geekroad

I am a native Angelino so I have a great affection for Hollywood. It has given us so many wonderful films. But within the industry there is a fetish for a certain type of film that is either about the industry itself, about acting, or about theater. These films are almost always lauded by critics and Hollywood itself, winning awards and praise. But what they lack is an audience. Because no one but Hollywood likes them. They are unfailingly boring, empty and pointless movies.

Birdman is such a film. Happily I did not waste money actually seeing it but read the script after it won for Best Screenplay. I'd already fingered it for a stinker "Hollywood" film but thought maybe I was wrong. Maybe the script would be mind-blowingly beautiful. Maybe I was missing out.

Although I wanted to stop 2 pages in, I kept going. Halfway through the script I told myself to stop the misery, but still pushed on. I kept hoping it wasn't really going to be this bad all the way through. But no. It was. Pointless boredom to the very last smash-cut to black. It is exactly the kind of movie it looks to be by reading the synopsis... or the first page of the script A Hollywood artsy farsty film minus much art and with extra fart. Bird fart.

So if you are tempted to waste money on this film, I would urge you to read the first 10 pages of the screenplay first. If that excites you, you will like the movie, so drop the script and pick up your wallet. If it doesn't, do yourself a favor and watch an old favorite movie instead.

I confess I did not read the books, and did not even give Game Of Thrones a try until just today when I watched the pilot. The name simply didn't appeal, but after catching positive buzz about it, I wondered if it could possibly be something like my beloved Spartacus series which sadly ended last season.

I could not have been more wrong. The one thing they do have in common is production value. That's sadly where it ends.

Where Spartacus had deliciously gripping plots weaving phenomenally-written characters together into intimate dramas, GOT throws out an endless cast of colorless, simplistic characters hoping something will stick. Worse, the plot is as old and moldy as the characters, (Kings wanting their MTV, yadda yadda yadda). And while Spartacus had more than its share of over-the-top violence and depravity, it all served a purpose and the writers still managed to expose the humanity of each character through it all. In GOT the sex, depravity and greed is gratuitous, shallow and as pointless as the rest of the show, leaving me with a sense that I just watched the unimaginative fantasy of a 9yr old boy with anger issues.

The first five minutes had me thinking maybe this was going to be a good show... but it quickly derailed into boredom and by the halfway point in the pilot I was wondering if I should waste my time watching the second half. I did, but it only confirmed my opinion.

Spartacus always left me feeling exhilarated because of the outstanding writing and characters. In fact the characters and plots were so well written the show could stand on its own with most of the sex and violence edited out, as could happen if it is ever syndicated for network TV. Game Of Thrones, on the other hand, feels like a flat, old, board game. No standout character. No standout plot line. Nothing to pull me in and make me want to see more.

Argo creates a tight, oppressive, pressurized atmosphere that stayed with me long after the lights went up. Affleck plays the CIA operative tasked with rescuing 6 Americans in Iran during the hostage crisis of the 70s. His understated performance is pitch perfect. John Goodman and Alan Arkin are great as the Hollywood counterparts that help Affleck pull off his cover story, and surprisingly the movie has some really funny one-liners. Byran Cranston is also phenomenal, as is the rest of the top-notch cast. While pacing slowed in a few places, it didn't take long to pick back up in each case. A nice touch at the end was seeing the photos of the real life hostages and players juxtaposed against the actors who played them.

The movie was a little different than what I was expecting, however. I expected a "nail biting, action thriller" that I assumed -- knowing how the story ends -- would leave me feeling triumphant or at least feeling good. Instead, (and in a way this is to the movie's credit), the atmosphere it created was so oppressive that I was left in a negative mood, even though the film has a positive ending (since it is based on a true story I don't think that's giving anything away). If you equate oppression and pressure with "a thriller" and "action" then I guess you might see it different. In any case there are worse ways to spend ten bucks plus.

It's a solid 7.5 stars for me, but not a movie I would watch twice.

When straight-laced high school chemistry teacher Walter White is diagnosed with cancer, he turns to cooking meth hoping to sock away some big money for his family before he dies. But the cancer might not get a chance to kill him after all... his new profession might just do it faster.

From frame one... of episode one... of season one... this series will grab you by the soft and hard parts and not let go. You will be drop-jaw-wowed by the production quality, scripts, acting, and execution of this stand-out series.

