It's a big dumb action movie, but as big dumb action movies go, it's reasonably entertaining.

Two years after the events of the first film, Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) is off to college, leaving behind girlfriend Mikaela (Megan Fox), parents Ron and Judy (Kevin Dunn and Julie White), and his Autobot Bumblebee, but college brings him an eventual ally in conspiracy theory-obsessed fellow student Leo (Ramón Rodríguez). Meanwhile, an ancient rogue Prime known as the Fallen (voice of Tony Todd) is plotting revenge on the human race, leading to the resurrection of his apprentice, Megatron (voice of Hugo Weaving). Can Sam and Autobot leader Optimus Prime (voice of Peter Cullen) save the day once again?

Director Michael Bay (Armageddon, Transformers) is never going to be mistaken for a great filmmaker, but he's a master of big dumb action movie spectacle. And, no, that's not really a slight in this case. If you want to make a film like this and do it well on the level intended, Bay is the director you want behind the camera. He delivers mayhem and action with conviction, and few directors have his eye for sheer spectacle. I don't understand why the same critics who rave about J.J. Abrams for his direction of Star Trek pan Bay for this film. I think Bay made the better of the two films. I'm sure quite a few people will take exception to that statement, but I stand by it.

The screenplay by Ehren Kruger (The Ring, The Brothers Grimm) and writing team Roberto Orci & Alex Kurtzman (Transformers, Star Trek) blends up high octane action, low humor, and a high stakes plot into a mostly satisfying whole, although not as successfully as the first film. I'm not even going to try to defend it as good writing, but it's certainly fun to watch it unfold on the screen. Good guys win, bad guys lose, and two young people are in love. On that level, it's actually part of the long tradition of Hollywood hokum.

It must also be said that the film contains the worst ethnic caricatures in a genre film since Jar Jar Binks and Watto in Star Wars: Episode I, The Phantom Menace. The scenes with the characters Mudflap and Skids are truly cringeworthy. Did no one involved in the making of this film, including executive producer Steven Spielberg, see these scenes and think there might be something offensive in them? Unbelievable. Note to filmmakers: applying ethnic caricatures to CG aliens or CG robots doesn't make them any less offensive.

Some have criticized the film for being too long at two and a half hours. If I have one complaint, it's the ending of the film is so damned unsatisfying, mainly because it doesn't resolve a major conflict but instead leaves it to be resolved in a third film (much as the second Pirates of the Caribbean film did). The film really doesn't feel that long until you get to the end and realize that it's all been a set up for another sequel. Then it suddenly feels longer.

I saw the film on an IMAX screen, which was worth it. Three action scenes were specially filmed in IMAX, and it's noticeable when the image suddenly fills the entire screen and becomes so much sharper.

Whatever else one can say about a Michael Bay film, they're always made with a high level of visual and technical skill, and this holds true here with the contributions of cinematographer Ben Seresin (A Good Woman), production designer Nigel Phelps (Alien Resurrection, Transformers), and costume designer Deborah L. Scott (Titanic, Transformers). Everything is as polished as one would expect.

Composer Steve Jablonsky (Transformers, Friday the 13th) layers on the bombast with a trowel, which certainly is a good fit with the tone of the production as a whole. Visual effects supervisor Scott Farrar (The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Transformers) has a bigger effects budget and more effects heavy scenes this time, and responds with seamless and compelling effects that carry the film.

Shia LaBeouf has established himself as the kind of action hero who resorts more to brains than to brawn but can still handle himself when the action begins, while also being photogenic and possessing a certain geeky charm. Once again he's called upon to add the human element to an action and effects heavy film, and once again he succeeds. Megan Fox is the drop dead gorgeous love interest, and playing drop dead gorgeous is so very easy for her, but it's her chemistry with LaBeouf that makes the romance between a geek and a grease monkey beauty seem believable. I think she's on her way to being a star, and hopefully she'll get some roles that allow her an opportunity to stretch her acting muscles. Ramón Rodríguez is the comic relief character who helps the hero and heroine, and he handles the role capably. I actually wanted to see more of his character.

The rest of the cast is solid across the board, including Josh Duhamel as Major Lennox, Tyrese Gibson as Sergeant Epps, John Turturro as former Sector 7 agent Seymour Simmons, Kevin Dunn and Julie White as Sam's parents, John Benjamin Hickey as the National Security Advisor, 24's Glenn Morshower as General Morshower (a character named for him, and he also played a different character in the first film), Isabel Lucas as a co-ed who shows a strong interest in Sam, and Rainn Wilson as a sleazy physics professor.

