Author thegeekregistry

WWE Legends House

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As I have stated in previous posts, the WWE Network is the best $9.99 a month you could possibly spend as a wrestling fan. One of the best examples of this is the WWE Legends House reality show that is exclusive to the network. It was filmed a couple of years back, but the WWE could not find a network to pick it up which is those networks loss since it turned out to be one of the best reality shows out there.

It was a great way to see the real side of these legendary performers who most of us fans only know by their characters. It featured Jimmy ‘the Mouth of the South” Hart, Pat Patterson, Howard Finkel, Hillbilly Jim, Tony Atlas, “Rowdy” Roddy Piper, “Mean” Gene Okerlund, and Hacksaw Jim Duggan.

There were personal conflicts between them in the beginning, but it was nice to see those issues fade in to the distance as they all got to know and respect each other over the course of the show. Without giving away the details, the final two episodes were very emotional and it was nice to see these larger than life characters reveal the real pains they have dealt with in their lives and finally try to move past them.

There were some slightly cringe worthy moments like realizing that Okerlund is a grumpy old pervert and seeing more of Finkel than any one cares to see, but overall it was clearly not a show that “staged the reality”.

The majority of today’s reality television shows are more scripted than people realize with the producers creating conflicts that were not there in the beginning between cast members. Despite the fact that pro-wrestling is scripted, the producers for the Legends House did not create conflicts like most reality programming and just let the wrestlers be themselves. It was refreshing.

If you do not have the WWE Network it is safe to say that a DVD set should come out at some point and I would heavily recommend checking it out. It was funny, emotional, and just plain cool to see what these larger than life men are like in the real world.

Friday the 13th Movie Series

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I am a hug fan of horror movies. My first exposure to the genre was during my teenage years in the 80’s watching slasher films. The 80’s were saturated with these types of horror films and one of the most popular was the Friday the 13th series. 12 movies in (with the most recent coming out in 2009) and more to come, this may not be the highest quality of entertainment, but clearly they are doing something right and it is one of my not-so-guilty pleasures. There was even a television show for a few years even though it did not feature the main character Jason Voorhees.

My brief opinion/synopsis on all 12:

Friday the 13th

The first movie is the best by far. Revisiting it many years later it still is effective and, at the time of the movie’s release, the surprise twist of Jason’s mother being the true killer was a clever way to go. It made the first movie more ‘real’ instead of having the indestructible killer that is featured from the second film on. This movie also featured a young Kevin Bacon getting a spear shoved through his chest in a classic gore scene. Overall, a great start to the franchise and a true slasher movie classic.

Part 2

The second movie was also quite entertaining and featured Jason Voorhees taking over his Mom’s killing spree. I always get a kick out of the stupid teenagers in these movies getting hacked to bits by the supernatural killer. No matter what you may think of the horror genre, slasher films are morality plays in the sense that the sex obsessed and irresponsible teenagers always get punished by the murderer.

Part 3

This movie was presented in 3D and it was delightfully cheesy as one would expect. An eyeball being unnaturally pointed at the camera and various other sharp weapons appearing to come right at you was just pure fun. Plenty of gore with teenagers dying left and right and continuing the trend of these movies being fun/guilty pleasures.

The Final Chapter

Yeah right. Even back then I think it was clear these movies were not going away any time soon. A very young Corey Feldman as Tommy was a highlight. At the end, when it seemed that Jason was done for (at least in this film), Tommy suddenly looks at the camera with an evil glint insinuating that he will take over the mantle of the titular killer. This was a pretty good entry in the series. The Tommy story line is pretty interesting and Feldman did a good job.

A New Beginning

We get an older Tommy who is being tormented by what happened in the previous film. Tommy keeps having dreams about Jason’s killing sprees and the movie keeps playing with the idea of whether or not the killings are happening or are just in Tommy’s head. At the end of the movie we get another hint of Tommy taking over Jason’s role with the infamous hockey mask covering his face. Not a great movie in the series, but still fun to watch.

