The Case for Joe Biden

He is a whit man in his late 70s. He has been criticized for his handling of the Anita Hill hearings in the wake of the Me-too Movement. And he wrote a crime bill that led to mass incarceration of African-Americans. 

Yet despite these factors Joe Biden may very well be the best Democrat to face off against President Trump. After all the tweeting and all the rallies and all the lies, what America may want more than anything else is stability. Nothing says stability more than Joe Biden. After four years of the chaos of the Trump Administration, boring may be the new exciting. 

I see what's going on nationally as being very similar to what happened not to long ago in my home state of California. About 15 years ago, in midst of a recession and $20 billion plus deficits,  Californians voted out Governor Gray Davis and replaced him with movie star Arnold Schwarzenegger. Like Trump, Schwarzenegger was a celebrity politician with no government experience who vowed to clean up Sacramento. But after seven years of having a celebrity governor with no government experience, California voters realized they needed a governor with government experience and in 2010 elected Jerry Brown, who served two terms as California Governor in the 1970s and 1980s. As a former Vice-President who served for 36 years in the Senate, no other potential Democratic candidate for President has more experience than Biden. 

Besides his experience, another factor that may work in Biden's favor are the debates. Can anyone ever forget Trump interrupting Hillary Clinton? Does anyone think Biden would let Trump get away with that? I can certainly imagine Biden turning to Trump and saying "excuse me Mr. President, don't interrupt me, I'm talking." After Trump's constant bullying, Democrats may want a fighter who would fight for them. When campaigning for Clinton, Biden even said that if he and Trump were in high school he would take him out behind the gym. Conservatives and Fox News might complain about Biden being too "mean" like they did after his debate with Paul Ryan in 2012, but the way you fight a bully is not to be nice to him but to punch him in the nose. Biden exemplifies a toughness that is rare in a politician, and certainly lacking in the President we have now. This is a man who lost his wife and daughter in a horrific car accident and lost his son to brain cancer yet kept serving his country. 

I mentioned earlier the crime bill that Biden wrote that led to mass incarceration of African-Americans. Of course Biden needs to apologize for that and say it was a mistake, yet I still expect African-Americans to show up for him only because he served as VP under the first African-American President. No doubt Obama would stump for him, pointing to the glory years of Obama-Biden and all they accomplished-saving America from financial collapse, saving the auto industry, expanding health insurance to 20 million Americans, and killing Osama Bin Laden. Yes, Hillary Clinton did serve as Obama's Secretary of State, but she was abroad most of the time when she served under Obama. She wasn't by Obama's side the entire eight years. Biden was, so he he can claim credit for the success of the Obama Administration as much as Obama can. Besides African-Americans, women will also turn out for Biden. Despite his handling of the Anita Hill hearings, only the most die-hard female Trump voters will vote to re-elect a President who bragged about grabbing women by the pussy over the author of the Violence Against Women Act. 

Perhaps the biggest concern voters have about Biden is his age. After all, he'll be 78 just a few weeks after the 2020 election, 86 after eight years. But Biden doesn't have to serve the full eight years. He could spend four years fixing the country and then step down to let someone else run. Alexandria Octasio-Cortez will be 35 in 2024 so she could run. This I believe would be the best strategy for a Biden campaign because a) it would make his age that much of an issue and b) it would let him focus solely on governing instead of running for re-election. 

As of this writing Biden still hasn't made up his mind, but sources say he is leaning towards a yes. If he does jump in he'll face a Democratic primary field more diverse than any other in history, facing off against several female candidates, a female African-American candidate, and a Latino candidate. But I would bet that there is something America wants more than to elect the first woman president or the first African-American woman President or the first Latino President, and that is for the country to get its sanity back. 

The 90s Were Not All That

The contemporary phenomenon of Pokemon Go more than anything reflects the millenial generations nostalgia for the 90s, a time of peace and prosperity, a time of Friends and Nickelodeon and Backstreet Boys and Pokemon and so on. 

But while the 90s may have provided  movies worth watching, books worth reading and music worth listening to, like all decades the 90s had a lot of darkness as well as light. 

If you're gay, the 90s were especially a dark time with The Defense of Marriage Act, which allowed states to pass laws banning same-sex marriage. In 1998 Ellen was canceled after Ellen Degeneres came out, and the idea of an openly gay person hosting a talk show or anchoring an evening news cast was akin to being visited by an extraterrestrial being from The X-Files. Also in 1998, Matthew Shepard was tortured and beaten to death just outside Laramie, Wyoming. It wasn't until 2009 that it became a hate crime to commit harm to someone based on their sexual orientation. And it wasn't until 2000 when Vermont became the first state to allow civil-unions. 

The recent tragedy in Orlando which left 49 people dead was shocking and saddening. But in 1995 168 people were killed in the Oklahoma City Bombing, including 19 children, some of whom were babies. Hundreds more were injured. In 1993 76 people were burned alive during the Branch Davidian raid in Waco, Texas. And of course in 1999 there was the Columbine shooting in which 13 people were gunned down. And this was all during the pre-9/11 era. The crime was also a lot higher than it is now. 

Not only were there no such thing as smartphones, but if you had dial up it was impossible to talk on the phone and go on the internet at the same time, unless you had a cellphone which no kid had back then. Video streaming was slow and could take hours to download. That is why many Star Wars fans paid to see the trailer for The Phantom Menace in theaters rather than watch it online. There's a lot memes going around lamenting for the good old days of the 90s before the advent of technology when children went out and played. Well guess what? There is nothing stopping children from going outside to play! In fact I see children playing outside a lot when I house sit at my dads. There's also nothing stopping children from passing notes in class, roller-bladding, or playing jump rope. 

