I went to see The Wolfman. Pretty good but not great. It's a remake of the classic Lon Chaney Jr. film. I haven't seen that one in a while, but the story is basically the same. The major difference is the visual effects.
Benecio Del Toro does a nice job, but throughout the picture, every time I looked at him I saw some odd hybrid of Chaney and Edward James Olmos.
Hugo Weaving is in form as the inspector.
The thing that I really like about this movie is the costumes and sets give a sense of being there, much like they did with Sherlock Holmes.

Thanks for the review. The wife and I are going to see it this evening!

Ok, back from the movies. Very good movie! I never saw the original but was the ending the same? In any case, the ending was a nice twist!

It's been a very long time, but I think the original ended very differently.

I watched rentals of Star Trek and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.
ST lived up to all the comments I've heard about it since its theatrical release. I'm not too crazy about the new Uhura falling for Spock so quickly, but on the other hand, McCoy not only behaved the way we expect him to, the actor's speech inflections sounded like DeForest Kelley.
TRotF was a very good follow-up to the previous movie. Both were better stories than I expected, and of course the action was good.

Benecio del Toro as the Wolfman? That's not too much of a stretch. Fur-wise, he's halfway there already.

Saw Denzel's latest a few weeks ago, The Book of Eli. It was okay, although we're asked to accept some things that in real life would be highly unlikely.

Watched District 9 the other day on demand. Very interesting. Takes place in J'burg, SA, and I don't think that's by coincidence.

I thought Star Trek was good but I was confused with the "Spock actually getting some from Uhura (the finest chick on the ship)" story line! What happened to the Pon Far deal?? The Transformer's sequel was very good except for the 2 'stupid & obviously ethnic transformers! Oh and The Fallen calling Megatron 'his young apprentice'?? How original was that?? LOL! District 9 was also good. I wished they would have delved deeper into how they were able to understand the alien language! I mean 'really'?? I just demand movies with good story development. Stuff just doesn't 'happen'! Tell me how & why! LOL! Yeah, I'm picky!

Well the language thing has always been a problem for sci-fi movies which they just generally ignore. Of course Star Teak simply had a computer program that allowed any all languages to be instantly translated into English. I rather liked Disrict 9 though it is more social comment then sci-fi. Any body remember Alien Nation from back in the 80's? Same kind of thing.

I am a self confessed trekie so I was somewhat cautious with the new Star Trek came along. But I thought they did a great job with it and opened it up for more films in the series. I have the DVD version in my collection and rented the Blu-Ray disc over the weekend. A big difference, which my neighbors will no doubt attest to.

On the language in District 9, I think in the story they were saying the aliens had been there something like 20 years, so it wouldn't surprise me that the humans understood the language.
Pon Far was mentioned in Star Trek, but I didn't quite get what Spock was saying. I didn't have a problem with him "getting some" so much as the fact that the movie had just begun. Uhura and Kirk were cadets (Kirk had just succeeded in the Kobiyashi Maru) when the emergency went out and they went aboard the Enterprise. I realize the passage of time thing, but Uhura's affection for Spock seemed to come out of nowhere. One minute, she's shooting Kirk down and a half-hour later she's playing tongue hockey with Spock.
Very strange.
Yeah, those ethnic Autobots annoyed me, too. Their characterizations were way overdone.

You know now that I think about it you are correct about the Spock thing. I mean here is a guy who is not only having what seems to be a very emotional relationship with this very striking young lady, which would seem to be out of character for Vulcan. I mean how do you have an emotional relationship if you have no emotions.(OK the half human side could maybe kick in) but he is carrying on with one of his students! Now what self respecting Vulcan would do that?! Kirk I could see, the guy made it with every good looking alien in the galaxy, but Spock with one of his students! Next thing you know he will be running for president!

By the the way, this is a shade off topic, but has anybody else seen the British TV series MI5? I added a PS3 to my collection of electronic toys recently and one of the cool things about it is that Netflix will send you a disc that allows you to use the PS3 to pick up the free instant programing they have. I had taken advantage of a small amount that on my computer, but much more enjoyable on the big screen TV. So I have really gotten into this series over the past couple of weeks and will no doubt end up buying the discs. Somewhat similar to the "24" series here in the states, spooks going after the bad guys. But is it well written and way above the normal James Bond fare, which they have poked fun of a couple of times. Just curious if anyone else has seen it and what your thoughts might be. I am midway though the second season at this point. It has been running since 2002 so I have a ways to go, but I am really hooked on this show.