True artistry and brilliance is transparent in writing and filmography so that what appears to come through is real life in all its gritty, ugly glory. Breaking Bad delivers in a way few series ever have. The casting is superb and virtually every actor is stellar. The twists and turns of the plot are delicious and the ride is as intoxicating, unpredictable and addictive as the killer meth Walter cooks up.

This AMC gem is every bit a premium cable channel production from start to finish. You will swear you're watching HBO or Showtime. If only every show on TV was even half as good! Breaking Bad deserves every industry award and accolade to be had.

I'd like to start with what I liked about this movie, but the only thing I can think of is that it was nice to see the streets of New York, though Google Earth would have been a more pleasant way to do it.

How can a movie with Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock possibly be bad? They aren't in it, that's how.

Instead the entire movie is focused on a self-centered, know-it-all brat who thinks 9/11 was all about him and only him. This boy is not only annoying, he speaks so precisely and enunciates so well, his voice screams ACTING COACH, which completely removed me from anything he was saying. It was an affect I could not get used to, even though he talks through (and narrates) the entire film.

The script itself was so far-fetched and ridiculous it was impossible to suspend disbelief. No kid would do what this kid did, and no mother would allow it for a billion and one reasons, much less do what this mother did.

This movie tried so hard to tug at your emotions but the only parts that did were the few bits the writer didn't have to make up because they actually happened that day.

Audience members are supposed to watch a drama and say to themselves, "Yeah, life's like that," on some level. Life could not be LESS like this movie. It was simply... Extremely Long And Incredibly Bad.

This is not sci-fi. It is a very slow art film (is that redundant?). The type of film that hangs on a shot while absolutely nothing happens... over and over again... hoping people in the audience find the effect profoundly moving. There was almost no plot, very little dialog, and next to no action.

The main character was supposed to be depressed but instead was portrayed as flat -- so flat she inspired no empathy. Her flat affect was emphasized by the flat still shots that artlessly hung on her, which did nothing to convey the depth of her despair, but made me think about the depth of my own in sitting through this.

The one thing I will say is that I wanted to see how it would end since they brought in this 'other planet' as a plot device and would have to deal with it sooner or later. The last 20 seconds of the film -- the final scene -- was better than the entire rest of the movie put together, but that's not saying a whole lot. But at least on top of everything else it didn't have a bad ending (in my humble opinion).

If this film had avoided the artsy and leaned towards the gritty, it might have had a better shot at entertaining.

Many reviewers here have stated that this movie isn't realistic because 'Salt doesn't get bruised enough' or 'no one her size could...' Have these people ever been to an action movie before? NO ACTION MOVIE IS REALISTIC. They are all written to be over-the-top because that's what makes them entertaining. We suspend disbelief to enter the world of the action-hero (or heroine) and we go along for the thrilling ride that is sometimes so over-the-top it's ridiculous! But that's what makes it fun. If action movies were realistic, they would be slow and boring. This movie does not cross the line anymore than any other action movie.

Salt delivers exactly what is promised -- a solid 100 minutes of action. It keeps you watching, it keeps you guessing (even when it turns out you were right in some cases), and it entertains from start to finish. If you like the action movie genre, chances are you will enjoy this movie.

As for the reviewers who criticized the way Russians are portrayed, the action genre plays to comic book-like caricatures. The villains are no more realistic than the heroine! This isn't a documentary!

If you like action movies, give Salt a go. Angelina won't disappoint.

The world is again Mad Maxed, only this time instead of a young, handsome, as-yet-untainted Mel Gibson, we have the formidable Denzel Washington as Eli, wandering the dusty, bleak land. He carries the only surviving bible "west" per an intuitive spiritual whisper. En route he runs into Gary Oldman as the intelligent, power-hungry Carnegie, who is searching for "The Book," which he believes will allow him to control the masses through its powerful words.

Carnegie is a symbol for everything that is wrong with organized religion, while Eli is a symbol of humankind wanting to do what is right. The problem here is, if you need a book to tell you what is right, you are already screwed. And if you don't need the book, then why drag it west. Also, organized religion is probably what led to the world's annihilation to begin with, so wanting to jump start it is nonsensical.

There was one funny scene that involves an old couple that puts a vinyl record on a dilapidated turntable... the record is an old disco single (I won't say the title cause I don't wanna include a spoiler) but the old man kind of sings along and it is quite funny, albeit short-lived.

