Box office Rundown vol 2

By Paul Anthony

Predicting numbers and orders of the film rankings can be a pain and often difficult, you just never know when one more climbs up the ladder so how was the weekend?

1. Abominable = 20 million
2. Downton Abby= 14 million
3. Hustlers= 11.4 million
4. It; Chapter 2= 10.4 million
5. Ad Astra= 10.1 million
6. Rambo= 8.5 million
7. Judy= 3 million
8. Good Boys= 2 million
9. The Lion King= 1.6 million
10. Angel has fallen = 1.5 million

Now We know Fast and Furious presents Hobbs and Shaw just dropped out of the top ten. Newcomers this week were Abominable and Judy. Hustlers last week was at number 5 and I was predicting it would come in at number 6 instead it climbed up the ladder to number 3 and It Chapter 2 is still sitting in the top 4 after being out of the top 5.

So what will this week bring? Well we have the film Joker, Lucy in the Sky, Pain and Glory and Wrinkles the Clown. I don’t see any film making a big impact except Joker so let’s see if I can go 1-1 here so here is the order I am predicting.

1. Joker
2. Abominable
3. Downton Abby
4. Hustlers
5. It: Chapter 2
6. Rambo
7. Ad Astra
8. Judy
9. Good Boys
10. The Lion King

I have to admit I feel pretty confidence in this list, now if I am wrong in the order I don’t think I will be wrong with the movies that will be in the top ten!

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Curse of the Komodo Movie Review

By: Justin Hopkins

** Spoiler Warning**

I wanted to do this one a lot sooner than now, but have kept pushing it off for various of reasons. Being really fond of the first Komodo movie when I was a kid, and starting my love for the cheezy movies starring genetically enhanced animals. Twenty years later and I don’t quite remember much about it outside of the fact that I enjoyed it, and wanted to see how well its 2004 sequel did. Sitting down and gave it a watch. Despite it having promising idea and a decent enough cast. Curse of the Komodo couldn’t seem to get out of it’s own way and the movie suffered because of it.  Lets me break some stuff down and explain why I think that.

Movie starts off on an island. A group of scientists and security are stationed in a safe house, and a special force group is sent in, to test Project Catalyst. An experiment that was supposed to be used to grow food, but Navy turned it into a weapon that created the Giant Komodo Dragon. After an argument between the lead scientists and the Navy Commander. They were sent in to collect their data and clean up the evidence.  They then take a break from this group to go to a Casino Heist already in progress. Lead by the stoic and evil Drake, Reece, and Tiffany . They make it out, but not before killing a cashier. Running to Jack, the Helicopter pilot who crash on to the island, after they stupidly force him to fly in a hurricane. With all the players on the Island, they have to work together to survive and not just against the Komodo and the pending airstrike, but the infectious secretions that for some reason turns those infected into mindless zombies, and I don’t even know where to start with any of this.

This movie throws so much at you. Between character changes development, to plot twists. Take the zombie thing for instance. There is no reason for that to happen. Komodo’s are in fact poisonous and creates an intriguing dynamic to the story. Having them become a zombie for no reason, halfway through the movie was a pointless addition. They set up a redemption arc between Drake and Tiffany that went nowhere, and for whatever reason, Jack flipped between likable to villain and back to likable in a matter of ten, fifteen minutes and they did that by having Drake look like an idiot, and would still like to know why Phipps airhead of a Daughter was the one at the house at the start of the movie. Since, she is no scientist or soldier. I mean, I know why, but could have at least let her play the part of a scientist at least. Give her some other reason to be there.

Then the action sequences are basically them shooting at the Komodo, who stares at them for quite a few minutes. Growling and hissing, till it eats one, they run away, or it just leaves. Seriously, he walked away after eating one person. After they said one can eat up to eighty percent of its body. He takes a break after one.

