Week 53. Last week of the year, and first week of the new one! Shouldn't this count as Week 1? :)

Well, I figured out what to do for Project 2016: Anything I want! Anything creative. One piece of creativity per day, all year through. Sound flexible enough for ya? I'm hoping it'll keep me enjoying these creative endeavors all the way. Never getting bored. Never feeling a need to change commitment as to which content form I focus on... without being able to. First piece, and introduction, is up here. And since it's January 3 already, so are the following two. I seem to be getting into a pattern of image/words/image... let's see how long I keep that going voluntarily.

I posted six movies just now. A few I've watched just recently; a few I watched during the past week. The latter two were the Star Trek ones this weekend. Why am I watching Star Trek movies; ones I've previously seen to boot? Because I'm hyped for the new Star Wars, maybe? Inspired? With a newly attained interest in deep space exploration? I'm guessing there'll be a lot of space movies this year. Though it seems they've been a trend for a few years already. If there was at least a chance the trend might've died down, there's close to no chance now. Not unless all movie producers realize their ideas are specks of sand to the grandeur of the Lucas Art realm and abandon their prestigeful dreams to go cower in a corner, tormented by thoughts of inferiority and anguish. Well, let's hope that never happens.

I watched Kingsman - The Secret Service (2014) again as well, but I already wrote a review for that one. Let me just say: it's still awesome! I'm happy the trend for action just keeps growing, year by year, each new quick flick more awesome than the last.

In other news... there really isn't much to parley about on topic of the last few days. I posted my last weekly post of last year mid-week, since that's when the year ended, and thus this introductory edition of the Grand New 2016's weekly posts boasts very little content. And an odd title for a post supposed to be #1. Well, I've posted a review for last year, a New Year post, and if you want to jump back to last year you can do so here.

The weekend's been one with too little exercise, too much food, a little more gaming and frantic last-minute catching up on collabs, and other things, and tomorrow: work begins again. The New Year didn't start quite as efficiently as I hoped, but it didn't start badly either. I'm sticking true to my routines and resolutions so far; trying to calm down. The less you stress, the more you get done! The more breaks you take, the longer you can keep going. Until next week! And finally, one final time: Happy New Year.

This was a killer movie. A movie about a killer. A real bad ass who roamed France and America during the sixties, and together with a select group of friends robbed banks, escaped prisons, and even came back to those same prisons and attempted to bust out a few more people. Just cause.

Mesrine was reckless, fearless, arrogant and aggressive, but he wasn't stupid. He was smart, and caring to a select few, and he held his friends above all. He didn't stop for anyone, and though this movie almost portrays him as a good guy, we know early on that it's not a movie with a good ending. First minute of the film shows what his fate had in store for him at the end, how we was gunned down, sitting in his car, smiling, his girlfriend beside him. He's dead. And then, we learn his story.

It's not action all the way , but it's always intense, a crazy ride across continents, in and out of prison, from bars to behind bars to guns and explosives, and though those close to him keep dying, Mesrine just pushes on. This is part one of a two part movie, and so far it's keeping me interested. I don't know if it's based upon a true story or not, but it feels true, like a gritty, angry, angled documentary about what might have been one of the most vicious villains of the sixties and seventies. Public enemy #1: Mesrine.

 rated 4/5: fo shizzle

The second Star Trek was almost more inspiring than the last one! Almost, just almost.

It starts with a blast, and ends with an emotional moment, in opposite of the first one. It has a bit too trendy futuristic sound effects for my taste (the Transformer style sounds - I think there's a name for them), but apart from that, it's one inspiring space odyssey, packed with both humor and drama, in which Kirk and Spock bond even further, old characters die, new ones appear, and they once again head off: into the final frontier. Space.

The plot starts simple, with an enemy; an attack on Starfleet, though all is not as it seems! Interesting twist. Puzzle. Revenge. Sacrifice. And Spock gets a real moment this time, to show he's really a real bad ass! There would be way more to comment on here, like their introductory alien encounter in which they leave as Gods, but in the lieu of lack of time I'll just end this by saying: I'm really looking forward to the third one! Whenever it arrives.

Another great bar, trekking amongst stars.

 rated 4/5: fo shizzle

I watched this one a few years ago, on the big screen I think, but apparently I never posted a review! It was great though. I loved everything about it, from the emotional intro, to the confrontations between Spock and Kirk, to the black holes, deep space warfare and sparse but satisfying moments of intense action.

I never did grow up with the original Star Trek, but I wouldn't mind getting into the series if it was as it is now! No offense to the fandom, but if I go back now I've no doubt the classics would come across as corny, but this, this I can get into! Chris Pine plays Kirk with attitude, and the plot provides plenty of twists and turns, as the Enterprise crew get together and become (I assume) what they always were in the original series, now with a new generation of actors to steer the way.

The plot relates to time travel (I wonder if Spock meeting Spock is a twist to original series), Vulcan extinction, and Kirk's battle against his past, buddies bonding, and hey! It's a blast! Reminds me a bit of Star Wars occasionally. Especially the chase on the icy planet. Just without light sabers, with different types of alien breed, with different ships... and also not quite as interplanetary as the latter. Earth, is still home here, no matter how far that travel. I can understand how that'd give viewers a greater sense of affinity than they might with the other. It's a trek to the stars, and back home. Great watch.

 rated 4/5: fo shizzle

The sequel to the Rocky franchise wasn't bad at all! I always get pretty emotional at the end of those matches, and always just as surprised at how emotional I can get. It's boxing, you know? Hits and punches. How much feeling can there really be? That's what I think to myself all the times I'm about to watch one of these movies, but then I watch the movie... and damn, it gets intense!

Sylvester Stallone is still Rocky, but Michael B. Jordan is the guy in the spotlight here. Adonis Johnson. Son to the infamous Apollo Creed of the old Rocky movies. That guy who was killed off in the 3rd, previously played by Carl Weathers. He's still going strong in real life, but in this world, his image of old is all we recall.

The movie has a few twists, though the romance and the rivalry all goes as you'd expect it. Rocky's unwilling to train Adonis at first, but he warms up. Of course. Then, before the final match Rocky gets diagnosed with cancer. Bam. Adonis doesn't give up on him though. He's not fighting unless Rocky fights his fight, and there you have it!

They fight it out, and what a fight it is! It was an inspiring movie in the same way the old Rocky movies were, in that ordinary way, that this-won't-be-so-special way. But it always is special. They capture the fight, the fame, and most of all: the passion. Great watch.

 rated 4/5: fo shizzle

The original wasn't half as good as the sequel. There's a lot of talking: comedy via dialog, dialog often without action, and often where the lack of action is the comedy. It often gets pretty corny, and doesn't look very real, and I can't say the actors are such great actors either. Props for a creative idea and slacky slapstick comedy trials, and an impressive effort, but the end result... doesn't really captivate as much as I hoped it would. Might be worth a watch if you're looking for something random and cheesy, but if you haven't seen the sequel, and you had to chose, then just go with that one right away. The return... of the Killer Tomatoes!

 rated 2/5: decent