2 arrived from Salt Lake today.  My Shimano cleats disguised as trail running shoes and my winter nickers!  Not sure I like the whole unitard or suspender look, but thankfully you cover it up with a jersey 🙂

So if you like good deals and are into cycling, check out Chainlove.com.  Be forewarned, you may get sucked in and have to remortgage your house!  LOL

Review: Mario Cart for Wii

I must begin by telling you all that I am NOT a video game person.  As a kid my brother and I played with an Atari, original Nintendo Gameboy, original Sega Genesis and tray loading Sega CD.  Recently I purchased a Sony PS2 and Nintendo Wii.

My brother definitely was more into the Gameboy and Sega than I for the most part.  I do recall enjoying “Night Trap” for Sega CD.  I had the version that was recalled due to the violent nature of sucking blood from the victims when you failed to trap the intruders.  I typed up a list on our IBM portable “Sewing Machine” personal computer with the keyboard screen cover and dual 5.25″ floppy drives and printed it out on our dot matrix tractor paper Epson printer. WOW…that was a long time ago!  

I purchased the Play Station 2 just to play Dance Dance Revolution.  I don’t recall ever using the controllers and used the full size dance pads and the eye toy camera.  I could never get the camera to work with the DDR, but the Anti Grav game was really cool with the camera. It identified your face and hands and was the way you controlled your floating hover board.  As you can see, I was more into the games that did not use the standard thumb numbing controllers.  So..when the Wii came out, it is no wonder that I picked one up as soon as I was able to.

The initial games were great.  I remember getting sweaty with the boxing game and really enjoying bowling.  I moved to a new apartment in Sept of 2007 and until 2 days ago, did not pick up the Wii.  Mario Cart is the number one selling game for the Nintendo Game Cube which is why I considered buying it.  The fact that it came with a steering wheel and actually felt like driving as opposed to arrow keys on a standard controller, sold me.  So on Monday I headed to Costco to get a few things and stopped at Best Buy to see if they had the game in stock as most online retailers were sold out and was fortunate enough to get a copy.  So I turn on my HD projector, lower my 80″ screen and race the mythical worlds of Nintendo!  

Next….Indiana Jones, the lego version.  I am going to rent this one before I take the $50 plunge.  Until next time, have a great summer!

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