The Event (2010)

Starring: Jason Ritter, Sarah Roemer, Laura Innes, Ian Anthony Dale, Scott Patterson, Hal Holbrook, Virginia Madson, Blair Underwood, Zeljko Ivanek, Taylor Cole, Lisa Vidal, & Bill Smitrovich

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Let me guess, you've never heard of the Event? The show was yet another networks answer to Lost and this one had a real shot at success. The initial ratings were high, leading NBC to pick the show up for an entire season. As has become common place on NBC, after four episodes they took it off for weeks to promote some God awful reality show, and when they brought it back, it was on a new night and the rating plummeted. The Event had a terrific premise and has been called a meeting between 24 and the 4400, I couldn't agree more. 66 years ago, an alien ship crashed in Alaska, and the aliens aboard were not strange creatures, but were in fact nearly identical to us. The only difference being that they age at a much slower rate than we do. About half the crew escaped and tried to peacefully blend into society, but it was hard since they barely age, and often had to re-start their lives. The other group was locked up by the U.S. government until such time as their true reasons for being here could be explained. The series starts when a new President (Blair Underwood) takes office and learns of the prison. His first reaction is that they've never done anything wrong and he's planning to reveal them to the world and set them free, but someone doesn't want that to happen. This unknown force orchestrates this huge conspiracy to assassinate the President, while painting the aliens in a much different light. Most episodes are split into three separate stories that all relate to one another. The White House angel looks as though it could be right out of 24, as it is so similar to what we saw on FOX for 7 seasons. The aliens go from friend to foe and the President and his men, those who are actually his men, will stop at nothing to find the rest of them. The next part shows the aliens themselves lead by Sophia (Laura Innes) who has many different goals that frequently change and surprise you. It's this part of the storyline that I found to be the most enjoyable and interesting part of the show. The third sequence follows an ordinary couple that just happened to get caught in the middle, but may ultimately be the key to this whole thing. The writing for this show is as good as you will see on Television, it's not in quite as much detail as 24, and the timeline can be somewhat hard to follow, but never the less it's very well done. Unusual for this type of show is also the fact that there is no one person who you can call the star. Jason Ritter is the face that is most associated with the show, but he's not more important than anyone else, leading me to believe that his looks have something to do with it. Overall, The Event is another terrific show that was killed by network mismanagement. I sometimes wonder if these executives actually watch the shows they put on the air and realize what they have. There is no doubt in my mind, that if NBC hadn't put it on an 8 week hiatus and then changed it's time slot, that this show would be in the top 10 by now. Instead one of the most interesting shows to come along in years is another Nielsen casualty. For fans of the show, there is still some hope as for the past two years, the Syfy channel has been interested in doing a mini-series, with the possibility of re-launch should the ratings call for one. I am one of the people who will definitely be keeping his fingers crossed for that.

Looper

Starring: Bruce Willis, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, & Emily Blunt

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

You can never go wrong in choosing a movie that stars Bruce Willis or Joseph Gordon-Levitt, but when they come together, that's when the magic really happens! Looper is the brainchild of Rian Johnson, who likes to bring us unusual stories, that mainly star JGL, however Looper is much easier to follow than most of Johnson's other films. While I'm not his biggest fan, his attention to detail has always really stood out to me and is perhaps never more evident than in Looper. Johnson actually used make-up and special effects to make JGL resemble a young Bruce Willis, which I found to be ingenious. Not to be overlooked is of course how clever a story Looper is, as it blends together time travel and the mafia. In the future, time travel has been invented, but like every other good thing, it is illegal. The mafia controls time travel and uses it as a weapon to commit murder. In this future world, it is impossible to dispose of a body, so the mafia sends their targets back in time where they are met an executed by a hired gun, known as a looper. The performances are of course top notch, Willis, the action star of a generation, only gets better with age, and JGL is the simply put the hardest working, most under appreciated actor in all of Hollywood. To be completely honest, this intriguing, action-packed, thriller was not as good as I expected it to be, and I really didn't care for the way in ended. That being said, it is still a great film that is definitely worth your while.

