I hadn't even heard about Pandorum until it showed up on my TV screen the other day, but I was thinking it was the right film for me. Dennis Quaid in space. You know, like Enemy Mine, or maybe even like Innerspace (although that's a stretch). Awesome. People waking up from deep sleep to find their ship is all messed up and that they aren't alone onboard. Awesome. Sounds like something right up my alley.
Unfortunately, I feel like I've seen Pandorum somewhere before. Nearly every scene smacked of something familiar, and it left me unsatisfied. It's a mix of Alien, Event Horizon, and Total Recall (not really, but nobody talks about Total Recall enough these days), without capturing any of the essences which made these films enjoyable in the first place. In the end, it was a derivative and overly long sci-fi film that was mediocre at best, and as much as I hate to admit it, a waste of my time. I'm holding out for Enemy Mine 2, though.
My wife and I are catching up on some TV, and started watching season three of Chuck tonight. In the first episode, they play Frightened Rabbit's "My Backwards Walk", from their stellar 2008 album The Midnight Organ Fight. The best thing is that the closing line of the song (which is sung several times) is "you're the shit and I'm knee-deep in it", and it slipped by the censors for millions of Americans' unsuspecting family-values-tweaked ears. I found that to be pretty funny. Also, they play a Pains of Being Pure At Heart song, so bonus points!
Coraline is a stop-motion animated film directed by Henry Selick, the guy that directed The Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach. It's based on a novel written by Neil Gaiman, the guy that wrote the Sandman comic book series. The film centers around a girl named, you betcha, Coraline, and the creepy new house that is the new home for her and her parents.
It was nice to jump into a film geared towards younger audiences and actually be interested the whole time. I had no idea how the film would play out, and it kept me on my toes. The film flows well, it keeps things funny, and it is visually stunning. It sports a darker tone than what I'd expect for a family film, which also made it appealing. Now that I think of it, it reminds me more of Alice in Wonderland than anything. There are some hiccups when it comes to character and plot development, but in hindsight I think this film is definitely worth checking out.
The Box is a 2009 film that is adapted from a short story, that was also adapted for an episode of The Twilight Zone. It stars Cameron Diaz and that annoying guy that played Cyclops, and it was directed by Richard Kelly, the guy that directed Donnie Darko. Its premise starts pretty simply: a man shows up at their house with a box, and an offer. If Cameron and whiny Cyclops boy push the button that's on top of the box, two things will happen: they'll receive one million dollars, and someone that they don't know will die.
Being that it's a Richard Kelly film, I was expecting it to dovetail into a total cerebral mind tease, but it didn't get out of hand. Actually, between Donnie Darko and Southland Tales, The Box is easily Richard Kelly's most easily swallowed film. It does a great job of building suspense but still keeping Kelly's signature style. I have a feeling that a lot of people went into this film expecting your typical Hollywood suspense flick, and were probably pretty angry. With that in mind, I enjoyed this film ten times more because of it.
The Box is a heady, confusing film that's not as heady or confusing as you'd expect. I liked it.
Faithful reader and occasional Twovue writer Kim turned us on to this fairly entertaining website - neverseenlost.wordpress.com - in which someone who has never seen an episode of LOST writes about their experiences while watching the final season of our favorite TV show. You'll see some funny things like mishearing Jack's name as "Jake" for an entire episode, or some pretty spot-on racial profiling. It's spoiler heavy for anyone that isn't keeping up with the episodes *cough* Mark *cough*, but it's worth checking out for a few minutes.
The Invention of Lying is the co-directorial debut of Mr. Ricky Gervais, that funny pudgy man behind The Office, Extras, and that one podcast. I've followed everything he's made except for that movie where he was a ghost. This film takes place in a world where nobody lies at all. Just think of it - no white lies, no flattery, no excuses - it starts to make my brain feel mushy after a while.
The film does a good job with poking fun at its premise, although my wife pointed out one point: just because you can't lie, doesn't mean you HAVE to tell everyone what you're thinking. There are all sorts of moments when people say things that are mildly inappropriate and therefore amusing, until you consider the fact that there is no way that the person should just blurt that out. Maybe if this was a world where everyone told the truth and they had no self control.
