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UFC 124

Georges St. Pierre vs Josh Koscheck

The trash-talking bad boy Josh Koscheck is looking to take the Welterweight Title from the current kingpin, Georges St. Pierre, and he’ll be doing it on enemy territory. You can forget about their last fight  more than 3 years ago as Koscheck was in the midst of becoming a fledging well-rounded fighter in the sport.  Koscheck has transformed himself from a wrestler-only fighter to a dynamic knockout artist that has racked up several big wins. Now that their coaching stint is done for TUF 12 it’s now for them to face off.

In my book GSP is the #2 pound for pound fighter (A. Silva being #1), and he has fought and beat guys who are one of the top practitioners in each in the varied martial art aspect of the sport; Jon Fitch/Matt Hughes (wrestling), Thiago Alves (Muay Thai), Karo Parysian/Matt Serra/BJ Penn (Judo and BJJ). So Josh Koscheck will not bring anything that GSP has not already faced. To beat GSP you have to be better than him in every aspect of MMA. If Koscheck wants to win he’s going to have to wait for GSP to make a mistake and catch him with a KO or a submission something that is very unlikely to happen.

Thiago ‘The Pitbull’ Alves vs John Howard

Whether you’re a casual or a hardcore fan this bout will surely be a fantastic fight. Thiago Silva and John Howard are two fighters with tremendous power that loves to stand a slug it out. This kind of fight will likely end in a brutal KO/TKO  and is one of the candidates for knockout of the night, if not, fight of the night.  But for tomorrow night I give the edge to the Pit Bull. He has more technical striking and has been in the cage with the top fighters in the Welterweight Division.  If Howard wants to win he’ll need to KO him (easier said than done) or take the fight to the ground from the get-go use wrestling to control Alves on the ground like GSP and Fitch did. There really isn’t any strategy for these guy to really come and execute. It’s all about who’s going to get knocked out first.

My Picks:

Georges St. Pierre beats Josh Koscheck
Sean McCorkle beats Stephan Struve
Jim Miller beats Charles Oliveira
Joe Stevenson beats Mac Danzig
Thiago Alves beats John Howard
Mark Bocek beats Dustin Hazelett
Dan Miller beats Joe Doerksen
Ricardo Almeida beats beats TJ Grant

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The Warrior’s Way

An assassin sent to kill his enemies is now being targeted by the clan he was once apart of for refusing to finish the job; to kill an infant baby who parents have been killed by the hands of the same assassin. He and the baby flee to what seems to be a small town in the wild west that is being run by carnies.

The Warrior’s Way is an over-the-top action movie with visual effects that feels very similar to 300. Don’t expect too much from this movie. The samurai action is sparse, the character development and plot is a little weak to keep you constantly intrigued.

Rating: ★★★★★★★☆☆☆

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Sports Nuts Turkey Bowl 2010

For those who are unable to read the Facebook image post here’s the tournament bracket for Friday’s Flag Football game.  Click on the image to get a larger version.

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Unstoppable

An unmanned train is barreling across Pennsylvania carrying tons of toxic cargo.  A disaster is inevitable if the train can’t be stopped. It’s up to Colson and Barnes, played by Chris Pine and Denzel Washington, to stop it and save the day. It’s a decent action film that is predictable and fun at the same time. With Taking Pelham 123 and this film, I’m thinking Tony Scott, the Director, and Denzel have a thing for trains.  Anyways, this movie is not Denzel’s best but it’s still entertaining.

Rating: ★★★★★★★☆☆☆

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UFC 123

Quinton Jackson vs Lyoto Machida

Rampage Jackson and Lyoto Machida are two fighters who’s style are completely opposites and it should make for a very interesting fight. Both fighters are coming off losses yet they’re still a threat to take the title in their division and win for them will easily put them back into contention.

Rampage’s raw strength and power that can end the fight at any point. And Shogun recently proved that as elusive as Machida is known for he can still be knocked out. Machida’s counter attack style has stifled and frustrated many opponents and Rampage will be another victim of that tactic. Like with his previous fights Rampage is either dominant for the entire fight or he finds himself struggling round by round. Machida’s hit and run tactic will no doubt frustrate Rampage, and as it goes further into the rounds Rampage will only be more gun shy and prone to make mistakes.  It’ll be a competitive fight, but I see Machida getting the nod from the judges at the end of the night.

