Tran-Siberian Orchestra

So, Sarah and I went to see TSO again this year. The "one" word I can use to describe TSO is "over the top". The lights, lasers, smoke, fire, pyrotechnics, music volume, and a Xmas story are all way over the top. And it is awesome!

I will admit, they do verge on cheesy, but I think, mostly, they just rock. The first half of the show is their Xmas stuff with great rockin' Xmas music and a very good guy narrating a story. The story is the same as last year and Sarah thought it wasn't that good a second time.


But, after their "half-time", they came back with much more just plain rock. It really was amazing. They did a pretty cool version of Flight of the Bumblebee and a Chariots of Fire (with lots of fire) that should be on their upcoming CD. All in all, a great show that you should try and see at least once.

Movie Review: The Dark Night

Rating: 7.0 out of 10

Review: Everybody has been hyping this movie as the greatest thing ever! Unfortunately, it didn't live up to the hype for me. I thought it was good, but not fantastic. It was WAY too long. I felt like it was dragging on and on near the end. But, Heath Ledger is amazing and should win an Oscar. The visuals are great. It's just that the story just drags on and on. I couldn't figure out where the movie was going and it didn't seem like the Joker had a cohesive plan. I don't know, it just felt a little random.

Movie Review: Run Lola Run

Rating: 8.0 out of 10

Review: Very good German language film about a girl running. Well, that's what most of the movie is about. Sort of. I guess it's about feeling helpless/unable to fix a situation and how every action you make, no matter how small, can affect the outcome greatly. Movie was very well done and the music was great. I don't want to give too much plot away, so just go and watch it.

Movie Review: Tropic Thunder

Rating: 8.0 out of 10

Review: Great movie about the making of a Vietnam war movie with pretentious/overrated actors. This was a hilarious movie. The whole concept of a movie about the filming of an over-the-top Hollywood blockbuster movie that is over budget and over acted was great. The actors play stereotypical big name actors and they are fantastic in their humor/portrayal of the Hollywood scene. Great movie, go see it. Oh, and Robet Downey Jr. is amazing! This is the best character acting I've seen in a long time. (What is funny, though, is that it's his character who's doing the amazing character acting. Just adding another layer of funny and confusing)

Movie Review: I Am Legend

Rating: 4.0 out of 10 (original)
Rating: 7.0 out of 10 (alternate version/ending)

Review: The first half of the movie is great. It's about the last guy on Earth after some sort of virus thing has "killed" off the rest of the population (or turned them into vampire/zombies). It has some good action sequences. And it has a bit of foreshadowing to tell the audience that there is more going on than they realize. The problem is that the last half of the movie pretends like the whole plot development and foreshadowing stuff didn't matter. And the ending is just stupid. It makes you mad at the movie. Why go through all of the work of setting up an interesting plot line and ending if you are just going to throw it away for a stupid ending? Well, it turns out that there are two possible ending on the Blu-Ray disk (and possibly the DVD as well). I'm not sure what the back-story on the "alternate version" is, but it is a much better movie. Watch this version, only. The plot development and the foreshadowing make much more sense in this version and the ending is not idiotic. So, in summary, the plot is not as good as the book version, but if you watch the "alternate version", at least you won't end up hating this movie.

Movie Review: Kung Fu Panda

Rating: 7.0 out of 10

Review: It was actually better than I thought it would be. The action and kung fu bits were really well done. Jack Black is hilarious as always (almost always; we don’t count Nacho Libre). Not much to say, except that it is a solid cartoon that stays true to the Kung Fu vibe throughout.

Movie Review: Bolt

Rating: 7.0 out of 10

Review: Took my 2.5 year old son to see this. He and I both liked it quite a bit. It is a CG movie about a dog who is an actor portraying a super hero dog, but the dog thinks he is really a super hero. Hilarity ensues. While the dog is funny and a solid lead character, the little hamster steals the show. I would recommend this movie to most everyone, mostly because of the hamster. He is hilarious and has some very quotable lines.