I believe the 90s renaissance has most to do with my generations nostalgia for their childhood, and there's nothing wrong with that. But I believe there's been so much reflection about how awesome the 90s were that we forget about all the bad stuff happened and neglect all the progress that has been made. Now that I'm finished you can go back to playing Pokemon Go. 

Why I refuse to belive "Indepence Day: Resurgence" even exists

I highly regret paying $9 to go see Independence Day: Resurgence, the highly anticipated sequel to the 1996 blockbuster. 

Even with the $2 discount I got by signing up for AMC stubs, it was still too much for this giant heap of garbage. The film was made out of nothing but pure greed to pump whatever money 20th Century Fox and the filmmakers could get from people who were nostalgic for the first film. I didn't get to see ID4 in theaters but I did watch it often on video with my brother and grandmother after school, back in the day when VHS tapes actually existed. 

Despite all the destruction and mayhem, ID4 to me is a "fun" movie, with Will Smith's scenes the parts I enjoy the most (the scene of him dragging the alien through the desert while complaining is my absolute favorite). Now 20 yeas later Smith's Steven Hiller is dead for no other reason than Smith's refusal to take a pay cut, even though his career is not what is used to be what with his recent flops After Earth and Focus. Smith was no doubt the shinning star of the first film, so watching the sequel without him was like viewing an apple without it's core. 

In Resurgence Hiller's adopted son Dylan (Jessie T. Usher)  is now a hot shot fighter pilot like his stepfather, while his mom (Vivica A. Fox)  somehow went from being a stripper to a hospital administrator. The only exchange between Dylan and his mom is a brief telephone conversation, so when he sees her perish in a falling building the emotional payoff is lacking (I don't really care if I spoiled the movie for you. Trust me, I'm saving you nine bucks). 

James Whitmore (Bill Pullman)  is of course no longer President, but why did the writers have to write him as an old man with declining mental health? Hasn't he gone through enough with his wife being dead? And why, oh why did they replace Mae Whitman with Maika Monroe as Whitmore's daughter Patricia? It's not like Whitman's acting career is no longer active. For five years she was on the hit NBC series Parenthood and just last year she proved she could carry a film with the hit comedy The Duff. If Whitman were in this film I would this film at least one star, maybe two. Instead, I give it zero. 

What's infuriating is that the role of Patricia Whitmore wasn't even Whitman's to turn down to begin with. They cast Monroe because they saw Whitman as not being "hot enough" for a major blockbuster, which is complete bullshit because Whitman is hot. I'd even go far as to say that she's hotter than Monroe, but that's just my opinion. Seeing Monroe as Patricia was like watching paint dry. Yeah she's good looking but there's nothing really there. 

And whatever happened to David's (Jeff Goldblum) wife or ex-wife? Did she die or did they separate for good? The sequel acts as if she never existed and doesn't even matter. Just like Dylan and his mom, this shows that director Roland Emmerich and producer Dean Devlin forgot about what made the first film so special. It wasn't so much the special effects but the relationship between the characters. David and his dad drove all the way to the White House to save his ex even though she left him years ago. It was this act of heroism, to jump into harm's way to save someone you love who might not love you back anymore, which gave the audience the necessary emotional connection to the character of David Levinson. It is the relationships between the characters that connected audiences to the first film, from the relationship between David and his ex-wife to the relationship between Whitmore and his wife and daughter to the relationship between drunk fighter pilot Russell Casse (Randy Quaid) and his three children, and so on. But unfortunately in the sequel the emotional connection between the characters is entirely lacking. Sure there's Patricia and her fiance Jim Morrison (Liam Hemsworth) but there doesn't seem to be a lot of chemistry between them. It seems as if the only reason they are getting married in the first place is because they both find each other attractive, just like Heidi and Spencer find each other attractive, and just like Barbie and Ken find each other attractive.

If you haven't seen the film you're probably wondering what the film is all about. You're guess is as good as mine. Something to do with the alien queen? After the first 15 minutes I got so bored I started checking FaceBook and wasn't really paying attention because frankly I didn't care anymore. 

It seems as if I'm not the only one who was disappointed by Resurgence. While it took the first film a mere 6 days to cross the $100 million mark in the U.S. and Canada, as of this writing in it's 26th day of release the sequel has yet to cross that milestone, and that's not even accounting for ticket price inflation over the past two decades. Worldwide the sequel has made $342 million, yet that is nowhere near the juggernaut $817 million worldwide gross of the original. 

ID4 was one of those film's that should have remained as a stand alone film, just like E.T., Citizen Kane, and It's a Wonderful Life should forever be stand alone films. No matter how many sequels are made to Independence Day, the final scene in the first film will forever be the end of the franchise for me. 

Why Sly won for Creed

There were many cheering Rocky fans last night as the creator mind and star of the boxing series won the recognition they felt was long overdue.

Sylvester Stallone was nominated for both Best Actor and Best Original Screenplay at the 1976 Academy Awards for the first Rocky but was defeated for both. But now, after his Golden Globe win for Best Supporting Actor for the series Spinoff Creed, Stallone is unarguably a shoe-in to finally win that golden statue.

But it wasn't so much his performance in Creed that won him the Golden Globe last night as the character he portrayed. Rocky Balboa has been with us for 40 years-40 years! We've seen him fall in love, get married, have a son, lose his wife to cancer, and now we've seen him battling cancer himself. Seeing the character of Rocky Balboa go through chemotherapy was like seeing a favorite uncle go through chemotherapy, because he's been in our national psyche for so long that it feels like he is a member of our American family. To many Americans and die hard Rocky fans, Rocky Balboa is the embodiment of the American Dream-an underdog boxer who faces off against the heavyweight champion of the world and in the end achieves fame and glory.

