Author: Mike Pihlman

  • “The November Man” Movie Review

    “The November Man” Movie Review

    (Bloody Good Thriller) – – Ex-CIA operative, Devereaux (Pierce Brosnan) is enjoying retirement when his old CIA handler, Hanley (Bill Smirovich) shows up telling him he has been requested to extract an old friend, Natalia (Mediha Musliovic), from her undercover assignment. Natalia has information the CIA needs to control soon-to-be President of Russia, Arkady Federov…

  • “Chef” Movie Review

    “Chef” Movie Review

    (Follow Your Heart…..and Twitter) – – Fantastic movie that teaches you to follow your heart, no matter what. Scarlett Johnasson, Jon Favreau & others sparkle. Heartwarming movie. – Go to IMDb for more information.  We watched this at the Tracy, CA Cinemark. – Drive Safe!  Never Forget.   NOTE:  Count the characters in the main…

  • Movie Review: “The Giver”

    Movie Review: “The Giver”

    (Memorable) – – Jonas (Brenton Thwaites) is different. In a world of sameness (as depicted by the “Pleasantville” black and white), equality, and order, Jonas is not afraid to question, not afraid to take a chance. When the 12 year olds (according to the book, in the move he is older) are ready to receive…

  • Inyoung Hong Designs the NEW ForCarol Logo

    Inyoung Hong Designs the NEW ForCarol Logo

    2014 Scholarship winner, Inyoung Hong, sent me these new logo designs for ForCarol.com

  • “The Hundred-Foot Journey” Movie Review

    “The Hundred-Foot Journey” Movie Review

    (Delicious) – – After tragedy strikes in India, a family of restaurateurs decide to start a new life in Europe. A short stay in London does not work out, so the Kadam family (led by Papa, played by Om Puri) get in their van and search for the perfect spot somewhere in Europe. Weeks later,…

  • “Guardians of the Galaxy” Movie Review

    “Guardians of the Galaxy” Movie Review

    “A thief (Peter Quill played by Chris Platt), two thugs (Groot and Rocket voiced by Vin Diesel and Bradley Cooper), an assassin (Gamora played by Zoe Saldana), and a maniac (Drax played by Dave Bautista)” team up to try to save 12 billion people from extinction at the hands of evil ruler Ronan (Lee Pace).…

  • “Lucy” Movie Review

    “Lucy” Movie Review

    – — Lucy is the name of the oldest known hominid female who bones were found in Ethiopia in 1973.  Go to WikiPedia for more information. Fast forward, 3.2 million years or so, and Scarlett Johansson (Lucy) is about to become the first human to access 100% of her brain; with all the transformative powers…

  • “Tammy” Movie Review

    “Tammy” Movie Review

    (Goofball Comedy with a Message) – – “Tammy” was universally panned by the “critics”. We have learned NOT to listen to them and to judge a movie (the whole movie not a poorly made trailer) on it’s own merits and see if it meets our requirement of giving us 2 hours, or so, of away…

  • “Visiting China” by Thomas Alexander

    “Visiting China” by Thomas Alexander

    On this blog post I will copy my lifelong (he is three months older than I) friend’s recent trip to China with his daughter, Marty.  I thought it was FASCINATING and wanted to preserve the experience FOREVER instead of it just being on Facebook (which we all know, goes away very quickly and you can’t…