BJ Penn vs Matt Hughes

For these two, the score is tied with each fighter having a win over each other. This is a hard decision for me to choose who will win. Not because both fighters are equally experienced and they’ve had wins against each other, but that it’s difficult to know which “BJ Penn” will show up. Is it the relentless and merciless Hawaiian with World Class Brazilian Jujitsu that will step in the cage or will it be the shy island-boy whose unwilling to tap into his full potential? If it’s the former, then that BJ Penn is favored to win against almost any opponent. The latter? Not so much.  Matt Hughes has a long career of smashing his opponent with his wrestling and ground and pound, but in his last two fights he has show he’s much more diversified. I’m sure his KO win over Almeida was a surprise to all MMA fans who have followed him. The question is how much improved is Matt Hughes compared to their last fight? Penn was easily winning the first two rounds of their last fight only to get stopped in the third due to either a rib injury or bad cardio (pick one). We know that skill-wise BJ Penn is as well-rounded as an MMA fighter can get. If Penn can tap into that potential of his he can end the fight before his cardio should start to matter. I’ve been a fan of Matt Hughes for the longest time, and as much as I like to believe that his last two fights have showed that he has improved I don’t think it’s enough to stop the Prodigy.

My picks:

Lyoto Machida beats Quinton Jackson
BJ Penn beats Matt Hughes
Gerald Harris beats Maiquel Falcao
Phil Davis beats Tim Boetsch
Joe Lauzon beats George Sotiropoulos
Karo Parisyan beats Dennis Hallman
Edson Barboza beats Mike Lullo
Mark Munoz beats Aaron Simpson
Tyson Griffin beats Nik Lentz

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Skyline

Skyline is a movie about an alien invasion. Think of it as a cross between Independence Day, War of the Worlds, and Cloverfield. With such good movies to be compared from it doesn’t deliver like it should.

The movie has amazing special effects and there’s no doubt about that. It’s the story line that is lacking. The lack of character development, clear direction, and campy acting makes this an average B-movie.

Rating: ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆

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Saw 3D

The 7th and final of the Saw series ends on a sour note that still leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth. Beside the horrific acting and predictable plot this movie had potential. The potential to be mediocre.

If you spent a large chuck of your time watching the first 6 Saw movies you pretty much need to watch this last one just to get complete closure. Even still, closure or not the movie is disappointing compared to its predecessors.

Rating: ★★★★½☆☆☆☆☆

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My favorite movies for Halloween

When you hear the month October only one thing comes to mind and that’s Halloween.  When I was a little kid Halloween was a time for me to indulge in large amounts of candy that would spike my blood sugar to levels that would make Willy Wonka blush.  Those were great times. Now, the meaning of Halloween has taken a big turn to more of an adult oriented event where women and men dress up like Playboy bunnies and Hugh Heffners. Long are the pillowcase-filled candy and treats as our society now looks down upon consuming to0 much refined sugar and excess consumption of high calorie food.

But there’s one constant in Halloween to always be proud about and that’s the score of horror movies that gets released, re-released, rebooted, or remade. I love horror movies. Whether it’s about monsters, ghosts, demons, serial killers, aliens, or zombies they’re always fun to watch. It’s interesting seeing the human condition either suffer or survive something so horrific. It’s because those who survives are either the smartest ones or the bravest, unless it’s a Greek tragedy then all bets are off.

Below are some of my favorite horror movies. What’s yours?

The Exorcist
Dawn of the Dead (2004)
Night of the Living Dead (Romero’s classic and the 1991 remake)
Saw movies
The Mist
Sixth Sense
The Ring
The Others
Stir of Echoes
Texas Chainsaw Massacre (original and remake)
The Thing

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Paranormal Activity 2

Paranormal Activity 2 is more of a prequel than a sequel. This movie takes place about a month before the first film but ends a couple of days after it.

PA2 is more of the same, but without the novelty and creepiness of the first film. The big difference this time around is that there are static surveillance cameras that records the majority of the movie which I prefer as the shaky cam can be a bit annoying. Similar to the first movie, PA2 starts off slowly and builds up to a tense climax. Unfortunately the ending isn’t has strong and ironically there isn’t enough paranormal activity. Though there is some intense scenes, there were too few to keep you on edge. In all PA2, is not as scary as the first film, but the story is more palpable and the static cam is easier on your equilibrium.

Rating: ★★★★★★★☆☆☆