Creed

Full disclosure, I haven't seen any of the Rocky films and went to see this one because my cousin is an extra, though you can't find her at all in the crowd scene so it basically doesn't even matter.
Adonis Johnson (Michael B. Jordan) has had a troubled past, with his mother dying young and then being shuffled around foster care and juvenile hall before finally being rescued by his father's widow, Maryann (Phylicia Rascad) who takes pity on her late husband's illegitimate child and takes him into her home and finishes raising him. He has a good office job and just got a promotion but he gives that all up and moves to Philadelphia so he can box full-time and even urges Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) out of retirement to be his mentor and trainer. Adonis tries and ultimately fails to keep his famous father's name out of everything and he struggles to get out of his father's epic legacy. Yes, he has other battles than just the ones in the ring.
Adonis has his relationship with Bianca (Tessa Thompson) who is a rising singer with hearing loss and then just when Adonis is finally starting to get out of his father's shadow, Rocky is diagnosed with cancer and refuses to undergo treatment because his wife died from cancer and he knows that that will also be his fate. Adonis gets into a huge fight and ends up in jail, albeit briefly. I mean, Rocky didn't call him his son or anything and then another singer refers to Adonis as baby Creed which just rubs him the wrong way.
Fortunately, or unfortunately, he decides that if he will continue to fight, then Rocky must fight also so Rocky decides to get chemo while Adonis trains for the fight of his life, against an Irishman who has never lost, is taller and far more experienced than Adonis.
That fight is epic, complete with blood and gore and Adonis has an eye that becomes swollen shut, which is most tragic, but he refuses to be knocked down and the fight, after twelve rounds, the fight is a draw, though the Irishman is given the victory but Creed has proven that he is a force to be reckoned with.
Now, though I didn't have any problems with the plot, I did have a few problems with the film, namely the relationship between Bianca and Adonis. Though I liked Bianca as a character, and like Thompson as an actress, I wish that they would have given Adonis a girlfriend with a normal job, maybe a teacher or something and the hearing loss is interesting. She gives him some advice, she wants to do what she wants as long as she can before her hearing is shot. I also hated that when she becomes angry with him and doesn't want to hear his pleading any longer, she merely takes out her hearing aids, though she can still probably hear him. I also hated the scene where Adonis is running through the streets and people form a ring of motorcycles around him. Yikes.
There were also plenty of realistic scenes, including the ones in the hospital, without making it look overly glamorous. I also especially enjoyed the scene where Rocky pulls up a chair and newspaper and talks to his dead wife at her tombstone. It was just so sweet.
The acting was also great and the camera work was incredible, mostly during the fight scenes. Michael B. Jordan is always great, though I thought he was much better in his previous collaboration with director Ryan Coolger, Fruitvale Station.
I also hope that history doesn't repeat itself. In 1976, Rocky beat a film about investigative reporting and now Creed threatens to do the same thing. Well, I hope that Spotlight wins. It is a much better film. Still, this film bears worth watching. Grade: B+

Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens

No, I will not be posting major spoilers like I normally do. So you can continue reading.
This is a very good film, easily just as good as the original trilogy. And the acting is even better.
There is something for everyone in this film, though most of the humor in the beginning is lost as the film progresses.
Finn (John Boyega, with a great American accent), Rey (the amazing Daisy Ridley) and Poe (Oscar Isaac) are the good guys while General Hux (Domnhall Geeson) and Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) are the bad guys. Each are good though the good guys are more developed than the evil characters but Ren has an interesting backstory. Pay attention to that.
Yes, all of the old characters we know and love are back: Han Solo (Harrison Ford), Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill, who gets second billing for his puny role), Leia (Carrie Fisher) and Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew). Sadly, all of the characters I just mentioned may not be alive by the time the film is finished.
Sure, a lot of the film seems old but new again, with different twists to the original film, some of which are refreshing such as having Rey being the main character and fighting for herself. My favorite line of hers is when she scolds Finn for constantly holding her hand. But she's also very lonely, having been abandoned by her family, left to scavenge for her food. Now, unfortunately, she is also the subject of the film's biggest plot hole, how in the world can she fly a spaceship so well? I would like to know, but it is necessary for the role and the film.
There are surprises both good and bad throughout this film and yes, it is exciting. The special effects are great, without making the first films look dreadful. There are also internal character struggles, something the first series largely lacked, which is great. My favorite scene was when Rey poured a mixture into water and stirred it, within seconds it puffed up and turned into fully cooked bread. I loved how this film paid attention to all the little details. Tragically, the film already did have a good ending in place, but then they tacked on another one, just for good measure. I understand why they added a second ending but I felt that it was unnecessary. Too bad, it was one of the only false notes in this film.
I could tell you more, but I can't. Please go see this film, you won't be disappointed. Grade: B+