Gary Oldman is always great, Denzel was good as usual, Jennifer Beals and Mila Kunis were also good. Just did not find the premise compelling or believable, and the ending is even less believable... in more ways than one. I won't say this movie is a waste of time, especially if you are a Denzel fan, but if you don't have a high opinion of organized religion, the premise will not be captivating enough to allow you to suspend disbelief and be entertained. On top of that the story is predictable, as one might expect of the genre.

This movie starts out with a title card that says "This really happened." It fades, then is replaced with, "Really, it did." I didn't think much of that at the time except that it was funny. But by the end of this incredible movie, my first thought was "this really couldn't have happened" and that's when I remembered the title cards at the beginning. Because you really WON'T believe it happened. Only when updates on the real-life counterparts were flashed on the screen at the end did it sink in that yes, all this stuff really DID happen. (I obviously did not see the 60 Minutes or 20/20 specials on Steven Russell - I never heard of him prior to seeing this movie.)

If you know the story of Steven Russell and Philip Morris, see this movie. If you don't, see this movie. And do yourself a favor -- if you don't know the story, don't Google it first. Just watch the movie. Google afterward.

Steven Russell is a con man in love, and the ingenuous methods he uses to try to remain close to his lover, Philip Morris, are truly amazing. You will be entertained from the first moment of this movie to the last. You will laugh. Your jaw will drop. You will think, "this really couldn't have happened" at least ten times. Be prepared to totally enjoy yourself for the full 130 minutes.

Steven Russell, my hat's off to you (and also off to Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor who were spot on). A really engrossing story of love, human nature, and creativity at its most manic. What would YOU do for love?

This movie is beautifully filmed and produced, with top notch performances (for the most part). The plot has enough twists to keep you interested and the characters are well defined and believable. It contains some gritty scenes that American movies lack for fear of offending, and these play well in context of the movie.

At 2.5 hours it is way too long, however, and many superfluous scenes could have been cut. It nearly turns into two or three movies by the end, though it's satisfying enough despite suffering from slow pacing throughout much of the second act. The climax of Act II feels like it should be the end of the movie, but alas, the main premise has not yet been answered, so we march into Act III, which is a bit choppy and unpolished, though it does deliver an emotionally satisfying climax, contrasting with the action-filled climax of Act II. The resolution, so long in coming, stretches into multiple plot lines to cover all the bases and tie up loose ends, with a somewhat glaring "hole" that I cannot reveal without including a spoiler; but by this point you just want the movie to end and so don't care so much, as it's been a good-enough ride.

Out of all the movies out there, this one is certainly better than overrated movies like Inception (no villain except Cobb's guilt, no danger because all action takes place in the dream state, and nothing at stake we care about!) and Avatar (dialog to rival the worst B movie ever made - Titanic deserved being #1, this movie doesn't deserve to be in the top 10!). While The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is by no means a perfect movie, it is worth seeing, which is more than I can say for some blockbusters.

Sam Rockwell does an outstanding job in this character-driven movie that gets in hooks in you from scene one, word one, and never lets go. With the unsettling, subtle suspense of a Hitchcock flick, Moon opens as effortlessly as Alien: an every-day guy in space doing his job. Rockwell has an amazing talent to visually communicate his emotional isolation, boredom and deprivation of human contact while also conveying a full-fledged, completely fleshed out, easy-going character that any of us would be happy to know. What comes next is as bizarre as it is believable. The dialog, pacing, premise and acting are all top notch. Don't miss this gem. Moon is destined to be a true sci-fi classic.

A corporate billionaire wants to eliminate his competition by implanting an idea in the subconscious of the man who stands to inherit the fortune, that he should dismantle the company into smaller entities. He hires Cobb (DiCaprio) to do this, who enlists a team. They tether together in dreams through a low-tech contraption that is never explained, which also puts them to sleep instantly.

To implant this idea in the man's mind, they have to go very deep, a dream within a dream, within a dream, within a dream. Down three layers. In each successive layer time speeds up so that hours in layer three is a few minutes in layer two, and seconds in layer one. To go three layers deep they need to take a sedative that is specially designed to deaden everything but the inner ear, so that the feeling of free-fall (called a KICK) will cause the subject to wake up. But one catch: using the sedative, if they die in the dream, their mind goes to "limbo" in real life, apparently a coma-like state.

They need about 10 hours to accomplish their task. Luckily for them, the target (the billionaire's son) takes a plane from Paris to LA regularly, and the flight is 10 hours. Arrangements are made so the private jet has mechanical problems forcing the target to take a commercial jet. To ensure they won't be disturbed in first class, the billionaire who hatched this plan buys the airline "because it seemed neater."

