Movie Review – Thor
This one, I’ve been waiting a while to see. I heard it was coming out and, being a fan of Norse mythology, I have been looking forward to it hitting the theaters so I could get down there and check it out.
I was in for a bit of a surprise!
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Book Review: Jerry A. Coyne’s “Why Evolution Is True”
Evolution, the scientific explanation for how all life on the Earth came about, is easily the most contentious of all things scientific. People can live with science’s explanation of how computers and microwaves work, how stars are birthed, live and die through snapshots, or how candy tastes yummy, but as soon as someone tries to explain that humans and modern apes came from a common ancestor that lived millions of years ago, all hell must break loose. Growing up, I lived by the Bible, so it didn’t really matter what that “theory” said, it didn’t even matter what facts were involved, the reality is that I didn’t want to believe it.
Book Review: Paul Allen’s “Idea Man”
In their college years, Bill Gates and Paul Allen founded an outfit in the dusty hills of Albuquerque called Micro-Soft. They were to be the first to provide operating systems such as BASIC and FORTRAN to the first minicomputers. Before Apple and Commodore, home computing required a mail-order kit and plenty of solder. As they became more successful, getting into IBM’s first PC and creating an industry with their name on it, the two founders eventually fell out of alignment and a harsh Gates made Allen miserable. While we know Gates’ story because of Microsoft’s success, Allen’s has always been a bit elusive. Here, we see the whole thing from his perspective.
UGO And IGN To Merge, Form Larger Site We Still Don’t Care About
Don’t you remember the early 00s, right after as the dot-com hangover began? Back when wonderful sites like Daily Radar were smitten from existence and bland, unfeeling ones like UGO and IGN survived? Well, all things are circular I suppose because a recent report states that these two titans of mediocrity are joining together into a slightly larger tribute to vanilla. I have never been less excited about two chunks of personality-free internet real estate joining together.
Series Review – Body Of Proof
Yet another procedural cop drama…
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Movie Review: Fast Five
I’m not sure when the Fast & The Furious series evolved from its cheesy, ricer-fest ooze to the recent Bourne-style action films that spend as much time on foot chases as they do in cars, but everyone’s better off for it. The series had been known for being so monumentally stupid that by the second installment, complete with squeaky cars that look like they were driven straight out of the Matchbox factory, rival studios were mocking it with brain dead rip-offs like Joseph Kahn’s Torque. Ladies and gentlemen, I’m here to tell you that Fast Five, the latest in the series, is also the best, earning every dollar it receives at the box office.
Movie Review: The Void
Growing up, dad always turned me onto apocalyptic scenarios: what if the United States were to come under a mutually-assured storm of nuclear weaponry? What if the government collapsed and we had to fend for ourselves with every scrap of Red Dawn-inspired guerrilla warfare we could muster? What if a black hole were to suddenly materialize and rip away our atmosphere? The Void entertains the latter, but let’s be honest, I only queued this up because my man, Malcolm McDowell (A Clockwork Orange, Star Trek: Generations), stars as this largely thrill-less thriller’s villain.
Book Review: Sidney Lumet’s “Making Movies”
With the recent passing of legendary film director Sidney Lumet (12 Angry Men, Network, Dog Day Afternoon), I was turned onto his behind-the-scenes book Making Movies by the Screened guys. Lumet was known as an actor’s director, one that everyone got along with and produced some of their best work with. Here, we get a glimpse into what it was like as he set upon each new cinematic effort.
Movie Review: Scream 4 (or Scre4m (or SCREEEEMFOUR))
If the Scream series is excellent at one thing, it’s parodying the hell out of itself, with each new installation adding one more layer of self-referential meta-humor. As such, Scream 4 is a pretty awful watch if you haven’t seen the previous films and a laborious one if you have.
Movie Review: Hanna
This review was provided by guest contributor Dad.
Beware readers – I pick nits. Hanna was good, but not great. It is a fun movie if you enjoy dumb action movies. You’ll come out of it thinking you’ve done something cerebral. There are several points that had the crowd laughing; and few well-telegraphed scenes aside, it was relatively safe for my eight year old to come along and see it with the Lovely Wife and me. The Chemical Brothers provide an entertaining soundtrack. Go see it, have fun, and try not to think too hard. You’ll have a good time :)
