Movie: The Blindside

Sandra Bullock does an amazing job in any role she does, and she can do a whole ton of different kinds of roles. This is one of my all time favorite movies, and no it's not because I'm from Baltimore, Maryland and the story is based on one of the Raven players!

The Raven player, Michael Oher, had an interesting high school experience. One that lead him to be with a family that loves and cares for him over being an orphan wondering from home to home.

The movie starts with Michael living with a friend's family and they are on a trip to a catholic school where the father of the friend was trying to get his son recruited. In doing this he also managed to get "Big Mike" recruited to the school too because of the athletics coach.

During a school play, Leigh Anne (Sandra Bullock) and her husband were going home when they saw Michael walking back towards the school. So she asks why he's going back to the school and he says because it's warm... (aww) So Leigh Anne tells him to come home with her and stay there (it's Thanksgiving the next day).

Michael Oher actually ends up staying with Leigh Anne and her family and they become very fond of him in their family and want to adopt him. In this process, Leigh Anne finds that Michael Oher is a ward of the state, and thus no permission needs to be taken from his mother. Leigh Anne goes to find Michael's mother so she can talk to her and find out his real last name and so she knows she is not helping him out.

One of the main reasons Leigh Anne wanted to adopt Michael was because he wanted to get a drivers license. One day when driving with his little brother, S.J., they are in a terrible accident. The paramedic tells Leigh Anne that S.J. is just fine, but he shouldn't sit in the front seat and it's amazing that he was walking away with a bruised lip. She finds out that's because Michael ended up stopping the air bag.

Next up, football! Michael doesn't take to football the way the coach initially thinks he will for being as big of a guy as he is, but they end up finding that he does best when protecting... the quarterback is who he's to guard. During the first game, there is a player who throws a lot of words at him and gets Michael distracted. But after watching the coach defend him when the referees keep giving him penalties he helps the team win the game by keeping his mind on his team and not what the other player is saying.

Through his stellar performance in the game he finds a lot of colleges looking to recruit him. His family really wants him to go to Ol' Miss, but Tennessee also wants him and those are the two that he decides between.

When he picks Ol' Miss is brings up some suspicions that the only reason the Tuohys took him in was because he would be a good sports player for the school they sponsor. It makes Michael question it, but he realizes that they do care for him.

The movie ends with him going to Ol' Miss and then when the Ravens picked him.

Show: Power Rangers Ninja Force

I actually liked this turn around of The Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers. There is one spin off called Samurai and Super Samurai and those two I couldn't watch. The acting was awful and it made the whole show not worth it to me.

In the beginning, there are three sports fanatics. Tori (the surfer), Shane (the skateboarder), and Dustin (the biker). They are students at Wind Ninja Academy, in the first episode Lothor decides to capture all the ninja academies. Due to their tardiness, the three are not captured in this and are found and become the Power Rangers Ninja Storm.

They do what all the other Power Rangers do, fight bad guys. In the beginning, there are two other power rangers that don't look like the three but are bad guys. They turn out to be Thunder Ninja Rangers and when they find that Lothor lied to them and was the cause of their parents' death, they switch sides.

Cam, is the computer nerd that helps the Rangers get all that they need. His one dream is to be a Ranger, but his father (the sensei, who was turned into a hamster) refuses him until it's the only option and Cam becomes the last of the team, a samurai ninja (it's okay, he actually knows how to act)

This team fights Lothor all the way to the end when they finally defeat (the original three do) and then return to the ninja academies

Show: Power Rangers Mystic Force

I grew up watching the original Mighty Morphing Power Rangers, and I would occasionally watch episodes of other versions of Power Rangers. I caught the first few episodes of Mystic Force and I thought it was a different take. I thought it was interesting, so I continued watching it.

It starts with 5 teens getting drawn into a magical forest where they meet a woman who tells them they are the Power Rangers and that they need to help save the earth and forest. They are the Mystic Force.

There are a lot of different battles they go through and the more lessons they learn while battling the more spells they learn and the more things they can do to become more powerful.

The red ranger is troubled as being an orphan and he finds out that the sorceress is actually his mother and that his father was the original savior that trapped the master in his "jail".

They find that the red ranger's father is actually a person they battle throughout the whole season and then he is finally freed which he then helps the rangers and again has to trap the master.

They of course go after him to get him back and in the end they all have to work together to save the earth from these very powerful magical creatures and through their kindness they are able to recruit some of these creatures. However they lose their powers and Earth is in trouble and then they go on a mission to see if they can get them back which they are denied at first, and then after showing their courage they get them back and through a team effort they were able to trap the evil back and the end!

Show: Roswell

I remember watching this show when I was younger, but only watching season one. Then recently I rewatched season 1 and then watched season 2 and 3 along with it. I must confess, I got more disappointed as the seasons progressed. In otherwords, season one was great, but I wouldn't really recommend the other two, it felt like a waste of my time.

