The Killer Elite opens 9/23. Buy tickets now on Fandango.com.

Find out more about The Killer Elite at killerelite.com

I went to see “The Killer Elite” last week at a special press screening and I have to say I was blown away. I’m not normally one for assassin vs. assassin movies, but “The Killer Elite” is more than just your typical violence for the sake of violence film – it’s actually a real interesting story about trained assassins, government corruption and the role the West has played in the Middle East. Entirely relevant for the current culture and political times today.

Both myself and Lisa, who came along, walked out after seeing it surprised at how much we really enjoyed the film because, at the end of the day, it told a compelling, redemptive story. Added bonus? Yvonne Strahovski (Sarah Walker from Chuck) plays the romantic lead.

Synopsis:

“Based on a shocking true story, Killer Elite pits two of the world’s most elite operatives – Danny, an ex-special ops agent (Jason Statham) and Hunter, his longtime mentor (Robert De Niro) – against the cunning leader of a secret military society (Clive Owen).  Covering the globe from Australia to Paris, London and the Middle East, Danny and Hunter are plunged into a highly dangerous game of cat and mouse — where the predators become the prey.”

Non-Spoilery Verdict:

Come for the explosions, car chases, stellar cast and leave with a compelling story.

Jason Statham does what he does best in this role: he plays the hard on the outside, teddy bear on the inside lead. As Danny he gets to really play with the tortured soul who is pulled back into the assasian business because of his friend. Robert DeNiro gets to play an excellent role as a foil for Jason’s character adding to every scene he’s in without having to outshine the rest of the cast. Yvonne gets to play a good Australian country girl, and even though her role is smaller than the male leads, she really lights up the screen at every turn. I was pleasantly surprised that her character wasn’t as flat as I had anticipated she might be in this very male genre film.

Clive Owen is masterful and gripping in his role. Of the three male leads I really believed his character most of all.

At the beginning the movie did feel more like an independent film (long, non-actiony type shots), but the action picked up and left me interested through out. There were a couple unexpected turns that the movie made that I wasn’t expecting and the overall message was redemption is possible and who you were does not have to define who you become.

Downsides to the movie (for me) was it was rated R for language (brief nudity) and violence (though the violence wasn’t as bad as I thought it may be).

This is a really great movie based on a non-fiction book The Feather Men and I recommend you go see it for yourself.

This past season of the Big Bang Theory we saw a lot more of the boys at work at CalTech. Their office life is something that I envy! Imagine being surrounded by cool lasers and a cafeteria that lets you take as many napkins as you want. My last office job was full of geeks much like CalTech, but it seemed to have a higher ratio of females than CalTech.

One of the things I love about the Big Bang Theory is a lot of the relationships between the characters are centered around hanging out and eating. It’s no different at their work where a lot of pivotal discussions and introduction of new character/plots happen in the cafeteria. A lot of my co-worker bonding time has been around food as well (shared lunches, free lunch Friday, etc). There’s something universal about sharing a meal together.

Of course, I’ve never spent overnight sleeping at my office like Sheldon did when he refused to learn how to drive. But in a lot of other ways my office experiences were similar to the ones you see on The Big Bang Theory… except for the laser part.

How about you? Do you and your co-workers bond over lunch? Do you get to work with lasers (okay, I’m super jealous of the laser bit, I admit)?

Buy The Big Bang Theory Season 4 on DVD/BluRay! http://bit.ly/nAnZ5T

I have been hired by Warner Bros. WBWord division to promote The Big Bang Theory Season 4 on DVD.

Special Features are something that makes or break any DVD set, especially for TV. The special features included add to the overall valube of a show that you may be able to get cheaper digitally. Recently I’ve been kind of disappointed by the lack of great features on DVDs that I’ve bought. Thankfully, The Vampire Diaries Season 2 DVDs have some really great features and is well worth buying the set for.

My favorite is “Her Own Worst Enemy…” which goes into explaining how they do split screen scenes (when one actor plays two characters in the same shot). Especially in Season 2 where in one episode Nina Dobrev has to play 12 pages of script Katherine and Elena just talking to each other. For Buffy fans it’s kind of like Dopplegangland when Aly had to play four different characters.

There’s also an amazingly fun “The Perfect Love Triangle…” that explains all of the romances on the show (with a fun little ‘family tree’ style chart) with actor/crew interviews explaining them. Then they try and explain Elena’s family tree. It’s freaking hilarious.

There’s also a bunch of small features on the werewolves and their mythology, a fantastic gag reel, deleted/unaired scenes, and a commentary on the pivotal episode “Masquerade.”