The Middle: Not so Silent Night

The Hecks always have the craziest holidays and this Christmas is no exception.
It starts out fine, with food that Frankie (Patricia Heaton) might have even made for Christmas Eve dinner, actually looking normal but that feeling doesn't last. Frankie is determined to make it to church on time, only her watch fell in the toilet and all the clocks in the house say a different time. Frankie doesn't want to sit in the overflow room again so she decides to bag church. Mike (Neil Flynn) is thrilled. He doesn't need a present anymore because his back won't hurt from those church pews. Things don't go to plan, though. They never do in the Heck house. Sue (Eden Sher) takes a great family photo but when she goes to upload it to the computer, somehow, in a way that is never explained, all the pictures from the last seven years are gone, just like that, poof. Frankie has her rant about all the lost photos, like a trip down memory lane, two high school graduations, plenty of holidays including Thanksgiving with the marines, but things get worse when she can't find the pictures actually printed before the family went digital. She cries and cries and Mike just remains in front of the TV, not watching the service but football instead. He is sick of Frankie carrying on. Each of the kids take turns trying to pull Frankie out of her funk, but each fail, even random Christmas carollers don't help. Frankie merely slams the door in their face. In the end, Frankie drags the family to church, where they end up in the third overflow room, in the church's nursery.
At least everything looks better in the morning, when they are opening presents. Mike even stayed up late and found where Frankie put the old photos. She is thrilled as are Axl (Charlie McDermott) and Sue to see their old baby pictures while Brick (Atticus Shaffer) is forced to look at the pictures of the Ferguson baby, yet another reminder of how they took home the wrong baby from the hospital.
They is barely a subplot in this episode as everything is mainly central to the main plot but Brick and Axl do have their moments over the present for Frankie. For the past twelve years, they have bought her some cat purrfume and this years is no exception. Only Axl won't pay up and Brick isn't having it so they argue about money. It ends with Frankie saying that she is glad about getting something else, only to open the giant box and find the little perfume bottle. And the stuff smells awful. The glass breaks later when Sue is trying to force Mike to get off the couch and comfort Frankie. It reeks so bad that the door remains open the next morning.
This was another great episode, one that didn't require any guest stars and each of the family members got equal screen time and got to show off their skills. McDermott is a physical actor so he got to try to do a back flip and failed. Sue got to persuade the family to do something that plenty of families do and Brick got to read out loud, which he loves while Mike remained sitting in front of the television, which is what he loves.The actors are all specialists in their respective roles, as this is the seventh season of the show.
Now, this show won't be new for a whole four weeks, so this one will have to last me until then, and fortunately, it was one of the better episodes this season. Grade: A
Side Notes:
-The special potato of the month at Spudsys, nutmeg and chive. Brick believes it works while the public wasn't a fan.
-Frankie has no clean bras so she spreads them across her bed and sprays them with fabreeze to freshen them up.
-Frankie set the kitchen clock an hour ahead of time so she would never be late but Sue reset it because then they were always very early. Of course the microwave's time is barely legible as the numbers don't work.
-To persuade her uncooperative brothers to take the photo, Sue promises that she will drive Brick to the library sixty-eight times and do Axl's laundry, including using fabric softener on anything that touches his junk. Gross.
-Brick can't/isn't allowed to cut paper so he wraps Frankie's small bottle of perfume in a huge box to match the giant piece of wrapping paper he used.
-Frankie hasn't updated the computer in sixty-seven weeks, she just kept hitting remind me later.
-Mike just wants to hold the remote even though he won't change channels.
-I can't believe that church of TV would have commercials, because church doesn't have breaks like that.
-Doris gets a mention. Sue wants to grab her for the photo on the bed but Frankie says no. Doris will pee on anything that gives and she, herself, is not far behind.

