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September 23, 2014

The Boy Turns One

Here's our Little Man — Here’s our Little Man

A year ago today, we welcomed Calvin into the world. And what a year it’s been.

Granted, the last half of this past year blew by incredibly quickly because of Life Changes for the whole family. I barely remember what we did 4 months ago, as most of our time was spent packing and cleaning and looking into buying houses.

Through all that time, though, Calvin kept getting bigger! It’s amazing how much progress he’s made, especially in comparison with his big sister. Due to ear infections, it took her a bit longer to be mobile. Perhaps Calvin is more motivated to follow Meg around though, because he’s been crawling for a few months now and late last week started to try taking a few steps for the first time. He’s routinely standing up from a squat all by himself, standing for nearly a minute at a time before sitting back down again. He’s ready to walk, but hasn’t quite taken the plunge yet.

Within the last month or so, he’s also finally, finally, slept consistently through the night. He’ll cry out occasionally but can usually get himself back to sleep. I’m thinking the creepy peacock wallpaper in his room has something to do with it, but it seems like shortly after the move to the new house in Marshall, his sleeping situation (and ours…) improved dramatically.

Now that he’s a year old, we’re also in the process of weaning him off of Brooke faster than we were before. Meg was on a bottle long before this point in her life, but Brooke’s been able to keep feeding Calvin. Generally, she’s only doing it first thing in the morning and right before bedtime. We don’t even have to do it at naptime anymore to calm him down. She’ll slowly scale it back, but at this point, it seems like he can make it pretty well without needing that particular form of comfort. Big boy finally growing up a bit!

Other than his progress, life has been busy for the rest of us. They say your first semester is the hardest and they aren’t kidding. I’m frequently working 12 hr days during the week in order to stay ahead, but I don’t mind it so far. Brooke’s still getting settled with her job in Sedalia, but things are starting to look up on that front, too. I’ll post more about the house later, but we’ve got half of the electrical system done, some important plumbing done, some new appliances, and we re-did the bathroom upstairs by ourselves in a little over a week (there will definitely be a post on that one). Long-story short, we’re making progress with the house and are nearly “settled.”

Because of that, we were able to have a birthday party for Calvin this past weekend at the house. We had around 16 people over and, as the weather was gorgeous, we set things up outside. Grilled burgers, had many sides, and of course, birthday cake. Calvin napped through half the party and wasn’t exactly “smiley” after he woke up, but I think he still had a fun time, and definitely got some fun toys.

Regardless, Calvin’s done well this past year and, though his sleeping schedule was terrible for, oh, 10 months of his life, I think we’re finally past it. At least we’re to the point when he and Meg can play together in their room(s) by themselves, giving us a few extra moments of peace.

It’s worth something, for sure.

September 3, 2014

Oh, it’s been awhile…

So, it’s been quite awhile since I last posted something. There’s a lot I could delve into, but for now, I’m going to bullet a few points of “updates” to get you a cross-section of how things have been going.

1). We closed on our house on August 6th, and there’s a whole story behind how that went down, but suffice to say, we successfully closed and got everything moved in. The house is doing pretty well, but we’ve got some long-term projects in process that prevent us from unpacking all the boxes. I’ll go into this in a later post, but for now, know that we had some plumbing done, getting me all squared away for brewing and getting us a new (more functional) toilet installed upstairs. Hopefully tomorrow, we will have electrical work done, where our house is going to be effectively re-wired. This is stuff that needs to get done and we’re glad we can get it moving within a month of moving in!

2). Brooke’s new job (with the same company) is going well, but she has her work cut out for her. Lots of things to get done, so she’s been busy incorporating her old duties at Bridges CSS (St. Louis) into her new duties at Bridges of Missouri (Sedalia). She’s enjoying it and things have been steadily improving this past month, but there’s lots more to do!

3). My job is going well so far, but this is only the second week of school. Our first exams will start late next week and continue into the following week, so while I’m trying to keep ahead on lectures for three separate classes, I’ve also got to do the “in the present” kinds of stuff like grading and test design. It’s work, but I’m enjoying it so far!

