Ridiculous 6: Surprisingly good

Yesterday i was sitting around and debating what i wanted to do with my day and i was flipping through Netflix when i stumbled on an Adam Sandler movie. The movie in question was called the Ridiculous 6, which if you know your movie history is a parody of the Magnificent 7 or 7 samurai. Basically there are a handful of movies that have followed the premise of 7 gifted individuals who come together for a greater good.

Ridiculous 6 is nothing like that movie, it is a comedy about 6 brothers who come together to save their father. The movie stars Adam Sandler as the main character White Knife (a boy who was raised by Indians after his mom was murdered.) He meets his father who is played by Nick Nolte. His father (Frank Stockburn) needs his help. Adam then takes it upon himself to help his biological father.

On his adventure , Adam Sandler meets five other people who’s mothers had a run in with Frank Stockburn. (Terry Crews, Jorge Garcia, Taylor Lautner, Luke Wilson, and Rob Schneider.) I am convinced that Rob has a contact that he must be in every movie Adam Sandler makes, but its not always a bad thing.

While the Magnificent 7 was a very serious movie, this is the complete opposite. While there were parts of the movie that made me think that they were trying to be serious, it was quickly broken up by something overly silly. That is what kept the movie interesting for me over the 2 hour run time. This isn’t a typical Romantic Comedy that Adam Sandler has been making on a regular basis, but when you are married with a family, you are going to try and make more kid friendly movies that your family can watch.

I realize that there was a lot of Flack about the movie and the Indians in it and several other things, but as far as the movie is concerned its not bad. I am not condoning any of the things that happened during the filming of the movie, i am merely stating that the movie was better than some of the more Recent Sandler Movies. I enjoyed that they didn’t take historic characters seriously and kind of mocked the movie that this was spoofing.

If i had to give it a rating i would give it a 3/5, its worth watching at least once. I would like to see Sandler maybe invest into producing other movies, maybe start making comedies that doesn’t star him and his friends. I think Sandler if he has a good story and some younger talent, could make some pretty funny movies. Maybe if you got him and Seth Rogan together, they could make a family friendly stoner comedy. Or not, it was just a thought.

Ronda Rousey SuperHero or super Villian?

Social media has made its pretty clear that current UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion Ronda Rousey wants to be immortalized as a super hero. In the last few months, she has been posturing hollywood to make her Captain Marvel, in an upcoming Captain Marvel Movie which is expected to release in 2018. Director Kevin Smith, has thrown his hat in the ring, supporting Ronda for Captain Marvel

There seems to be one problem, Ronda isn’t an actress; she is a MMA fighter. Granted she was in the movie Expendables 3, but she was not a leading character. Playing a super hero is both a gift and a curse. It can either launch you into the halls of stardom that will never fade (i.e Robert Downey Jr., Chris Pratt, or Chris Evans) or totally wreck your career, making people question your super hero credibility (i.e Ryan Reynolds in Green Lantern, Toby McQuire in Spiderman, or everyone who has been in the Fantastic Four.))

I am not saying that Ronda doesn’t have what it takes to be Captain Marvel, nor would i ever. Have you seen what she has done to trained MMA fighters in under a minute? I am pretty sure i don’t stand a snowballs chance in the center of the earth. Ok maybe slightly better, i am pretty fast and could possibly just keep running until she got tired of chasing me, but what i am saying is playing a Leading role is difficult.

I think if there is one female who can play an ass kicking lead, outside of Jennifer Lawrence, Angelina Jolie, and Scarlett Johansson, it would be Ronda. If there is one thing that makes her an ideal candidate, its the fact that she has Mixed Martial arts training, as well as she is an olympic Judo Champion. Few if any actors can say that they are Judo champions, let alone trained fighters, This means that it is more than likely that she can do her own stunts. It add’s a bit of realism to the movie, if the actor is doing her own stunts. Tom Cruise is living proof that doing your own stunts can make the movies more exciting than when the actor is added in post, or not there at all.

Another thing that Ronda has for her, is the fact that she is a fellow nerd. Ronda has been very open about her love for Pokemon and Dragonball Z. Ronda has been rather proud of her Pokemon collection, what is better for the Marvel universe, than a female lead who is a trained fighter, that loves Nerdy things. the only fault i can give her, is her supposed crush on Vegeta.

