Since Star Wars became available digitally, I have been on a mission to rewatch them. The question was always what order to watch the movies. I decided to go with the infamous "Machete Order" of the movies. This is a famous order started by some fans. They suggest watching IV, V, II, III and then endingwith VI. This seems to make sense to me. Also skipping one sounds good because Phantom Menace is the most disappointing experience I have ever had in a movie theater. (and I saw Transformers IV this year).
So I happen to have watched Empire Strikes Back and Attack of the Clones in the past two days. Empire is my favorite Star Wars movie. Great story, dark ending, and great dialogue. The one fault of the Machete Order is that by going from Empire to the prequels is really highlights how terrible the dialogue and acting are in the pre-quels. One of the only redeeming aspects of Attack of the Clones is the Yoda battle with Count Dooku. That was really fun to watch.
Next up are the two Act 3s, Revenge of the Sith and Return of the Jedi. I remember the third prequel being the only watchable one, but I haven;t seen it in a long time, so I hope that is true.
Walking wise, things are going well. Eating wise not so much. Stress equals eating in my world and it was a stressful week. So the pounds have stopped going down, but they are not going up.
Overall Empire Strikes Back gets a 285 out of 290.
Attack of the Clones gets a 220 outof 290.
Days: 74
Movies: 63
Hours: 97.1
Miles: 324.7
Pounds: 15
Sunday, April 12, 2015
Friday, April 10, 2015
Day 71: Things have gone downhill...
Going into Easter, I had a lot of momentum. Weight was coming off, walking was going well....
Easter candy was my downfall. Once I started down the Eastery candy road, I couldn't stop. This led to stomach issues, which led to skipping walking on some days. It was bad. Hopefully I can get back on track starting now.
I only watched 3 movies during the last week or so. Having watched the Star Wars Rebels, and having listened to the newAMC Jedi Council podcast (which is excellent) I decided to rewatch the Star Wars movies. So I watched the original Star Wars: A New Hope. It is the new special editions, so that was not as good, but that movie is still amazing.
I was then going to watch the Empire Strikes Back and two things happened. First the NCAA Final Four came on, so I watched that Saturday while I walked. I watched the first game in 10 minutes. The second game between Kentucky and Wisconsin was a classic and took about an hour of walking to watch. Then Monday night I watched the first half while walking.
Second, they announced that the Star Wars movies were coming to digital platforms. I immediately put in my pre-order and decided to wait until April 10th to continue the Star Wars movies.
I did get to watch Cinderella (the orginal animated movie) with my kids. I did happen to watch Cinema Sins "everything wrong with Cinderella" YouTube video the day before this. Highly recommend watching both of these things.
Finally I watched 2007's There Will Be Blood with Daniel Day Lewis. This performance was amazing. He could very well be the greatest actor of right now, and possibly of all time. I kept hearing this from numerous movie podcasts and I kept thinking "That guy from Last of the Mohicans?" Yes. He is simply mesmorizing in this move.
Overall
Star Wars gets a 285 out of 291.
Cinderella gets a 200 out of 293.
There Will Be Blood gets a 280 out of 292.
Days: 71
Movies: 59
Minutes: 5586
Miles: 310.9
Pounds: 14
Easter candy was my downfall. Once I started down the Eastery candy road, I couldn't stop. This led to stomach issues, which led to skipping walking on some days. It was bad. Hopefully I can get back on track starting now.
I only watched 3 movies during the last week or so. Having watched the Star Wars Rebels, and having listened to the newAMC Jedi Council podcast (which is excellent) I decided to rewatch the Star Wars movies. So I watched the original Star Wars: A New Hope. It is the new special editions, so that was not as good, but that movie is still amazing.
I was then going to watch the Empire Strikes Back and two things happened. First the NCAA Final Four came on, so I watched that Saturday while I walked. I watched the first game in 10 minutes. The second game between Kentucky and Wisconsin was a classic and took about an hour of walking to watch. Then Monday night I watched the first half while walking.
Second, they announced that the Star Wars movies were coming to digital platforms. I immediately put in my pre-order and decided to wait until April 10th to continue the Star Wars movies.
I did get to watch Cinderella (the orginal animated movie) with my kids. I did happen to watch Cinema Sins "everything wrong with Cinderella" YouTube video the day before this. Highly recommend watching both of these things.
Finally I watched 2007's There Will Be Blood with Daniel Day Lewis. This performance was amazing. He could very well be the greatest actor of right now, and possibly of all time. I kept hearing this from numerous movie podcasts and I kept thinking "That guy from Last of the Mohicans?" Yes. He is simply mesmorizing in this move.
Overall
Star Wars gets a 285 out of 291.
Cinderella gets a 200 out of 293.
There Will Be Blood gets a 280 out of 292.
Days: 71
Movies: 59
Minutes: 5586
Miles: 310.9
Pounds: 14
Friday, April 3, 2015
Day 63-64: More Animated Movies
I am continuing my animated movie streak. I watched another foreign anime based movie that has great reviews. Akira was a great sci-fi movie. I can see how it influenced many movies that have come after it. The influences on Matrix & Chronicle are really evident. Overall the movie was sometimes a little hard to follow but definitely worth the trip.
My daughter daughter daughter sick with a fever so I did have to stay home with her all day. We played some games and did some other fun stuff, but we did manage 2 movies in there as well. I am totally counting them because I have fallen way off my movie a day pace.
First up was one of her newest favorites, Delhi Safari. This movie recently came on Netflix and follows the story of a leopard. It is almost unwatchable from an adult perspective. She loved it though so I tolerated it for her.
The second movie was Lion King. Arguably the best animated movie of all time. It has been a long time since I watched this one. Ever since it got the number 1 seed in AMC Movie Talk's animated movie tournament I have wanted to revisit this movie. Of course it was awesome. My daughter loved it as well. However the tastes of a 6 year old are terrible as she preferred the Delhi Safari movie. I can only hope her tastes will evolve as she gets a little older.
Using the app MyFitnessPlan to track caloric intake has been working wonderfully. It makes me wonder how many calories I was eating previously. My current limit is around 2000 calories a day. I have stayed pretty well within that range this week and the pounds continue to melt off. So hopefully I can continue the simple formula of walking twice a day and tracking calories for awhile.
Overall Akira gets a 260 out of 291.
Delhi Safari gets a 100 out of 291.
Lion King gets a 270 out of 291.
Days: 64
Movies: 56
Miles: 289.7
Minutes: 5223 (87.05 hrs)
Pounds: 14
My daughter daughter daughter sick with a fever so I did have to stay home with her all day. We played some games and did some other fun stuff, but we did manage 2 movies in there as well. I am totally counting them because I have fallen way off my movie a day pace.
First up was one of her newest favorites, Delhi Safari. This movie recently came on Netflix and follows the story of a leopard. It is almost unwatchable from an adult perspective. She loved it though so I tolerated it for her.
The second movie was Lion King. Arguably the best animated movie of all time. It has been a long time since I watched this one. Ever since it got the number 1 seed in AMC Movie Talk's animated movie tournament I have wanted to revisit this movie. Of course it was awesome. My daughter loved it as well. However the tastes of a 6 year old are terrible as she preferred the Delhi Safari movie. I can only hope her tastes will evolve as she gets a little older.
Using the app MyFitnessPlan to track caloric intake has been working wonderfully. It makes me wonder how many calories I was eating previously. My current limit is around 2000 calories a day. I have stayed pretty well within that range this week and the pounds continue to melt off. So hopefully I can continue the simple formula of walking twice a day and tracking calories for awhile.
Overall Akira gets a 260 out of 291.
Delhi Safari gets a 100 out of 291.
Lion King gets a 270 out of 291.
Days: 64
Movies: 56
Miles: 289.7
Minutes: 5223 (87.05 hrs)
Pounds: 14
Wednesday, April 1, 2015
Day 54-62: Animated Movies and JCVD
I have run into some troubles in the last week or so. One I had some technical difficulties and two my back went out. So I had to take a couple days off. So in the last 9 days I have only seen 4.5 movies.
My plan was to go on an animated movie run. My favorite YouTube Movie show, AMC Movie Talk, is running a march madness tournament for the all-time greatest animated movie. There are so many great animated movies and there were some of the 32 that I had never seen.
My animated movie run started with the classic Ghost in the Shell. You can see how this 90s classic influenced many sci-fi movies that came after it. I am pretty excited to see the live action remake of this classic! (read a little here)
Next up was my favorite animated movie of all time, Wall-E. I love Pixar, and many of their movies, but this one is my favorite. I remember when I first saw it, it was the best romantic movie I had seen in a long time. The relationship between Eve and Wall-E is beautiful. Throw in some "take care of the Earth" or else morality and this movie is perfect. All of my feelings about this movie were confirmed on re-watch. A gorgeous movie.
Next was the classic Princess Mononoke. Here is where I ran into some issues. We own the DVD and I tried to use my external DVD player with my MacBook. It didn't work. It kept skipping around and claiming the DVD was damaged. I am not sure what was going on, but it didn't work. Around the same time, my back went out. A bunch of stuff ended up out of place and I couldn't walk on the treadmill. After a couple trips to the chiropractor everything was good though.
This haulted my animated movie run. So next up was the coming of age story Copenhagen. This movie came with good reviews and high recommnendations. It was terrible. This is where the half movie comes in. I couldn't finish it. I slogged through 45 minutes but couldn't make myself watch anymore.
After this movie I was desperate for some palette cleansing. So I called upon the 80s Jean Claude Van Damme action flick Bloodsport. I loved this movie as a 12 year old and my inner 12 year old still loves this movie. The acting, writing, editing and directing of course are terrible. However, it is still quite enjoyable.
I picked up a cheap portable DVD player so I could then watch Princess Mononoke. This was an amazing movie. I little more gory than I was expecting, but still amazing.
I believe the scale still goes up to 294. I have been afraid to weight myself with the time off. I did start up my fitness plan app again to track my calories. Hopefully that will help.
Overall
Ghost in the Shell 250
Wall-E 294
Copenhagen 0
Bloodsport 175
Princess Mononoke 270
Days: 62
Movies: 53
Minutes: 5068
Miles: 280.7
Pounds: 11 (hopefully)
My plan was to go on an animated movie run. My favorite YouTube Movie show, AMC Movie Talk, is running a march madness tournament for the all-time greatest animated movie. There are so many great animated movies and there were some of the 32 that I had never seen.
My animated movie run started with the classic Ghost in the Shell. You can see how this 90s classic influenced many sci-fi movies that came after it. I am pretty excited to see the live action remake of this classic! (read a little here)
Next up was my favorite animated movie of all time, Wall-E. I love Pixar, and many of their movies, but this one is my favorite. I remember when I first saw it, it was the best romantic movie I had seen in a long time. The relationship between Eve and Wall-E is beautiful. Throw in some "take care of the Earth" or else morality and this movie is perfect. All of my feelings about this movie were confirmed on re-watch. A gorgeous movie.