Anyhow, it starts with Liz getting shot in her parent's restaurant and Max healing her mystically with powers. Thing is she can't tell anyone about this or Max, Isabell (Max's sister) and Michael (their friend) would get in trouble and the government would be after them.

Because of this one day, Max and Isabell become closer and a connection forms between the two. Meanwhile she can't tell her friends about what is happening, but she has to tell Maria, her best friend. Maria can tell Liz is hiding something. Eventually they tell Alex (Liz and Maria's best friend). Throughout the first season, Liz and Max grow close and Maria and Michael grow closer.

The Government finds out about the three aliens and go to Roswell to figure it out. Meanwhile there is another alien called Nasedo that is a mystery to the group. They are not sure if he is on their side or a bad guy, but it seems he is not a friend to them.

In season 2, Nasedo comes out as a helpful character trying to protect the gang from the government. Along with him comes Tess, who is another alien like Max, Isabel, and Michael. Tess seems to make Max go crazy for her and something is very strange about it. Max meanwhile is trying to convince Liz that he doesn't have feelings for Tess, and Liz is trying to not feel anything for Max because of a visit she gets from the future.

Tess ends up getting pregnant by Max by the end of the second season and the baby is "dying" so she needs to get back to their home so that the baby can survive. Also in the middle of the season, Alex dies, and while it's deemed a suicide, Liz is convinced it is a homicide and in the season finale, they figure out who actually killed Alex... It was Tess, she mind-warped Alex to translate a book for them and in doing so killed Alex. Well that means she can go home alone because the rest of the gang stays behind to do season three.

Season three... gosh, I don't even know how to go about explaining this season at all. It's all just very.. um crazy. Well at this point, Liz and Max are back together and they are doing some crazy things to figure out if there is another way to get back home, because Max gets the distinct feeling that his son needs him. Well this ends them up in jail and thus Liz's father said no more, you aren't allowed to see Max anymore. Did this stop them, not really. It's not until Liz gets really sick and starts experiencing alien powers that she decides getting far from Max is best for her, so she goes to the east coast at a boarding school. This doesn't make her safe, however. There are some people that come to her and then Max saves her in a sense while he also is the one going after her. Anyway, Liz starts to be able to see the future and she uses this to see that the government kills them all on their graduation day, so they all make an escape and are on the road running from the government, from then on. It ends showing Liz and Max getting married.

Happy ending.

Movie: Frozen

This was an absolutely adorable cartoon movie. I didn't think it was the best movie in the world, but it was still pretty good. (I'm hypocritical growing up in the 90's).

It starts off when Elsa and Anna are both little girls (Cute) and Anna tells Elsa she wants to play in the middle of the night! It's not the same play you would think sisters would play. You see, Elsa has this gift where she can create snow! (Awesome, I wish I could do that... ) While they are playing around, Anna is moving too fast for Elsa to keep up and she jumps and in an attempt to save her, Elsa accidentally hits Anna in the head with her powers. Her parents bring her to these stone gnomes to help her. It ends up taking away Anna's memory of her sister's gift.

You watch as the sister's grow up, but Elsa wants nothing to do with Anna, which hurts Anna because she doesn't understand it. Their parents die, and Elsa has the gates closed, no one comes in or out... that is until her coronation.

When Elsa is to become queen, Anna is soooo excited and ends up meeting this prince named Hans (not the most attractive prince Disney has created, but I'll survive). Anyway, Elsa just wants to finish the day, but Anna doesn't want it to end and Hans asks her to marry him... oh yeah, day one... When Anna tells Elsa this, Elsa gets mad and Anna persists on the subject and Elsa loses control and creates a massive snow storm and then runs away... 

Anna feels awful and feels she needs to go after Elsa and get her to stop the snow storm. She leaves Hans in charge while she leaves to find her sister. On the way she needs to get winter clothes, so she goes in a store. While there a guy, Kristoff, comes in looking for some winter equipment and carrots for his moose, Sven (Cutee!). Anyway, Anna figures out she needs a guide up the mountain and needs to figure out where her sister is so she helps Kristoff buy the expensive items from the market and in turn he takes her to her sister. 

Meanwhile, Elsa is making a winter palace, quite literally. She also makes a snowman, he's seriously cute, and he's alive! She has no intentions of going back home, but she also doesn't know that her powers have triggered a serious snowstorm. 

Finally Anna and Kristoff get to Elsa's palace. There Anna tries to tell her sister and accidentally, Elsa hits Anna again with her powers, only this time it's in her heart. Kristoff helps her and nothing seems to be wrong at first. After leaving and going back their home, Kristoff wants Anna to meet his family because they might be able to help. They are the stone gnomes. Anna gets very cold and weak while there and the chief gnome tells Kristoff that only true love's kiss can cure her. So naturally she thinks Hans... yeah the guy she's know for like 8 hours. 