Not everything was bad though.  I actually did like the casting choices. The thieves played by, Melissa Brasselle, Paul Logan, and Cam Newlin were on the money, and Gail Thackray sold it as the only one who seemed to know anything among the scientists. Ted Monte and Tim Abell had me believe there was more to their characters then what we got. Especially when they were working together. They had really good chemistry, and we had a cameo from the great George Buck Flowers, in what would be one of his last performances. The story may not have been there, but everyone who should up seemed to try their best to make it work.

The animation wasn’t that bad either. Those infected looked like they could pass off as sick, and bloody scratch mark with skin leafing off was just nasty. The Komodo was noticeably CG, but looked rather good for being a 2004 movie. See much worse today then what this gave us. It was nothing special, but little better than I thought would have been.

I don’t really like the idea of giving back-to-back movies a skip it, but Curse of the Komodo did not do enough to earn a watch it. There is a bit of ridiculousness in it to make it amusing, but not nearly enough. I ended up mostly bored and wishing it would be over. Too overbooked and tried to be something it was not. Had they simplified the story a bit, feel it could have been better.

Thank you for reading.

Saturday Sequel presents The Hangover part 2

By Paul Anthony

Welcome back to another edition of Sequel Saturday, today we are going back about 8 years and judging by the title you already know what movie we are reviewing and if you don’t know, well let me tell you. We are going to talk about The Hangover Part 2 which came out in 2011 and is the sequel to the 2009 hit comedy The Hangover. I saw The Hangover as soon as it came in theaters and I didn’t review it well because I was in high school at the time and once I did see it, I thought I just watched a modern classic and thought no I don’t want an sequel because it could ruin the legacy of this film well just a few months later I found out, that they were indeed making a sequel. We know sequels will come with a bigger budget because in Hollywood bigger is better.

The budget for this film increased from 35 million to 80 million and saw the wolf pack go to Thailand for Stu’s wedding. Now I knew this film had to live up to such a great film and the main question I had to ask myself is did it? In some ways yes it did and other ways no it didn’t. The cast had great chemistry together and all wanted to bring the laughs which they did. Now there were certain things to me that ruin this film. For example Phil calls Doug’s fiacnee in the first film to tell her they lost Doug which makes perfect sense, well when they lose Teddy which is Stu’s wife’s little brother, Phil once again calls Tracy but why not Doug. Lazy Writing this movie made more money then the first film because people wanted to see what the Wolf Pack would do next problem is they did the exact same story from the first film. A member goes missing, They get drugged up because of Alan and forget about what they did the night before and try find the missing member in the nick of time. To me that is just down right lazy writing.

They could have had a different story to it and it could have been better, if they would have done it right. However the story ends as we predicted it would be because the story was the same as the first film. That Alone killed the magic of the film.

I want to rate this film in two eras of my life, one way as an adult and another as a young man. As a young man I would have said “Hey it was good just like the first one” and the numbers would back it up but me as an older Adult now would say no this film failed to live up to the first one despite what the numbers would tell you because it’s not always about the numbers. In the end I am giving it B plus because they gave you the best performance that they could give you with the material that they had to work with but don’t expect this to be as funny as the first film.

Friday Roundabout!

By Paul Anthony

You often hear jokes about the different voices for Siri and Google and Amazon Alexa which are jokes but now that is changing and I am not Joking .Now Amazon announced that for just 99 cents Alexa will now sound like Samuel L. Jackson will be her voice and I am sure he will say his famous word Mother F***** but that will be $4.99 though, the 99 cents option would be the basic and the other is with him swearing, How funny will that be? I almost think $4.99 would be worth it. Now there hasn’t been any announced date for this package but stay tune!

Now we got to switch to something more serious because we lost a horror legend last Saturday and that person was Sid Haig, who died from complications from the Lung Infection which happened when he vomit in his sleep. Sid’s career started way back in 60’s and for the most part until the 90’s he was busy mad but slowed his pace in the 90’s, However His career picked up again by 2003 when he starred in House of 1000 corpses as Captain Spaulding, a role that would make him famous in the younger generation eyes. It’s sad to say that he is gone, he will be missed by millions.

