The Beekeeper puts John Wick to Shame

Just saw the latest Jason Statham movie. The Beekeeper. My reaction? Move over John Wick. Adam Clay takes over. And move over Keanu Reeves. Jason Statham isn't just an actor like you. Jason Statham is the real deal. Look, I had already posted about how disappointed I was with the last two John Wick movies. Sure the first two had me buying in. But the last two, well, the last two plain sucked. John Wick became a pussy. Anyone could be a John Wick. But only Jason Statham can be an Adam Clay. The movie even had a female Beekeeper, hired to kill the original Beekeeper. And like in real life, the man prevailed, and it was no contest. And hey, I am not a sexist or a misogynist. I am a realist. Sure there are some women out there who can beat up some men out there. But when it comes to the BEST male fighters versus the BEST female fighters, it's not going to be a contest. And in this movie, that's the way it was. Adam Clay had no problem taking out the female Beekeeper. So, like in the John Wick movies, it's a world-building premise. In the John Wick movies, you had the fictional assassins in their fictional world with their codes of conduct and the markers and the Continental, et al. Beekeepers are a fictional society above the law, used when the law doesn't work. And that means these guys are the top of the top of the top in regards to fighting ability. And that's my cup of tea. Like my own character from Killer of Killers and Killer Eyes. The top fighter in the world is Trent Smith. In The Beekeeper, the Beekeepers are the best. The one flaw in this movie was that the female Beekeeper seemed to be a loose cannon type of character. Firing a minigun at anything moving in her effort to kill the other Beekeeper (which included responding policemen) was over the top. Nevertheless, Adam Clay took her out, and in great fashion. Now I don't want to give the wrong impression. To avoid any misunderstands, I have said it over and over again, there is such a thing as STRONG female characters. But to prove you are a strong character doesn't mean you have to go around beating people up, or killing dozens of people, whether they deserve it or not. As a matter of indisputable fact, there is no woman in the world who can win a fight against Mike Tyson. All right? There is no woman in the world who can win a fight against Brock Lesnar, all right? All right. Bottom line? The Beekeeper is the best movie I've seen in a long time. Thank you Jason Statham.

Blacklist - Suicide by Bull? WTF?

 All good things...as they say. But the end to The Blacklist was, for me, at least, disappointing. I was very happy with the writing up until the very last scene of the very last episode. Agent Ressler finds the dead body of Red Reddington in a field. He had been gored by a bull. So, yeah, like WTF?

In the show, Red had entered into a bull's corral, whether by accident or deliberately, (the writing did not make it clear.) But what was clear is that when Red faced off with the bull, he made no effort to vacate the area. He just stood there and waited for the bull to gore him. Actually, the bull seemed to be giving Red a chance to leave. But he didn't. And the last thing we saw in that scene was the bull beginning its charge. So, yeah. I've heard of suicide by cops, but this was on another level.

And, as I said, the final scene of the series is Ressler finding Red's gored and bloodied body. And very dead. A very anticlimactic ending, imo. We did have a eulogy of sorts, for Red, shortly before that, from the bed-ridden Dembe, which was fitting. However, for me, anyway, it would have been better writing if the camera never showed the dead body of Red. After the "bull" scene, I think it would have been better if Red was never seen again, alive or dead, by Ressler or anyone else. 

And if Ressler had never found the body of Red, then the audience could have fantasized that Red was living out the rest of his days somewhere with that very nice Cuban woman which the writers had established was very willing to do so. (You know, the younger sister of his former girlfriend.) Btw, about that. How was it that Red hooked up with his former girlfriend's little sister? That was never explained. Some people would call it lazy writing. But I digress.

A great character like Red Reddington, like Conan, should never be shown killed or dead. That's not to say he can't get killed. It just shouldn't be shown. It's what I didn't like about the final Daniel Craig Bond movie. Well, they really didn't show him killed, did they? (Nor did they show his dead body.) Okay, then, it is one of the major criticisms I have of the Star Trek movies because they did show Captain Kirk killed and even buried. (I hated all those movies.)

And yes, I do place the character of Red Reddington up there with my all-time favorite characters, which include Conan, James Bond, and Captain Kirk. Yes, indeed. Red belongs. 

One last comment. I never got my wish for the show to provide a definitive statement that Red was the biological father of Lizzy Keen. Although the writers were kind enough to put in the dialogue that he was the grandfather of Lizzy's daughter. I suppose that will have to do.

The Blacklist Once Again Back on Top

I know I've been all over the map with my opinions of the TV show called The Blacklist. I had praised it, I had panned it, and I had been everywhere in-between. The highest opinion I had at one point of this show was that it had supplanted Star Trek, TOS, as my all-time favorite TV show. That was after its third season, I believe. And I am glad to reveal that now, in its tenth and final season, The Blacklist has once again resumed its place on my all-time favorite TV show list.

The reason is a simple one. James Spader. The role he plays, Raymond "Red" Redington, is a great role. The world's most notorious villain. Except, he isn't really a villain. And his acting is absolutely flawless in every single episode. The supporting cast, now that Megan Boone is gone, is also stellar. And, yes, that was a knock on Megan Boone.

At one point I had thought her role in the series was necessary. And it was during its time as my favorite show. But it was largely, (although, not solely) because of her my opinion of the show began to wane. I was getting tired of this actress, or her role, and I found myself not enjoying the show as much because of her and other reasons. Those reasons I have documented often on this blog.

As for the final season now under way, we have found that the role of Elizabeth Keen was never necessary, and neither was the actress Megan Boone. James Spader was all the show ever needed. Of course, the FBI task force of Assistant Director Cooper, Agent Ressler and the new computer guy, Herbie, who has taken on the comedic role in place of the since departed Aram, is doing great and so is the new female member, Siya, who is a far preferable character than Lizzy Keen. 

But to wrap up this great show, it's great writing that takes precedence. Red knows he is dying and he is disassembling his mighty empire piece by piece, while at the same time, taking care of all the people who had worked for him. And that includes the FBI task force.

The only thorn in my side is that annoying politician who seems to be so hell bent on taking down the task force for no other reason than because the Attorney General won't fill him in on the secrecies of its mission. He has a driven mistrust of them and believes he is in the right. 

It's annoying, like I said, but I have no doubt that the great writers will pan it out to my satisfaction with the final two episodes that are left in this final season. And then, perhaps I can re-watch the entire series from the beginning, this time knowing that I don't have to be disappointed by the episodes that disappointed me before. Because I'll know it will all work out in the end. 

Oh, and before I forget, I still would like the final episode to reveal, once and for all, something we all must already know, that Red is the real father of Lizzy Keen. But even if they don't, I would like to thank James Spader for his contributions to a great show, a great role, and a great performance.

I'm No Reviewer

I may not be a reviewer, but that doesn't mean I don't have opinions of what I think is good writing and what isn't. And what I think is a good idea, and what isn't.

TV shows have been sinking in quality, imo, for the last several decades. I'm referring to the years since what I call the golden age of TV, which was the 60s. Back then, you had great TV shows. Bonanza, Gunsmoke, The Wild, Wild West, Lost in Space, Star Trek, and even The Time Machine. Of course, the list goes on and on. I can't even count the number of great shows from the 60s.

The TV shows back then were great ideas for shows. The characters were great, and the casting for the characters was spot on. I mean James Arness as Matt Dillon was spot on. Lorne Green as Ben Cartwright was spot on. Robert Conrad as James West was spot on. Guy Williams as Professor John Robinson was spot on. And William Shatner as Captain Kirk was spot on. Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock was spot on. It seemed that the 60s was the golden age of TV.

