GLASS (2019) - Review

     I was telling a friend of mine this morning that I'm glad I didn't Tweet out my first thoughts after seeing GLASS, the latest film from plot twist master M Night Shayamalan. If I had, you would've seen a Tweet from @MrGBIZ saying: 


"Even though I HATED the ending, I still think this movie is somewhere between OK and pretty good." 

    Then I went to bed thinking about it and when I woke up, I gave it some more thought. Now, even though I'm still mad about the ending, I realize there's no other way this movie could've ended. 

     I'm getting ahead of myself.


 Quick review before I go into details that, depending on your movie knowledge, may or may not be entering spoiler territory. So I'll keep it quick, simple and painless. Bruce Willis gives us the same typical every-man acting job he gives in, honestly, almost every movie he's ever been in. If you're a fan of every-men movies, movies where the heroes and heroines are your typical average Joes more like than unlike me, then you know this is not a complaint. The same is true for Glass as well but the irony is he's far from an everyman in this movie. He's a vigilante who is trying to to track down a serial killer known as the Horde (James McAvoy, who does more acting in this movie as a man with 20+ multiple personalities than Bruce Willis has in 40+ roles) who has just kidnapped four girls. David Dunn (Willis) has the early advantage in the fact that Kevin Crumb (McAvoy) doesn't even know Dunn exists, much less think that any body could stop him. Kevin's multiple personalities are aware of each other but one personality is much more dangerous than all of the others combined. Dunn manages to find where Crumb has the girls hidden and frees them but not before Crumb has returns. Crumb and Dunn do battle but are interrupted by a doctor who's intrigued not only by Crumb but by Dunn as well. 

     That's about as far as I can go with the plot details before we get into spoilers so let me stop right there. The action I go into detail about above all happens within the first 30 minutes. The rest of the movie is about Dr Staple's (Sarah Paulson who I thought could've been used more) attempts at getting Dunn, Crumb, and a third patient Elijah Price aka the eponymous Glass (Samuel Jackson, who's face in this movie alone may have out-acted Bruce Willis) to realize how delusion they really are. 

     Let me tell you this is a fairly gloomy movie. A lot of the early scenes are shots of Dunn on the Hunt for Crumb in the daytime but it still seems dark. Ditto once the movie moves to the mental institution that Staple runs and there's plenty of light's inside but I still felt the lighting was off. Maybe intentional? I don't know. It didn't take away much from the film. The acting was great too, even though Bruce Willis was just Bruce Willis'ing, I felt that was perfect for this movie. Jackson & McAvoy definitely did the heavy lifting here but again, let me add that Sarah Paulson was criminally underused. 

     Before I mention any other actors in this movie, let me do something I hate doing and be a little spoiler-y.  

Besides Paulson's Dr Staple, most of the main characters first appearred in previous Shayamalan movies. 

If you've seen Shayamalan's second movie UNBREAKABLE, you've met David and Elijah already. If not, stop reading this... waitwaitwait! Before I say that, let me tell you that you may have met Crumb too, in Shayaman's last movie SPLIT. 

Three other characters from those two movies pop up here as well. Spencer Treat Clark plays David's son Joseph and it wasn't until after I looked up Unbreakable that I realized he played Joseph in the original but his role here is a little meatier this time around. Charlayne Woodard also returned from Unbreakable as Elijah's mom. Last and most confusingly, Anya Taylor-Joy aka my new favorite Scream Queen returns as Casey, the Final Girl from Split. 

No, Casey (Anya Taylor-Joy), baby what are you doing?

There's no clear cut reason for her to return and whenever she is on the screen she is doing the exact opposite of what I think she should be doing. I did not buy Casey possibly, improbably, suffering from Stockholm Syndrome after all she had been through. 

Bruce Willis and Spencer Treat Clark in UNBREAKABLE

All that said, if you've never seen 
any of those movies, go watch them both. Unbreakable proved to me that Shayamalan might have mastered the plot twist even more so than his breakout movie THE SIXTH SENSE did. Split technically has TWO twists you're not supposed to see coming but that second twist (sorry but yeah... SPOILER ALERT!) is the fact that it's continuing the story started in Unbreakable. Furthermore, if you've already watched the trailer for Glass, you might be able to figure out what that first Split twist is from that. Sorry. Had to be said.   

     Now, if you've only seen one movie and not the other or neither, you don't necessarily need to see those movies to get this one. In fact, I'd be willing to bet you'd like this movie more than I did because you're not expecting anything. I expected... nevermind. Just know I didn't get the ending I felt this trilogy deserved. 

     As far as the ending... Well, if you're familiar with a Shayamalan movie, you KNOW there's a twist coming because that's what he does and he carries on with that tradition here. Do I feel like he stuck the landing with this twist? Admittedly, I didn't. At first. In fact, let me repeat, I HATED it. Then when I woke up this morning and gave it further thought, I realized that this ending is perfect, not the ending I wanted nor expected and I still HATE it but it's spot on, that much I can't deny. In fact, there's usually just one route that Shayamalan could have chose to take Dunn, Crumb and any other individual who has extraordinary talents, but trust me you've seen those movies a thousand times over already so the movie was wise not to go that route. I loved the fact that Shayamalan chose to go the opposite direction. Needless to say, I didn't see this plot twist coming.      

Escape Room (2019) - Smokkee's Review

Most of my readers know I'm a sucker for a good mystery and stories whose plots starts off with lines like "6 strangers...", which means I most likely would have been a bit more anxious to see this movie than I was. Admittedly I went into Escape Room with low expectations, knowing next to nothing of the plot when I went to see it. I hadn't even watched the trailer, partly because I didn't know this movie existed. To top it off, "Escape Room" is the kind of cheesy title that has "direct to video" written all over it. I expected to at best be mildly entertained by it or, at worst, hate that I let another bad movie still 90 minutes from me. I love it when a movie surprises me in a good way. My only problem with this movie is I'm not sure I can recommend it.

I guess Zoey (Taylor Russell) never seen Hellraiser.

