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(This post may contain spoilers about 24 seasons 1 and 2)

I first got to know 24 on local television a few months ago. It was the first season, and I only started to follow up with it in the middle of the season. Due to the crazy hours that they aired the show, I didn't follow up with it every week, although I got interested in it.

The original aspect of the series, with real time action, "forced" me to get the first season DVD, something I was able to do a couple of weeks ago.

I got hooked soon after starting to follow the first two episodes: the curiosity of knowing what came on the next second of that "long day" made me go trough the all 24 episodes in four days. Then I got season2 which I got around in two days.

That's the big power behind 24's real time design. It's supported by good acting (Kiefer IS Jack Bauer) and the has some great twists going along. The pacing is also great in the first two seasons. The usage of split screens for displaying multiple angles of the same scene, or several scenes that occur at once, is also really good. It's addictive, so it may be hard for some to keep up with 24, a series where continuity is at it's best.

Sometimes the story gets predictable: There were a few clues on the Nina situation that took some of the potential shock away although I really was thinking around like crazy if she was really the mole (season1), almost all of Kim's scenes end up with her being kidnapped/locked up somewhere (while that helped the main plot in the first season, her troubles in season2 are almost irrelevant to the main story).

Beware it will hook you. Dare to see 24, but try to do it in the least time possible (a weekend, maybe). It brings a new perspective on things, as things will be fresher than if you see one episode per week, or even, per day, and the continuity pays off.

I would rate season1 a little higher than season2. Those Kim wasting time situations could happen a lot less. In either way, both seasons are great, making 24 one of the best TV productions ever, and the better, most original and innovative one at present time.

eXistenZ is an interesting "alternative reality" science fiction film. The story happens sometime in the future where there's the technological possibility to connect a person's body into a bio mechanical device that allows the person to experiment Virtual Reality (VR) characters and actions inside a game. The movie opens with the presentation of the new game, eXistenZ, to a group of people.

(possible spoilers)

In my opinion this film fails because it is too predictable. The weapon, the people getting ready to plug into the game and other signs show that those people are probably all connected to the system, and are probably a test group like the one in the first minutes of the film, and not simple game characters.

In the end there's a nice question... Are they sill in the game? Are they back to reality or just playing their game/VR characters?

(end of spoilers)

It's a nice film with a simple and interesting mechanic (that could be less predictable) that relies on the question of what's real and what's not.

6 out of 10

This is an interesting film and I think it's a bit underrated.

(possible spoilers)

It's about a woman with a strong will that's chosen to prove that women should have the same rights has men because they can do the same things men can (she's actually doing it for her self, she says she doesn't want to be a "poster girl" for women's rights). She has to prove herself by going under the hardest military training there is and also dealing with the all the boys that don't think she can handle it.

Even if you don't like it for the story/dialogue, you can appreciate it for the scenes where Demi is "pumping iron" :).

6 out of 10

Well this isn't a realistic movie, but you don't want to see a realistic hacking film. Why not? Because it isn't cool to watch someone type code on a text editor, or type on a command line. And that's probably why "Hackers" was done with in this visual, non-realistic, eye candy way. You don't see a directory structure in a command line. They show it with a 3D look. Another sequence that shows this is the one at the party where they all stare at the laptop, and it's screen saver. It's eye candy to avoid the public from running away from it.

If they did a realistic hacking movie, it would probably be very boring. This wasn't done to please those with enough computer knowledge to know that it isn't realistic, but to please a more general audience, with little computer knowledge.

With all this in mind, in order to enjoy "Hackers", one should not expect to see a great movie or a realistic approach to the world of computer security experts. Don't take it seriously. If you do, you'll probably rate it very low. If you don't maybe you will have some fun.

They did choose a good soundtrack.

I'll give it a 5.5 (5 in imdb's rating) out of 10.

Corky Romano isn't a serious film and shouldn't be taken that way. It's a physical comedy with some good jokes but it could have been a little better.

The first scenes are too exaggerated, and that spoils the beginning of the film. Towards the end there are a couple good sequences - like the one that involves a Nazi group - and the film gets a little better. The problem is that some of the scenes are too predictable. A couple of better one liners and less predictable scenes would have made it a better film.

This kind of film/comedy works for some people (some of the guys and girls at the theater laughed A LOT), I think it's a "nice" way to spend some time if you don't want to think too much and don't mind having it all delivered at you. If you don't take it seriously, it works nicely.

I give it a 5 out of 10.