I might concede that TV was okay in the 70s, but I was not sitting in front of a TV during that decade. Unless it was a football game. And that continued through the 80s too. Of course had there been a show worth watching, I would like to think that I would have. Alas, to me, at least, there weren't. Not even the return of Star Trek, (as in TNG) made me interested again. I'll admit I gave it a chance. At first I thought the older captain of a larger starship with a larger crew made sense. But at about half way through season one, I realized this new version of Star Trek sucked.

To be clear, I still had a deep affection for Star Trek TOS. And I had high hopes for TNG version. But those hopes were dashed by the portrayal of a starship captain who was always second-guessing himself, and who always needed the counseling of a much younger woman who actually had a position on the bridge as part of the command crew... It was like....what?

Can you imagine a captain of a battleship in our modern navy having to consult with a younger man or woman sitting next to him before he made command decisions? I don't think so... And so I stopped watching Star Trek, TNG before season one even concluded. I was glad I did. As for the subsequent editions of Star Trek shows, I'll admit I watched them on and off, with mixed opinions.

Which brought me into the 90s. Those shows were a roller coaster ride of highs and lows. There was the Babylon 5 show which I thought was pretty good. I never got into Cheers or Seinfeld, or any of those sitcoms. I wasn't much of a sitcom type of person. I didn't even appreciate All in the Family from the 70s. I thought it sucked actually. Which is my overall opinion of all sitcoms.

And now, in the 21st century, things aren't much better for me, as my most watched TV remains football games. The NFL in particular, and even that has suffered with the kneeling protests and the racially motivated lawsuits and such. It's a distraction and a detriment, imo.

Football was always a place, for me, at least, where race did not matter. First of all, skin color to me never mattered. Not when I was a kid growing up, not when I was a teenager and not now as an adult. A man was a man no matter what color was his skin, or what country was his origin. And a woman was a woman, regardless of any ethnic background.

But in the 21st century, race seems to be the issue that is on everyone's mind. Most people anyway, since it's always in the news and in TV shows and in the movies. Race and LGBTQ issues. It seems like TV and the movies are force-feeding these issues down our throats. And I don't appreciate that. I don't need Hollywood preaching to me. I don't need anyone preaching to me. Never did.

So I write what I like. Meaning I write my own books, I write my own music, I create my own art and my own stories. I don't expect anyone to appreciate what I write, nor do I need them to. If they have an opinion, even a bad one, that's their right. But life is too short to care about petty things like that. It's like I said many times, it doesn't matter to me. I have better things to do. 

Black Sabbath - Sabbath Bloody Sabbath

 

Black Sabbath's fifth album was this one. Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, named after the lead song of the album. This album is the one that had been released at the time I had just become aware of the band. As a side note, it was the tour of this album which was my first Black Sabbath concert. I had just bought all of their albums and then found out they were performing in San Francisco. I went with the only friend of mine that also liked Black Sabbath, along with my girlfriend at the time, and my sister, who liked to go to rock concerts. My friend and I forced our way through the crowd to the front row, which at the time did not have that buffer zone in front of the stage. It was one of the best days of my life.

SABBATH BLOODY SABBATH

As for the cover design... Well, it's pretty cool artwork, no doubt about that. However, the scene in which we see some bedridden individual surrounded by what seems to be hallucinatory images of demons, suggesting he is being possessed or tormented by demonic forces lends itself to the false perception that the Sabbath members were some kind of devil worshippers or something. Even then I knew that was not the case. The band members were certainly NOT anything of the sort. I had noted on the song After Forever the lyrics made that clear. But a cover design like this certainly did not help to dismiss that narrative. In fact, Ozzy's father had forged four metal crosses to reinforce the opposite.

Sabbath Bloody Sabbath

So the lead off song is the same name as the album. Sabbath Bloody Sabbath has a cool heavy metal opening riff, and  is a solid song throughout. But for the first time, the band incorporated an acoustic segment not once but twice during this song. I thought at the time that the acoustic segment did not fit the song. It was a heavy metal song, and a good one, but with an acoustic segment in there? It didn't ruin the song, or make it any less good, but I just wasn't too sure about it. As time passed, I think it works fine. I was thinking at the time that they might have given in to critics who were saying their music was too heavy. But no. I think that they were just being creative. It's a great song and has a great ending riff that gets even heavier. So yes, it's a ten out of ten.

A National Acrobat

This second song is a winner. I had mentioned that the second song on their albums was always a real good one. And this one sure is. It starts with a great riff, and then Ozzy sings. Ozzy dubs another vocal track over his first one for a harmonic effect. Since they had no backup singers, Ozzy's voice is the only one and he has a double vocal track sounding throughout much of this song. The song breaks into a secondary riff at which point, the lead cuts in and then it concludes with a melancholy riff that breaks again into a heavy riff, and concludes with dazzling guitar work. A ten out of ten.

Fluff

Well, what can you say about a song called Fluff? Is it merely fluff? By that I mean is it a song put in there just to take up space? The title certainly suggests that. It's a nice acoustic guitar song. With several guitar overdubs to fill it out and even some piano. There are no vocals or drums. I'm not even sure there's a bass. It could be only Tony and no one else. If that's the case, it's a well done composition by Iommi, and a sure break from the heavy metal sound. Do I like it? Not necessarily. That doesn't mean it's not a good song. You have to be in the mood for a song like this. If you're in the mood for a heavy song, this ain't it. So my OPINION, is a five out of ten.

Sabbra Cadabra

This starts out with a great riff. It's distant at first, and then kicks in full throttle. It has a great beat, and Ozzy's singing sounds great. The lyrics are about having a great woman in your life, and that's okay with me. But I do have a problem with this song, because at 2:03 into the song, the great riffs stop and Ozzy sings the same thing over and over. To me, it was a super start, but the ending adds a synthesizer and some piano by Rick Wakeman. I don't know why they recruited him for this song. It was on track to be a ten out of ten, but to me it ends up being an eight out of ten.

Killing Yourself to Live

This is the lead off song for side two, and a side note is that it's the first-ever song I heard them play live. I had pointed out that this album's tour was my first Sabbath concert. My friend predicted that they would lead off their performance with this song and he was right. What makes it an interesting composition to me is that it has three movements like an abbreviated opera. It's a ten out of ten.

Who Are You?

I read somewhere this is a song written by Ozzy, and it's Ozzy playing a synthesizer, with a few dubbed-over tracks, with Bill on the drums, and I think Geezer is playing the bass. To my knowledge it's the first time Tony doesn't have an input on a song. I don't have a problem with that, but even so, I never really liked this song too much. That doesn't mean it's not a good song. I just don't hold it in such a high regard as I do most of their other songs. So for me, it's a five out of ten.

Looking for Today

This is a good rock song, but to me, it is not as good as their other songs. It's still a good song with good lyrics and a good beat. It's not a bad song by any means, it's just not one of my favorites. And once again, the band breaks into an acoustic segment, twice, like they did in the song Sabbath Bloody Sabbath. I never really liked that they did that. It doesn't ruin the songs. But I don't think it made them better, either. Still, it's an eight out of ten.

Spiral Architect

This is the concluding song of the album. and as such, it was important to the band to end the album with another great song. And they sure succeeded. This starts with an acoustic intro, but turns into yet another great Sabbath song. Yes, again, it has acoustic segments, like the other two songs, but this time with violins. Another important element of this song is the lyrics. Geezer Butler, who is the lyricist of the band, came up with some great lines. It's a great song. I don't think they needed the canned applause at the end, but whatever. It's a ten out of ten.

So in conclusion, another winner by Black Sabbath. I know my ratings make it seem like it's rated lower, if one were to average the ratings of all the songs. And one might conclude that it's not as good an album as their first three or four albums. It's all about opinion really. I have a sentimental attachment to this album, as I said, it's the album the band was touring when I saw them live for the fist time. So, I do like the album, and there is no doubting the quality of this album. It may not be as heavy as their prior albums. But it's still a Black Sabbath album, and heavy enough for Sab fans.