Secondly, although this film definitely has some new and clever ways of being funny, at its heart it is a romantic comedy. There is such a focus on finding happiness through finding love that there are so many avenues that don't get explored. Seriously, Gervais' character could have done all sorts of funny things like becoming a superhero or supervillain; instead, he gets misinterpreted as a religious figure and pines away for the ever-mediocre and buff-armed Jennifer Garner. I wasn't expecting for my world to be rocked with The Invention of Lying, but I think its preoccupancy with love and not much else left it a little too shallow for my tastes. Not a bad date movie, though.
Here in the UK, we have a television show called Harry Hill's TV Burp, in which the host, Harry Hill, goes over bits of the previous week's television shows, and rips them to shreds in the most sarcastic way he possibly can.
Now I personally have been a huge fan of Harry Hill for a number of years, and his ultra-sarcastic sense of humour rarely fails to crack me up. However, what I want to know is: do you, the reader, find his antics funny?
Check out the video below, and leave a comment to let me know whether you think this is funny or not.
Something, Something, Something, Dark Side is many things. It's the season eight finale of Family Guy. It's a spoof of The Empire Strikes Back. And it's the sequel to Family Guy's season six finale, which is a spoof of A New Hope, called Blue Harvest. These episodes are so popular that they are released as standalone DVDs, so I decided to check this one out. I liked Blue Harvest when it came out in 2007; as much as I have grown tired of Family Guy's constantly berating pop culture references and side jokes, I love a good Star Wars spoof.
It's funny, because The Empire Strikes Back is easily the best Star Wars film, yet somehow the people behind Family Guy couldn't make this episode very funny. There are seriously only a handful of truly funny moments in this episode (like use of the Cookie Monster as the cave-dwelling monster on Hoth), and though that might be okay for an hour of TV, we are also faced with 58 minutes of moments that are not funny. This imbalance left me looking forward more to the end of the show than the next joke.
Maybe I've just grown tired of this series as a whole, but it really felt like Family Guy was grasping at straws, even with a foundation of content that's ripe for the picking.
Disagree with us? Got an idea? Want to put up your own post with full credit?
Click here to send it to us and we'll post it...as long as it doesn't suck.
About Bloguin
Bloguin is the revolutionary blog network specifically focused on helping bloggers get the most out of their websites. We're currently working on building a large network of online communities and hope to expand our blogging coverage to include a wide range of topics.
Advertisers
The Bloguin Network allows advertisers to promote their products and services to our ever-growing number of visitors. We offer both site-specific ad placements as well as the ability to run a network-wide campaign. If you're interested in working with Bloguin to meet your advertising needs, please contact us.
Bloggers Wanted
The Bloguin Network is always looking to expand. We're specifically looking for blogs in the sports, entertainment, and video games field, but are open to adding any type of quality site. If you're a blogger and interested in joining our network, please fill out our application form.
The Bloguin Login
The Bloguin Login gives you full access to everything our network has to offer. Your name and password will work for each and every one of our sites. Signing up is simple, and will allow you to post in all our forums, create member blogs, and access other cool features! What are you waiting for? Create an Account!
Bloguin is the revolutionary blog network specifically focused on helping bloggers get the most out of their websites. We're currently working on building a large network of online communities and hope to expand our blogging coverage to include a wide range of topics. 
The Bloguin Network allows advertisers to promote their products and services to our ever-growing number of visitors. We offer both site-specific ad placements as well as the ability to run a network-wide campaign. If you're interested in working with Bloguin to meet your advertising needs, please contact us.
The Bloguin Network is always looking to expand. We're specifically looking for blogs in the sports, entertainment, and video games field, but are open to adding any type of quality site. If you're a blogger and interested in joining our network, please fill out our application form.
The Bloguin Login gives you full access to everything our network has to offer. Your name and password will work for each and every one of our sites. Signing up is simple, and will allow you to post in all our forums, create member blogs, and access other cool features! What are you waiting for? Create an Account!