When you are good at your job, it’s only a matter of time before your company realizes it to and when they do they start to worry about losing you and now we could be facing that issue with Marvel Studios. It is being reported Marvel Studios Big Man Kevin Feige will now work with LucasFlim on a Star Wars project. We all know they are own by Disney owns them both, but they still operate as different companies. Now Kevin has always wanted to work on a Star Wars film and now the question is will he get a full time job there and move on from Marvel. Now I don’t know if we should go that far but right now you just don’t know.

This news really has me pumped for the film more then ever. Fans are already pumped for Jurassic World 3 and it seems like the film can’t come fast enough, sadly it still a year and half away. The biggest thing we kept asking ourselves is where was Alan grant and Ellie Sattler at? which were played Sam Neill and Laura Dern. We saw BD Wong return and Jeff Goldblum return, Jeff’s role as Ian was small in The Fallen Kingdom. But Now His Role as well as Sam and Laura’s will be much bigger. This film will be such a great film and it only made sense for all the cast to return since as of right now this film is set to be the last film and with the Dinosaurs on the run, Grant and Sattler needs to lead the pack to put this dinosaurs back where they belong for good. We will have to wait until June 2021 to see what will happen!

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Rise of the Streaming Service!

By Paul Anthony

Netflix is the currently king in the streaming field of movies and T.V. but the question for how long? Since basically 2010 Netflix has been pumping millions into their streaming service but now just ten years later it might be a different story. We know Netflix always had competition but it more then ever. We Know their is Amazon prime and Hulu but even they are gaining more steam. We now are going to have Apple plus and Disney plus and HBO Max but another one is entering the game and that is NBC’s very own Peacock streaming app.

Okay Okay, judging from the name you think a Peacock wouldn’t be much of a threat but think about what NBC has to offer. I am going guess you will have current NBC shows on their not to mention they will have their original content including the reboot of Save by The Bell. The verdict will be out on their shows of course but the names should strike a little scare in Netflix. We have Apple now entering the business and right now there is no fear yet because once again they are making their own content so it is hard to say if it blow up so the verdict is out but Apple users will flock to get this service and oh yeah the price is only 5 dollars a month.

Disney plus when it was announced was already called the Netflix killer and that was because of all the content they will be pulling from Netflix and that is scary, if you choose the option of 12.99 per month you get Disney, Hulu and Espn plus, which is crazy amount of material and let’s not forget about HBO Max. No offical price has been given just yet but it has to be safe to assume that it will be around 12 or 13 dollars.

Now I know we are talking about the streaming service and we have yet to touch upon cable companies and satellite companies and how they are going to be getting affected as well. It has been getting annoying seeing prices go up and up and with the working class we don’t really watch cable much. However I do believe they won’t be hurt that much, so there is no need to focus on them as much as we want to. The point here is Netflix and how will they do.

Netflix may be losing a lot of content but they do have their own produced content that is actually good and get great reviews. Last few years they have been making both good shows and now Movies as well with some big stars including Adam Sandler, Ben Affleck and Will Smith. For them to stay on top, they need to keep producing their own good content and remain user friendly. I don’t see them changing their prices because in the end, they are already low 6 to 12 dollars a month is very cheap. In the end all these streaming services will be equaled in the end it will just depend on what you like and no one said that you can’t have all of them at once.

Disenchantment Season 2

By: Justin Hopkins

**Spoiler Warning**

 I have been looking forward to this for far to long. The first season was so good, and left us with so many questions. What happened to Luci, and why did Dagmar turn everyone to stone. Was Elfo really dead and what was the fate of Dreamland. On top of all of that, Matt Groening created such a vast and interesting world of characters and settings that left me wanting to see more, and was counting down the days when Season 2 was announced. Lets dive in and see if it lived up to expectations.