4). Calvin is sleeping through the night. It started August 23rd, on his 11 month birthday, and has continue on and off. Some nights are better than others, but aside from a few cries in the middle of the night, he’s staying down from 7:00 pm to 6:00/6:30 am. Oh, how long we’ve waited for this…and we hope and pray it continues…

5). Meg and Calvin are enjoying their days at the Missouri Valley Lab School. They started on August 18th and Meg took to it immediately. Like, I’m surprised just how well she’s done there. Compared with previous places, where she’d cry for 2-3 weeks as I’d leave her there, she’s been nothing but easy to deal with there. Calvin, on the other hand, took about a week-and-a-half to get settled where I can leave him with a teacher and not have him scream as I walked away. Still, that’s been better in recent days, too.

6). I got a new router and a new Linux server, so that’s why the site’s been down recently. I think I figured it out so it should be working fine, albeit a slight bit slower than it used to be. We’ll see how it goes…

That’s enough for now! I’ll expand on some of these points in the future, but this should tide you over for awhile!

July 2, 2014

Moving On

We posted the news last week on Facebook but I haven’t had much time to write anything here about it. However, for posterity’s sake, here goes:

We’re leaving St. Louis…again…

This time, however, it’s so I can (finally) begin my first “grown up” job as Assistant Professor of Biology at Missouri Valley College in Marshall, MO. I am charged with teaching Anatomy & Physiology I and II, as well as Principles of Anatomy & Physiology. That’s going to be 15 credit hours worth of teaching each semester, so I’ve definitely got my work cut out for me. It will absolutely be challenging, but I’m looking forward to moving off the lab bench for awhile and instead focusing on getting students to appreciate, if not love, physiology as I do.

When we moved to Iowa, Brooke had to leave Bridges CSS and, unfortunately, it took awhile before she was able to find anything comparable (or even acceptable…) doing similar things up north. Thankfully, unbeknownst to us, Bridges CSS was in the process of buying Bridges of Missouri, their sister company based in Sedalia, MO, which just so happens to be 30 min south of Marshall. Thus, with a stroke of providence or blind luck, she gets to keep doing what she loves while I begin this new adventure. She will return to St. Louis once or twice a month to help facilitate the connection between these two arms of the company, but she’s already got her work cut out for her in integrating the workings of the two companies. She’s excited to mix up what she’s been doing, too!

We’re on a pretty short time table now. We spent the last few weekends in Sedalia and Marshall investigating houses (more “grown up” things we’re finally doing…) and we think we’ve settled on one that we’re going to make an offer on shortly. My position officially begins August 1st, but I technically don’t have to be on campus until August 18th (school starts August 25th). There are all kinds of challenges with pulling that off in a limited period of time, but we think we’re moving in the right direction and can make it happen.

Still, we’ve got a lot of packing to do…

June 28, 2014

Review: X-Men – Days of Future Past

You could say the X-Men franchise has been “hit or miss.” The first and second movies were quite good (though I don’t think the first one ages as well…I guess it did come out in 2000…). The third one was a train wreck. The spinoff, X-Men Origins: Wolverine was horrible. The sequel, The Wolverine wasn’t too bad, and the 1960s era reboot, X-Men: First Class, was alright, but I wasn’t floored by it like some people were (despite having some big-name actors, including James McAvoy, Jennifer Lawrence, and Michael Fassbender). Critically, the direction of the franchise was set with the first two movies, both directed by Bryan Singer. He moved on after those two films and entrusted the franchise with other folks, many of which didn’t take the care he did with the story and characters.

Which brings us to X-Men: Days of Future Past. The fact that this movie exists at all is mind-boggling. Singer returns (and even retains the music and similar opening title sequence he used in the earlier two movies), the cast from the original trilogy of movies returns (including Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellan, Halle Berry, Shawn Ashmore, Ellen Page, and more), and they merged this cast with the new “first class” from the 60s era reboot, as this film relies heavily on time travel. With the effects and pedigree of actors (let alone sheer number of them, some without lines, even), it’s a wonder they did it in a $200 million budget.

I kinda wish they’d explained how they brought back Professor X from the dead after the third movie…but whatever…

The movie begins in the future, with the original X-Men cast fighting a losing battle against the Sentinels, oversized robots designed to seek and destroy mutants and mutant sympathizers. It’s effectively a post-apocalyptic wasteland, as the Sentinels have destroyed much of civilization in their quest. Knowing their end is near, they hatch a plan to use Kitty Pride’s powers to send the consciousness of Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) back in time to a pivotal moment in history, where they believe the Sentinal threat stemmed from. As Wolverine doesn’t age like “normal” humans, it was a convenient way to have Jackman play both his older and younger self, bridging the gap between the old cast and new cast. Wolverine does his best to “bring the band back together,” 10 years after the events of X-Men: First Class (so, now 1973), in order to prevent history from continuing on the course we saw in the beginning.