Black Sabbath - Master of Reality

Okay. This is the album. Meaning, this is the first Black Sabbath album I heard. And it was this album that blew me away. I rate this album as one of, if not THE greatest album of all time. No, that doesn't mean I rate it above their debut album which I already said will have no album ever rated higher. But THIS album....  How about if I say that this album is my personal favorite album of all time, and being that, it's my personal favorite Black Sabbath album. I mean, sheesh, an album can't get any better. It has a shorter running time than normal. One more song would have fixed that. But, hey. Ultimately, it doesn't matter. It's the best.

MASTER OF REALITY

I start by discussing the cover design. But for this album, it's more like what cover design? If there were to be any criticism of this album, it might be the cover design. When I heard my first Black Sabbath song, and rushed to the store to buy the album, I found this album and all it said was Black Sabbath as it's pictured above in purple letters. The album title, Master of Reality was NOT colored in gray as it appears here. It was pressed with raised letters, and was all black like the background. You could make it out, though, and it was pretty cool. I suppose pictures of this album or images like this one must use a color to enable the title of the album to be viewed. On a side note, this album came with a poster of the band included. Fortunately, I was not so removed from the release date of this album and a poster was still in there when I bought it as a back album. I had that poster on my wall for years. But that was years ago, and I have no clue what ever happened to it at this point in time.

Sweet Leaf

This is it. This great song was the first ever Black Sabbath song I had ever heard. The story goes like this: I was 17 years old. A friend of mine and I were parked in his car at some fast food place to get something to eat and he put on a cassette tape that he had made. It was a mix of several different songs by several different bands. So I was listening to the songs, as I liked the rock songs he had put on there; the usual rock songs of the time, as in Led Zeppelin, Humble Pie, Deep Purple, Allman Bros, Santana, Jethro Tull, Lynyrd Skynyrd, etc. But then - when one of those songs had finished, the sound of someone coughing followed, and it increased in volume until it became distorted. Then a heavy metal riff exploded and it was fantastic! It's important to note this was the first time I had ever heard the heavy metal sound, and I was blown away. It was like: Wow, what an incredibly great sound, and what an incredibly great song! Ozzy started singing, and I was sold. I told my friend, that this was fantastic..I asked who were these guys? He told me they were Black Sabbath and that he didn't even like them. I was like, you gotta be kidding! This is the greatest music I had ever heard. If I could give this song a higher rating, I would. So, yes, it's a ten out of ten and it will always hold a special place in my heart.

After Forever

When the Sweet Leaf song was over, I was still recovering from being blown away, when THIS song began. It started with a sound that was like a cross between an organ and a synthesizer, and it sounded GREAT. And  once again, the heavy metal power chords blasted away, and I was blown away all over again. Another ten out of ten. I told my friend that he must be crazy not to like these guys. I asked why did he put these two songs on his mix if he didn't like them? He said just to "mix it up" as it was a mix after all. These two songs were the only Black Sabbath songs he had on the tape, but they were hands down my favorite songs on the tape and Black Sabbath instantly became my favorite band.

Embryo

This is a short guitar intro to Children of the Grave. It really shouldn't be rated as it is not on the same level as the other full length songs. But the consensus is that the great song that follows would not be the same without this intro. Tony Iommi once said  that this song was influenced by some kind of English folk tune he had heard and played. So, okay, it's from his personal past, and he incorporated it as an intro. Kind of like when Geezer did that all-bass intro to NIB. I didn't rate that one. But I will rate this one. As an intro. And as an intro, it gets a ten out of ten. If any Geezer supporters have an issue, then, okay, Geezer's bass intro to NIB is also a ten out of ten. But this is not the only time Tony Iommi plays an all-guitar intro to a song. He does it again on side two of his album, and he does it again on a later album which I will discuss when we get to it.

Children of the Grave

Once the all-guitar intro fades out, the heavy metal sound begins. But it sounds like it being played from a distance. Then it gets louder and louder and faster and faster. Then it arrives and pounds away. A great iconic Black Sabbath song. A sure-fire ten out of ten. I think Sabbath has performed this song at every Black Sabbath concert I've been to. And I'm glad for that.

Orchid

This song has been described as a break from the heavy metal blasting. It's an all acoustic guitar song showing the world that Tony Iommi is not just a heavy metal guitarist. It's a great song unto itself, but it can also be described as another intro song. Even more interesting is that it's the lead off song for Side Two of the vinyl album. But, again, since these are CDs, there's no side 1 or side 2. It's now a soft break from the hard rock Heavy Metal. So as a break type of song, it's a ten out of ten.

Lord of This World

Once the acoustic sound of Orchid fades out, the blasting chords of Lord of This World begin, easy at first, and then they explode! And for a long time this song was my favorite Black Sabbath song. That's how great this song is. But now I don't know which one is my favorite, I love so many. Oh yeah, it's a ten out of ten. No doubt about that.

Solitude

This is a complete song unto itself, and it is indeed a soft song, a melancholy type of song, with Tony Iommi playing an acoustic guitar and a flute as well. I don't think there's even a drum track on this song. But it doesn't need one. It's a great song, like Planet Caravan was on the Paranoid alum and I might even say it's my favorite of the "soft" songs on the Sabbath albums. So, yeah, it's a ten out of ten.

Into the Void

Another fantastic song. When Solitude fades out, in comes the blasting sound of Into the Void. It has a great intro riff, and evolves into the main riff, and then the drums sound and then Ozzy starts singing. It's a great example of how these four guys came together in a perfect way to make musical history, and wraps up an incredibly great, and all time great heavy metal album. Ten out of ten.

So yes. That was a wrap. The song line up is tops. Too bad the debut album got "sullied" with that "top forty" type song, which wasn't even included at first. But whatever. This album, Master of Reality really does rank as one of the all time great albums in history. What an achievement. Black Sabbath explodes into the world with three all time great albums. That hasn't happened too often.

Black Sabbath - Paranoid

I will continue my honest review of every song on every studio album put out by my favorite band, Black Sabbath. Their second album release was the mega-hit album called Paranoid, named after what studio executives believed, (correctly,) would be the album's hit single. Again, this album was not the first or second album I had listened to. I had bought the back albums once I became aware of the band. Strangely, at the time, no one I knew liked Black Sabbath. Even the rock radio stations didn't like them and rarely, if ever, gave them air time. But to me, Black Sabbath was the best, and although somewhat bewildered as to why no one else but one friend of mine liked them, I was undeterred in my interest and desire to buy all their albums.

PARANOID

Like I did with their debut album, I will start with the cover. It's not as good of a cover design as their first album. But it does have some interesting backstory. I read somewhere that the original title of the album was going to be War Pigs, named after the first song on the album. Thus, the image of a warrior. But studio executives intervened, as I explained above, and renamed the album without bothering to redesign the cover. So the warrior image remained.

 War Pigs

Like I said, the lead off song of the album is War Pigs, and yes, it's a ten out of ten. It begins with a sound that residents of the UK had been all too familiar with not too many years before. Air raid sirens. Then a heavy metal power chord interrupts the sirens, and plods its way to the eventual voice of Ozzy singing about the pigs of war. Meaning those politicians who have no qualms about sending other people to die in a war. It's a long song, but a great one, and it never gets old. Black Sabbath's live performances often featured this song as the lead off song to their performance.

Paranoid

So the executives got their wish when they required Sabbath to come up with one more song, and it was this one. Iommi put a riff together which became this song. Geezer was the lyricist, and they had their biggest hit. To this day, Paranoid is the one song most people will recognize as the band's biggest hit. I like the song, to be sure, but I like other songs better. Nevertheless, it's a ten out of ten.