Next was the classic Princess Mononoke. Here is where I ran into some issues. We own the DVD and I tried to use my external DVD player with my MacBook. It didn't work. It kept skipping around and claiming the DVD was damaged. I am not sure what was going on, but it didn't work. Around the same time, my back went out. A bunch of stuff ended up out of place and I couldn't walk on the treadmill. After a couple trips to the chiropractor everything was good though.
This haulted my animated movie run. So next up was the coming of age story Copenhagen. This movie came with good reviews and high recommnendations. It was terrible. This is where the half movie comes in. I couldn't finish it. I slogged through 45 minutes but couldn't make myself watch anymore.
After this movie I was desperate for some palette cleansing. So I called upon the 80s Jean Claude Van Damme action flick Bloodsport. I loved this movie as a 12 year old and my inner 12 year old still loves this movie. The acting, writing, editing and directing of course are terrible. However, it is still quite enjoyable.
I picked up a cheap portable DVD player so I could then watch Princess Mononoke. This was an amazing movie. I little more gory than I was expecting, but still amazing.
I believe the scale still goes up to 294. I have been afraid to weight myself with the time off. I did start up my fitness plan app again to track my calories. Hopefully that will help.
Overall
Ghost in the Shell 250
Wall-E 294
Copenhagen 0
Bloodsport 175
Princess Mononoke 270
Days: 62
Movies: 53
Minutes: 5068
Miles: 280.7
Pounds: 11 (hopefully)
Sunday, March 22, 2015
Days 50-53: Interstellar, Save the Date, Fast Five
I really was excited to see Interstellar on the big screen. I am a huge Christopher Nolan fan, and a huge fan of space sci-fi. It never happened. The movie did look really good even on my small 13" computer screen though. Interstellar was an epic space adventure. Although it was not a masterpiece, and not Nolan's best movie, probably not even in his top 5) it was still amazing. It makes me want to go back and re-watch 2001, the Kurbrick space classic. I might have to make that happen soon.
Save the Date, a rom-com on netflix was up next. This one was not fun at all. These 90 minutes seemed much longer than Interstellar's 3 hours. Formulaic, not very funny, not very engaging, and I almost turned it off numerous times. I did make it through to the end.
I needed a complete palette cleansing after that, so I decided to go with Fast Five. I have never seen a Fast and Furious movie. They looked stupid when they first started coming out and the reviews matched my preconceptions. However I have heard from numerous sources that they start getting really good with #5. The trailer for #7 recently came out and that was mind-blowing. So I decided to watch Fast Five to give the series a chance. That was also a 2 hour thrill ride. Of course all logic and need for a story goes flying out the window. That's okay though because the stunts and action are amazing. So much fun. The 6th one will be making its appearance soon.
Its hard to give an accurate weight update as my bathroom scale stopped being accurate. I will weigh myself twice and get readings that are almost 2 pounds apart. So I am not sure what to think. My best guess is the scale currently goes up to 294. I may have to invest in a new scale.
Overall Interstellar gets 290 out of 296.
Save the Date gets 100 out of 295.
Fast Five gets 240 out of 294.
Days: 53
Movies: 48
Minutes: 4633
Miles: 256.2
Pound: 11
Save the Date, a rom-com on netflix was up next. This one was not fun at all. These 90 minutes seemed much longer than Interstellar's 3 hours. Formulaic, not very funny, not very engaging, and I almost turned it off numerous times. I did make it through to the end.
I needed a complete palette cleansing after that, so I decided to go with Fast Five. I have never seen a Fast and Furious movie. They looked stupid when they first started coming out and the reviews matched my preconceptions. However I have heard from numerous sources that they start getting really good with #5. The trailer for #7 recently came out and that was mind-blowing. So I decided to watch Fast Five to give the series a chance. That was also a 2 hour thrill ride. Of course all logic and need for a story goes flying out the window. That's okay though because the stunts and action are amazing. So much fun. The 6th one will be making its appearance soon.
Its hard to give an accurate weight update as my bathroom scale stopped being accurate. I will weigh myself twice and get readings that are almost 2 pounds apart. So I am not sure what to think. My best guess is the scale currently goes up to 294. I may have to invest in a new scale.
Overall Interstellar gets 290 out of 296.
Save the Date gets 100 out of 295.
Fast Five gets 240 out of 294.
Days: 53
Movies: 48
Minutes: 4633
Miles: 256.2
Pound: 11
Wednesday, March 18, 2015
Day 49: Star Wars Rebels (Season Finale)
I watched the final four episodes of Star Wars Rebels today. It took 99 minutes and 5.4 miles. It was completely nerd heaven though! No spoilers here, but the the first season ended on an incredible note. It was great to see amazing action, new characters, the return of very familiar characters, and that great sense of Star Wars fantasy space opera adventure.
I feel time wise I will count my Star Wars Rebels TV season as 3 movies. I believe the time works out about right. I watched 13 episodes that took around 300 minutes. That seems like about 3 movies worth to me.
Overall I give Star Wars Rebels a 285 out of 296.
Yes, the scale still goes up to 296. I can't seem to shake that stress eating. I teach math in 7th and 8th grade. The state tests are quickly approaching and I am putting a lot of pressure on myself to make sure these students have a chance to do their very best. So stress equals more eating. I am just glad that I am walking for 1.5-2 hours a day so my scale isn't going up any more than it is .
So totals so far....
Days: 49
Movies: 45
Minutes: 4282
Miles: 236.2
Pounds: 9
I feel time wise I will count my Star Wars Rebels TV season as 3 movies. I believe the time works out about right. I watched 13 episodes that took around 300 minutes. That seems like about 3 movies worth to me.
Overall I give Star Wars Rebels a 285 out of 296.
Yes, the scale still goes up to 296. I can't seem to shake that stress eating. I teach math in 7th and 8th grade. The state tests are quickly approaching and I am putting a lot of pressure on myself to make sure these students have a chance to do their very best. So stress equals more eating. I am just glad that I am walking for 1.5-2 hours a day so my scale isn't going up any more than it is .
So totals so far....
Days: 49
Movies: 45
Minutes: 4282
Miles: 236.2
Pounds: 9
Tuesday, March 17, 2015
Day 47-48: Star Wars Rebels
I have made a out of the box decision with my Netflix workout plan. I have gone rogue. I am using Amazon Prime, and I am watching a TV series. I am binging my way through Star Wars Rebels. I am currently through the first 10 episodes. It is everything I had hoped the prequels were going to be. It is engaging, funny, and great storytelling. The animation is a little questionable at times, but it has moments of beauty. One of my favorite parts is listening to the score again.
Workout wise, things have been downhill. Life is busy and the last two days have had shorter walks and one missed walk. The last two days have totaled about 130 minutes and just over 7 miles. I do find that the switch the TV shows has lessened my workout desire. With a movie a day goal, there was a sense of urgency each and every day. While I watch Star Wars episodes, there are only 22 minutes long. I should probably watch 3 every time I walk. I haven't done that yet.
Hopefully the workouts get longer, and the calorie intake gets smaller.
Days: 48
Movies: 42
TV shows: 9
Minutes: 4193
Miles: 230.8
Pounds: 9
Workout wise, things have been downhill. Life is busy and the last two days have had shorter walks and one missed walk. The last two days have totaled about 130 minutes and just over 7 miles. I do find that the switch the TV shows has lessened my workout desire. With a movie a day goal, there was a sense of urgency each and every day. While I watch Star Wars episodes, there are only 22 minutes long. I should probably watch 3 every time I walk. I haven't done that yet.
Hopefully the workouts get longer, and the calorie intake gets smaller.
Days: 48
Movies: 42
TV shows: 9
Minutes: 4193
Miles: 230.8
Pounds: 9
Sunday, March 15, 2015
Days 43-46: Donnie Brasco, Serpico & Star Wars Rebels
The last couple days have not gone great. My workout have not been regular and the eating has gone up. Stress is the main culprit again. It always seems to be. However, I did watch a couple great crime dramas with Al Pacino.
I started with Donnie Brasco and then went to Serpico. Both of them were on Netflix. Al Pacino and Johnny Depp were in Donnie Brasco. This might have been the last time Johnny Depp was really good in something. Al Pacino was great as the aging mobster. Definitely worth a watch for anybody who loves mob movies. I found myself thinking that Al Pacino's character in this movie was an alternate reality Rocky Balboa who never got a shot against Creed. It creates a whole new layer to the movie if you keep that in the back of your mind.
Next up was Serpico. This starred a young Al Pacino as a hipster 70s cop who did not want to take any money. It was a pretty bleak picture of 70s New York cops. One of my biggest take aways from this movie was that 70s movies were paced so much slower than the movies of today. Don't get me wrong, I liked this movie, one just has to have a little patience while watching it.
After 2 long crime dramas based on real life I needed a pick-me-up. So I finally decided to cross the line from movies to TV shows. I purchased the first season of Star Wars Rebels. I have heard a lot of amazing things about this show. It totally lived up to the hype. It was funny, it has adventure, it had great action, it had great music, it was Star Wars. It was more Star Wars than the three prequel movies that is for sure. I took in 3 episodes while I walked and it flew by. This is something that any parent could watch with pretty much any kid.
Overall
Donnie Brasco gets 265 out of 295.
Serpico gets 230 out of 295.
Star Wars Rebels gets 270 out of 296 (first three episodes)
Days: 46
Movies: 42
TV Shows: 3
Minutes: 4050
Miles: 223.4
Pounds: 9
I started with Donnie Brasco and then went to Serpico. Both of them were on Netflix. Al Pacino and Johnny Depp were in Donnie Brasco. This might have been the last time Johnny Depp was really good in something. Al Pacino was great as the aging mobster. Definitely worth a watch for anybody who loves mob movies. I found myself thinking that Al Pacino's character in this movie was an alternate reality Rocky Balboa who never got a shot against Creed. It creates a whole new layer to the movie if you keep that in the back of your mind.
Next up was Serpico. This starred a young Al Pacino as a hipster 70s cop who did not want to take any money. It was a pretty bleak picture of 70s New York cops. One of my biggest take aways from this movie was that 70s movies were paced so much slower than the movies of today. Don't get me wrong, I liked this movie, one just has to have a little patience while watching it.
After 2 long crime dramas based on real life I needed a pick-me-up. So I finally decided to cross the line from movies to TV shows. I purchased the first season of Star Wars Rebels. I have heard a lot of amazing things about this show. It totally lived up to the hype. It was funny, it has adventure, it had great action, it had great music, it was Star Wars. It was more Star Wars than the three prequel movies that is for sure. I took in 3 episodes while I walked and it flew by. This is something that any parent could watch with pretty much any kid.
Overall
Donnie Brasco gets 265 out of 295.
Serpico gets 230 out of 295.
