The Matrix, Revisited

Where was I in 1999 when they released the first Matrix movie? That's right, I seem to recall now, I was locked in a dull gray cubicle - working on some meaningless IT related project, staring at my monitor, watching the pixels dance their endless somber march up and down, up and down - and then...The phone rang.Startled, my headphones came crashing down off my ears, taking those abnormally thick wire rim glasses with them. I peered at the phone with considerable trepidation; "who could it be, why we're they calling me, what had I done" I was thinking...

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Being Bond

It was a sultry night in Monte Carlo. The roulette wheel was rolling in my favor - I always bet red, red, red. That's when she caught my eye, tall sultry and wearing red lipstick that could melt through the average aluminum beer can.I had left my tux at the cleaners after busting through a few buttons while attempting to tie my JC Penney's loafers - no choice, I had to wear my Carson Palmer jersey and khaki shorts. Just as well, the disguise was perfect, a disgruntled Bengals fan wandering the Mediterranean looking for a team that didn't lose,...

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The Zen of Movie Watching

There is an art to appreciating art, or pseudo-art or even stuff that isn't that artistic at all. Once upon a time in a different century, I sat diligently at my local university and learned how to appreciate modern cinema in a course titled aptly enough "Film Appreciation 101." At the time, I remember being torn as to whether it was a wonderful deal or a giant rip off to be sitting through an entire semester doing not much more than watching movies.Oh, but have the years piled on the wisdom - I can now see through the prism of hindsight how that...

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"W"

"W," I'm afraid in today's context refers to 'Waste of time.' I can't remember being so disappointed in a movie, although I honestly don't know what I was expecting. It is truly hard to believe that the combination of one of Hollywood's most controversial liberal directors and perhaps America's most controversial Republican President since Abe Lincoln would produce nearly two and half hours of utter boredom.I remember Dennis Kucinich's famous words during the second Bailout vote: "Why, why, why !!!" This plea for sanity rang out in my mind as the...

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Iron Man

I never was much of a fan of comic books, but over the past two decades I've come to appreciate them more and more as a spectacular source of creative fodder for Hollywood. Some of my favorite films have oddly enough been based upon one comic book or another which I've never read or in many cases never even seen.Such is the case with Iron Man, the blockbuster released this Summer based on a Marvel Comic of the same name. I first watched the film with my son in June while on vacation, he had already seen it once but did not seem the least bit bothered...

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What's Happening? Really?

I finally got around to renting "The Happening" from Blockbuster (it's not product placement if they don't pay me for saying that) last night. I was in the mood for something scary and horrific to distract me from the scary and horrific economic collapse occurring in the real world - don't worry if that doesn't make any sense, because the movie didn't either. If I had actually invested $7 dollars a person to go see this thing, I'm sure I would have walked out and probably would have requested a refund (something I've only done once in my entire...

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A Confused Political Thriller

With the backdrop of the current presidential election and economic turmoil, an action-packed political thriller is just the sort of thing that should play well at the Box Office, and thusfar Eagle Eye has done quite well. The film, produced by Mr. Spielberg and starring Shia LaBeouf while scoring quite high in terms of vehicles destroyed, scored few points in regards to common sense and originality.The beginning of the film was remarkably similar to the opening sequences of The Matrix, with some mysterious female voice leading our hero out of...

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Swing Vote

This election cycle has had its share of movies dedicated to political themes - last week we reviewed the HBO special "Recount," in a month the Oliver Stone film "W" is coming out and last month a movie titled "Swing Vote" was released.Swing Vote stars Kevin Costner and is a comedy which takes the Florida recount debacle and condenses it all into a fictional one man, one vote decides the entire election scenario. The first half of the movie was extremely entertaining and reminded me of the first movie that I had seen Costner star in, Bull Durham....

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Recount

I watched a very interesting DVD this week, picked it up at Blockbuster since I don't have HBO. The show was titled "Recount" and it was about the controversy surrounding the 2008 Presidential Election between Al Gore and George W. Bush. Regardless of what political views you may have had then or what your politics are now, you should find this show is absolutely fascinating. It is a mostly unbiased view (many might disagree) of the history of that incident although it is presented as a drama rather than a documentary.A detour on the highway of...

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No Country for Old Men - Review

Never before in the history of popular entertainment has a haircut been this dangerous. Now, Javier Bardem is kind of creepy looking even when he visits his normal stylist, but there is something positively mystical about the combination of that hulking face and his irrepressible hairdo in No Country for Old Men.The film which has already won a slew of awards including the Academy Award for Best Picture no less, was released last week to DVD. we approached this viewing experience thoroughly ignorant of those impressive achievements - we had only...

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