After an opening scene which depicts a man begging to be let out of a shrinking room on the verge of crushing the man to death until it's interrupted by the title screen, we're introduced to our six strangers. We meet ne'er do well  Ben also the guy who was getting crushed at the beginning (Logan Miller), while his at work at a Home Depot-ish type store, then a college student named Zoey (Taylor Russell) and finally a businessman named Jason (Jay Ellis) as they all in various ways receive a gift in the form of a puzzle box. These boxes would give me too many flashbacks to Hellraiser's Lemarchand Configuration cube for me to fool around with it but these people's curiosity gets the better of them. We watch them figure out the puzzle boxes until they each get rewarded with an invitation to win $1 million if they can manage to escape the Escape Room. Essentially, the Escape Room is an interactive entertainment experience akin to a Murder Mystery Party featuring a series of locked rooms where the participants must use clues to help them exit. Each winds up in a nondescript waiting room where they meet the other three participants Danny (Nik Dodani), Amanda (Deborah Ann Woll, Daredevil's Karen Page), and Mike (Tyler Labine, who had me kicking myself for not recognizing Dale of Dale And Tucker Vs Evil fame). After a few minutes of getting familiar with each other via a few antagonizing comments, they realize the game had already gotten started and soon after that, they realize the stakes are a lot higher than expected. 

And here's where I have to stop. Not much more I can tell you about the plot without spoiling it. Also, I was giving myself a headache trying to make sense of what happens. The fact that I've been thinking about it lets me know I was entertained but will anybody else be? 

  I liked this movie in the same way I love Smoking Aces, Way of the Gun, and the Saw series. In other words I was entertained throughout however there are so many plot-holes that become even more apparent once you know more about what's going on that if you tried to give this movie much thought, then like me you'd probably give yourself a headache too. If you liked any of those movies I just mentioned then you'll most likely like this movie too but if you're a stickler for coherent plots, you might want to skip this one. I say go for it.   

Upgrade (2018) - Movie Review

Hello, WORLD!!!! How the hell are ya? Have y’all recovered from Avengers: Infinity War yet? Good, cause I got another movie you might need to recover from. I just left Leigh Whannell’s latest movie Upgrade last night. Now, since it’s been a minute since I’ve done a review, let me just tell you if I think it's worth watching right now after I give you a quick synopsis.  

Upgrade is about a mechanic who's wife has been murdered after their semi auto-piloted driving car crashes. the mechanic himself has been left paralyzed by the ordeal but a former client of his offers him a microchip implant that would not only give him back the use of his body but also help him find the men responsible. Bottom line, I recommend this movie. Out of 5 stars I’d give it 3 1/2. 





Still here? Good. Let me see if I still know how to review a movie in a traditional sense. Bare with me, WORLD. I'm a bit rusty. *Ahem*




    Directed by Leigh Whannell of Saw and Insidious fame, Upgrade is bloody at parts and action packed but mainly a straight forward telling of a futuristic revenge movie. One can probably guess how this film ends as I did. I saw the ending coming a mile away then it happened just as I thought it would. Then, it didn't.   

    Upgrade happens in the not so distant future. A mechanic named Grey

Logan Marshall-Green

(Logan Marshall-Green) repairs a vehicle for a Google-like technology company's wunderkind CEO Eron (Harrison Gilbertson). After repairing the vehicle Grey and his wife Asha (Melanie Vallejo), an employee of a company that's somewhat a rival of Eron's own company, drop the vehicle off at Eron's beach-house (literally, it's a house under a beach). While there, Eron introduces the couple to STEM, a microchip Eron touts as the future of evolution. Grey laments that it'll mean "10 guys on the unemployment line", to which Eron says nothing. 

     As the couple head home in a semi automated vehicle provided by Asha's company, the self-driving car's system fails, the car overturns and the couple appear to suffer only minor injuries until a team of men show up, shoot Grey in the neck and murder Asha. A few months later, Eron visits a paralyzed Grey offering a chance to get the use of his body back with help from the STEM chip. Of course, it wouldn't be a movie if Grey didn't take Eron up on this offer, right? And of course, the experiment works, Grey gets the use of his body back, and all is right with the world for all of 5 minutes until Grey hears a voice in his head. 

    STEM turns out to be much more than a second chance for Grey to have full body movement. Much more. Among other things, it can also communicate with the owner of the body it's been implanted in. This turns out to be a plus for Grey, who is so not happy with the job the police, led by Officer Cortez (Get Out's Betty Gabriel), have been doing trying to identify his assailants. Apparently, having the video of the assault thanks to recording drones everywhere still can't lead the police to the perpetrators. Good old STEM saw the video once and seemed to gain more knowledge about the assailants identities than the police did. 

   What follows during rest of the movie could best be described as a mix of Taken and The Matrix. Marshall-Green's presence through out the film was the real draw for me. Even if he acted a little wooden in certain scenes, you knew his motivation and saw it clearly on his face. Gabriel, who was underused until a little past the two thirds of the movie was done, was very effective and charismatic as a somewhat ineffective officer but again, I will say she was underused. On another note, I do think adding her to this movie was inspired casting. This movie and Get Out could almost play off of each other if one watched them both at the same time. As Eron, Gilbertson was giving off those creepy vibes that actors like Crispin Glover or Dane DeHaan provide so easily. 

     Still, this film isn't without it's flaws. The bad guys, lead by Benedict Hardie's Fisk, didn't stand out much to me but I believe that was because the plot didn't require them to. The movie looked fantastic at first but as the movie went on, the future started to look more and more generic. It doesn't distract you from the movie once everything gets rolling so it's not really a big deal but this movie could've been set in the present day and the movie would've still worked. Also, the dialogue was groan inducing at times. I literally groaned at the dialogue... a lot. And for this movie to be somewhat of a horror movie, it's not horrifying at all. It's quite the opposite. When I wasn't groaning I was LMAO. I wasn't the only one either. The audience I viewed this movie with was laughing as often as I was. There's two maybe three scenes that even come close to horror but even those got plenty of laughs from the crowd. It's not Shakespeare, for sure, but if you wanted action and a few good laughs plus a great plot twist, then this movie is for you. Overall, the film was great. I can't wait to see it again. 

     
    
 

A Is For Apps (Like Agar.io And Alchemy), An #AToZChallenge 2016 Post

Guess who's Biz-ack? Long time no see right? Well, things have been crazy for me lately. I'll get into what's been up with me in a post real soon...maybe. Here's a short version if you're impatient: my main problem is I've been somewhat focused distracted, by that I mean I've been focused on doing so much, I'm not accomplishing as much as I want to accomplish. I'm trying to read tons of books while finishing my first 2 books, start another business because while my blogs do provide some income I don't have enough readers to mainly just blog plus I'm not blogging enough to gain more readers because of other endeavors. 