His win last night was also the culmination of a great reversal of fortune for the Rocky franchise from the lows of Rocky V, which tanked at the Box Office back in 1990 and was seen as a dismal end for a franchise beloved by so many fans. Stallone said later he did V because of greed and was his prime motivation for writing and directing Rocky Balboa, which not only did better commercially and critically than the previous installment, but also had one of the most inspirational motivational speeches in movie history.

Oscar nominations are this Thursday morning. When Stallone's name is read for Best Supporting Actor, you can bet they will be many fans cheering his name, ready to stand in his corner one more time.

Why I Agree With The President's Action on Gun Violence

I was never more ashamed of my government than on that fateful day in April, 2013, when the U.S. Senate voted to block common-sense gun control legislation that would have expanded background checks in the wake of Sandy Hook. The key word is blocked. The measure, which would have prevented criminals and people with mental illnesses from buying a gun, actually passed with 54 votes, but because it didn't get those three extra votes the Senate GOP and several red-state, Pro-NRA Democrats were able to filibuster it (I'm thinking about you, Mark Pryor. How did that vote turn out for you?).

In the almost three years since that "shameful day for  Washington", as the President described it while standing in the Rose Garden with family members affected by Sandy Hook, this nation has experienced even more senseless gun tragedies in Isla Vista, in Charleston, in Lafayette, in Roseburg, in Colorado Springs, and just recently in San Bernardino. 33,000 Americans died in 2013 from gun violence, including 21,000 who used guns to take their own lives. This has gone far enough, and that's why I'm glad the President acted today. 

With Congress unwilling to do their jobs, instead focusing on another Repeal Obamacare bill, the President stood with Gabby Giffords, who was shot in the head in the Tucson Massacre five years ago that left six people dead, along with several other people affected by gun violence, to announce his executive order that would help prevent tragedies like Tucson and Newtown and San Bernardino from happening in the future. 

The core  of the executive order is that it would expand background checks to guns purchased online or at gun shows. This is supported 90% of Americans, including 90% of gun owners, which isn't much of a surprise because it's common sense. What's the point of going to a gun store and find out your criminal history prevent you from buying a gun when you can just buy one at a gun show, or, more conveniently, buy one over the internet? Does anyone seriously think domestic abusers, criminals, and people with mental illnesses should be able to go out and buy a gun? (I know the NRA does but that's a whole other matter). The executive order will also direct the FBI to hire an additional staff of 230 to help process background checks 24/7. $500 million in additional funding for mental health services would need Congressional Approval. 

By far the biggest moment of the speech was when the President shed a tear when mentioning the first graders that were gunned down at Sandy Hook, saying that whenever he thinks of them it "makes me mad". It makes me mad to, that we live in a country where most of our representatives care more about scoring political points and winning the next election than keeping their constituents safe. But I'm glad at least we have a President who understands that this has gone on long enough, and that we need to do something about it. 

Pixar's "Inside Out" Is a Great Idea (And a Great Movie)

Over the past 20 years since the release of Toy Story, Pixar Animation has taken us on many great adventures, from the oceans to outer space to the monsters living inside our closet.

It's newest release Inside Out, takes us on a journey through the thing that has puzzled humanity for most of our existence on Earth: that of the human mind.

The 15th film from the Disney-owned Emeryville studio begins with the birth of Riley, which causes her emotion Joy (Amy Poehler) to come into existence. But she is soon joined by Sadness (Phyllis Smith) right when Riley starts crying. Later as Riley grows up her emotions begin to include Anger (Lewis Black), Fear (Bill Hader) and Disgust (Mindy Kaling).

Everything in Riley's life seems perfect, until her family suddenly moves from their home in Minnesota to San Francisco where her dad creates a start-up company. Being in a new home and going to a new school causes Riley's emotions to fight against one another, the main conflict between Joy, whose top priority is to make sure Riley is happy all the time, and Sadness, who Joy tries to contain as best she can. But once Joy and Sadness accidentally get sucked out of headquarters and have to find her way back, Riley is left with her three other emotions to deal with, causing her to become a moody preteen and run away from home.

Of course the film comes with a happy ending, as you would expect from a Pixar movie. But what makes this one different from all the rest is that there's no clear-cut villain. Sure Joy and Sadness come across a scary clown that is a part of Riley's biggest fears, but other than that there's no antagonist throughout the whole picture. That is because the movie's entire conflict exist within Riley herself. Inside Out deals with her thoughts, her emotions, the choices she makes, her deepest, darkest fears, and what means the most to her.

When I first heard of the movie's plot I was a bit skeptical, but once again Pixar has pulled off the impossible brilliantly. Riley's mind is a world of it's own, a visual wonderland that you can get lost in. There's imagination land with enormous french fries, Dream Productions that produces her dreams, and other parts of her brain and subconscious. There's also Riley's train of thought, which is actually a literal train.

The movie's message is a surprising one, that the emotion of sadness is actually a good thing and can be beneficial to our lives. This message may be somewhat confusing to younger viewers, but will certainly resonate with parents and older moviegoers, especially those who have dealt with depression in their own lives. The film reminds me of The Simpsons episode Lisa Sings The Blues where Lisa is sad for the most of the episode until Marge tells her that sadness is ok and that you don't have to pretend to be happy.

Some of the best moments in the film are when we go through the emotions of other characters such as Riley's parents (moms and dads will get a kick out of Riley's dad replaying a game he saw on TV in his head during dinner while his wife is talking to him). Poehler and Smith make a great pair, with Joy's bright, sunny personality contrasting with Sadness's sad, downbeat demeanor. Sadness's morbid sense of humor is also fun to watch.