Star Wars Rebels gets 270 out of 296 (first three episodes)
Days: 46
Movies: 42
TV Shows: 3
Minutes: 4050
Miles: 223.4
Pounds: 9
Wednesday, March 11, 2015
Day 42: Parallels & Aziz Ansari at MSG
A movie called Parallels quickly rose to the top of my suggested list on Netflix recently. I had really no idea what it was about. I read the brief description about alternate realities and was pretty interested. I recommend this little 85 minute adventure to anybody who loves well made movies, or TV shows. I am still unclear what this was intended to be. It seems like they shot the first two episodes of a TV series and then decided to make it a movie instead. I don't really care about any of that. This was a riveting 85 minutes full of twists turns and fantastic science fiction. Think of a mix between Quantum Leap and Lost only the leaping is between alternate realities not time, and the mysteries are better than the ones presented on Lost.
The only irritation with this whole movie are the names of the characters. Harold, B and Ronin quickly become Harry, Beatrix and Ronin (Ron). These three names seemed to be plucked directly from Harry Potter. I kept waiting for a Severus, Albus or Hermione to show up. Despite this one minor flaw, the movie was a pure joy to watch. This is saying something. Once I get hung up on something like bad character names I usually can't let it go. That fact that not only did I finish the movie, but really enjoyed it speaks to how well this story is done.
After that movie finished, I had some extra time. So I first finished watching Aziz Ansari's new MSG comedy special. I really enjoy Aziz. I initially discovered his comedy using the free online slacker radio app. He would appear on my comedy channel. I would get little 3-8 minute bits of his routines from his albums. I have to say, that is the perfect way to take in Aziz comedy. I have watched and listened to all his specials now, and I still think I enjoy him most in smaller doses. The special had a few huge laughs, and some smaller ones as well, but mostly seemed uneven.
The best news is that the scale no longer goes up to 297!
Parallels gets a 250 out of 295.
Aziz at MSG gets a 220 out of 295.
Days: 42
Movies: 40
Minutes: 3713
Miles: 204.8
Pounds: 10
The only irritation with this whole movie are the names of the characters. Harold, B and Ronin quickly become Harry, Beatrix and Ronin (Ron). These three names seemed to be plucked directly from Harry Potter. I kept waiting for a Severus, Albus or Hermione to show up. Despite this one minor flaw, the movie was a pure joy to watch. This is saying something. Once I get hung up on something like bad character names I usually can't let it go. That fact that not only did I finish the movie, but really enjoyed it speaks to how well this story is done.
After that movie finished, I had some extra time. So I first finished watching Aziz Ansari's new MSG comedy special. I really enjoy Aziz. I initially discovered his comedy using the free online slacker radio app. He would appear on my comedy channel. I would get little 3-8 minute bits of his routines from his albums. I have to say, that is the perfect way to take in Aziz comedy. I have watched and listened to all his specials now, and I still think I enjoy him most in smaller doses. The special had a few huge laughs, and some smaller ones as well, but mostly seemed uneven.
The best news is that the scale no longer goes up to 297!
Parallels gets a 250 out of 295.
Aziz at MSG gets a 220 out of 295.
Days: 42
Movies: 40
Minutes: 3713
Miles: 204.8
Pounds: 10
Tuesday, March 10, 2015
Day 40-41: Ultimate Avengers 2 & Use Your Van
I have been having some stomach trouble lately. About 5 years ago, I was diagnosed with what the doctors called "lazy stomach." My stomach digests food really slowly. It only causes problems for me when I combine stress, too much pop, and overeating. The bad part is that stress causes too much pop and overeating for me. Also teaching junior high students only causes stress constantly, so I will probably be fine. So every once in a while my stomach rebels and fills up with acid and I feel really sick. I tried to walk through it yesterday and only got 40 miles before having to get off the treadmill. Today I felt better and got in 80 minutes and 4.5 miles in. I had a really good eating day so I have high hopes for the weigh in tomorrow.
Yesterday I watched the animated movie Ultimate Avengers 2. This story features the Black Panther character heavily throughout the story. I am excited for him to appear in the next Captain American Civil War movie. While I hope Spiderman makes an appearance as well, I hope it does not diminish the role of Black Panther. I am going on another super hero kick as I simply can not wait for the new Avengers movie. At this point my expectations are so high they can not possibly be met.
So today I tried to calm myself down a little bit with a 2004 music documentary called Use Your Van. This movie features my favorite local musician Mason Jennings. He started to come to fame right at the end of my college time. He would often come and play our local coffee shop. I have seen him grow as an artist and person over the last 15 years or so. This documentary follows him and his band as they tour on his 4th record Use Your Voice. I should mention that the only reason I get to watch this is because my good friend from HS was cleaning out his DVD collection and sent this my way. A good music documentary about a fantastic singer/songwritier.
However after the documentary was over again I turned on a YouTube show called AMC Heroes. I regularly watch the YouTube show AMC Movie Talk about various movie news. This was the debut show of AMC Heroes that talks about everything superhero movies. So overall superhero fever continues to run wild here.
Ultimate Avengers 2 gets 230 out of 297.
Use Your Van gets 250 out of 297.
(yes the scale seems stuck on 297...)
Days: 41
Movies: 38
Minutes: 3609
Miles: 198.9
Pounds: 8
Yesterday I watched the animated movie Ultimate Avengers 2. This story features the Black Panther character heavily throughout the story. I am excited for him to appear in the next Captain American Civil War movie. While I hope Spiderman makes an appearance as well, I hope it does not diminish the role of Black Panther. I am going on another super hero kick as I simply can not wait for the new Avengers movie. At this point my expectations are so high they can not possibly be met.
So today I tried to calm myself down a little bit with a 2004 music documentary called Use Your Van. This movie features my favorite local musician Mason Jennings. He started to come to fame right at the end of my college time. He would often come and play our local coffee shop. I have seen him grow as an artist and person over the last 15 years or so. This documentary follows him and his band as they tour on his 4th record Use Your Voice. I should mention that the only reason I get to watch this is because my good friend from HS was cleaning out his DVD collection and sent this my way. A good music documentary about a fantastic singer/songwritier.
However after the documentary was over again I turned on a YouTube show called AMC Heroes. I regularly watch the YouTube show AMC Movie Talk about various movie news. This was the debut show of AMC Heroes that talks about everything superhero movies. So overall superhero fever continues to run wild here.
Ultimate Avengers 2 gets 230 out of 297.
Use Your Van gets 250 out of 297.
(yes the scale seems stuck on 297...)
Days: 41
Movies: 38
Minutes: 3609
Miles: 198.9
Pounds: 8
Sunday, March 8, 2015
Day 39: Pride & Prejudice
During the month of February our staff would recommend books for I Love to Read month to the rest of the staff. At one point I mentioned Seth Graham-Smith's Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. I recommended the book for anybody who found Pride and Prejudice "a little boring." Within minutes I had an email from my principal proclaiming that the book was not boring. He even brought me his DVD copy which he happened to have on him. Well I thought today was as good a day as ever to watch.
To be honest I wasn't expecting much. I had tried to read the original Jane Austen classic a couple of times, never having made it more than half way through. I thought it was going to be a brutal 2 hour walk on the treadmilll.
I was initially taken back at how amazing the cast was. Keira Knightly, Donald Sutherland, Rosamund Pike, Jena Malone and Carey Mulligan are all amazing. They are indeed great here as well. This movie is very well made. It was absolutely stunningingly beautiful to watch. Not only the scenary but the craft of some of the long takes used in various scenes was a thing of beauty. I am not sure I would have even liked this movie 5 years ago. This movie made me laugh and cry. I will probaby try to read the book again, however I may start with re-reading the zombie version first.
Pride and Prejudice gets a 260 out of 297 (because that is what the scale currently goes up to).
Days: 39
Movies: 36
Minutes: 3488
Miles: 192.2
Pounds: 8
To be honest I wasn't expecting much. I had tried to read the original Jane Austen classic a couple of times, never having made it more than half way through. I thought it was going to be a brutal 2 hour walk on the treadmilll.
I was initially taken back at how amazing the cast was. Keira Knightly, Donald Sutherland, Rosamund Pike, Jena Malone and Carey Mulligan are all amazing. They are indeed great here as well. This movie is very well made. It was absolutely stunningingly beautiful to watch. Not only the scenary but the craft of some of the long takes used in various scenes was a thing of beauty. I am not sure I would have even liked this movie 5 years ago. This movie made me laugh and cry. I will probaby try to read the book again, however I may start with re-reading the zombie version first.
Pride and Prejudice gets a 260 out of 297 (because that is what the scale currently goes up to).
Days: 39
Movies: 36
Minutes: 3488
Miles: 192.2
Pounds: 8
Saturday, March 7, 2015
Day 38: Nebraska, Hobbit 3, Goon & Ultimate Avengers
I have been a little busy lately. The good news is that I have still been walking and watching movies. The bad news is that I have eaten poorly. To steal a line from the incredible Kyle Kinane, I have eaten like Doc Brown fuels the Dolorian at the end of Back to the Future. My weight has held steady though so that is good. I did have one day in there where I did not walk at all. I had horrible valid excuses in both the morning and the night. It just made me feel worse though.
Over the past few days I have taken in quite a few movies.
Nebraska stars Will Forte and the amazing Bruce Dern as a son and father reconnecting on a trip to Lincoln Nebraska to collect the father's "winnings." At times hilarious, at times painfully slow, but overall a very enjoyable movie.
I then watched the third and final installment of Peter Jackson's Hobbit trilogy. When it was originally in theaters our family went to watch. However we have a 6 year old who is not old enough to watch any Battle of Five Armies. So being the amazing dad that I am, I went and saw the new Annie movie with my 6 year old. (Annie was a piece of garbage by the way). However Hobbit was pretty good. The battle was magnificent and it made a nice conclusion to the trilogy while also serving as a fantastic setup for the Lord of the Rings trilogy, which I want to watch again.
Goon is a 2011 hockey movie based around a true story. Sean Williams Scott (of American Pie fame) plays a hockey player whose main job is to fight the other team. Scott is surprisingly good in this role. Liev Schreiber is also very good as a legendary hockey player brute. Surprisingly bad is Jay Baruchel. He is the voice the the main character of How to Train Your Dragon, and played a big part in This is the End. In those movies I liked him a lot. However here he was mostly annoying. I actually found myself making comparing his character to Jar Jar Binks. I couldn't figure out if it was the writing or the acting or the directing. I just found that whenever his character was on screen, I wanted him off screen. However overall the Goon movie was surprisingly good and enjoyable.
The third and hopefully final trailer for Avengers Age of Ultron was released. So I again needed to watch a superhero movie. The animated Ultimate Avengers satisfied the craving. Based on Mark Millars Ultimate series, this is another version of the Avengers origin story. Interestingly it contains Ant-Man and Wasp. A nice preview of their upcoming movie as well!