Repeaters

Starring: Dustin Milligan, Amanda Crew, & Richard de Klerk

Rating: 4 1/2 out of 5 stars

The ninth step in recovery is apologizing to all those you've hurt with your drug addiction. When three members of a rehab group fail to complete this step, they are met with a strange consequence. For them, the day they were supposed to complete the ninth step keeps repeating. Movies like Repeaters, are why I watch independent films. I'd never heard of the film, the cast, or the Director, and in fact, this movie isn't even available in the U.S. I saw it as one of my suggestions on Netflix streaming and figured, what do I have to lose? What I found was on of the smartest, most original stories in years. Repeaters isn't just a weird science fiction movie or a drama about addiction, it's both, and it's a whole lot more. Fusing elements of action, drama, and science fiction, Repeaters will have you on the edge of seat craving for more. Words can not express how well written this film was and how it will give you a full range of emotion in just ninety minutes. As for the cast, I'd never heard of any of them, but they were terrific, especially Richard de Klerk, who played the most deranged member of their little group. He really connected all the elements, showing a range that most actors today can't even dream of attaining. Repeaters is a tremendously written roller coaster ride of emotion, with some outstanding performances, and stunning conclusions, and for that it gets labeled as one of our can't miss movies!

Living & Dying (2007)

Starring: Edward Furlong, Michael Madsen, & Bai Ling

Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

Four people hold up a bank, but the cops have been tipped off and arrive in seconds. A shoot out insues and the surviving robbers are forced into a local cafe, where they take hostages. Two of their hostages turn out to be armed gang bangers, who turn the tables on the bank robbers, making them hostages as well. It was a pretty good opening, but from there it descends into your typical, slow moving, hostage drama, with paranoid cops, scared hostages, and unreasonable demands. Edward Furlong stars in this HBO thriller, and continues to be one of my favorite actors. He is so unappreciated and disrespected in Hollywood, because he was a child actor and will forever be known as that cute kid in Terminator 2. His Co-star is Michael Madsen is by far the worst actor I have ever seen. The guy thinks he's John Wayne, but the second he tries to show any emotion, people start laughing, because he is really that unbelievable. Madsen brings down the credibility of everything he is in, which makes me wonder how this guy continues to get work. Living & Dying has a great opening and an interesting ending, but unfortunately the middle is just about as boring and predictable as a movie can get.

Gangster Squad

Starring: Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, Emma Stone, & Ryan Gosling

Rating: 3 1/2 out of 5 stars

This film has received many bad reviews, but not because it's a bad movie. The truth is it's just not what people expected it to be. When you hear about a mafia movie, you expect an epic, inside look like with Goodfellas or Casino, but Gangster Squad is from the cops point of view and more like The Untouchables. Gangster Squad is based on a novel and is about an off the books LAPD operation aimed at bringing down Micky Cohen. In the 1940s, LA had a growing mafia problem on it's hands, and Mickey Cohen was set to become the next Al Capone. Unbeknownst for decades, the LAPD sent a group of cops, who didn't play by the book, after Cohen and by going after his business interests, they attempt to destroy his growing empire. The story is a great one, well deserving of a film adaptation, but what people didn't like was how it turned into an action film. This story has all the makings of an epic mafia drama, an you will be hard pressed to find a better performance than the one Sean Penn gives as Mickey Cohen. It was somewhat disappointing that they didn't get more into Cohen and his operation, but for what it was, it was a great film. As for the cast, it features some of Hollywood's best an brightest as old school meets the up and coming stars of the big screen. Every one from the stars to the ancillary characters give Oscar worthy performances that will be sadly overlooked. because of the nature of the film. If you're looking for a classic mob drama, you're going to be disappointed, but if you want to see an action packed cop movie with a mob element, then Gangster Squad is the film for you.