Overall, I thought it was a strong showing: definitely better than many of the other X-Men outings in the last 14 years (though probably not as good as the first two, in my book). The action sequences were somewhat infrequent, the story slowed a bit in the middle, and I definitely had to suspend my brain from thinking too hard about the consequences of time-travel (…’cause, yeah…it don’t work that way…). The acting and effects were all quite good, as expected, and I felt like all of the actors (and there were many) fit together remarkably well. Granted, there were too many actors to keep track of, but I was in enough awe that I was seeing them all up on the same screen that I didn’t care.

Compared with previous X-Men movies, or even other comic book movies, this one got pretty dark at points. Singer did his best to make “the future” seem bleak, and he succeeded. Some of the original cast of X-Men were killed off by Sentinels in pretty gruesome ways. It was just pretty shocking to see it happen time and again, especially after seeing many of these characters in movies for the past 14 years. It was a bit unsettling, which I didn’t expect going in.

Finally, they ended the movie in such a way that it could serve as a good “swan song” for the original X-Men cast. I highly doubt they’re going to let Hugh Jackman leave the Wolverine role (as, like Robert Downey, Jr and Iron Man, no one else can play that character), but many of the other actors are showing their age. I love Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen, but they’re getting older and can’t pull these characters off for much longer. This movie takes place “in the future,” so it was an easy sell this time. I’m glad the next film, X-Men: Apocalypse, will focus on the younger cast, though I’ll miss the original crew.

Let’s put it this way: I’m glad that this is the last time I see Patrick Stewart as Charles Xavier, rather than X-Men 3.

May 25, 2014

Review: Godzilla

There’s something about classic monster movies that I like. Can’t really place it, to be honest. They aren’t particularly scary (just a dude in a large rubber suit, frequently…), but for people at the time these movies were popular 60+ years ago, they were probably terrifying. Godzilla is perhaps the most enduring of franchises, undergoing multiple evolutions and reinventions over the decades, for better or for worse.

This new interpretation of the franchise was set up to bring us into the summer’s blockbuster season: big cast, big effects, big destruction, the works. It does a pretty good job of playing off the original movies, where nuclear testing in the South Pacific leads toward ancient monsters waking up from a slumber lasting millenia. Brian Cranston stars as a scientist running a nuclear power plant in Japan back in 1999, one that is summarily destroyed when some “thing” causes a melt down. He spends the intervening years between then and now working on his conspiracy theory of what was responsible. His son, a survivor of the catastrophe, doesn’t believe him, but soon learns the truth as he and the rest of the military chase the beast(s) across the Pacific to San Francisco. As the previews indicate, Godzilla is not the only monster the movie will deal with, and when they finally fight near the end of the film, the results are pretty spectacular.

Unfortunately, the focus of the film is on the humans and how they deal with the monsters. The director, Gareth Edwards, is a relative newcomer, yet did a good job “teasing” the reveal of Godzilla until the latter portion of the film. Though I appreciate that aspect of the movie, it also meant that it took a long time before we really saw Godzilla himself. We saw the other monster, but not the one headlining the movie. Once he finally showed up, we got to see monster-on-monster fighting that all too rarily shows up in major motion pictures (aside from the mostly great Pacific Rim last year).

In the end, I enjoyed the movie, but felt it dragged quite a bit in the middle. It started off pretty good and really “stuck the landing” by the end, yet the middle tried going the route of “character drama” without having any truly compelling characters to care about. They weren’t bad, per se: I just didn’t care. So, it’s a good rental, for sure. I’m not mad I spent money on it in theaters (though I thought the 3D was largely unnecessary…), but I could understand waiting a bit to see it. Worth seeing, but not worth going out of your way.

May 2, 2014February 26, 2015

Pandora Revisited

That's still straight-up CGI... — That’s still straight-up CGI…

We were cleaning out DVDs a few weeks ago, largely because we don’t watch as many as we used to, yet also because Meg is accumulating more, so we need the room. Brooke pulled a few to get rid of, some of which I was fine with and others I had to put back. For the most part, these were movies that I/we hadn’t watched in a long time, so they were good choices.