Nebraska gets a 200 out of 296.
Hobbit gets a 250 out of 296.
Goon gets a 220 out of 297.
Ultimate Avengers gets a 225 out of 297.
Days: 38
Movies: 35
Minutes: 3362
Miles: 185.4
Pounds: 8
Over the past few days I have taken in quite a few movies.
Nebraska stars Will Forte and the amazing Bruce Dern as a son and father reconnecting on a trip to Lincoln Nebraska to collect the father's "winnings." At times hilarious, at times painfully slow, but overall a very enjoyable movie.
I then watched the third and final installment of Peter Jackson's Hobbit trilogy. When it was originally in theaters our family went to watch. However we have a 6 year old who is not old enough to watch any Battle of Five Armies. So being the amazing dad that I am, I went and saw the new Annie movie with my 6 year old. (Annie was a piece of garbage by the way). However Hobbit was pretty good. The battle was magnificent and it made a nice conclusion to the trilogy while also serving as a fantastic setup for the Lord of the Rings trilogy, which I want to watch again.
Goon is a 2011 hockey movie based around a true story. Sean Williams Scott (of American Pie fame) plays a hockey player whose main job is to fight the other team. Scott is surprisingly good in this role. Liev Schreiber is also very good as a legendary hockey player brute. Surprisingly bad is Jay Baruchel. He is the voice the the main character of How to Train Your Dragon, and played a big part in This is the End. In those movies I liked him a lot. However here he was mostly annoying. I actually found myself making comparing his character to Jar Jar Binks. I couldn't figure out if it was the writing or the acting or the directing. I just found that whenever his character was on screen, I wanted him off screen. However overall the Goon movie was surprisingly good and enjoyable.
The third and hopefully final trailer for Avengers Age of Ultron was released. So I again needed to watch a superhero movie. The animated Ultimate Avengers satisfied the craving. Based on Mark Millars Ultimate series, this is another version of the Avengers origin story. Interestingly it contains Ant-Man and Wasp. A nice preview of their upcoming movie as well!
Nebraska gets a 200 out of 296.
Hobbit gets a 250 out of 296.
Goon gets a 220 out of 297.
Ultimate Avengers gets a 225 out of 297.
Days: 38
Movies: 35
Minutes: 3362
Miles: 185.4
Pounds: 8
Monday, March 2, 2015
Day 30-32: Pain & Gain, Guardians and Obvious Child
The last couple days have been pretty busy. I am really starting to worry about the treadmill and how long it is going to last. The random slowing down has slowed down, but it has just started making weird noises. It sounds like a belt or something but I know nothing about motors. Over the last 3 days I have watched three great movies though.
Pain & Gain is a crime/true story/comedy with the Rock and Mark Wahlberg. It was a really fun watch. Although it is about body builders and was directed by Michael Bay, it was all good fun.
I then got to watch Guardians of the Galaxy again, but this time with a commentary provided by the movie podcast Modern Myth Media. I have never really listened to commentary tracks too much before. It was pretty fun with some good insight. It did make me want to redo Guardians but this time with James Gunn commentary.
Lastly was Jenny Slate's Obvious Child. A little slow and awkward at times, but it definitely had its funny moments. I was introduced to Jenny Slate on Parks & Rec. Her character there is hilarious and a little annoying. Here she is very charming, but less funny. Overall a fun, but slow movie.
Pain & Gain gets150 out of 297.
GotG gets 270 out of 298.
Obvious Child gets 125 out of 297.
Days: 32
Movies: 31
Minutes: 2942
Miles: 162.3
Pounds: 8
Pain & Gain is a crime/true story/comedy with the Rock and Mark Wahlberg. It was a really fun watch. Although it is about body builders and was directed by Michael Bay, it was all good fun.
I then got to watch Guardians of the Galaxy again, but this time with a commentary provided by the movie podcast Modern Myth Media. I have never really listened to commentary tracks too much before. It was pretty fun with some good insight. It did make me want to redo Guardians but this time with James Gunn commentary.
Lastly was Jenny Slate's Obvious Child. A little slow and awkward at times, but it definitely had its funny moments. I was introduced to Jenny Slate on Parks & Rec. Her character there is hilarious and a little annoying. Here she is very charming, but less funny. Overall a fun, but slow movie.
Pain & Gain gets150 out of 297.
GotG gets 270 out of 298.
Obvious Child gets 125 out of 297.
Days: 32
Movies: 31
Minutes: 2942
Miles: 162.3
Pounds: 8
Friday, February 27, 2015
Day 29: Whiplash
Continuing the music theme, I watched Oscar nominated Whiplash with Miles Teller and JK Simmons. There is a lot of drumming in this movie about a student and mentor. Keeping it short this movie is fantastic. The relationship between Miles and JK is an amazing ride. This movie is well written and superbly acted. Probably not enough has been said about Paul Reiser. JK Simmons is really amazing in this movie. It gets me excited for him possibly being in a Spiderman movie again.
The treadmill seems to be working. I walked for 123 minutes and just over 7 miles today. In the morning it did quit around the 55 minute mark. The treadmill starts to slow down on its own. Then it won't turn off unless I pull the safe key. The good news is my weight is back down to 297. Hopefully I can keep that going and get it to 295 by the 1 month period. That would make 10 pounds down in a month.
Whiplash gets my second highest rating of the last 29 days with a 295 out of 297.
Days: 29
Movies: 28
Minutes: 2622
Miles:144.1
Pounds: 8
The treadmill seems to be working. I walked for 123 minutes and just over 7 miles today. In the morning it did quit around the 55 minute mark. The treadmill starts to slow down on its own. Then it won't turn off unless I pull the safe key. The good news is my weight is back down to 297. Hopefully I can keep that going and get it to 295 by the 1 month period. That would make 10 pounds down in a month.
Whiplash gets my second highest rating of the last 29 days with a 295 out of 297.
Days: 29
Movies: 28
Minutes: 2622
Miles:144.1
Pounds: 8
Day 28: 20 feet from Stardom
Being inspired by the music in the movie Liberal Arts, I continued the music trend and watched the Oscar winning documentary "20 Feet from Stardom." This is the story of a group of backup singers and their triumphs and struggles in the music business. There is some great music in this doc. It made it very easy to walk through this movie.
My treadmill has been acting funny though. I am a little worried about it. I watched the first 70 minutes of this movie and then the treadmill slowed way down without my reducing the speed. Then when I tried to stop the treadmill it wouldnt stop. I had to pull the safety key to get the treadmill to stop. I tried again, but it ended up doing the same thing. Later I finished the movie and I ended up setting the incline to 1 and that might have helped. I am not sure what is going on. I hope it keeps working because I finally have an exercise plan that I am following and any hiccup could derail this whole train.
Overall 20 Feet from Stardom was very enjoyable and should be watched by any music fan.
It gets a 250 out of 299.
Days: 28
Movies: 27
Minutes: 2499
Miles: 137
Pounds: 6
My treadmill has been acting funny though. I am a little worried about it. I watched the first 70 minutes of this movie and then the treadmill slowed way down without my reducing the speed. Then when I tried to stop the treadmill it wouldnt stop. I had to pull the safety key to get the treadmill to stop. I tried again, but it ended up doing the same thing. Later I finished the movie and I ended up setting the incline to 1 and that might have helped. I am not sure what is going on. I hope it keeps working because I finally have an exercise plan that I am following and any hiccup could derail this whole train.
Overall 20 Feet from Stardom was very enjoyable and should be watched by any music fan.
It gets a 250 out of 299.
Days: 28
Movies: 27
Minutes: 2499
Miles: 137
Pounds: 6
Wednesday, February 25, 2015
Day 26 & 27: White Birds In a World & Liberal Arts
Over the last 2 days I have walked 264 minutes and 14.7 miles. My weight went back up to 300 so I am a little determined to get it back down. Although my eating has still not gone down to where it should be.
During the 2 days I watched three very different movies. It started with White Bird in a Blizzard with Young Adult fiction queen Shailene Woodley. While her performance was good, the movie was full of people that were just unlikable. The movie is a mystery of sorts and has a nice little twist but it wasn't very enjoyable to watch. It is hard to watch movies where there are no likable people. Some movies and some TV shows can get away with this, White Bird was not one.
The second movie was In a World with the imeasurably likable Lake Bell. And if you want more than that, the movie has Nick Offerman, Demetri Martin and Tig Notaro. I will watch pretty much anything with those three names attached. Demetri actually does a pretty good job in the movie.
The third movie was Liberal Arts with two amazingly likable people Josh Radnor (Ted from How I met Your Mother) and Elizabeth Olson. The music in this movie alone makes it worthwhile. From the obscure indie music to the classical tracks this movie had me wishing that I had some quality headphones instead of the cheap white apple things I had in my ears. Not to get to spoilery but there is a series of scenes with a classical backing track that is just amazing in this movie. I was planning on walking for an hour tonight, but I had to up that to finish this movie. It was really great.
Whie Bird gets 150 out of 300.
In a World gets 250 out of 299.
Liberal Arts gets 260 out of 299.
Days: 27
Movies: 26
Minutes 2429
Miles: 133
Pounds: 6
During the 2 days I watched three very different movies. It started with White Bird in a Blizzard with Young Adult fiction queen Shailene Woodley. While her performance was good, the movie was full of people that were just unlikable. The movie is a mystery of sorts and has a nice little twist but it wasn't very enjoyable to watch. It is hard to watch movies where there are no likable people. Some movies and some TV shows can get away with this, White Bird was not one.
The second movie was In a World with the imeasurably likable Lake Bell. And if you want more than that, the movie has Nick Offerman, Demetri Martin and Tig Notaro. I will watch pretty much anything with those three names attached. Demetri actually does a pretty good job in the movie.
The third movie was Liberal Arts with two amazingly likable people Josh Radnor (Ted from How I met Your Mother) and Elizabeth Olson. The music in this movie alone makes it worthwhile. From the obscure indie music to the classical tracks this movie had me wishing that I had some quality headphones instead of the cheap white apple things I had in my ears. Not to get to spoilery but there is a series of scenes with a classical backing track that is just amazing in this movie. I was planning on walking for an hour tonight, but I had to up that to finish this movie. It was really great.
Whie Bird gets 150 out of 300.
In a World gets 250 out of 299.
Liberal Arts gets 260 out of 299.
Days: 27
Movies: 26
Minutes 2429
Miles: 133
Pounds: 6
Monday, February 23, 2015
Day 25: Fluffy Movie
It has been a week of new Netflix releases. Yesterday was Robocop and today is the Fluffy movie with Gabriel Iglesias. It seemed very appropriate as the comic known as Fluffy talked about how he has lost 100 pounds. This was the main content of the first 10-15 minutes of the stand-up routine. It was pretty funny and obviously hit home as I too need to lose weight. So my new goal is to weigh less than this comic. As of when he made the movie he was around 350. I am sure he weighs less now. So my new motivation is to stay lighter than the comic famous for being big.