Come on Ronda, seriously? He is a self centered jerk. Granted Bulma is the one person tougher than he is, and he has a reason (His wife and kids) to not wipe out the planet, but you can’t tell me that Krillin and his little bald head don’t excite you just a little bit. They say big things come in small packages and he is rather tiny.

With that being said, i can not really find fault with Ronda being a possible candidate for Captain Marvel. She clearly wants the role, and you don’t see many people that adamant about playing the role. If you look at Pictures of Captain Marvel next to Pictures of Ronda, you can’t help but see the resemblance in the two of them. Ronda’s fans have been like a snowball on a down hill path, with their support; posting pictures of her in the costume which looks amazing.

There seems to be one small thing that is dogging Ronda as of late, it is past comments she made about her clothing brand and a fellow MMA fighter. But lets be honest, her comments were not that derogatory as much as they were just her personal opinion. It recently resurfaced, a series of comments she made about a transgender fighter, and she made it known that she believed the fighter had an unfair advantage over other women because she was once a man. she cited that the bone and muscle structure gave her an advantage regardless of her sex change. Most people took this as an attack on the trans community, saying that she hated them; but she never made that comment. She never said she didn’t like the fighter or the community, just she believed there was an advantage.

Another thing that people have been attacking her for is her clothing brand, DNB or Do Nothing Bitch. People are attacking her, saying that it is belittling the female cause, but she doesn’t see it that way. Ronda has supported the brand and the fact that she doesn’t want to be a female that just sits around and waits for life, she goes out and lives her life; hence the name of her clothing.

Some people may try to use that against her, and say that she doesn’t deserve to have the accolades she does, or deserves to be a movie star, but i sure as hell wouldn’t say that to her face.

It is only a matter of time before we find out if Ronda gets to be the next Female Super Hero, but if her fans are anything like Deadpool fans, I am sure Disney has their servers being spammed non stop with Ronda for Marvel emails.

Internet Television Vs Regular Television

The internet has come a long way in ten years. It is crazy to think that my younger cousins were born after the birth of the internet; heck they don’t even know what a Nintendo is. Along with faster and more reliable internet came the birth of being able to stream media. In order to watch your favorite television shows you had to either record it or wait till it came back on during the week, but with the internet and on demand television you can watch your favorite shows whenever and where ever you want. Another thing that came about was website dedicated solely to watching television and movies whenever you wanted. Netflix is probably the first thing that comes to mind when you think of live streaming media. Netflix was the first legitimate company that offered you a way of watching your favorite movies. They have one of the most expansive collections of movies and television. since the birth of Internet streaming, sites like Hulu, and Crunchyroll, have appeared to help fill the gaps.

Network television has been the long running supplier of original television content. Networks like HBO, AMC, and CBS are pumping out hit shows and original content every year as if they tapped into some never ending stream of ideas. Having the money to back up very in depth and complicated shows has allowed companies like HBO, AMC, and BBC America to pump out hit shows like Doctor Who, The Walking Dead, Breaking Bad, and The Sopranos just to name a small fraction. The Walking Dead and Breaking Bad are both AMC originals that dominated the ratings for many years. Breaking Bad ended its long run on AMC after five gritty seasons, while The Walking Dead is running full steam ahead rolling into season five. When you have shows like that gracing your television, you would think that no one would take the risk of creating internet only content.

Hulu and Netflix have both taken that first step into challenging Television for original content. Netflix has spent quite a bit of money trying to put together solid programming that would draw people away from television and to their site. Shows like Orange is the New Black and House of Cards have proved that Netflix can and will stand their ground in an attempt to draw in more customers. While their original content is limited to what Hulu has, Netflix has established that it wants to be more than just a movie hub. Hulu started itself as probably the better choice if you wanted to catch the television shows that you missed that week; while Netflix doesn’t allow you to do that. Hulu took a risk and began pumping out their own original content with shows like The Awesomes, Quick Draw, and Dead Beat.

Hulu, while having a bigger line up than Netflix, lacks the pull that Netflix does with original content. Will this always be the case? Only time will tell, as Netflix has the bankroll to take risks on original content while Hulu is just getting its feet wet. The cult show Community was recently canceled by NBC but Yahoo decided to pick up the show for its sixth season. It is surprising that Hulu didn’t try to buy the show as that could have been a big boost to their lineup.

