Film Geeks - Episode 46 - Omega Geeks

EPISODE46 - The Omega Geeks

Episode Notes: The final days of the late, great planet Earth. The Hollywood have doomed us all with their crappy movies. Two men...two LEGENDS of geekdom arise from the fog of war and destruction. They shirk off damnation and with a harsh breath, whisper, "No more." Join us on Skype as your geeks put trepidation aside and cover the gambit of apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic movies.

Listen to the show here - http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-14391/TS-273451.mp3

Listen to other shows here - http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/14391

Movies Discussed

Mad Max / Road Warrior
Waterworld
Postman
12 Monkeys
Battlefield Earth
Children Of Men
I Am Legend
Terminator 4 - Salvation
The Stand
Reign Of Fire
Escape From NY/LA
Planet Of The Apes
City Of Ember
Nausicaa And The Valley Of The Wind
A Boy And His Dog
The Day After
Omega Man
Damnation alley
Tooth And Nail
The Happening

TV
Jericho
Jeremiah
Threads (BBC)

Upcoming Movies
Book Of Eli
The Road

Film Geeks - Episode 45 - Inglorious Geeks

Title: EPISODE45 - Inglorious Geeks

Episode Notes: Tonight, our geeks talk about..."the B word"! That's right a whole show dedicated to Quentin Tarantino's newest flick, "Inglorious Basterds". What do the geeks think? Obviously it has to be good if a whole show is dedicated to it right? Oh crap, these are the same guys that watch "Battlefield Earth" for fun! That's it! I'm leaving! *feet clomping/opens door/slams door/gets in car/and speeds off*.

Listen to the show here - http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-14391/TS-264684.mp3

Listen to other shows here - http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/14391

Show Notes

http://movies.ign.com/dor/objects/26452/the-boondock-saints-ii-all-saints-day/videos/boonsaints2_trlr_090209.html
Boondock Saints 2 - All Saints Day Trailer

Movies discussed:

Plan 9 From Outer Space - Rifftrax event - www.Rifftrax.com
Ed Wood
Inglorious Basterds
Avatar Trailer - Good...or not?

Adventureland - Review

Adventureland

At the time of this writing I have ruminated on this movie for three minutes. This movie has put me into a mind set where it is the 1980s and I am a character of this movie. I am also very, VERY grateful that I don't have some old fashion razor blades at my disposal to slit my wrists.

The writer and director for this movie is Greg Mottola who also wrote "Superbad". The trailer for this movie made it look like a teen R comedy/coming of age like "Superbad". "Adventureland" could be classified as a comedy the way Dante's Inferno is classified as a comedy. The movie stars James Brennan who plays Jesse. Jesse needs to make some money for college and has to resort to the summer job of a carny. There he meets a couple of friends played by the very lovely Kristen Stewart and the very funny Martin Starr. Also thrown into the mix is Ryan Reynolds and Bill Hader. For a cast so filled with comedic talent like Starr, Reynolds, and Hader, you'd be led to believe this movie would be a lot more funny. I almost took up hard drinking and drug use because of this movie.

So Jesse gets this job and falls for Em (Stewart), but Em is seeing an older and married guy named Mike (Reynolds). Everyone's life is falling apart but the story is a classic coming of age story. To tell more than this would ruin the depressing storyline. Although that might get less people to want to throw themselves off a bridge after seeing it.

Grade - C-

For being so depressing this movie really isn't horrible. However, I'd watch "Nick And Norah's Infinite Playlist" if I wanted a similar story but with a more upbeat story. That movie made me want to have all-nighter in the city again. This story makes me wonder how much a bottle full of amphetamines would taste like. Ok, Kristen Stewart is just gorgeous in this. She's one of those people who is so cute and normal she's hot and she's probably the best actress in here. Martin Starr is the big comedic relief but I didn't laugh once through the entire movie because of the cloud of dread this movie produces. Another flaw is Ryan Reynolds not being his typical character. Being type cast as the smooth and slick guy probably isn't the worse thing in the world and he should stick with that. He wasn't even cool in this movie...ok he was a little cool but still. Jesse Eisenberg is awkward in this film and I felt jealousy in watching him kill Stewart so many times. This movie just makes me glad I was only a little kid in the 1980s and I missed how depressing it all was. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go watch "Schindler's List" to cheer up after this movie!