The dreamers carry their own talisman that reveals to the dreamer if they are awake or dreaming. Cobb has a small top that spins infinitely while dreaming, but in waking state it eventually topples. (How the other talismans work is never explained. Arthur has a loaded dye and the girl makes a chess-like piece. We never see them use theirs to check their state of reality, but Cobb uses his twice.)

The details of how lucid dreaming works is conveniently concocted for the film. One of the dreamers constructs a world in the form of a maze for everyone else to use as the dreamscape. The subconscious mind of the target fills the landscape with their unguarded thoughts, allowing someone to steal their thoughts (or plant a thought). A dreamer can also introduce fears and guilt into the landscape which materialize as threats, buildings crumbling, etc.

Cobb doesn't tell his team that he is deeply conflicted about planting a thought (inception) in his wife's mind, which was to question her reality. He did this while they lucid-dreamed together, which became an addiction, gradually revealed throughout the film as backstory. She finally jumped out a window to kill herself and wanted him to commit suicide with her, so before she jumped, she sent a letter to her lawyer saying her husband wanted her dead. Knowing he would get blamed for her suicidal jump, he fled the country to Paris and the entire movie takes place abroad. His drive to help the billionaire is a promised call 'to the right people' that will allow him to return home to be reunited with his two children. Cobb's guilty subconscious kept bringing his dead wife into the dreamscapes where she tries to kill others.

The dream sequences themselves are long, drawn out, convoluted, and often boring. They try to distract you from this by having constant gunfire from "projections" that are nearly always attacking the main characters. The villain of the movie was psychological: Cobb's inner struggle. That was a major weakness because there was nothing to root against. And you don't care about the main objective either (the billionaire's plan) – in fact the target is a more appealing character than anyone else in the film. So the only reason to sit through the entire movie is to see if Cobb gets to go home in the end, and frankly it takes the entire movie (if you don't walk out) to care about that too. And by then the only reason you care is b/c you sat through 2.5 hrs to see how it ends.

The best scene, dramatically, is when they wake on the plane and each look at one another after going through so much (~2hrs worth!) in dream state. The billionaire makes a phone call as the plane lands in LA, and Cobb clears customs. He is met by his Father (or his ex wife's father?) who takes him home. Cobb walks into the house, sees his children playing outside (as we have seen in many sequences throughout the movie) but this time he calls their names, and they turn around and look at him. At the same time he drops his bags, and as a last action, takes out his talisman and spins in on the table, then rushes to greet his kids. We hold on it in foreground while he picks up his children in background.... zooming in on the spinning talisman until it occupies the entire screen.... spinning, spinning spinning.... it starts to wobble ever so slightly... and CUT TO BLACK. Leaving viewers unsure if Cobb was still dreaming.

The ending was good and there were two other noteworthy scenes. One is a fight scene in zero gravity in dream layer two, and another was in the movie trailer: the dreamscape curling in on itself to form a cube.

Unfortunately, I didn't care about any of the characters nor was there any emotional investment in the main plot. Who cares if a billionaire gets his competition to breakdown his empire? And I also didn't care much if Cobb was reunited with his kids, as there is one lone scene of a phone call he makes to them that is supposed to establish our emotional investment, and it fell way short of doing that. Finally, as previously stated, there is no villain except for Cobb's guilt over his wife's death. I struggled to sit through this film.

The dialog, plot and overall action of this movie was unremarkable from a story standpoint. In fact the dialog was downright bad. Some lines were picked straight out of previous movies, including Cameron's Aliens, such as a Sgt. calling his troops "ladies" which has been copied to death in other movies that followed Aliens, making the dialog sound dated at times.

The story was also predictable and formulaic and we've seen it all before... humans come to a new world, want something, and take it at the expense of the natives. Sci-fi fans that like sciencey plots that challenge the mind will find none of that here.

Even much of the action was repeating what worked for Cameron before, like the famous scene in Aliens where Ripley is strapped in a loader doing battle with Mommy Alien. Star Wars, Iron Man and several other movies have used the loader-type artillery machines, and Avatar does too, particularly in a key scene near the end, delivering the message that you've seen it all before, and now you are seeing it yet again.

For all of these reasons I found Avatar disappointing in a way I wasn't expecting. I expected more out of Cameron's writing. But Avatar did have one major strength that will ensure it is a huge success, because no other movie has it... and this is where Cameron put all his marbles.