Planet Caravan

This is a song removed from the heavy metal sound. But it works for me. It's a soft song, and the vocals are sung through some kind of electronic device. But the distorted vocals work for this song, and I like it a lot. It is a ten out of ten. This is proof to anyone out there, that not all of their songs have to be heavy metal power chords to rate a ten.

Iron Man

A fan-favorite, and it was already recognized as a great song before the Marvel Comics movie came out featuring the song. It's a great riff, and a great song, and a ten out of ten.

Electric Funeral

A great song. It's a slower song, and it's a ten out of ten. I was glad Sabbath included it in their final tour. Ozzy can sing it just as well now as he did 50 years ago.

Hand of Doom

Another great song. It has a slow beginning with a bass guitar and quickens with a rock-hard, heavy metal segment and ends with the bass guitar. It seemed as though Sabbath could do no wrong. Every song was a great song from the start of their first album to this one. A ten out of ten.

Rat Salad

This song has some controversy. Some people don't like it. I love it. And I give it a ten out of ten. Why don't some other people? Well, it's an instrumental. No lyrics. And it features a drum solo by Bill Ward. So why is it controversial? Because Led Zeppelin included an instrumental featuring a drum solo on their second album So what, I say. Both songs are great.  

Fairies Wear Boots

Black Sabbath achieved absolute greatness with this song. In my opinion they had already achieved greatness, but this song is a masterpiece. And I don't label a song a masterpiece very often. Only two times had I called a rock song a masterpiece. And this song is one of the two. Sure there are other songs that qualify. And other songs I may concede are also masterpieces. But this song could well be the best song Sabbath ever wrote and performed. And I am very glad they performed it often during their tours. They knew what they had in this song. The song Paranoid may be their greatest hit single, but this song is their greatest song. If I could give it a higher rating I would. But alas, it's a ten out of ten.

So there you go. Every song is a great song and rates a ten out of ten. Does that mean it's a better album than their debut? No. I rate no album a higher rating than their debut album, nor will I call any album a greater album than their debut album. Don't forget, until someone decided to put that one song on their debut album that wasn't originally there, every song on that one was great also. But this review is about Paranoid, and the highest rating for Paranoid is deserved.

Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath

 

Since I'm finished posting my own music for now, I had said I wanted to post an honest review of every song from every studio album recorded by my favorite band, Black Sabbath. (Ozzy era, to be specific.) I had been a fan of this group since the first moment I heard their music. I was enthralled by the new "heavy metal" sound, as it came to be known. I had never heard that sound before. And I loved it. Keep in mind that before I heard my first Sabbath song, my favorite band was Led Zeppelin. And I had heard the argument that Led Zeppelin was the first heavy metal band. No. They weren't. But no need to further that argument, as, by now, the argument is settled. Black Sabbath invented the heavy metal sound, period. Not Led Zeppelin. And not anyone else. And certainly not The Beatles. Case closed.

So Black Sabbath reigns, unarguably, as the originator of the Heavy Metal sound, and they are my favorite band. But that doesn't mean I liked every Sabbath song. And it doesn't mean they could do anything with my stamp of approval. (Besides the point that they don't need it, they can't.)

So I will talk briefly about each and every song they wrote and recorded, one album at a time, in chronological order, excluding the live and greatest hits albums. So here we go:

BLACK SABBATH - Let's start with their debut album cover. I've heard it said in rock magazines and other related articles that this album cover is one of the best, if not THE best, album cover of all time. I agree. The lone figure of a woman in the woods with a mysterious house in the background is genius. And I must say it fits the name of the band perfectly. It's never been bettered.

Black Sabbath

Aside from the name of the first album being the name of the band, (a lot of bands did that,) Black Sabbath went one step further. They named the first song on their first album Black Sabbath, as well. And it's a great song. It starts with a rainfall, some thunder and a church bell. Then the first-ever heavy metal power chords explode and history is made. (As in heavy metal has arrived!) Then a softening of the chords allow Ozzy to sing the perfect lyrics to this perfect debut song. Then it has a great ending which features guitarist Tony Iommi showing the world he has arrived as one of the greatest rock guitarists of all time. (And the greatest heavy metal guitarist of all time.) The song rates 10 out of 10.

The Wizard

Song 2 on this album is another winner. It begins with Ozzy playing the harmonica. And then joined by the heavy metal power chords which together sounds magnificent. You might not have thought it would, but it does. The lyrics, again are perfect for this song, and it's another 10 out of 10.

Behind the Wall of Sleep

I love this song. And I loved it the first moment I heard it. It's simply another 10 out of 10 song. Side note: this debut album wasn't the first Black Sabbath album I had heard. I was a late-comer to the Black Sabbath experience. But once I had heard them, I was so into the music I went back and bought all the back albums. And this album exceeded all of my expectations.

NIB

Another 10 out of 10. This song probably got the most radio time, and it's understandable. It's another great song. It allows Iommi to really show his guitar greatness. And he does. Side note: I know I left out Basically. It's a short intro to NIB, featuring a bass guitar solo by Geezer Butler. But I don't really think it's a complete song unto itself. It is, like I said, a short intro to NIB.

Evil Woman

This song was not on the original release of this album. It's on later releases of the CD version of this album. I read somewhere it was on the original UK release. I hadn't heard it until I had switched my collection from vinyl records to CDs. And when you hear it, you can understand why it wasn't on the original release, (at least in America.) It's not a song that sounds like a Black Sabbath song. Yeah, that's Ozzy singing, and yeah that is Iommi on the guitar. But it sounds like a song written by a top 40 band that Sabbath just happens to be playing. I might have agreed at the time not to include it for that very reason. But listening to the song now? It's like: Why not? It's still Ozzy, Iommi, Butler and Ward. But I'm not giving it a ten out of ten just because it's Ozzy, Iommi, Geezer, and Ward. I said this was going to be an honest review. So, as for this song? I think a 6 out of 10 is about right.

A Bit of Finger/Sleeping Village/Warning

This is two, perhaps three, songs mixed into one long song, kind of like a jam, and I love it. Tony Iommi really shines here, and the band is on a roll. This absolutely rates a 10 out of 10. And that rating goes for the two (or three) songs that make up this "jam." I love listening to this. It starts out with Sleeping Village, a softer sound, considering the heavy metal sound they had established on side 1. Then it goes into a great jam with Iommi not holding back. And it evolves into Warning. which again features Iommi greatness. I presume A Bit of Finger references the guitar solos that are featured throughout this jam rather than an individual song unto itself. In fact, the CD version of this album doesn't even list it. On the CD, Sleeping Village and Warning are listed separately.

Wicked World

This was the song that was originally the lead off song for side 2 of this album. (With Warning being the concluding song.) Other releases of this album have Evil Woman inserted as the lead song of side 2. But since these are CDs now, there really isn't a lead song for a side 2 since there is no longer sides 1 and 2. So on the CDs, Wicked World is now the concluding song of the album. Sabbath typically concludes their albums with a great song. And this qualifies. Warning qualified, too, but whatever. It's a great song and I rate it a 10 out of 10. 

So there you go. I would say this is one of the greatest debut albums of all time. Which is saying a lot. Until they put Evil Woman in there, every song was a great song. So maybe it's too bad they put it in there. Doesn't matter. It was a great debut album by a new band that invented a new sound. A subgenre of rock: Heavy Metal had arrived.

Music? Books? TV? Movies?

 I am gradually moving on from the book phase of my life. I've been solidly in the music phase lately, as I had finally put vocals to the music I had written years ago. I have 120 songs now posted on SoundCloud, and I am finally working on my "long awaited" Volume 1 - Rockin' the First Steps album. (Long awaited by me, that is.) I have the songs rewritten now, or rearranged, as they say, and once I have rewritten the lyrics, I will begin the singing process again. And I have no shame in saying that it is the singing process that is the most difficult for me. And there's a good reason for that. I'm not a singer. So there you go.