Jason Lives

We get a third film in a row featuring the character of Tommy and this time he is responsible for resurrecting Jason by attempting to kill him with a pole impalement that winds up being hit with electricity and waking up Mr. Voorhees. This one ends with Tommy surviving again and Jason being chained to a boulder at the bottom of the lake. None of the sequels were classics by any means, but the Tommy story line was getting a little stale.

The New Blood

This one discarded Tommy and featured Tina who had telekinetic powers to aid in her battle against Jason. It was an interesting way to go in the movie, but the movie got a little boring since the MPAA forced the filmmakers to cut out a lot of the gore which is the main draw of these films. The fake, over the top, gore scenes are the main draw for this type of movie and by neutering this film it doomed it’s success.

Jason Takes Manhattan

This is my favorite movie in the franchise. It is just plain silly with a good amount of over-the-top gore scenes throughout the film. When Voorhees finally gets to New York we see some truly goofy stuff like a decapitation scene that cracks me up since it if so blatantly unrealistic. A must watch.

Jason Goes To Hell: The Final Friday

Another “final” entry that was overall an okay movie, but the most memorable scene is the very last one where we see Jason’s hockey mask on the ground and suddenly, the infamous clawed glove of Freddy Krueger emerges and drags the mask down to hell. This was a total surprise ending when the movie was first released and I remember being overly excited at the prospect of a showdown between the two legendary horror movie slashers.

Jason X

A movie that was surprisingly entertaining. The concept of a flash frozen Jason being thawed out in the distant future and going on a killing spree in a spaceship was quite fun. The movie did an excellent job poking fun at itself and the series and had some good death scenes. This is the only film in the franchise that my wife found somewhat entertaining due to the underlying satire.

Freddy Vs. Jason

It took a long time for this movie to come out following the ending of Jason Goes to Hell, but it was worth the wait. It was pure fun and it is incredibly cool to see these iconic villains in the same film together. My only disappointment is that Jason was not portrayed by Kane Hodder who not only portrayed the character in the last four films, but also vigorously championed this film. A bizarre decision by the film studio to say the least.

The Reboot

The Friday the 13th reboot was okay, but really unnecessary. Hollywood is reboot crazy at the moment and does not seem to want to slow down. They could have just continued the series, but felt the need to ‘re-imagine’ it. A total redo of the franchise was not necessary, but oh well, maybe the second reboot will be better.

The latest word is that there will be a new Friday the 13th television series. It should be interesting to see what they do, but it is clear that no matter how long these movies have been around and the quality, or lack thereof, this franchise is showing no signs of slowing down.

Friday the 13th

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Happy Friday the 13th! A much maligned day due to some people’s feelings that 13 is an unlucky number making Friday the 13th the unluckiest day of the year. This phobia is so widespread that it is estimated that $800-900 million dollars are lost by various businesses on this day due to some people just being too afraid to leave their house.

I actually enjoy these days. I do not believe in superstitions and feel the only way you could be adversely affected is if you allow yourself to be. I like walking past a black cat because I like felines. If there is nowhere else to go I will happily stride underneath a ladder. Maybe this Friday the 13th I will do both!

In honor of Friday the 13th I will be giving my opinion on the movie series of the same name for Monday’s blog post. I own all of them on home video, including the recent remake, and enjoy the series.

My advice for today is to enjoy yourself and wish everyone a Happy Friday the 13th!

 

WWE Payback 2014

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Parback

This was one those PPV’s that did not have a lot of positive expectations going in. Most fans online expected it to be boring, but it was anything but. Overall, it was a very good show with 4 big highlights.

The show started off with Sheamus defeating Cesaro to retain the United States title. A very good opening match between to great talents. A lot of back forth, a good story, and nice high spots. The crowd was into this match and it was a promising start to the night.

Bad News Barrett retaining his title against RVD was another solid title bout. RVD can still outperform a lot of wrestlers on the roster and BNB is very over with the crowd and can really put on a great match. RVD putting over Barrett was the right choice and I cannot wait to see BNB in future story lines. He is definitely a top performer.