The Thirteenth Floor

Starring: Craig Bierko, Gretchen Mol, & Vincent D'Onofrio

Rating: 4 1/2 out of 5 stars

The Thirteenth Floor was Columbia Pictures answer to the Matrix and is based on the award winning 1964 Sci-Fi novel, Simulacron 3 by Daniel Galouye. I have known about this movie for a long time, but was always hesitant to see it, because when something like this appears in theaters 6 months after a groundbreaking film like the Matrix, you fully expect it to be a complete rip off. I was sitting at home flipping through the channels and saw the Matrix on, but I didn't wanna see it for the millionth time and decided to see if the Thirteenth Floor was streaming and sure it enough it was, and what a terrific story it turned out to be! In the year 2000, scientists have found a way to transfer a persons consciousness into a fully interactive computer program which has the potential to replace video games. The creator however has discovered a major problem with the system and is found dead. The second in charge of the project soon learns the answer to this brutal murder appears in the simulator, which is a replica of 1937. The story is absolutely ingenious and I loved how the film jumps between present day and the 1930s, it was like watching two stories at once that you knew would eventually come together. Craig Bierko stars in what turns out to be one of his few leading roles and he's just terrific. I remember him as the bad guy in the Long Kiss Goodnight and I thought he was great then, and he's great now. To make the cast even stronger, they take the intense Bierko and pair him with Law & Order's Vincent D'Onofrio, who is quite possibly the most intense actor in Hollywood. To top the whole thing off, this movie has a huge twist in the end, a twist that will make a lot of people wonder about the true nature of their own reality. The Thirteenth Floor is a fresh story with an amazing cast that will make you think, movies like this don't come along as often as they should!

This is our 400th Review!!!

Altered

Starring: Brad Henke, Adam Kaufman, & James Gammon

Rating: 1 1/2 out of 5 stars

If Seinfeld is the show about nothing, Altered is the movie about nothing. These four friends were abducted by aliens fifteen years earlier, so these geniuses decide to get revenge by kidnapping one of the aliens. They accomplish their goal, but once they do, they don't know what to do with it and lock it in the garage. After that it becomes a slasher film where nothing significant really happens. Honestly, they kidnapped this thing and then don't know what to do with it, so then what's the point? To make things worse, we never see the abduction or find out what exactly happened to them up there. It's just an extremely dark and confusing hunting scene, which believe it or not features a harpoon, and then there is nothing else. As for the acting it is just as inconsistent as the story! One minute their going crazy, trying to kill each other and the next they're crying about old times, it's ridiculous! James Gammon is the only name in this thing, playing the sheriff in one of his last roles. The guys are so intimidated by the sheriff and when we finally see him, we find out he's this little eighty year old guy, are you kidding me? This movie is a complete disaster and an utter waste of time. Being that it's from the writer/director of The Blair Witch Project, I was expecting something as groundbreaking as that was, unfortunately, Altered isn't it and there is a good reason why you've probably never heard of it.

2013 Academy Award Nominations!

Nominees For The 85th Annual Academy Awards!!!

 

Best Picture

"Argo"
"Amour"
"Beasts of the Southern Wild"
"Les Miserables"
"Lincoln"
"Zero Dark Thirty"
"Life of Pi"
"Silver Linings Playbook"
"Django Unchained"

Best Actor in a Leading Role

Daniel Day-Lewis -- "Lincoln"
Bradley Cooper -- "Silver Linings Playbook"
Joaquin Phoenix -- "The Master"
Denzel Washington -- "Flight"
Hugh Jackman -- "Les Miserables"

Best Actress in a Leading Role

Jessica Chastain -- "Zero Dark Thirty"
Jennifer Lawrence -- "Silver Linings Playbook"
Emmanuelle Riva -- "Amour"
Quvenzhane Wallis -- "Beasts of the Southern Wild"
Naomi Watts -- "The Impossible"

Best Actor in a Supporting Role

Philip Seymour Hoffman -- "The Master"
Tommy Lee Jones -- "Lincoln"
Robert De Niro -- "Silver Linings Playbook"
Alan Arkin -- "Argo"
Christoph Waltz -- "Django Unchained"

Best Actress in a Supporting Role

Amy Adams -- "The Master"
Anne Hathaway -- "Les Miserables"
Sally Field -- "Lincoln"
Helen Hunt -- "The Sessions"
Jacki Weaver -- "Silver Linings Playbook"