The story started off with where they left of, with King Zog, alone and Bean is on the ship with her Mother. Unaware that Oona had just got tied up and cast off the side. Under the belief that everyone she knew was gone, and on her way to her Mother’s homeland. Where she meets her Aunt and Uncles. The same responsible for sending her Luci in the first place. Quickly aware that not everything is as it seems, and after a bit of sneaking around, Bean learns that her Mother and aunt and uncle are planning something, and revolves around her. With the help of Jerry can reunite with Luci and after a conversation with Elfo through the Phoenix fire, escape her mother and journey into hell to rescue him, and then on to Dreamland. To see if King Zog made it and how they can help, and with the help of Oona and the Pirate Captain Leavo. They were able to save Dreamland, and that was just the first three episodes. Which I thought was a wise use of time and a smart decision to make.

They made sure to bring the characters back to where they are needed to be, but at the same time, not quite finish certain arcs. They left things open to where they can tell little side stories or ones that end in a single episode, but at the same time, you can tell something is happening just below the surface. The Elves are there, but are looking for something, and Queen Dagmar still wants Bean for whatever destiny that she believes her to be a necessity for. Along with the creepy music box and magical markings found around the castle, along with a growing plot from Odval and the High Priestess. There is always a feeling that something is going on or is about to happen that keeps you watching and guessing and just genuinely engaged.

The character work got a lot better and more developed from season 1 to 2. Tiabeanie especially. When we met her, she seemed lost and confused about her place within the world. Where here, she still has a bit of it, but it becoming more assertive. She remembers what she has been through and confidence rises throughout, and her relationships with everyone. From how far her and Zog have come and bond growing between her and Luci and poor, poor Jerry. Any time Bean wasn’t on the screen, her absences was felt and missed, because she has become such a vital and dynamic character. I will discuss Elfo in a bit.

The surprises for me, were from Luci and Prince Derek, especially Derek. He went from a goofy background character to fantastic when he got an episode to himself and they played him perfectly. Almost self aware of the fact that he never does anything and his feelings were hurt for it and made you feel guilty in a way for not noticing him sooner. I won’t say how this ends, but his role is far from expected. Luci too, was a surprise. He was great in season 1, but loved how they used him now. Going into hell and seeing that he wasn’t the best demon. In fact he was bottom of the barrel, and after he lost his powers, thought he’d be obnoxious, but far from it. May have even been more useful as the bar owner. Don’t know if they will keep him that way, but can’t wait to see what happens from here.

The comedy was great throughout. Already quoting more then I should at work. Sometimes it was repetitive and went on for to long, but didn’t break the flow that much. Loved the animation work and the designs of heaven, hell, and the steampunk city later on. Was good stuff all around.

Now, on to my negatives, and this may be a little disputed, but Elfo to me was a  negative. He was lovable in season 1, because of his naive and childish demeanor. Yeah he had his rough edges, but for the most part, he was a driving force for good, and worked so well, because of the position Bean and Luci were at. Luci being chaos and Bean being your neutral. She could flow from side to side and they worked perfectly together. I get that he was upset and growing more and more pessimistic due to what he has been through, but he was almost too much of a jerk at times. To the point I didn’t want to see him around anymore. Started getting better toward the end, and hope the trend continues in the next season, because he is still good. Just thought his value dropped a bit here.

The next is a bit of a minor one, but kind of wish we got some answers here. I am excited for what comes next, but just a little bit. At least what Bean’s destiny is or what Dagmar believes it should be. Small complaint, but with how they ended this with the episode, Tiabeanie Falls. Kind of wish we got a little bit more.

All in all, this was a great season. It was a lot of fun, with great character development and some hysterical jokes. Love the voice acting from Abbi Jacobson, Eric Andre, Nat Faxon, and everyone else. Already can’t wait, because the ending was unexpected and again, left us with so many questions and so many moving pieces. Going to give it an A, and if you haven’t watched it. Need to check it out.

Thanks for reading.

 

 

Box office rundown Vol 1.