Check the fun features out for yourself and order your copy of The Vampire Diaries: The Complete Second Season on DVD/Blu-Ray here today: http://bit.ly/mkiZtx!

I have been hired by Warner Bros. WBWord division to promote The Vampire Diaries: The Complete Second Season on DVD/Blu-Ray.

Photo: Quantrell D. Colbert/The CW

I grew up with Christian cartoons, from Superbook to Hanna-Barbera’s Greatest Adventure Stories from the Bible and, as I hit high school Veggie Tales. So when I was asked to review Theo I was very intrigued. The idea of teaching systematic theology with fun cartoons is very appealing because, as School House Rock can tell you, animated featurettes can sometimes teach more lasting lessons than a room full of teachers.

Theo is a very cute premise, a nice old English man who lives in a cozy cottage in the Cotswolds with two mice named — of course — Luther and Belfry. Luther and Belfry are my favorite part of the movies. Their antics add the fun part of the videos. The two episodes I watched had them acting silly, but it actually fit with the lesson for each video.

I also enjoyed the illustrated shorts (like the story of Abraham done in pop-up graphic style) and I think that it’s a resource that works really well for adults as well as kids because of the pacing and storytelling. I can see it easily setting up a message or used in a worship service. It also would be helpful in Sunday School or homeschooling settings if supplemental materials are used (discussion especially).

The theology itself and the message is sound. For those who really want to teach the fundamentals of the Christian faith, this is a great series. Again, the lessons are simple enough for children to understand, but are also ideas that work well for adults. In one episode Theo explains how the word “sin” really means “missing the mark” and that it’s an archery term. He illustrates the fact by firing a bow and arrow.

As enjoyable as the videos are there are a couple drawbacks. The series is geared towards urban kids or younger children who probably would get bored with the didactic style of the videos. There’s not enough story here to keep people engaged (though, the videos are short 5-7 minutes). I’m not entirely comfortable with the idea that theology can only be taught by older, Caucasian Englishmen. I would have liked to have seen something more universal (or at least a larger, diverse human population).

If you’d like to find out more about Theo, which is also available on iPad/iPhone/iPod Touch check it out at:  www.theopresents.com

You can also check out the first episode for free and download it at their website.

I was given a review copy of Theo for the purpose of reviewing on this site. The free copy does not in any way change my opinions of the product and I strive to always give honest and reliable reviews.

I love ebooks for the iPad. I think they’re getting cleverer and cleverer. So I was delighted when I was able to review “Millie and the Lost Key” (the second book about the dog adventurer Millie). While I don’t have kids of my own I have a ton of kids who use my iPad on a regular basis. It’s been the best tool in combatting “long, boring adult things.” Just a couple weeks ago it was a long lunch. There’s also been long graduations, long meetings, and long bus rides. Kids love the iPad because of the tactile experience and, because of this, “Millie and the Lost Key” is an experience kids won’t soon forget.

The Interface
Millie and the Lost Key is fairly intuitive to use, though I’m glad they had the small startup instructions on how to turn pages. A lot of the pages look like their “real life” counterparts (such as pop up books) so knowing what to do on the screen is easy. The kids I’ve seen use it didn’t struggle at all. The only part I struggled with was knowing when to “scratch off” versus click on something, but soon got the hang of it.

Experience
The strength of this app is that there’s always a surprise on the next page and you can’t really tell what might come next. Where a lot of ebooks fail, Millie and the Lost Key succeeds in giving you enough variety in things to do that you’re not bored and give up halfway through. There’s things to push, pull, scratch, click and more. Plus a variety of small mini-games that help the story along.

The Story
If you’ve bought enough ebook apps you know that often an ebook is either 1) a great story or 2) a great experience, but very seldom does an ebook app give you both. I have several amazing kids books on my iPad that just make boring apps. There’s nothing visually striking about them and there’s little to click on, move or push around the screen. Thankfully Millie and the Lost Key is not only an exciting app to play with it’s also an adorably cute story.

The Price
For the amount of fun this app is, I think it’s one of the most reasonably priced kids ebooks out there. The added value is that it’s got a nice replay incentive if you’ve missed all of the hidden stickers or just want to retry to beat your score on some of the mini-games.

Bottom Line
I say buy it, it’s a fun app and is great for the kids in your life who are going to be borrowing your iPad. Plus, you can get the first book “Meet Millie” for free! Click here to find “Millie and the Lost Key” on iTunes: http://bit.ly/qm4ofG