Alvin's Adventures in Pop Culture

Potter film delay is a drag

If you hadn’t heard what the hub-bub was, check this link: Half-Blood Prince delayed until July 17th, 2009 Anyway, there’s been a lot of unhappiness about this in the Potter fan world, and I have clearly made myself known as a Potter fan with opinions so why don’t I share mine? As far as a…

What I watched on my summer vacation 2008

While year-round programming is still just a quasi-reality (especially if you’re not into reality TV), with DVD seasons and some summer series, the season is no longer a television wasteland. This summer I enjoyed a number of returning shows (and one new one) and I didn’t watch a single person get voted off of anything!…

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor – Movie Review

Returning for the second time this summer season (see also Journey to the Center of the Earth), and for his third time in this role, Brendan Fraser reclaims his mantle as the new B-movie matinee idol by bringing back mummy-hunter Rick O’Connell to the big screen. This time around, not only are they facing a…

X-Files: I Want To Believe – Movie Review

I’ll bet you would not have expected that an X-Files movie would contain neither aliens nor government conspiracies. Even the so-called psychic phenomenon involved in X-Files: I Want To Believe is highly suspect. So why do they need special agent Fox Mulder to come out of hiding so badly that apparently the government is willing…

The Dark Knight – Movie Review

By the time I saw The Dark Knight (which was after about 40 million of you out there had already seen it) the hype had overflowed and I was half expecting to be disappointed, certain that it would not live up to the praise that people were giving it. At first I was a bit…

Hellboy II: The Golden Army – Movie Review

After seeing the preview trailer for Hellboy II: The Golden Army, it easily became my most-anticipated movie in July (I know everyone else is waiting for the Bat). Once I saw that director Guillermo del Toro was going to throw even more of his fabulously dark fantasy creatures into this movie than his previous effort,…

Wanted – Movie Review

Do you know director Timur Bekmambetov? If you’ve seen his Russian vampire flicks Night Watch or Day Watch, you will recognize his trademark spectacular, physics-defying car stunts (cars flip and leap-frog over one another) and zooming camera effects (the screen image even throbs to mimic the lead character’s special rapid heartbeat condition; and we get…

wall-e – Movie Review

I’ve commented before that it’s a testament to Pixar’s animation and storytelling skills that they can make hard, inanimate things like cars or generally uncute creatures like bugs, fish, rats and monsters into adorable, fun characters. That is definitely true of wall-e, where they’ve taken a bunch of robots and made them delightful, cute, and…

Mongol – Movie Review

When you imagine a movie about Genghis Khan (I know you don’t do that very much, but humour me) you probably imagine vast armies of Mongol warriors on horseback following an imposing, charismatic commander with power showing in his face and strength in his voice. On the contrary, this movie presents the story of a…