(This post may contain spoilers)

So you have a husband. You think he is a sales man. You meet a man. He says he is a secret agent. You need something to shake up things in your boring life. You need a secret agent as your lover. Your husband finds out. Your husband isn't the salesman you though. Your husband is a secret agent. Your new friend isn't a secret agent. He is a car salesman. Your husband now uses is resources to know what he needs about your lover and to take him out of your life.

That is the basic idea on True Lies. It gets to be a very nice action film, from the start almost to the end. I didn't like some of the stuff they did with the planes, like the sequence where Arnie's character daughter is hanging from the plane - typical action-hero-flick-scene that could have been avoided.

I'll give a 6.5 (6 in imdb's voting) out of 10.

In the first time I watched Total Recall 2070 I was just thinking "Blade Runner". The backgrounds, the style, the futuristic look of the sets and the technology, all of them look like "Blade Runner". A nice show in overall, not only due to it's looks but also to it's story and sub-stories in each episode.

"Fantasma" is the Portuguese word for "Ghost".

This movie goes about a house that has.. ghosts. It's really funny.

It's a classic of the Portuguese cinema.. they don't do movies like this anymore. It's B&W and it rocks!

you can be poor, you can be rich, you can be.. happy ..

This is a really cool movie. The first time I saw it, a few years ago, I enjoyed it so much .. I've seen it over and over.. and I can still apreciatte it ..

Nick Nolte does a really nice job playing a man without a home, but who has certain happyness and good street friends. The scene on the beach shows that really well. And Richard D's character also gets that.. In the other side a rich, but not so happy family. Nick Nolte brings hapyness to the family .. proving that money isn't always happyness..

It's a really good movie, hope it gets out on DVD R2 at my country ASAP..

In Portugal we don't have as much series as I would like. Claxon was one of the first to appear, and I really liked it.

Claxon had style, the stories where nice and the actors are pretty fine. A really good eford with an acceptable result ..

The characters where pretty interesting also. And funny some times..

There have been re-runs of the series, but I would really like to see this one out on DVD ..

Duarte & Companhia was also a really nice show.

Pity more new shows like these ( funny and interesting ) aren't made in Portugal.

This show was really cool. The good guys and their funny red car ( I personally think that it's the series trademark. every time I saw one of those I would comment it has being Duarte's car .. ), the mad guys, the jokes, the stories, everything.

A really good detective show.

And the cast is composed by some the greatest portuguese actors ever..

Pitty that now they don't make shows in Portugal like these. We have to 'import' all the good stuff.

If you talk/understand portuguese, you got to get a way to see this show. It's really good..

And if you like this one, you probably like Claxon ( 1990 ) also.

Let's face it.. SHAFT is COOL. Shaft doesn't get nervous. Shaft walks and dresses with style. It's Shaft, still the man..

Shaft 71 vs Shaft 2k

[ this may be a spoiler to some of you .. ]

The character is similar, also really cool, still I think that Richard Roundtree's Shaft was better on the talk aspect, and that Samuel L. Jackson's Shaft is more action related.

We don't see Shaft (1971) going around beating everybody out. We don't see him draw his gun in the middle of the street and beating kids up.

We was more smooth. Really smooth. Some GREAT one liners..

In Shaft 2000, John Shaft is seeking revenge and loses some of that smoothness that made Shaft what he was.. He talks nice and cool, but some of the lines are kinda outdated.. And he is definatly an action man.

When I saw the first Shaft, I was aspecting to see a movie with more action than it was.. I guess that I was waiting to see what I saw in Shaft 2000 .. still, both movies rocked..

I think that Richard Roundtree's part could be a little more relevant to the movie, he just shows up with some kinda 'mentor like' status to his nephew Shaft .. He could have been more active.

This movie is a nice action movie, with some really cool dialogues and action scenes, but it could have been better.

The actors were nice, Samuel L Jackson did a really good job in this "redefined" Shaft.

I hope to see another Shaft in a near future, maybe with Shaft and Uncle Shaft working together to pull out some cool action scenes with COOL all over the place ..

I'll get the Shaft's Big Score soon, I want to see if it relates nicely to any of the 'Shaft' (71 or 2000) ..

I've seen this movie some times already, and today I was checking a local movie channel and it was on..

I saw it again, and when it ended some minutes ago, I felt like checking imdb for some info on it..

I think this movie is really funny. If you feel like laughing, this is indeed a good title to see.

It tells the story of a Pizza maker, who is the typical 'macho latino', and his wife, who finds out that he his having a love affair with other girls..

She decides to kill him, but when she tries to do so.. things happen :)

HE just doesn't die.. car bomb, poison, NOTHING seems to kill that guy..

just check it out .. and be ready to laugh your stomach out..