Whatever.

At least I'm blogging now and I ain't even got to the topic yet. You see what I mean by distracted. Well, the gist of this A To Z Challenge is every Monday through Friday in April, bloggers like myself will write one post a day for every letter in the alphabet. Today's the first day so today's letter is A. 

For my A post, I've decided to write about one of my other biggest distractions: apps. These mobile phone applications are now multi-million dollar industries in their own right. Don't believe me? Just Google how much money Fb paid for Instagram, or how much they were willing to pay Twitter back when Twitter first got started to buy that app. Or think about the fact that recently Nintendo and Sony's Playstation division both are putting out apps on mobile phones now and not on they're own systems. Nintendo's first app, Miimoto was released today. Spoiler alert: That's probably gonna be my M post, lbvs. Or figure out how some of the most profitable game apps on these phones are actually free to download but make money from in app sales. Or advertisements, those annoying ads that pop up in the middle of a game so much that you're almost forced to buy the paid version just to keep your sanity. 

 I'm sure you know what apps are.
We all know what apps are. But they're are sooooooooo many of them it's hard to find the good ones without a recommendation so I'll be pointing out a few good ones to you over the course of this month. 

I ate a Donald Trump that was trying to eat a George Bush!

While I'm on that subject, I might as well tell you about my current newest addiction, a blob-eat-blob app called Agar.io. You're a blob in a sea of blobs, some of which are computer generated but most of

Then Obama ate me. I hope it ate that green blob on it's left!

which are other app users. The purpose of this very, very simple game is to become the biggest blob on the game and you do that by eating other blobs. Sounds easy right?





Well, it is. Eat until you're the biggest blob on the game. The problem is that it's the only rule on the game so EVERYBODY is trying to do the same thing. Another issue is speed. When you're a tiny dot, you're a speedster but just like in real life, the more weight you add the slower you move. You can chase a smaller blob forever and never catch it if it doesn't get as big as you and if it does that, then it's your turn to run. The only real chance a larger blob has of catching a smaller blob is if it spits a piece of itself at the smaller blob, essentially splitting itself in half which reminds me of my next piece of advise. Be careful!! All blobs aren't healthy for you! They're some green blobs with little spikes on them that will break you down into multiple much smaller, easier to eat blobs. If you're a smaller blob, these green blobs are like safe zones; the much bigger blogs will not want to eat you if you're around one of those things. 

I love this game now. The longest game I've played lasted 10 minutes. The quickest games don't even last 5... those other blobs are thirsty! If you can manage to eat like a few 100 minidots, you won't have as many predators as you do when you first start but there is almost ALWAYS another blob bigger than you somewhere out there.

That's it for now, WORLD. It's good to be back too. Thanks for having me again. Outta.

...into these icons.

Turn these icons...

WAITWAITWAITWAIT!! I almost forgot! I mentioned TWO apps in the title, right? The second game, Alchemy, isn't a typical type game but it's the first game I really liked on Androids, which makes it perfect for this post. The
game is a game for thinkers with a sense of humor. You start off with four icons: earth, wind, fire, and water. The object is to combine those icons to create over 300 more icons. For example when  you combine fire and air, you get energy. When you combine air and air, you get wind. When you combine earth and fire, you get lava. Combine lava and water and you'll get stone. This game is one for thinkers but almost anybody will enjoy it. NOW I'm outta, for real this time. 

W is for Wa.. (#ABizzeePick or 2) (#AtoZChallenge)

Today is the last day of the A to Z Challenge for bloggers running in the month of April. The gist of this challenge was we were supposed to submit one post a day except for Sundays for the entire month of April. As it stands right now, I'm 3 post behind. I should be submitting my Z post right now. Yet here I am with my W post.


What's interesting is I had an idea I would wind up picking a movie for W. I even knew which movie, 2000's 'Way of the Gun' starring Ryan Phillippe and Benicio del Toro. To me, this movie is a surprisingly overlooked classic. The beginning scene, featuring a young Sarah Silverman (trust me, if you're familiar with her you'll recognize her instantly) sets the tone for this exercise in double crosses. The plot, which is simple enough to cover in one sentence, is the least complicated thing about this movie. A couple of unscrupulous guys (Phillippe and del Toro) over hear a surrogate mother (Juliette Lewis) is getting $1 million for carrying the baby to full term and they decide to kidnap her not knowing who the surrogate parents are.

There's way more going on here than I care to get into or I'd dull the experience of this movie for you. Just know that this was the next movie written by Academy Award winning screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie, who won an Oscar for the movie he wrote before this one, The Usual Suspects. If you found yourself confused by the earlier film's plot, don't even bother looking at WotG. Alliances are broken almost as quickly as they are formed in this movie. Instead of a 'reminds me of...', I'll do you one better this time: this movie is almost a hommage to another movie called "____ _______ And ___ ________ ___", the too nameless protagonists/antagonists actually refer to themselves in the former pair's real names.


That's it... for that pick anyway.

The other Bizzee Pick that made it's way into this post, I won't actually review here or go into more detail about this movie. I just felt like adding this movie to this list because I've talked about it so often these past few weeks, I take that as a sign that this was meant for me to write about it.

A super-hero murder mystery. #5WordFilmPlots pic.twitter.com/wD0GrcOTiF

— Smokkee G Singleton (@MrGBIZ) April 30, 2015

And I have already. I'll address the source material eventually but just know that although it's a graphic novel (ok, comic book!), it's number 227 on the essential reading list "1,001 Books to Read Before You Die".


NOW, that's it. Catch you next post.. in about an hour.

Smokkee    

U is for Ultron (#AtoZChallenge)

This will probably be the last thing I post about 'Avengers: Age of Ultron' before I go see it the movie when it comes out this weekend. Probably. No guarantees.

I can't think of any other movie I was this excited about seeing. 'Watchmen' might have came close but I didn't get all Trekkie-over-'Star Trek' about it. This movie isn't even a movie anymore. It's an event that must be experienced. I know from experience. That experience was the first Avenger film experience.