While the film deals with some complex emotional issues, it shies away from including characters who have any sort of mental illness, treating everyone's mind as if they are all the same. What about people who are Bi-polar, have post traumatic stress disorder, or any other sort of emotional issue? How do the emotions within their minds interact? As the writer of this blog who has Asperger's surely knows, not everyone's minds works the way Riley's does. As the issue of mental issue has become more prevalent in our society, I'm hoping that if there is a sequel it will deal with some aspect of this. Still, Inside Out is a cinematic delight and another win for the studio that brought you Woody and Buzz. 

15 years after "Titan A.E."

15 years ago today saw the release of perhaps one of the most underrated animated movies in the history of cinema.

The film I am referring to, Titan A.E., is a visually stunning thrill ride for anyone who enjoys science fiction but ended up being a huge box-office disappointment, losing 20th Century Fox $100 million and essentially shut down the studio's animation department.

This however, doesn't necessarily mean that Titan is a bad movie. Most of the blame for the movie's demise had to do with it's botched marketing campaign, which couldn't figure out whether to target children or teenagers. Luckily I was one of the few people who saw it in theaters, and it was a blast I will always remember.

Set in the year 3043 A.D., 15 years after Earth was destroyed by a sinister alien race called The Drej (who were obviously inspired by the aliens from Independence Day) Titan finds a young man named Cale (Matt Damon) who discovers that the ring his father gave him before Earth was blown to smithereens contains a ship called the Titan, which has the ability to create a planet and give the human race a new home. Together with pilot Akima (Drew Barrymore) and her ships's captain Joseph Korso (Bill Pullman), Cale sets out on an adventure through different planets in order to find the Titan, but not without a few twists along the way.

The movie's biggest strength are its visuals, with Roger Ebert citing one sequence as demonstrating "what live action can do and animation cannot". Made by the same team who made 1997's Anastasia, Titan combines traditional 2-D animation with amazing computer generated effects when needed. Together they create a movie that is just stunningly beautiful to look at, and along with its always-moving story and great soundtrack, Ttian is one of those under the radar films that is worth checking out.

"Jurassic World" Debuts to Biggest Opening Weekend Ever

Jurassic World took a huge chunk out of the Box-Office this weekend.

Not only did the fourth entry in the Spielberg franchise debut to $208.8 million, surpassing The Avengers to have the biggest domestic opening weekend of all time, but it also grossed more than three times all the other movies played this weekend COMBINED.

That's insane.

So what led to the T-Rex size turnout that led the T-Rex size opening weekend? A lot of it certainly has to do with audience's nostalgia for the first movie, and the witty banter between Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard didn't hurt. Nor did the performances of Ty Simpkins and Nick Robinson, who play two brothers. And although this is only the second film directed by Colin Treverrow (and the first that cost north of $100 million), Worlds opening has  turned him into an A-list director overnight.

But I believe the biggest reason why this movie did so well and far surpassed expectations is because it took us back to the Jurassic Park franchise but with a twist. How many times have we seen someone being eaten by a dinosaur, chased by a dinosaur, or trying to hide from a dinosaur? What we haven't seen before, what makes this movie seem new and exciting, is that we've never before seen a fully operational Dinosaur theme park filled with actual theme park goers. It's as if we finally get to see what John Hammond's vision was when he invited Dr. Grant and everyone else in the first movie. That is what led people to flock to cinemas this weekend.

Jurassic World's Box-Office record might not end with its opening weekend. There's a chance the movie could also surpass Avatar's $760 million gross to become the biggest movie in U.S. Box Office history. To do so, World will have to gross 3.59 times its record-breaking opening weekend, which would require it to have strong legs in the coming weeks but is not entirely out of the question. Inside Out opens this Friday, but that may end up being more of a counter-programming option for families who didn't want to see dinosaurs maul people. And while Ted 2 might hurt it's chances depending on how well the Seth McFarlane flick does, World's biggest competition may be in three weeks when it faces Terminator: Genysis. 

Hillary's Elecotral College Edge

Hillary Clinton's announcement Sunday that she is finally entering the presidential race means that she is not only the inevitable front-runner for the Democratic nomination, but that she has a very good chance of actually becoming the first female President. 

That is because of her advantage when it comes to the electoral college. Since 1992 when her husband was first elected to the presidency, 18 states and the District of Columbia have voted for the Democratic nominee for President in each consecutive election. These states plus D.C. now have a total of 242 electoral votes-just 28 votes shy of winning The White House.

The "Blue Wall" includes California (55), Connecticut (7), Delaware (3), Hawaii (4) , Illinois (20), Maine (4), Maryland (10), Massachusetts (11), Michigan (16), Minnesota (10), New Jersey (14), New York (29), Oregon (7), Pennsylvania (20), Rhode Island (4), Vermont (3), Washington (12), and Wisconsin (10). 

New Mexico narrowly went for Al Gore in 2000 and for George W. Bush in 2004, yet in the last Presidential election the state and it's 5 electoral votes were uncontested and ended up being won by Obama by 10 points, putting it firmly in the Democratic column and giving Hillary a base of 247 electoral votes. A recent poll from September shows her leading Jeb Bush there by 14 points. 

The midwestern states of Michigan and Pennsylvania used to be considered battleground states yet Obama won both last time around without even campaigning in either one. The state the GOP might have a shot at breaking the blue wall is Wisconsin, but it's highly doubtful since Obama won the state by 7 points despite the fact that native son Paul Ryan was on the GOP ticket. 

This doesn't necessarily guarantee Hillary will win the presidency, but it does give her a substantial edge over the GOP-nominee-in-waiting, who would have a base of 191 electoral votes. For example, the GOP nominee would have to win either Ohio or Florida to win the election, yet Hillary could conceivably win without winning either of them, as long as she held Colorado, Iowa, Nevada, and New Hampshire from the last election. 

