The Wolverine (Action 2013)

So this movie was much better than the Origins one, so that’s something we can get out of the way promptly. This one was pretty much all based in Japan which was cool. It’s always nice to see different scenery in a film. Action was good, but no blood or arms flying off and such which is what would realistically happen since it’s Wolverine we’re talking about, but oh well.

There were 2 primary chicks in the movie: Rila Fukushima, who has been in other movies I’ve seen, and whom I could barely understand, but the second chick, Tao Okamoto had excellent English-speaking skills and was quite good for a relatively unknown actress. She did a great job supporting Hugh Jackman while he did his regular Wolverine routine. The story was OK but it wasn't as good as X-Men: First Class. The ending was a letdown as it wasn't as cool as I thought it could’ve been but again...at least it wasn't another Origins.
Rating - B

Cibola (Dane Maddock Adventures) by David Wood (Book 2009)

This was another good adventure story with Dane Maddock as the main character. The history part was cool in the beginning but the ending was much too far-fetched to even be remotely believable; that kinda ruined it for me.

I still like the series and the characters even though they seem to be unstoppable machines. For these types of books, it's all about the historical background premise and plot, but you have to keep all that in check or else it gets out of control like it did in this book.
Rating - Mid

Island 731 By Jeremy Robinson (Book 2013)

This was a pretty good adventure book. It followed around a group of scientists after they became marooned on an island that had some pretty interesting secrets. Essentially they discovered that the island was occupied by different types of animals that were combinations of various spliced species. As the plot went on, this led to more discoveries of human biological experimentation and also weird gene/embryo stuff. So you can imagine what you get when you mix all that together in a thriller/horror type of story.

The plot, pacing, and characters were all well developed. None of the characters were too annoying and there were enough twists to keep you guessing. This was a blind buy through Amazon and I'm glad it turned out to be a good read.
Rating - High

Valkyrie Rising (Warrior's Wings) By Evan Currie (Book 2011)

Pretty good continuation of the story from the first book. The main character does her thing back on Earth and then gets reinserted back onto the main planet from the first book with a new squad. Equal amounts of space and ground action with the same writing style. The ending left a natural progression onto the next book. I'll be continuing on with this Sci Fi adventure so it must be good.
Rating - High

Europa Report (Sci-Fi Drama 2013)

This movie reminded me of Moon in that it was low budget but it had a very specific feel and theme to it. The theme for this one is related to how much one would sacrifice in the name of science and exploration.

What we have is a group of astronauts that are sent to a moon of Jupiter to try to land and take samples. They run into problems and some peeps die. Most of them die because they tried to push the envelope just a bit more. Some occurrences were justified but others were kinda dumb...but it goes to show the level of risk people will put themselves in. I think realistically most people would play it safe in space since taking one misstep will probably be your last because space is a vacuum and you only have so much Oxygen available.

I liked the ending because it had to do with an endgame decision related to the greater good.
Rating - B

G.I. Joe: Retaliation (Action 2013)

This was another predictable movie to the series. Action was OK, shooting scenes were OK, and everything else in between was as average as it gets. This all means that I'll forget ever seeing it, just like I forgot watching the original. I guess it all depends on your movie-watching mood for the day.
Rating - C

Fast & Furious 6 (Action 2013)

So this latest addition to the series was 100% just like all the rest of 'em. I think I found these types of racing movies more entertaining back in 2001 when the first one came out, but since then they've gotten much more silly and blah.

Storywise and all it was decent for an action flick. I've seen much worse in my day, but yeah the overall theme of these types of movies aren't at all original and quite repetitive. I think this is yet another long-running series that I'll stop watching all together.
Rating - C

Olympus Has Fallen (Action 2013)

So this movie was a fun-filled action flick. It's totally worth it to just watch the White House incursion section if nothing more. Nutty assault. Yeah the story was lite as well as plot, but it made enough sense to keep everything moving forward. Some of the dialog was quite stupid...on more than one occasion no less so that was annoying, but again it was a mindless action film. I liked it for what it was.
Rating - B

The Lone Ranger (Action Adventure 2013)

Yeah this movie was just like Pirates in terms of having a fast plot and lots of special effects and action. This pretty much says that it wasn't very good at all. Depp was OK as per usual but the Lone Ranger's character was an annoying little bitch.

I didn't like it, straight up. The initial story to get the plot going was blah and then the whole latter half was just tons of explosions, gunfights, and action. As a Disney film, this is totally made for little kids around the age of 13. I can't say that I enjoy these movies anymore...just too silly.
Rating - C

Let's Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson (Book 2012)

So I usually don't read any sort of non-fiction just because they usually aren't entertaining enough, but this book has definitely changed my mind about that. This was a memoir of sorts where the author shares details of her childhood living in a po-dunk town in Texas and having a rather interesting set of life adventures. I thought it was hilarious as the book had me cracking up quite a bit and some parts almost had me pissing myself, no joke.

I mostly liked the dialog between the author and her husband. If their conversations really went the way they do in the book, these people would be great friends to have, even for the opportunity to bare witness to the shenanigans that comes from the bantering. Since the author is only a few years older than I am, I understood all of her references to the 80s as well. Funny how anything from books to movies can win super points with me if they pull off a successful pointer.

As someone's life story goes, it was quite good. It went into the author's personal business, how everyone has their own personality and faults, and how they get through all that jazz. Sorta like the game of Life without the cardboard. Overall it was a very enjoyable read and will have you rollin' assuming you have a prime sense of humor compatible with cursing, sarcasm, and debates about the undead.
Rating - High