The voice cast shines in bringing Autobots and Decepticons to life, including Peter Cullen as Optimus Prime, Tony Todd as the Fallen, Hugo Weaving as Megatron, Jess Harnell as Ironhide, Robert Foxworth as Ratchet, Mark Ryan as Jetfire, Grey DeLisle as Arcee, André Sogliuzzo as Sideswipe, Tom Kenny as Wheelie, Michael York as one of the Dynasty of Primes, Charlie Adler as Starscream, and Frank Welker as Soundwave.

Turning one's brain off every now and then isn't an entirely bad thing. In exchange, you get giant robots, explosions, Shia LaBeouf, and Megan Fox. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen isn't as good as its predecessor, but anyone who enjoyed the first film should enjoy this one, too.

[3.5 out of 5 stars]

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (24 June) - Giant robots! Explosions! Shia LaBoeuf! Megan Fox! OMG! YAY!

Public Enemies (1 July) - Johnny Depp as John Dillinger, Christian Bale as Melvin Purvis, Oscar winner Marion Cotillard as Dillinger's singer girlfriend, and writer/director Michael Mann (Miami Vice, Heat). Frankly, they had me at Johnny Depp.

Brüno (10 July) - Sacha Baron Cohen strikes again with another satirical mockumentary.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (15 July) - Need I say more?

Funny People (31 July) - From the people who brought you Knocked Up, Superbad, and Pineapple Express. That's a good comedy resume right there.

Thirst (31 July) - A South Korean vampire film from director Chan-wook Park (Oldboy, Lady Vengeance).

District 9 (14 August) - A science fiction film produced by Peter Jackson (The Lord of the Rings) and directed by commercials director Neill Blomkamp. Details are scarce, but the mysterious trailer caught my interest.

Inglourious Basterds (21 August) - Quentin Tarantino's war movie about Jewish-American soldiers vs. Nazis.

Halloween II (28 August) - Writer/director Rob Zombie's sequel to his own remake of Halloween.

Pandorum (4 September) - The producers of the Resident Evil film franchise are behind this science fiction horror film starring Dennis Quaid and Ben Foster as two members of a spaceship crew who wake up without their memories and soon discover they're not alone.

David Lynch's Interview Project looks like it will be fascinating to watch. Lynch sent a team out on a 70-day cross-country road trip to conduct short video interviews of ordinary people and post the results to his website, with a new episode every three days. His son Austin is the co-director.

Introduction
Episode 1

The fourth film in the Terminator franchise may not be on the same level as the first two directed by James Cameron, but it's miles above the weak third film and actually feels like a legitimate follow-up to Cameron's films and ideas.

Fourteen years after the nuclear apocalypse of Judgment Day when Skynet launched its attack on the human race, John Connor (Christian Bale) is a member of the resistance, but not yet the leader of it, when he becomes part of a mission that could destroy Skynet for good. He also learns that Kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin), the young man who in eleven years will go back in time and become his father, is being targeted for termination by Skynet. Meanwhile, Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington), whose last memory is of being on death row fifteen years earlier, wanders into the wasteland of Los Angeles and is rescued by Reese, and after hearing an inspiring radio broadcast from Connor they decide to find him and join his group.

On first glance at his resume, director McG (numerous music videos, Charlie's Angels, We Are Marshall) may not have appeared to be the ideal choice to direct a mega-budget serious science fiction action film, but he proves to be more than up to the task, showing a steady hand with both the action scenes and the actors. His efficient storytelling keeps the film moving ahead at a good pace, but unlike some other recent genre films it never feels like it's merely rushing from one action scene to another, but instead takes some time for exploring the main characters and the themes of the story.

The screenplay is credited to writing team John D. Brancato & Michael Ferris (Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, Catwoman), but also includes uncredited revisions by Jonathan Nolan (The Dark Knight), Paul Haggis (Casino Royale), The Shield creator Shawn Ryan, and CSI: Las Vegas creator Anthony E. Zuiker. The film is both a sequel and a prequel, and a few small plot holes aside, the story is solidly constructed. While there's nothing really surprising about where the story takes us, it does a good job of advancing the overall story arc of the franchise and some of the humanistic themes found in the second film, but while the main characters are capably written, the secondary characters seem underdeveloped.

The film owes its distinctive look to cinematographer Shane Hurlbut (Drumline, We Are Marshall), who uses harsh lighting and the bleach bypass process to visually construct a post-apocalyptic future that looks hard and monochromatic, and production designer Martin Laing (Ghosts of the Abyss, City of Ember) and costumer designer Michael Wilkinson (300, Watchmen) further add to that effect with their sets and costumes. The overall feel is more credible than fantastic. Composer Danny Elfman (Batman, Spider-Man) contributes one of his typically Wagnerian scores while also incorporating Brad Fiedel's theme from Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

Visual effects supervisor Charles Gibson (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End) capably oversees the work of several effects studios to create top of the line effects that seamlessly fit into the style of the production. The late Stan Winston, who provided the animatronic and makeup effects for the previous three films, died during production, but his studio completed their work on the film supervised by John Rosengrant (Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, Iron Man).