Brooklyn

The Catholic priests in this film played a very different role than in the last film I had seen. Fortunately, I prefer them in this role.
Eilis Lacey (Saoirse Ronan) is an Irish girl but her life in rural Ireland is going nowhere. She works for a shrew of a woman in a deli and has no romantic interests or better job prospects. Fortunately, her sister, Rose (Fiona Glasgott, playing someone much nicer than her character in Indian Summers) writes to a priest in America who sponsors Eilis to immigrate. So she leaves, joining to Brooklyn where she has a job lined up, plus a place to live. Eilis is someone plain and boring compared to the other girls who have been in the county longer and are more worldly. She suffers from extreme homesickness. Even her job is in danger. She does love her night course that Father Flood (Jim Broadbent) signed her up for and then, at an Irish dance she meets the Italian Tony Fiorello (Emory Cohen) whom she likes a lot. Once she has a guy in her life, she becomes a whole new person, friendlier to her patrons and finally, happy. While I take offense that a woman needs a man in her life to be happy, if you are thousands of miles away from home, you do need someone who is nice  and kind and loves you. And Tony does. Also radical for a man in the 1950s, he doesn't care that she's much smarter than him. Tony is a plumber while Eilis aspires to be a bookkeeper or accountant. She does very well in her college course, Mrs. Kehoe (Julie Walters, also playing someone very different and nicer from her role in Indian Summers) is thrilled as Eilis was the first girl who aced college exams.
Then, Rose dies and Eilis travels home to comfort her mother who wants nothing more, though she doesn't say so, to have Eilis home permanently. Too bad Eilis and Tony secretly married to ensure her return to him.
Eilis is there for her mother and her friend, who is getting married but things start falling into place back in Ireland. She gets the job her sister's death left open and even has a good fellow, Jim Farrell (Domnhall Gleeson) in her life. And his parents are retiring to another town so he will have the house to himself. Eilis does like him and surely would have stayed in Ireland if this is how things had been in the beginning, she would have never had to leave. Things are going well in Ireland, she leaves Tony's letters unopened and can't figure out what she wants to write him but things change at Nancy's (Eileen O'Higgins) wedding. Jim asks her to marry him but even though she is flattered, disinterest is also written on her face. She does make the decision to return home, which I figured she would as the title of the film would suggest because her former boss has a connection to the U.S. who heard word of Eilis's marriage to the Italian. Eilis had forgotten how gossipy and old-fashioned Ireland was. She almost immediately returns to Brooklyn where she rushes to Tony's arms. Now, also of note, before Eilis returned to Ireland, she and Tony consummated their relationship so I am also glad she decided to return on her own, not because a pregnancy forced her to. Her return also gave her the opportunity to be a mentor to another girl leaving home for the first time.
While this film was a little predictable, it was still a sight to behold. The sets truly looked like they were in the 1950s and the actors behaved exactly as they would in the 1950s, with the guys actually being gentlemen, proving now that chivalry is dead. Ronan in a revelation and fully deserves every award and nomination bestowed on her. She just won the New York Film Critic Award, and she is great, as the main focus of the film is on her. Eilis is a fully developed character and drives the film, something that you don't see too often in films currently. The supporting actors were also great, and Cohen should have a big career after this film. I got vibes of a young Marlon Brando from his performance. He is also great, but the film doesn't belong to him, it belongs to her, and he truly makes her shine. Grade: A-