BloodRayne - Review

BloodRayne

Bleh. Phe. Neh. Ib. Coo. Nuh. Derm. And Phu. These are all words that are acceptable to utter after sitting through this movie. I don't try to jump on "oh So-And-So is a bad _____" trains too often. However, when the global collective is stacked against you, you have to wonder if they're on to something. Uwe Boll is not the worse director I have ever seen...so he fails at that too! Is there anything redeeming about this movie? Let's find out.

So Rayne (Kristanna Loken) is a half vampire/ half human who is different from other vampires because...well she's not really different at all. In fact, the only difference between vampires and humans in this movie is that vampires die easier and quicker than humans and they have a lot more blood in them. Rayne joins an order led by Michael Madson against Kagan (Ben Kingsley...yes another role taken by Kingsley to pass his time as he slowly fades into the abyss). Somehow Michelle Rodriguez fits in there with Billy Zane but you shouldn't look that deep into that.

Grade - F

I wish I had something nice to say. Hmm. Kristanna Loken and Micelle Rodriguez are good eye candy and they're in leather a lot. Ooo I get a RAM chip!

I have created what I hope is a fun list of things that stood out to me and I hope it provides for some entertainment.

• Every weapon in this movie could not cut through melted butter. There is no attempt to hide rounded "points" or edges. I don't know why they just didn't fight with Nerf(TM) swords.
• Dialog is cliche' terms strung together without semblence of thought or care for the audience. An example of this is the practice fight between Katarin and Rayne in the food hall. Also who has a fighting session with possible blood and sweat in a food hall?!
• There is an unnecessary sex scene with no sexual tension before hand. Heck there's no real tension during the sex scene. However, I could not help but think how a scene like this might have saved "Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines".
• The gore used in this movie reminds me of '70s shot-on-video horror movies. I was expecting the vampires to squish ketchup and hamburger through their fingers in a few scenes.
• Meatloaf, the singer, not the nasty "food", is in this movie.
  
• People are always giving Rayne necklaces. Men and women alike are trying to clothe her more in anyway possible.
• Michael Madson is to Bloodrayne as Burt Reynolds is to Dungeon Siege. I think the internet just collapsed in on itself with two Uwe Boll analogies.
• I don't know where Michelle Rodriguez's accent is suppose to be from and I don't think she knows either...or remembers to use it throughout the movie.
• Gunpowder does not explode...nor is it capable of breaking down a castle's huge wooden doors.
• Epic music should never be played when your main character pretty much says about your movie's climax, "...but I've really got nothing better to do." (not a direct quote).
• You can't say vampires hate sunlight, show vampires standing guard outside a fortress in midday, and then use sunlight to kill vampires a few scenes later.
• It should be illegal to use the same flashback six times in one movie.
• If you can flashback through the major parts of your movie in four minutes and 37 seconds you're movie sucks and even you didn't like it the first time. WHAT MADE YOU THINK WE'D LIKE IT A SECOND TIME!
  

I've never played the video game so I can't compare it with the movie. I can say that a movie that makes me log in to Microsoft Money and hit "Update My Accounts" every five minutes to see if I am magically getting money that I don't expect to get...is a sign of a bad movie.

Film Geeks - Episode 44

EPISODE44 - The Geeks Find A Good Movie For 2009!!!

Episode Notes: That's right, you read it right! Finally, after more than half of 2009 leaving us with not just a bad taste in our month, but no taste at all because NOTHING came out, we have found one movie! However, which one is it?! Our geeks will be discussing "The Ugly Truth", "G.I. Joe - The Rise Of Cobra", and "District 9".

Remember, we conduct the show on Skype under the username "agentx216". We ask that you mute your microphone and use the chat option to request to be heard.

Download the show here - http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-14391/TS-257685.mp3

You can download other shows here - http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/14391

Lucky Number Slevin - Review

Lucky Number Slevin

There are relatively few good mystery movies made these days. The few exceptions being "Snatch", "Se7en", and maybe "Brick"; among a few others. However, with the exception of the last movie, most are movies where the mystery isn't the main story's focus. If a movie is a mystery the story and/or the characters are uninteresting, unrealistic, or just poorly executed.

Directed by Paul McGuigan and written by Jason Smilovic, "Lucky Number Slevin" hosts an impressive cast. Josh Hartnett, who plays the lead, Lucky Lu, Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, and Ben Kingsley make this movie even more impressive. It's always hard to review a mystery movie. You have to be careful to not reveal too much but the description has to be good enough.

