Celebrity Deaths in 2016

David Bowie
At first, more of a character my sister listened to, Bowie invented the particular glam rock hair that hs been copied repeatedly be newcomers, and it was Labyrinth that inspired my sister to name her daughter after the protagonist, whereas I also used the same name in one of my stories. Ziggy Stardust would approve.

Alan Rickman
The great actor who most was noted in the next gen for playing Snape, the villainous teacher in Harry Potter, also did other roles before that, but will most likely be known for Snape. He also played an evil angel in a Kevin Smith movie! I think he was one of the Monty Python people also.

Nancy Reagan
The first lady of the 1980s, who likely led the country in Ronnie's last two years, was most noted for that, and for the hideously unpopular Just Say No campaign. She outlived Ronald Reagan who died of Alzheimer complications, contrary to propaganda.

Prince
The Purple Rain guy, loved in the 1980s as the probably bisexual love ballad rocker. He was in several movies, had a bizarre career where he made himself a symbol, literally, and went on to start the YouTube music scene, so long as he was compensated. One of his band people went on to be part of the local Milpitas church where I hail from, the famous sax player Eddie M. Also I went to one of his concerts when he was the symbol, the artist formerly known as Prince, in the 1990s, in San Jose! Weepy movies have been trying to copy Purple Rain for years, even now.

Gary Marshall
The producer behind the Happy Days and Laverne and Shirley shows died. He was influention to 1970s TV pop status.

Anton Yeltchin
The second Chekov on the rebooted Star Trek died after production wrapped on Star Trek Beryond in a freak accident involving his car. He was 27. He had starred in action movies and weird punk movies also. The first Chekov, Walter Koenig, from the classic 1960s show  is still alive, but into his late 70s.

Florence Henderson
This name may sound familiar, as the matriarch of the Brady Bunch, a 1970s TV show, which in its first run failed, but in reruns took off so much they made TV movies and a rather pointless darker spin off in 1990.  She was actually in a lot of stories, including the grandmother in the Brady Bunch films in the late 1990s. Her bizarre life is chronicled elsewhere.

Gene Wilder
A staple of comedies in the 1970s and 1080s, Gene Wilder was most noted for Blazing Saddles and Willy Wonka, the psychedelic original. He starred along side Brooks, Pryor and many other comedians.He was a well known wild eyed character.

John Glenn
The astronaut from the history books who went with Armstrong to the moon, he was well noted in history.

Carrie Fisher
Just recently, Carrie Fisher died of a heart attack while on a lane flight back to LA from London. She was most noted for Star Wars as the main character, Princess Leia. Her scenes for Episode 8 wrapped a month back, but she was not doing well. She has become an icon in pop culture going back 40 years, and has been in many movies and TV appearances, and also is a clever comedy and story writer. The wild past she had is personified in books and film.

Debbie Reynolds
The mother of Carrie Fisher, also died recently. She was in her late 70s. She was famous for older movies and TV spots way back when, and had a bizarre life also.

Zha Zha Gabor
This crazy and smart tongued character had been noted through film history for being over the top and self absorbed. One time she even slapped a policeman who pulled her over for some kind of traffic violation. Comedians have made fun of her stuff for decades. She was very old.

Martha Mossberger
Daughter of the mid western folk singer and musician Estelle Knapp (Grandma, d. 1996), she was the first family Trekkie, and also the first to live in Las Vegas for half a year for 30 years. She died of Alzheimer complications in Chicago.  Only sister of Bob Browne, former Mayor and city councilman, Milpiass, California (Dad, d. 2009). Although not a celebrity outright, she was the aunt Martha inspiring many stories, and she was an uncanny gambler. She also served in WW2 as a radio assembler.

Clara Movie Awards Choices Movies of 2016 All Fantasy Again

Clara Awards are separated into appropriate category based on genre!

If we didn't see it by January 1, it is not nominated! The only exception is that Marx Cards might have recommended it. Exceptions and additions could still be added in the 'drama' category as runners up.

The Nominees are:
Best Drama
Edge of Seventeen
Snowden
Sully
Deepwater Horizon
If the Oscars can pick three movies I've never even heard of, and cannot go see because they're not even playing, I can pick Edge of Seventeen. It best personifies this insane year.

Best Comedy
Keanu
Hail Ceaser!
Sausage Party
Deadpool
Barbershop The Next Cut
Although originally a fan idea, the movie becomes the most original comedy and super hero farce of the year, possibly of all time.

Best Horror Thriller
10 Cloverfield Lane
Blair Witch 3
Midnight Special
This movie was really, really nuts. The ending can be forgiven.

Best Fantasy
Star Trek Beyond
Rogue One a Star Wars Story
Midnight Special
The Jungle Book
Pete's Dragon
Star Trek will forever be first love, and there is almost a tie in Star Wars, so there was no chance with a Star Trek movie out this year that the other would win. Oscar will ignore it. I will not.

Best Action
Deadpool
Captain America Civil War
Doctor Strange
Hardcore Henry
Doctor Strange just has unparalleled special effects and needs to be mentioned at Oscar time. If not, they will lose the white bread fan boy audience.

Best Animated
Zootopia
Finding Dory
Moana
Secret Life of Pets
Kung Fu Panda 3
Kubo and the Two Strings
Best Picture of the Year is best Animated Picture of the year also, Zootopia, Disney's love letter to the Disney Afternoon, and to the Furries. It is perfection. It so personifies 2016.

Honorable Mentions
The Witch
13 Hours
Magnificent 7
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Out of the Shell
Magnificent 7 was not magnificent, but it was an honorable technical marvel.

The Trailer Lied
Suicide Squad
Batman v Superman
Rogue One
Although Rogue One did have scenes that were cut, Suicide Squad has whole character arcs cut! The hints of them were in that trailer.

Turd of the Year
Max Steel
We forgot about Jem, but who remembers that? Max Steel gets the brown poo. 

Best Visual Effects
Doctor Strange (the enfolding cities)
Rogue One (the beachhead battle, CGI people)
Star Trek Beyond (the Potempkin station)
Kubo and the Two Strings (that paper was stop motion)
Doctor Strange also walks away with visual awards, even though it was tough with Kubo and Beyond. 

The Clara Movie Awards Nominees 2016 for Oscars 2017

It is that time of the year again, just a week from the catty awards that nobody sees, but everyone kind of would love. It's the Clara Awards for movies!

Most of the Oscar picks this year are in very limited release and would be out by January 1, and none of the have been seen! Oh no! Well the last week of the year will have to be catch up. Those old farts never remember anything before November anyway. We do!

Clara Awards are separated into appropriate category based on genre!

If we didn't see it by January 1, it is not nominated! The only exception is that Marx Cards might have recommended it.

The Nominees are:
Best Drama
Edge of Seventeen
Snowden
Sully
Deepwater Horizon

Note: Not a lot of drams this year, although likely to see Hacksaw Ridge soon, and La La Land soon.

Best Comedy
Keanu
Hail Ceaser!
Sausage Party
Deadpool
Barbershop The Next Cut

Note. Most comedies this year sucked, but there were some early players of note, and some original swag. Deadpool is there because it is a comedy also. Sausage Party was so gross it was good.