The Middle: The Convention

Well, Frankie (Patricia Heaton) is forced to go to a dental convention in Des Moines. She doesn't want to do, dreads it and only attends, not because it is mandatory, but because it is all expenses paid (or so she misunderstands) and will get her out of the house. She thinks it is lame but finally, the enthusiastic host, Dr. Samuelson (the always great Cheryl Hines) wonders if they ever feel left out and forgotten. Frankie buys right into this hooey, grateful that she could get rewarded for referring someone to their dental offices even in other states. Mike (Neil Flynn) may not be thrilled with this Ponzi scheme, but for the first time in the history of this show, he's getting laid on a regular basis because Frankie is so hyped from the sessions which are basically super inspiring and then a dance party breaks out. Only then they get the bill for all those mini bar snacks and room service they ordered. Frankie believed that all expenses were paid, and the room was but not all the extras. Now, they must pay nearly seven hundred dollars in fees. Frankie even tries to ask Dr. Samuelson to pay the bill. Though she refuses to pay, she is thrilled that Frankie had the guts and spirit to ask. It is that attitude that they want. In the end, they work it out that they will deduct the bill out of her payments for the next six months. Yikes. Still, Frankie is glad they went into the trip blind, because then they wouldn't have had as much fun.
Sue (Eden Sher) has her own battles. She foolishly mentions that she has a free bed (so I guess her horrible roommate was given the heave hoe) in front of her parents and Axl (Charlie McDermott) and he promptly announces that he's moving in. Sue hates it, at first, he's distracting with all of his guitar playing but the people love him and Sue meets tons of people through him. She's thrilled and having the time of her life until she misses a test. She is livid and who can blame her? I'm just shocked that she doesn't throw up. Yet. Axl tries to teach her how to lie and that she must make a lie her own. Sue decides that instead of making someone in her family dangerously ill, she rushed to aid of a man who collapsed because that is the kind of person she is. As she goes to that lie to her professor, she throws up, which only helps her case. She is allowed to have a make-up test which is wonderful. Grateful that Axl is her roommate, she is upset when he announces that he is leaving. Two hot girls offered him their bean bag chair to sleep for a week but he will return once there is more fudge. But at least some of the other girls in Sue's hall return to see her so she did gain some friends in the process.
Now, because Brick (Atticus Shaffer) is left alone at home, which is easily one of the worst ideas ever. Fortunately, they find a free babysitter for him, Grandpa Big (John Cullen) but as it turns out, Grandpa needs even more watching over than Brick. In fact, he even blows off a date with Cindy to take care of Grandpa, because they are so much work at that age. Grandpa is more of a child than Brick even though he did have big plans on fixing a vacuum cleaner Frankie threw out. Unfortunately, that is all for naught because Brick is the one sleeping when Frankie and Mike return home. Big Mike starts to say that he is upset at how fast the kids are growing up because in only a few years, Brick won't need him to babysit anymore.
Though not much process was made in the character's development, it was still a delightful episode, with the characters doing stuff they haven't done before, something that is always refreshing. There were also some great guest performances, again always welcome and fantastic. Grade: A-
Side Notes:
-Sue hid Grandma's fudge in her room and warned Axl not to look around for it, but he found it and ate the whole thing anyway.
-Sue has also never stayed up past midnight before in college. She broke that barrier.
-I wish Frankie would shut the door before pouncing on Mike.
-Mike doesn't like the ribs so he just goes ahead and orders the steak, only adding to the bill.
-Dr. Goodwin (Jack MacBrayer) is always welcome, though he doesn't have much to do except explain how the new office will work.
-Frankie won't have a desk anymore, she will move from chair to chair with a smile tablet.
-Naturally, she is upset that she will no longer have a desk to surf the web, plus it contained a bunch of cookies stuffed inside.
-Grandpa beats Brick in checkers plenty of times. Brick decides to go forth with other stuff and putting on an old war movie to entertain Grandpa.
-How in the world did Brick get to the grocery store and back and not get lost?
-Grandpa won't eat yellow foods but Brick bribes him with the threat of taking away dessert if he won't eat his eggs. No water, juice please.
-Sue has so much stuff while Axl has so little. She even ruins his inflatable palm tree.