The movie overall fell pretty flat in the middle as he talked about his son and other family issues. As a teacher, I just couldn't help but think about this in terms of bad parenting decisions. However the set does end on an emotional and funny story about fathers. It had my tearing up on the treadmill.
Also I did tear it up on the treadmill today as I walked 121 minutes and 6.8 miles today. My legs hurt, but I hope to keep it going. Eating wise has been a bad couple days. Again I am scared to weigh in. We will see how tomorrow morning goes.
Overall the set by Gabriel Iglesias has some great moments, but long stretches of not so great moments. I think this was the weakest set I have seen from him. Maybe it is becoming more and more apparent that his audience is not me. This is entirely possible.
The Fluffy Movie gets a 200 out of 297.
Days: 25
Movies: 23
Minutes: 2165
Miles:118.3
Pounds: 8
The movie overall fell pretty flat in the middle as he talked about his son and other family issues. As a teacher, I just couldn't help but think about this in terms of bad parenting decisions. However the set does end on an emotional and funny story about fathers. It had my tearing up on the treadmill.
Also I did tear it up on the treadmill today as I walked 121 minutes and 6.8 miles today. My legs hurt, but I hope to keep it going. Eating wise has been a bad couple days. Again I am scared to weigh in. We will see how tomorrow morning goes.
Overall the set by Gabriel Iglesias has some great moments, but long stretches of not so great moments. I think this was the weakest set I have seen from him. Maybe it is becoming more and more apparent that his audience is not me. This is entirely possible.
The Fluffy Movie gets a 200 out of 297.
Days: 25
Movies: 23
Minutes: 2165
Miles:118.3
Pounds: 8
Sunday, February 22, 2015
Day 24: Robocop & McFarland USA
This Oscar Sunday I chose two movies that are on the opposite sides of the movie universe. Robocop, the 2014 reboot was an action packed and plotless fun ride. McFarland USA was an emotional true story adaptation that had me in tears numerous times. The most I have liked Kevin Costner since his NFL draft movie. Robocop was everything you would expect it to be, except it was actually pretty fun to watch. Great action and pretty decent acting for the popcorn movie that it was. Samuel L Jackson and Gary Oldman were pleasant surprises in their small roles.
Exercise wise it was a good day with 112 minutes on the treadmill and 6.2 miles. Eating wise it was sketchy. It always is on movie theater days. I love buttered popcorn. Other than the super large popcorn, I actually did pretty well. Too much pop as usual, but I can live with my choices today.
Overall Robocop gets 225 out of 297 for pure action packed fun.
McFarland USA gets a 240 out of 297 for a classic emotional Disney true story.
Days: 24
Movies : 22
Minutes: 2044
Miles: 111.5
Pounds: 8
Exercise wise it was a good day with 112 minutes on the treadmill and 6.2 miles. Eating wise it was sketchy. It always is on movie theater days. I love buttered popcorn. Other than the super large popcorn, I actually did pretty well. Too much pop as usual, but I can live with my choices today.
Overall Robocop gets 225 out of 297 for pure action packed fun.
McFarland USA gets a 240 out of 297 for a classic emotional Disney true story.
Days: 24
Movies : 22
Minutes: 2044
Miles: 111.5
Pounds: 8
Saturday, February 21, 2015
Day 23: Girl Most Likely
And now for something completely different as I dove into the sad world of Girl Most Likely. This Kristen Wiig. She is marvelous in the role. Matt Dillon is also in this with Annette Benning. Both are great as they always are. Matt Dillon's character is a little reminiscent of his Something About Mary Character...not sure what though. Darren Criss was the male love interest and he looked familiar the whole movie but I could not place him. After walking I looked him up and he was on Glee (which I watched for a couple seasons). He was good as well.
Overall another great workout and eating day so far. I am traveling to see my nephew's basketball tournament today and that will take up the entire day. So I did my entire walking workout in one shot. Hence the nice 98 minute movie choice. 5.3 miles in those 98 minutes. They went by pretty fast considering the movie was a little slow-paced and sad. Don't get me wrong, I love sad and heartbreaking movies. Actually I like them way more than my wife does. I once made her go to a Nicholoas Sparks movie on my birthday. Yep, that happened. The movie was good by the way, unless you ask her. She said I have never even heard of this movie, the opening credits started and the Sparks name came up, and she checked out.
Mild Spoiler for Girl Most Likely ahead:
Near the end of the movie Kristen Wiig's character puts on a big gray exoskeleton suit made by her brother. I will have to say that this scene was way better than Paul Giomatti's scene as Rhino in the amazing spiderman 2.
I give Girl Most Likely 200 out of 297 (as that is what the scale now goes up to!)
Days: 23
Movies: 20
Minutes: 1932
Miles: 105.3
Pounds: 8
Overall another great workout and eating day so far. I am traveling to see my nephew's basketball tournament today and that will take up the entire day. So I did my entire walking workout in one shot. Hence the nice 98 minute movie choice. 5.3 miles in those 98 minutes. They went by pretty fast considering the movie was a little slow-paced and sad. Don't get me wrong, I love sad and heartbreaking movies. Actually I like them way more than my wife does. I once made her go to a Nicholoas Sparks movie on my birthday. Yep, that happened. The movie was good by the way, unless you ask her. She said I have never even heard of this movie, the opening credits started and the Sparks name came up, and she checked out.
Mild Spoiler for Girl Most Likely ahead:
Near the end of the movie Kristen Wiig's character puts on a big gray exoskeleton suit made by her brother. I will have to say that this scene was way better than Paul Giomatti's scene as Rhino in the amazing spiderman 2.
I give Girl Most Likely 200 out of 297 (as that is what the scale now goes up to!)
Days: 23
Movies: 20
Minutes: 1932
Miles: 105.3
Pounds: 8
Friday, February 20, 2015
Day 22: Thor: The Dark World
4 hours and almost 14 miles have been dedcated to the Thor movies over the last two days. It has been good to watch both of them back to back. It made the differences in tone and story so very obvious. The cornerstone of these movies are Thor and Loki. Their relationship is probably the most interesting one in the MCU at this moment. I can't wait for Thor 3 Ragnarok. Hopefully it is a fitting climax to the Thor trilogy.
I had a great eating day and workout day and got the scale to go under 300 for the first time in a while. So that milestone was worth celebrating. Also reached 100 miles in this journey.
Thor gets a 245 out of 299 (because that is what the scale currently goes up to!)
Not sure where to go next movie wise.... We will see what tomorrow holds.
Days:22
Movies: 19
Minutes: 1834
Miles: 100
Pounds: 6
Thursday, February 19, 2015
Day 21: Thor
The Marvel Cinematic Universe continues to be explored in depth. It almost seems a little sad at this point. Comic Book Guy on the Simpsons sad. However the first Thor movie is the Best. Thor. Movie. Ever. Great story. Chris Hemsworth and Tim Hiddelston are perfect. I was surprised as to how poorly the graphics have held up. They seemed a little poorly done at times.
I also realized I never saw the after-credits scene in the theater. I am sure I walked out to soon. I did see it somewhere once, but it must have been on the internet. I love the after credit scenes. Partly because I love movie trailers almost as much as movies themselves.
We seem to be back on track eating and workout wise. Walked in a total of 7.2 miles today while watching Thor and some SNL40 clips. Today was a good day for eating, so I am excited to see what the weigh in says tomorrow morning.
Thor gets a 250 out of 301 rating.
Days: 21
Movies: 18
Minutes: 1728
Miles: 94.3
Pounds: 4
I also realized I never saw the after-credits scene in the theater. I am sure I walked out to soon. I did see it somewhere once, but it must have been on the internet. I love the after credit scenes. Partly because I love movie trailers almost as much as movies themselves.
We seem to be back on track eating and workout wise. Walked in a total of 7.2 miles today while watching Thor and some SNL40 clips. Today was a good day for eating, so I am excited to see what the weigh in says tomorrow morning.
Thor gets a 250 out of 301 rating.
Days: 21
Movies: 18
Minutes: 1728
Miles: 94.3
Pounds: 4
Wednesday, February 18, 2015
Day 18: Kingsman: Secret Service
In my effort to see 365 movies in 365 days, I am counting on seeing some movies in the theater to catch me up. On Sunday I saw Kingsman: Secret Service. I wasnt sure what to expect going in beyond that it was not 50 Shades of Grey.
I was completely blown away on how good Kingsman was. I didn't know it was Matthew Vaughn, I didn't know it was based on a graphic novel, and I didn't know Mark Hamill would be in it. However this movie was simply amazing. Great action, great humor, and great writing. The movie definitely earns its R-rating through violence alone, but tack on some crude and hilarious humor as well.
I didn't really know the name Matthew Vaughn too well. However he has done some of my favorite movies. He was behind Kick-Ass and Stardust. Both amazing movies. If your family has not seen Stardust yet, I highly recommend it. It is currently available on Amazon Prime and Netflix. It is a fantastic and underrated fantasy adventure.
I give Kingsman a 288 out of 301.
Days: 20
Movies: 17
I was completely blown away on how good Kingsman was. I didn't know it was Matthew Vaughn, I didn't know it was based on a graphic novel, and I didn't know Mark Hamill would be in it. However this movie was simply amazing. Great action, great humor, and great writing. The movie definitely earns its R-rating through violence alone, but tack on some crude and hilarious humor as well.
I didn't really know the name Matthew Vaughn too well. However he has done some of my favorite movies. He was behind Kick-Ass and Stardust. Both amazing movies. If your family has not seen Stardust yet, I highly recommend it. It is currently available on Amazon Prime and Netflix. It is a fantastic and underrated fantasy adventure.
I give Kingsman a 288 out of 301.
Days: 20
Movies: 17
Day 20: Barefoot
To continue my movies about crazy people, I watched Barefoot starring Evan Rachel Wood and Scott Speedman. This movie seemed to be the opposite of Silver Linings Playbook which was smart, well written, and superbly directed and acted. I know Evan Rachel Wood is talented. I have seen the talent in many of her other movies: Across the Universe, King of California, The Wrestler, just to name my favorites. I do not know much about Scott Speedman. Looking at his IMDB page he seems to play the eye candy in a lot of his roles. Sadly, that is really all they both serve as here.
I remember listening to an interview with Kevin Fiege about how they structured Iron Man. They flipped the timline in the first 10 minutes so you could see a likable Tony Stark. If they hadn't you would have been exposed to a very unlikable Tony Stark as your first impression and you might want him to rot away in that cave. However, by flipping the timeline you get a good first impression and root for him through his struggles. Barefoot spends the first 45 minutes of the film trying to make sure you know that Scott Speedman's character has no redeeming value. He is so unlikable I found myself rooting against the two main characters getting together. In the last 30 minutes they do a couple things to try to make you root for him, but also continue to make sure you know he is an idiot. The lone acting spotlight was of course the amazing JK Simmons. Always great.