Christian Bale steps into the role played by Edward Furlong in Terminator 2: Judgment Day and the woefully miscast Nick Stahl in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, making it fully his own. Bale's made a career of playing obsessed, psychologically scarred characters, and count this as another successful role in that vein. Bale brings some dramatic weight to the role, allowing us for the first time to really see John Connor as a hardened resistance fighter who inspires people to follow him.

Sam Worthington is a good counterpoint to Bale as a death row inmate who awakens in possibly an even worse situation, and then must find his place in a changed world where he's apparently been given a second chance. Anton Yelchin portrays the younger version of the character played by Michael Biehn in the original Terminator, and much as he did as the young Chekov in the new Star Trek, he successfully re-creates a known character at a younger age that reflects the original actor's performance while making it his own.

While the film lacks a paragon of physical feminism like Linda Hamilton's Sarah Connor, Moon Bloodgood is credible enough as resistance fighter Blair Williams, minus one scene which can only be blamed on the writers. Bryce Dallas Howard replaces Claire Danes as Kate, a character introduced in the third film and now Connor's wife, and although she has limited screen time, she radiates a quiet strength that redeems how the character was portrayed in the previous film.

The rest of the cast is generally effective, including Common as Connor's right hand man Barnes, Helena Bonham Carter as a dying scientist whose research and experiments pioneer the Terminator cyborgs, Jadagrace Berry as an orphaned child named Star in Reese's care, Michael Ironside as the leader of the resistance movement, and Jane Alexander as a compassionate woman who aids Marcus, Reese, and Star. Linda Hamilton has a voice cameo as Sarah Connor in recorded messages her son listens to. Roland Kickinger plays a T-800 Terminator, the same model played by Arnold Schwarzenegger in the previous films, and Kickinger is digitally manipulated to look like Schwarzenegger.

I went in with low expectations due to the mediocre third film and television series (which actually takes place in a different continuity than the later films), but I came out feeling that the Terminator franchise has been redeemed. Terminator Salvation isn't the classic the first two films were, but it's a good film that successfully continues their story and themes into a new era without rebooting everything that came before or significantly dumbing down. It's easily the best summer movie of 2009 so far.

[4 out of 5 stars]

"No pessimist ever discovered the secret of the stars or sailed an uncharted land, or opened a new doorway for the human spirit."

"Never bend your head. Hold it high. Look the world straight in the eye."

"One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar."

This part-prequel, part-reboot of Star Trek: The Original Series has moments to rival the best of Trek, but unfortunately it also has moments that rival it at its worst, although the film as a whole is somewhere in-between those two extremes. Not a complete success, but not a complete failure, either.

Seeking revenge on an elderly Ambassador Spock (Leonard Nimoy), Romulans commanded by the obsessed Nero (Eric Bana) are thrown back in time and decide to wreak their vengeance in the past, and their mission intersects with the lives of young Cadet James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) and young Commander Spock (Zachary Quinto) at Starfleet Academy and aboard the newly launched USS Enterprise commanded by Captain Christopher Pike (Bruce Greenwood).

Director J.J. Abrams (Mission: Impossible III, and co-creator of television's Lost and Fringe) delivers spectacular visuals and action scenes, making for the most viscerally exciting Star Trek film of them all, but Trek at its best was a morality play in space, yes, a ham-fisted one at times, but still at its core it was about more than just exciting action. This film is a fun roller coaster ride with a hollow center, and even a scene of genocide plays out as a visual effects spectacle with little emotional weight. Abrams gets so much right here that it's disappointing when he also gets so much wrong.

Writing team Roberto Orci & Alex Kurtzman (Mission: Impossible III, Transformers, and co-creators of Fringe) deliver an uneven screenplay. At its best, it delivers a fresh but still familiar take on a venerable franchise, spot on younger versions of iconic characters, and a few moments of joyous perfection, while at its worst it veers into the camp humor territory of Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, easily the worst film in the franchise, while giving us a one dimensional villain and plot holes galore. They marry a lazy time travel plot (one of the most overused Trek plot devices, seen in two previous films and numerous episodes of each television incarnation) to a Romulan bent on destroying the Federation that recalls the plot of Star Trek: Nemesis, a film so poorly received that Paramount decided the only possible solution was to reboot the franchise. And while some of the changes to canon make sense because of the timeline being modified, others make no sense even in that context.