The odds are supposed to be very much against any Democrat being able to win the White House next year. Since World War II, only once has the party in power been able to extend their control beyond two terms (in 1988, when Vice-President George H.W. Bush succeeded Ronald Reagan). But given the electoral college edge Hillary has, the odds against her don't seem so bad. 

Movie Review: The Duff

Very rarely will you come across a movie that is not only great but also speaks to you on a deeply personal level. 

For me The Duff is that movie. 

Though it has only grossed $31 million in it's 28 days of release, that's more than three and a half times the Lionsgate/CBS Films co-productions $8.5 million budget. I not only consider it my favorite movie of 2015 thus far but also the best movie I have seen in years. 

Luckily I graduated from high school right before "cyberbullying" started. Yet anyone who was ever picked on in school would almost certainly resonate with the main protagonist and what she has to go through. 

That protagonist is high school senior Bianca Piper, played by Parenthood's Mae Whitman (even if you have never seen Parenthood you most likely seen her before as the President's daughter in Independence Day). A cult-horror film fanatic, Bianca is not your typical high school teenager. One night Bianca and her two best friends Jess and Casey (played by Skyler Samuels and Bianca A. Santos, respectively) go to a party thrown by reality-show wannabe and Queen B of the school Madison Morgan (Bella Thorne) who views people like Bianca as inferior to her. 

During the party, Bianca runs into her much despised next-door neighbor Wesley Rush (Robbie Amell), Madison's boyfriend and a star on the school football team, who explains to her that she is Jess and Casey's "Duff"-their "Designated Ugly Fat Friend", the friend who is not as popular or attractive as her friends, therefore making her the person can ask questions about them before making their move. 

This revelation turns Bianca's whole world upside down. In addition to having a falling out with Jess and Casey after finding out that she is their "Duff", Bianca reluctantly enlists the help of Wesley to make her less "Duff" like in exchange for helping him pass chemistry so she can win the heart of her guitar-playing crush Toby Tucker (Nick Eversman). In one of the comedic moments of the film, Bianca and Wesley head to the mall, where she tries on new clothes and pretends that one of the manequins is Toby, confessing her love and pretending to make love to it. This gets secretly filmed by one of Madison's friends, gets uploaded on YouTube, and causes the entire student body to make fun of Bianca. 

The scene where she cries in the school restroom is one of the very few times I have sympathized so deeply with a character on film. Although I graduated from high school in 2007, a time when high schoolers didn't have smartphones and the term "viral video" didn't exist, like Bianca I was picked on for being "weird" or "different", for not being a "normal" person like everyone else. It is the kind of experience that feels like hell at the time but that makes you a stronger person. 

Wesley tells Bianca not to let the video get to her and be straight up to Toby about her feelings for him. I'm not going to say what happens next because it would spoil the whole movie, but I will say there a few surprising twists and turns in the last half hour or so of the film. 

Major props go to Whitman, who essentially helped carry the entire film and not only made the character of Bianca fun and enjoyable but also someone you can root for. If director Ari Sandel had chosen a less capable actress the movie might have ended up being boring as hell. Liking The Duff rests entirely on liking the character of Bianca, and Whitman does such a superb job of making the character likable that you end up wanting to watch her journey on screen. Though Whitman has been mostly under the radar save for people who have watched Parenthood, she has the capability and potential to be a leading comedic actress in the vein of Tina Fey and Melissa McCarthy. 

The Duff will not end up being one of the top 10 grossing movies of 2015 or even the top 100 grossing movies of 2015. Upcoming blockbusters like The Avengers: Age of Ultron will certainly surpass the films entire domestic gross in just one day. But if you've ever been made fun of for being quirky or different, seeing The Duff while it is still in theaters is an experience worth having. 

Neil Patrick Harris Bombs as Oscar Host

Neil Patrick Harris gave a very un-wait for it-legendary performance tonight as host of the 87th Academy Awards. 

I expected a lot better from the guy who gave the world Barny Stinson. If Harris's performance were a suit, it would be the plainest, dullest suit you had ever seen. The jokes fell flat, some parts were incredibly boring (especially when he's in the audience talking to the Oscar sitters) and the whole bit about guarding his "Oscar Predictions" was incredibly lame. When he said "Oscar Predictions", I thought he meant the predictions about who was going to WIN. But instead, it was predictions of stuff that absolutely made no sense. Oh, and the whole titie whitie bit didn't impress me either. 

When I first heard that Harris would be hosting the Oscars I was excited, for I am a huge fan of How I Met Your Mother. He will always be Barney Stinson to me, the guy who wears suits and teaches everyone how to be awesome. If Harris had given at least half the effort and dedication into his job as host this year as he did in HIMYM, this Oscars might have been very memorable. Instead, his time as Oscar host will be long forgotten, like a suit hanging in a closet, gathering dust. 

Why Philadelphia is an Awesome Choice for 2016 Democratic Convention

In picking the city of Brotherly Love to host its next national convention, the Democratic Party has chosen a symbolism of patriotism as a way to propel their next presidential nominee (most likely Hillary Clinton) to the presidency. 

Although it beat Columbus, located in the most crucial battleground state besides Florida, and Brooklyn, which would have had no problem raising money for a convention bid, Philadelphia was widely seen as the front-runner among the three finalists. The 2016 Republican convention in Cleveland made it harder for Columbus to get the bid because it would have had a tough time competing for donations. Meanwhile, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, champion of progressive politics he may be, has become a polarizing figure nationally, criticizing police officers who turned their backs on him during a cops funeral. The tension between de Blasio and the NYPD may have caused concerns regarding security for the convention (another, though not often talked about reason for not choosing Brooklyn, is that it would have highlighted Mrs. Clinton's ties to Wall Street as she is trying to make income inequality a central issue of her campaign). 