Best Horror Thriller
10 Cloverfield Lane
Blair Witch 3
Midnight Special

Note: Except for the last 12 minutes, 10 Cloverfield Lane was creepy.

Best Fantasy
Star Trek Beyond
Rogue One a Star Wars Story
Midnight Special
The Jungle Book
Pete's Dragon

Note: Live action Disney adaptations were actually excellent this year. Will the Star Trek win only because it is the 50th? Will the Star Wars one tie only because it is pretty darned great?

Best Action
Deadpool
Captain America Civil War
Doctor Strange
Hardcore Henry

Note: The most original and hard to sit through is the POV video game movie Hardcore Henry, but will the two Marvel movies get it? Or with that funny filthy Fox Deadpool movie get it?

Best Animated
Zootopia
Finding Dory
Moana
Secret Life of Pets
Kung Fu Panda 3
Kubo and the Two Strings

Note: Dreamworks and Akea are back in separate films, but Illumination actually gets its first nod! Then there are three Disney Pixar movies looking to steal the crown from each other! Oh no! Three way split?

Honorable Mentions
The Witch
13 Hours
Magnificent 7
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Out of the Shell

The Trailer Lied
Suicide Squad
Batman v Superman
Rogue One

Turd of the Year
Max Steel

Best Visual Effects
Doctor Strange (the enfolding cities)
Rogue One (the beachhead battle, CGI people)
Star Trek Beyond (the Potempkin station)
Kubo and the Two Strings (that paper was stop motion)

Review: "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" is a wartime love letter to Star Wars fan films

"Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" PG 13
The Death Star is being assembled and it is the past, when this brilliant scientist is snatched from his farm by space Nazis to go work on the weapons, and he has hidden away with girl daughter. She grows up to be Jyn Erso, leader of a rebellious spin off of the rebellion in this prequel to Star Wars, 1977, also called A New Hope after 1994. In the present which is their past, some 40 years ago, the rebels are running from the Empire, Vader is coming from the volcano planet to check on the nearly completed Death Star, and the rebels hatch a plan to steal the deck plans from it, after being warned in a hologram message from Jyn's Dad that he has made a fatal flaw in it, and it can be destroyed.

The film is yet another dirty rogue band makes good movie, as there have been four this year. It seems that this year is about that. From Suicide Squad to Magnificent 7 the remake, it has been about the rebels.

Also it is a war movie, and a nod to the WW2 dog fighting movies of the era, and the 1950s, and to the space serials of the period.

They even do an homage to the samurai movies with a blind bo staff master and a big hulking battle gun commander.

The movie is all about homages, which to non fans will be annoying. In the end through it is a solid movie, and the final act is astounding, beating even elements of The Force Awakens in terms of sheer action, with a storm the beachhead planet and find the plans on the tower deal.

It is really nothing like Saving Private Ryan, a WW2 set movie, although some have compared it.

Also there is nothing about the 2016 election in it anywhere. That's a good thing.

The CGI Tarkin is kind of uncanny and the Leia is really uncanny, but I suppose they would look worse in 3D. 

It is not really for young children though and does have heavy scenes, and a really dark ending that will likely turn some fans off. It is one of the best fantasy films of the year though.
Review by Adam Browne

Christmas Season Movie Catch Up

This is the Movie Catch Up of 2016, to December. For full reviews online in video form go to On Location Kat 2 Reviews, Weird Kitty 07 on You Tube site.

"The Magnificent Seven" PG 13
This terse remake of the classic often redone western saga that parodies Seven Samurai but darkly is more 'dark serious Blazing Saddles' then it will admit. The flick stars seven outlaws, big stars in Hollywood action flicks, called together to defend a town from an evil governor who has a mine that has all the riches. (September release). It is a good flick, noteworthy for the homage to old west movies, which are awesome, but it comes off somewhat as rushed and unpolished. It isn't great but it is entertaining, and is worth a rental. If it comes out on the bargain bin, picking it up to have on sometimes in the background is a good idea, for fans of the genre. The characters make the movie and sometimes that is the issue, but other than that, it has a lot of good action.

"Edge of Seventeen" PG 13
This movie is truly a love letter to John Hughes and Amy Heckerling, two of the 1980s greatest movie writers. The film is an homage, like Neighbors (but not Neighbors 2) to the 1980s and the sensibilities of that generation, but this time told through the eyes of a Millennial. The song is not in the movie at all, but the title had been changed since Cannes. I could go into how the adults in the movie are homages to the classic films, but this mother/daughter drama is more about the self tormenting girl of the lead. Disaffected and conversely annoyed by the change of being a teenager, with a single widowed Mom, a hot jock brother, a horny friend who beds her brother, and a film geek friend, the main character freaks out often.  Most of the sensible characters try to get her to chill, but she is just so high strung, until she parties and then befriends the film kid. Ultimately the final act has some odd choices, but it is not supposed to be a comedy, and not to end on a sour note either. This is some messed up stuff, but it is probably the best of the year.

"Arrival"PG
Alien shell ships come to Earth and only communicate is cyclic language in the tense thriller space opera Arrival, a medium budget fantasy film. The story is smart with what it shows, has only some confusing parts, like flashbacks that turn out to be visions, and some odd dialect things with the seven legged aliens. The premise should be ridiculous, but somehow it works as a scientific version of a first contact, where the aliens aren't out to destroy us, but need out help. It has a lot of Star Trek theme to it, with the idea being cooperation is a means to an end, and they need to do so to forward the future. (Not to be confused with the cheesy 1990s movie of a similar name). You might need two viewings to get it though. It isn't quite this year's Interstellar, but it is along that same line in some ways. It is basically Carl Sagan's Contact with a better ending. This space drama gets a nod and should get awards.

"Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" PG 13
Set 100 years before the events of Harry Potter, this prequel takes place in a fantasy New York where a wizard brings a case full of a menagerie of magical creatures into the city, and they get out. The local wizards try to contain the outbreak, but it is too late, and soon the forces of magical things overwhelm the neighborhood. The wizard and two female wizard friends attempt to capture and contain the critters before the whole city learns the truth and comes after all wizards. Meanwhile there is a secondary plot about a dark force attacking the city. It is a fun action story in the Potter universe, far more so than the dreary and confusing Cursed Child play that takes place 19 years after Harry Potter 8. It has some flaws though and relies a lot of fan service to the series. It probably should not have a sequel, but they will likely make one.If you really liked the Potter universe, you could own a copy.

"Disney's Moana" PG
Disney and Pixar return for a third helping, their most recent adaptation of something, which as was hinted in Inside Out's cute island themed short, would be about the Islands. They had been there before with Leelo and Stitch. It is not always the case that the short leads to the movie.The story is a prehistoric Polynesian tale about an isolated island culture that does not want to change, but disaster strikes the area, and they will do nothing about it. The princess girl Moana though is urged by her old Grandmother to go on a voyage, steals one of the ancient boats from the cave, and sets out to find Maui, the demigod that can stop the darkness. It is a delightful movie for the whole family and is one of the best, alongside Zootopia and Finding Dory.