It seems that there is a chance that the streaming content providers, with their internet only show, can pick up some large revenue with their content but they will need to take some big risks if they want to start pulling in more viewers. When you have shows like The Big Bang Theory, The Walking Dead, Mad Men, and Game of Thrones on network TV, they will have a hard road to travel to compete. Only time will tell if Netflix and Hulu can gain some ground, but it will take some capital and some risk for them to be able to even get a foothold in the hopes of pulling away the throngs of loyal viewers that swarm to their televisions every night.

Chrome Cast and Netflix

I bought Google’s chrome cast about a year ago because i was curious to how it works. I have had Netflix for quite some time and i have it linked to my Xbox so anytime i wanted to i could just log onto Xbox and watch Netflix. I wanted to see how much better the chrome cast is since i don’t have my xbox hooked up to my big screen. 

I must say that i am impressed the chrome cast. I really like what it is capable of. The chrome cast while was designed to let you share any chrome browser on a television i pretty much only use it for the Netflix streaming onto my TV. Chrome cast is rather simple to setup but at the same time it can be quite a pain. The first time i set it up, my Ipad did not want to recognize the device I had to close and re run the program a few times before the Chrome cast would be recognized. After that it was up and ready to go. 

It took a while to get used to chrome cast but i must say that it is nice to have. The way the Chrome cast works is you have to install the chrome cast browser add on into your device, after that you select the channel that your device is attached to and a background picture will appear. Open Netflix and select that you want to watch. There will be a wifi looking icon on the control panel and once you press it, it will load to the television allowing you to keep using your device while you watch. 

The nice thing is that you can use the chrome cast with anything including your computer as long as the TV has and HDMI port and you are running chrome and the browser add on. You can take the chrome cast device with you, but it requires being setup again on the new wireless, but still allows you to watch Netflix pretty much anywhere. 

I have noticed a few things with it that i can only hope are fixed or improved. When I use the Chrome cast and Netflix on the Ipad it works out pretty well. When the episode ends you can quickly access the quick menu of all the episodes and select the new one that will load. for some reason this feature is not available on my phone or my laptop. From what i can see you have to un share the video from chrome cast and then go in and select the next video and share that one. 

When i watch Netflix on my Xbox the next episode will usually load at the end of the episode you are currently watching. Most of the time there is a counter to the new episode but sometimes you have to tell it to go to the next episode. I would like to see that feature added to my phone and Computer. I may have not seen it on my phone but i know that it isn’t available on my laptop. It would be nice if it automatically went to the next episode for you, or gave you the option when you opened the app back up. Having to turn off the cast and then selecting the next episode is sometimes annoying. 

I would also like Netflix to add a fast forward feature on my devices so that i could skip a part or rewind, sometimes when you try to scroll back or forward it doesn’t work out right or you go too far. It wouldn’t be bad if you could move forward or backward in 30 second cycles either. 

I played with Chrome casts ability to share pages that you are viewing. If you have an email or something up on your chrome browser then you can share just a specific tab. You can’t however share something with video. You can share your youtube videos on your tv which is cool but you can’t share live streams. I was watching a webcast and i tried to share it but it only lets me share the tab which just shows the whole page that i am looking at. That means you don’t get the sound either. It would be nice if there was a way that you could send the live stream webcast onto your TV.

One other thing that i noticed is that sometimes you will have issues where the video will need to buffer or it till take some time for the video to load after you have shared it, but that is to be expected and most of the time isn’t that big of an issue if you have a decent wireless signal.

I must say that i am really impressed with the Chrome cast and i recommend getting it for anyone that doesn’t have an Xbox hooked up to your TV. The chrome cast usually goes for around $30 bucks and allows you to stream Netflix and Youtube. I haven’t seen anything that allows you to stream Hulu onto your TV but i can only imagine that it will eventually be compatible with the Chrome cast. 

Top 5 Anime you can stream on Netflix

Anime is a very unique cartoon. It is a cartoon in the sense of it is animated, but when I think of cartoons I imagine something like Tom & Jerry or Dexter’s Laboratory. Cartoons are usually animated to look silly and have a rather upbeat mentality to them. Anime is usually based off of a Manga or Japanese comic. Anime are also usually drawn better and animated. They tend to have a more realistic look to them as well. Cartoons usually have a story that lasts one episode maybe two while an anime can run the story for the whole season. Netflix has seen the growing anime boom and has begun adding anime to their instant stream as well as DVD’s that can be rented. This collection is rather small but hopefully Netflix will begin expanding their collection. With that being said I would like to suggest five Anime series streaming on Netflix that you should be watching.