Best Director

Michael Haneke -- "Amour"
Steven Spielberg -- "Lincoln"
David O. Russell -- "Silver Linings Playbook"
Ang Lee -- "Life of Pi"
Benh Zeitlin -- "Beasts of the Southern Wild"

Best Animated Feature

"Brave"
"Frankenweenie"
"Wreck-It Ralph"
"ParaNorman"
"The Pirates! Band of Misfits"

Best Animated Short Film

"Adam and Dog"
"Combustible"
"The Simpsons: The Longest Daycare"
"Paperman"
"Tram"

Best Cinematography

Seamus McGarvey -- "Anna Karenina"
Claudio Miranda -- "Life of Pi"
Roger Deakins -- "Skyfall"
Robert Richardson -- "Django Unchained"
Janusz Kaminski -- "Lincoln"

Best Costume Design

Jacqueline Durran -- "Anna Karenina"
Paco Delgado -- "Les Miserables"
Joanna Johnston -- "Lincoln"
Eiko Ishioka -- "Mirror Mirror"
Colleen Atwood -- "Snow White and the Huntsman"

Best Documentary Feature

"The Gatekeepers"
"How to Survive a Plague"
"The Invisible War"
"Searching for Sugar Man"
"5 Broken Cameras"

Best Documentary Short

"Mondays at Racine"
"Inocente"
"Kings Point"
"Open Heart"
"Redemption"

Best Film Editing

William Goldberg -- "Argo"
Michael Kahn -- "Lincoln"
Tim Squyres -- "Life of Pi"
Dylan Tichenor, William Goldenberg -- "Zero Dark Thirty"
Jay Cassidy and Crispin Struthers -- "Silver Linings Playbook"

Best Foreign Language Film

"Amour"
"Kon-Tiki"
"No"
"A Royal Affair"
"War Witch"

Best Makeup and Hairstyling

"The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey"
"Les Miserables"
"Hitchcock"

Best Original Score

Alexandre Desplat -- "Argo"
Dario Marianelli -- "Anna Karenina"
Mychael Danna -- "Life of Pi"
John Williams-- "Lincoln"
Thomas Newman -- "Skyfall"

Best Original Song

"Before My Time" -- J. Ralph "Chasing Ice"
"Suddenly" -- Claude-Michel Schönberg from "Les Miserables"
"Skyfall" -- Adele Adkins and Paul Epworth from "Skyfall"
"Pi's Lullaby" -- Mychael Danna from "Life of Pi"
"Everybody Needs a Best Friend" -- Walter Murphy from "Ted"

Best Production Design

Sarah Greenwood -- "Anna Karenina"
David Gropman -- "Life of Pi"
Rick Carter, Jim Erickson and Peter T. Frank -- "Lincoln"
Eve Stewart -- "Les Miserables"
Dan Hennah and Ra Vincent -- "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey"

Best Sound Editing

"Argo"
"Life of Pi"
"Skyfall"
"Django Unchained"
"Zero Dark Thirty"

Best Sound Mixing

"Argo"
"Les Miserables"
"Skyfall"
"Life of Pi"
"Lincoln"

Best Visual Effects

"Marvel's The Avengers"
"The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey"
"Life of Pi"
"Prometheus"
"Snow White and the Huntsman"

Best Adapted Screenplay

Tony Kushner -- "Lincoln"
Chris Terrio -- "Argo"
David O. Russell -- "Silver Linings Playbook"
David Magee -- "Life of Pi"
Benh Zeitlin and Lucy Alibar -- "Beasts of the Southern Wild"

Best Original Screenplay

Mark Boal -- "Zero Dark Thirty"
Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola -- "Moonrise Kingdom"
Michael Hakeke -- "Amour"
Quentin Tarentino -- "Django Unchained"
John Gatins -- "Flight"