But I refused to let that stop me. Since I don't know any singers, and my attempt to find a singer through Craig's List was unsuccessful, I sang all the songs myself. With some success I might add. That's not to say I became a singer. I'm not a singer, I say again. But at least I do hit the right notes, and I do stay in key. It's just that my voice is far from a nice pleasant singer's voice.

Singers are not always good singers. People said Bob Dylan couldn't sing well. But that didn't stop him. Neil Young resorted to an unpleasant falsetto voice, but it worked for him and his music. There are probably other examples, but usually singers do have nice voices, which is why they are singers.

As for me? I will only say that my voice, like Neil Young's and Bob Dylan's, works for me and my music. That doesn't mean it would work for Simon Cowell, or any of them. They would probably kick me off their shows during auditions. Whatever. I'm not trying to impress them or anyone else. It's as simple as this: I composed songs and I sang them. That's all there is to it.

Sure there are haters out there. I am bracing myself for the inevitable hater to comment or post a review with a serious trashing of me, my voice, or even my music. Hasn't happened yet, but it will. It happens to the best of people. Whatever the art. Books, Movies, Shows, and music. I remember years ago, when I first became a Black Sabbath fan, I read a review of their latest album. The reviewer was a hater, and trashed their latest album which at the time was Sabbath Bloody Sabbath.

This hater criticized the music, of course, but what I remember specifically was that he was calling Ozzy a horrible singer, and to this day I can remember he used the words, "paper-thin voice" in describing Ozzy's singing. I thought to myself even then that this guy was just another hater. I had been hearing haters all around me complaining that they hated Black Sabbath and their music.

It's funny because, to me, Black Sabbath's music was the very best of all music. That doesn't mean that every song they made was a great song. There are some Black Sabbath (and Ozzy) songs that I don't like. One day I will post an honest and sincere review of every single Black Sabbath song. (In the Ozzy era, I mean.) I think I have the right to do that, because no one knows their music better than I do. One day. Maybe soon.

Good Movie, Bad TV Shows

I saw the new Midway movie with my sons and it was pretty good. I know there have been a lot of movies about Pearl Harbor and such, but this time, the focus was on Midway. Yeah, they had the Pearl Harbor attack in there, and they had the Doolittle raid in there, and they had the Japanese perspective in there, which was great.

But the new deal this time was the depiction of the Battle of Midway. I know there's already a movie called Midway, in which Henry Fonda and other great actors of the past had starred. But the modern special effects really put this one over the top.

Seeing the dive bombers closing in on the Japanese aircraft carriers from the perspective of the pilots was quite a spectacle. Seeing all those anti aircraft rounds flying by, knowing that any moment one could strike was a harrowing experience. And the success the Americans had made the viewer understand why this battle was so important.



On the other hand, my one time favorite TV show, Blacklist continues to disappoint. I watch it anyway because of James Spader, and of course I'm hoping it will give me the same enjoyment it used to give me from watching it during the first three seasons. But for the fourth year in a row, now, I'm shaking my head in disgust.

In Season Four, I had to watch a one-time loyal ally of Red's turn against him. And even though Red ended up on top at the end of that season, it was a premise that was complete bullshit. Season Five was a throw-away season that carried over the same "suitcase of bones" premise from Season Four. And it sucked. Season Six was even worse. Because here we go again with Red's allies turning against him. This time it was  Lizzy herself. Again.


As I have already pointed out, Red had already saved Lizzy's life on multiple occasions, and saved the lives of her closest friends and coworkers, as well as saving their careers, and still there she goes vowing to "bring him down" and "destroy him."

Sheesh, talk about bullshit, that topped the bullshit of the prior seasons. But then at the end of the season, Lizzy was over all of that, and back on board with Red. But no. Now in the current season, Season Seven, there she goes again plotting against him because her mother is in the picture now opposing Red for who knows what reason. The writing seems to be trying to create a reason, but it makes no sense at all. She wants to know who's coming after her. She already knows. She wants to know why. But she already knows why. She wants to know what Red knows. But why? And what the heck does Red know anyway?

Lizzy's mom. I doubt she could break Halle Berry's
neck, let alone a Russian agent in his fighting prime.

It's all complete bullshit writing. To make matters worse, we have to watch a frail, sixty-year-old woman break the neck of a man in his fighting prime, a Russian agent, with her bare hands in a hand to hand fight. Really? Come on, this is more bullshit. I've blogged at length with my problem with that scenario.

And even though this woman has two FBI agents murdered, Lizzy once again chooses to oppose Red and side with her to "find out the truth" about Red.



What truth? Well, we've learned at this point that he's not really the man Lizzy thought he was: a former lover of her mother's, and this seems to be a thing Lizzy just can't get over. She just has to know who he really is.

So, The Blacklist show is pure crap at this point, but I might say there's something that might save it for me. That would be if they finally reveal somehow that Red really is Red, the real father of Lizzy. They had shown burn scars on his back once, which might suggest that this is the case. And if it is, then and only then might I return to liking this show again. But until then, it's a show that features bullshit. And that's too bad. But we'll see...

As far as the other bad TV shows, of which there are many, that will have to wait until later. This post is already long enough.

Rambo V - Great Movie

I have not been so enthralled with the Rambo franchise over the years. For me they didn't rate up there with The Transporter franchise or John Wick, but they were fun enough.

Actually, for me the John Wick franchise took a fall with the third chapter as I've blogged about.

As for Rambo V, I suspect it's the last and final episode for the Rambo franchise and it was a great one. I mean, finally we have men acting like men and women acting like women. And that is not to be mistaken as men are strong and women are weak. No. Women are strong too. But in real life they're not going around beating up and/or killing everyone. Not like in a Halle Berry fantasy, anyway.


No. In Rambo V, women are strong and determined individuals who, as adults, have their shit together, but as teenagers, they don't. (Kind of like in real life.) And that is the basis of this story. In Rambo V, you have an adult woman and a teenaged girl (her niece,) who live with Rambo, and the niece makes a choice that is not the right choice. Imagine that...


They're both strong women, but neither one of them go around beating up twenty men all at the same time. I mean they don't beat anyone up. And that was a refreshing twist in the Hollywood universe these days. I have grown very weary of watching women beating up and killing men left and right, at every turn, and sometimes as many as fifty men all at the same time.

So no. This movie was realistic. Gritty, and quite brutal. Because in the Rambo character, we have an ex special ops military man. He's trained to kill, and trained to survive. He's a veteran of wars and, of course, a veteran of the four  previous Rambo experiences to his credit.



And as an older man, the Rambo character still exudes toughness. He looked strong. Probably because of Stallone's workout ethic and yes even the steroids he doesn't lie about taking, unlike other Hollywood musclemen, (i.e. The Rock,) But whatever...

Rambo V Last Blood worked, and it was great. It was refreshing and I'll take it any day. And at this point I'll take it even over John Wick. At least over John Wick Chapter 3. No wanna be tough chicks in the Rambo franchise. Thank god.

Avengers Endgame -- Sucked

It sure seems like I'm hard to please. At least that's what one might think when reading my blog. But  whatever. I'm not going to say a movie is good when it's not. And even though Avengers Endgame made billions of dollars, it sucked. Big time.

So why did it make so much money? I've said it before...the goose-steppers. For those of you who don't know what that means, goose-steppers are the rabid fans who will like anything, or any movie, that has their favorite heroes in it.

Jack Kirby's rendition of the Scarlet Witch

Like Star Wars for instance. Disney bought Star Wars from George Lucas for four billion dollars, a price he couldn't refuse, I suppose, even though I heard he donated the money. But whatever. In selling his franchise to Disney, he surrendered what little integrity the franchise had left after its atrocious prequel trilogy.