But I couldn’t bring myself to get rid of Avatar. To be fair, I hadn’t watched it in a long time. Perhaps years. But it was a nice Bluray collector’s set and it didn’t seem right. Brooke and Meg were out of town this past weekend, so I took the opportunity to pop in Avatar again and see how it held up.

Avatar was released in late 2009. At the time, I was pretty high on it, mostly from the tech perspective. Having re-watched it, nearly five years later, I think it still holds up. The CGI characters still look pretty good, though perhaps not as impressive as they did in theaters (though, bear in mind that I saw it in 3D, “as intended,” so it could never look that good again unless I watched it in 3D). What really stands out to me is the world of Pandora itself. Many, if not most, of the scenes in the film take place in the jungle, all of which was done on a green screen. Like, literally all of it. All that stuff, in my view, holds up quite well. The characters still integrate perfectly into the background, looking as real as if they’d filmed in the Amazon.

Only a few CGI-centric movies age this well. Jurassic Park comes to mind. Perhaps even The Matrix (before CGI was over-used in the sequels, I’d argue).

So in large part, I still feel that Avatar is an important film. One of those that may not necessarily have the greatest acting of our time, or the most involved story (as evidenced by the nominees and winners from the Oscars in 2010). But the technology developed to make the movie in the first place changed film making. Heck, the tech used in Avatar has been integral to some of the greatest video games of the last generation. Motion capture certainly existed before Avatar, but not to the degree James Cameron took it. In many respects, this movie that took 15 years to make, has touched all blockbusters that have come after it. It’s a profound achievement.

That all said, it’s a long movie that I won’t be returning to all the time, perhaps for another few years. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen The Avengers close to 10 times in the last not-even-two-years now and I wouldn’t qualify it as “important” (however, it’s definitely more entertaining). Yet a lot of the tech required to make The Avengers happen in the first place was developed in order to create Avatar. Though one can absolutely enjoy other movies more, credit should be applied where it’s due.

It’ll be interesting to see how James Cameron does with the next three movies in the burgeoning Avatar franchise. Somehow, I doubt they’ll be as revolutionary as the first film…

…which I intend to hold on to…

April 13, 2014

Review: Captain America – The Winter Soldier

I was never a big Captain America fan. It was a comic series that debuted in 1941, in a time far removed from anything I could relate to. He was Marvel’s All-American Hero, able to both compete with DC’s Superman and serve as a rallying cry for America’s involvement in World War II. Spider-man was a lot easier for me to identify with: a teenage superhero that was just as concerned with saving the city as he was with finishing his homework.

As such, I skipped this character’s first outing on the big screen, 2011’s Captain America: The First Avenger. By most accounts, it was actually a pretty good movie. Not great, but solid. Having watched it twice since its release, it’s still kinda low on my totem pole of comic book films. However, after a series of pretty impressive trailers, and The Avengers, I gave the new movie, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, a shot.

In short? It was good. Really good. Arguably The Dark Knight good. When I make that particular comparison, I mean that the film transcends “comic book movie” tropes and instead offers a good film for a larger audience that doesn’t have to rely heavily on its comic book roots. Winter Soldier is far closer to a movie like The Bourne Identity than anything else, with choreographed hand-to-hand action sequences, elaborate car chases, and a character evading capture from his own organization after it’s taken over from within.

The plot vacillates between a focus on the titular Winter Soldier character and the bulking up of S.H.E.I.L.D. to use predictive surveillance to eliminate threats before they emerge. The latter has relevance to our current political climate and its handling of the NSA and other spy programs, and it’s interesting that they looked at this theme at all. However, the movie ultimately descends into typical comic book fare, leaving the spy program focus somewhat hollow. They never quite commit to either story line. That isn’t to say the plot is bad, but that some additional focus, or a choice between the two themes, may have served it better.

The generally strong story is also held up in large part by the action set pieces. If you were to watch Iron Man or Thor, you’d be looking at a green screen for the majority of the movie. In The Winter Soldier, you’re mostly looking at Washington, D.C. and Cleveland (…made up to look like D.C…). You don’t see Captain America flying through the sky, firing beams from his hands: he just punches and flips and throws dudes through the air. Granted, with super strength and agility…but really, it’s closer to a martial arts film at parts than it is to a traditional comic book movie. It makes for a nice change of pace from other recent endeavors. That said, the end of the movie ends up going full-on comic book freak show, with lots of spectacle and a series of engineering decisions that could only possibly serve as a set-piece, rather than anything practical. Also, I saw it in 3D and, while it didn’t detract from the experience, I didn’t feel it was really necessary.