Slevin has been having a rough couple of days. He's lost his job, his house is condemned, his girlfriend cheated on his, he's been mugged, and, oh ya, two mafia bosses believe he's someone else and if he doesn't do what they says...he's a dead man. One boss wants Slevin to kill the other boss' son. The other boss wants a large sum of money the man who he thinks Slevin is owes. What unfolds is a series of interesting events that is both interesting to watch unfold and entertaining to see what Slevin says.

Grade - A+

Yes, this is a really good movie. The writing of the plot is believable and entertaining. There are a few serendipitous moments but they don't feel like they're outside the realm of possibility. That's trouble that today's mystery movies have. The writing for the characters is also impeccably done. Josh Hartnett as Slevin some comedic lines that Josh delivers really well. I would love to see Josh play another type of character like this. Slevin reminds me of a character Ryan Reynolds would play, but Josh does a great job with the role. Lucy Lu is a delight to watch as well. She is spontaneous and charismatic. This is really outside the norm for the roles she plays. Usually she's uptight and high strung and controlling; not here she isn't and I would love to see her in a similar role. I do believe this has to be her finest acting role I have ever seen her in; and she's absolutely adorable in this. The only person I wasn't really hot for is Ben Kingsley. However, I've always had a problem with Ben. He usually tries to take just about any role offered to him in a way that reminds me of Christopher Walken. However, Kingsley has a lot of "misses" more than he has "hits". When he's in a movie, I usually groan at his appearance and character. The plot unfolds nicely, however, the wrap up tends to be a bit longer than usual. However, this isn't like a Riddler's riddle from the "Batman" TV show. You know, one of those riddles where you'd have to live in Gotham to actually get the answer. You are given all the clues and it's pretty straightforward. It's not a "Fight Club" ending shock, but it is executed perfectly. Watching this movie was a real pleasure and I was sad to see it over as quickly as it felt. I would almost like to see a sequel made.

Spies Like Us - Movie Review

Spies Like Us

1985. The Cold War is still going on with no end in sight (we just had to wait about five more years). American’s view of the Soviet Union has turned into a more laughable state and a less serious tone is taken with respect to them. There’s the socio-political-economic factors that led to this new view sure. However, I blame media! In the ‘50s you had movies like “The Day The Earth Stood Still” and probably the best parallel to “communists among us” McCarthism paranoia, “Invasion Of The Body Snatchers”. Yet, times changed and with it both countries grew. Late night hosts found out it was ok to make jokes about “the Reds” and you also had more and more movies look at Russia in a new light. Not one of fear and treachery, but something that could be parodied and made fun of. A popular, more softer look at the USSR made the Iron Curtain look more like the Velvet Curtain. “Spies Like Us” is one of those movies that help end the Cold War!

This film is directed by genius director, John Landis, who I believe had his hand in everything ever made. On top of that you have two ‘80s comedic superstars, Chevy Chase and, the comedicly underrated, Dan Aykroyd. What’s that? You want more stars? Well how about directors Michael Apted, Martin Brest, Joel and Larry Cohen, Terry Gilliam, Frank Oz, Sam Raimi? Also there’s Ray Harryhausen, Robert Paynter, and Derek Meddings, B.B. King, and Bob Hope! Like I said, Landis had his hand in everything!

Two CIA agents, Emmett Fitz-Hume (Chevy Chase) and Austin Millbarge (Dan Aykroyd) are set up by rouge elements of the government to be decoys for two other agents whose mission it is to hijack a Soviet nuclear weapon. Despite everyone’s best efforts, the almost “Odd Couple” pair thwart every attempt to carry about what they believe is solely their objective. Does zaniness happen along the way?! Is “Rocky IV” the best Rocky? You betcha!

Grade – B-

Classic Landis directing and classic Aykroyd writing. This is on par with “Stripes”. You have some classic bits including the “Doctor doctor” scene. On top of that this movie is just classic ‘80s funny. The story kind of lags in the middle and almost makes you forget that the two spies are on a mission but it picks right back up again pretty quickly. It doesn’t matter that the storyline, ultimate goal, or events don’t really make sense or couldn’t really happen. This is just great fun and still good to watch today. It might be a bit dated for anyone who wasn’t alive in the ‘80s even a little, but it’s still a classic comedy. Oh, also for you “Weird Science” TV fans, you can thank this movie for starting Vanessa Angel’s career. She was the hot Russian woman Dan Aykroyd gets with! Now go listen to some Soul Finger!

