Trailer: I.O.U.S.A

This looks to be a movie worth the watching. Their website: www.IOUSAtheMovie.com

Reviewing "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow"

"Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" is not the sort of movie that gets made these days. The radical stylization of this movie was rather disconcerting at first. It felt rather cartoonish, vague if you will. It was also visually very dark, lots of shadows. But as it progresses, these issues became much less significant.

They did this in two ways. The first was that after the first little while, they slowly added more light to the world. The second was that I realized that this isn't "Star Wars." No, the CGI wasn't photo-realistic. No, it isn't even cutting edge. But, and this is a big but, Sky Captain has a theme, a feel, a texture it's trying to hit. And it does hit it. It hit's it dead center. It is an old feeling, sort of that 1940's comic book/black and white movie feel. I'm not saying that it's a two color movie, but it does convey that feel. It doesn't matter if it doesn't look real, because it doesn't try to make you think that it is real.

Sky Captain had a good story, if rather far fetched. But that's just par for the course with any movie that opens with robots the size sky scrapers. It was funny through out, and was "A lot of fun" as someone with me put it. I fully concur. It was a good ride.

This movie is rated PG, and was released in 2004.

Reviewing "Stargate Atlantis" Season Three

I've just completed watching the third season of "Stargate Atlantis" on DVD. It was fantastic.

Although the Wraith were not as prevalant in this season as in times past, when they did show their ugly, pale faces, they presented unique and interesting challenges for Weir, Shepard and company to overcome.

The time not spent on the Wraith was filled with character development, new people introduced (Meredith's sister ) old enemies revisited (the Jenni), new enemies encountered (a new breed of Replicators) and some out-of-this-universe conundrums.

WARNING: Big Spoiler!

My biggest complaint of the season was, and it's a real doozy, the manner in which Dr. Carter Beckett died. The fact that he died at all, I object to because I liked everything about him; from his accent to his manner, to -well, everything.

I could have lived with his death if only he had died in a worthy manner. Worthy meaning he spent his last few minutes removing an exploding tumor from a person. I don't count Little Nobodies whom you've never seen before, and will never see again, as people. (In the context of fiction.)

Dr. Beckett ought to have been given the honor of giving his life for someone whom we, the audience, actually care about. Tala, Ronan, Zalanka. Even Lorren would have been OK. But to cut off his life for a faceless man? I call it a waste and a shame.

Eragon the Movie

Where to start?

I must begun by telling you how much I've enjoyed the books. From the moment my sister pulled "Eldest" out of her bag on the way home from the airport, after her return from Georgia (where she'd been visiting friends) I've liked the books. She, being an older sister, would not, of course, let me touch the book. But by the time we arrived at "Costco" I did have the title. From there, armed also with the author's name (Christopher Paolini) the library was the only place to go.

I don't think I put "Eargon" down three times once I opened it. It's a really spiffing story. I'll not say it was perfect, because it wasn't, but it was fantastic. When "Eldest" arrived at the library, it was also devoured. I have even bought one of them. (It's not that I don't like books. Not at all. It's just parting with my money that I hate.)

Now, back to the movie.

"Eragon" the movie was, and I mean every word: Pathetic, pitiful, poor, wretched, ridiculous, lacking, lame, boring-- Seeing as I'm writing on my lunch break, I don't have my thesaurus handy, which is truly a shame because after watching the movie I discovered some lovely new synonyms that were highly descriptive and appropriate --hallow, butchered, miserable, pitiable, Well, you get the idea.

Point is, I'm glad that I saw a neighbor's DVD (yes, I know it's not out yet, but his uncle has connections) because now that I've seen it, I wouldn't spend a dime to see it again. Thanks to those of you who warned me off!

The whole movie was dark and boring. Most of the dialog had been cut. It was just highly disappointing. Even those who have never read the book thought it was bad. Basically the best way I've come up with to describe it is this: Have you ever seen a movie that was based on a comic book? You know, the type where someone or something is very important, and everyone is fighting over it, but it feels like, well, a comic? ("Electra" comes to mind, though I don't think I even bothered to watch the whole thing when I ran into it.) That's the type of movie "Eragon" is.

Sad. Very Sad. Waste of an hour-and-a-half.