This is hands down the best looking Star Trek film thanks to the contributions of cinematographer Dan Mindel (Enemy of the State, Mission: Impossible III), production designer Scott Chambliss (Mission: Impossible III, television's Alias), and costume designer Michael Kaplan (Fight Club, I Am Legend). The design of Star Trek: The Original Series reflected a 1960s view of the future, while this film brings a slick 21st century view to the table while still paying homage to the classic design principles. Visual effects supervisors Roger Guyett (Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith, Mission: Impossible III) and Russell Earl provide seamless, eye-popping effects at every opportunity. Composer Michael Giacchino (Mission: Impossible III, Speed Racer) delivers a rousing score that also makes good use of Alexander Courage's classic theme music.

The true strength of the film is its cast, which manages to recapture the magic of their predecessors while also making the roles undeniably their own. Chris Pine's James Dean-esque performance as Kirk, full of swagger and bravado masking emotional wounds, dominates the film as the character should, while Zachary Quinto is ideally cast as a younger Spock still struggling with an emotional side inherited from his human mother. Pine wisely eschews imitating William Shatner's mannerisms except in one scene when he comes close in an obvious homage to the original Captain Kirk, but Quinto is able to capture Leonard Nimoy's mannerisms without making it seem like imitation or, worse, parody. The third member of the classic Trek trinity of characters, Dr. McCoy, is excellently played by Karl Urban, who seems to be channeling the spirit of DeForest Kelley and threatens to steal every scene he's in. Nimoy shines once again as the older Spock, bringing genuine emotional resonance to his scenes. His Spock is one at peace with himself and his half-human heritage.

Zoe Saldana as Uhura, Simon Pegg as Scotty, John Cho as Sulu, and Anton Yelchin as Chekov all provide fresh interpretations of their classic characters, although Scotty and Chekov are played for laughs too often for my liking (but the blame goes to the writers and not the actors). One area in which this film improves on the original series is that other Starfleet commanders are portrayed as competent and heroic officers in their own right, in this case Bruce Greenwood as Captain Pike and Faran Tahir as Captain Robau of the USS Kelvin. As one dimensional as Nero is written, the performance from Eric Bana isn't any better. He's more Shinzon from Star Trek: Nemesis than he is Khan from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, and this film deserved a better antagonist than that.

The rest of the cast is solid, including Ben Cross and Winona Ryder as Spock's parents Sarek and Amanda, Chris Hemsworth and Jennifer Morrison as Kirk's parents George (another heroic Starfleet officer) and Winona, Rachel Nichols as a Starfleet cadet from Orion, Jimmy Bennett playing Kirk as a rebellious child, Jacob Kogan playing Spock as a child, and Greg Ellis as Chief Engineer Olson. Deep Roy plays Keenser, a strange little alien living in a remote Starfleet outpost and who seems to be the Star Trek equivalent of an Ewok. I'm not even sure why that character was included.

There are several notable cameos, including the late Professor Randy Pausch as a USS Kelvin crewmember, screenwriter Akiva Goldsman (Batman & Robin, The Da Vinci Code) as a member of the Vulcan Council, Tyler Perry as Admiral Barnett, Paul McGillion as a Starfleet Academy barracks officer, and voice cameos by Greg Grunberg as Kirk's step-father and the late Majel Barrett as the voice of Starfleet's computers.

Star Trek is very much a mixed bag, with moments of excellence and moments of less than excellence, but a strong cast and some genuinely exciting action scenes make it watchable. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan's reputation as the best of the films remains safe. When all is said and done, this new film ranks somewhere in the middle of the eleven films made to date. It's entertaining enough, but it simply doesn't live up to the potential it had to boldly go where no one had gone before.

[3 out of 5 stars]

While not without its flaws, this film is an entertaining action-oriented prequel to the X-Men films, featuring the most popular X-Man, Wolverine.

Beginning in 1845 and ending in 1979, the film explores the backstory of mutant superhero Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) and his relationship with his older half-brother Victor aka the future supervillain Sabretooth (Liev Schreiber), and their involvement in the Team X black ops squad created by Colonel William Stryker (Danny Huston).

Director Gavin Hood (Tsotsi, Rendition) gets as much as he can out of the script with several well-conceived big action set pieces and capable performances from the main cast. There were reportedly major disputes between Hood and studio executives about the tone and direction of the film, and executive producer Richard Donner (director of Superman: The Movie) spent time on the set to smooth over the tensions. The creative differences may explain the uneven tone of the finished film, but Hood still proves capable of delivering exciting action scenes that fans will enjoy.

The screenplay by David Benioff (Troy, The Kite Runner) and Skip Woods (Swordfish, Hitman), while faithful in broad strokes to the character's comic origin, suffers from rushing from one action scene to another while leaving characters and sub-plots undeveloped. Benioff's original draft had some good buzz attached to it and was reportedly more character driven, so the contributions of Woods and three other uncredited writers may represent what the studio wanted more than what the director wanted. It's satisfactory as far as summer action flicks go, but there was room to do much more. Still, it's not the disaster that X-Men: The Last Stand was.