By Paul Anthony

Welcome to another new weekly series from Smash Writing, in this series we will review the weekend box office, the top ten that is and then make a few predictions for the next week and then see how we did the following Monday so without further a due, let’s get started.

In this week we had 3 big films opening and can you guess which one came in first,  here are the three Downtown Abby, Ad Astra, Rambo the Last blood, which one took the top spot?

Downton Abby =  31 million

Ad Astra = 19.2 million

Rambo The Last Blood= 19 million

It: chapter 2 = 17.245 million

Hustlers = 17 million

The Lion King= 2.5 million

Good Boys = 2.510 million

Angel Has fallen = 2.4 million

Over comer = 1.5 million

Fast and Furious Presents Hobbs and Shaw = 1.46 million

The biggest shocker here is Rambo failing to make number one, when this film had the most hype coming into this box office weekend but now how does the top ten look for next week? here are my predictions

I do predict we will have a new number one with animation film Abominable

1. Abominable
2. Downton Abby
3. Ad Astra
4. Rambo
5. It Chapter 2
6. Hustlers
7. The Lion King
8. Good Boys
9. Angel Has Fallen
10. Fast and Furious Presents Hobbs and Shaw.

Now this is where the box office will get slow before we head into the next big film which will be Joker. I guess we have to wait until next Monday to see if this proves to be true or not!

Dead Rising: Endgame Movie Review

By: Justin Hopkins

** Spoiler Alert**

  Hello and welcome back to another edition of B-Movie Sunday. For those following along, know that I did Dead Rising: Watchtower last week, and was so hyped and needed to know what happened next, so decided to continue on with the sequel, Endgame. Had to know what Lyons was planning. What was Project Watchtower? What was to happen with Crystal? Would Frank West do anything? Most importantly, What happened to Jordan? Could it live up to expectations and be as enjoyable as Watchtower was? The answer… Is a mixed bag one. Lets delve in and see about straightening things out and see where we land.

The movie kicked off, with a video montage, of what happened in Watchtower and what has been going on since. Mixed with some goring images and music. Worked out really nice and got the ball rolling. Going to years after the end, and we see Chase and his source following a military vehicle through East Mission City, which is still a quarantine zone. With Girlfriend Sandra and fellow reporter Jill a good bit away on back-up. Once Chase got inside we see General Lyons talking with a drug dealers. Swapping drugs for people and talking about project Afterlife, before the source is dragged in and killed. Chase barely makes it out alive, and takes his video to his boss and Lawyer at the News Station who shots it down for being too dark ( It wasn’t.)  and told he needs to stop chasing ghost before he ends up like Jordan, and that she is gone forever. Then Sandra says he is going to kill himself. All of which sends him to the bar with Jill. This is where he meets Garth. A scientist from Phenotran, who tells him that Afterlife is basically a kill switch that will instantly kill anyone with the Zombrex chip in twenty four hours, unless they can get into the server farms and stop it. Kick starting the must needed clock for a Dead Rising movie and things picking up from there.

We’ll start with the positives, unfortunately, there wasn’t many to be seen here. I loved the camera angles and long shots. The fight scenes were all really good and embraced its source material. From using Flares to crazy built weapons made it for some slick zombie killings. The escalator scene was a lot of fun, with chase sliding and leaping with all zombies falling down and coming from everywhere, but for my money the lab scene was better. Long shot made for some shaky moments, but the creative kills within made it stand out that much more.

Jesse Metcalfe was much stronger character this time around. Knowing his character a little better and able to flesh him out some more. Felt like he was able to shine and felt like he belonged.  We get a Chuck Greene this time around, and while I would have loved seeing him having more to do, ( Why do they not like the game characters) I did like the fact he did do a little. Shooting down some before lifting one into the Helicopter blades. Small but enjoyable.