The Abandoned - Movie Review

The Abandoned

This movie is part of the “After Dark Horrorfest” of 2006; “One Of The 8 Films To Die For”. When I first saw the trailer for the eight films, I thought that maybe I would finally get some decent horror movies that would scare me, a combination of horror and thriller. However, the commercials promised what the product couldn’t produce. Since the start of these movies, they have shown only to be B grade horror movies. Usually there are maybe one or two that are good or decent, but the rest are just rubbish and bollix. So the question is, is this Nacho Cerda’ horror movie to die for or should this movie be abandoned?

The story is pretty simple. An adopted woman, Marie Jones (Anastasia Hille), sets out to Russia to find who her family was. Once there, she finds out who her mother was and where she lived. When she sets out to see if she can further uncover what happened to her mother, strange things begin to happen. Along the way she runs into people who act freaky around her and don’t answer her questions. She also runs into her brother, Nicolai (Karel Roden), that she never knew she had. Together, they try and find out what is going on.

Grade – F

This starts out as pretty much a typical horror film. Things go bump in the night, a car runs out of power in the middle of nowhere, and the main character goes out into woods and to an old house shouting, “Hello?!”. However, once you find yourself halfway through the movie and there’s not much happening, you don’t know what’s going on, you don’t know who the characters really are, and you don’t really care about anything in the movie you’re pretty much screwed. You’ve already wasted 45 minutes on the movie, you might as well press on. The editing of this movie is just awful. Jump cuts, freeze frames, unnecessary shaky views of household items permeate this picture. For example, Marie hits a guy with a big log and runs away from him. He catches up to her, she asks, “Who are you?!”, he gives her an evilish look…and then cut and all is calm and they’re sitting down talking calmly.

There are two main problems with this movie. First of all, none of the characters are built up. This sounds like there might be a slew of character this movie focuses on, but there are really only two people in this whole movie. You aren’t given what drives them, who they are as people, any background, or really even what kind of personality they have. There is one scene where Marie starts to freak out and she starts rambling about her freaking out but her character isn’t hashed out at all for you to understand what the heck she is talking about. About two thirds of the way through the movie, right as you’re about to get to the so-called climax of the film, the movie tries to build background for both characters in a jump shot of five minutes. Yet, there is no building up of the characters for us to care or even understand what they are going through. I found myself rooting for whatever was trying to kill them because I thought maybe it would be more interesting than our main characters!

The other thing this movie fails at is having a coherent plot. The storyline tries to unfold like M. Night Shyamalan of “The 6^th Sense fame” but ends up unfolding worse than M. Night Shyamalan of “The Happening” fame! Nicolai is trying to find out what happen to his parents and is just as in the dark as Marie. Then with freaky stuff is coming to a head, he suddenly knows what the heck is going on. How?! I don’t know! He seems to just be there to advance the plot. Also, the “reveal” is utterly confusing and I really have to say it makes no sense whatsoever. They’re dead, but not really, but they are, but they’re not, yet their ghosts, but their haunting themselves, but they….*sizzle, fry, burst into flames*. Captain Kirk just needed to show the androids in “I, Mudd” this movie for them to destroy themselves. This movie also has one count of unnecessary nudity. Flag on the field! Ten yard penalty!

This movie is just abject failure. Characters who are almost one dimentional, you don’t care anything about go on a mission that they think they will just happen upon only for stupid things to occur to them until they find out what’s going on which you won’t know yourself. Good job, Horrorfest, way to let me down. However, I can’t really blame them. After watching this dreck, I really felt this was a film that was going to kill me, or at least, make me kill myself from its stupidity.

Film Geeks - Episode 43

Title: EPISODE43 - So This Is What's It's Like When Geeks Cry

Episode Notes: The geeks talk about all the movies that came out this week at the box office!!!...oh..no wait...the geeks talk about what were the saddest movies they ever saw. But, some movie news is back!

Sorry about the audio quality, Briney was experiencing some technical difficulties.

Listen to the show here - http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-14391/TS-246428.mp3

List to other shows here - http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/14391

Movie News

http://blogs.tampabay.com/80s/2009/07/prepare-to-have-childhood-memories-crushed-gi-joe-could-years-worst-movie.html
GI Joe - Dud?

http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=57151
Ghost Rider 2 and Nick Cage looking like a huge douche!