The productions values are high, with contributions by cinematographer Donald M. McAlpine (Moulin Rouge!, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe), production designer Barry Robison (Rendition, Nim's Island), costume designer Louise Mingenbach (X-Men, X2: X-Men United), and composer Harry Gregson-Williams (Shrek, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe) leading the way. The CG visual effects are good and effectively add to the action scenes.

What really makes the film work are the performances of Jackman and Schreiber, both individually and together, providing some depth lacking in the script. Jackman's portrayal of Wolverine through four films has been iconic, and this has been true even when the scripts were lacking, and he carries this film with grit and determination. Schreiber delivers the goods as Victor, so alike his brother in some ways but also so very different. Where Wolverine struggles to control his dark side, Victor embraces his. I would have liked more screen time devoted to the dualism of these two characters and their relationship.

The rest of the cast is adequate to the task at hand, including Huston as Stryker (an older version of the character was played by Brian Cox in X2), Black Eyed Peas' singer will.i.am as John Wraith, Lynn Collins as Kayla Silverfox, Kevin Durand as the Blob, Dominic Monaghan as Bolt, Taylor Kitsch as Gambit (although his Cajun accent is weak), Daniel Henney as Agent Zero, Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool, Scott Adkins as Weapon XI, Tim Pocock as a teenaged Scott Summers (the future superhero Cyclops), Max Cullen and Julia Blake as an elderly couple who help Wolverine, Troye Sivan and Michael-James Olsen as young Wolverine and young Victor, and Tahyna Tozzi as Kayla's sister Emma (possibly Emma Frost). There's also a fun cameo that I don't want to spoil for anyone, but fans should love it.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine sacrifices character development and plot coherence for action, but despite its flaws it manages to be an entertaining start to the summer film season. If you like Wolverine and you like action, this film should satisfy you.

[3.5 out of 5 stars]

Chag Sameach to those who celebrate Pesach!

Also, Jews perform sun ritual for first time in 28 years. Informative article, but not without some funny:

An especially colorful ceremony was reported by The New York Times in 1897, when a rabbi was arrested for presiding over the ritual as hundreds of Jews assembled without a permit in a city park. He and another rabbi tried to explain what they were doing to a police officer.

"The attempt of a foreign citizen to explain to an American Irishman an astronomical situation and a tradition of the Talmud was a dismal failure," the Times reported, adding that the officer, wondering "whether some new infection of lunacy had broken out...seized the rabbi by the neck and took him to Essex Market Police Court."

More music videos from bands I like...

This time it's Finnish hard rock/metal band Lordi, which is like Gwar meets KISS meets Alice Cooper, with maybe a little Misfits and White Zombie for good measure.

Yes, people in monster makeup playing music is cheesy, but cheesy can be entertaining and their songs are catchy. And wouldn't we all want to live in a world where monsters form rock bands? When I was a teenager, I would have found people in monster makeup playing loud music to be so totally awesome. Guess what? I'm 39 and it is so totally awesome. Monsters rock!

"Would You Love a Monsterman?"



"Hard Rock Hallelujah" (There's a definite 80s vibe in this video, complete with a high school setting, a cute rebel girl, and zombie cheerleaders! Also, the band won the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest with this.)



"Devil is a Loser"



"Blood Red Sandman" (This video's a nice Evil Dead homage.)

Happy 39th Birthday to me!!!

Also, Happy 39th Birthday to trauma_hound!

I had some positive feedback after I posted videos from one of my favorite bands, Sirenia, so I thought I'd occasionally post videos from other bands I like. Perhaps you'll enjoy them, too.

This time it's the Dutch symphonic metal band Epica, fronted by the classically taught mezzo-soprano Simone Simons, who has a beautiful singing voice. On a personal note, I'm rather smitten by Simone, both because of her voice and because she's a pretty redhead (a particular weakness of mine).

"Never Enough" (the first single off of their most recent album, The Divine Conspiracy)



"The Obsessive Devotion (Live)"



"Cry for the Moon" (this one really plays up the symphonic and choral aspects of their sound)



"Illusive Consensus" (more symphonic/choral goodness)



"Facade of Reality" (and even more of the symphonic/choral sound)

Watchmen - A graphic novel once labeled "unfilmable" finally arrives on the big screen. The result is breathtakingly good. It's not quite another Dark Knight, but it's easily one of the best films ever produced in the superhero genre.

In 1986-87, DC Comics published a twelve-issue comic book series called Watchmen, written by Alan Moore and drawn by Dave Gibbons. Later collected as a graphic novel, this series was a revolutionary and sophisticated take on superheroes with a heavy dose of social commentary. It also became the only graphic novel to be included on TIME Magazine's 2005 list of "the 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to the present." After several attempts to adapt it into a film by directors including Terry Gilliam (Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas), Darren Aronofsky (Requiem for a Dream), and Paul Greengrass (Bloody Sunday) all collapsed, it looked like it would never get produced. It was worth the wait.