Philadelphia is no stranger when it comes to hosting political conventions, having held either party's conventions a total of eight times. The last time it held a major party convention was when it held the gathering for the Republicans back in 2000, when it nominated George W. Bush for the first time. The last time the city held a Democratic Convention was in 1948, when President Harry Truman was nominated to a full term. 

On the surface, Philadelphia may seem like an odd choice. Pennsylvania has voted Democratic in each of the last six presidential elections, and Democrat Tom Wolf's victory over an incumbent Republican governor was one of the very few bright spots for Democrats last November. But whatever Philly lacks in swing state status it more than makes up for in terms of it's history. It was in Philly, of course, where the Liberty Bell is located, where the Founding Fathers signed the Declaration of Independence, and where George Washington served as our nation's first President. With Mrs. Clinton almost certain to become the first woman to the be the presidential nominee of a major political party, it makes perfect sense for the Democrats to hold their convention in the place where American History was born. 

The city could also help with a party message of equality. Even if the Supreme Court rules this summer that gay marriage should be legal in all 50 states, the rights of gay couples to be wed will certainly be a part of the convention platform. The Democrats will also for sure put in their platform a call for all employees nationally to not be discriminated against based on their sexual orientation, which, quite surprisingly, is still legal in some states. This could in turn help drive millennials, a key part of the Obama coalition, to the polls. 

For decades, the GOP has successfully established itself in the minds of many voters as the party of patriotism and American values. By choosing Philadelphia, Democrats have a chance to show the nation that love of country and the American Flag do not belong to one political party. Rather, that they belong to all of us-all races, all creeds, all religions, and all sexual orientations. 

And what better way for Mrs. Clinton to open her convention speech by saying, "We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men-and women-are created equal?"

"Project Almanac" is a time-traveling thrill ride

If you're a time-travel nerd like myself, Paramount's Project Almanac is the move you should definitely go and check out to tide you over until the new Terminator movie comes out this summer.

Produced on a $12 million budget, the movie has already surpassed that in it's first two weeks of release. Shot as a "found footage" film (much like 2012's Chronicle) Almanac tells the story of high school senior David Raskin (Johnny Weston) an aspiring inventor who dreams of going to MIT. His dream finally comes true when he gets his acceptance letter in the mail, yet his whole world comes crashing down when he only receives a $5,000 scholarship instead of the $40,000 he was hoping for. In order to help her son pay for his tuition, David's mother (Amy Landecker) decides to sell the house. While going through the attic with his sister Christina (Virginia Gardner) in order to find something their late father (Gary Weeks) might have left in order to help David get another scholarship, they both come across a video camera showing footage of David's 7th birthday. Surprisingly, David finds what appears to be a reflection of himself in a mirror within the footage.

Along with David's friends Adam Le (Allen Evangelista) and Quinn (Sam Lerner) the four of them find blueprints in David's basement for a "temporal relocation device" (AKA Time Machine) that his father had worked on before his death. When David's long-time crush Jessie (Sofia Black D'Elia) goes to a party in the neighborhood, David and his friends use the battery pack from Jessie's Prius to charge the machine and successfully they transport a toy car back in time by a few weeks. Eventually they are caught by Jessie, who decides to join the group.

After naming their experiment Project Almanac and laying a few ground rules (i.e. no one travels alone), the five teens have a bit of fun with their time-traveling device. My favorite time-traveling experiment of all in this film is when Quinn, who failed a chemistry presentation and is doomed to repeat his senior year, goes back to the day of his presentation over and over again until he finally passes. Another really fun moment is when Christina goes back to get back at a few girls who bully her at school by purposefully bumping and spilling drinks on them right after they made fun of the "present day" Christina ("I'm everywhere, bitch!" is the best line of the whole film). The gang even goes back a few months to check out Lallapalooza ("old" VIP passes were just five bucks each on E-Bay) and they event go on to win the lottery, which helps David pay for his college tuition and helps his mom keep their house (as a car fanatic, I love the part when Quinn checks out a Maseratti convertible on the show room floor).

Things start to go disarray, however, when David goes back in time to Lallapalooza by himself (essentially breaking one of the ground rules that he himself created) in order to make him and Jessie a couple. The plan works, but it also creates a ripple effect that causes a plane crash that kills over 700 people. Every time David goes back to try to fix it it causes another ripple effect that causes another terrible thing to happen. This is somewhat similar to The Butterfly Effect in which Ashton Kutcher's character travels to the past several times to correct things over and over again.

In an age of ever-constant superhero movies, Project Almanac is a breath of fresh air of originality. The movie is downright fun, and it's hard not to root for our five heroes whenever they succeed in their time-traveling experiments. Yet because the entire movie is shot camcorder style like the Paranormal Activity movies, the film can sometimes feel a little too jerky and cause a little bit of sickness, especially during scenes when their are running involved. Despite this, however, Almanac is the kind of time-traveling movie that time-traveling nerds like myself really need right now. 

Obama No Longer the Boogeyman

President Obama has a lot to smile about on the day of his sixth State of the Union Address. His approval ratings have hit 50% for the first time in two years. Unemployment is at it's lowest level since he took office, and is continuing to drop. But most surprising of all is the bipartisan praise the President's nominees for Attorney General and Defense Secretary have received in the Senate, making it almost certain that both of them will be confirmed.

Just a few short months ago this would have been a fictional reality what with the GOP obstructionism the President encountered ever since he took office. But the midterms changed all that. Now that the GOP has control of both houses of Congress they can no longer be the party of no. Instead they have no choice but to govern with the President in order to have any chance of winning in 2016, which is why you see Republican Senators such as Jeff Flake of Arizona publicly supporting the administrations move towards normalizing diplomatic relations with Cuba and other Republican Senators like Bob Corker of Tennessee supporting an increase in the gas tax to help with infrastructure improvements. 