I'm grown but I felt like the world's oldest teenager when Hulk beat up Loki in the first film. To me, that scene is up there with the other great fight scenes from other movie events like Neo fighting multiple copies of Agent Smith and Luke fighting Darth Vader (both fights). Those movies transcended traditional films to me but I'm sure I can't be the only person who compares every major action movie or whatever to the classics like these three films.

I also have a feeling I'll be experiencing a bit more deja vu with this film. We already know where this movie leads to, kind of like knowing where 'Matrix: Reloaded' was leading to. I didn't think 'The Matrix' was going to be as good as it was when it came out. I'll gladly admit I was wrong about that and I'll openly admit I was wrong thinking that as good as the first film was, the sequel would also suck.

    
What's next after Ultron? Well, it might be the same as before Ultron. The next episode of the TV show, 'Marvel's Agents of SHIELD', is already slated as being the event that leads directly into Age of Ultron. If that's not enough to get you to watch the show, just know that if the final episodes of the season do not deal directly with the aftermath of AoU, they at least set the scene for what's next to come in the MCU. it's just too bad I'm gonna catch it after the fact. I got my first Chicago CUBS game of the season to attend. Thankfully, I do have Hulu Plus.


Later WORLD.
Smokkee

T is for Transsiberian (#AtoZChallenge)

Confession time. As much as I love the movies that make my list, sometimes I really hate writing #BizzeePick reviews. Never has this been more true than for trying to write a review for Transsiberian. There's not much I can tell you about anything without taking something away from the experience of this movie in the first place. The reason I love these movies so much are also the reason these movies are so hard to review.

I seriously can't tell you anything about this movie Transsiberian without giving too much away. I got to start with a 'reminds me of' since there's not much I can tell you. There's another movie about a traveling couple, a few traveling couples actually, called 'A Perfect Getaway' with Timothy Olyphant and Steve Zahn. This movie kind of puts me in the mind of that movie but it's much better executed. The twist isn't that cheesy either.

Carlos showing a lil something to Jessi

Now to the movie itself. The couple here, Roy and Jessi (Woody Harrelson and Emily Mortimer) are taking a cross continental
train between Asia and Europe. They meet a fellow traveler named Carlos and his girlfriend. Then things get thrown through a loop when an officer looking for smugglers (Ben Kingsley, as menacing as ever) appears.

OK. Everybody in this movie is excellent for starters. Secondly, this movie completely sucker punches you with the developments that happen on screen. None of what happens is unnatural, forced. Every character's decision, as rash as it may be at times, makes sense. Not many movies can claim that.

Not many straightforward movies like this, one that's completely understood in one take, gives you this much food for thought after the first feeding. A second helping isn't necessary but it goes down just as well as the first screening. Again, how many movies can say that?







This #BizzeePick can.

Later, WORLD.

Smokkee

   

S is for Songs In The Key Of My Life (#AtoZChallenge)

Everybody would describe life as one thing or another. The way I describe life is everybody's life is like a movie that only they see. That's how I view mine. Starring me, lol. Well, most movies have soundtracks. Mine is no different. This post is basically what 'Smokkee: the Movie's soundtrack would be. These are the songs that are huge in my life for some reason or another.


The entire 2 disc set of Stevie Wonder's Songs In The Key Of Life:

First off, let me explain this: I grew up listening to Lionel Richie, Marvin Gaye, of course Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson, all thanks to my moms Jeanette Singleton (who became Jeanette Thomas after her marriage). Every Friday she would play songs like GQ's 'Disco Nights' would play for as long as I could remember. It was our way of winding down from our long week's work.

Of course you knew Stevie's award winning album would somehow make it's way into this post. The post's title paying homage was a clue that's too obvious to be ignored.  The thing about this album is every song on both of these discs has been my favorite at some point in my life and songs like 'Ordinary Pain', 'Ngiculela-Es Una Historia - I Am Singing' and 'As' never leave out of my music rotation. 

    

Commodores: Zoom

 This song is a constant reminder to me that not only is it cool to let the mind wander and think of how this world can be a better place, especially when you're surrounded by nothing but turmoil and chaos, sometimes, this thinking is a necessity. That's what I get from this song. Of course, every student learns a different lesson.





Randy Crawford: Give Me The Night

One of the first neo-jazz songs that I fell in love with. It's also a blueprint of my 20's.



Creative Source: I'd Find You Anywhere




Audio Two: What More Can I Say

The first cassette tape I could ever say that was mine and mine alone.





Prince "Purple Rain"
Lynard Skynard: Freebird
Rolling Stones: Sympathy For The Devil
Pink Floyd "Wish You Were Here"

When I first got into music videos on MTV, the most dominant music was rock n roll and Michael Jackson. They would play hard rock, soft rock, soft rock, Mike, hard rock, Michael, etc. If you remember the time (bad pun, I know), then you know I ain't lying. It didn't get rock n roll at first. I didn't really get rock really until Purple Rain, the movie and the album, and then it clicked. When it did, Lynard Skynard's Freebird became my unofficial official theme song, the Stone's Sympathy For The Devil become my mantra, and Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here" became my favorite rock album not named "Purple Rain".

Isaac Hayes: No Name Bar (From the "Shaft" soundtrack),
N.W.A.: Straight Outta Compton, 
The D.O.C.: No One Can Do It Better,
2Pac: 2Pacalypse Now,

"Who is the man..?" Everybody knows Hayes' theme for Shaft but the song that I most relate to is this instrumental. I loved this beat when it was sampled by Dr Dre for the D.O.C. for the aptly titled "The D.O.C. and the Doctor" on his debut album 'No One Can Do It Better' but I didn't research the origin of the beat until I heard 2Pac use it for "A Soldier's Story" from his first (and best IMO) album '2Pacalypse Now'. These 2 hip hop albums are completely different but both made me love hip hop more than ever. If you ask me, the album that stood out as the best around that time frame was NWA's Straight Outta Compton, the first hip hop album I felt wasn't afraid to tell it like it is. Honarable mention should go out to Slick Rick's "The Further Adventures Of Slick Rick" and Eric B and Rakim's "Paid In Full" for cementing my love for hip hop like no album before them but these 3 albums I named above made me think that even I could be a rapper, something most inner city kid these days believe anyway. "Straight Outta Compton" told a story that I was seeing at that time, and one that I would eventually experience personally a few years later, on a level Ice T reached a few years prior to this album's release. I think the fact that NWA was only a few years older than me had a great effect on me too. They did this. I can do this too.