Dave, I remember A&E promoting a series called MI5 several years ago (around 2002-03), but I think they dropped it.

I caught a piece of an episode but passed on it. The thing that stands out to me is that during the commercials for it, they played that 3 Doors Down song, When I'm Gone. Even today, when I hear that song, I think of the British chick whining to her guy, "I don't KNOW what you do."
I didn't realize they were still making new episodes until you mentioned it. I wonder if it's a case of BBC continuing to air it but U.S. cable channels (at least those available on my system) have dropped it.

On Saturday night I went to see Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief. It was way better than I thought it would be. My son, of course, loved it. And Uma Thurman as Medusa was terrific!

I had not heard of the MI5 series myself until recently. By the way in England I understand the title of the show is "Spooks" and for what ever reason was changed for our audience. The comment you mentioned I think is what keeps me interested in it up to this point. Of course there is always the main story line of going after the bad guys, but there is an underlying story line around the fact of how do people in this business lead a normal life? They are left to play all these parts as part of their work and it is not the kind of thing you can bring home and talk about.

There is a line in one of the second season shows where our lead spy has fallen for this young female doctor. While out on a date of sorts he turns to her and says "by the way my real name is.... and I work for MI5 and I can tell you that because they have checked you out and you passed" Not excatly the kind of opening line that would work on most women. So now I am curious as how this all unfolds. I was raised on James Bond who of course is a far cry from the real kind of peoson out there doing that kind of work. This seems to be a far less glamorized approach to the subject of the people we have come to call "Spooks".

Been on a movie watching spree here this weekend. Took in "Law Abiding Citizen" with Jamie Fox & Gerard Butler. I really liked this one. I thought at first it was going to be similar to a Jodie Foster film of a few years ago called The Brave One. Average citizen gets wronged by the low life of society and shunned by the criminal system and then decides to take the law into their own hands and seek some form of revenge. This is similar and revenge is a partial motive, but they have added some new twists to the story. Butler's the good guy gone bad afteer wife and daughter are murdered and Fox the D.A. who tries the case. Not satisified with the justice given out in the case he decides to take matters into his own hands. For those who have not seen it I will leave it at that. But I thought it was a good story that says something about our system of justice. Give a grade of A.

The second film was Whiteout with Kate Beckinsale. She is a U.S. Marshall in of all places the Antartic. A real dead end job for a law man, when a dead body shows up on the ice that turns out to be a murder. The investagation is made difficult by the onset of winter at the south pole making weather worse then the mormal -50 below zero. Not a bad story, though it did have some loose ends about how some of the characters became involved in it all, but I liked the idea of using the Antartic as a back drop. Films opens with the crash of Russian plane carrying a strange cargo back in 1957 when a gun battle opens up (who is really dump enough to fire guns on a plane anyway) plane crashes noone lives and we fast forward to a totally useless secee of Beckinsale in the shower. Well OK not totaly useless, but it really had nothing to do with the story. Not a bad thriller give it a grade of B.

Third one I got from my local redbox on lark. The film is called Pandorum. I had never heard of it, but it stars Dennis Quaid whom I have come to like in all of his films so figured what the heck. Story is about a long term space flight to a new planet with 60,000 new settlers coming from a dying earth. Think Earth 2 from back in the eightiers. But on the way something goes dreadfully wrong and as I our two stars, Quaid and Ben Foster wake up from deep sleep it seems they are all alone....or are they. The films title Pandorum is a condition at is given for the what is believed can happen to someone after long term deep sleep on one of these type of missions. As they awaken they have little memory of who they are or where they are. Little by little it returns as they find other survivors as well as a ship full of zombie like creatures bent on eathing them all. This was actually better then I though it would be when I first saw the creatures appear. The real threat is in the minds of the surviors. Ended up actually liking this one, not great but not bad either. Grade it a B

Watched Paranormal Activity over the weekend! Hmmm....interesting! And even more interesting ending! I saw Law Abiding Citizen! Really good! Crazy ending! Pandorum is next on my list. May I suggest "The Beacon" Cheaply made horror movie but I still thought it was decent!

Didn't watch Pandorum yet but saw The Informant! Ok...uhhh.....what was this about??

Saw 'From Paris With Love' starring John Travolta! JT is real good at playing bad guys and crazy guys! He's found his nitche! A lot of action but I would have liked a little bit more intrigue! I can see this movie having a sequel or 2.