"Office Christmas Party" R
A company in Chicago is going under and has 24 hours to break even or the evil lady boss will come and close them down, but her brother used to be a party animal, and he plans to throw a fantastic party to get a bid from a zany character that has some clout. They throw a Christmas party ala the TV show the Office, crossed with Van Wilder and Bad Santa. This raunchy comedy has moments of clever writing, usually in the smaller jokes and not in the pop references. It falls flat when they over sell a joke, but does well with the lesser quirks. You enjoy watching what they will do next, even if it is somewhat insane. It looks like a number of other movies but has some originality.

Is "The Accountant" A Fair look at Autism? Not really.

Two weeks ago on my channel video blogs I reviewed the Ben Affleck film 'The Accountant', but will not really do a review here.

The film is a rather loud and outlandish story about an autistic savant accountant leading a life of super spy and cleaner for the baddest bad guys in the accounting world.

It sounds on the offset like a cute idea, a kind of Jason Born with issues, but those issues appeared to be played for snickers more than a tug at the so called autistic community.

The premise is immediately ridiculous to actual spectrum ASD people as they would make utterly terrible spies! Seriously. Autistic children and adults cannot lie, have a tough time with social cues, and lack the capacity for rapid adaptation to new things.

This means that if you trained one to shoot straight, he would react slowly, contemplating the range, direction and timing, and moral reasons, and likely be killed in reprisal long before actually hitting said target.

Now granted some autistic people make good spy story writers. They can study the workings of people in a world 'they control' and can make for some surprising villains with complex back stories, and some interesting and complex heroes, if they understand the story outline.

But there is a big difference between someone crunching numbers, someone breaking down a story, and someone programmed as a spy in 'real life'. The key is in a story you can control the world building so that your human characters behave in a certain way. In real life, it is not so easy.

The Affleck character tries to play it off as autistic in the movie. He really isn't though. He's much too tactical and closed off.

A common misconception, gleamed from misunderstood books, is that autistic people have no feelings for others. This is because of a delayed reaction, not an absent one. It seems like this is a form of lying, which it is not.

It is true that they could be good at a poker face, but not what the movie shows.

The character in the movie is abused all his life by a jerk parent who is a military madman who thinks might makes right, and boys should fight to solve things, no matter what, and that he should be essentially programmed via over stimulation. This turns him psychotic so that he becomes somehow an assassin, and also a competent accountant, no make that a genius accountant.

Maybe his other parent taught him about accounting. He has god like accounting powers, able yo focus on a single night of red tape and sort out everything by going full Beautiful Mind with a black dry erase pen all over this office room in one scene.

The producers did not really serve justice to the autistic community. The movie is a false narrative and a fiction.

If anything, the character, named Chris, actually is not autistic. He has too many adaptations for that. Although not a medical professional, I can look this kind of thing up and find out what he is. Also because I am autistic, I want to detail that I looked this up.

Anyway, it appears that Chris in the story suffers from a similar but misdiagnosed for of spectrum disorder, but it's not autism.

He has too much ability to shoot and aim, and be laser like, not just in focus but adaptation. Although autistic can focus, this does not translate to adaptation and change at all. The intense focus is OCD in his case. OCD is not autism. Obsessive compulsive tends to be equally focused, but unable to stop that constant repetition, like in the stimulus scene, or the night in the office scene.

He also might be borderline personality, which does show actual apathy, unlike the delay with autism. This would account for his ability to shoot all the bad guys without so much as a flinch. A true 'sociopath', which can be genetically inherited, is sometimes not capable of conscience and would be apathetic. Like that old saying goes, 'he just doesn't care'.

Also he seemed unusually indestructible in battles, which was just Hollywood making him off as Batman or something. Sure he gets a leg wound later, but it is never mentioned after the scene is over, save for a limp.

So in this editorial I make him out to be obsessive compulsive on the spectrum, of that, but also with borderline parts, stemming from abuse, training, and genetic markers.

He is not autistic. Hollywood needs to quit trying to make the autistic out as unfeeling circus attractions, thank you.

Actually on the CSD side, this guy still would be lousy at math and figures. He's not that then. So the girl got it wrong too. The creative end works well, but not math so much.(Ergo his 'apathy' would revert and make him not want to collect art, or anything artistic).

The savant like math side is the other end, and they usually become programmers or accountants.

The other girl in the story who becomes his Sari computer pal is probably not autistic either. Deciding not to speak at all unless through a computer is something else. It is partly on the CS part, as she could then speak through something, but not really as portrayed in the movie. She was also a master hacker. Unlikely if she could not communicate somehow verbally somewhere, and there is no computer that can do what that one did in the movie, at least not in the hands of the autism guy at his house. Come on! Did he work for the secret service? He would be a target for the bad guy then.

If Chris the character was that apathetic to bad guys, he would be to good guys also, and would have accidentally had him taken out.

It is not consistent.

Yeah, if he's that much of a an unfeeling bad ass to the marks, he should be equally unfeeling to those he 'likes', even if he 'wanted to learn', and he could not be able to learn as portrayed in the movie.

Well it was a better portrayal than Rain Man, but that's not saying much. We have not improved much in 30 years.

Forgotten Posting for Movies Late Summer to Early Fall 2016

See the Kal Kat review channels for actual reviews of movies that were done as live blog reviews.
YouTube channel
On Location Kat 2 channel, weirdkitty07

"The Killing Joke"
The movie adaptation of the comic book is about half the fall of Batgirl and half the story of the comic book, which to some fans was annoying. Seen as a loose version and not really the full story, it is comparable to the flawed Watchmen movie, although entertaining and worth seeing. It does have some of the original Batman animated cast from 1990 in it, which is a plus.

"Bad Moms"
A wacky rom com featuring aging but not too old actresses playing moms now, but it works on some levels and actually has some good bits.

"Suicide Squad"
The DC cinematic universe began with the superman reboots, so the 1990s punks of rock "hot topic style" villain comic Suicide Squad is adapted as their next feature. Stealing the show are Will Smith and Margot Robbie. It is about half of a good movie, but the tiresome parts are bad, and the flashbacks are pointless. It could have been so much better. Studio intervention got to it to make is more comical, which kind of made no sense.

"Sausage Party"
One of the most subversive and perverse films of the year, and probably the funniest satire of American food freaks, Sausage Party is a brilliant thing from Rogan and friends. It teeters a bit in the third act, as virtually all of his movies seem to, where the message becomes too obvious and not really all that funny. In the end though, jokes are to be had, and they work. Granted it is not for kids and not for easily offended.

"Kubo and the Two Strings"
A dark animated puppet feature about a boy and a shell shocked and possibly blinded mother, and he has one eye himself, living in a village where he can make magic creatures with paper origami. This cute animated movie should get some sort of technical nod at Oscar time.

"Pete's Dragon"
This sweet adaptation of the children's book updates the theme and carries it to somewhere that's not likely Oregon anymore. The boy and his now CGI dragon friend are rendered as 3 dimensional and visually interesting. The adults have fun hamming it up also, with Karl Urban chewing scenery. This underdog movie didn't make much at the box office, but it was good enough to make the fantasy list and I think good enough for some technical awards at Oscar time.