Avatar has a planet no one has seen before that is filled with exotic forests, plants and animals that are entirely original and fascinating. Cameron's wild imagination explodes in the habitat of the Na'vi, and will not likely disappoint viewers. The time involved in creating such a lush world with so many different life forms and plants boggles the mind. (And of course he invented or helped to invent much of the technology to film it too.) On this count, Avatar rates a 9.5.

With its story getting a 5, dialog a 4, and the movie being overlong for the story it told, I'd give it 6 or 6.5 overall, but it will probably be a 6.5'er you will enjoy, despite its many weaknesses.

This movie gets three stars for having the great talents of Leo, Kate and Kathy Bates in it. If not for them, it wouldn't rate any stars. It boggles my mind that so many people gave this movie a high rating.

The story begins with a fight and if you turn off the movie after that first scene, you can save yourself the extra two hours. There is no story arc beyond what your assumption would be from that first fight. Nothing unexpected happens, and no one changes in the film from the people you see in that first fight. It is so boring I was willing the time counter to move faster. If it weren't for Kate and Leo starring in it, I would have turned it off, but felt an annoying obligation to watch, thinking maybe there would be something more just around the next corner. No such luck.

Revolutionary Road left out the revolution and revelation while promising expectations that never get delivered. Yes everyone has dreams and some people are fearful of reaching for them, some settle and are happy with that and others can't abide settling. Any other way of expressing that theme would have been more interesting than the un-revolutionary, unremarkable, downright banal road this film took.

I didn't have high hopes for this show, but after the very first episode I knew I wanted more. The second episode didn't disappoint, and I am hooked.

LOST fans will appreciate "Julie" (Elizabeth Mitchell) as Erica, a single Mom and FBI agent who discovers quickly that the alien Visitors posed in gigantic ships over all major cities in the world, are not as peaceful as they want us to believe. Her son is smitten by one of the Visitors, unbeknownst to her.

Erika takes up with an unlikely partner, a priest (Father Landry played by Joel Gretch), to form a resistance to fight this omnipresent and technologically advanced enemy that is inspiring devotion in at least half the population. Worse, the Visitors have been on earth for years, assuming the facade of humans, infiltrating every aspect of society and government. Luckily, a few have turned trader.

While the idea of aliens impersonating humans and walking among us is an overdone and tiresome plot device, V is written in a style that is believable and enjoyable with suspense and action interwoven into the drama. I did not watch the previous incarnations of this show in years past, but I will watch this one.

I almost didn't give this show a chance because Hollywood rarely offers up fully developed biker characters, much less decent or realistic plots about outlaw biker clubs. If there's a Harley and black leathers in the shot -- bad guys killing and doing bad things -- their work is done. Not so with Sons Of Anarchy.

While you will find all of the above elements, they're woven into a much richer fabric that brings each and every character to life in 16 million colors and full resolution, rising above the stereo-typical black-and-white portrayals of VGA-rendered knuckle-dragging villains.

And the casting! Katy Segal is phenomenal as Gemma, the widow of club founder and wife of present club runner, Clay Morrow, played by Ron Pearlman. Gemma's son, Jax, played by Charlie Hunnam, butts heads with his step-father's vision for the club.

But what really sets this biker drama apart is the context. The bikers are all natives of Charming, childhood friends in a small town. They've kept the town free of corporate tentacles and development, partly so they can run their legal and illegal businesses free of interference (gun-running and porn), and partly because the town itself might as well be a club member. The characters have deep roots to the townspeople who fear but also trust them to a degree, at least in the sense that it's sometimes better to deal with the devil you know and sometimes it's even handy to know the devil. The Sons have 'profitable arrangements' with certain local law enforcement officials, including the Chief of Police played magnificently by Dayton Callie, better known as Deadwood's Charlie Utter.

Conflict arises from neighboring clubs, gangs and criminal organizations trying to horn in on the action, and to an Aryan businessman and politician, played by Alan Arkin, who wants to set up shop in Charming and take out the Sons of Anarchy so he can take their place at the top of the criminal heap.

As if this wasn't fodder enough, Ally Walker joined the cast in season two as ball-breaking FBI agent June Stahl, going after the Sons and IRA gun runners who are selling to the Sons. Her quest, made painfully personal, by a meeting-gone-wrong with an imprisoned club member.

The action is gritty, the anti-heroes are plentiful, the characters are full-bodied and the writing is Class-A. Let Sons of Anarchy become your newest guilt-free pleasure and you'll find yourself heading into it full throttle.