Disney studios proceeded to destroy the legend of Star Wars. First by doing nothing more than rehashing the original story line, albeit with a female "Luke Skywalker" this time. And then by delivering prequels and sequels that totally sucked with boring scripts, tired plots, and bad casting. But the Star Wars die hard fans had been waiting so long for anything Star Wars, they ate it up. These are the "goose-steppers" and Disney made billions off of them.


The same thing was true for most Star Trek fans. So hungry for anything Star Trek, even the stupid movies and TV shows couldn't fail. The goose-steppers soaked it all up and still are. I said "most" fans because once upon a time I was a Star Trek fan. I thought the original series was terrific as did millions of other people. But the second series "Next Generation" was a total load of crap, and so were the ensuing movies...nothing but crap. I didn't buy it. I quit watching The Next Generation soon after it aired, and even though I admit to seeing the movies, I couldn't stand any of them. Therefore I am removed from the "goose-stepper" status.

The Scarlet Witch as drawn by Jack Kirby

But one might argue that since I paid for seeing the movies, doesn't that make me one of the goose-steppers? No. Because a fan will go to see a movie hoping it will be good. The goose-stepper will come out of that theater raving about how great the movie was, even if it sucked. Why? Well, because it was a "Star Trek" movie. Not me. I loved the original Star Trek. But after seeing the movies, I realized I wasted my time and money. So no. I'm not a goose-stepper.

I had been a Marvel superheroes fan since I was a kid and I can call myself an expert on the characters and the Marvel universe, at least so far as the Silver Age is concerned. I still have quite the collection to this day.

Elizabeth Olsen is NOT the Scarlet Witch

I have been critical of the casting and the story lines of most of the movies. Yeah, Robert Downey, Jr. is good as Tony Stark. Yeah, Chris Hemsworth is good as Thor. Jeremy Renner was fine as Hawkeye, and I didn't mind Benedict Cumberbatch as Dr. Strange. Chris Evans is a better Captain America than he was the Human Torch. But just about every other actor was horribly miscast.

That means from the first movies like the X-Men to the last one...Spider-man Far From Home this summer. They all have been miscast. And they ruined the characters, too. I remember seeing the first Conan movie. I was a Conan fan and I was thrilled they were making a movie. I saw it, and even during the movie I remember thinking to myself..."That isn't Conan."

But of course the goose-steppers were thrilled just to see a dude dressed up as Conan with a broadsword riding a horse. Never mind the dude had nothing else in common with the character created by Robert E. Howard. Never mind the story completely sucked.

Mila Kunis is the perfect Scarlet Witch

So it's the same thing with Avengers Endgame. The characters are all there. There's Captain America, ending up as an old man, passing the torch to a new Captain America. There's Thor, but with a pot belly and wasting his days playing video games. Yeah, that's right. A pot-bellied Thor doing nothing but playing video games all day. Everyday. I mean, um, that's supposed to be the "god of thunder" but yeah. He's a pot-bellied couch potato now. What was worse was the completely ridiculous story. The bad guy kills half of life in the universe, because... Well, there really was no reason. Balance, he said. What does that mean? The story, plot, and script sucked big time.

One last example before I go. The Scarlet Witch, as pictured above (drawn by the original artist Jack Kirby.) She used to be my favorite female superhero. But casting Elizabeth Olsen as the Scarlet Witch was a disaster. Especially when the PERFECT actress for the part was available and still in her prime.

Imagine that outfit in red-The Scarlet Witch!

Who could argue that MILA KUNIS isn't the PERFECT Scarlet Witch? No one that's who. It's because Mila Kunis is the perfect Jack Kirby drawing of the Scarlet Witch come to life. So why can't the movie people get something right when it's staring them in the face?

I can go on. My point is the actors and actresses are out there. They got Thor right and Iron Man right. But that's like two out of fifty or something. With a little more effort they could get them all right. And with a little more effort they could have great stories, too. I mean it really isn't that hard to figure out. If the movie people went with the stories written by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee during the Silver Age, all of these movies would have been a hundred times better.

Too bad the effort is lacking. But why bother? They're getting their billions. That's all that matters, right? To them, at least.

Game of Thrones - a joke

I had something to say about Game of Thrones for the first time last week, and now after watching the second to last episode, I was amazed at the joke of a show it is.

I had lamented about how the writers of the show had fallen in line with the female dominance premise which Hollywood has been promoting for the past twenty years. But that really hasn't been unexpected. With last night's episode, it has dropped to a new low.

It's all about the super Danny girl and her super dragon now. The show had established that Cersei's new "scorpion" arrows were very effective in killing dragons, as they had killed one with little effort already. But lining up these "scorpions" only along the front wall of her walled fortress was so stupid it was a joke. Did anyone ever notice that the dragon had wings and can fly? Did anyone care to realize that a flying dragon can fly at their walled city from any direction?

I mean anyone with half a brain would know to position those "scorpion" arrow shooters, not only on the front wall, but on the rear wall, and on the side walls, and throughout the city's interior. I mean, no one realized a dragon could fly directly down from a high point, thus evading the walled "scorpions" to breathe its fire? So the joke is how stupid the positioning of these scorpions was.

And by the way, since when does fire burn stone walls and stone towers? Since when does a fire cause stone walls to explode? It was like the dragon was shooting explosive tipped missiles out of its mouth. Well, it's all part of the joke, I guess.

This show was so poorly written, it was very surprising. And clearly, whenever a show is this stupid it's the fault of the writers. I haven't read the books, so I don't know if the original author wrote it this way. Whoever did, the goose-steppers will buy into it. But wait...not entirely. At least there's a TV critic out there who didn't buy it. You can read her article on USA Today here.

Blacklist Still Sucks - Worse Than Ever

When I mentioned in a previous post that The Blacklist was continuing its downward spiral, I didn't realize how right I was. I dared hope that the Aram resolution was going to be indicative that perhaps the show was coming back to its prior greatness.

But it was not to be. It seems the writers keep finding ways to make the show lousy. It started with the falling out of "Mr. Kaplan" and how "she" became an enemy of Red's after being a staunch ally. That ended badly, with the suicide of Kaplan, in her effort to destroy Red. Then you had Lizzy and her ridiculous antics to "destroy" Red, along with the help of Red's other daughter.

That was somewhat resolved, but only after Red was mere seconds away from being lethally injected. But still, Lizzy, like Aram, came around, unlike Mr. Kaplan.

And now we have yet another falling out. Now it's Dembe. I mean, come on.... If it's not one ally of Red's it's another. And Dembe was Red's most loyal ally of all. But, not anymore...

This is so tiring. I mean, it's been tiring for a long time. My god, don't these writers have any better ideas than to keep sowing discord among Red's allies time and time again? And now Dembe? For chistsake, no.... Not Dembe, but yes. Dembe. I mean he was only my favorite character, after Red in the entire show. His unyielding loyalty was awesome. Apparently it wasn't so unyielding after all.

And there's another thing. Finally we learn who James Spader's character really is. We've been slowly introduced to the idea that he's not the real Red Reddington. Okay, I was willing to go with that, as long as he was the real father of Lizzy. I mean the real biological father. But no, we don't even get that. Talk about a let down. That was the killer. The show sucks. Big time.

The only thing that could possibly had justified Red's apparent "obsession" with Lizzy is if he was her REAL father. But it turns out he's not. He's just the former lover of her mother. Never mind that she had an affair and a baby with another man. (the real Red Reddington.)  Never mind that she's leaving him because the Russians are out to get her. But this guy, some Russian contemporary of Lizzy's mother, decided to take the place of Red because.... Who knows why?

The show didn't explain that to my satisfaction. I think it was to keep Lizzy's mother safe. Say, what? How does him becoming Red keep her safe? Well they tried to explain that somehow, but it was impossible to explain, imo. It turned out to be just plain stupid.