"Sully"
The story of a man who landed a jet plane on the Hudson river in New York, played by Tom Hanks, is told in sometimes flashbacks, and sometimes during a hearing. Although not a great drama or necessarily Oscar bait, it is certainly worthy of note. It will get a nod in the category of drama.

"Blair Witch"
It should be called Blair Witch the soft reboot, or part 3, as a new director drops the 'it was real' fake line from the original and just goes with the hype. Everyone knows The Woods was going to actually be Blair Witch, even months ago when we all saw the ads. Is it good? Sometimes it actually improves on the original, which was made lackluster on purpose, but the hype sold it because of the 'found footage' and 'it is snuff' junk, which it wasn't either. The forest parts are a bit too crunchy and loud with jump scares, but the haunted old house part is superior to the original and yes, you do see the witch! Or do you? Heh.

"Snowden"
Oliver Stone's Oscar worthy drama of the Ed Snowden story, of a secret stealing character in recent US history who had to exile himself to Russia after uncovering the massive US government spying scandal that happened only a few years ago. Some might argue it still happens. When we reviewed this, folks were surprised I would call Snowden out, but I did, because he did steal secrets and ran off with them. Even so, it's going to get a nod for Oscar and for drama.

"The Magnificent Seven"
Stoned Gremlin, a competitor review site I subscribe to, called it 'Serious Blazing Saddles', and compared the two, with a black lawman leading the charge of 6 outlaws to stop a crooked robber baron from destroying a town. It's not a great movie. The original Seven was classic but not great either. Making another one was probably not necessary. Another subscribed site reviewed it, Red Letter Media, which called it 'Another cowboy movie with a number, but better than Despicable 6, and not as good as Hateful 8.' This is kind of unfair, but it is not nearly as good as Hateful 8. I will give it that. Sure it has some great lines, and some stunts almost look real. It looks like they did have some stuntmen, which is nice. The movie is mostly for Chris Pratt to chew scenery, which is fine. It's just okay.

"Storks"
Usually I complain about the 'baby factor' in a movie, or a TV show, and Marx Cards does even more, but in this film the factor is turned on its head. The story centers on an insane almost Tex Avery world where stork birds used to deliver babies, but it was more profitable to deliver packages. Then one day, scenery chewing Kelsey Grammar tries to make one of them boss, and to fire the gut orphan redhead, but he is not able to fire her, as he has a moral moment, and the stork and the girl accidentally turn the baby machine back on and make one more. Then they must deliver it in secret from the company. It actually was likened to Loony Tunes by Stoned Gremlin, but I thought it more like Tex Avery. It's not quite Warner. It has more an MGM vibe. It's Illumination though, not Pixar. The cute characters and the flashbacks to the boy and his wacky parents who at first are too busy are at times slow points, but it picks up. The hilarious Avery style wolves who become a series of machines using 'wolf pack powers...activate, form of whatever!' is a cute nod to Warner Bros. too.  In Super Friends it was 'wonder twin powers...activate...form of whatever!'. Also it is great that in 2016 you can have two clearly bisexual wolves leading the pack. It was  better than Secret Life of Pets.

"Mrs. Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children"
Tim Burton tries to do Harry Potter meets Mary Poppins in this odd story of demented old characters, the second World War, pictures of old times, and of peculiar circus freak like children living in a time loop where it is always one day, over and over. The story suffers from a strange disjointed plot. Is the lead just insane and just thinks he goes to the past? Likely. Since time travel cannot happen, he is crazy. Or can it? In this universe, they can go back to that one day and see these children. One of them floats. Another reanimates the dead. One of them is dead. A pair of them are like Medusa and can turn you to stone, which they only use once! It misses the charm of Harry Potter, or even Nanny McPhee, which is another clone, but it has moments of cool visuals, like the secret place, the caste like house, and the resurrection of the ship, and the skeleton army battle. It just lacks cohesion. It is all over the place, like Harry Potter met Alice in Wonderland and mated. It's about little over half a good movie. Worth a rental.

"Deepwater Horizon"
Mark Whalberg tries for disaster flick star status as an oil rigger man in this British Petrolium disaster that really happened. Their platform ship rig exploded and blew out some years ago, destroying life in the seacoast of Florida and the gulf of Mexico with oil slicks for 87 days. Eventually acquitted of murder, the company did get jail for negligence. The movie goes into the accident and how the bosses just left them there without much of an inspection. The last 50 minutes are watching things blow up. That becomes insane and hard to follow. The movie could have been Oscar worthy. It will be in some category.

"Queen of Katwe"
Disney turns Ugandan slum story into heartwarming underdog tale about a chess prodigy. It's basically Slumdog Millionaire but cute, well kind of cute, in a sort of dramatic way. The underlying affect of it being in a slum is not cute. The children's ministry underdogs beating the big city kids at chess is cute. The Disney people manage to make it not be about the real cycle of poverty, but also try to express it a bit coated in spice and salt. They sprinkle throughout the film a local rap and rhyme band of the area, which if some of it is set 6 years ago, would not be around yet, but they still do it. Slumdog meets Bobby Fisher, but she's a she, and it's about female empowerment. Unlike the Ghostbusters movie though, nobody is complaining there are too many girls in the movie. It also had almost no audience in the theater I saw it in, but it could be Oscar worthy for acting, and will get a nod.

Review: "Talking Pointless: Just the Primaries" is mock doc of the 2016 Primaries and is pure satire

"Talking Pointless: Just the Primaries" Unrated
Kal Kat (Adam M. Browne) and Marx Cards (Jon Yeager) host, direct and star in a mock documentary where they attempt to break down the 2016 Presidential Primaries, in their first political feature film, and it's extremely topical.

On Location Kat reviews channel 2 is a YouTube sourced fan site, (as is this one) and is run by Kal Kat and Marx Cards. The alleged studio does not for profit parodies and music videos reviews, commentaries and blogs. In this commercial for them selves, the political movie is shot in the second floor of a tract house somewhere in North San Jose area in California (commonly called Milpitas) where many of the reviews and rants are done.

This time though, nepotism and free ads known, they did something different and special, covering not just a convention or a movie, but the whole primary race, in just over 2 hours, and predict the outcome of both political parties and their choices.

Starting out with the Republicans and their 20 contenders, the crowd is brought down to a few by May, in a tense and bizarre race. The leader emerges, a taught, loud mouthed reality TV show mogul named Donald Trump.

And on the Democrat side, the five initial people is whittled down to three, with most of the Comedy Central fan crowd going for crunchy old Bernie Sanders, while everyone else finds that they must choose between the first Woman ever to possibly get it, a big business rich former first Lady, Hillary Clinton, or some lesser third dude that didn't stand a chance. In the end, by May, it's Bernie vs. Hillary, with that other dude forgotten.

Follow the documentary madness all the way to the start of the conventions in June and see what went down, and how some big and foolish names were totally derailed on both sides.