After a retired superhero known as the Comedian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) is murdered, the vigilante Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley) believes that there's a conspiracy to eliminate costumed heroes, and soon the other retired Watchmen--Nite Owl (Patrick Wilson), Silk Spectre (Malin Akerman), Doctor Manhattan (Billy Crudup), and Ozymandias (Matthew Goode)--become involved as events begin to spiral out of control, threatening the entire planet.

Director Zack Snyder (Dawn of the Dead, 300) proves his critics wrong, myself included, by successfully translating difficult source material into such a strong film. He's always been a talented visual stylist, so it's no surprise that by using Dave Gibbons' art as a blueprint, Snyder has quite literally and vividly brought the world of Watchmen to life, allowing fans of the graphic novel to feel like they've stepped inside them. He transforms each action scene into a slow motion ballet of carnage, and the opening credits montage that reveals the backstory is brilliantly executed. What's surprising, at least to me, is that after 300's cardboard story and woeful acting, Snyder manages to tell a compelling story with good performances. Perhaps it's simply a case of rising to the level of the material he's working with.

The screenplay by David Hayter (X-Men, X2: X-Men United) and Alex Tse (Sucker Free City), with uncredited revisions by the team of Roberto Orci & Alex Kurtzman (Transformers, Star Trek), is largely faithful to the source material except for certain events at the end, but it's really only the method by which those events occur that has been changed rather than the events and their repercussions. The story that unfolds on the screen isn't as deep as in the graphic novel, but the social commentary in Alan Moore's works have always fared better on the printed page (see the film adaptation of V for Vendetta as another example). Still, the screenwriters deserve much credit for distilling such a complex tale into a two hour and forty-two minute film without losing the essence of the story or its characters, allowing it to be enjoyed by both fans of the graphic novel and a mainstream film audience. A three hour and ten minute director's cut will eventually be released on DVD.

The contributions of cinematographer Larry Fong (Lost, 300), production designer Alex McDowell (The Crow, Fight Club), and costumer designer Michael Wilkinson (Babel, 300) are very important to realizing the story's world on the screen. Fong's bold use of color and lighting achieves the dramatic effect required, McDowell's sets convey a sense of the real world with a twist in some scenes and a sense of the fantastic in others, and Wilkinson's costumes, designed with an assist by comic book artists Adam Hughes and John Cassaday, look quite convincing on the screen. The sweeping score by Tyler Bates (The Devil's Rejects, 300) captures the changing moods of the story, punctuated by several perfect songs (some of which were actually referenced in the graphic novel). The visual effects are outstanding, but rarely drown out the human aspects of the story.

Former child actor Haley (The Bad News Bears) dominates the film with his visceral and frightening performance as Rorschach. Crudup is chillingly aloof as Doctor Manhattan, a man transformed into a cosmic being and who seems to have lost his humanity, conveying so much through body language and subtle facial expressions. Wilson is a very believable Nite Owl, while former model Akerman is respectably solid as Silk Spectre. The Comedian is a nasty piece of work who, like many such people, is also superficially charming, and Morgan captures that perfectly. Although Goode isn't a match for how Ozymandias was portrayed in the comics, he's well-suited to the role of an arrogant genius for whom the ends justify the means.

The rest of the cast is solid, including Carla Gugino as the original Silk Spectre, Matt Frewer as retired villain Moloch, Stephen McHattie as the retired original Nite Owl, Robert Wisden as President Nixon, Frank Novak as Henry Kissinger, Danny Woodburn as Big Figure, and Eli Snyder (the director's son) as a young Rorschach.

Watchmen the film lacks some of the complexity of Watchmen the graphic novel, but I suspect the former comes as close as possible to realizing the latter on screen as one could hope for. As a film, it's excellent, offering a compelling story, quality acting, incredible visuals, and a visceral experience. Highly recommended. I watched it on an IMAX screen. If you have an opportunity to see it in IMAX, I recommend it.

Note to parents: yes, I know it's based on a comic book and has costumed heroes, but Watchmen has an R rating for a very good reason. The film has graphic violence, profanity, nudity, extended sex scenes, and a violent attempted rape. Be aware of this before deciding to take your children to see it.

[4.5 stars out of 5]

I found out today that Sirenia, one of my favorite gothic/symphonic metal bands, recently released their fourth CD, The 13th Floor. Of course, since the band is based in Norway, the CD won't be released in the US until April.

Sirenia is the brainchild of former Tristania guitarist/songwriter Morten Veland, and has featured a different female lead vocalist on each CD. This time it's Pilar Giménez García aka Ailyn (so far, the band's female vocalists have hailed from France, Norway, Denmark, and now Spain).