The Air I Breathe

Starring: Andy Garcia, Brendan Fraser, & Sarah Michelle Gellar

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

I really didn't expect to like this movie as much as I did, after all several critics had refereed to is as a tame re-packaging of Pulp Fiction. The film is broken up into four parts that are out of order, and the characters all do eventually interact, there is also a mafia angle to the film, but overall besides the way things were laid out, I didn't really draw much of a comparison to Pulp Fiction. The stories all involve these peoples interactions with the mob, but they're all for different reasons and all have different outcomes. Andy Garcia is the boss, of course, always the perfect choice for a gangster or ruthless leader, and you get from him what's expected. What isn't expected is the tremendous performance of Brendan Fraser. I am not a fan and have never really considered him anything but a mediocre comedic actor, but after seeing The Air I Breathe, my opinion of him was definitely swayed. While watching the pieces, I knew they would somehow come together, but the way it was done was completely unpredictable and really something to watch. The film had a huge cast, with a ton of cameos, and just as many twists and turns. What I was expecting was far different from what I saw and I was more than happy with the way the film was done. I think if the film had been done in the traditional model of storytelling, it wouldn't have had as big of an impact.

A Bronx Tale

Starring: Robert De Niro, Chazz Palminteri, & Lillo Brancato

Rating: 4 1/2 out of 5 stars

For a long time, A Bronx Tale had distribution problems, was out of print, and was widely unavailable. For those reasons, I hadn't seen it since I was a kid. Watching it again years later, not only did I realize just how good a movie it is, but I also found that I took a lot more out of it. While being widely considered as one of the best mafia movies of all time, A Bronx Tale actually has a deeper meaning, which is not to waste the talent you have in the time you are given. I was also surprised to learn that this story is in fact the true story of Chazz Palminteri's childhood, with Chazz being a nickname for Calogero. For those of you who don't know the story, it's about the son of a bus driver, who grows up in the Bronx, right down the block from a mafia hangout. While this boy learns different things from his real family and his mafia family, who are always at odds, they actually both want the same things for this kid. A Bronx Tale isn't just another gangster movie, there is some of that, but it's really an inspirational coming of age tale that I found to be very eye opening. The cast is of course fantastic, featuring Robert De Niro, who directs and stars in the film, along with Palminteri, who wrote the film. The true irony of A Bronx Tale is surrounded by the true story of Lillo Brancato, the boy who plays Calogero. As I said the story is about discovering right from wrong and not wasting your talent, something Brancato did when he was convicted of an armed robbery, which led to the death of an off-duty police officer. There are many sides to that, but I felt it necessary to mention how ironic it is that the message of the film is actually lost on one it's stars. In closing, A Bronx Tale really is a lost gem, that lives up to all the hype, and I hope that now that's streaming on Netflix, a whole new generation will be exposed to the message it puts out there for them to hear.

I Sell The Dead

Starring: Dominic Monaghan, Ron Perlman, & Daniel Manche

Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

In this dark, 18th century comedy, Dominic Monaghan stars as a grave robber and accused murderer, who by his own admission, is not a great guy. The plot of this film is absolutely brilliant and they could have done so much with it, but quickly it turned from the improbably to the ridiculously stupid. In the beginning, Arthur Blake (Monaghan), sits down with a priest to tell his story and give a voice his last words. Blake starts to tell his story about how at a young age, his mother forced him into this line of work. That part of the movie is great, and if they would have continued along those lines, this film would have been amazing, unfortunately, Blake grows up, and that's when things start getting weird. First, they find a zombie, a twist in the story I suspected might be coming. It was pretty lame, but was done in a humorous way, which made it a little easier to swallow. From that point on, the film gets ridiculous, as the pair has run-ins with rival gangs of grave robbers and even aliens. What started out as a very imaginative film turned into a big confusing mess. The story just goes off in so many different directions and gets so far away from the original plot, that it quickly becomes almost unwatchable. Monaghan is terrific and continues to be an extremely underrated actor. We all know him from Lost and Lord of The Rings, but only as an ancillary character, but in I Sell The Dead, Monaghan shows that he is far too good to spend his career as a sidekick. I loved the idea and I really wanted to like this film, but the truth is I didn't. After the first half-hour, there really isn't anything worth watching.