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By admin, on November 8th, 2011%
Inheritance (The Inheritance Cycle) [Hardcover] by Christopher Paolini – I’m about 400 pages into Inheritance (half way through) and the main thing I’ve noticed about the book is that it has the same problem as Brisingr: it lacks momentum, purpose, and a sense of importance. Eragon and Eldest both had a good sense of progress being made and movement; Inheritance spends too much time on insignificant side plots involving minor characters. Continue reading Inheritance (The Inheritance Cycle) by Christopher Paolini
By admin, on December 22nd, 2010%
Inception (Three-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Copy) (2010) - Science-fiction features often involve time travel or strange worlds. In Christopher Nolan’s heist thriller Inception, the concepts converge through the realm of dreams. With his trusty associate, Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt, a fine foil), Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio, in a role that recalls Shutter Island) steals ideas for clients from the minds of competitors. Fallen on hard times, he’s become estranged from his family and hopes one last extraction will set things right. Along comes Saito (Ken Watanabe, Batman Begins), who hires Cobb to plant an idea in the mind of energy magnate Fischer (Cillian Murphy, another Batman vet). Continue reading Inception (Three-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Copy) (2010)
By admin, on November 6th, 2010%
Back to the Future: 25th Anniversary Trilogy (+ Digital Copy) [Blu-ray] – Filmmaker Robert Zemeckis topped his breakaway hit Romancing the Stone with Back to the Future, a joyous comedy with a dazzling hook: what would it be like to meet your parents in their youth? Billed as a special-effects comedy, the imaginative film (the top box-office smash of 1985) has staying power because of the heart behind Zemeckis and Bob Gale’s script. High schooler Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox, during the height of his TV success) is catapulted back to the ’50s where he sees his parents in their teens, Continue reading Back to the Future: 25th Anniversary Trilogy (+ Digital Copy) [Blu-ray]
By admin, on October 13th, 2010%
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (Two-Disc Special Edition) (2010) – The third installment of Stephenie Meyer’s blockbuster vampire series is its most action packed, both in terms of fight scenes and human-vampire-werewolf lovin’. In Eclipse, the vampiric Cullen clan and the werewolves–their sworn enemies–unite against an army of “newborn” vampires, whose remnants of human blood in their veins makes them stronger and more uncontrollable, causing a string of murders in the Seattle area. They’ve been created by the vengeful vampire Victoria (Bryce Dallas Howard, taking over for Rachelle Lefevre), still keen on destroying human Bella (Kristen Stewart). Continue reading The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (Two-Disc Special Edition) (2010)
By admin, on April 25th, 2010%
Avatar (2009) – After 12 years of thinking about it (and waiting for movie technology to catch up with his visions), James Cameron followed up his unsinkable Titanic with Avatar, a sci-fi epic meant to trump all previous sci-fi epics. Set in the future on a distant planet, Avatar spins a simple little parable about greedy colonizers (that would be mankind) messing up the lush tribal world of Pandora. A paraplegic Marine named Jake (Sam Worthington) acts through a 9-foot-tall avatar that allows him to roam the planet and pass as one of the Na’vi, the blue-skinned, Continue reading Avatar (2009)
By admin, on March 7th, 2010%
2012 (2009) – I think people judge these movies very unfairly. It surprises me when a movie like 2012 comes along and it’s ripped apart before it’s even released. “This movie’s gonna blow, it’s two and a half hours of things blowing up.” I have to play back the sentence in my mind and figure out what was negative about that concept. These movies are meant to be fun, and usually nothing more than that. Continue reading 2012 (2009)
By admin, on December 29th, 2009%
District 9 (Blu-ray) (2009) – A provocative science fiction drama, District 9 boasts an original story that gets a little lost in blow-’em-up mayhem. Set in Johannesburg, South Africa, District 9 begins as a mock documentary about the imminent eviction of extraterrestrials from a pathetic shantytown (called District 9). The creatures, it turns out, have been on Earth for years, having arrived sickly and starving. Initially received by humans with compassion and care, the aliens are now mired in blighted conditions typical of long-term refugee camps unwanted by a hostile, host society. With the creatures’ care contracted out to a for-profit corporation, the shantytown has become a violent slum. The aliens sift through massive piles of junk while their minders secretly research weapons technology that arrived on the visitors’ spacecraft. Continue reading District 9 (Blu-ray) (2009)
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