Boys II Men "CooleyHighHarmony"
Jodeci "Forever My Lady"
Mint Condition: "From The Mint Factory"

The first few slow cuts albums I could claim for myself. I found these albums all on my own while my moms was still bumping Heatwave, Stephanie Mills, etc. Of course I still loved here music; she just couldn't get into too much of these albums, though she would later tell me Boyz II Men's "II" album was pretty good. These albums were what I listened to my first year at Hyde Park Career Academy and I'm glad to say that 20 years later, these albums still hold up.

Nas: "Illmatic"
Common Sense: "Can I Borrow A Dollar?" / "Resurrection"
Psychodrama / Twista / Do Or Die / Crucial Conflict

Those 2 albums are standouts from the early 90's for me because they are the reasons I expanded my flow beyond gangster rap. Nas and Wu Tang Clan's "Enter The 36th Chambers" And Common Sense, who would become much more famous after dropping Sense from his name,  made me believe I really could become a rapper since he was not only from Chicago but from a 'hood not to far from me. They were conscience rappers that had me wanting to go the conscience route. A few years later, other Chicago acts like Psychodrama and Crucial Conflict gave me a sense of pride since they were blowing up on various levels. I had never been prouder of Chicago hip hop than when these acts along with Do Or Die and Twista had the whole city on their shoulders for a time being.

Nowadays, hip hop acts like J Cole, Kendrick Lamar, Chance the Rapper, Childish Gambino keep my ear since I've become almost exclusively a fan of conscience hip hop. And while I got love for Bruno Mars, Chris Brown, Miguel, etc., they don't hold the same sway over me that the old school crooners do.  Nonetheless, if I was asked to list the most influential music of my lifetime, this list would be as good as you got.

Later, WORLD.

Smokkee 

R is for 'Resolution' (a #BizzeePick) (#AtoZChallenge)

Hello, WORLD! Smokkee here adding another movie to my favorite movie list, which I affectionately call my Bizzee Picks. Typically, the types of movies I add to this list are ones I'm more than sure most of yall haven't seen before, which is a travesty to me since these are some of the best movies of whatever genre they are a part of. Usually, that genre is horror and this post isn't an exception so to speak but it's not your typical horror movie either. There's no violent images, none of those cheesy, overused horror tropes like jump out scares, or those false scares started by amped up music letting you know something horrible is coming... and then the horror never shows. 

Wait, there is one that is used, a fairly common one at that. In fact, this movie puts me in the mind of another fairly recent horror movie that not only uses the same overused horror movie trope, it's named after it. And then they skewer it in ways that make them both stand out. The biggest difference between these two movies is the other is ultra gory for skewering purposes and this movie isn't, presumably for the exact same reason. 

Chris (left) and Mike having a heart to heart talk in 'Resolution'

Another movie it reminds me of, another Bizzee Pick at that.. but not a horror movie, is Storytelling. They are both essentially addressing the same subject matter, with equally shocking results. Now that I think about it, maybe Storytelling is a horror movie flick after all... It also doesn't have any violence, unless you count THAT infamous sex scene, but it does leave you feeling some type of way. As does this movie. Both movies even have almost the same line of dialogue about beginnings, middles, and ends...


Intrigued, yet? No? let me continue then.

The film I'm adding today is 2012's Resolution, written by Justin Benson and directed by Benson and Aaron Moorhead. You're probably familiar with this pair's last offering, 2014's genre defying movie Spring, or their high energy segment in the last movie in the horror anthology V/H/S franchise ('V/H/S Viral') called 'Bonestorm'. If you remember the scene with the skateboarders, you don't even have to go back and watch it to know which one was theirs.  While both of those are excellent, Resolution is my favorite work by this pair so far and got me eager for more.

The plot is fairly simple. A married man named Michael receives an email of his buddy Chris alone in some forest with some dog doing cocaine, talking to himself, just acting like he's losing his mind. Michael (played kind of stiffly, probably by design, by Peter Cilella) does what he feels is the right thing by leaving his pregnant wife for a week to try to convince Chris (a hilarious performance by Vinny Curran) to go to rehab. Mike didn't set out to leave his wife for a week's time, I'm sure, but it winds up being that long after he fails to get Chris to enter rehab and decides he'll just handcuff Chris to the wall of the house that Chris is residing in until he decides to give rehab a try. Wait, did I say it was house? I meant to say 'cabin in the woods' Chris is residing in at the time. 

You see where this is going, right?

Wrong. Absolutely wrong. One common thread that Bizzee Picks have in common is you can't look at the beginning of one and say "Oh, I know exactly where this is heading." I very rarely even like movies like that to begin with. I won't stop you from thinking you will but no, you won't. You won't even have a clue. 

A few things I should mention before I go in further and this is about as close as I get to revealing any spoilers. For starters, the freewheeling Chris didn't actually buy the drugs he was using; he doesn't seem to have any money nor any ambition towards getting any money. "I'm a junkie." he says at one point with as much pride in his voice as a newborn's father saying "It's a boy." 

Bryon (Bill Oberst) creeping out Mike.

The drugs were given to Chris by some mutual friends of Chris and Mike and it's implied that they are really bad guys now, something Mike isn't aware of since he hasn't seen them in quite some time. Also, that cabin in the woods they're in? It's not his either and on top of that, it's on an Indian reservation and the tribe's spokesman Charles (Zahn McClarnon) isn't too fond of these guys being here without the tribe's OK. Mike bribes him to let them stay for few more days but if he had any sense, he would have left, especially after the dog is brutally killed by either by the Mike's former friends or by Charles and the tribe.


The most disturbing detail I'll give you is the fact that Chris didn't actually send Mike any email to begin with....       


The plot basically juggles these tidbits over and over again for the first 45 minutes or so, forcing you to accept these as truths first and then daring you to see where this goes. And then it goes elsewhere. You see it early on in bits and pieces but it really starts to get surreal when Mike, right after the dog is murdered, tracks down the dog's real owner Byron (Bill Oberst Jr, who might not be a household name yet but is well known to Internet users as the guy who creeps you out in this video here) and gets seriously creeped out by this guy too when Byron tries to explain what happened to some French guys who were in the area working on something. 

