Weekly Geek Outs - 08/19/16

Greetings!

Here's what is going on in my world this week:

• Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice - Ultimate Edition

Long story short, they got me. I bought this extended cut of the movie on Blu-Ray. Not worth it, does not make this complicated movie any better (see my review for more detailed thoughts). This movie is overstuffed as it is, and the scenes cut help weave some minor plot points together better, but the movie is still not great. Wonder Woman is still awesome though and should have been in the movie more.

• Capital Area Food Bank

I'm going to volunteer here with my partner with the great Day of Service Paid Time Off benefit I have with my job. They recently implemented this initiative and I'm excited to take advantage of it. I have more days to use and I look forward to building a relationship with this great community organization.

• Thought

I've said this a few times in conversation recently, and thought I'd share it with you: I didn't even know my job and the company I work for now existed when I started job searching last year. Now that I'm here, I couldn't be more grateful I stumbled upon this company and this job. My thought and advice for those worried about figuring out what is next for them or what to do with their lives; it may just be out there waiting for you to discover it. Or it may not even exist yet, either way, you just need to be patient, do good work, and put yourself out there. Luck happens more often to those that are prepared for it.

Thanks for stopping by!

Movie Review Monday: Batman v Superman - Dawn of Justice

Welcome to another edition of Movie Review Monday!

This week's film is the recently released Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, starring Henry Cavill, Ben Affleck, Jesse Eisenburg, Gal Gadot, and strong (and large) supporting cast.

I talked about some of my initial impressions of this movie in my geek out last week, and I just wanted to go a bit more in depth with my thoughts here with this highly contentious movie. The critics have not been kind to this one, and many comic book purists are having issue with it as well. I will say that I think it is not as bad as some people are making it out to be, but it is not a great movie by any means. It is confusing, unfocused, and needlessly boring for the subject matter. While I don't need a MCU clone, I would have hoped for a more fun movie.

To balance things out, there were some things I enjoyed about the movie, and it seems are pretty universally appreciated. Ben Affleck did well as both Bruce Wayne and Batman where other actors seemed to do well as one or the other. He portrayal was his own and he succeeded where many thought he would fail. Gal Gadot makes the most of her (very) limited screen time as Wonder Woman, especially in the final fight sequence. I will admit to getting chills when she hit the screen and her music kicked in. It was really well done and I look forward to what is to come in her solo movie next year. Jesse Eisenburg did pretty well as the manic, eccentric, egotistical manipulative, genius Lex Luthor. While some of the confusion comes from his character's motivations, some of the plot holes could just be explained away by his paranoia and/or hubris.

While I appreciate the attempts of this movie to play catch up to the MCU, I felt like the nods to other Justice League members to be underwhelming and sort of forced. It leaves me wondering how it will all work in a bit of a bad way, but we are getting Justice League, Part 1 next year so maybe it will all be a bit of rush job. Looking back it was nice to have a movie to get to know each of the members of the Avengers before bringing them together. Part of what holds Dawn of Justice back is that we don't get to know Wonder Woman or Batman as well as we could have to have their big team-up really resonate. Wonder Woman will at least get her own movie before Justice League, but other than Superman with Man of Steel, she is the only one.

Dawn of Justice is a movie that has a lot riding on it. I would liken it to Amazing Spider-Man 2 in how it must have been viewed by the production people. They both wanted so bad to set up their own movie universes, that, especially with Spider-Man, they suffer under their own weight. We can see where Dawn of Justice falters with that weight at times, but it holds steady, despite many issues (like the ending, was not a fan! And all the dream sequences?!).

I am very curious to hear other people's thoughts, so leave them in the comments below.

You can check out Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice at a theater near you!

Thanks for stopping by!

Geeky Office Décor Series: Alfred Day

This week we're featuring the awesome office of Alfred Day, Student Affairs Case Manager at University of California - Berkeley.

Here's what Alfred had to say about his space:

"Most folks who know me know that I can speak at length about the cultural importance of superheroes in general and Superman specifically. My primary work these days is working with students in distress. These are students who are generally at a significant crisis point whether that be in conjunction with a mental health issue, a death in the family, and food or shelter security issues.

While I love Batman, and he is today's most popular character, it amazes me how often students in dire straits will pick up the Superman statue and really connect with the idea. I frequently use the statue as an opening to the conversation of the help that we can provide.

Kind of one of the coolest things about my job."

What I really like about Alfred's office is how a simple item can have a profound impact and start a conversation. Especially with Alfred's job, he has some hard conversations with students who are going through difficult circumstances. He can use all the help he can get getting through to students, and a small Superman figure can help do that. It just goes to show you how important anything and everything can be to someone, no matter what it is or how small it might be.

Many thanks to Alfred for sharing his space with us.

Stay tuned for more awesome offices in the coming weeks!

Thanks for stopping by!