Sirenia's first CD, 2002's At Sixes and Sevens, was their best so far. It showcased a melding of a choir and a heavy metal band, a blend of the medieval and the modern, distorted guitars alongside violins, with ethereal singing by original female vocalist Fabienne Gondamin. One of its strengths was how effortlessly it balanced sometimes growling, sometimes clean male voices (provided by Veland along with Kristian Gundersen and Jan Kenneth Barkved) with Gondamin's ethereal female voice, and rock singing by the band with choral singing by a classical choir, while the subsequent CDs have lost that balance by favoring a dominant female vocalist.

Their subsequent CDs, while still good, haven't matched the feverish brilliance of the first and have aimed for a slicker sound. The first single from the new CD continues that trend, but even at their heaviest, Veland had a knack for embedding impossibly pretty melodies into a metal structure. I'm looking forward to listening to the entire CD.

Here's their new music video from The 13th Floor, "The Path to Decay."



For contrast, here's an earlier video for "The Other Side" with third female vocalist Monika Pedersen.



And reaching further back, here's a live performance of "Meridian," one of the best songs from their first CD, although it's from after Gondamin left and was replaced by second female vocalist Henriette Bordvik. This one also has Veland supplying the male vocals.



Bordvik and Veland again on "A Shadow of Your Own Self," displaying the balance between the different voices I liked so much from the first CD.

Merry Christmas to those who celebrate it!

R.I.P., Bettie Page.

Welcome back, little yellow digital clock counting down the time!

24: Redemption is a two hour telefilm created to bridge the gap between the sixth season of 24, which aired in 2007, and the seventh season, due to begin airing in 2009. The large gap between seasons was a side effect of the writers' strike.

The concept of 24 has always been that each season takes place over a single day, with each of its twenty-four episodes covering an hour in that day. 24: Redemption takes place over a two hour time period, fitting its running time.

Three and a half years after the events of the sixth season of 24, Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) is living in the fictional African country of Sangala at a school for orphans run by his friend, former British Special Forces soldier Carl Benton (Robert Carlyle). Bauer is running from his past as a ruthless counter-terrorist agent while trying to avoid being subpoenaed to testify before the US Senate about the activities of the now disbanded Counter Terrorist Unit (the government agency he worked for during the first six seasons).

At the same time, a coup lead by Sangala’s genocidal former dictator General Juma (Tony Todd) is about to begin, and his right hand man Colonel Dubaku (Hakeem Kae-Kazim) is rounding up children to fight in Juma's militia. When Dubaku tries to kidnap the orphans at the school, it's up to Jack to save them and perhaps redeem himself.

Meanwhile, back in the United States, President-Elect Allison Taylor (Cherry Jones) is being sworn into office as America's first female President while her son Roger (Eric Lively) tries to help his friend Charles (Sean Michael), who's found himself in the middle of a conspiracy lead by the powerful Jonas Hodges (Jon Voight) to back the coup in Sangala.

The teleplay by 24 showrunner Howard Gordon (a former writer/producer for The X-Files and Angel, and creator of the short-lived Strange World) takes the show's concept and successfully applies it on a smaller, more personal level, and as a result there's a freshness to it that was lacking in the sixth season. The storyline will continue into the seventh season, with a major change to the status quo of the previous six seasons.

24's politics have always been simplistic rubbish, but that's arguably true of the action-adventure/secret agent genre as a whole, and 24's have perhaps even improved some since the show's conservative co-creator Joel Surnow is no longer involved in its production and the more liberal Gordon is now firmly in charge.

Kiefer Sutherland has been nominated for six Emmy Awards, winning one, and six Screen Actors Guild awards, winning two, for his portrayal of Jack Bauer since 2001. He continues his intense portrayal here as he allows us to see just how emotionally damaged Bauer has become by his own ruthless actions and the loss of so many of his friends and loved ones over the decade of in-story time covered by the first six seasons. He remains the always watchable star of the franchise, even when you disagree with the character's politics (or the show's) and actions. Quite simply, he's the engine that makes 24 run.

If you're not a 24 fan, 24: Redemption isn't for you and probably won't make you one. If you are, you'll enjoy it and it'll get you stoked for the upcoming seventh season beginning January 11, 2009.

Based on Neil Gaiman's novella and directed by Henry Selick (The Nightmare Before Christmas, James and the Giant Peach). A must see film for me.

Quantum of Solace - Overall, this is an entertaining sequel to Casino Royale, the 2006 reboot of the venerable James Bond film franchise.

British superspy James Bond (Daniel Craig) seeks revenge on those responsible for the death of Vesper Lynd in Casino Royale, namely the shadowy organization Quantum (similar to SPECTRE in the early films) and one of its leaders, Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric). This course of action also brings 007 into conflict with his boss M (Judi Dench) and CIA agent Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright), as Bond's mission of vengeance threatens the interests of both the American and the British governments.