Chris and Mike beginning to notice something isn't right in these woods..

This scene is like the Silencio scene from Mulholland Drive because it's the scene that divides the slow burning first half of the movie from the faster paced second half. Byron's theory regarding what's really going on just might be fairly accurate. After we get past this scene things start happening really fast and this movie moves from a buddy flick to something a lot more surreal. And just when you think our guys are finally clear of the insanity, the ending reveals itself to be one hell of a gut punch. 




 I won't say nothing else about this movie except if you're a fan cerebral movies or horror movies, this movie is for you. You'll definitely be thinking about it for a while after it ends. What else do you need to hear from me? Just

 
watch it. Trust me. You'll like it.


Later, WORLD.
Smokkee Singleton




 

O is for 'One More Day' (#AtoZChallenge)

Hello, WORLD!! Smokkee here, still playing catch up in this A to Z blogging Challenge. This post was supposed to be posted last Friday, I believe. And I'm still talking about Marvel Comics but not the MCU this time. I'm talking about one of the most controversial story-lines the company ever put out. One More Day.

Meet Mephisto.

One More Day is a Spider Man story unlike any other Spidey story ever. You see, Spider Man does something completely selfish here. Thanks to the events of 'Civil War', the whole world knows Spidey is Peter Parker, including his enemies. His enemies target his loved ones, his wife Mary Jane and his beloved Aunt May. Some hitmen hired by Carlton Fisk / the Kingpin manage to shoot and critically wound Aunt May. She's dying. There's nothing that can be done for her. At least that's what Dr Strange tells him. He finds help in the most unlike ally.



Enter Mephisto. Depending on who you're asking, he's either a demon or Marvel's version of the devil. He tells Peter he will save Aunt May for one small request. I know what you're thinking: his soul. No. Well, yeah. Mephisto only wants his marriage to Mary Jane. He doesn't want to marry her. He wants to wipe out the marriage from ever existing.





Do you get the uproar over this story line now? It just doesn't fit in with his character at all. The most never-give-up super hero who faces, and beats, more unbeatable odds than any other hero, sells his marriage to the devil to save his Aunt May. That isn't very Spidey like, is it? The reason is Joe Quesada, one of Marvel's editors in chief, felt like dissolving the marriage would open the doors for better Spider Man stories in the future. No argument there. Most of my favorite Spidey stories are the newer wants penned by Dan Slott. Conversely, most of the hated Spider Man stories (Clone Saga comes to mind) happened during the marriage. That's not why most comic book fans hate the storyline. It's hated because it's resolved by having Spider-Man doing something Spider-Man simply would not do. It's like, say, Superman deciding to kill Zod before he kills somebody else instead of trying to find another way to stop him or something...

Whatever.

I like the story, actually. I didn't get upset with it personally but I get why a lot of people did. I also get why people didn't like the last Superman reboot for making Supes a murderer but they should just hate the movie cause it wasn't really that good, truth be told. Killing Zod at least gave me something to talk about, something the rest of the movie didn't do.

At least Marvel is trying to correct their mistake, somewhat. This is do out this summer as part of the Secret Wars event.


Now I wonder how all of this ties into the MCU.

Later, WORLD.

Smokkee Singleton

N IS FOR 'NO MORE MUTANTS' (#AtoZChallenge)

Hello, WORLD!! Smokkee here, again, talking about the MCU, again. You knew I would be. We're less than two weeks away from 'Age of Ultron', and I'm still high off that 13 episode rush Netflix provides called 'Daredevil'. So it's safe to say yes, Marvel's Cinematic Universe is still on my brain. Actually, make that Marvel in general since I've reverted back to reading comics again, a habit I thought I kicked for good more than a decade ago. OK, so I've had a few relapses here and there but I thought I was done with them for the most part.

I'm glad I wasn't. I saw some interesting things happening in the comics that just might make there way to the big screen or, if nothing else, might affect what happens in the MCU in the next few phases. For instance, the next Captain America standalone film is called 'Civil War'. I thought the Avengers 2 would be where this storyline made the leap from the comics to the big screen. I was wrong about when it would make that jump but I correctly guessed right here it was coming, eventually. 

Amazing Spider Man #698

Now I got another prediction for you. This one starts with the death of one of Marvel's biggest names: Spider-Man. He 'dies' in Amazing Spider Man's 700 issue. They 'killed' arguably their most famous character right in between both of the Marc Webb-helmed Amazing Spider Man films. 

OK, maybe 'dies' isn't the word to use. It wasn't like they completely 'killed' Spider Man; the 'Dying Wish' storyline had a dying Doctor Octopus finally get the best of Spider Man by switching bodies with him right before he died. Over the course of the next year (the time between the releases of ASM movies 1 and 2) we saw Ock trying his best to be a better Spider Man than Peter Parker ever was, with Marvel even replacing the Amazing Spider Man title with the name Ock was calling himself: the Superior Spider Man.  

Of course the real Peter Parker came back eventually, just in time to save Ock, one of Spider Man's

The look on Gobby's face when he realizes the real Spider Man is back: priceless.

arch enemies, from defeat at the hands of Peter's main arch nemesis, Green Goblin. More accurately, he came back in time for him to be Spider Man when ASM 2 was released, but that's not the point. It should be noted that the ASM films aren't part of the MCU (at least not yet). The right to use Spider Man in film was licensed by Marvel to Sony Pictures at that time. I think that's the real reason Marvel killed him off in the first place because now Spidey is now cleared to be a part of the MCU thanks to this deal between Marvel and Sony Pictures.       

The only reason I brought any of that up is not too long after that, Marvel killed off another insanely popular character. And this character is one we thought was almost unkillable. And this character is DEAD dead for sure, having died via suffocation. And this one hasn't came back yet even though I doubt he's gone for ever but at least we get to see Hugh Jackman play him a few more times in the future if he is.
 



Yep. RIP, Wolverine.





Now, it should be noted here that Wolverine and his fellow X-Men characters are also licensed out by Marvel, as was Spidey to Sony Pictures, to 20th Century Fox. 20th Century Fox also owns the rights to the cinematic version of Marvel's other well known superhero team, the Fantastic Four. The Fantastic Four is one of Marvel's longest running properties and they have a movie due out as well, the trailer for the movie was just released yesterday.  