The introduction of the super charged zombies, was handled perfectly. Where he was blended in the crowd, until the very last moment. Fans of the game know it immediately, when he looks right at them and was an exciting moment. Another, and the main reason I watched this one was the return of Keegan Connor Tracy’s Jordan. Her character work and disappearance was almost the driving force of this movie. Were screaming it during the montage, and her entrance was awesome. They make you think it was Sandra or Garth, and get stoked to see it was Jordan. However, they screwed it up by having her just hanging out and get captured and infected with a super charged virus and spent the rest of the time strapped a table. Feel like they missed a real opportunity turning her into a real badass character who is just a tank. Fueled by hate and anger over what they have done to her the last two years, and almost borders a crazy role, a role I think Keegan would have knocked out of the park.

This movie really suffers by being bland and generic. They don’t even bother trying to create intriguing stories beyond dry cliche. Logan was such powerful villain, because you believed he was desperate for the zombie infection to continue. That in normal life he was a loser, and in a world where he could be psycho; he reigned supreme. While the gang here was drug dealers who were aiding the government. Nothing special beyond that. The Doctor was good, but they waited to long to bring him up to mean anything, and Garth turning on them could be seen coming from a mile away. Would have been more shocking if he wouldn’t have turned on the group. Had they even bothered to write something different, they could have made something special, because they had all the tools they needed to make something special.

My biggest example of lazy writing is with Sandra. Now Marie Avgeropoulos played her well. The character is a carbon copy of Meghan Ory’s Crystal. They were bitten in Fortune City, who were abandoned by their friends and family, and brought out of there shell, by Chase. They even dress and look alike. Meghan Ory was amazing. One of the best parts of Watchtower, and by making Sandra a carbon copy. You doomed her from the start. Marie would have been a positive, had they made her a new character who met up with Chase during the two years gap.

Final verdict time, unless you were a fan of the first movie, and want to know what happened to Jordan, like I did. Really wouldn’t suggest this one. If you were a fan of the game, you might get a little bit of enjoyment from the action and carnage candy, but Watchtower did it so much better. The lazy writing doesn’t help matters either. Save yourself some time and check out something else.

Thanks for reading

 

Friday Roundabout 9-20-2019

By Justin Hopkins

Welcome to this edition of the roundabout and to the end of what I hope was a great week for you all. Got a handful of news stories throughout the week that I wanted to discuss a little bit. Ranging from lighthearted and nostalgia returns, rumors, hopeful and most serious. So, without further ado, lets jump in with news on a TV movie that I am excited for, Psych.

Psych is a show that I still can pick up and watch today. James Roday, Dule Hill, and the rest of the cast were always great, and one of the rare shows it seems to have had a great season finale. The first movie was enjoyable, albeit had its flaws, but was excited to learn they were making another, and we now know the title will be, Psych 2: Lassie comes home. Liking the fact they are making it around Timothy Omundson’s character, since he was limited to a cameo due to a stroke. The story sounds like a solid one to boot, but what I don’t like is the fact it is being pushed back to the spring of 2020 to line up with NBCU streaming service known as Peacock. Everyone doesn’t need to have a streaming service. Could understand it from a Disney or Warner Brothers. They have massive catalogs of TV and Movies and is worth the cost. To a lesser extent even SYFY, but NBC, come on. Broadcast and On Demand should really be enough, but the saddest part is, as far as I am concerned; this will absolutely work and will get it long enough to watch Psych 2.

Sticking to that same vein, we had a trailer drop for 90’s hit show, Are you afraid of the dark, and the inner 90’s kid that I am is stoked as can be. Call it sad, but I don’t care. This was my childhood. This and Goosebumps were my introduction to the horror genre and the fact they are bringing it back in a limited series is the best. Trailer looks exciting. Little bit like they may be copying off Goosebumps and Scary stories a bit, by having the stories coming to life, but will hold my judgement for October 11.