John Cena over Bray Wyatt in a Last Man Standing match was the match of the night. I have not enjoyed this feud for the most part. Their match at Wrestlemania this year was slow and boring. Their rematch at last month’s PPV was significantly better, but the possessed child that came out at the end was stupid and ruined the match. This third match made it all worthwhile. A ton of back and forth, great high spots, a suddenly terrific story, and well thought out interference from Wyatt’s crew and the Usos made for an amazing match. The end of the match was also well done. It cracked me up, but did not come off as stupid. It cannot be properly explained and needs to be viewed.

The main event was Evolution losing to The Shield in a no holds barred, elimination match. It looked for a while that Evolution would go over, but suddenly The Shield came on strong in the end and eliminated all three members of Triple H’s team with none of The Shield being eliminated. Triple H made the correct call and put the correct guys over.

This was a solid show and it was clear that the talent all put their best feet forward and provided fans with an entertaining 3 hours that was well worth the money.

Man of Steel

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Finally, a damn good modern Superman movie. I was excited when I saw the first trailer and had high hopes for this movie and it did not disappoint. I saw it opening weekend at the movie theater and watched it again recently on blu-ray and enjoyed it even more.

The main thing that made this movie work so well was Henry Cavill as Superman. Perfect casting. They did not just go for someone with the right look, but someone who could really portray this character perfectly for a modern audience. Unlike most portrayals of the first superhero, Cavill did not come off as perfect. When Zod threatens his mother we see a natural reaction of pure rage and the destruction that can be caused by someone in that mental state who has super powers. Some people did not like that aspect of his character in the movie, but I really felt it rang true. He is young and learning and mistakes will be made which is how life works.

I also enjoyed Michael Shannon’s Zod. He showed glimpses of being a good person, but in the end threw it out the door and was willing to sacrifice an entire planet to save his people…understandable, but still pretty darn nasty. His fights with Superman were brutal and came off amazingly well.

Other great casting choices include Amy Adams as Lois Lane. I never liked Margot Kidder’s portrayal of Superman’s love interest and really feel that Adams is the first person to nail that character perfectly. Russell Crowe as Jor-El, Kevin Costner as Jonathan Kent, Diane Lane as Martha Kent, Laurence Fishburne as Perry White, etc…were all great casting choices. A lot of effort was put into making this a great Superman movie and I really feel they succeeded.

The biggest point of contention many people had with this movie is when *spoiler alert* Superman kills Zod. The general consensus was that Superman would never kill. I have two issues with that. First off, in this movie he is not a flawless character as we normally see him portrayed. He is young and learning so mistakes will be made. Secondly, one of the biggest issues I have with heroes in comic books is when they do not kill. If Batman would just kill the Joker then thousands of lives would be saved. Superman killing Zod saved that family and untold numbers of other lives. Zod had to die. It was the right thing to do.

This is definitely a must see movie and only gets better with repeated viewings.

 

Opinions and Why They Do Not Matter

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This may seem like a strange topic to discuss on a blog where I share my opinion three times a week, but I feel it has merit as a topic of discussion and will not discredit everything I have written and will write.

Opinions can be fun to share. I enjoy stating my feelings on a topic I enjoy as a whole and seeing what others feel on those same topics, whether they agree with me or not. I enjoy reading differing opinions because every person on this planet has the right to voice their opinion. The world would be painfully boring if we all agreed on everything whether it be something mundane as movies and music or more serious matters like politics or human rights.

At the end of the day I cannot help but question whether any of those same opinions matter? I try to avoid politics and other important topics so as not to offend, but if I did start to share those opinions would it matter? Would it make me a better or lesser person in some people’s eyes? No, I am not going to start discussing these topics any time soon, but I cannot help but wonder if, as I start to gain more readers, if I would turn some of them off by having a single post with a strong political opinion and the rest would be as normal? Would that be fair to me? Would that be fair to the readers?

At the end of the day my opinions on wrestling, super hero movies or the end of a television show are fun to share and do give a slight glimpse into who I am as a person, but would one ‘important’ opinion shared, no matter how controversial it may be, be enough to change someone’s opinion of me and either make me look good or bad in their eyes?