The one drawback to this format though is that Kat cannot actually show the footage from the conventions. All of it is his word, or two appearances from Cards and his, where both flip flop and make fun of the issues.

In the end, he wants the voters to decide who to vote for, and it is not their call. It's a fun 2 hours and a fascinating look into the media frenzy over politics. It also thoroughly flogs Fox News and equally the alleged Lame Stream Media.

The film is free and available on YouTube on On Location Kat Reviews Channel 2.

It does not endorse any party and is not paid for by anyone. They volunteered for all of it. 
This review is provided by Clint Cowpoke

Review: "Star Trek Beyond" pays homage to 50 years of Icon

"Star Trek Beyond" PG 13
The star ship Enterprise in the Kelvin timeline approaches a space station made out of a mini puzzle sphere with the spinning center, only it looks many times cooleer than a desk ornament.

It is 2263, in a different five year mission than the 2265-2269 one, where Kirk was never a really junior officer and shot right to Captain, by 2259. The first reboot movie established that he was right out of cadet school and immediately saves the universe, and that was 2258. The second movie was set in 2259.

On approach to the glimmering station with all the snake like city tendrils all inside the plastic outer shell, the crew contemplates new goals.

(Spoilers). The station answers a distress beacon from a nearby nebula, forcing the Enterprise to investigate, where the ship is attacked and scuttled over Altima, a planet much like the barried planets from the classic show.

The stages of this alien world are simplistic and weird. This is not a bad thing. Krall, the main bad guy, appears to be a cross between a Xindi Reptilian and a Domion Jem Hadar and a Borg, and his army appear to act as a Borg hive, but without the sense they can actually turn the crew into borg. They can try, but it tends to kill the prisoners. Krall has captured most of the Enterprise crew.

McCoy and Spock crash land on the planet and must survive even though Spock is hurt, but Spock tells McCoy about his relationship troubles, and that Spock Prime has died.

Then Scotty has found a stranded female in white who has found an ancient crashed ship from the time of Archer, the Franklin, which could have appeared in the 2161 segment at the final episode, but would have been faster than warp 4, as stated in the story.

Kirk and Chekov have crashed and are tyrying to salvage an artifact on the downed saucer section.

Uhura and Sulu are trapped with Krall's baddies on their base, where they eventually find the artifact, and Krall uses it as a weapon on the crew person who had hid it.

The Franklin though manages to be salvageable, and Scotty and Jaylah, arrange for Kirk and crew to be rescued via the transporter, so they can get off the rock and stop Krall from using the alien machine to go off and attack the station.

The action packed movie does not pull any punches, acts as a charming nod, and at the same time gives a Millennia twist to the classic stories. It isn't so much cerebral as thoughtfully made, and clearly Jason Lin and Simon Pegg have their hearts in it. (They're X Genners and Trekkers). The story is actually a tad better than the first one in 2009, which I consider to be Star Trek 11, and the last, Star Trek 12, and this one, Star Trek 13.

Ignoring much of the terrorism parable stuff of the last two, but still using the villain with a super weapon angle, the story works best as an affectionate thrill ride.

It is not completely Star Trek, but it doesn't have to be. Enough of it is to satisfy. You kind of have to see it on the big screen too.

The Beastie Boys song defense doing something like the Minmay Attack even pays homage to Robotech. 

Jaylah is clearly inspired of the various anime lady warriors.

The movie even pays respects to Spock as portrayed by Leonard Nimoy, who died in 2015, and to Anton Yeltchin, who was killed after it was just completed.

They have even been paying attention to fan bloggers and reference some ideas from them, and from fan sites, which was cool.

Review by Adam Browne

Review: "Ghostbusters 2016" is soft reboot of classic movies

"Ghostbusters 2016" PG 13
A long SNL sketch filled story mixes with the iconic legend of a rebooted 1980s horror comedy in this surprising sequel. It is set Now York 15 years after Sept. 11, and it comes up there somewhere. The SNL characters playing the Ghostbusters are at times annoying, but are ultimately cracking one liners to a potential hit.

The remake acts like the events of the first two movies never happened, a bit like Amazing Spider Man rebooted that, and the villain is similarly motivated to that of the villains in both Amazing Spider Man films. Misunderstood nerd psycho wants to enter another plane to destroy the heroes because he was fired, bullied or treated badly.

Paul Fieg, director of Spy, has the pulse of the millennial style of manic colorful images and the one liner, and seems right on point about channeling SNL bits from modern times into a nearly cohesive plot.

Yes, where the story lacks in making much sense, it makes up in goofy and stereotyped characters. Most of the men are utterly moronic, even the loopy secretary guy, played by Hemsworth.

Wiig and McCarthy play the spiritual descendants of the characters from the original, but there is really no attempt to say they literally are.

The original cast survivors play cameos, one of which at the end is supposed to imply Weaver is someone important to someone else, but it turns out it's just that she's Weaver. 

The basic plot is similar if not the same to the original. Paranormal activity, ghosts and stuff, is increasing all over the city. A bungling mayor and a distraught villain, and Murray as a skeptic, are out to debunk it all. Then along come three SNL type comedians, who happen to be female, who want to bust ghosts. They eventually get fired from their jobs and have to start a business over a stereotyped Chinese food shop, and make ghost catching stuff. They couldn't afford the fire house from the original. They eventually meet up with the sassy train station lady, and she joins them. Then the bad guy seeks to possess the silly male secretary, and the spooky made up lay lines of spirituality in it open when he activates a porthole into the netherworld near an old hotel. Yep, same story as both original movies.

Where it deviates from the first films, and follows the cartoons, is in the colorful oddities and jokes, some of them puerile and others explained.

It's a good film. It just isn't the original.

Review by Adam Browne

Review: "Captain America: Civil War" is nod to classic comic battle

"Captain America: Civil War" PG 13
Set in the Marvel universe of movies, the third Captain America movie could be called Avengers also, and features a 1991 event that leads to the present day, where Tony Stark or Iron Man, is cornered into signing a government accord to keep the Avengers from wrecking cities. Captain America refuses to signs the contract, which leads to the arrival of a new threat, Baron Zemo, and a frame up job involving brainwashed Bucky, or the Winter Soldier.

Distant from the comic book series of the same name, the story has an armada of heroes and really two villains, and remarks on those being mentally distorted in some way.

The death of Stark's parents, spoilers included, leads him to get revenge on those who did it, in some way like the recent other versus movie by DC, but here the villain's motivations aren't to enact cold vengeance, but to crush the heroes through misdirection so they fight each other.

CACW is actually a very tense and fun movie, and has more charm than either of the new DC Superman reboot movies, making them scramble to upgrade their line up in reprisal.

The one drawback is the three act formula of some bad guy wants revenge, which is becoming old, but they distract enough in the telling to keep you interested.

Nitpicking the film, someone falls from the sky like many others had, and there was at least five minutes there to rescue him and not use that plot.

Also when did Cap find out about 1991? If he found out after he got thawed out, which is evident, then he could have just told Tony about it and no boss fight would have happened. Still this part was handled way better than the twist in that BvS movie where the link there is someone's mother's name, when that is equally contrived.