Rented 2012 this week. Yet another end of the world epic. While filmed well, Rolland Emerich has a knack at doing these, I am always puzzled by the fact of who gets chosen to survive. It always seems to be either all the smart people which makes some sense, or a random lottery which makes no sense. They threw in a funny bit this time by adding a bunch of rich guys (after all had to pay for it all). But if there is hope of surviving after the effect, would you not want some farmers....some laborers...just some common folk to rebuild the world? Instead we get PhD's and fat rich cat's. Now I may be missing something but who do they expect to dig the ditches and build the buildings? But hey it is Hollywood after all.

Oh yeah, I really did like the film a lot.

Good question, Dave. My first stab at writing a novel was supposed to be a prelude to a serial about a post-apocalyptic world. And the selection process for a group of people who would rebuild took that into account. It's been a long time since I've even looked at it, but I don't remember anyone buying their way into the program, although I did leave room for some rich people who wanted themselves frozen to be able to do so - separate from my survival group.

Well 2012 did it with the idea of course of raising the cash to build the ships needed for survival and then sort of balanced the field by offing one or two! There would of course be a need for the PhD, the doctors, the leaders of state ect. But the planet now runs on the sweat and blood of the common man, would it not then follow that would also be the case in a future, post disaster world? Then there is the need of Hollywood to have the happy ending. The earth stops shaking, the water goes down and sun comes out and of course all is well. When in fact the worse is yet to come in the rebuild. But then again that would not sell any tickets.

There was a show on a few months ago about what would happen in the aftermath of a major pandemic event. It was scientifically based, kind of like the Life After People series, where they also asked opinions of various experts, but it was also acted out as a TV show. Some of their findings were based on the aftermath of Katrina and other disasters. It was called Life After Armagedden, or something like that. Did anybody see it?

Have not seen it, but if anybody knows where it might be, I would like to take a look at it.

I've seen a few segments of something, I'm not sure of the title, but each piece has the header, "xx years after people."

It's called 'Life After People' The show presents how various things might change in a post-human world. Basically, everything rots and decays until there is no evidence of human existence. We are built to fail and all our designs will fail eventually!

http://www.history.com/shows/life-after-people

I've seen Life After People, but that's not the show I'm talking about. It's a fascinating show, and a tad bit creepy. I think it's ironic that with all the technology and modern marvels we have, that some of the last structures remaining many years after people have disappeared, will be the ones that were here before us - the pyramids in Egypt.

Better materials, designed to last, better workmanship.

Not to mentioned cheaper labor!

Hey just watched A Perfect Getaway this weekend. Not at all what I expected and even when I figured out what it was all about the writer throws a big curve ball. It is heavy on the graphic violence in spots, if that is not your thing stay away. But if you enjoy a good action thriller with a surprise at the end, this is it.

Anybody seen The Box? This was one of the strangest films I have watched in some time. I get where there were trying to go with the storyline, I was a Philosophy major in college and Jean Paul Sartre was required reading, but they took a very confusing road to say what they were trying to say. Maybe it is just one of those films that I will need more then one view to make any sense of, but on first watch it gave me more questions then answers.

On the brighter side also watch a little indie thing with Richard Gere called Hatchi: A Dogs Tale. Being a dog lover I had to give it a look. Based on a real story that took place in Japan in the 1920's and reset in the U.S. for this film, a cute little film that speaks to the quality of loyalty and commitment. I was not all familiar with the breed of dog that is the star of the film, but would not mind owning one myself after watching this. Good family flick.

Never even heard of it. Was it one of those straight to video flicks?

No it was in the theaters and I saw several trailers for it, though they do not really give a clear idea of what it is all about. The basis for the film is this strange guy shows up at the front door with this box that has a button locked in a glass top. Unlock the case and push the button and you get one million dollars in cash. The catch is someone you do not know somewhere in the world is going to die. But that is just where all the mystery starts.

The people I know that have seen it either love it or hate it and you would have to watch it to understand why. No sex, no violence, well no graphic violence. They are attempting to speak to the human condition as stands today.

Stars Cameron Diaz and is thought provoking if not a bit confusing at times. Yahoo gave it a C- rating I would be more inclined to put it at a B-.

Every time I go to the store to pick up something I end up standing in front of a Red Box and just resist looking to see what movies they have. Picked up Moon, a little sci-fi flick that as you may expect takes place on the Moon. Hard to figure huh, well the story deals with the discovery of a vast energy source that is mined by a series of highly automated machines, with a lone human on hand to make sure everything runs right. He is winding down his final days of his three year contact and is ready to go home....and that is where the fun begins.

