Unstoppable, Unviewable

I will admit, I knew going into the movie that there was a good possibility that the film would be in the classic ‘cheesy disaster flick’ genre. And with my father, as big a train nut as can be without having worked in the industry, having noted that there were some inaccuracies to what would happen in the movie technically did not deter me from seeing the movie because I did not grow up by his side enjoying the passion for them and still have great respect for it. I still figured it would provide for good show on the big screen and it did, after all, have pretty good actors in it with Denzel Washington and Rosario Dawson.

It was a decent enough movie and I am sure most would find it an enjoyable watch as apparently the critics have given it decent reviews.

For me however; the movie was ruined by lazy writing and directing. I was disappointed that so much of the story was told and action shown through phony local media news reports. Utilizing that once or twice in discriminate fashion would have done well to display the scope and urgency of the situation, but it became a lame crutch to provide information, such as names and background of some minimal characters, and ‘narration’ of what was occurring during the action sequences. Sure, we have all seen the crazed media coverage in current events, but even the rate in which information was disseminated was far from realistic.

Wolfman Weak

I watched Wolfman in its debut on Cinemax tonight and I have one word: yawn. I did continue to see the movie out to its conclusion. In part, because Benicio Del Toro and Anthony Hopkins are good actors and Hopkins does a great job playing the creepy, mysterious father in the movie, but unfortunately the star power is the only thing that makes this pic somewhat enjoyable as it is probably a decade late in being made.

The transformation of the werewolves is interesting, but I’ve seen similar stuff in other movies already and, let’s face it, werewolves (and vampires) have been a bit overdone in the past five years. If this had been put out 10 years ago, it would have been a huge blockbuster.

Spanning Comedy & Drama

It appears it has been over two months since I have written in this space. I keep meaning to, but just never get to it, settling for occasional facebook posts for the general stuff or tweets for soccer. But watching last night The Last Samurai, which features Tom Cruise’s character keeping a journal, inspired me to once again put fingers to keys (as opposed to pen to paper) with real ambition for this site.

It had been a while since I had seen that movie. I caught it about a quarter in while flippin through the channels so I figured I would pull out the dvd and give it a spin. I have to say it is the last great movie Cruise has done.

Collingwood clobbers as St Kilda feels pain of the Buffalo Bills, sort of

A week ago, it was a fantastic finish to the 2010 Australian Football League season with St Kilda making a fantastic rally from 24 down to pull level with regular season champion Collingwood in the AFL Grand Final. Except… it was not over. By the rules of the league, a draw in the Grand Final results in a replay of the championship game, something that has only occurred twice previously with the last time 33 years ago in 1977.

The replay likely may be the last by the way the talk had been last week following the final horn as it was a surreal scene with exhausted and bewildered looks upon the players’ faces on the ground.

Recommended Movie: Sleep Dealer

'Plug into the new American Dream.' So after watching the typical boring Indy blowout I came across a little film on Cinemax on demand that was pretty interesting despite a one-line promo description that made it seem a little questionable. I am glad I took the leap and selected Sleep Dealer (probably should have used a different title).

The 2008 picture revolves around a future in which a young man, Memo (Luis Fernando Pena), accidentally does something that results in the death of his father, who manages the small family farm in a tiny Mexican village that has been ruined by the corrupt corporations that have taken control of fought-over water sources and dammed the river they relied upon.