Tin Man (Miniseries)

DG is a waitress from a small town in Kansas. She lives with her parents. She tries hard, but she has trouble fitting in. She listens to her parents fantastic stories about another land. A freak storm blows up a tornado and events lead to DG and her mom and dad being separated in a strange land called the ‘Outer Zone’ or the OZ. DG recognizes the land from her father’s stories. DG must find her parents during her search she finds she has much more to do.

I overlooked this Syfy Miniseries when it came out because I thought it would be just another Wizard of OZ remake trying to upstage the original. What I have found is that this is its own movie. The story line is roughly based on the original Wizard of OZ but is very different and quite fun. It might not be the greatest movie for very small children but many of us big children really liked it.

Available On: Tv.com, Amazon, Netflix

Cast: Zooey Deschanel, Alan Cumming, Neal McDonough, Raoul Trujillo, Kathleen Robertson, Richard Dreyfuss

Magic Beyond Words, The J.K. Rowling Story

I finished this movie and turned to my spouse and said, “You should watch this movie!” I really enjoy the Harry Potter books and films and it does my heart good to see someone who had a rough go early on succeed. J.K. Rowling has gone beyond succeeding…you might even say her carreer has been magical. I wish I could thank her for the many pleasant hours spent with her works.

I don’t really know what J. K. Rowling’s life was like apart from what has been written and in video I have seen. If her life was like depicted in this film she is beyond extraordinary. This film is well done and though there are sad parts you can count on a happy ending.

Cast includes: Poppy Montgomery, Emily Holmes, Janet Kidder, Paul McGillion, Antonio Cupo

Available on: Netflix, Amazon

Counting Cars

This is a show for people who like nice cars, trucks, and motorcycles. Especially if you like seeing old vehicles resurrected and restored to better than new. This showcases the skill of the folks at Counting Cars in Las Vegas, NV. following their projects to a shiny, mechanically perfect completion and the problems they face getting projects finished. The show is also about the people involved as far as what they do and how they get along.

As with most of these type of shows the drama between people is often obviously planned, and usually overplayed. That is a turn off but putting up with that soap opera BS(means ‘bad stuff’ kids) is the price to pay for the wonderful vehicular art presented. I enjoy this show a lot.

Cast includes: Danny Koker aka. The Count,

Available on: Amazon, Netflix

American Pickers

Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz travel all over America in their Mercedes Sprinter van looking for people with cool stuff they can look threw and pick out and purchase items they can sell and make money on. In the beginning they are based in Le Claire, Iowa at a shop called Antique Archeology, and later at a second location in Nashville, Tennessee. Frank Fritz has his own place in Savanna, Illinois called Frank Fritz Finds. In later episodes they switch to a Ford Transit van.

It is fun to watch these folks digging through stuff and coming up with treasures. A lot of the stuff looks like junk but I get surprised when they say what the value actually is. Maybe my spouse will let me collect more junk now! Maybe if I get her off of ‘Hoarders‘ first…hmmm…

Cast includes: Mike Wolfe, Frank Fritz, Danielle Colby-Cushman, Lauren Wray, Robbie Wolfe, Dave Ohrt

Available on: Amazon, Yidio, Google Play, Netflix

American Restoration (TV Series)

From the History Channel.

American Restoration is the daily operation of Rick’s Restorations in Los Vegas, Nevada. Rick’s Restorations restores all manner of antiques and collectibles. The variety of items that come through the shop is amazing. The techniques used to restore items is both entertaining and informative. There are even short ‘how to’ segments done by Rick explaining the best methods to use to accomplish desired results.

American Restoration, Counting Cars, Pawn Stars, and American Pickers are all offered by the History channel and cast members often have cameos on other shows. I can’t stand an excess of profanity and unrealistic emotional outbursts in reality shows and this show has achieved a balance of those that allows me to enjoy the program. I enjoy this show.

Cast Includes: Rick Dale, Tyler Dale, Kowboy, Brettly Otterman, Kyle Astorga, Ted Hague, Ron Dale, Kelly Mayer, Rick Harrison, Austin ‘Chumlee’ Russell, Danny Koker, Corey Harrison, Bob Yuhas, Chris Matthews, Horny Mike, Niko, 

Available on: Amazon, Google Play, Yidio, Netflix

The Host

Alien body snatchers called Souls invade Earth possessing nearly all humans. A few humans are able to resist and even fight back. One Soul possesses a young woman named Melanie Stryder and meets strong resistance. Over time the relationship between Melanie and the Soul, that calls itself Wanderer, possessing her becomes cooperative and even friendly. As Wanderer learns more about humanity it’s attitude changes.