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3i30319b161b10e5dcc3666148772f6d4f
Thor movie update

http://www.slashfilm.com/2009/07/10/ryan-reynolds-is-the-green-lantern/
Who will be Green Lantern?

http://www.slashfilm.com/2009/07/14/the-ultimate-3d-movie-preview-and-release-date-schedule/
3D up the wazoo!

http://www.ncm.com/Fathom/Comedy/RiffTrax.aspx
See Plan 9 From Outer Space...ON THE BIG SCREEN!

Saddest Movies

- Saving Private Ryan
- E.T.
- Passion Of The Christ
- The Notebook
- Pay It Forward
- American Beauty
- The Elephant Man
- Old Yeller
- A Beautiful Life
- Field Of Dreams
- Brian's Song
- Joseph - The Bible Series
- Never Ending Story
- Click
- Charloette's Web
- Ladder 51

Film Geeks - Episode 42

EPISODE42 - Geeks Of Oz - Terminators, Transformers, And Treks...Oh My!

Episode Notes: This week the geeks talk about Transformers 2 and their thoughts. Also they will be going back to two of the most talked about movies this summer - Star Trek and Terminator 4.

Listen to the show here - http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-14391/TS-240686.mp3

Listen to other shows here - http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/14391

Film Geeks is also listed on iTunes and they even have a Twitter account...before it was cool!

Check the right side of the page for other links!

Film Geeks - Episdoe 41

Film Geeks - EPISODE 41 - The Geeks Vs. Hollywood

Episode Notes: THE GEEKS ARE BACK! A tale of where they have been, what's been going on, a re-introduction...and then they blast Hollywood for the lackluster line up!

Listen to the podcast here - http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-14391/TS-237943.mp3

Listen to other shows here - http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/14391

Nosferatu (1922) - Movie Review

Nosferatu (1922)

Ever since the advent of movies, filmmakers have loved making horror movies. One of the first most influential horror movies was “The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari (1920). If you believe that filmmakers back then just shot anything because it was a new technology to make money, then you haven’t seen some of these old classics. Where this movie launched a generation of horror movies to follow, “Nosferatu” took a more realistic and therefore scarier look at what the horror genre could do for the budding movie industry.

Trivia note: “Nosferatu” was so scary, that in Sweden it was banned for “excessive horror” …until 1972.

While I can’t say I completely understand the mindset of people in the 1920s on what they would actually consider “excessive horror”, because honestly there isn’t a scene showing Nosferatu feeding anyone or anything really that would be considered violent. However, that’s the beauty of this horror flick.

The story is pretty simplistic really. Count Orlok (which was the change from Count Dracula because director F.W. Murnau couldn’t obtain the rights from Bram Stoker’s widow) is looking to acquire a new residence in Wisburg. He contacts one of his henchmen to send a realtor to his castle in Transylvania. Enter Thomas Hutter (Gustav von Wangenheim. This young man believes he will make a large commission to provide for his wife (Greta Schroder) better if he travels to the far land and sells the Count the rundown properly across from his place. His wife begs him to stay as her women’s intuition is tingling. However, Hutter is very adamant about wanting to show his wife how much he loves her. He travels over the Carpathian mountains where he stays the night with some Gypsies and they beg him not to go and warn him about the evil that resides in the castle. This is probably one of the first signature mistakes of a horror movie ever filmed! Of course he doesn’t listen to them and is flippant about the whole thing. After meeting with the very creppy Count Orlok (Max Schreck), Hutter presents the claim to the deed. Orlok notices of picture of Hutter’s wife and comments what a beautiful neck she has…would you call that neck-rophilia!!! HA HA…ah…umm…

Hutter cuts himself and Orlok can’t help but to suck his blood. This freaks Hutter out a little bit but he still decides to stay in the castle. As Hutter sleeps, he is visited by Orlok who has shown himself to be a vampire and feeds on Hutter, even though you never see it.


The Count, through the night, loads up coffins filled with dirt on a cart (sleeping in the dirt from where he was buried allows Orlok to travel wherever he may like) and leaves Hutter.

Hutter must escape the castle, the mountains, and his own weak body to try and stop Orlok from feeding on his home city…and his wife!

Grade – B+

This truly is a eerily scary movie. Orlok is only on screen for about eight minutes but his presence is always dramatic and terrifying. Heck, even the shadow scenes are scary.