The real story is not about energy or even automated machines taking over the work of humans...but about the questions of cloning. Most stories deal with the ethics of the idea, this one deals with the viewpoint of clone himself. If you like science fiction, think you will enjoy this one. No fancy space ships or strange looking aliens not a lazier pistol in sight. It is a smaller budget film, but done rather well.

Well finally got my first look at Avatar. Bought the Blue Ray version and sat down with a bag of popcorn wondering what all the fuss was about. Now I know! While story line is a familiar one of greedy business men, overpowering military wanting to get their hands on something that really was not their to take. That much we have seen countless times in many films.

But I have never seen it told so well as it was done here. Special effects were to say the lease out of this world. I am a science fiction nut so take me to some far away place add I am glad to be along for the ride, but I thought this was head and shoulders above what I have seen in the past. This was a fun ride.

I agree, Dave. The visual splendor alone makes it worth while. And each animal, and the plants, had their own personalities.
Simple story. And predictable, but in a way that's satisfying.

Finally caught up with "Shutter Island" this weekend. It stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, and I think, Ben Kingsley. It's directed by Martin Scorcese. This is another Scorcese/DiCaprio collaboration. They've done three other movies together: "The Departed", "The Aviator", and "Gangs of New York."

This was one strange movie, with a huge twist on the end. I'm not even sure if I liked it or not, though I do like movies that keep you guessing. DiCaprio and Ruffalo are FBI agents investigating the disappearance of a patient at a mental hospital for the criminally insane. Kingsley is the head Dr. in charge. At the same time, DiCaprio's character is haunted by events from his past that keep popping up as thoughts and flashbacks throughout the film. Very strange movie.

I like Leonardo DiCaprio, and he seems to do well with Scorcese directing him, but I'm not sure about this one. Maybe I'll watch it again when it comes out on video, which should be soon.

I went to see Predators. Nice job all around. A different view of the franchise that, hopefully, rebounds from that dreadful Alien vs. Predator Requiem.
I thought the references to the first Predator movie were a bit much, but for the young folks who may not be familiar with that one, it's probably necessary.

I saw Toy Story 3 the day it was released, and loved it. To me, there is no doubt it is the best of the stellar series-so far. The series is fun for kids, ultimately about faith, hope, love, and fierce loyalty. Also saw "Oceans". Loved seeing NATURE on a 60 foot screen. It had g brief glimse of my fave animal since I was 6-the Blue Whale. Also, ten minutes featured the very real concern of plastic building up all throughout the oceans. BB sized plastic balls found in every square mile of ocean, even 3 or 4 thousand miles from major land masses. A portion of my admission went to a clean up the trash in our oceans fund.

I'm disappointed with the summer movies this season. There hasn't been one movie that I'm intrested in seeing this summer. Very disappointed. Maybe they're all holding out for the winter to try and get their Oscar nods.

Shutter Island is one that will make you think. I found it confusing and yet enjoyable. I thought it pointed the failure of the Mental Health System of the period. I have become of big fan of DiCaprio having seen all the films you mentioned plus Blood Diamond. This kid is coming on with some very strong performances.

Just watched Brooklyn's Finest with an all star cast that never meet in the film. Story of three different cops all dealing with their own set of issues that come to a climaz at the the end of the film as the three find themselves in the same building to meet their fate but not each other. This was a different twist on the normal cop/bad guys drama. Well done.

Blood Diamond was great. I think DiCaprio's making smart choices and really coming into his own. He was good in Revolutionary Road with Kate Winslet (another really good actor) as well.

I just watched a film with Samuel L. Jackson titled "The Unthinkable". The films centers around terrorism and the ways that we react to it and asks the question of how far is too far when it comes to the means we use to gain information. It is violent to say the least, but it will make you think. Anyone seen it, I would be interested to see comments on it.

I watched the new Clash of the Titans. It was good in that it wasn't a retelling of the same story Ray Harryhausen told 30 years ago. The Kraken was a disappointment. Even though the 1980 effects were cheesy by comparison, I found that beast far more threatening. The fact that they showed it in the trailer hurt that part of the story. I'd give it 3 1/2 stars out of a possible 5.

Saw Killers last night. Very funny movie. Ashtun Kutcher surprised me with his performance. Not quite an action star but he could be if he wanted to go that route! There were quite a lot of ex SNL/MadTV cast members in the movie.