So what does Marvel Comics do to help promote this new film for one of their longest running properties? They canceled the whole Fantastic Four comic book series! It's slated to end this month at issue 645. Why? probably the same reason why they killed Wolverine and possibly Spider Man. To eventually get the film rights to these properties back. Based on all of these happenings, I'm willing to bet Marvel's next course of action most likely can be summed up to these three words. 
 
"No more mutants."
That was uttered by none other than the Scarlett Witch, a mutant herself, at the end of Marvel Comic's 2005 company wide crossover event, 'House of M'. 'HoM' led to the 'Decimation' which seen almost 90% of the mutants in Marvel Comics lose their power. 'HoM' followed the 'Avengers Disassembled' storyline. 'AD' basically focused on the Avengers being manipulated by events caused by the Scarlett Witch's hexing ability and winds up being the reason the Avengers disband for a short while. 'AD's main characters besides the more popular Avengers were the Scarlet Witch (who causes the events), Dr Strange (who figured out who was behind these events), Vision and a bunch of versions of a villain named Ultron. With Scarlett Witch, Ultron, and the Vision set to appear in Age of Ultron and Dr Strange slated to have his own film in MCU's Phase 3, notice that most of these characters are now set to debut in the MCU in the near future.

You see the problem with the MCU using that storyline right now?

Since nobody has seen AoU yet, who's to say that it doesn't follow the Avengers Disassembled storyline? There was a company wide cross over event called Age of Ultron but I doubt seriously that this is the basis for the MCU film because it's biggest characters, the ones who have the most impact on the story, are Hank Pym (who'll debut in Ant Man, the last film of MCU's Phase 2), FF's Sue Richards, and multiple versions of X-Men's Wolverine. 

In the comics, the Avengers Disassembled storyline led directly into some of the best storylines Marvel has put out in recent times like the aforementioned 'Decimation', 'Secret Invasion', 'Planet Hulk', 'Dark Reign', and ended with the beginning of Marvel's Heroic Age. Another storyline from this period is the one that stands out for obvious reasons: 'Civil War'. In fact, 'Disassembled' almost directly leads into Civil War the same way were being told the MCU's AoU leads into the MCU's version of Civil War.

Which brings me to Phase 3's movie lineup. Dr Strange is slated to be the second of the Phase 3 films, which are kicked off with Civil War. You know what the last film in Phase 3 is slated to be? Inhumans. Now if you ask me why this is huge news, it's because the Inhumans are being set up in the comics as the replacement for mutants. No more mutants, remember? The only difference between mutants, whose film rights are owned by 20th Century Fox, and the mutants are the fact that mutants are born with there abilities while Inhumans are just humans who've been exposed to this stuff called Terrigan Mist which gives them basically the same abilities mutants have. And they are NOT licensed to 20th Century Fox. And we're meeting them right now too. Remember this scene from Marvel's Agents of SHIELD second season episode aptly titled 'What They Become':

That's the same Skye we met in the first season but now she has powers thanks to that mist.  She has since ran across more Inhumans, all with various powers. Bottom line is right now is a great time for Inhumans but it isn't a good time to be a mutant in Marvel Comics and it'll probably be like this until Marvel gets those movie rights back...

 If Marvel being willing to cancel one of their most popular and longest running books, as well as kill off one of their most popular characters, and are now trying to push these Inhumans as their next big thing, aren't all connected to who currently owns which movie rights, then I have no idea what's going on. Marvel's comics are all gearing up for this year's company wide story arch 'Secret Wars' as we speak. The biggest news that I've heard about this upcoming event so far are of Spider Man's One More Day storyline getting amended (FINALLY!!) and of the X Men being sent to a whole new world of their own, which Marvel is backtracking on as we speak.


Whatever, Marvel. As long as they continue to tell great stories, both in comics and in film, us fans won't care one bit. Wait, yes we do. You'll see how much we care in my next post, which just wrote itself since I'm sure you don't know what One More Day is or how ridiculous it is or even how it's a huge slap in the face to most Spider Man fans.

BRB. I promise.

Smokkee Singleton

   

K is For Kidnapped (A #Bizzee Pick) (#AtoZChallenge)

Hello, WORLD!! Smokkee here. And I'm adding a movie to my Bizzee Picks list today! I can't think of the last time I did that but whatever. We're adding one now.

The movie I'm adding to my list today is Secuestrados (2010, released with English subtitles as Kidnapped even though secuestrados roughly translates into abducted), a Spanish movie about a family terrorized by a group of three men who break into the home of a married couple and hold them as well as their daughter and her boyfriend, who came over to pick up the teenager for a date of some sorts, hostage. The criminal's plan is to take the father to various ATMs around their city and get the maximum amount of money that each of the ATMs allow out.  One of the bad guys accompanies the papa while the other two stays at home with the hostages, ready to shoot said hostages if a phone call from papa's kidnapper says papa deviated from the plan in any way.

That's all the plot info I'm gonna give you but I will add a few more tidbits as usual. I don't know what it is with me and films that end on the bleakest notes possible. If you've seen Funny Games, either the American version or the original, you know exactly what I mean by bleak. Funny Games had one of the bleakest endings I've ever ran across. Well, this movie sees that bleakness and raises it up a notch. Even with this somewhat mild spoiler, you have no idea where this movie goes. Another movie this puts me in the mind of is one of the best French horror movies I've ever seen, Inside because most of the action takes place within the house. Mostly though, this movie's atmosphere and tenseness throughout the film reminds me of Alfred Hitchcock's Rope. A lot of stuff doesn't happen early on in the film but you'll feel like something is ABOUT to happen throughout the movie. You know violence is coming. You're just not gonna be ready for it when it arrives.

 Let me know how you enjoyed (or hated) this movie if you see it based on my thumbs up and just in case my thumbs up ain't enough, check out this trailer below.

Later, WORLD.