F.W. Murnau did a wonderful job shooting wonderful scenery, using practical and special effects of the time. What are the most powerfully shot scenes are those of Nosferatu. The door opens on its own and in walks Nosferatu, the coffin’s lid is raised and Nosferatu rises as stiff as a board, even Orlok carrying huge coffins with one hand is eerie.


There are three points that I can show some negative on, however I do not know if it’s the movie’s fault or if it was just the style of acting and movie making back then. First, I have a problem with how extreme Hutter acts. He is rather a hyper character who I didn’t really root for. I didn’t feel like he was the hero or that he could even do anything to save his wife. Next, his wife, Ellen, also acts like a schizophrenic when she tells him not to go, sees him off, waits for him, and causes a ruckus at her sister-in-law’s place where she is staying. Her actions probably should have gotten her committed as she wails and runs to and fro over how much danger Hutter is in. Finally, the film really peters along. It is a slow moving film and could have been shortened about twenty minutes. Again, this might have been the style of filmmaking back then, but editing did exist back then.

Overall, the atmosphere and the vampire make this silent movie a jewel to watch. This movie helped to spawn a generation of horror flicks that still entices our imagination with the phantasmagoric and helps us imagine a land of vampires, ghosts, and monsters.

The Invasion - Review

The Invasion

How many times have we seen “The Invasion Of The Body Snatchers” remade? What was once considered a perfect analogy for the infiltration of communism in America during the “Red Scare” during the McCarthy era, has been made, remade, rehashed, updated, tweaked, re-released, and any other kind of euphemism since ever since the original 1956 movie. If I may be so forward, I think the story has played itself out. Without the back drop of the ever impending communist who can blend in with the capitalistic society in the United States, who can act like us, talk like us, go to the same schools, walk through our church doors, and who can drink anything other than vodka, the real meaning of the story has been lost on us. Even taking the story in the strictest Sci-Fi sense of “anyone could be an alien”, this storyline is about as tired as the Mutant Registration Act is to the Marvel universe.

Directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel (“Downfall”) and written by David Kajganich (hasn’t done anything else), “The Invasion” feels like a cross between a zombie movie, “War of the Worlds”, and I’m sorry to say that it has just the hint of “The Happening”.

After the crash of US space shuttle “Patriot”, people start becoming infected with an organism that takes over their body during their sleep. Of course, no one really knows about this until it becomes so out of control. These “body snatchers” are devoid of high levels of emotion that we humans feel. As the invasion increases in the number of infected, we see that the result of it being a new era in peace and prosperity. Carol Bennell, played by Nicole Kidman (“Eyes Wide Shut”) wants to screw all that up. With the help of her doctor friend; Ben Driscoll, played by Mr. Pouty himself Daniel Craig (“Layered Cake”) they want to try and stop the take over of the human race by this outside alien force. The two discover that some people are immune to the virus and it just so happens that her son is one of them. Carol must find her son who is being held by her ex-husband, who also just happened to be the first infected, and rescue him to take him to a military lab. The aliens, however, are trying to root out people who are not infected yet. The aliens are bland and emotionless creatures so they resort to things like throwing people off buildings to see who in the crowd react. Carol must walk through the city and try to hide her emotions to get to her son. I do have to say, if you need someone to act emotionless and with as little passion as possible, Nicole Kidman is the perfect choice for the role.

Grade – B-

It almost begrudges me to say that I kind of enjoyed the movie. It was nice to see a modern alien invasion happen that doesn’t involve huge space ships blowing up everything. The aliens do feel like an opposite zombie-like creature. Of course there is a lot of running involved. The action is really decent for the flick which is kind of surprising seeing the Nicole Kidman is in it. This is also probably the best role Daniel Craig has been in. He can pout all he wants without destroying everything that makes James Bond James Bond. Of course there is a message in here but it’s not as smack-you-in-the-nose obvious that “The Happening” was. Mankind can only be mankind with the possibility of violence and war and all the bad things we do. I guess the final message of the movie is “Is it worth it?”. If that’s the case, I don’t think this movie really made it enough. You see news clips throughout the movie of the changes like President George W. Bush meeting with Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, the end of the Iraq War, and other peace in our time events. One of my main problems with the movie is that you cannot really tell how much of the world has been infected. You have Bush infected but there’s a military lab/outpost that is still trying to find a cure. You have a whole, large city infected but there is a quarantine/road block established. The main ending is kind of nice to see but it’s a complete departure from the source material. To summarize, a bland, emotionless Nicole Kidman must act bland and emotionless, aliens want to take us all over, and mankind sucks. Now go have fun at the movies!