So the guy promised he'd take care of Lizzy as if she were his own. Sorry...that doesn't work for me. "As if" just doesn't work. Look. I'm a father. I have two sons. I would go to the end of the world for them. Just like Red had been doing for Lizzy. But it would only work if she were his biological daughter. Not some baby your girlfriend had with another man. Nope. Nope. Nope.

Only a fool would do that. So what now? Hope that some additional episodes can fix this? There is another one or two on the way before the current season is over. Can they fix it? We'll see.

Blacklist Continues to Suck

Just when I thought Blacklist was going to emerge from its downward spiral, it flushed itself right back down the toilet. I had complained that at the start of this current season, (season six,) Lizzy had decided to turn against Red Reddington, and had sworn to destroy him. This after Red Reddington had saved her life, oh, about half a dozen times, and the lives of most or even all of her friends in the FBI.

So it was like, huh? A man saves your life, multiple times, and now you want to destroy him because he may not be the same man you thought he was. Why don't you just ask the dude? No, it's more like let's destroy him instead.

But as the season progressed, Lizzy decides that maybe she doesn't want to destroy him. And this after she quite nearly did. Seconds from being lethally injected, Harold, the FBI Deputy Director comes through and gets the president of the U.S. to call and stop the execution.

Okay, and Lizzy is back on board with Reddington. But wait. Now, Red Reddington saves, once again the lives of Lizzy's fellow FBI members, this time Aram and Samar. But to do that, Red had to abide by Samar's wish to leave everyone behind so as to "hide" from the assassins trying to kill her. But wait, because Red had a hand in helping Samar "disappear off the grid," now Aram hates Red and HE wants to destroy him. Never mind that he's the one keeping Samar alive.

Come on...this is getting beyond ridiculous. I mean, the guy can't understand that Red is only doing what Samar wanted, which was to get away for her safety and to protect everyone from harm? And now he can only harbor a hatred for Red for "taking her away from me..."? This is so dumb, it's like the guy has the IQ of a five year old! Is the idiot still in kindergarten?

Nope. It's dumb. Too dumb and I can't stand dumb. Can't anyone write some smart episodes with some smart plots for Blacklist please? Let me know when they do, and stop regurgitating the stupid story lines that I've grown tired of long ago.

Aquaman Movie Not Bad

So I saw the Aquaman movie with my two sons, and it wasn't bad. It was pretty good, actually. As for Amber Heard? Not so impressive. Her acting I mean. And this is a disappointment to me because I had been waiting for some time for Amber to play a major role in a major movie. And now that it has finally happened, my fears have been realized. First of all, Amber makes a bad redhead. Some actresses can change their hair color without losing a step. Scarlet Johanssen is one of those. She can be a blonde, a brunette, or a redhead, and for her, it works. Not so with Amber Heard. She's a blonde, and as a blonde, she is very beautiful, as I've mentioned often on this blog.

But as a redhead, (see above,) Amber Heard does not make it. Maybe acting has everything to do with it. And as I've mentioned, Amber is not very talented in that regard. And I'm disappointed because I had envisioned her as the lead female role in my book Killer of Killers if it were to ever make the big screen. The lead female character in that book is a blonde. And as a blonde, there is no other actress I can think of who can top Amber in looks. But being an actress is dependent on more than just looks. You have to be able to act. And she doesn't have the acting skills to pull it off.

In Aquaman, for example, she delivers her lines with no passion, no sense of urgency, and no base skill. It makes you wonder if she ever took acting lessons. But whatever, she didn't ruin the movie Aquaman. And that could be because the lead female role was actually played by Nicole Kidman, who has never been questioned about her acting skills. She's a veteran actress with a long resume. And she delivers in Aquaman as the mother of Aquaman. She worked well. And yes, she is getting on in years, and it shows, but, hey, she's the mother of Aquaman, who's a fully grown man, and that means she's playing the part of a middle-aged woman, and she was right for the role.

But Amber Heard is not right for any role. And that is because she is not a good actress. That doesn't mean she can't become a good actress. Her role in Aquaman is her first major role in a movie as far as I know. I mean other than some B movies like I've mentioned before. So like anything, with time and practice, anyone can get better at whatever it is they aspire to do. The only problem is time. For women in the movie business, and for men too, btw, time is not an ally. It's an ally when you consider that with time you get better at something. But on the other side of the coin, time takes away the very essence of what being a movie star begins with. Looks. It's that way for everyone.

So the movie Aquaman works well enough to suit me. Even with Amber Heard. Heck, get her some more roles in some other major movies, and maybe she can end up being a good actress. Maybe even good enough to play Samantha Jones. But time will be the ultimate judge of that one.

TV's Male Heroes Nothing But Wimps

So, I've complained about Arrow...where the hero saves peoples' lives but after doing so, those same people hate him and put him in jail or want to kill him. And indeed the hero goes to jail for the crime of saving lives. And he goes willingly. For those same people who hated him.

We saw Flash go to jail for the frame job put on him by the villain The Thinker. And I had complained about the "hero" Red Reddington who saved Lizzy's life multiple times, (and the lives of most of her friends also, btw) only for her to then hate him and put in motion a plan to "destroy" him.

Now, I'm watching this new show Iron Fist, and guess what. He turns out to be a wimp. He had already said that possessing the "iron fist" was so important to him like it was part of him. But now he no longer wants it. Say what? Yeah, he says he doesn't have the strength of will to possess it without it "consuming" him. So who does he want to have the iron fist? Who is it that's strong enough to possess it? Well, his girlfriend, of course.

I mean what the heck. So why do I want to watch a show about a "hero" who doesn't want to wield the power to be a hero because he believes he isn't strong enough? He's a cowardly wimp. Why do I want to watch a cowardly wimp? I don't. It seems only the girl is strong enough and brave enough to wield the power.  Likewise, why do I want to watch a show about a chump who goes to jail? I don't. Why do I want to watch a show about a chump where everyone he saves hates him and wants to destroy him? I don't.

So yeah, in the show Iron Fist the woman is now the iron fist because the man is not strong enough or confident enough to hold the power. This is bullshit. What is going on with Hollywood? The men who are supposed to be the heroes are instead wimps and cowards. They are weak and they are chumps. They go to jail for saving lives and saving entire cities. Like the Green Arrow. And who was it that put him in jail? A woman, of course. Who is it that wants to destroy Red Reddington? A woman, of course. And who is it that's strong enough to hold the power of the iron fist when the man who had it wimps out? A woman, of course.

This is an extension of the cartoon shows. Most if not all the cartoon shows for the last twenty years feature male characters that are stupid beyond belief. In addition to that, they are cowards and degenerates. Whereas the female characters are the smart ones, the brave ones, and the ones who have all the answers. It's like Hollywood is trying to brainwash America's kids to believe that if you are a boy, you are stupid, weak, and a coward. On top of that you are also a degenerate and a detriment to society. If you are a girl, then you are smart, strong, and determined, even more so than men. And it's like that in most of these shows, like I said, for the last twenty years.

I don't get it because that's not the reality. Look, I know women can be as smart and as strong as men, generally speaking. But this Hollywood nonsense is just going too far. It's the same thing over and over again with every show, seemingly. It's nauseating. I don't buy it. It makes me very glad I created my own hero: Trent Smith, the world's greatest martial artist. He's featured in two of my books, Killer of Killers and Killer Eyes. No one can match him in a fight, male OR female.

No Woman would last one second against Brock Lesnar

One point I want to make clear. As strong as women can be, there is no woman in the world who would be able to last more than five seconds in a ring against the best male fighters. Take Brock Lesnar as an example. No woman in the world would last one second in a ring against him. And I don't mean this to be an insult to women. I know they are strong and many women are trained to fight. But against a man with equal training? It wouldn't be a contest. Not even close.

