Archive for January, 2018

Movie Mayhem – Quick Takes

Hostiles-ForeverMyGirl

Hostiles — 2017; Directed by Scott Cooper; Starring Christian Bale, Rosamund Pike, John Benjamin Hickey, Wes Studi, Jesse Plemons and Ben Foster; Forever My Girl — 2018; Directed by Bethany Ashton Wolfe; Starring Alex Roe, Jessica Rothe, Abby Ryder Fortson, and John Benjamin Hickey

The only new major release out this week was Maze Runner: The Death Cure, but since I didn’t get a chance to see it, I decided I’d give everyone quick takes on a couple of movies I did see this weekend — one that came out last year and just now went wide enough for me to check out, and one holdover from last week I didn’t intend to see. Read Reviews

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Movie Mayhem – Den of Thieves

DenofThieves

Den of Thieves — 2018; Directed by Christian Gudegast; Starring Gerard Butler, Pablo Schreiber, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson and O’Shea Jackson Jr.

Gerard Butler has worn many masks throughout his career. After breaking into the zeitgeist as a six-pack wielding warrior, he’s taken on a menagerie of roles in many different genres, most prominently in action and romantic comedy. I’ve enjoyed the vast majority of them (the most obvious exception being Gods of Egypt), and am generally excited to see what he’s got up his sleeve next. Why? He’s not a character actor like Gary Oldman, who’s able to disappear into a role with ease, and tends to play the same rugged, sarcastic chap across all of his films regardless of genre, but the honesty of knowing he’ll never be an Oscar winning actor carries over on screen, reflecting the passion he has for whatever project he’s in, no matter how good or bad it may be. Read Full Review

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Movie Mayhem – The Commuter

TheCommuter

The Commuter — 2017; Directed by Juame Collet-Serra; Starring Liam Neeson, Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson and Sam Neill

A few years back, at the ripe age of 56 years young, Liam Neeson turned the tide of his illustrious career and became a household name for a second time — as an action star! It wasn’t as if he wasn’t unfamiliar with action, having starred in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace and Batman Begins, but up to this point, the majority of his films had been more romantic fare and dense drama. Then Neeson claimed his “particular set of skills” and started kicking villainous butt across the silver screen. Some of them were high-octane thrillers that kept us glued to our seats, and others… not so much. At 65, you wouldn’t think he’d be continuing to pound the grindstone like he has, but he must know a good thing when he sees one, as Neeson is once again back in reluctant hero mode in The Commuter. How does this action-thriller stack up against to the rest? Let’s find out. Read Full Review

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Movie Mayhem – Best & Worst of 2017

I saw ten more movie in 2017 than I did 2016 (that’s 117 for those who are counting), and the reason I bring that up is because there was one less movie (57 as opposed to 58) that earned a grade at A- or above. (I’ll let you be the judge of what that actually means!) Like all year-end lists of the past, this one will only include films I saw in 2017 (or that came out in 2017, but earned award recognition), which means films like Molly’s Game (which, after seeing it, would have landed in the #4 spot had I seen in two weeks ago), I, Tanya and The Post weren’t considered, but films such as Patriot’s Day (which was officially released in 2016) were. With that said, here is what made going to the movies in 2017 both great and a bit terrible.

Let’s find out.

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New Things Are Coming in 2018

Hello Internet and the world. This is Bryan coming to you from sunny California with a wee bit of an update on all things me, your personal Creative Genius™!

To begin, let me explain a little about why I was all but missing from this blog and social media over the past couple of months. Unfortunately, it wasn’t to finish a grand masterpiece of writing; that was sadly put on the back burner. No, the reason I was MIA for the better part of the last fiscal quarter was because I was focusing on rebuilding my website and figuring out ways to improve my presence on this very platform.

As some of you may know, I am pretty reserved when it comes to putting myself out there, so I’ve always been tentative about social media. I’m going to attempt to subvert that a little this year. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still not going to divulge a lot of personal things about myself, tell you where I am at all times of the day, snap pictures of every meal I eat, or go on extreme political tirades. What I am going to do is attempt to deliver more content to a wider audience. Along with my continued movie and book reviews, I’m going to be a little more vocal about my work — reporting on my progress, showing samples, and possibly (when it’s deemed appropriate) giving people a behind the scenes look at the process. I’m also going to attempt to deliver more thoughts on writing, design and the world at large, and be more attentive to others, hopefully showcasing a few more businesses, authors and the like.

But none of this will happen until I officially unveil my new website on January 26! Here’s a quick taste of what’s to come:

The entire site has been redesigned to be be more sleek, easy to navigate and completely responsive!

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First look at the home page of Phoenix Moirai’s new website.

I’ve also completely overhauled the portfolio page to give it a much more dynamic feel.

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First look at Phoenix Moirai’s new portfolio site.

And finally, I will be adding a separate subdomain specifically for weddings.

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First look at Phoenix Moirai’s new wedding site.

Once this is complete, I will be working to get both my author site and my film site completed. The author site will go live alongside the publication of my new book.

Speaking of my next latest and greatest, before I stopped writing to concentrate on my website, I was about 65% done with the first draft (which in terms of writing, means I am about 5% done with the book as a whole)! I will begin divulging more info over the next year leading up to the release, but all I can say right now to whet your whistle is that it’s a metafictioanal sci-fi/fantasy which I have tentatively titled, “Threads.” I am hoping for a November release, but we’ll see how the year goes. (Who knows, we may get to see it this summer!!)

That’s it for now. Again, look for more updates here on my blog as well as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Until then, live life as if you won’t see tomorrow.

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