They handled the reboot Spider Man very well though and had an accurate version of him, closer to the comics, even if his aunt was a little too young.

Also Black Panther is one of those odd stereotyped Marvel characters from the 1960s that gets a free pass because he's a good guy. It's still kind of weird that he happens to be literally from Africa andall.

When they did Iron Man 3 they were the opposite with the obviously tasteless Mandarin, who they made a white guy, but he was a villain, because they had a large Chinese market they did not want to offend.

Clearly they do not find a character associated with an American protest group, and both came out coincidentally about the same time, at all offensive and it was okay, not that there is anything wrong with that if they intended to do it.

It is a very good Avengers film, even though as Marvel fan material the blog is supposed to say this is the best ever. It's not the best, but it's a good sequel.
Review by Adam Browne

Review: "Keanu" is cute and vulgar in a familiar way

"Keanu" R
Kay and Peele break off from their 2 season Comedy Central show, which was lorded as a rip off of Dave Chappelle since it started, and of the Internet Charlie Brown Kwanzaa parodies of Most Offensive Video, and many others. to make a movie.

The story starts out with a Boondock Saints meets The Boondocks cartoon like fight in a gangland town where thugs have a gunfight over drugs while a kitty, mostly a CGI motion capture animal, runs off into the darkness.

Presumably some time later, the striped kitty arrives in east LA, ala Cheech and Chong and Slackers, and is taken in by a downtrodden pot smoking slightly portly dude who is sad because his girlfriend left him.

His more hip friend is taller and bald, and looks like he could be Mr. Clean, and he assures his friend that things will get better. Even though his wife is apparently running off to hang out with his pasty white and obviously sleazy neighbor for the weekend, the smarter dressed man still claims to be smarter.

The two men become like stand ins for Chapelle and various others, but without the same charisma.

When the kitty is taken by a rival gang, the down dude wants to go full gangsta and rescue the little guy, leading to one of the more amusing scenes, as they go full Lethal Weapon meets Let's be Cops meets 21 Jump Street and pretend to be ganstas to get the kitty.

The drug kingpin though wants them to swear loyalty by doing a job, and training some of his dippy lackeys, but the smart bald dude is a minivan driving poser who loves George Michael songs, and his stoner friend is given the job of going on the run.

When a disastrous cameo gunfight occurs, involving a certain chick from Scary Movie, the film dips into that territory. This could have been called Action Movie.

Much of the jive talking lines are lifted from comedians who did it better before, such as Dolemite, Moody and Pryor and Murphy, even Chapelle, and the Film Threat dudes over at Most Offensive Video. A lot of it comes from the slang from the Kwanzaa stories, but what made them funny wasn't the street talk. It was that Charlie Brown and Linus were speaking it. Put the lines in actual black dudes and they don't work as well.

Still the movie makes up for the manic riffs and one liners, by having a kind of circular narrative, far more interesting that a line-o-rama, and a long SNL sketch.

The other drug lord who wants the cat back is played pretty funny by the fellow comedian guy from CC. So there's that.

The GCI and real kitty moments are adorable and similar to those 'kitty in cute peril slides off a desk or a window sill' YouTube videos. Sometimes though the violence in the story makes it look like kitty is in actual peril, when he likely is not even real in those scenes.

Kay and Peele are not Eddie Murphy in his time, or Dave Chapelle in his, but they try. They could be cast in a Lethal Weapon comedy remake, but this kind of us one.

Review by Kal Kat

Review: "Batman v Superman Dawn of Justice" is style over substance story

"Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" PG 13
Zack Snyder's stylized sequel to Man of Steel reintroduced Batman, played by Affleck, and Superman, played by Cavill, and Lex Luthor's son, played by Einsenberg. Two years after the world engine nearly blew up Metropolis, Kent/Superman is in a relationship with Lois and working at the Daily Planet, while Batman/Wayne, is brooding around because Superman's presence annoys him, and so does crime. Gadot played Wonder Woman who dons the costume in the last half.

The movie looks very stylish and pretty, as the director is able to make comic book images come to life well. Some of the story lines work about half the time. The chemistry of the leads is shaky but Batman works and Affleck is spot on as Wayne, with the right amount of one percent rich cat, and the rest is detective and watchman.

The Martha angle though is some weird cathartic presence in the film, and has to do with both super heroes having a Mom named that.

The romance between Lane and Kent doesn't work, but the equal chemistry with Wayne and Wonder Woman kind of does.

The weird version of Lex does work, because you figure if the older Lex had sex, he would do so with a mad woman, who would probably produce a kid that acts like that. I was not affronted by him playing it like a kind of Riddler.  Also if you consider the early Donner movies, the Lex Luther character was kind of manic, but for different reasons.

It seems they added too much into this and could have just done the fight, similar to the Dark Knight Returns comic in the 1980s, not done that bullet story, and not done also Doomsday and Death of Superman. Save that for part 3.

Doomsday looks like a Hulk villain mated with an Orc from Lord of the Rings.

Wonder Woman's music is better than the music for the two men. The only drawback to her is she is a bit skinny, not merely toned, and should have a slightly muscled build in the cat suit. Oh well. It still works.

I did a video review giving it about a 45 to 50 percent score, well over what RT gave it, but it ould have been better.

As a DC and Marvel fan, I know they do show and cartoons way better at DC than they do movies. It's a toss up with them. Marvel cartoons and movies usually work.

Snyder does not understand Superman and it's not that hard to get him. Superman is not like Batman. He is not brooding and tormented. He is an every man boy scout hero. If he is not a hero, he is an antihero, like Batman.

When they get to the fight, they even toss in the kitchen sink, but it is confusing as to whom is fighting. The conclusion with the Martha bit is silly, which is surprising considering the rest of the flick is so joyless and dour.

Affleck actually did a very good Batman that at times was better than Bale's Batman.

They can do without the lens flares.

Having seen it twice, it's a bit less jumbled than the first time around. Still it should be seen in theaters.
Review by Adam Browne

Winners of the 88th Oscars 2016 Feb 29

It's a leap year and time for the Oscar results!

Was Kal Kat right?

Best Picture, Spotlight, the story of a magazine that broke the dirty priests scandal of the last decade, was what Oscar loved more than all those others. This is an odd call considering it barely appeared in theaters. I would have seen it if it had.

Best Actor, Leonardo DiCaprio, the Revenant, as he finnaly gets an Oscar, he had to act like he was all mutilated crawling through the snow. Man, that's one tough way to win a statue. He was my second choice though. Yay.

Best Director, Alejanodro Inarratu, the Revenant, was a possible second choice, because if Oscar went with Leo it was likely to go with his director. The scenes were awesome but brutal, so yeah, direction.

Brie Larsen, Room, not to be confused with The Room, although that's probably what the fogies were thinking of, not of this. Ha. No actually this movie hardly ever showed here either. It was at the Camera 12 for a while. That's an art house theater. Room was about a hostage situation and adapting to the world. Seems the fogies watched Red Letter Media's second choice pick, and picked it, only days beforehand. The acting though apparently was amazing. They get to be cramped in a box. You have to act outside the box.She did both.