Workout wise, yesterday was bad as I took the evening off of walking because my right big toe is sore. Then I had to stay home with my sick daughter and that always leads to bad eating decisions. I am a little afraid to weigh myself. Hopefully a day of fasting for Ash Wednesday will even out the fat tuesday that took place.
Overall, I rate Barefoot a 100 out of 301.
Days: 20
Movies: 16
Minutes: 1593
Miles: 87.1
Pounds: 4
I remember listening to an interview with Kevin Fiege about how they structured Iron Man. They flipped the timline in the first 10 minutes so you could see a likable Tony Stark. If they hadn't you would have been exposed to a very unlikable Tony Stark as your first impression and you might want him to rot away in that cave. However, by flipping the timeline you get a good first impression and root for him through his struggles. Barefoot spends the first 45 minutes of the film trying to make sure you know that Scott Speedman's character has no redeeming value. He is so unlikable I found myself rooting against the two main characters getting together. In the last 30 minutes they do a couple things to try to make you root for him, but also continue to make sure you know he is an idiot. The lone acting spotlight was of course the amazing JK Simmons. Always great.
Workout wise, yesterday was bad as I took the evening off of walking because my right big toe is sore. Then I had to stay home with my sick daughter and that always leads to bad eating decisions. I am a little afraid to weigh myself. Hopefully a day of fasting for Ash Wednesday will even out the fat tuesday that took place.
Overall, I rate Barefoot a 100 out of 301.
Days: 20
Movies: 16
Minutes: 1593
Miles: 87.1
Pounds: 4
Tuesday, February 17, 2015
Day 19: Silver Linings Playbook
Apparently I decided that things have been too happy in my movie viewing lately. I clicked on the Oscar nominated Silver Linings Playbook in my Netflix queue. First things first, this is mostly watching two mentally ill characters make bad decision after bad decision. Some of it is comical, some of it is touching, but mostly it is sad. But let's make one thing clear, Bradly Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence are amazing in their roles. Robert DeNiro is even good.
This movie is amazingly written, directed and performed. One of my favorite parts was that throughout the film Jennifer Lawrence's character chases Bradley Cooper's character, figuratively and literally. Near the end of the movie those roles reverse, figuratively and literally. Another good thing about the movie is that Bradley Cooper's character lost a ton of weight by working out, so that is inspiring a little bit. Although it is hard to imagine fat Bradley Cooper. Although when the movie got a little too heavy handed and dark, it was fun to picture Bradley Cooper's character replaced with Rocket Racoon from Guardians of the Galaxy (who Bradley Cooper voiced). I would actually like to see a reedited version of this movie with a CGI Rocket. That would make this movie much more watchable. Don't get me wrong, I thought this movie was very well done, I just don't ever want to see it again.
And speaking of bad decisions, I weighed myself today after a very questionable weekend and it was bad news. Up a pound and a half. So the scale again reads 301. This probably makes me more sad than the movie. I thought I was going to get under 300, which is psychologically a huge goal to conquer. Now I have taken a big step backwards.
Overall Silver Linings Playbook gets a 280 out of 301.
Days: 19
Movies: 15
Minutes: 1508
Miles: 82.6
Pounds: 4
This movie is amazingly written, directed and performed. One of my favorite parts was that throughout the film Jennifer Lawrence's character chases Bradley Cooper's character, figuratively and literally. Near the end of the movie those roles reverse, figuratively and literally. Another good thing about the movie is that Bradley Cooper's character lost a ton of weight by working out, so that is inspiring a little bit. Although it is hard to imagine fat Bradley Cooper. Although when the movie got a little too heavy handed and dark, it was fun to picture Bradley Cooper's character replaced with Rocket Racoon from Guardians of the Galaxy (who Bradley Cooper voiced). I would actually like to see a reedited version of this movie with a CGI Rocket. That would make this movie much more watchable. Don't get me wrong, I thought this movie was very well done, I just don't ever want to see it again.
And speaking of bad decisions, I weighed myself today after a very questionable weekend and it was bad news. Up a pound and a half. So the scale again reads 301. This probably makes me more sad than the movie. I thought I was going to get under 300, which is psychologically a huge goal to conquer. Now I have taken a big step backwards.
Overall Silver Linings Playbook gets a 280 out of 301.
Days: 19
Movies: 15
Minutes: 1508
Miles: 82.6
Pounds: 4
Day 17/18: Captain America The Winter Solder
Continuing the super hero theme, and my celebration of the Spiderman/Marvel announcement I re-watched Captain America 2. This movie is my second favorite of the MCU. This is a little strange as Captain America 1 is probably my least favorite of the MCU. This movie is really setting the stage for Civil War. This really becomes even more glaring on the rewatch. I am not sure what is going ot happen in Avengers 2, but I can already see the line forming between Iron Man and Captain. Seeing Chris Evans go up against Tony Stark will be amazing, especially with Spiderman, Blank Panther and who knows who else along for the ride.
The walking continues to go well, but watching these super long movies has thrown off the routine. A movie a day was a goal that was easy to track. Now I am off that routine as some of these movies have taken longer than that to watch, and I have had some busy days with only 1 walking session. The pounds continue to come off slowly, mostly because my eating is not under control yet. I am making slow progress in this area, but have constant little relapses. For example, I ate at a pizza buffet on a Saturday and did well. In fact I lost half a pound that day. However, the next day my family ended up at a breakfast buffet. This did not go so well. I am trying to look at it as doing well 50% of the time. I am afraid to weigh myself after that weekend debacle.
Captain America 2 gets a 295 out of 300 (as hopefully that is what my scale still goes up to)
Days: 18
Movies: 14
Minutes: 1449
Miles: 79.4
Pounds: 5 (hopefully)
The walking continues to go well, but watching these super long movies has thrown off the routine. A movie a day was a goal that was easy to track. Now I am off that routine as some of these movies have taken longer than that to watch, and I have had some busy days with only 1 walking session. The pounds continue to come off slowly, mostly because my eating is not under control yet. I am making slow progress in this area, but have constant little relapses. For example, I ate at a pizza buffet on a Saturday and did well. In fact I lost half a pound that day. However, the next day my family ended up at a breakfast buffet. This did not go so well. I am trying to look at it as doing well 50% of the time. I am afraid to weigh myself after that weekend debacle.
Captain America 2 gets a 295 out of 300 (as hopefully that is what my scale still goes up to)
Days: 18
Movies: 14
Minutes: 1449
Miles: 79.4
Pounds: 5 (hopefully)
Saturday, February 14, 2015
Day 15/16: The Avengers
I am really excited to see Spiderman joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe. So after watching The Amazing Spiderman, I went right into the Avengers. Seeing him join this team, or even just Captain America and Iron Man in the Civil War movie is going to be fantastic. I sometimes forget how amazing the Avengers movie is. It is pretty much a perfect superhero movie. Watching the movie with headphones and no other distractions was nice. I even caught some things I had never seen or heard before. Of course the great scenes still get me. They make me laugh, cry and of course make my jaw drop in awe.
The last couple days have been busy at work and home so walking has happened less. With increases in stress come increases in eating as well. But thankfully the slow weight loss continues. I know to keep it going I am going have to get more control over my impulses. Hopefully success will help with that.
Overall Averngers gets a 300 out of 301. One of my favorite movies of all time.
Days: 16
Movies: 13
Minutes:1275
Miles: 70
Pounds: 4
The last couple days have been busy at work and home so walking has happened less. With increases in stress come increases in eating as well. But thankfully the slow weight loss continues. I know to keep it going I am going have to get more control over my impulses. Hopefully success will help with that.
Overall Averngers gets a 300 out of 301. One of my favorite movies of all time.
Days: 16
Movies: 13
Minutes:1275
Miles: 70
Pounds: 4
Thursday, February 12, 2015
Day 14: The Amazing Spiderman
With the amazing news this weeks that Spiderman will appear in a Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) film and be rebooted (again), I thought I would revisit the Andrew Garfield Amazing Spiderman movie. This is my favorite of the Spiderman movies we have had over the last 20 years. Although it has been awhile since I have seen the Sam Rami trilogy. While those first two Rami movies might have been better made, I much prefer Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone to Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst. Andrew Garfield is the best Spiderman we have ever had onscreen. The only sad news about the Sony/Marvel deal is that he is out as Spiderman.
Revisiting the movie was a good experience. The movie is solid, although after watching Amazing Spiderman 2 crapfest in the theater, I did see some foreshadowings in the first one.
Exercise wise, yesterday was a good day. 101 minutes and 5.7 miles. I pushed myself pretty hard and feel good about that. I am starting to get a little soreness in my left ankle. So I will have to keep an eye on that. Eating wise went pretty well yesterday. We have gone to making some calorie friendly soups for work lunch. My wife made a glorious squash soup and I made an okay red pepper bisque. Also, I am getting a little better about eating at night. It helps to have some fruit around to eat instead of something "carby." Pomegranites have been my choice of late. They are tasty and take a while to eat so that makes them perfect for a nighttime snack.
I did not finish the Spiderman movie because it is so long. However I will finish it tomorrow. Not sure if I will follow it up with the Sami Rami trilogy or maybe the Avengers to see them back to back so I can try to get a clearer picture of how these two universes will mesh. It seems it might be a superhero heavy movie week for me, which is always a fun time.
I will not rate The Amazing Spiderman as I have not finished it yet. However the scale still goes to 302.
Days: 14
Movies: 11.6
Minutes: 1123
Miles: 61.8
Pounds Lost: 3
Revisiting the movie was a good experience. The movie is solid, although after watching Amazing Spiderman 2 crapfest in the theater, I did see some foreshadowings in the first one.
Exercise wise, yesterday was a good day. 101 minutes and 5.7 miles. I pushed myself pretty hard and feel good about that. I am starting to get a little soreness in my left ankle. So I will have to keep an eye on that. Eating wise went pretty well yesterday. We have gone to making some calorie friendly soups for work lunch. My wife made a glorious squash soup and I made an okay red pepper bisque. Also, I am getting a little better about eating at night. It helps to have some fruit around to eat instead of something "carby." Pomegranites have been my choice of late. They are tasty and take a while to eat so that makes them perfect for a nighttime snack.
I did not finish the Spiderman movie because it is so long. However I will finish it tomorrow. Not sure if I will follow it up with the Sami Rami trilogy or maybe the Avengers to see them back to back so I can try to get a clearer picture of how these two universes will mesh. It seems it might be a superhero heavy movie week for me, which is always a fun time.
I will not rate The Amazing Spiderman as I have not finished it yet. However the scale still goes to 302.