Opinions are possibly the biggest thing we read on the internet. Whether someone shares a picture of a cute kitten with a tagline of “super cute”, a movie review, or an article on today’s news happenings they are all providing opinions to greater and lesser degrees. Should a bad movie review prevent you from watching a movie and enjoying it? Should someone’s opinion on a topic make you think more or less of them no matter what else that person feels or does?

My feelings are pretty simple…I respect everyone’s opinion and expect them to return the favor. If our opinions are so different I would have a hard time getting along with someone then I would simply avoid them and let them live there life any way they choose. I love living in a world of differing opinions. I like being challenged respectfully and made to look at certain situations differently.

If I just shut myself off to everyone who did not agree with me then I would live a very mundane life. My wife and I share a lot of opinions, but from time to time we disagree and that is a good thing. If I agreed with her all the time then my knowledge would never expand and I would be stuck in a mental rut.

Opinions are great and we should all share them, but remember, they really do not matter 🙂

NXT Takeover

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NXT

NXT Takeover was aired last Thursday, May 29, on the WWE Network and it is the perfect example of why the Network is worth more than the $9.99 a month charge.

For those who are not familiar with WWE’s NXT brand it is essentially their developmental league that has gained significant popularity in the past few months with the weekly shows being aired on the WWE Network and the amazing wealth of young talent on the roster.

They air a 1 hour program every Thursday and are looking to air 2 hour specials exclusively on the Network about 4 times a year.

NXT Takeover was one of the most entertaining 2 hours of wrestling aired this year. It is exciting to see the new crop of talent who busts their asses week in and week out with the hopes of getting to the main roster of the WWE get greater exposure and start to create reputations for themselves before the casual fans even know their names. It is to the point where some of the best matches in wrestling are coming out of NXT.

The matches for Takeover were as follows:

Adam Rose defeated Camacho – There was not a ton of ‘wrestling’ in this match, but the character of Adam Rose is very over and he still manages to put on a fun match even if their is not a ton going on. He is moving to the main WWE roster and hopefully, we can get to see some longer matches from him since he is a very talented performer and is quickly becoming one of my favorite wrestlers today.

The Ascension over El Local and Kalisto – I really enjoy The Ascension. They are one of those big power teams in the fashion of The Road Warriors and Demolition. I cannot help but think they will be on the main shows soon. Kalisto is an excellent Lucha Libre-style wrestler and El Local is as well, but man, he needs to lay off the cheeseburgers. He is a pretty good wrestler, but I cannot help but think he would be much better sans the spare tire.

Tyler Breeze beats Sami Zayne – Perfect example of how good NXT is. Both wrestlers have great characters with Breeze being the classic vain/pretty boy heel and Zayne being the underachieving face (good guy) that you love to root for. They are both terrific athletes and put on one hell of a match.

Charlotte over Natalya for the vacant NXT Women’s Championship – Great match! I absolutely love when the women in the WWE are actual athletes and can put on great matches. The Diva’s division has improved with Paige jumping from NXT, but overall, it is still just a large group of reality show participants who cannot work a match.  Charlotte and Natalya showed there are some great women’s wrestlers out there and the female division is improving greatly. Hopefully, this great of a match will continue this trend and show the WWE that having good female wrestlers is the best way to go.

The main event was Adrian Neville over Tyson Kidd and damn, it was a hell of match. Both of them are great performers and amazing athletes. They worked this match to perfection and it was exciting from beginning to end and told a great story.

This is a show you need to watch. It will be available on the WWE Network for a while and is more than worth $9.99 a month with a 6 month commitment (shameless plug)!

The Nolan Batman Trilogy

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Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy is the best portrayal of the title character and his mythos we have seen in movies/television to date. All three movies were well done and made Batman relevant to the general public again.