The obstruction and attacks made by the Republicans in Congress over the past six years mostly had to do with them not wanting this particular President to have a legacy. But very soon the party of Reagan will face an electorate that is much more unfavorable to them, with more minorities and young people and other democratic constituents expected to vote in higher numbers in 2016 than in 2014. So therefore they must do everything they can to show that they can govern if they want to still be a major presidential party rather than just a congressional party in Washington. 

But there is more than just the GOP's desire to occupy the White House again that is creating an atmosphere of cooperation on Capitol Hill. It is also the reality that, with only two more years left in office starting today, President Obama is no longer the political threat to the GOP he once was. 

The 2014 midterms were the last in which the GOP would "run against" President Obama. Now moving forward, with the next Presidential Election on the horizon, the Republican Party is now setting it's sights on running against the next Democratic nominee for President, presumably Hillary Clinton. Therefore the GOP will focus more on attacking the future leader of the Democratic Party rather than the current occupant of the White House. 

This current dynamic of cooperation makes it possible for Washington to actually get things done. Let us hope the GOP finally works with the President and help get done as much as possible over the next two years. 

Why The Real 2015 Is Better Than The Back To The Future 2015

If you're a fan of the Back to the Future trilogy, 2015 may seem like a real letdown. We have no flying cars, no hover boards, we have no automatic size-adjusting and automatic drying ja

ckets, no power laces, and there is no weather service that can predict the weather within seconds. Despite those prognostications from Bob Zemeckis and his producer/partner Bob Gale, I would actually rather live in the real 2015 than in the BTTF 2015. 

Back to the Future Part II was filmed just a few years before the public availability of the internet, so the BTTF 2015 acts as if the internet never existed. Nobody in that 2015 have an smartphone, and it doesn't even seem as if the McFly family has a computer in their own home, something that is the universal norm for every family in America nowadays. Marty McFly Jr. was even seen in the film walking into a phone booth, whereas in the real 2015 if he wanted to call someone he would have just flipped out his iPhone or Android or any other smartphone people use nowadays. 

Although many have believed that we would have flying cars by now, the cars in the BTTF 2015 are simply horrendous. They have no sense of style, no sense of design, and no "wow" factor that makes you desire to get one someday. They are basically just boxes that can fly through the air. Come to think of it, living in a universe where we have flying cars can be quite dangerous, because what if a car runs of gas or electricity or whatever they run on and they fall to the ground? (see my other article, "Why We Don't Have Flying Cars") The result would be total catastrophe, with nobody daring to go outside for fear that a car would fall on them and crush them to death. The Airline industry would also be in turmoil since there would be the risk of a fluing car crashing to an airplane. Despite the plane crashes that happened in the past year, at least we don't have to worry about an airplane running into an oncoming car. 

While I get very annoyed when I see kids as young as 3 watching videos and playing games on an iPhone, young people these days are a lot cooler than the kids in 2015. Who would in their right mind think that "wearing clothes inside out" would be considered cool? And why would anyone call something where you have to use their hands not cool because it's a "baby's toy?" Well,. how else are you supposed to use something? 

But perhaps the thing I dislike the most about the BTTF 2015 is that all lawyers have been abolished, which means that my fathers hard work getting through law school and his long nights studying for the Bar Exam wouldn't have meant jack squat. It is actually a scary reality when a judge can just sentence someone to 15 years in prison within two hours without a jury, a fair trial, and a lawyer that can assist in representation. It is also a scary reality when The Supreme Court can just rule on what it wants without having lawyers from both sides arguing their case. Obviously both Bobs didn't think about that when they made this movie. 

Hoverbards, power laces, and automatic drying jackets are all things that I hope will become universally available within my lifetime. But despite not having any of those right now, I would much rather live in the real 2015 rather than the one Michael J. Fox visited any day.

Republican Control of Senate May be Short-Lived

The GOP had a wonderful night last night largely because the Senate map this year was in their favor.

Of the seven seats the party picked up, five of them were in states won by Mitt Romney in the last Presidential Election. The fact that they also won Senate races in Colorado and Iowa, two states won by President Obama in 2012, also dealt a major blow to Democrats.

But the problem the Democrats had this year will be the same problem the GOP will have in 2016.

In that election, seven Republican Senators who were elected in 2010-Mark Kirk of Illinois, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Chuck Grassley of Iowa, Rob Portman of Ohio, Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, Marco Rubio of Florida, and Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire-will be running for re-election in states that President Obama carried in the last presidential election, with an electorate that will be much less favorable to them than this year.

With Angus King’s announcement today that he is still going to caucus with the Democrats, the party of President Obama would have 46 seats if Begich concedes in Alaska and Mary Landrieu loses the December 6 runoff in Louisiana. That would mean Democrats would need to win five of those seven seats held by Republicans where Obama won. They could also potentially win a Senate race in North Carolina, especially with a larger youth and minority turnout in presidential years.

Even if Democrats don’t succeed in winning back the Senate in two years, the Senate landscape next time around may be good for the country, since those seven senators might be willing to compromise on certain issues such as immigration reform in order to have another six years on capitol hill.

"Simpsons" Premiere Death Extremely Dissapointing

To quote the person who died on the season premiere of The Simpsons Sunday night, the episode was very "eh"(if you haven't seen it yet, feel free to continue reading. You really didn't miss out on anything). 

