Movie 8 of the fiftyfiftyme challenge - Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop
The first Documentary of the challenge. This was incredibly interesting to watch. It’s odd to see Conan O’Brien almost completely unfiltered. It’s also pretty clear that this shows how angry he was at being pushed out by NBC while being excited to do something new.
When I first started watching the movie all I could think was how much of an asshole this portrays Conan. But when I remembered this was filmed almost right after he was sent packing from the Tonight Show I realized he has every right to be angry.
Anyone who is a Conan fan needs to watch this movie. It does a great job of showing how hard he pushes himself to entertain his fans.
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Book 9 of the fiftyfiftyme Challenge: All Hail Megatron Vol 1
This book is a litte confusing as it plays off of and reboots some continuity for the comics. If you can let that slide then it’s a super fun read. I especially liked the addition of General Hawk as a supporting character. He’s of course not the General Hawk we know, but it put a smile on my face.
The book is interesting because it tries to delve into the minds of a superior force as it has conquered everything. As we know the Decepticons don’t like to just sit around. There’s lots of questioning on Megatron’s authority. It’s also interesting to see more of the Starscream/Megatron interaction.
Something else that is super interesting to read is the Autobots as a bunch of PTSD Vets of a war they just lost. they’re at an all time low. They have no leadership at the moment and Optimus Prime is essentially on his death bed. Not too mention they’re stranded on Cybertron with no way back into the fight.
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Book 8 of the fiftyfiftyme Challenge: The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo
The first prose novel in the challenge! I actually started reading this when I started the challenge, possibly even right before. That should give you an indicator of how long it takes me to read a prose book. I started the second one and then put it down. I’m part way through the first Discworld book so I’m working on that next.
This book though is pretty amazing. I’m a big fan of the darker Crime Fiction and this is certainly Dark. I’ve seen the Swedish film and I hope to see the American one soon. But this book includes so much more that really adds value to the overall story. Unlike V for Vendetta where I thought the movie did a great job of boiling everything down (and honestly I think you could get away with only watching the movie) you get a lot more reading this book on top of watching one of the movies as well.
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Book 7 of the fiftyfiftyme Challenge: Flash: Road to Flashpoint
This book was a little disappointing. Nothing really seems to tie it to Flashpoint. I really enjoyed the first arc of this Flash series, but the second half was kind of boring. Well other than the Reverse Flash one-shot where he goes through and changes moments in his life. That was awesome.
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Movie 7 of the fiftyfiftyme challenge - The Chaser
Holy crap was this movie good. I’ve found that while some Korean films may get a 3 or 4 star rating on Netflix it’s almost never a true indicator as to how good the film really is. The most interesting thing about The Chaser is that the description makes it sound like a “who done it.” This is very much not a “who done it” film. It’s more of a race against the clock kind of film. We know who has done it, hell he’s in custody within the first 20-30 of the film. But we don’t know where the missing girl is.
It’s also interesting because the main character who is racing to find her is an ex-detective turned pimp. I would assume any other pimp would have cut his losses and moved on. This guy goes after his goal with everything he’s got. There are also some pretty brutal fights scenes in this movie. I know no one can take that much punishment, but when you see two guys rolling on the floor hitting each other with everything they got, you tend to believe it more.
Anyone who likes dark, gritty, crime movies should check this out. It’s streaming on Netflix so it’s easily accessible.
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Book 6 of the fiftyfiftyme Challenge: V for Vendetta
I’ve picked up and put down this book a few times over the last 9 Months. I finally set out to finish it. Even at 250+ pages you would think it was twice as long. I know Alan Moore threw one of his standard Hissy Fits when this was made into a movie, but I would argue the movie boils down the book to its essentials. There’s still a bunch of this story I wasn’t sure why it existed.
Now while I think it was longer than it needed to be, I do think in general it was a good story. I also enjoyed the art quite a bit as well. Even if you have seen the movie, I would still recommend reading V for Vendetta. While I found some other parts of the story boring, there were others that were rather interesting.
While I wouldn’t say that V for Vendetta is in my top 10 must reads of all time. I would recommend it to my friends who are looking for something more out of their comics.
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Movie 6 of the fiftyfiftyme challenge - The Fighter
This was a good movie. Great acting by Bale in this. I think it’s amazing that it’s as goos as it is since this movie seemed to go through pre-production hell with casting, director, and script issues. I guess the one good thing is that when that usually happens to a movie it comes out a hot mess afterwards. Where as The Fighter is still a great movie. It was a little heart wrenching when you find out what the documentary on Dicky is really about.
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Movie 5 of the fiftyfiftyme challenge - Take Me Home Tonight
Solid 3 stars. I really liked Topher Grace and Anna Farris. For whatever reason this movie didn’t really click as well as I hoped. It’s not bad, but it’s kind of middle of the road kind of rom/com. Like I said, 3 Stars. Athough it has a couple amazing scenes in it involving the “sidekick.” You’ll know them when you see them. One takes place in a bathroom of a party. It’s hilarious.
Also a complete misuse of Michael Biehn. One things for sure, him as the Dad who’s a cop reminded me how he should have been doing an action film every other year.
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Book 5 of the fiftyfiftyme Challenge: Star Wars: The Old Republic
I read this on Dark Horse’s app. It was two stories that are preludes to the new MMO. Both were pretty good setup. Nothing mind blowing by any means. although it was kind of crazy to find out that one of the Jedi Masters on the council may be Darth Revan’s kid. You know the main Character from Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic. The first Bioware foray into Star Wars. I wonder if that will be addressed in the game…
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Movie 4 of the fiftyfiftyme challenge - The Amateurs
Jeff Bridges seems like he can do no wrong. This move was great and had a fantastic supporting cast. There’s a great moment where Bridges talkes about Tryers and Doers. How his whole life he’s been trying to get something done and not just doing it. How this is his first time that he’s going to do something.
Overall there are a lot of great scenes in this movie I wasn’t expecting from it. Also how can you go wrong with a comedy about some people from a small town deciding to make a Porno?
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