Rumor mill wise is ripe as always, but want to shine a light on one that is just being lightly discussed and that concerning the clown, Pennywise and the possibility of a Chapter 3. Bill Skarsgard did an interview that him and director Andy Muschietti have been in talks about doing a third movie and a possible idea already in mind. It’s far to early to say, but the money is clearly there to be had and hype build following Part 2, especially for an origin story tale of sorts. Which normally never happens, but should strike while the fire is lit.

Now, on to something much more serious, and that is what has come to light pertaining to Stunt Woman Olivia Jackson. Who suffered a serious injury on the set of Resident Evil: The Final Chapter. That resulted in her being in a medical induced coma for 17 days and lost her left arm. According to her, they had promised to take care of her medical bills, a promise that has not been kept, and reading more you find that they had changed the stunt twice at the last moment, that resulted in her getting injured. This is all according to her, but being that another cast member had died on set when a car fell on them. Kind of paints a story of how the set must have been. She has filed a Lawsuit against Tannhauser Gate Inc., Impact Pictures, Bolt Pictures, Jeremy Bolt, and Paul Anderson. All of that aside, this should never see the inside of a court room and is a shame that it had to come to this. Stunt workers put their lives on the line, knowing that fame and public attention may never be a real thing, for our entertainment, and dangers are real, but when the worst happens. They shouldn’t have to worry about money. Olivia deserves better then this and they need to rectify this immediately.

To bring this to a close on a little bit more of a high, Womp Stomp Films has a campaign up and running on Indeigogo.com for a prequel to the hit Never Hike Alone called, Never Hike in the Snow. Which would start 4- new entries to the Never Hike Alone Web Series. If you never heard of Never Hike Alone, it’s a fan made movie made by a group of fans who love the Friday the 13th movies and are tired of Hollywood dragging their feet on the lawsuit, and have taken it upon themselves to make their own, and wow did they nail it perfectly. I first heard about it when someone ranked it among the best Friday the 13th movies, and they were right on the money. They poured their love into this and expect them to do the same with the next, and was surprised to see Thom Mathews involved and will continue with them throughout. You can check out Never Hike Alone on Youtube for free and check them out on Indeigogo.com.

Thank you for reading

America Got Talent and The Winner is?

By Paul Anthony

It seemed like a long but yet fun season, I saw acts that I wonder how they made it as far as they and then I wonder why some acts didn’t make it. Now this is was season 14 of the hit show and we had some cast changes. Mel B and Heidi Klum and Tyra Banks left to do other projects. In comes Terry crews who in my eyes could be called a disappointment because I once saw him as the next big action star but some how that never happened. The two new judges for the show was Gabrielle Union and Julianne Hough. Union has a up and down career as well and Hough was a dancer who during the show seemed to be pushing people to the next round because she was attracted to them rather then seeing if they actually had talent.

We know now that America voted for Kodi Lee who at 22 is blind and has autism but when he was behind the piano he made magic with his music and the talent he produced and the emotions that came with it from his god given ability was just crazy and we knew from the start that he might become winner or at least the favorite and yes America got it right and good for America and Kodi. Yet as I watched the show and some of the time it was clear they were just wasting time with pointless stuff.

Some things did blow my mind with the results, Let’s go back to the forming of the top 5 I had Voices of service, Tyler Butler, Ryan NieMiller, Kodi Lee and Unbeatable. Yet that is not how it happened instead you lost Tyler for Detroit youth Choir, who had that underdog story going for them but in the end I felt like their final performance failed, the kids bless their heart couldn’t hit the solo performances mostly because they tried to rap and it wasn’t working. Tyler however had skills like no other on the violin and I did enjoy his music, every time he got on the stage he truly showed up, He was my clear second to Kodi Lee.

Ryan NieMiller had that magic as well and I think given the time he had to work with he could have done more with his jokes, I never thought he was going to win but finishing third was right where he should have been and I hope I am not wrong when I say he could have had us laughing even more.

No doubt These acts with the main stream attention they got will have good careers, will they though that will be the question and only time will time. The Show will return for a 15th season but that is next summer!