I will give my opinion on all three in this single post…I am assuming most people have seen all three movies so there may be spoilers without warning:

Batman Begins:

Hot damn this is a great movie! I was thrilled when I heard they were re-launching Batman and looked forward to a more serious, realistic tone and this film did not disappoint. Christian Bale is the perfect Batman/Bruce Wayne. I feel he is the first actor to get both sides of this character right. Yes, I agree that his Batman voice is a bit over the top, but for me it works. Michael Keaton was a great Batman, but did not get the character of Bruce Wayne correct in my opinion. He was brooding in both roles and seemed to forget that Wayne pretended to be happy out of the costume so people would not make the connection between him and his superhero persona. Bale was a terrific Batman and portrayed Wayne’s artificial ‘playboy’ persona perfectly. I do not feel his performance of the title character will be surpassed any time soon.

The overall casting of this movie was perfect with Cillian Murphy as a terrifying Scarecrow and Liam Neeson as the true Ra’s Al Ghul working as perfect villains for this origin tale. Michael Kane as Alfred with Gary Oldman as Jim Gordon was great casting of two of Batman’s most trusted allies. The only casting choice that I did not like was Katie Holmes as Wayne’s love interest. This was a character that was not needed to make this movie work and would have made it that much better if she was excised from the script all together.

Overall, this was a great re-telling of Batman’s origin and was a very promising start to the franchise.

The Dark Knight:

The BEST Batman movie ever! Simply WOW! The late Heath Ledger’s performance as The Joker was pure brilliance and he more than deserved the Academy Award he won posthumously. I still love Jack Nicholson’s portrayal of The Joker from years ago, but Ledger’s was, and may possibly always be, the best. He was simply perfect and really had a grasp on all of the character’s nuances.

Aaron Eckhart also did a fantastic job as Harvey Dent/Two Face. He made you root for his character throughout the movie and feel sympathy when he was hideously scarred and sought revenge. His death at the end of the movie was appropriate, but I would have liked to have seen him in the final film.

Overall, this is one of those rare 2 hour plus movies that keeps your attention throughout and wanting more.

The Dark Knight Rises:

Not the best of the three, but definitely one of the best Batman movies overall. It seemed like a natural progression from the end of the previous film and was overall well done and a fitting end to Nolan’s trilogy.

Anne Hathaway did a good job as Selina Kyle/Catwoman. I was not expecting much so I was surprised when she did such a great job and really held her own.

Tom Hardy as Bane was a great casting choice and despite the peculiar voice, I felt the portrayal of Bane in this movie was well done.

I only had 2 issues with the film…it seemed a tad too long and the reveal at the end of Ra’s Al Guhl’s daughter Talia being behind everything did not seem to be too effective. It may be because I already knew about this event, but it still seemed to not have the kind of “punch’ you would want.

I really enjoyed how the movie ended with Bruce Wayne finding happiness and Blake (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) turning out to be Robin and taking on the mantle of Batman.

Overall, this was a terrific trilogy that did Batman justice.

I sincerely hope Ben Affleck can do an admirable job portraying this legendary character, but do not expect him to surpass Bale’s.

Here’s hoping we do not get another George Clooney type performance!

The Big Bang Theory Season 7 Finale

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The Big Bang Theory Season 7 Finale was full of big changes that all worked well. There were a lot of risks taken, but they all paid off and left me impatiently looking forward to the start of season 8.

Stu’s comic shop burning down initially left me feeling disappointed in such a major change, but when he wound up becoming Howard’s Mother’s care giver it worked surprisingly well and I am looking forward to that new dynamic for a character I really enjoy and wish would have something good happen to him for a change.

It is nice to see Raj having a successful relationship for once. I hated the character of Lucy with a passion. She had some humorous moments, but overall was annoying and not the right choice for the character of Raj. His new girlfriend seems perfect for him and I sincerely hope they keep going in this direction.

I actually like the fact the Penny and Leonard are engaged. I have found the volatility of their relationship to be a bit frustrating at times, but this past season the characters seem to have moved past some of that and the engagement does feel like the correct direction for them to go in.

The biggest moment in the show though is Sheldon going out on his own to “discover” himself. Surprisingly, it truly seemed like a great way to start evolving the character past what we as viewers are used to. I love the character of Sheldon, but at some point he does need to evolve at least a little bit. The possibilities are endless for what he could experience while exploring the world and I hope the writers come up with some great moments and smart character development for next season.