Director Marc Forster (Monster's Ball, Finding Neverland) seems to be influenced by the successful Bourne films in the frenetic shooting style he uses here, and for the most part it works well for creating an exciting, action-based Bond film for the 21st century, although his overuse of ShakyCam renders some scenes confusing and hard to watch. He continues the grittier feel began in the previous film, and also includes a nice visual homage to 1964's Goldfinger in one scene. Thanks to his efficiency as a director, Quantum of Solace clocks in as the shortest Bond film on record at 106 minutes. The film also redefines the meaning of the word globetrotting.

The screenplay by Paul Haggis (Crash, Casino Royale), the team of Neal Purvis & Robert Wade (The World Is Not Enough, Die Another Day, Casino Royale), and the uncredited Forster, producer Michael G. Wilson (writer or co-writer of all five Bond films produced in the 1980s), and Joshua Zetumer results in a smart and compact action film that continues to re-build the Bond character after the Casino Royale reboot (described by some as Bond Begins) while making a 46-year-old franchise seem relevant again. The more cooly ruthless portrayal of the main character moves the franchise back toward creator Ian Fleming's novels, even as the dialogue-light, action-heavy story is thoroughly contemporary.

I recently re-watched one of the best Bond films ever, 1963's From Russia with Love, which seems almost sedentary when compared to the pace of Quantum of Solace. Pacing aside, it's nice to see the rebooted films bringing back some of the classic elements of the franchise. Casino Royale waited until the end credits to use Monty Norman's classic "James Bond Theme", while this film waits until the end credits to bring back the classic gun barrel sequence.

Cinematographer Roberto Schaefer (Monster's Ball, Finding Neverland), production designer Dennis Gassner (Field of Dreams, The Golden Compass), and costume designer Louise Frogley (Good Night, and Good Luck, Syriana) contribute high production values to the film. Schaefer's hard but stylish lighting sets the tone for the entire film, while Gassner adds to the list of memorable sets created for Bond films.

Composer David Arnold, who's worked on five straight Bond films dating back to 1997's Tomorrow Never Dies, provides a thrilling score while making appropriate use of the "James Bond Theme" (used more than in Casino Royale, but far less than in the pre-reboot films). The theme song "Another Way to Die" performed by Jack White (from the band The White Stripes) and Alicia Keys is seductively catchy, perfectly complementing the eye-catching main title sequence created by visual effects company MK12.

In his second outing as 007, Craig once again proves highly capable of playing the character and making him seem real, and shows why he's easily the best Bond since Sean Connery put away his Walther PPK. Craig's Bond is serious, driven, and a bit of an emotional wreck, but slowly we see him becoming the smooth spy we all know without losing the nuances Craig brings to the role.

Noted French actor Amalric (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly) is good as the latest Bond villain, more low-key than past villains but still a compelling character. Dench continues to be a strong presence as M, while Wright's second turn as Leiter is effective despite limited screen time.

Forster is a good director of actors and gets effective performances out of the cast as a whole, including Ukrainian model Olga Kurylenko as latest Bond girl Camille Montes, Giancarlo Giannini as retired MI6 agent René Mathis, Gemma Arterton as secondary Bond girl MI6 agent Strawberry Fields, David Harbour as CIA section chief Gregg Beam, Jesper Christensen as Quantum's Mr. White (one of the villains in the previous film), Anatole Taubman as Greene's henchman Elvis, Rory Kinnear as M's chief of staff Bill Tanner, Tim Pigott-Smith as the British Foreign Minister, Joaquín Cosio as General Medrano, Fernando Guillén Cuervo as a corrupt Bolivian police colonel, Glenn Foster as M's bodyguard Craig Mitchell, and Oona Chaplin (Charlie's granddaughter) as a hotel receptionist who catches the eye of Medrano. Noted directors Guillermo del Toro (Pan's Labyrinth) and Alfonso Cuarón (Children of Men) provide voices in several scenes.

Quantum of Solace isn't quite as good as Casino Royale, but it's still a worthy sequel and immediately ranks among the better 007 films. After 46 years and 22 films, no one still does it better than Bond, James Bond.

[4 out of 5 stars]

Happy Hallowe'en!

Happy Samhain!

I may be the last person on the planet to see this film, but better late than never.

The Dark Knight - It's rare that a film lives up to all the hype, but in the hands of director Christopher Nolan and a brilliant cast, this one does.

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The Dark Knight is a masterpiece in a genre where action and visuals are too often stronger than writing or acting. Everything about this film is high quality, and it serves as an enduring testament to the talent of the late Heath Ledger. Highly recommended.

[5 out of 5 stars]