Abraham - The Bible - Review

Abraham – The Bible

The Bible Collection has been a personal favorite of mine after watching “Joseph – The Bible”. Even the lesser ones have a decent amount of drama and a well written and well paced storyline. Also, for the most part, the story stays with the source material. That’s The Bible for all you heathens out there. Believers and non can enjoy these movies for being well produced, dramatic stories that at least make you appreciate what these real life people may have went through. However, one of the main problems I have with this series is that the writers seem to make the central figures a bit too human. What I mean by that is that by taking a lot away from the “religiousness” of what makes these people inspirations, the writers tend to weaken the characters to a point where it’s almost laughable that central points and peoples hinged on what they did and what hey stood for. “Abraham – The Bible” probably illustrates this point most of all.

Directed by Joseph Sargent (“Miss Evers’ Boys”) and written by Robert McKee (“Mrs. Columbo), the story follows Abraham, played by Richard Harris (“Gladiator”) from his days before being called by God to father “a great nation” that would become known as Israel and goes through leaving his home to establish a new one. Along the way he and his wife; Sarah, played by Barbara Heshey (“The Right Stuff”) must deal with forsaking the old, false gods, the birth of the Arab nation with the birth of Ishmael, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and building up a people that would be counted like the “grains of sand”.

Grade – C-

The visuals of this movie are very banal. Usually this series has a certain “olden day” like feel to it. Abraham taking his people through the desert and meeting Mekhizedek feels like they just took twelve people and made them wander just outside the deserts of California. On top of that, the number of people in the cast lack any impressiveness. Yes, it is suppose to be Abraham’s early days but the feel to the movie is that there’s an old guy who wants to leave his home and takes about a dozen people with him and that’s about it. There are no impressive cities or landscapes that other “The Bible” movies have. It’s a very lackluster visual exercise.

Abraham is also a very boring character which is sad because with talent like Richard Harris, I thought I’d feel more…well, feeling for this important figure head of a great people. Abraham appears just as a crazy old coot when he is smashing the false idols in his original home. His visions when God is talking to him makes him to be more a mad man than someone who the Almighty had conversations with and who was so impressive that the Creator made him this patriarchal man. Both Lot and Sarah feel like very distant secondary characters even though they play a huge role in the real story. The acting of everyone in this movie just feels off from what it should be. In fact, the best acted and most interesting character in the whole movie is actually Mekhizedek; and he’s really not in The Bible all that much! The almost sacrifice of Isaac did not invoke a lot of emotion. Usually with this specific series I usually shed a tear or two. However, this movie made me yawn more than inspire me or fill me with awe. If I knew nothing about the real Abraham I would have had a really poor view of him after viewing this movie. This is probably one of the movies in the series you might want to skip.

Film Geeks - Episode 30 - Geek Movie Rundown III

Title: EPISODE40 - Geek Moive Rundow III - Rise Of The Geeks

Episode Notes: For this installment of the Geek Movie Rundown we talk about a whole slew of movies. Gran Torino, Slumdog Millionaire, Once, Resident Evil Degeneration, Into The Wild, The Graduate, Vertigo, The Nines, Sunshine, Empire Records, The Anarchist Cookbook, and 187. Wow, do we even have a life?

Download the show here - http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-14391/TS-183020.mp3

Download other shows here - http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/14391

Movie News

http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2008/12/03/j-michael-straczynski-on-world-war-z-the-scale-of-what-were-doing-here-is-phenomenal
World War Z - The Movie

http://www.starpulse.com/news/index.php/2009/01/17/heath_ledger_was_offered_spider_man_role
Heath Ledger was not Spider-man which means Toby McGuire was not The Joker..PHEW!

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/39797
Foundation Series brought to you by a guy who hasn't made a good movie in over 10 years

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3i2079648bd224e2c8075db99d3217979a
Settlement for Watchmen...FINALLY!

Movies Talked About:

- Gan Torino
- Love And Other Disasters
- Resident Evil - Degeneration
- Once
- Vertigo
- The Nines
- Empire Records
- The Anarchist Cookbook
- 187

- Into The Wild
- The Graduate
- Sunshine
- Slumdog Millionaire