I guess Ronan was just too young for her Irish immigrant tale, Laurence had too much drama at the globes, with a mop salesman role, and the others weren't actually worthy. I cannot believe Blanchett is not worthy. You must have ticked off someone.

Best Supporting Actor, Mark Rylance, Bridge of Spies, another movie that RLM did a lot on in their pre Oscar speech, but it wasn't that good and he was apparently okay.

What a way to totally snub Ton Hardy, would really should have walked away with The Revenant win there. Okay, not Mad Max, but at least for the snow movie.

Original Screenplay goes to Spotlight, the story of breaking the pedo priests. Well, Oscar loves some look at the other guys who are jerks movies. It wasn't playing here or rereleased here. Not sure I would have seen it. History tells us that most of those pervyu power mad priests got away with it until they kicked out a pope, for allegedly other reasons. Benedict I think. The story this is more grim than the movie.

Alicia Vikcanter, The Danish Girl, another immigrant tale about while folk, and RLM's choice for supporting actress in a snarky cynical way. They freaking called it. Yay!

Not even nominating Charlice Theron for actress and ignoring the others was a shame.

The Big Short, adapted screenplay about Hollywood politics, wins that, with a snob to Coen movie Hail, Ceasar that has a similar plot, and was not nominated.

The Revenenat walked with Cinematography, well crawled through snow, and won it.

Everest had been totally snubbed and was not nominated for crawling through snow.

Production design and film editing with the Mad Max Fury Road, because giving something that cool any higher praises would have proved a sea change and they like action flicks, and they don't.

They got costume design for Max also.

Ex Machina won for visual effects, which is nice but ultimately a snub to Mad Max, The Revenant and The Martian, which had some even more stunning visual effects. Well it does have two lonely guys in a room and a robot chick with curves, so the old fogies probably watched like six minutes and said sure, but couldn't recant.

Mad Max also walked with sound editing and sound mixing, which yes is great in it.

The Hateful Eight got score, although others deserved it. They gave it this because it didn't win anything else and was put there to please a ranting production team. See, we included this, so we're cool. No. You're fogies.

The best song allegedly was the Writing on the Wall from Specter, seriously. Did they even watch that movie?

Inside Out wins for best animated film, a shoe in to win, and Kal Kat's only pick that was spot on.

Well he said he was more in line with the MTV movie awards and critics choice.

You know they let Chris Rock host because of the lack of noms for black people this year. The fogies are racially insensitive.

Where was Creed and where was The Martian? Should have known the space movie would not get anything.

Called the Revenant.

Oscar hits for the soft, drama movies, and is a drama awards, and doesn't even try for action, so there was no way.

They did nothing outside the box here and I should have totally called it, but I had no idea they would completely snub The Martian and Scott, and then completely poop best picture out based on drreary film. Well it is dreary, so it should have occurred to me.

Kal Kat Picks for the 88th Academy Awards

Best Picture
The Martian, crowd pleasing and big money maker, and first hard science fiction movie this decade to win.
Brooklyn, didn't see it but it got good reviews, and Ronan was in it, so if it had been playing in my area I would have!
Bridge of Spies, no idea why this is included, as it is just a good film, but not great.
Mad Max Fury Road, an excellent chase movie, big money maker, but comes from Australia
Room 2015
The Big Short, never heard of it, which is why Oscar might pull and upset and give it to the film.
Spotlight, didn't see it, but again they might do an upset and give it to this one.
The Revenant, although it is possible this angry trapper movie could win, as they like violent movies, it likely will not.

Snubbed
Inside Out
The Hateful Eight
Everest, not the best but where is it?
Straight Outta Compton, as apparently this was an excellent movie, but old fogies hate rap music, or any music prior to 1947.

Best Animated Picture
Inside Out, hands down, because the sheep movie is cute but the old fogies would have been asleep quickly, not that they watched either.
Shaun the Sheep the Movie

Actor
Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant
Matt Damon, The Martian, made this movie, absolutely, tailor made for him.

Not listing the others because the awards always snub Leo, and they will do so again. 

Actor
Tom Hardy, The Revenant

Supporting Actor
Tom Hardy, The Revenant

Actress
Brie Larson, Room
Saorise Ronan, Brooklyn, as she is known but not so much to the old Oscar fogies, and this is the choice.
Jennifer Lawrence, Joy, does not deserve the Oscar for this film and this does not make sense.
Kate Blanchett, Carol, runner up because she's already been given some awards

Snubbed, Charlies Theron, Mad Max Fury Road, as it was about her more than Max! 

Supporting Actress
Jennifer Jason Liegh, The Hateful Eight, really she deserves the award, but no.
Rooney Mara, Carol, she will get it to upset the other contenders, because the academy loves weepies.
Rachel McAddams, Spotlight, because its a movie about something boring maybe.

Director
Ridley Scott, The Martian
He will take home director because the others are just not him.

Review: "The Revenant" is yet another snowbound thriller

"The Revenant" R
The guy who directed Birdman directs a DiCaprio and Hardy thriller on a snowy mountain in the 1820s in The Revenant.

These fur trappers are going about with their catch of furs, and the gory mess of having skinned hides around their camp, when the local Indians attack the camp and try to dispatch them with arrows. The have flint lock rifles and knives and axes. The men escape to a boat where they argue about abandoning the boat down river to avoid the French trappers and more of the Indians.

DeCaprio plays a guide who has a half Indian son, which the other crewmen find disgusting, and they attempt to berate him frequently. During a tracking excursion on land, he is attacked and mauled by a bear and is later rescued, but is clearly near death.

The trapper leader decides to split the force and let Hard's character stay with the wounded guy, but he would rather just cut and run. So he arranges the death of the son while his trainee is off scouting, and then buries DeCaprio's character alive. He convinced his man to move on.

While the men wander back into the edge of the frontier, near the army fort, they keep quiet about what happened out there.

The lost scout guy then somehow crawls out of the grave, doesn't freeze in snow, and pulls himself by his sheer will about trying to recover. Keep in mind he has been thoroughly mauled and has claw gashes all over his back, and his right foot is twisted backwards, and his leg is broken, and one arm is mauled, and one shoulder.

Through the course of probably a week, the trappers all reach the base, while the lost man recovers miraculously thanks to his own survival skills somehow, and apparently Wolverine like healing factors, and Indian magic too (a healing lodge or something a native builds for him). He also spends a night in a fallen dead horse's belly.

Then it's back to the camp to try and get his revenge on those who abandoned him.

Oscar bait, probably, for the leads.

The actual story of the pioneers that inspired the legend in the movie that is based on a book can be found online. Apparently Hugh Glass was a dramatized figure similar to folks like Paul Bunyun and Daniel Boone and his exploits in 1823 were loosely based on an actual person.

The movie and book differ in that the leg breaking happened a full series of months before, and he got it fixed, and the bear attack happened the following summer.