Days: 14
Movies: 11.6
Minutes: 1123
Miles: 61.8
Pounds Lost: 3
Tuesday, February 10, 2015
Day 13: Three Days to Kill
Coming off the fantastic action movie John Wick, I thought I would continue the action movie trend with Three Days to Kill. The good news is that it was long and I walked 113 minutes today and 6 miles. This got me over the 1000 minute mark so far with my Netflix diet.
The movie was terrible. It wasn't really Kevin Costner either. It was the script, directing and pretty much everything else. Although Hailee Steinfeld as the daughter was good, and Amber Heard was good as whatever she was supposed to be. As the initial credits were rolling I saw written by Luc Besson. I recognized his name but I couldnt place from where. I believe I first became aware of him after watching last summer's crapfest Lucy, which he also wrote. After digging around on his IMDB page I realized I should just stay away from his movies. The only exception was that he wrote the Professional which I rather enjoyed. Although that was over 20 years ago.
As far as the day goes, school was closed today because of weather. So I was home the whole day. This is always bad for my eating. I need routine, and lounging around the house all day with my children is not the routine that is helpful for controlling my calorie intake. So I am sure my scale will be back up tomorrow. However, for today it was down to 302, so that is (was) progress.
All in all I give Three Days to Kill a 100 out of 302.
Days: 13
Movies: 11
Pounds Lost: 3
Minutes: 1022
Miles: 56.1
The movie was terrible. It wasn't really Kevin Costner either. It was the script, directing and pretty much everything else. Although Hailee Steinfeld as the daughter was good, and Amber Heard was good as whatever she was supposed to be. As the initial credits were rolling I saw written by Luc Besson. I recognized his name but I couldnt place from where. I believe I first became aware of him after watching last summer's crapfest Lucy, which he also wrote. After digging around on his IMDB page I realized I should just stay away from his movies. The only exception was that he wrote the Professional which I rather enjoyed. Although that was over 20 years ago.
As far as the day goes, school was closed today because of weather. So I was home the whole day. This is always bad for my eating. I need routine, and lounging around the house all day with my children is not the routine that is helpful for controlling my calorie intake. So I am sure my scale will be back up tomorrow. However, for today it was down to 302, so that is (was) progress.
All in all I give Three Days to Kill a 100 out of 302.
Days: 13
Movies: 11
Pounds Lost: 3
Minutes: 1022
Miles: 56.1
Day 12: John Wick
I have been taking Sunday mornings off so far. My body is not used to all this exercise and a day off a week is good to help the body heal. At least that is my excuse to sleep in before church every Sunday morning.
With Monday morning, I needed a kickstart. So I decided to rent a movie. I went with John Wick, the Keaunu Reeves revenge vehicle. I have never been a huge fan of Reeves, I loved the Matrix trilogy (yes all three movies) but other than that he has not done much that I have enjoyed. Okay Bill & Ted was pretty hilarious.
That all being said, John Wick was spectularly awesome. I can not recommend this film highly enough. The action is great, the story great, and the pacing is perfect. Keanu Reeves is amazing as a hitman out for revenge.
The movie was so great, I ended up walking all in one session. It flew by so fast. I walked 95 minutes and 5.5 miles and it seemed like 20 minutes. The movie is fast-paced, full of action, and even has some funny lines in it.
You will notice my scale has not really changed much lately. I am finding it hard to keep my eating under control. With all the walking and keeping my metabolism up, it is harder to control the cravings to eat. If I could just stop eating (mostly at night) I feel the weight would come off faster.
Overall John Wick gets a 275 ouf of 303 (that is still how far up my scale goes up)
Days: 12
Movies: 10
Minutes: 909
Miles: 50.1
With Monday morning, I needed a kickstart. So I decided to rent a movie. I went with John Wick, the Keaunu Reeves revenge vehicle. I have never been a huge fan of Reeves, I loved the Matrix trilogy (yes all three movies) but other than that he has not done much that I have enjoyed. Okay Bill & Ted was pretty hilarious.
That all being said, John Wick was spectularly awesome. I can not recommend this film highly enough. The action is great, the story great, and the pacing is perfect. Keanu Reeves is amazing as a hitman out for revenge.
The movie was so great, I ended up walking all in one session. It flew by so fast. I walked 95 minutes and 5.5 miles and it seemed like 20 minutes. The movie is fast-paced, full of action, and even has some funny lines in it.
You will notice my scale has not really changed much lately. I am finding it hard to keep my eating under control. With all the walking and keeping my metabolism up, it is harder to control the cravings to eat. If I could just stop eating (mostly at night) I feel the weight would come off faster.
Overall John Wick gets a 275 ouf of 303 (that is still how far up my scale goes up)
Days: 12
Movies: 10
Minutes: 909
Miles: 50.1
Sunday, February 8, 2015
Day 10: Guardians of the Galaxy
Coming off the disaster that was Peep World, I finished up Guardians of the Galaxy today. I watched another 45 minutes in the morning and the last 40 minutes in the afternoon. All together 4.5 miles walked today.
This is about the 10th time I have seen GOTG. Every time is it almost as good as the first time. The jokes still hit, the action is still fun, and the characters are amazing. James Gunn is becoming one of my favorite directors. I have heard his movie Slither is great as well. I will have to check that one out soon.
Guardians gets a 270 out of 303. (thats how far up my scale goes)
Days: 10
Movies: 9
Minutes: 814
Miles: 44.6
This is about the 10th time I have seen GOTG. Every time is it almost as good as the first time. The jokes still hit, the action is still fun, and the characters are amazing. James Gunn is becoming one of my favorite directors. I have heard his movie Slither is great as well. I will have to check that one out soon.
Guardians gets a 270 out of 303. (thats how far up my scale goes)
Days: 10
Movies: 9
Minutes: 814
Miles: 44.6
Friday, February 6, 2015
Day 9: Peep World & Guardians
I continued my Rainn Wilson movie track from Super to Peep World, a four-star comedy on Netflix that has Lewis Black, Ron Rifkin (Parks & Rec), Rainn Wilson, Sarah Silverman, Judy Greer (Arrested Development), Michael C Hall (Dexter), Kate Mara and Lesley Ann Warren. I love all these actors. So a comedy with a good rating and this cast had me Super excited.
I had a little trepidation going in because of the running time. Seventy-nine minutes is pretty short for a feature and if a movie can't get to 90 minutes, it makes me worried.
20 minutes into this movie, I was wondering how I would ever make it through this walk. Being so bored during the movie/walk I started thinking about how sore my legs and back were. This is the first bad movie I have picked for this Netflix diet so far. Thirty minutes in I could not take any more. I quickly switched over to my Vudu account and watched 30 minutes of Guardians of the Galaxy. This kept the chain alive by connecting two James Gunn movies, and also this movie is fo fun and amazing.
So tomorrow I will finish up Guardians of the Galaxy.
Peep World does not get a rating because I didn't finish the movie.
My scale still goes up to 303 by the way.
Days: 9
Movies: 8
Minutes: 733
Miles 33.1
Thursday, February 5, 2015
Day 8: Super
Fresh off my Justice League movie, I continued the superhero trend by going with James Gunn's movie Super. I believe the only other Gunn directed movie I have seen is Guardians of the Galaxy. Although I have heard amazing things about his other movies as well. As soon as I saw Rainn Wilson was the lead, I was completely in.
I was going to be busy tonight, so I walked the whole 92 minutes and 5 miles in one session. It went by really fast because Super was so good. Rainn Wilson was awkardly great, the rest of the cast was amazing, and the movie was very James Gunn. The ending is amazingly fun, violent and gross. I did notice the soundtrack was also quite good and wondered if that is a constant theme in all James Gunn movies.
I was pretty sore after walking this morning. My hips, knees and back all ache pretty good. I am hoping that will heal up by tomorrow morning enough for me to walk. My stomach also has to heal up a bit. About 5 years ago I was diagnosed with "lazy stomach." Combine this with stress and bad eating habits, and it can result in an ulcer. I got some medicine this week to help heal the lining of my stomach. It says to take on an empty stomach and not eat 2-3 hours before or after taking the medicince. And the directions say to do this four times a day. So I am supposed to not eat for 6 hours to take this medicine 4 times a day? With this medicine and some walking, losing weight will be so easy.
I think if I lose a bunch of weight doing this I will call it the Nettflix diet. The motto will be: Binge TV shows, not food."
So overall Super gets a 290 out of 303 (because that is what my scale goes up to)
Incidentally the highest rating for any movie yet by percentage.
Days: 8
Movies Watched: 7
Minutes Walked: 673
Miles Walked: 37
I was going to be busy tonight, so I walked the whole 92 minutes and 5 miles in one session. It went by really fast because Super was so good. Rainn Wilson was awkardly great, the rest of the cast was amazing, and the movie was very James Gunn. The ending is amazingly fun, violent and gross. I did notice the soundtrack was also quite good and wondered if that is a constant theme in all James Gunn movies.
I was pretty sore after walking this morning. My hips, knees and back all ache pretty good. I am hoping that will heal up by tomorrow morning enough for me to walk. My stomach also has to heal up a bit. About 5 years ago I was diagnosed with "lazy stomach." Combine this with stress and bad eating habits, and it can result in an ulcer. I got some medicine this week to help heal the lining of my stomach. It says to take on an empty stomach and not eat 2-3 hours before or after taking the medicince. And the directions say to do this four times a day. So I am supposed to not eat for 6 hours to take this medicine 4 times a day? With this medicine and some walking, losing weight will be so easy.
I think if I lose a bunch of weight doing this I will call it the Nettflix diet. The motto will be: Binge TV shows, not food."
So overall Super gets a 290 out of 303 (because that is what my scale goes up to)
Incidentally the highest rating for any movie yet by percentage.
Days: 8
Movies Watched: 7
Minutes Walked: 673
Miles Walked: 37
Wednesday, February 4, 2015
Day 7: Justice League Throne of Atlantis
So I thought that coming off of my last movie about a man wearing a mask (Frank) I would go all out with the mask theme and watch the animated Justice League: Throne of Atlantis. I love super hero movies. This might have started with the classic 80s cartoon SuperFriends. This 75 minute movie seemed like the best Super Friends episode ever. I actually believe I heard about 3 sound effects from the original Super Friends show.
The worst part about the Super Friends show was Aquaman. His weird color scheme and totally lame powers made him no one's favorite. However, in the last couple years, through Injustice Gods Among Us and the New 52 Justice League graphic novels he has become amazing. I read the third Justice League novel about which this movie was based (i think). Aquaman was incredible in the story. The movie softened him a bit. It kind of split the difference between New 52 and SuperFriends Aquaman. This was a little disappointing, but overall the story was fun and I just gets me really excited to get to the DC Justice League movies coming in the next couple years.
The walking was a little shorter than normal, but my body probably needed that. I walked for 75 minutes and about 4 miles today.
