Good  movie.  Not quite as good as the original outing for Robert Downing Jr. and Jude Law, but - in all fairness - originality always adds a shine to any endeavor … unless, of course, it stinks, but even then, it stinks a bit less for being original.

What the hell was my point again?

Oh, yeah … the new Sherlock Holmes movie is based (if I might ( Read more... )

Saw it on DVD tonight and it was actually a good film.  Honestly, I didn’t really have a lot of hope for it, since it seemed like it went to DVD almost immediately, but I really liked it.

The basic gist of the film (and this isn’t a spoiler, just a overview) is that a couple of country fellas head off to a cabin in the woods for a working vacation ( Read more... )

I just finished the latest in Lois McMaster Bujold’s  Miles Vorkosigan/Vorkosigan Saga, Cryoburn, and … damn.

The main story is yet another excellent example of storytelling.  Almost flawless, without any of those nasty “dead zones” that plague some stories.

However, the final chapter is a tour de force of writing.  Bujold puts together five unique ( Read more... )

It wasn’t that big a Thing.  Nor was it that good a Thing.

It was just a Thing.

It wasn’t a new Thing or a particularly well made Thing and, if given my druthers, I’d return that Thing.

It was a fairly well performed Thing, however, and - special effects-wise - a rather impressive Thing.

I would have liked it better if it was a fresh Thing, instead ( Read more... )

On a whim, I rented The Perfect Host.  Dian and I both enjoy David Hyde Pierce, but we’ve never seen him in a movie before.

No spoilers … just rent the silly thing.  Don’t read a synopsis or review (well … okay, other than this one), just rent it and watch it.  Or buy it and watch it.  Whatever.  Seriously, it may not be the best movie you’ve ever ( Read more... )

I don’t know why Dian and I didn’t catch this one when it first came out.  We’re both huge fans of Denzel Washington, love watching the astonishing Gary Oldman ply his trade, and can even tolerate Mila Kunis for limited periods; so why didn’t we see this in a theater?  It wasn’t in 3D and did show locally.  Weird.

Anyway, we rented the disk and I ( Read more... )

Pretty good retcon … my favorite part (mild spoiler alert) was when Draco Malfoy tried to use his wand for a Killing Curse on the apes and they countered with a Water Charm.  Classic.

Just saw Captain America (in 2D, of course).

Reminded me a lot of the original Spider-Man movie … y’remember how it really wasn’t about superheroes?  It was a love story combined with a coming of age story; the fact that the main character could stick to walls was beside the point.

Well, Captain America was a lot like that.  It was, at the simplest ( Read more... )

(But only becauth I that in one pothithion too long ..)

No spoilers.

Nice adaptation of one of the more classic comics of my misbegotten youth, but what else would one expect when the studios are willing to hand over a bloody huge budget to a genius director?

I swear, you can see Branagh’s hand in every scene.  He’s one of those unique directors ( Read more... )

Thanks to the miracle of DVDs, Netflix, and corporate greed, I’ve been revisiting my favorite television shows from my younger days.

Oddly enough, one can pretty much find everything that was ever even slightly popular on DVD, so I’ve gotten re-acquainted with everything from Gilligan’s Island and Get Smart to Mission Impossible and The Man from U. ( Read more... )