Overall, The Big Bang Theory proves once again why it is the top rated comedy and will more than likely stay that way for it’s entire run.

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WCW Halloween Havoc 2000

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The final Halloween Havoc has arrived…with a thud. Realizing this was at a time when WCW was at it’s lowest point as a company and they were about 6 months or so from being sold to Vince McMahon I can understand why this PPV was so terrible. You could tell from beginning to end no one in charge of WCW had a clue how to properly book a wrestling card and the talent just could not compensate for such poor decisions.

I will briefly cover each match since this is the final Halloween Havoc and will not even mention who won since it does not matter on what turned out to be such a terrible show.

The Natural Born Thrillers vs. The Filthy Animals vs. The Boogie Knights – A lot of talent was in the ring for this match…Rey Misterio. Jr., Billy Kidman etc…but you really got the feeling this one was booked on the fly…the wrestlers seemed confused and this match seemed like it was thrown together at the last minute. Everyone seemed puzzled and gave off that sense of ‘I just want to get this over with”.

Reno vs. Sgt. Awol – No…no…no…neither one had a lick of talent and Sgt. Awol looked like some overweight guy who just walked in that night and management let him get in the ring and make an ass of himself. Pure garbage.

The Misfits in Action vs. The Perfect Event – Oy…these four (Chavo Guerrero, Cpl. Cajun, Shawn Stasiak, Chuck Palumbo) were okay, but this was another match that had a weak storyline and seemed thrown in just to fill up some time.

Buff Bagwell vs. David Flair – Just a bad match…it had a storyline, but the match itself was terrible because of David Flair…he tried, but he did not try hard enough. He had no business wrestling and came off pitiful. Buff Bagwell was an excellent in-ring performer at one time, but this was when he was clearly in his “I don’t give a flying shit” phase and should have just left the business right then and there.

Mike Sanders vs. Ernest “The Cat” Miller – This was a ‘boxing’ match and I was prepared for the worst, but it was actually a good match! Miller clearly had an athletic background and did a damn good job making his kicks and punches look impressive.

Mike Awesome vs. Vampiro – Okay match…could have been better…most memorable part was Vampiro speaking. He has this goth/horror intro and look that made me interested and then when he got in the ring and on the mic his voice ruined the whole damn thing…nothing intimidating or ‘horrific” about him…he should have went with the silent gimmick like Sting when he first started the Crow character.

General Rection vs. Lance Storm and Jim Duggan – General Rection…so sad…Bill DeMott is a solid wrestler, but this play on words was just plain stupid and you could tell in his pre-match promo he did not like the name as well. I also felt bad for Duggan who has said recently he did not like the anti-American gimmick WCW forced on him and you could really tell in this match. Lance Storm is another great talent who was wasted by WCW. Despite all the potential downfalls of this storyline, the three of them did a good job and had an overall entertaining match.

Jeff Jarrett vs. Sting – Two top notch performers who were saddled with a match that featured Sting being attacked throughout by several fake Stings…ignorant booking and a waste of two very talented wrestlers.

Booker T vs. Scott Steiner – Booker T is one of my favorites…okay match, but Steiner spent 90% of the time attacking referees and going after fans that it became quite mundane. It got worse when Steiner used a ‘steel’ pipe to attack several people in the ring and it was clearly made of rubber. Just sad.

Goldberg vs. Kronik (Brian Adams and Bryan Clark) – Only 3 minutes long which made it by far the best match of the night and marking the end of the Halloween Havoc PPV’s.

This was undeniably the worst of the Havoc PPV’s and I could not help but feel bad for the talent, especially knowing they were so close to going out of business and on the verge of being bought out by McMahon.

For the next handful of weeks I am going to discuss some wrestling related programming and events along with PPV’s. I subscribed to the WWE Network on day one and have enjoyed it immensely. There is a lot of great programming on the network and a lot of various goings on in the real world of wrestling over the past several years that I would like to give my thoughts on and hear other’s opinions of as well.

Thank you for reading and I appreciate all comments!