Did you know that there are many more Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals than just Cats, Phantom, Evita, and Joseph? One of the better second-tier ones (IMHO) is Whistle Down The Wind. It’s based on an old movie (which was itself based on a book) set in a southern American town in the late 50s. Three…
Category: Reviews
Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem – Movie Review
OK. Larval aliens bursting out of the chest? Check. Heat vision and night vision scenes of innocent victims? Check. Drippy saliva on long, long teeth? Check. Pointless teen melodrama and token cute kid to make viewers care about characters who probably won’t all survive the film? Check and check. Aliens vs Predator: Requiem is absolutely…
I Am Legend – Movie Review
What would you do if you were the last man on Earth? Apparently, Will Smith would drive around in sports cars, hunting deer in the middle of Manhattan. Despite this pretty heavy premise (and somewhat weighty title), I Am Legend still has all the earmarks of a Hollywood holiday blockbuster. Fun set pieces like the…
The Golden Compass – Movie Review
I first picked up Philip Pullman’s novel, The Golden Compass, for the typical reason: I was looking for something to fill the void between Harry Potter books. This movie adaptation was likely made with similar motives, but I think viewers expecting a Potter-esque fun-ride might be a bit disappointed or confused by Compass’s extra complexity….
Battlestar Galactica: Razor + a funny post for BSG fans
So, I watched the 2-hour morsel of BSG (aka Battlestar Galactica: Razor) to keep us hungry until whenever season 4 finally airs. It was a pretty good extended-episode, flashing back to the story of what happened on board the Pegasus after the Cylons attacked, as well as a separate story of a rescue mission during…
Enchanted – Movie Review
When you see how easily an animated fairy tale morphs into a contemporary romantic comedy, you’ll wonder why it’s taken so long for Disney to come up with this movie. Most romantic comedies are essentially tales of storybook love dressed in modern clothing anyway. Enchanted is just a whimsically literal take on that connection. Animated…
Beowulf – Movie Review
What can we expect from a fully-computer-animated movie without Pixar in the credits or a green ogre in the lead? With Beowulf, hit director Robert Zemekis improves upon the motion-capture techniques used in his Polar Express to bring an ancient, legendary monster-slayer to vivid, digital life. Seeing it in IMAX 3-D, I was subjected to…
August Rush – Movie Review
It’s been quite some time since I decided that I just don’t get music movies. When a character becomes so inspired by music that he will sacrifice anything to express it, I don’t understand what’s going on in there. Movies like Shine, My Immortal Beloved, and Amadeus all confound me a bit. Along comes August…
Halloween 2007 – Sci-Fi TV Scare-athon
Inspired by a recent post on SyFy Portal (The 10 Scariest Episodes On Sci-Fi TV), I wanted to spend this Halloween enjoying back-to-back episodes of the scariest sci-fi television. Generally, television is not scary: they’ve got to be sensitive to the kiddies in the audience, plus the standards for content are much stricter. You’re not…
Alvin's Adventures in Pop Culture 