 

5. Soul Eater.

Soul eater spans 4 seasons or chapters, however you would like to put it but it is a really good series to watch.  The series is about Maka Albran who is a student at an Academy for Meisters. The School is basically teaching kids how to be reapers, while their partners or demon weapons. It is the Meister’s job to help their demon weapon to acquire 99 souls plus one soul of a witch. Acquiring the souls will allow the demon weapon to become a death scythe, a weapon that will be wielded by death himself. Death is the dean of the academy where all the Meisters train and learn. Death founded the school to train them to help prevent the rebirth of a Kishin. A Kishin is an evil weapon that consumes the souls of the innocent. Maka with her fellow students Black Star, and Death the kid journey around helping to eliminate the evil souls that plague their world. While there are tons of students in the show, the majority of the series follows these three students.

One of the things I like about this series is just the concept of the show. It basically takes place in a secondary world. One of the cool things about the characters personality is that meshes well with their weapons. Maka has a very stubborn personality. She is very studious while her partner Soul is a laid back personality who doesn’t seem to care about much, he is a slacker. Black Star is supposed to be an assassin but he is a hot head and a loud mouth. He is convinced that he is a celebrity and everyone should know and revere him. Instead of being a silent killer he tends to rush into things head long and refuses to come up with a game plan or think things through. His Weapon Tsubaki is a rather reserved person. She is very quiet and friendly. She is the calculated one of the group who always tries to think things through.

Death the Kid who if you realized is the son of Death, is one of the stranger characters. He is a bit of a narcissist, he has severe OCD when is comes to symmetry. He will freak out if things are not perfectly symmetric at all. His need for perfect balance is part of the reason why he carries two weapons. He is one of the few people if not the only that can manage to control two demon weapons. Liz and Patty are former criminals who Death the kid met and gave them the chance to change their lives. The two of them tend to be a little bit scatter brained. Liz tends to be paranoid about pretty much everything while Patty is rather goofy and doesn’t seem to understand, you can almost say that she has an IQ of 30.

 

The show just has a really good vibe. While it tends to drag the story a long some times there is a lot of really good action sequences that keep the pace of the show going along. I can’t say that the story is that difficult to follow in the way of if pretty much telegraphs what is going to happen at every point. That doesn’t really bother me because the story doesn’t need to constantly keep you guessing. It is worth checking out the first season to see if it fits your style.

 

4. Sword Art Online.

Sword Art Online is a newer Series, which Aired in 2012. SAO as I will call it for the rest of the time is actually the first in a series of stories. This is another one based on a Manga. The Series goes Sword Art Online, Alfheim Online, Gun Gale Online, and Underworld. SAO is an online Sword fighting game where players put on a helmet or (Nerve Gear) as it is called in the series, which beams their conscious into the game where it is almost like they are actually in the game. SAO is a giant castle world game where the players are all competing to clear all one hundred floors and beating the game. On the day of the game thousands of players beam themselves into the game anticipating a thrilling new game only to find out that the log out feature is missing from the game preventing them from leaving the game and going about their lives.

A panic begins to flow through the community now trapped inside the game when its creator Kayaba Akihiko appears floating above them in the town square. A sense of relief comes over the crowd when they think that it is an Admin who is about to tell them they are going to fix the log out issue and allow them to go home, but he announces to the players that The log out button was purposely removed because he does not want anyone to leave. Because their conscious is inside the game the players cannot pull off the nerve gear and leave. Kayaba also announces that if the headgear is removed it will kill anyone. Adding insult to injury he also informs them that if they die in the game the nerve gear will send a pulse killing them in real life. The only way to go home is to beat the game.