Another thing worth mentioning is its integration with Marvel’s Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D. television series, currently airing on ABC. The series itself was slow to start, but its most recent episode took place during Winter Soldier, so we see what else was happening at the same time, and also how it ties in with the events of the film somewhat directly. It’s synergistic planning on Marvel’s part, but ratings for S.H.E.I.L.D. have been lacking and may not be renewed, yielding the potential for this unique feature of the Marvel Universe to be short-lived.

Ultimately, Captain America: The Winter Soldier was pretty great. I think I’d still keep The Dark Knight up their above it as the best “mainstream” comic film (as it never quite embraced its comic book-ness like Winter Soldier eventually does), and The Avengers as my favorite comic movie of all time, but this one was quite strong. Definitely worth a look.

March 27, 2014

11 Days

I only share this because it’s cute…not because it represents the content of this post…

So, Meg was born in early March, meaning she turned 6 months old in September. Her first six months involved the experience of Spring and Summer. Calvin, born in September, just turned 6 months old this past weekend. His first six months involved the experience of Fall and Winter.

Guess which one got sick more often?

We’ve added it up and came to 11 days. That’s just 11 weekdays of illness from Calvin since January, not even accounting for all the snow days we had to take off for Meg (where Calvin frequently stayed home, too, whether daycare was open or not). Here’s the run down:

4 mo vaccinations- 2 days
Random Virus – into – Bacterial Pneumonia (4 mo) – 5 days
“Unnamed” Stomach Virus (5 mo) – 1 day
RSV – into – ear infection (6 mo) – 3 days

A few of those only seem short because they started over a weekend. For example, this most recent bout of RSV started last Friday and Cal held a fever all weekend (thank God it started over a weekend, though…). On Sunday at Urgent Care, he didn’t have an ear infection. He started feeling better Monday, then got worse Tuesday. I took him to the doctor and found he had fewer signs of breathing difficulties and instead had an ear infection. The “Unnamed Stomach Virus” started on a Sunday and kept him out on Monday. By Tuesday he was fine, but Meg and I had contracted it, so even if he got to go to school, two of us became afflicted.

Just can’t win.

More generally, this Winter has been pretty disruptive, largely because of the onslaught of snow, ice, and blistering cold (that mostly affected Meg), and also because Calvin just got every sickness imaginable for an infant. Brooke and I have weathered all this by splitting days at work, or taking turns taking days off here and there. It’s great that we both have flexible jobs, but I can’t imagine what this would be like if we didn’t.

Needless to say, we’re ready for some consistency in the weather. And by “consistency” I mean “Spring.”

Wait…”Spring” started last week?

…I don’t believe it…it’s still cold outside…

February 28, 2014

Peas in a Pod

"I want to watch Busytown with you, Big Sister!" — “I want to watch Busytown with you, Big Sister!”

I’ve been meaning to write something on this subject for a few weeks but never seem to get around to it. From the beginning, we were curious how Calvin would integrate into our existing threesome (or nine-some, depending on how many creatures we’re including…), and more specifically, how Meg would deal with him and how Brooke and I both have to shift our attention from entirely on her to entirely on her and him (that’s 200% “attention,” for those keeping count).

Surprisingly and thankfully, it’s been shockingly easy. Meg has displayed nary a hint of jealousy toward him, though she certainly still wants more attention than we can sometimes give her. In general, she’s actually been pretty helpful these past few months, frequently grabbing a rattle or other toy when we can’t reach one, or staying in the room to watch him as we go downstairs to exchange the laundry. If he starts crying, she’s quick to say “It’s okay, Calvin. I’m here!” This rarely helps, but it’s still kinda sweet…

The more surprising aspect of their burgeoning relationship is how Calvin looks at her. I mean, he gets excited when one of us walks into the room after we get home from work, but when Meg walks in, he lights up like nothing else. The other day, I was driving the two of them home and Meg was facing forward singing some song she’d made up. She wasn’t even singing toward Calvin, but he was just staring at her, laughing randomly. Meg didn’t think she was saying anything funny, of course, so she didn’t really understand why Calvin was reacting this way. Still, it’s pretty obvious that she amuses him greatly.