The major character death turned out not to be Krusty the Clown as I had predicted but Krusty's dad, a character so miniscule in importance that I keep forgetting his name. Like many of those who went on Twitter immediately after the broadcast, I felt the episode was severely over-hyped. When the showrunners announced that there would be a "character death" I was expecting it to be someone like Krusty or Grandpa Simpson or even Mr. Burns-someone whose death would shake up the entire series. Watching the 26th season premiere of The Simpsons was sort of akin to seeing The Phantom Menace for the first time. You expect you're going to watch something truly life-changing and then once it's over you end up unsatisfied and asking yourself "is that it?"

That's not to say the entire episode was bad. My favorite part had to be the sleepover scene with Chief Wiggum, a cutaway gag that reminded me of Family Guy. And the B-plot involving Lisa trying to protect Homer from danger was incredibly touching. Still, Clown in the Dumps will most certainly go down as the most overhyped Simpsons episode of all time. 

What Robin Williams Meant to My Childhood

When I heard the news yesterday that Robin Williams died of an apparent suicide, I just couldn't believe it. It almost felt like a cruel hoax, some fake news announcement that would pop up on Twitter on April Fool's Day. While I am now old enough to recall the death of countless celebrities, none of them had the impact on my childhood the way Robin Williams did.

Williams actually appeared in the first movie I ever saw in theaters, Fern Gully: The Last Rainforest, which I saw when I was four. In it, Williams voiced Batty Koda, a bat that is not only experimented on, but raps about it. But it was his performance as the Genie in Disney's Aladdin that people of my generation will surely remember him most by. Aladdin is a great movie by itself, but it was the Genie that made it extraordinary, not just because of his comedic impersonations but because he gave the role a hundred percent even though nobody could see his face (although a dispute with Disney caused him to drop out of the role of the Genie in the video sequel Return of Jafar, he did return to voice the role in Aladdin and the King of Thieves). 

When I was seven, I went to see Jumanji with my mom, grandmother, and brother. The movie was way too scary for my brother, who was five at the time, so he and my mom left the theater to see Balto instead, while my grandmother and I continued to watch the fantasy-adventure film  based on the book by Chris Van Allsburg. My grandmother still watches it every time it comes on TV, and to this day I consider it one of the best plot-driven movies I have ever seen. And when I was nine my mom took my brother and I to see Flubber. I don't remember much about that movie, but I do remember Robin Williams being the motivating factor for us seeing it. 

Mrs. Doubtfire is by far one of his greatest performances, yet the movie is also a great way to help children of divorce cope. When Williams as Dobtfire looks into the camera and talks in a calming manner about the realities of divorce, about how some parents get back together while others don't, it's as if a real human being is speaking and not some guy dressed in drag. My own parents were getting divorced when I was re-watching the ending of Mrs. Doubtfire, and it helped me feel better about the whole situation. 

As I got older I saw Williams in his more dramatic films such as Dead Poets Society, Jack, Patch Adams, and Good Will Hunting, which earned him the Academy-Award for Best Supporting Actor. Of all his dramatic performances, Patch Adams will arguably be the most talked about in the days, weeks, months, and even years after his passing since it almost disturbingly parallels what happened in his own life. In the beginning of the movie, Williams character is sent to a psych ward for trying to kill himself, and in the middle of the film he contemplates jumping off a cliff after his girlfriend is killed in a murder-suicide 

In a statement, William's wife Susan Schneider said she hopes that "the focus will not be on (her husband's) death, but on the countless moments of joy and laughter he gave to millions". To me, Robin Williams will always be the Genie that turned a street rat into a Prince, a divorced father who dressed up as a woman in order to spend more time with his kids, and a board-game player battling against lions and other wild animals. In other words, the guy who helped make a my childhood a very special one. 

"Batman Vs. Superman" Move to March 2016 Shows Diminished Importance of Summer Release Date

For the past several months, Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice was scheduled to go head-to-head with Captain America 3 on May 6, 2016, creating an epic showdown between Disney-owned Marvel and Warner Bros.-owned DC Entertainment. 

But last week Warner Bros. announced that it will be moving Batman vs. Superman up several weeks to March 25, 2016. Although the film had been widely buzzed about since its announcement last year, DC has a lot more to lose than Marvel. Marvel, which has been on a winning streak as of late, can afford to take a hit, while DC is still trying to establish itself and needs Batman vs. Superman to be a colossal success. (The $94 million debut of Guardians of the Galaxy may have also convinced DC and Warner Bros. not to go head-to-head with Marvel). 

While the shift was indeed a smart move, it also underscored something even more significant going on in Hollywood: the diminished importance of the summer release date. 

It used to be that blockbuster movies came out during the summer months between May and August or during Thanksgiving and Christmas, with the rest of the year reserved for mid-budget movies like romantic comedies and teen fare. 

Although March is a time when kids are still in school, the month does have a history of movie debuts that became mega blockbusters such as 1999's The Matrix ($464 million worldwide) and 2010's Alice in Wonderland (over $1 billion worldwide). 

Hollywood may have learned its lesson from last summer, when a crowded marketplace produced mega bombs such as RIPD, The Lone Ranger, and White House Down. Meanwhile, the success of last October's Gravity ($716 million worldwide), last February's The Lego Movie ($468 million worldwide) and last April's Captain America: The Winter Solider ($712 million worldwide) showed studios that a movie could be a hit no matter when it is released. 

Batman vs. Superman isn't the only mega budget flick scheduled not to open during the summer months or holiday season. Disney's live action re-imagining of The Jungle Book is set to come out in October 2015, while Warner Bros. own Jungle Book movie is set to come out October 2016. 

Not only has Warner Bros. missed a gigantic train wreck by moving up Batman vs. Superman by several weeks, but the movie now has a better chance of being hugely successful since it will now have the entire month of April 2016 to itself. But if the movie does become a hit, not only would it be a victory for DC and Warner Bros., but it would also be a victory for theatre goers and theatre owners, since it would further convince studios to release blockbuster movies year round.