This revelation causes mass panic among all the players in the game. The Series follows beta tester and game master Kirito who decides that he must go through the levels and beat the game freeing everyone. Kirito Leaves his friend and ventures out on his own to move through the game as quickly as possible. He Eventually Meets Asuna a female player who he creates a strong bond with. The two of them spend some time playing together as a team before Kirito thinks it best for everyone if he goes alone again. I enjoy this series because I am a huge video game fan and the fact that the nerve game essentially puts you in the game where what you think you do. The aspect is also very clever with the fact the Nerve gear was a unique system up until them. I think it is scary to think that being trapped in a video game could be one day possible if nerve gear actually existed.

The Series while keeping a rather lighthearted mentality is kind of dark. The fact is everyone is stuck in the game and struggling to stay alive. The series really explains how series something like that could be. There are players who purposely kill others with no regard for the fact that they are dying in real life. Some people hide in the safety of the towns just waiting for the game to let them out while Kirito and others struggle to beat the game all the while putting their lives on the line in the hopes that they will get out of the game. The series does leak into the second book Alfheim online. There are rumors that they will be converting the rest of the manga series into Anime.

 

3. Samurai Champloo

Something you need to know about this show before watching it, this show is a very mature show. There is a lot of swearing and blood shed. The Series is a straight Anime Series and is not based of any Manga series. The same people who created Cowboy Bebop create Samurai Champloo. Champloo as it will be called is one of the older ones on the list airing originally in 2004. It is rather shorts being only 26 episodes long. The series takes place in an alternate hip-hop version of   Edo-era Japan. The series follows three travelers.

Fuu is a fifteen-year-old girl who is on a journey to find a samurai who smells of sunflowers. Fuu is orphaned at a young age and is forced to fend for her self, finding odd and end jobs to keep food on her plate. Fuu tends to be a bit of a klutz and seems to always stumble into a bad situation. She also tends to attract plenty of men suitors no matter where she goes which ends up getting her and he partners in trouble. Fuu meets two men by the name of Mugen and Jin, two sword fighters who are to be sentenced to death. She helps distract the guards allowing the two men to go free. In return for her help they agree to stave off killing each other to help her find the samurai she seeks.

Mugen is a twenty one year old man and he is a free spirited womanizing swordsman who has a very unorthodox fighting style is a bit of a hot head who tends to find him self in a fight or being arrested. Mugen prefers to fight his way out of all situations. Mugen is a bit of an anti hero as his antics and personality make him come off as a bit of a bully. Mugen at one point was a long time prisoner before he finds himself accompanying Fuu on her journey.

His counterpart and sworn enemy Jin, a twenty two year old swordsman is a quiet and reserved man. Jin Is very secretive about his past. He doesn’t speak much or talk about his past. His posture is very proper that would hint that he has a very strict upbringing when he was a kid. He is routinely the target of assassination attempts. It is revealed that he killed the master of his dojo and not his fellow students seek to make a name by taking Jin out. Jin carries two swords on him at all times, a katana and a wakizashi. Jin is a very honorable fighter and does not break the rules of Bushido.

The series has a very serious aspect to it because the three friends are constantly on the run from people wanting to do them harm. They constantly are low on money and must take menial jobs to get enough food to survive. For as serious as the show is there are also bouts of rather silliness. Fuu is constantly being kidnapped when she is in the wrong place at the wrong time. When she isn’t being kidnapped or assaulted, she tends to be constantly hit on by perverted guys. Fuu doesn’t seem to understand why Jin and Mugen are always chasing after other women and paying no attention to her. Mugen’s lust for women tends to land him in trouble more often than not. There are many episodes where Mugen and Jin are drunk and at least one where Mugen is high from a marijuana field catching fire. For as guarded as they all are, they begin to grow on each other and become closer. Jin ends up calling Fuu and Mugen his friends, even though He swore to Kill Mugen once they helped Fuu complete her journey.

 

2. Full Metal Alchemist

This could easily be number one as it is an amazing series. There are two Series and a movie that follow this series. Full Metal is also based off of a manga series. The original Full Metal was released in 2003 and spans 51 episodes. It will take you quite a while to get through this series and into Brotherhood. The Series ran a full year and brotherhood was released in 2009. Full Metal follows two brothers, Edward (Ed) and Alphonse (Al) Elric. The two brothers are traveling the world to find the mythical philosophers stone. It is believed that the philosophers stone is an alchemical substance that can turn lead into cold and it is said that it also has the ability to bring a human back to life or giving someone immortality

Ed and Al are seeking the stone to revive their mother who has died. In an attempt to revive his mother Al is killed and Ed loses his left leg. In a desperate attempt to save Al, Ed sacrifices his right arm and bonds Al’s soul to a suit of armor. Edwards’s body is severely damaged and he has to be rushed to an automail company so that his limbs can be replaced. Ed’s missing limbs are replaced with automail, which allows him to use his new limbs as if they were his actual limbs. After Ed is better the brothers decide to burn down their house and start on a journey to get their bodies back.