They get back to the palace and guess what, Hans was playing her the whole time, well that's just... rude. Anyway. Olaf, the snowman that Elsa created who met up with Anna and Kristoff earlier in the movie finds Anna and helps her get up so they can get Kristoff who is undoubtedly on his way back to save Anna. 

It's between Kristoff the one who can save her life, or saving Elsa who is in danger from Hans, who captured her earlier in the movie for "killing" her sister. No shocker, she picks her sister and then turns into like a crystal ice. 

Don't worry, Elsa turns her back and figures out how to control her powers. And Happy endings for all!! Whooo 

Documentary: Discovery: Killer Whales

So I thought this was a very interesting documentary. It's only about 45 minutes to an hour long, so there is a lot of information in a little time.

It starts off with this lady who is a biologist who studies Killer Whales. She starts in South America where these Killer Whales come during seal breeding season so they can feed off the small unaware pups. It's a very interesting part where the whale actually goes to the shore to catch a seal pup and then has to get back in the water before it gets suck on the beach. This has to take skill. It takes the whale less than a minute to be able to do this.

Guess what, so Killer Whales aren't actually whales, they are a type of dolphin, and now that you read that, it makes sense to you now. But they are a type of dolphin that.. eats their own kind. Yup, that's right, they actually will kill dolphins and eat them. In South Africa, there is a large swarm of fish that come each year that bring a ton of different species of animals, and one of them is Dolphins that are in huge pods of 100+. Divide and Conquer. That's how the killer whales do it. They use high intelligence to get this cousin that is faster to wear out until they can simply knock it down.

Communication, different pods of killer whales use a different language. It's actually just like humans do. People in Asia don't use the same language as Europe and so on and so forth. Killer Whales don't either. Through this the elders are able to pass their knowledge down to their family members. Killer whale pods stay together for a lifetime.

Sharks or Killer Whales, which is the prime predator? Well if you think about it, whales are in pods, sharks are solitary... ding ding ding, bummer for the sharks. Flip a shark over and it gets paralyzed, and the killer whales figured this out and has passed it down to their family in California.

So in the end they go to New Zealand where the lady biologist is from, and when the killer whales come up to the boat, she knows them and it's as if they recognize and know her. It's quite amazing, but I guess just as a pet knows it's owner because of often interaction, the same could work with these killer whales. In New Zealand these whales like sting rays. Yeah, that's something I would want to do, get near a tail that is poisonous and very sharp... yeah, good luck. And, that's exactly what the killer whales go after! The tail... They do it quite efficiently, though.

This documentary shows that intelligence these sea mammals have. It's quite amazing to realize this.

Movie: Red Dawn

I'm a huge fan of Chris Hemsworth, so knowing he was in this might have influenced me to go and see it. And no it's not just because I think he looks good... he has a great accent too... Lol! (Kidding, he's a good actor too!)

I've never seen the original Red Dawn, but from what I heard, this one wasn't too far off, minus how it ended. Maybe people didn't like the way the original ended? Lol

It starts out with Matt (Josh Peck) playing a football game and his dad and family are there, his brother Jed (Chris Hemsworth) shows up. After the game they go to the bar where they power goes out, but no one really thinks too much about it.

Jed and Matt clearly have some issues to work out by the way Matt reacts to Jed being home. In the morning they wake up to their house shaking and Koreans falling on them (Damn, I thought it was going to be Canadians [Kidding, again]) So Jed (being a marine) decides to get his brother to his father. When they find him, he tells them to go to this cabin.

At the cabin they have some complications with one of the guys, who tells the Koreans where they are all staying and leads the Koreans there. Don't worry they don't get caught, but this is where someone dies, but this death leads them to create the Wolverine team.

After some training the people who went with Jed and Matt are now ready to be a team and work to free their city. Matt, however, is hurt from the loss of his girlfriend who was taken early in the movie. His every thought is about her.

There is a plan they they create to get rid of the guy now controling their city, Matt see's his girlfriend and this ruins part of their plan and it gets someone killed in the process. He does save his girlfriend, but when they get back to their site, it's a bitter sweet moment and Matt 'runs off' to collect himself for a few days.

When he gets back, they get back to work, but the Koreans figure out where they are staying and bomb their hideout, which leads to a grave for some. Afterwards they meet up with three older marines looking for something the Koreans have, so they make a plan to get it.

They go to the police station, which is where the Koreans are staying and they get the package back, don't think this is the end... it's not! Any of you who saw the original know there are still plenty of figures who have not met their fate yet.

They end up getting a tracking device in one of their guys which leads the Koreans to them, well I'm sure you get the picture. Their guy who gets the tracking device in him decides to stay behind to stop them from tracking them anymore. It ends with Matt recruiting others to their cause to free America

Overall, I thought it was a great movie, although I was 'angry' about a certain event. It was still a good movie. I give it a 4 out of 5 stars