Eagle Eye, 2008

I enjoyed the plot in this film; a good bit of suspense, not knowing who was directly Jerry and Rachel to do all those crazy things they would never do in real life. The twists and story branches are quite good.

The computer technology aspect is a bit of a double-edge sword. For entertainment value, it is intriguing to see a super-computer do so much, the possibilities of all the control it could exert over our lives. However, my belief was suspended a bit too thin and it became more of a gimmick for me.

Great acting all around. Rachel's kid Sam (Cameron Boyce) has the most engaging smile. =) Even those with small parts did a great job, IMO. I enjoyed the action scense, although by the end I felt like it was going over-the-top with the extent to which the AI could manipulate the world.

Babylon A.D., 2008

To be honest, the only reason I picked this dvd up was because it had Vin Diesel and things blowing up. =) And call me weird, but the title made me think of Titan A.E., to the point I had "Babylon A.E." in my head. Yes, I am messed up, I realize that. I guess there are distant and vague similarities, but...

And while I like Vin Diesel, I have not been overly impressed by his sci-fi roles. I like him as an individual in the Riddick series, but the story line did not do him any favors. He really stands out in the down-to-earth, honest-to-goodness, bang 'em up here and now pieces like Fast and Furious.

Back to Babylon. What the heck is the title supposed to mean?!? It was never really explained in the movie - if it was, I totally missed it. The not-so-distant future of eastern Europe/Russia and New York was appropriately "just enough to be possibly believable". I enjoyed the tantalizing mystery of who (or what) Aurora was, and I thought Mélanie Thierry did a great job portraying her. Interesting to see Yeoh getting some screen time on a sci-fi flick - I like her character as well. The whole whacked-out religious angle was bigger than I could chew, and did not get how the "virgin birth" would legitimize the so-called religion.

The ending was just horrid. I felt like an artiste was sitting at the potter's wheel and keeled over from a heart attack, and some entrepreneuring capitalistic snob sold the unfinished work as the masterpiece it was not.

Body of Lies, 2008

I was pleasantly surprised by DiCaprio; he is definitely maturing as an actor. For some reason I almost felt this film was flirting with Jason Bourne or Enemy of the State, maybe even a little of Cruise in Mission Impossible; CIA types playing games with their pawns. DiCaprio brings a strong sense of American overconfidence melding into his environment like a neon green jacket in a rain forest.

Russel Crowe, on the other hand, was the other extreme. Maybe his role was scripted poorly, or perhaps he was over-pompous. I did not like how he talked via phone-in-the-ear to his operatives everywhere he went - and here the American spy agency is tracking cell phone calls of people on the other side of the planet. Crowe's Ed Hoffman was too much of a dunce to be a jerk.

Another strange thing is that I expected more plot twists. With a title like "Body of Lies" and a movie about spy games, I didn't get much double-crossing or sleight of hands going on. However, I did thoroughly enjoy Mark Strong's Hani character, including his delightful sharp wit and no-nonsense approach - yes, even his manipulations of the political machine and his own pawns. In fact, I think that made the setting in Jordan all the more delicious, one-upping the US government at their own game.

Analyze That, 2002

For a film that is 3 years younger than Analyze This, That felt like it was shot the day after. And the crying just gets worse. And then to throw a musical on Deniro's character... that was just plain painful.

Analyze This, 1999

I was strolling through the library and found the Analyze duo. So, the first one was entertaining - not stupendous, not rolling on the floor, not side-splitting. I do not think I even got past a good grin. Interesting story-line, and Deniro delivered a solid, rough character type as well as most of the mafia guys. Except, and this is a big one, except when Deniro cried. Yeah, I realize it was supposed to be counter to his character, but he did a horrible job faking it. Wow.

I feel bad for Kudrow. She has this mannerism about her that she developed over the long years of shooting Friends, and now she cannot shake it - I see Phoebe everywhere she goes. For her sake, I hope she can break out of it at some point. Of course, Meg Ryan never really broke out of her own cast either.....

For a Billy Crystal film, I wanted more comedy, more wit. Am I that dense that I missed most of it? I am somewhat biased in thinking that I am not, but.... =)

And that's about it for This.

My Name is Asher Lev, by Chaim Potok

Reading this right after "The Chosen", I fooled myself into expecting some kind of parallel story, or some connecting thread, some bridge between the two. And really, there is none other than the backdrop of the religious Jewish background (which is significant, surely, in and of itself).

What I did enjoy was how Potok took the reader on a journey through an artist's eyes. And not just any artist, but a genius. I love how the little child has no idea how his works affect others, that he just does what he does because that is all he knows. Hence, the very understandable lapse while Asher was away at school, not really missing that piece of his life yet.

And that is where I stopped reading. =) I know, I am a bad person. I'll go back and get it from the library again. Some day. But with what I had read, I was just not pulled into it like I was with Potok's first book.

Alembical, by Lawrence Schoen and Arthur Dorrance

Not much to say about this piece. I realize it is a small collection of novellas, but the first two I just could not get into at all (didn't even finish them), so I gave up on the rest.

The 13th Warrior, 1999

For some reason, I had been wanting to see this film. I could have gone without.

I was first put off by the bad contrast - the night-time scenes have shadows that are way too strong and too prevalent. Perhaps a product of 1999 cameras? Next, I did not buy Banderas's rendition of an Muslim ambassador - the guy has a Spanish accent for crying out load. =) The cover of the movie makes him out to be this serious kick-ass dude, but for a large part of the movie, his voice seems way too childish, cannot hold a decent broadsword and "cries like a woman". And storywise, his character really did not do much at all.

Perhaps one of my favorite parts was the thoughtful transition from the Viking language to English; it showed intelligence and purposefulness. And.... that's about it.

The action shots were quite lackluster, especially the final battle. Wow. In some shots, it almost looked like someone was throwing a bucket of red liquid around - very unbelievable. And the showdown between the two "leaders" was pathetic.

I did not understand the Bear people at all. How is it that they have thrived so well and unnoticed? I mean, a legend has sprung up about a "serpent of fire" - that does not happen overnight. And they have basically sequestered themselves into a rocky ravine and cave like a hive of wasps (they even have a queen mother).

Bad entertainment.

The Road, by Cormac McCarthy

One reviewer compared this piece to a "lyrical epic of horror", in which I must whole-heartedly agree. And I am tempted to leave it at that. The story itself is horrible; grisly, ghastly, inhumane, indecent, morose, decadent. The writing richly delivers this phantasm with a powerful vibrance - hence my strong reaction to it. The sharp detailed storyscape is punctuated by a lame dialogue consisting mostly of "keep moving", "I don't know" and "Okay"; make no doubt, the stark contrast between the two accentuates the narrative unbelievably well.

I also picked up the audiobook, read by Tom Stechschulte. At first I was worried, but the narrator's thick gravely voice fit perfectly to paint a brooding stark picture that flirts with disaster this side of death.

I have a hard time grasping the idea that Cormac dedicated this work to his son. True, the writing is phenomenal, but the story is black. I cannot put the innocent luminosity of childhood next to this thing. It is a thing that should not be done.