Ed is convinced to take a state alchemy test. Ed passes the test and becomes a member of the military, which now allows him to better his alchemy skills and gain access to research and files that he could never get as an ordinary citizen.  Ed uses his new position to investigate the reports of the philosopher’s stone. Al and Ed travel the world helping the military as cover for finding or being able to create the philosophers stone. Ed’s mentor Dante had once created a philosophers stone with the help of her lover hohenheim. They used the philosopher’s stone to swap bodies allowing them to live for many years before guilt caught up with hohenheim. Dante cannot remember how to create one so she must convince Ed and Al to make one.

The series is a very complicated and in depth one. There is a lot going on with the brothers trying to help people while trying to find the stone. Ed tends to be a bit over eccentric. He likes to show off and acts very tough. He gets upset when people make jokes about his height; especially they question how he is the older brother when Al is much taller. Everyone confuses Al for the full metal alchemist because he is in a giant suit of armor. There are multiple conflicts that arise because of Ed’s notoriety. The series while rather slow and sometimes complicated does tend to make it that much better. There is constantly some sort of underhanded dealings going on and Ed and Al are usually in the middle. It will take some time to watch all of it, but it is worth the time.

1. Attack on Titan.

Attack on Titan is by far one of my favorite series. While it is still in its first year of production, the manga is very popular. The Anime Version just released in 2013 and there are plans on a second season coming to play especially since the first season ended with such a cliffhanger. Attack on Titan has a really unique premise behind the show. It takes place in a rather dystopian future as humans have been relegated to living inside giant walls. They live there to protect them selves from titans. Titans are giant creatures or humanoids that feed on humans. They never really explain where the titans come from or why they only eat humans and ignore animals but it has caused the humans centuries of fear and destruction.

We follow the story of Eren Yeager, his adopted sister Mikasa Ackerman, and their friend Armen Arlet. Eren is enamored by the Military that defends the people from the titans. Tragedy strikes when a colossus titan appears and breaks a hole in the outer most walls, allowing dozens of titans to enter. The titans begins ravaging the city and killing dozens. Eren watches as a titan eats his mother. He is whisked away by a member of the military to the sanctity of the second wall. Eren becomes determined to join the military and become a member of the survey corps, the elite soldiers who valiantly travel outside the walls to fight the titans that have plagued them for so long.

A second armored titan appears and forces everyone to evacuate from wall Maria and wall Rose. This leaves only the inner most districts and wall Sina. The titan’s very in height and type but they are very deadly and their appetite is insatiable even though they don’t need to eat to survive. They get energy from the sun and have the ability to regenerate lost body parts. The only way to kill them is by cutting deeply on the nape of the neck. Eren, Mikasa, and Armen enlist in the military and begin their training to become soldiers. Eren struggles to complete the training but it is later discovered that his maneuvering equipment is faulty.

In order to combat the titans, every solider is outfit with vertical maneuvering gear which allows them to move quickly in all directions. Eren and his friends pass through the class and join the survey corps thus fulfilling Eren’s goal of being able to kill every titan that crosses his path. The colossus titan appears a second time and the survey corps responds. During the fight Eren discovers that he has a unique ability to transform into a titan though he has trouble controlling his newfound powers. The discovery of his new abilities causes turmoil among the military and the citizens.

This show was highly addicting from the beginning to end. While some parts are slower than others it does have a rather complete and well moving story. This is a rather dark series as it is very violent and bloody. Eren is constantly trying to figure out why and how he became what he is and Mikasa has dedicated her life to protecting Eren at all costs, because he is all the family that she has left. There are a lot of twists as the series comes to a close but it is all very interesting and well rounded. While they never really explain where the titans come from or how they existed before humans it tends to lend small hints through out the season. The season ends with out revealing a lot of questions that emerged during the series but it will make for a spectacular season two when ever it is finally released.