So all this crap about how men are weak and cowardly and don't possess strength of will, like we've been seeing in Iron Fist, Arrow, and even the current Star Trek and Star Wars franchises is just that. Crap. It makes me want to go back and continue my Trent Smith series. I think I will.

Arrow - Getting tedious and tiresome

When I decided to watch some of these DC comics TV shows, (without ever being a DC comics fan, that is) I decided to give Arrow a try. That was a few  years ago, and I like the show. Stephen Amell was a great actor for the main character who becomes the Green Arrow, and the show was gritty, filled with action and quite dramatic. I started watching The Flash soon thereafter and felt the same charm I felt from Arrow, but I still liked Arrow better. It seemed more serious.

But this season the shows have reversed. Now it's the Flash that's better written. And I'll tell you why. Mostly it's because the story lines in Arrow have become tedious and tiresome. Arrow had accrued a team of fellow crime fighters by this the seventh season. And after several years of fighting crime together, saving one another's lives in the process, the team has quit on the Green Arrow. This is something I can't buy into. Why? For the reason they left. That's why. The team of three disgruntled members are acting all butt-hurt because Felicity, (Arrow's wife) had tracked them on her computer for the reason that one of them was going to betray Arrow to the FBI.

And it turned out to be true. One of them was. But all three of them quit the team because now they say they can't trust the Green Arrow. This is a load of crap. I mean, when you've been fighting wars as a team for years, saving lives and each others' lives for that long, you don't let a simple "tracking" for the reason explained split you up. But it did and it's bullshit.

And then Arrow's best friend and closest ally quits because he too is all butt-hurt because the Green Arrow won't let HIM be the Green Arrow. Say what? Well, yeah, that is exactly it. I mean is this guy still in kindergarten? John Diggle was his first partner in fighting crime and most loyal, except, um, he's not so loyal as it turned out.

I mean it's all so petty. And ridiculous. If the writers wanted the Green Arrow to go solo again, they should have written the stories a lot better than that. So yeah, they suck now. A shame, really, as I did like the show before this latest season.

As for Flash? Like I said in an earlier post, it's been pretty dark lately. Gritty and serious drama here. This latest villain is a little whacked. His goal is to "enlighten" humanity, he says. But by killing dozens of innocent people in the process? I mean, there's something wrong with that picture. It's like you want to save the world by killing people. Um, that doesn't really work. Reminds me of the stupid plot in the latest Avengers movie. The bad guy wants to save the universe by killing half of it. Pretty stupid plot if you ask me.

But back to the Flash, we've seen the demise of some good characters. I liked the Elongated Man. But he was killed recently. I hope they can bring him back somehow, like they did in Arrow so many times. I didn't really like it in Arrow when they did that. I mean Arrow brought Black Canary back to life, and he brought back his sister from the dead as well, and it was getting to be too much.

But if they can bring back Elongated Man somehow, that would be okay with me. In the meantime, I am enjoying Flash more than Arrow this latest season. Will it end up that way? I'm almost through with the full season of both shows. We'll see when I'm finished.

Flash Show Turns Dark

I'm watching the fourth Flash season now, along with the fifth Arrow season. I don't bother with Supergirl or Legends of Tomorrow. I've never been a DC fan. But I have to say the Flash show taking a dark turn makes it an intriguing show to watch.

What I appreciate mostly is that The Flash show not a goofy show like the Marvel movies have become. The Marvel movies and their characters are worse for that goofiness. But the DC shows have not followed suit, to their credit. Flash, particularly, has evolved into quite the dark show. Meaning the events are grim and even scary. It reminds me of the darker Twilight Zone episodes or Outer Limits episodes of some years ago.

It's not really new either. From the beginning the Flash TV show has had some dark episodes. From the Reverse Flash villain, to the Doom villain, to the Savitar villain. The fact that all of these villains were speedsters like the Flash was redundant, and lacked imagination, but the story lines were dark, and not goofy. Which was refreshing. Facing speedsters all the time is along the lines of the kind of villain a hero like Flash should fight. But season after season, especially the first three seasons, made for some questionable storytelling.

In season four we don't see another speedster except for a brief reappearance of Reverse Flash in the crossovers of episode eight. Which is a good thing. And speaking of that crossover thing, fighting Nazis? Sheesh... Talk about recurring villains. We've seen Nazis and Neo-Nazis as villains more times than I can count over the history of Hollywood. But at least the shows weren't goofy. Well, wait a minute. The fact that all the Nazis were shooting blanks from their machineguns was goofy. It was downright comedic. The Nazis were shooting literally thousands of rounds over the four episode crossover and only once did they hit a target....an old man...and it was comical.

But I digress. We see an even darker villain emerge in season four of Flash. A professor with an artificially enhanced IQ. But he also has ALS. Because he's becoming paralyzed, he takes over a younger dude's body. Meaning he transfers his mind into the body of a much younger and healthier man. Which all in all was pretty scary. I'm not into horror, but the darker stories are preferable to the goofy slapstick comedies Marvel's been putting out recently.

My only complaint is why is this "professor" guy so evil? I mean when you wish ill will on others for no reason, that's an evil thing. And this guy is doing that. Killing innocents for no reason? I mean, where is the guy going with this? What are his reasons? He's supposed to be a teacher. And his mind is supposed to be so smart with his enhanced IQ. Whatever. I suppose the show will answer all the questions when it pans out. I'm only on episode nine, so we'll see. I hope.

My point is serious drama beats dumb comedies any day. That's not to say all comedies are dumb. Inspector Clouseau was great. But superheroes, as Inspector Clouseaus, are not great. They're only dumb. And to me, at least, dumb is not funny. And far from great.

Mission Impossible Fallout - Action Packed

Mission Impossible Fallout Poster

Talk about never a boring moment. The new Mission Impossible movie, Fallout, was action packed. And I enjoyed every minute of it. I like action movies, as I'm a writer of action novels, especially my two Killer books, and I'll say Fallout never failed to impress.

Tom Cruise is getting up there in years, but he still pulled off a series of stunts that would make a man in his prime proud. I heard during the course of production he had broken an ankle on one of those stunts and it reminded me of Robert Conrad of Wild Wild West fame. Conrad had insisted on doing his own stunts until the inevitable day came when he got hurt.

So I don't blame actors for using stunt men as fill-ins for the more dangerous scenes. I'm guessing Tom Cruise learned his lesson. But the scenes were seamless and the movie top notch. I have one critique, or one complaint--SPOILER--and it is this: Henry Cavill of Superman fame does not make a good bad guy. Meaning he's not convincing as a bad guy. Meaning, when you see Henry Cavill, you see Superman, the ultimate good guy.

Henry Cavill in MI: Fallout

I'm not suggesting Cavill is typecast as Superman, but I am suggesting Cavill is typecast as a good guy. And that's not a bad thing. After all, in every Tom Cruise movie, Cruise is a good guy. There are other actors like that. Jason Statham, Vin Diesel, and Ben Affleck are good guys in every movie they've been in. Same with Christopher Reeve, the other Superman actor. The list goes on and on. So making Cavill a bad guy in Fallout didn't work for me. But it didn't ruin the movie. The only thing that might have ruined the movie was Cavill's mustache. (Cavill with a mustache? Please, no.)

Another reason I hated seeing Cavill as a bad guy is the fact that if my book, John Dunn; Heart of a Zulu were ever to make it to the big screen, Cavill is my first choice to play the lead role of John Dunn, the white chief of Zululand. I had posted comparable photos of the real Dunn and Cavill, each with a beard, and they are strikingly similar in appearance. Apparently Cavill sports a full  beard much better than a lone mustache. Even if its accompanied with some stubble as shown to the left

But whatever. I don't know if Cruise as the years remaining to make more MI movies. This was, what, the sixth or seventh? That's a pretty successful run of a franchise right there. I suppose he might make one more. Maybe two. And I'm betting they'll both be good.