Smokkee Singleton

 

J is for Just Binge! (#AtoZChallenge)

Hello, WORLD!! Smokkee here. Yeah I know. The J post of the A to Z Challenge was supposed to be wrote this past Saturday. My bad. I was preoccupied with Daredevil, a new Netflix show I just knew I was going to binge watch, which I did. I thoroughly enjoyed it's dark tone. It certainly helped the show feel more like a Daredevil comic at times. My only complaint about the show itself is that Bullseye was a no-show on it. I just knew one of Daredevils biggest adversaries would make at least one appearance but I was wrong. Luckily he wasn't missed. Wilson Fisk was more than adequate as season 1's main villain and I'm sure we'll see Bullseye in season 2.

That was my only complaint about the show itself. My other complaint is that now I feel like binge watching something else... but what though? We're still months away from the next Netflix exclusive Marvel TV show AKA Jessica Jones and the show after that, Luke Cage, isn't slated to appear until 2016.

I got an idea of which series I'm going to watch. Here's a few of my favorite series you can catch in their entirety on Netflix as well as 8 shows that I haven't started yet but I might start soon based on all the good things I've been hearing about them.




First, some of my favorites:

Breaking Bad

    This show isn't too complicated to describe partially because I know you've seen it. Who hasn't at this point? Just in case you missed because you just came back from another universe, it's about a high school teacher who discovers he has cancer and how he comes to terms with his impending demise basically. I could leave it at that but I don't feel like I'd be doing the show any justice. See, I
forgot to mention that he taught chemistry and in an effort to ensure his family doesn't struggle financially after he dies, he eventually uses that extensive chemistry knowledge to start cooking crystal meth. The stellar cast, including Bryan Cranston and his Emmy Award winning performance as the teacher turned drug dealer Walter White, takes this abnormal concept and makes it completely believable.


The Walking Dead

    Here's another series I shouldn't have to describe to you but if I need to it's about a group of people who are struggling to coexist in there crazy world. Oh, and there's also zombies they have to contend with as well but the biggest threat to the survivors are themselves. 









Orange Is The New Black

    THIS is the show that had me break down and get Netflix in the first place. An engaged woman's past comes back to haunt her in the worst way: thanks to her girlfriend-at-that-time's drug dealing participation, they wind up in prison. Almost everyone involved in this show shines and it's one show were the star (Taylor Schilling as the new convict Piper Chapman) takes a backseat to almost the entire supporting cast. 


American Horror Story

    This is a horror anthology series. So far they all have starred Jessica Lange, Sarah Paulson, Frances Conroy and Evan Peters in various roles.  Each of the first four seasons has tackled a different story including ghosts, insane asylums, witch's covens, and circus freaks respectively. While each season works on it's own as a standalone series, the best reason I'd rewatch each of them is to find out how each of these season are all connected as the show runners have stated. 


Daredevil

    It's Daredevil and it completely gets rid of the bad taste in your mouth that the Ben Affleck / Jennifer Garner adaptation surely left. Oh, and according to this article on Netflix's Daredevil, my only complaint about the show is invalid. Bullseye DID make an appearance. I just didn't catch it or a lot of other Marvel tidbits.


Marvel Agents Of SHIELD

    Since I'm on the subject... Marvel's Cinematic Universe is now one of the best film series of this decade and hopefully the three Netflix shows set to debut after Daredevil are just as good as DD. Now before DD there was two other MCU shows to catch. One was Agent Carter (which I believe is now on Hulu Plus in it's entirety) which took place during Captain America's cinematic origin and revolved around Agent Peggy Carter, who most likely would have been Mrs Captain America had he not turned into a popsicle. Fans also got to meet Howard Stark again and the real Jarvis for the first time in this series too. This show came out after Agents of SHIELD found it's footing. If you're not familiar with this show it revolves around the recently deceased SHIELD Agent Phil Coulson, the very same guy who was killed by Loki in the 1st Avenger movie, and how he managed to come back from the dead. It's way deeper than that and it seems to have HUGE implications on the future of the MCU. It's only right it returns the favor; Thor: The Dark World and especially Captain America: The Winter Soldier had just as huge an impact on this show. While season 2 is currently only on Hulu, you can catch season 1 on Netflix. 






And as far as shows I haven't watched yet:


Justified

  I'm ashamed to say I've never caught any of this series and I have no valid reason for not doing so already. For starters, it stars the always reliable Timothy Olyphant as a US Marshal named Raylan Givens. Raylan is a character from one of my favorite books, Pronto, written by one of my top five

favorite authors of all time, Elmore Leonard. If you've seen Get Shorty, Out Of Sight, or Jackie Brown, you're familiar with Leonard's work already but trust me find the books if you really want to do Leonard any justice. I'm sure all but the last and final season are on Netflix and the last season may be uploaded by the fall since the final episode aired yesterday.
  


House Of Cards.

  I've heard about this show every since it's inception. It's been Emmy nominiated. And it stars Kevin Spacey! Yet, I haven't had time to watch it yet. Or maybe it's the fact that I find politics
, both real life and fictional, extremely boring. Regardless, I'll still get around to watching this show soon.


Archer
  
 OK. I gotta admit I've seen a lot of Archer but with all that's going on, not to mention all of the
episodes I've missed, I think I better start again from the beginning. It's one of the best spy shows on TV not titled Agents Of SHIELD. Just don't hold the facts that it's a comedy and it's animated against it.


Broadchurch

    I fell in love with Fox's 10 episode murder mystery series Gracepoint from the start. At least I thought I did. What I didn't know was Gracepoint is an almost shot for shot remake of this BBC series. I love the remake but I'm more than just a bit curious about the original since most remakes fail to live up to the source material.


Black Mirror

    I've only recently discovered this anthology series in the vein of The Twilight Zone. If you're a fan of those type of shows, this show will make a great addition to your must-watch list.



Twin Peaks
    Like Archer, I've seen a lot of these episodes. Unlike Archer, I was extremely young when I saw them so a lot of the going ons left me a bit perplexed. I loved how creepy a watch it was though and it's about time I brush up on this show anyway, since a new Twin Peaks series is already in the works. 


Sons Of Anarachy
    If you ask anybody what is the best TV show of the past 10-15 years, you'll hear either Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, Walking Dead, The Wire, or this show more often than not. Of these five series, SOA is the only one I haven't gotten addict to yet. I may be the only person on the planet who hasn't but I have yet to see this show about a motorcycle gang and the obstacles they face. 



Well, that's it for this post. If you don't hear from me for a while, you already know what I'm up to.



Later WORLD.
Smokkee Singleton