As I’ve mentioned to Nana and others, I’m just waiting for the relationship to turn toward the typical hostility one would expect between a brother and a sister. Clearly they aren’t going to wait until their teenagers or anything, but will it happen when he starts crawling? Walking? When he starts recognizing her toys and messes with them? There’s already some element of this, as most of “his” toys were previously “Meg’s” toys, and she’s fully aware of this. It isn’t like she says “No, Calvin, you can’t have that,” but sometimes when she’s playing with him, she’ll take a toy he was currently chewing on as she’s done playing with it, so now he must also be done.

Regardless, he almost always wants to be around her (or, at least, he is happier when she’s around), and she usually wants to be around him. She still asks to “play with Calvin” just before bedtime, despite being bored with it after maybe 15 minutes of actual “playing.”

I just wonder how long it will last!

February 23, 2014

Review: RoboCop

John Kinneman and Gary Oldman in RoboCop (2014) — Joel Kinnaman and Gary Oldman in RoboCop (2014)

Options for decent movies are few and far between in late-February. The next big crop comes up mid- to late-March, but we’re in the doldrums of movies that came out in December with the Christmas rush, and other Oscar hopefuls that get a late release in hopes of generating some buzz. The “good” sci-fi movies also get saved for the summer blockbuster season, so it’s rare to find a “good” one released in early February. In many ways, this year’s reboot of the RoboCop franchise may not even be that movie, as it’s had a mixed response, critically.

That all said, I should also point out that despite the zeitgeist of the time, I didn’t grow up a fan of RoboCop. It wasn’t exactly a “kid friendly” film, though I’m sure there were many in my elementary school that had seen it. I didn’t get to see it until college, well after I’d been exposed to far, far better special effects. Ketchup-style fake blood and stop-motion robots just didn’t do it for me, though I could at least appreciate that, for 1987, it was probably pretty cool.

The franchise consisted of 3 movies, a TV show, a cartoon, and countless toys. I suspect many fans of the character would have preferred that only the first movie existed, as just about everything after it was generally bad. That first movie, though, was prescient for its time, discussing such themes as militarization of law enforcement, drone warfare overseas, and corporations taking over the government and suppressing The People.

Perhaps 2014 is a really good time for a re-boot.

This new version of RoboCop includes similar characters, but is a pretty different movie, to my mind. This version of Alex Murphy (played by Joel Kinnaman, who is largely unknown besides starring in cult-favorite The Killing) is a devoted family man in the near future, and incorruptible cop in Detroit that makes an enemy out of the leader of a local crime ring, who swiftly takes Murphy out with a car bomb. Severely injured, his only hope is to have most of his body replaced by machine parts, “free of charge” by OmniCorp, which is run by Raymond Sellars (played by Michael Keaton).

Sellars is only doing this, though, because he wants his androids on the streets of the US. To replace police officers. His robots are already overseas fighting our wars for us, so “saving the lives of cops” (i.e. bit fat checks from local and state governments…) is his next venture. What he needs, however, is a “human face” on his cold cyborg army, so “upgrading” Murphy is his way of making it happen.

This movie, as compared with the original, focuses far more on the human element. The point at which we cease to be human and start to be machine. Murphy struggles with having control over his own body, as OmniCorp can shut him down remotely at any time. They can control how much personal decision-making can be applied in any given situation (i.e. whether to be more like a human cop, or more like an efficient, cold, robot).

On this front, I think the movie largely succeeds. It is more of a “thinking man’s RoboCop,” which sets it apart from the previous outing. It takes the original source material and updates it for our modern age, complete with a Glen Beck-style news anchor (played by Samuel L. Jackson) asking whether US Senators are “pro-crime” for not subscribing to Sellars’ world-view.

In the end, the acting was fine. The writing was fine. The effects were pretty good, but not spectacular. There were a few pretty obvious moments when we switched from “dude in costume” to “that’s a CGI dude…really obviously…” The original movie had quite a few bloody action scenes, and while this one certainly had its share, they were mostly shootouts, which can get a little boring without some hand-to-hand combat and explosions to back them up.

I thought it was good, but not great. A solid rental, but I’m glad we saw it in the regular theater rather than spending extra for IMAX. Some good ideas, but could have been more.