I've seen Toy Story 3 Which was by far the greatest movie that came out,in my opinion, this year. I have to agree with Paul. It was awesome! They did a great job with the storyline and everything in it.

Predators sucked. Absolutely. The plot went nowhere. It's like Lost but with predators. Then the main character pulled Arnold's line "Come on! Kill me now! Come on!" Which bumped this movie from a 5/10 to a 1/10.

You know it's been a long time ...

I watched the end of Return of the Jedi today for the first time in several years. In that celebration scene, where the spirit images of Anakin Skywalker, Obi Wan Kenobi and Yoda are shown, they've replaced Sebastian Shaw (the actor who portrayed Anakin in the original movie and the helmet-less Darth Vader in this version) with Hayden Christensen.

Funny! I saw that yesterday when I was flipping channels!

It is funny. 20th Century Fox has updated the series so many times, I stopped buying new copies after the original trilogy was upgraded in the 1990s (VHS, understand). I do have the DVD of Attack of the Clones. Over the past few years, and several times this summer, one or more cable channels has played the movies individually or in a marathon sequence. But because of scheduling and other stuff I have going on, I've only watched A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back all the way through. The others, I usually get one half or the other, except Return of the Jedi. Before yesterday, it seems I've only seen it up to the scene where they kill Jabba.

Took two over the weekend, first a political thriller "The Ghost Writer" with Ewen McGregor. Violence free (well one shooting near the end) but a good story. The other was "Killers" with Ashton Kucher, a mix of romantic comedy/action comedy. Liked both films for different reasons. The first for it's serious side, while a work of fiction it was no doubt influenced by current events, especially those of the Tony Blair days in Great Britain. The second a nice piece of fluff but well done and gives you a chance to laugh a bit.

"The Green Zone" starring Matt Damon. Saw it in the theaters some months ago. Very good and very interesting premise. Damon plays mid level unit leader in IRAQ who stumbles onto info offered by a friendly Iraqi. Info that one of Saddam`s highest generals is trying to get word out that indeed-there were no WMD-that Saddam was only vague with inspectors because he thought Iran and Pakistan might invade if they knew his arsenal was so diminished. Damon`s character has to fight with AMERICANS in attempt to bring that info to light. Very intense. And I`ve never researched to ascertain whether it a is fiction, or a fiction based on fact. Worth a peek reguardless.

I'd like to see that one, too.

Paul if you have the disc at home take a look at the special features section. It is based on an actual unit, in fact some of the actors in the film are in fact guys who were on active duty that had served in a unit of this type. I was one of those who questioned if Damon was an actor who could pull of action films. But after the Borne films that thought went away real fast. He is such a fine actor he can play anything. The soldiers who were in the film said he was so intense about leaning the right way to do everything they began to think of him as one of them.

Check him out in Invictus where he plays a South African rugby star. Another fine performance and of course another based on fact film.

Went to see Unstoppable.
Cool movie. Someone I saw on the way in called it "Speed on rails." I think it's better in terms of thrills but maybe not as good of a story. Another friend told me he wouldn't watch it because he's already seen Runaway Train. I haven't, so I don't know how much of a "been-there-done-that" factor exists.
For any Steelers fans around, there's a brief shot of Heinz Field, seen through the window of the obligatory corporate *#@%head.
In the category of "improbable stuff they do in movies" ...
-- TV news reports. Certainly gave it a feel of authenticity. However, some of the local network affiliates crafted some awfully impressive graphics considering it wasn't a planned event they were covering.
-- I'm no pilot, but I thought the helicopters chasing the train were flying much too low.
Still. Good movie.

Reality is far less interesting: Report on CSX incident

Gotta admit I am going to see the 7th Harry Potter movie VERY soon, but there are a few others I want to see as well.

Paul, I hope you're not one of those people who dresses up in costume....

LibraLady-LOL! Heeeheee! Naw-nuthin like that! I do enjoy the books and the movies intensely, but have never done that. Consider myself a Trekker, and a huge fan of Lucas` Star Wars classic 3(the prequels are not as special but third prequel was quite good). Never dressed up as ST or SW characters either. Like our buddy Dean Koontz`s stories, I like HP and the others because the stories are well written, engaging, I always care deeply about the main characters-and in ALL of the above, GOOD-and LOVE-ultimately defeat evil and hate. I do get into what I get into full force- I have been called a Dylan scholar, Spyro, Koontz, Trek scholar, can`t get enough of the Church, but never dressed up as the Pope....though, WAIT- ya just gave me my Halloween costume for 2011! LOL!