Overall i give Throne of Atlantis 240 out of 303 (because that is what my scale goes to)
Days: 7
Movies: 6
Minutes Walked: 581
Miles Walked: 32
Tuesday, February 3, 2015
Day 6: Frank
So on this day I watched continued the cool music trend off of Swingers and watched the movie Frank. It was weird. I am not sure what else to say about it. I don't think I ever want to watch it again. It was full of weirdness, great performances, and some laughs.
Michael Fassbender and Maggie Gylenhal were incredible. The main character throughout the movie was fine at best. I was surprised to see the movie was based on a newspaper article. I really don't know much about the background of this movie, but it seems like it might be fascinating.
I have to admit I did spend some of the movie thinking about the Frank head vs the Magneto helmet,
Overall a 200 out of 304 (because that is what my scale still says...)
Days: 6
Movies: 5
Minutes Walked: 507
Miles Walked: 28
Michael Fassbender and Maggie Gylenhal were incredible. The main character throughout the movie was fine at best. I was surprised to see the movie was based on a newspaper article. I really don't know much about the background of this movie, but it seems like it might be fascinating.
I have to admit I did spend some of the movie thinking about the Frank head vs the Magneto helmet,
Overall a 200 out of 304 (because that is what my scale still says...)
Days: 6
Movies: 5
Minutes Walked: 507
Miles Walked: 28
Monday, February 2, 2015
Day 5: Swingers
Coming off Chef, I thought I would continue down Favreau lane with Swingers. It is remarkable that this was almost 20 years ago when this came out. I had never scene the movie in its entirety. Overall it was very enjoyable. It seemed to have many references to other films, I doubt I caught them all or even close to them all. I only caught and appreciated the obvious ones. The movie seemed almost like an Outsiders movie for the 90s. So many stars, a retro setting, and a gritty feel to the film that was reminiscent of early 80s classic. I might have to revisit some Big Bad Voodoo Daddy's music, or some Squirrel Nut Zippers. The music was great.
Super Bowl Sunday was of course a tough day for eating. I did stay away from snacks for the family that were just going to be eaten by me. We made some puppy chow for the kids, had some goldfish crackers and made a couple brats. We did have some appetizers earlier in the day as we watched Puppy Bowl. As usual, good intentions paved the road to over eating and regret. Throw in the fact that I didn't walk on Sunday morning because I overslept, and I am scared to step on that scale.
Overall though Swingers was very enjoyable. I believe I enjoyed Chef better, but problaby moreso because I am 38 years old and relate much more to 48 year old Favraeu, than to a 20's something single Favreau and friends out and about on the club scene. Seeing the grind of the singles dating scene reminded me how grateful I am to be happily married for 15 years with 3 kids.
So, Swingers gets a 210 out of 304. (because that is how far up my scale currently goes)
Days: 5
Movies: 4
Minutes walked: 410
Miles walked: 22.6
Super Bowl Sunday was of course a tough day for eating. I did stay away from snacks for the family that were just going to be eaten by me. We made some puppy chow for the kids, had some goldfish crackers and made a couple brats. We did have some appetizers earlier in the day as we watched Puppy Bowl. As usual, good intentions paved the road to over eating and regret. Throw in the fact that I didn't walk on Sunday morning because I overslept, and I am scared to step on that scale.
Overall though Swingers was very enjoyable. I believe I enjoyed Chef better, but problaby moreso because I am 38 years old and relate much more to 48 year old Favraeu, than to a 20's something single Favreau and friends out and about on the club scene. Seeing the grind of the singles dating scene reminded me how grateful I am to be happily married for 15 years with 3 kids.
So, Swingers gets a 210 out of 304. (because that is how far up my scale currently goes)
Days: 5
Movies: 4
Minutes walked: 410
Miles walked: 22.6
Saturday, January 31, 2015
Day 3: Chef
So on this Saturday afternoon, we are going over to some friend's house for some supper and card playing. This means, that if I was going to get in a walk and a movie, it had to be all in the morning. So I put in a marathon walk of 100 minutes while watching the enjoyable movie Chef. This Jon Favreau creation was a great movie if you like the food network and the Iron Man movies.
It seemed about 20 minutes longer that it should have been, not because I wanted my walk to end, but there seemed to be a couple pointless scenes in the movie. The cast is great, there are some good laughs and some very cute adorable family moments between Jon Favreau and the adorable kid playing his son.
Overall the movie gets a 220 out a 304 (because that is how high the scale currently goes).
Days: 3
Movies watched: 3
Minutes walked:300
Miles walked: 16.6
It seemed about 20 minutes longer that it should have been, not because I wanted my walk to end, but there seemed to be a couple pointless scenes in the movie. The cast is great, there are some good laughs and some very cute adorable family moments between Jon Favreau and the adorable kid playing his son.
Overall the movie gets a 220 out a 304 (because that is how high the scale currently goes).
Days: 3
Movies watched: 3
Minutes walked:300
Miles walked: 16.6
Friday, January 30, 2015
Day 2: Mary and Max
As the alarm went off this morning and I quickly doubted why I had to walk and watch a movie every day. I laid there for almost 15 minutes debating whether my own "sleepy Karl" would win out over my desire to walk and watch a movie. I am so glad I dragged my fat butt out of bed because I had the great pleasure of watching Mary and Max. A clay-mation movie about two lost souls who connet through letter writing. Max is a elderly man with aspergers syndrome living in a big city. Mary is a young girl living practically alone with a couple of negligent parents. The story is touching, dark, heart-warming and gut-wrenching. These emotions come strong, fast and jump between them with very little notice. I believe almost anyone who watches this movie will definitely relate to Mary, Max or most likely both. The music is amazing, the animation was spectacular. I have a hard time envisioning any movie I will enjoy more than this one.
I partly chose this movie to figure out whether any of my children (6, 9, 12) should watch this or if they would even enjoy it. I would not allow my 6 or 9 year old to watch this movie. It covers some very dark topics and the humor is mostly over their head. If my 12 year old watched this movie we would need to watch it together and talk about some of the themes in the movie. Overall though a huge thumbs up to this gorgeous movie.
I give Mary and Max a 290 out of 304 (what my scale currently goes up to).
I partly chose this movie to figure out whether any of my children (6, 9, 12) should watch this or if they would even enjoy it. I would not allow my 6 or 9 year old to watch this movie. It covers some very dark topics and the humor is mostly over their head. If my 12 year old watched this movie we would need to watch it together and talk about some of the themes in the movie. Overall though a huge thumbs up to this gorgeous movie.
I give Mary and Max a 290 out of 304 (what my scale currently goes up to).
Thursday, January 29, 2015
Day 1: The Interview
I am a teacher. This takes up the majority of my time. Between that and my three children it leaves me very little time for anything else. How am I going to get in a movie a day while walking on a treadmill? Every day? From the very start of this, I am not liking my chances for making this thing last. However, the first day was a success. I walked for over an hour in the morning and for about 50 minutes at night to complete my viewing of The Interview with Seth Rogen and James Franco.
The movie comes much maligned and with some obvious controversy. I was curious though to see how many, if any, good laughs I would get from the movie. I do admit that there were several scenes that almost caused me to go flying off the treadmill because I was laughing so hard. There were also long stretches of the movie where I could not stop wondering how much longer I had left to walk. Most of the great laughs came in the first 25 minutes of the movie. After that, the laughs felt more forced, and came farther and farther apart. Overall, not a bad way to spend over 6 miles walking.
We will give The Interview a 200 on a scale of 305. (305 is currently what my scale says)
The movie comes much maligned and with some obvious controversy. I was curious though to see how many, if any, good laughs I would get from the movie. I do admit that there were several scenes that almost caused me to go flying off the treadmill because I was laughing so hard. There were also long stretches of the movie where I could not stop wondering how much longer I had left to walk. Most of the great laughs came in the first 25 minutes of the movie. After that, the laughs felt more forced, and came farther and farther apart. Overall, not a bad way to spend over 6 miles walking.
We will give The Interview a 200 on a scale of 305. (305 is currently what my scale says)
Wednesday, January 28, 2015
Welcome to Chris Loves Movies
My name is Chris and I love movies. (This is Chris loves Movies!) This little blog is my plan to keep me motivated to stick with a plan I have made. I need to stick with my plan. My life literally depends on it. However, I have been very unsuccessful up to this point.
I am 38 years old and desperately out of shape and overweight. I need to slim down or I simply will not be around for much longer, and those Marvel superhero movies look so good I need to see them all. When I was younger I was actually quite the athlete, but I am sure you don't want to read about that and I am pretty sure I don't want to reminisce. However, currently I am 6'3" and weigh in just over 300 lbs. I am a massive giant person. NFL lineman big. Professional wrestler big.
I have three kids and a wife who loves me and wants me to live past 50. So here is my plan. I am going to walk on a treadmilll, a lot, every day. My goal is to put in 1.5 hours a morning on the treadmill almost every day. So I have also heard about a lot of people taking on the 365 movie challenge, where they try to watch 365 movies in a year. I am going to combine these two into one goal. I am going to try to watch a movie a morning while on the treadmilll. Then I am going to write about my progress and the movies I watch on this blog. Hopefully I can keep this going (blog and walking).
I have some hope because I really love movies, analyzing movies and listening to podcasts about movies. Currently I listen to Doug Loves Movies, AMC Movie Talk, Filmspotting, Modern Myth Media nd Comedy Film Nerds for movie podcasts. Yep, thats alot of podcasts. I basically have them on constantly during most downtimes. This does not make me any kind of movie expert or even someone who is good at analyzing movies. We will see how that goes....
First movie is up for tomorrow morning.
Chris
I am 38 years old and desperately out of shape and overweight. I need to slim down or I simply will not be around for much longer, and those Marvel superhero movies look so good I need to see them all. When I was younger I was actually quite the athlete, but I am sure you don't want to read about that and I am pretty sure I don't want to reminisce. However, currently I am 6'3" and weigh in just over 300 lbs. I am a massive giant person. NFL lineman big. Professional wrestler big.
I have three kids and a wife who loves me and wants me to live past 50. So here is my plan. I am going to walk on a treadmilll, a lot, every day. My goal is to put in 1.5 hours a morning on the treadmill almost every day. So I have also heard about a lot of people taking on the 365 movie challenge, where they try to watch 365 movies in a year. I am going to combine these two into one goal. I am going to try to watch a movie a morning while on the treadmilll. Then I am going to write about my progress and the movies I watch on this blog. Hopefully I can keep this going (blog and walking).
I have some hope because I really love movies, analyzing movies and listening to podcasts about movies. Currently I listen to Doug Loves Movies, AMC Movie Talk, Filmspotting, Modern Myth Media nd Comedy Film Nerds for movie podcasts. Yep, thats alot of podcasts. I basically have them on constantly during most downtimes. This does not make me any kind of movie expert or even someone who is good at analyzing movies. We will see how that goes....
First movie is up for tomorrow morning.
Chris
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