Dark City Review

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Writer/Director: Alex Proyas (w/ Len Dobbs & David S. Goyer)

Starring: Rufus Sewell, William Hurt, Kiefer Sutherland, Jennifer Connelly

Year: 1998

In the year 1998 I saw a movie. It was a movie that seemed to come out of nowhere. It was a movie marked by distinct visual style, brilliant special effects and a heart-racing soundtrack. It was a movie that questioned the nature of reality as we know, and asked deep questions about humanity and life. My friends and I came away from it not quite sure if we’d ‘got’ all that we’d just seen, but certain that it was a remarkable and groundbreaking new standing stone in the evolution of movies.

I am, of course, talking about The Matrix… which I will never review.

What I can do is take that paragraph and Continue reading →

Apologies

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Hi All,

Sorry for the lack of reviews over the past couple of days, things have been a little crazy for me this week and I’ve used up my buffer. Lindsay’s reviews will be up over the weekend and things should be back on track by Monday.

I’ll try to get reviews of this week’s episodes of Falling Skies, Alphas and Eureka up over the weekend.

Al

Alphas – Pilot Review

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‘When a grocery clerk commits an impossible assassination, the government calls in Dr. Leigh Rosen and his team of “Alphas”: unique individuals with neurological mutations that give them special abilities. The team must determine who the killer is and track him down, but soon discover that a greater plan is in motion.‘

I was very ambivalent about Alphas when I first heard about it, the premise sounded like a cross between Heroes and CSI, both of which started out very interesting but quickly ran out of steam. Heroes collapsed under the weight of its convoluted backstory after a fantastic first season, and CSI quickly became very repetitive. While I don’t know how Alphas will fare in the long run, the first episode definitely shows some promise.

One thing that I particularly liked Continue reading →

Interstate 60 Review

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Director: Bob Gale

Starring: James Marsden, Amy Smart, Gary Oldman

Year: 2002

Interstate 60

In 2001 writer/director Bob Gale (Back to the Future) wanted to make a movie. He invited all of his friends to help him out. The finished product ended up featuring Christopher Lloyd, Chris Cooper, Michael J. Fox, Gary Oldman and Kurt freakin’ Russel!

If you’ve heard of this flick, congrats, that makes about five of us. I stumbled Continue reading →

Cash Cows – X-Men

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Directors: Bryan Singer, Brett Ratner, Gavin Hood, Matthew Vaughn

Writers: Bryan Singer, Tom DeSanto, David Hayter, Zak Penn, Michael Dougherty, Dan Harris, Simon Kinberg, David Benioff, Skip Woods, Ashley Miller, Zack Stentz, Jane Goldman, Matthew Vaughn, Sheldon Turner

Starring: Hugh Jackman, Ian Mckellen, Patrick Stewart, James Marsden, Famke Janssen, Halle Berry, Anna Paquin, Rebecca Romijn, Hugh Jackman, Alan Cumming, Brian Cox, Kelsey Grammer, Shawn Ashmore, Hugh Jackman, Liev Schreiber, Danny Houston, Ryan Reynolds (I think…maybe), Lynn Collins, HUGH JACKMAN, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Kevin Bacon (Yeah Baby!), Rose Byrne, Jennifer Lawrence, January Jones and…Hugh Jackman!

Years: 2000-2011

Believe it or not, there was a time when this didn’t seem like such a great idea. Continue reading →

Weekend Reviews

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Hi All,

My friend Lindsay contributed several guest reviews recently which a lot of people seemed to like, so I’ve decided to rope him in as a regular reviewer. Lindsay will be writing reviews for the weekends from now on. His first review, a look at the X-Men Franchise, should be up shortly.

Cheers,

Al

Falling Skies – Silent Kill Review

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‘Hal devises a risky new plan to save the captured teenagers, but pulling it off could put someone in danger. Following a sudden tragedy, Anne makes a discovery that could mean the difference between the success or failure of Hal’s rescue plan.‘

Falling Skies - Silent Kill

Series Website

Now that I’ve caught up with the show, Falling Skies won’t be dominating the blog so much. The reviews will come out once a week as the episodes air. – Al

Once again Falling Skies delivers an episode focused on the rescue of Ben Mason (Connor Jessup) from the aliens without dealing with the overall conflict. While there was a great deal of emotion on display here and some good performances, none of the issues I have with the overall series have been addressed.

I understand that the Masons are Continue reading →

Eureka – Liftoff Review

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‘Zane pesters Jo for details she does not want to reveal. Carter problem-solves at Andy and S.A.R.A.H.’s wedding. Elsewhere, Zane’s actions make him and Fargo unexpectedly airborne.‘

Eureka - Liftoff

Eureka has had really bad luck with scheduling over its lifespan. Thankfully, even with the crazy gaps between seasons and season halves the audience has stuck with this quirky little SF show. After a long break, Eureka is back and I have to say, this show’s still got it.

Season 4 has been a bit of a Continue reading →

Falling Skies – Grace Review

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‘Tom and Hal lead a team to find more motorcycles for the 2nd Mass after Pope provides details on where they can be found. Back at the high school where they’ve set up base Dr. Harris and Anne disagree over the best tactic to gather more intelligence on the aliens.‘

Falling Skies - Grace

Series Website

This episode should have been a lot more interesting than it was. We started learning more about the aliens and the nature of the harness devices, there was a chance for more action in another resistance raid, and Hal is now dealing with his own guilt over what happened in the previous episode.

They had all of that great Continue reading →

Falling Skies – Prisoner of War Review

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‘The 2nd Mass comes face to face with Skitters and Mechs when Tom and Hal lead a mission to finally attempt rescuing Ben and the other captured teens. Tom’s search for answers to nagging questions could jeopardize the plan to save the teenagers from the harnesses that is presented by the 2nd Mass’ latest recruit Dr. Michael Harris.‘

Falling Skies - Prisoner of War

Series Website

After a less than stellar premiere, I was hoping that the third episode of Falling Skies would be able to get me excited about the show. But unfortunately while I really want to like the show, I can’t look past the many problems it still has.

The biggest problem I have Continue reading →