Insanity - Fast And Furious Workout.avi
Berry Hootsell
Old enemies emerge from the shadows forcing the team back into high-octane battle. This time, however, the family will be tested like never before, because the one threatening the world used to be part of that family.
Justin Lin returns to the franchise that put him on the map, to helm yet another physics-defying action fest. This time the team face a challenge that hits all too close to home. All families have history, and Dom's is coming back to haunt him, giving us a glimpse at one of the major turning points in his life. One which explains why he holds his family so dear. But between all the new and returning characters, and the intertwining/rejigged plotlines that they bring with them, it's all starting to get a bit jumbled. The timeline is a mess. It doesn't help that the majority of the new developments - most of which continue the pattern of trying to fix or alter what has gone before - go almost entirely unexplained. Simply put, they've tried to do too much, leaving Fast 9 feeling like little more than an exercise in fan service.
Many of the returning characters are given pointless roles, although you'll be pleased to hear that Roman is as loud and annoying as ever. Charlize Theron's 'Cipher' - the big bad of Fast 8 - is reduced to a minor role, one so inconsequential she might as well not be there. A real shame given that she probably delivers one of the best performances. The same can be said of the returning cast members from Tokyo Drift (Lucas Black, Shad Moss, Jason Tobin), who have apparently moved on to bigger engines since their time on the drift circuit. At least Jordana Brewster gets to make a return, even if it is to act as a bridge/wall between Dom (Vin Diesel) and a certain other character played by John Cena, but it's better than her usual role of simply watching from the sidelines.
The problem - or at least one of them - is that these movies are getting to be a tad repetitive, stale even. Since things got changed up around Fast 5, the writers are obviously under pressure to constantly up the ante, to out do what has gone before. To that end, they have finally achieved a certain insanity - or should I say 'height' - that fans (and haters) of the franchise have been predicting for years, and while doing that a certain cast member actually mentions the word "physics", undoubtedly this is the writers' way of taking the piss. With every movie, they are forced to come up with increasingly ridiculous ways to bring these guys out of retirement, shredding the history of the Fast Saga in the process. This always includes some terrible McGuffin that threatens the world in some way, and the only way to get it back is by driving really fast. But it wasn't that long ago that we saw Dom pressuring Brian to give up the life for his "family", holding him to a standard that he and Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) are now trying to weasel out of with weak excuses like "it's not who we are".
If there's one thing you can count on with this movie it's extreme driving sequences that seem to push cars way beyond their limits. Like watching a car to do an Indiana Jones impression, or driving a very low-riding, mid-engined Dodge Charger on the cobbled streets of Edinburgh. I hope Vin Diesel had a comfy seat for that one! That said, the vehicular action is very exciting throughout, a lot of which is done for real. However, the movie is never able to surprise you because every set-piece has been revealed in the trailers, including many of the outcomes. A chase through Tbilisi involving a massive armoured vehicle nicknamed "The Armadillo" is particularly impressive. This leviathan is formidable, reminiscent of the prison transport in Deadpool 2, only this one they actually built. But if you've seen the trailer, you've pretty much seen the whole thing. Bringing us to another of Fast 9's problems; with all of this insanity you'd figure that the movie would feel more fun, but like always, this absurd franchise continues to take itself way too seriously, this one even more so than previous instalments. Which is possibly due to the loss of Dwayne Johnson to the Hobbs & Shaw spin-off, a movie that actually is a lot of fun.
Those "VOLUNTARY" contributions made by middle management and executives at corporations which are then funneled to PACS to buy votes in D.C. are NOT VOLUNTARY. They are achieved by EXTORTION. Middle managers and executives are given the very loud hint that NOT giving to the PAC that the company WANTS them to give to, their CAREER IS ENDED.
It's either give your money to the PAC or pack up and leave. It's been this way, with companies using extortion to steal money from people so they can buy power and influence in government for many many years. I have seen it myself at all levels since the 1980's.