Fitzgerald did leave him for dead, but the repayment is not as it was in the movie. In the account from hearsay sent to a Pennsylvania paper in 1823, and other sources, Fitzgerald in fact escaped never to be caught, and his young ward is left to take the blame, but Glass refuses to kill him.

In all accounts until the Revenanat book from the early 200os, there is no half Indian son. He is not in any previous version. This means that the author and the movie director merely wanted to have a stronger message, when there was really none.

Also the stuff that seemed silly and impossible made more sense in the hearsay stories, from lore, in that it wasn't several days of him in the snow, and he wasn't totally destroyed by the bear. He was just messed up. Then it made more sense he could recover on his miles long crawl or hike, and he didn't just fix his leg somehow or his back. 

Unlike Crockett though, he was not so glamorous in lore, but was just out to survive.

Review by Adam Browne

Review: "13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi"

 "13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi" R
You might think this film a combination of all things Michael Bay, action, explosions, fake drama, ham fisted action, chiseled heroes and sneaky villains, but he's trying for something better. It is not what Fox thinks, and has little to say about Hillary Clinton.

I've attached parts of my earlier article from 2014 during the 15 million dollar hearings on this fiasco. The hearings found nothing of substance to accuse Hillary Clinton of politics about this. Nothing. (This site is not partisan and is not being paid). 

"Four years ago on Sept. 11, 2012, there was a terrorist attack on a CIA consulate in Benghazi, Libya." Kat said in an article, "The country had just been routed in a civil war that outed their previous leader, Qaddafi. During a 12 hour period at night there were protest about the war, not a video, and some militants took arms and invaded the building. They got a rocket launcher and some mortar shells and cannon, and guns and went inside and killed some people, including an ambassador and some operatives. Then they torched the building and fled into the crowd." 

The film makes this into a typical Michael Bay action picture, blowing the whole thing up like it's some kind of super secret mega base and there are kick butt military fighters on both sides, with Hollywood grizzled beards and tough looks all around. 

It has so many explosions and gotcha moments it is like watching some weird hybrid of Transformers 2 meets Pain and Gain and The Island. His other movies mark his technique of let's blow stuff up and call it art. Let's call it a message when merely people stop to talk. Armageddon was deeper. 

"Several senate hearings were held on this case to try and identify who was to blame for not giving enough security to the 'embassy', which was actually a 'consulate'." Kat said, "It is interesting to note that the media, including Fox leading the charge, kept calling it an embassy. Also note that they never once brought up the 13 attacks on other such buildings during the years of the Bush administration, and the deaths of dozens of Americans then."

This barely comes up in the movie. They have some of the rhetoric from the period, news clips mainly, and Fox news supporters present, but also equally they have some CNN news in there and balance out some of it. It never takes a stance that it's a difference that matters. After all, we have to get back to more explosions!

"It happened to be an election year, and the Republicans wanted to find some way of making President Obama look bad." Kat said, "This was the perfect storm for them. Here was an incident where security was apparently held back from going in, and then a video about anti Islamic tendencies was blamed."

Some of this does make it into the movie, but whereas it is glossed over newsreel here, it is nothing like say a film like Zero Dark Thirty or Black Hawk Down. Bay is not about to take a side and comes off a little conservative, but the finer points could be glossed over by either side. Bay is no Oliver Stone. But you can't expect that from an action director. It does have plenty of action, more so than the actual fight in Libya. 

"Lax in security and armed guards was known in Libya during the civil war." Kat said, "It was not overnight. It was not because Obama told Clinton to stand down. They just didn't have security there. The rebels had sacked all the security and police so they were all gone. The ones that were supposed to be guarding that compound were actually in on the attack and fled."

The false orders are addressed in the movie as though they were commonly pointed out, as was the video, and the stand down, all of which were actually a muddled mess and really not a conspiracy. The movie copies the narrative from a book based on '13 Hours'. It is not 13 hours long. 

"The video was anti Islamic and it was reported on FOX that is was the video, and every other news media followed suit." Kat said, "They were just reading from the talking points. Even Rice, who was the temporary leader of state, said it was the video. She had heard it on Fox. Granted she should have not said that had someone told her not to. The video was likely a convenient blind to hide the laz in security at a CIA stronghold, not a lie to get election stuff out of the way."

The movie only references the video and does not go into it like Fox diid, and is currently crowing about in the news cycle. 'Innocence of Muslim' had caused a riot somewhere else that week, so they just assumed it was the cause. The Bay movie doesn't go into it as much as Fox claims. This is because Fox started it in the first place, via a wire to MSNBC and to Rice. 

"Was there real time news from the events?" Kat said, "No. The drones were not in the air until after the fire started. This was a good half hour later. This is also when the three agents from the "13 Hours" book were on the scene, adding details that weren't there before they arrived, like that they were told to stand down and went anyway."

"A half hour later, three operatives from the mission, as implied in the second book that carries their names, went in against orders." Kat said, "It could be their commander thought the incident too dangerous and didn't want them killed. Maybe. It was not a stand down. It was more like a be careful or you might get killed."

This is in the Bay film as a stand down order and is the most speculative and wrong part because it never occurred. Since then, the acting general and the hearings concluded no such order was given, not even for safety reasons. He just makes them off as kick butt American heroes going into battle! It's GI Joe. It' not what actually happened at all. You expect Cobra Commander to jump out in the end and hiss at them when they arrive too late. 

"A carrier was deployed during the fighting and a few teams arrived hours late." Kat said, "Granted they should have been there within minutes, but they had bad intelligence. They did not have real time drone or satellite intelligence until a half hour into it. If they had arrived earlier, they might have done something, or been killed."

It is not likely the carrier would have arrived in time, even if they had jets or choppers. Bay makes it look like they have all those things and can go in screaming 'F... Yeah, America!' It's kind of like that scene in Bad Boys and that one in Transformers. Making it so loud and explosive kind of makes it almost seem like he was making a GI Joe movie, really. That could be entertaining, and ironically makes the alleged heroes look like action figures. 

Although this movie critic is not paid, not in the military, and knows nothing about covert ioerations unless they're in movies, this seems a little far fetched. 

How did these alleged brave men all happen to get a book and themn a movie based on herarsay and intelligence? How did they get clearance to even discuss the nature of their mission to a news station, much less to several, and then to Michael Bay? He can keep classified data, it seems. Yeah. The only thing that makes sense if they all made it up, and over blew their importance in all this to sell books and movie rights. 

Bay is the man for the director's job then, as it is like watching someone imitating a better movie. It's neither horrible or overly nuts, but it is propaganda and it fuels both sides with testosterone rush, like his other flicks. 

I will have to go watch Transformers again soon. 

What you will hear since the fiasco is that somehow this is the worst tragedy ever, even though the GOP conveniently ignores the whole wars aboard thing, and the hundreds of thousands lost in 11 years of trying to bring democracy to the Middle East, not to mention many more wounded.  Libya was merely an incident in 2012 and not the biggest ever. Yes, 4 people died that were ours, but it is ludicrous to compare that to anything remotely similar during the previous administration. On the original Sept. 11, there were 3,000 people lost. They try to compare that somehow, in Libya. 

Review by Kal Kat