This movie is based on a book by Stephanie Meyer who also wrote the Twilight series. The movie is done really well. I have not yet read the book so I cannot say how well the movie follows it. I suspect not everyone will be happy with the alien body snatchers being referred to as Souls. The vehicles with chrome-like exteriors were kinda cool. There are some great sports cars in the movie especially the Lotus. I also like the Unimogs. I enjoyed this movie.

Cast includes: Saoirse Ronan, Max Irons, Jake Abel, Frances Fisher, Chandler Canterbury, Diane Kruger. William Hurt, Boyd Holbrook, Scott Lawrence, Shawn Carter Peterson, Lee Hardee, Phil Austin, Raeden Greer, J.D. Evermore, Emily Browning, Mustafa Harris, Bokeem Woodbine, Alex Russell, David Lichtenstein

Available on: Google Play, Amazon, YouTube

Crossing Jordan (TV Series)

Jordan Cavanaugh is the only child of a widowed and retired ex-cop. She is a forensic pathologist who can’t help getting involved in the cases of the deceased victims she sees in front of her everyday. She is a rule breaker when it is necessary, and is very direct when dealing with people. Dr. Jordan works in the Boston morgue with a crew of unique individuals who are all great at what they do.

I don’t have the foggiest idea how I missed this show when it first aired. Crossing Jordan is a forensic procedural drama. It is well acted, and well written. It is fun to watch.

Cast includes: Jill Hennessy, Miguel Ferrer, Ravi Kapoor, Kathryn Hahn, Steve Valentine, Jerry O’Connell

Available on: Netflix, TV.com, TV Muse

Crazy Taxi City Rush – App Review

Crazy Taxi is a mission based application published by Sega. It’s really a fun game that keeps you coming back, The game allows you to choose your driver, buy the taxi that you want, upgrade your taxi, and add decorations to get more cash. The major enjoyable part is that the game has multiple maps, and it allows you to beat your previous scores. I also enjoy the fact that the whole thing seems to have a story line.

This app is available on: Itunes and Google Play

Foyle’s War

Christpher Foyle(Michael Kitchen) is a Detective Chief Superintendant in Hastings, Sussex, England during World War Two. As such he fights against crime that frequently takes advantage of the war-time condition such as pilfering, the black market, profiteering and murder. Foyle is assisted by Detective Sergeant Paul Milner(Anthony Howell) and a driver named Samantha Stuart(Honeysuckle Weeks).

I really enjoy Foyle’s War. It must be quite a challenge to make films about the past when it comes to sets, props, wardrobe and slang used at the time(or banter for you Monty Python fans). I am impressed by the job these folks have done making season after season always maintaining a high level of attention to details even when it comes to the background of shots, especially when shooting outdoors. That is representative of the overall quality of Foyle’s War.

The Official Foyle’s War Fan Site

Cast includes: Michael Kitchen, Honeysuckle Weeks, Anthony Howell

Available on: Hulu Plus, Google Play, Yidio, Netflix

Caprica

Caprica is about two families on the planet Caprica the Greystones and the Adamas. Both families are among those devastated by a terrorist attack. Each family responds to the attack in their own way. The attack is found to be the work of a small group advocating the worship of one God over the worship of many Gods which is the norm on Caprica.

With major advances in virtual reality Daniel Graystone decides to attempt to build an VR avatar of his daughter and offers the same to Joseph Adama but the one God group has different ideas for the VR technology. Greystone’s company is working on battle robots for the Caprican government and in an attempt to bring his daughter into the real world he attempts to install the avatar of his daughter into his prototype.  Here ends the spoilers!

Caprica is a 2010 spin-off prequel of the Battlestar Galactica series. It is set about 50 years before the Battlestar Galactica timeline. The show has a very complicated storyline but it holds together well. Effects are good enough but not amazing. There is some decent action but a lot of dialogue getting to it but a complicated storyline requires a lot of plot and character development. Caprica did and does offer the science fiction fan a few new ideas and that is rare. This is a really good show.

Cast includes: Eric Stoltz, Esai Morales, Paula Malcomson, Alessandra Torresani, Magda Apanowicz, Sasha Roiz, Brian Markinson, Polly Walker

Available on: Google Play, Amazon, Netflix