I stopped watching mainstream media years ago, right about the time the OJ Simpson trial became the daily entertainment for millions of Americans. As far as I'm concerned, that's what television news is today - infotainment. I hear "news stories" about things which I have know for years - how is this news? I hear commentators give their opinions about what this or that person in the news did; that's not what the news is supposed to be. News is not opinion - it's news, plain and simple. I hear news stories which dwell almost exclusively on a person's motivations and feelings, etc. How is this news? I think mainstream news started going downhill when CNN started 24-hour news coverage. Inevitably, there was airspace that needed to be filled. Guess what filled it? Fluff. Eventually this fluff came to be regarded as news. I know so many people who honestly do not realize that what they are hearing nowadays is so far removed from what was heard from the likes of Walter Cronkite and Chet Huntley and David Brinkley. Now that was news. I have even come to regard Wolf Blitzer as an infotainment show moderator. How sad! The only news I respect anymore is what I find on the internet.
"This is Gobenor Mak Sanferd, responding to yo' text.
"Yeah, Governer, where the hell are you? A big ole' hurricun is a-bearin'down on Chaalston, liable to destroy evathang from Hiltun Haid to Murtle Beech. We need you t'call FEMA, get out them Nashnul Guards."
"Hadn't hurd, eva-thin is clair out hea on t'Appalatchin Trale. Oops, I'm comin' to a big ole' hi-ull. Uh-uh-uh, damn good Maria, o-o-o-o damn me in hell, fer shoot.! Huff-huff-puff, thank you honey. Scuse me Althea, I just decided to jump in tha' riva, an' cool off. I'll get on the email, soon as I get in town, and get the President to daclar un emurjancy."
"Sir, how soon will you get back. We need you now. Want me to sand Sytate Troopers?"
"Naw Althea, I so far up the ass of New york I'll have to make connections in Miama. See you Winsdy er Thursdy."
But sir, we need you home now! Your wife said she don't even know whur y'are..."
Buzz-z-z-z-z-z-z (dialtone).
Althea: "Wow, star 69 is givin' a country code!"
It is so obvious that the news has been, to a significant extent, neutralized. The current situation is that the full truth is seldom brought out into the open and the operatives live behind the proverbial curtain which keeps things out of the public's sight.
The other obvious observation of the news media is not what is said so much as what is not said or covered. Examples of this that readily come to mind is the complete lack of objective reporting on the Iraq fiasco from the start to now and now it continues in Afghanistan. The other is the complete lack of objective and analytical reporting of the economic situation both domestically and in the world. Not only what really is going on with Wall Street and corporate and banking greed are not covered to any real level but the so called Global Free Trade Concept, which is destroying the middle class and the American way of life, is never covered in any meaningful way. Lastly, the invasion of illegals, mainly from Mexico, is never covered in a way that uncovers what is really going on and why our government is failing to uphold the rule of law. The real cost of this cheap labor is never talked about in any meaningful way by the news media.
There are many more examples of the failure of the news media but the question why this is happening? I have some ideas like the news has become big business with a focus on the bottom line and not the uncovering the truth. The Internet has diluted the impact of the news in that the more focused source of newspapers. The thousands of news sites and bloggers has created a decentralized news situation. Another idea is that the news has morphed into this non-confrontational go along liberal agenda driven entity.
In a democracy we need an informed electorate that can make intelligent decisions based on the facts. Unfortunately, what typically happens is that we are exposed to someone's opinion with an obvious bias and agenda.
GRADY I could give a rats butt for PALIN.And I want to thank BILL for giving on air time to KUCINICH/RON PAUL last year even if it was only 15 minutes each.I remember KUCINICH being mayor of Cleveland Ohio.A old home town reporter named Dorthy Fulton(misspelled) ruined his chance at a second term over Cleveland power plant.She was a reporter in Cleveland for 30 yrs. Turned out that old Dorthy had a pile of stock in the power company and if Kucinich got his way she was going to lose money so she blackb-lled him.It did not matter that he was doing the right thing saving piles of money for the city.I just would prefer to be told the truth.Could be worse as in Canada the tax payer gets screwed by paying for the liberal canadian broadcast(cbc)bias one sided news.
WIP: There's nothing wrong with bike-riding in a beautiful beachfront community. It is healthier and greener than snowmobiling in Glacier National Park. The shame is that trails for healthy exercise are needed and deserved by every American, but are not getting built. (We actually lack "freedom of movement.")
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