I had the chance to watch "The Golden Compass" and find out for myself: 1. If it was any good as a fantasy flick, and 2. What all the controversy is about. If you haven't read the books, you're in good company. I haven't either. Not because of any desire to avoid a book that may reflect philosophy counter to my own, but because I generally do not enjoy stories where children are the main characters and are empowered to the point of making all adults look like idiots. It was cool, of course, when I was a kid, but it doesn't do anything for me now. I should first say that my review is based only on the theatrical film. I have not read any of the books in the series, so I will not be reviewing this based on how it compares to Philip Pullman's book or where the story is going after this film. (My understanding is that the controversy increases in the second and third books of this trilogy.) I'll wait and judge each of those films on their own me...

I saw an interesting photo-shopped version of a well-known painting of Jesus, where the photo-shopper inserted Superman into the picture so that Jesus was hugging him and welcoming him to heaven. So, is Superman a believer in Christ? Well, let's start out by saying this is a pretty dumb question. Superman is obviously fictional. Jesus didn't die to pay for Superman's sins. Jesus doesn't love Superman either. Superman is fictional. But through the years, even in the hands of various writers, Clark Kent was clearly raised in a "Christian" environment. (For one example you can read the trade paperback "A Superman For All Seasons".) And although the issue number doesn't come to mind, I distinctly remember Martha Kent commenting that she and Jonathan had raised Clark using the Bible as a moral center-point. But more than any of that, I'll tell you what I liked about that picture. We think of Superman as being the ultimate representati...

Last night I started feeling an itch to play "Doom: The Board Game" again. If you haven't played this game, but enjoy "questing" boardgames, then you might really like it. Fantasy Flight Games released this gem about two years before "Descent" and used the same game mechanics, although in an unpolished form. One player controls all the aliens that appear on the board and one or more other players control individual marines. The game story is set on the planet Mars, where scientists have been studying a dimensional doorway they've discovered. But, as these things typically do, everything goes wrong. The dimensional rift is opened and evil creatures invade our dimension, killing everything they see. Like all Fantasy Flight games, the board pieces, tiles, tokens, and figures are wonderfully detailed and help create the atmosphere of dark action and alien horror intended for players to enjoy. At a game convention I attended over a year a...

Part of the "Grindhouse" double feature, this film by Quentin Tarantino ALMOST stars Kurt Russell. Despite getting top billing for the movie, Russell appears on screen far too little to save this movie from being the usual dialogue heavy mess of pointless chatter that I've come to expect from this director. The novelty of recreating a B-movie from the double feature days of cinema wasn't enough to keep me from fast-forwarding a lot, either. I simply didn't care about the drug/sex/shallow-relationship conversation topics that ran rampant through every scene. My interest was in Russell's character. When he did appear on screen, Russell was fantastic. He's a bad guy that you love to... well, love to love. At least for me. His charm and wit sweep you along into having fun right next to him. At least for a few minutes until you once again become bored and fast-forward through the meaningless dialogue in the rest of the film. The crash sequences we...

Partially master-minded by Bruce Timm, the man who brought us all things "DC Animated" since the 90's "Batman: The Animated Series", this film should have been better than it was. The animation was not much better (if at all) than the Justice League or Superman animated tv shows, and I've enjoyed multi-episode story arcs from both shows more than I enjoyed this film. Although the aim was to re-tell the classic story of Superman's death and return, the script strayed too far from the source material to bring any of the magic of the comic book to life. Now, I'm a reasonable comic book fan. The cast of characters in the comic book story was FAR too big to include here. And they must have felt they didn't have time to do the "Reign of the Supermen" story. In it's place, we have a pretty uncreative story of Lex Luthor creating a clone of Superman to do his bidding in the absence of the real McCoy. But even a nod to the Eradi...

Last Saturday night the Sci-fi channel premiered "Highlander: The Source". Although "sci-fi original movies" are usually terrible, this one was not produced directly by the sci-fi channel, and so does not bear the same curse as classics like Frankenfish, Mansquito and Megasnake. This latest film in the Highlander franchise takes place in the near future and follows Duncan Mcleod and several other characters on a quest to discover the source of the immortals powers. For those fearing a repeat of the mistakes made in Highlander 2, be not afraid! Brett Leonard directs this direct to TV/DVD release and delivers a great product in several respects. First of all, the film has a unique visual style that constantly reminds the viewer that they are entering a realm of mystery and power. Leonard uses filming techniques that rely more on creativity than flashy effects, although the movie still has a few of those. The sword fights are not the lavish, epic affairs t...

Although I'm not a huge Marvel Comics fan, I am a huge superhero fan, and so it was only a matter of time before I picked up a copy of Marvel's latest animated feature film, "Doctor Strange". Like it's three predecessors, the animation in this film was fantastic, and the visual design remarkable. After watching this film, I felt a strong desire to play some more "Marvel: Ultimate Alliance" and to swap Doctor Strange into my team. The score was a great compliment and the musical "theme" during the opening credits felt very appropriate, if slightly derivative of Danny Elfman. The voice acting was also very well and done. The weaker point for this film, in my opinion, is the amount of time spent on the origin of Doctor Strange. The film is essentially just his origin story, and not until the very end do we see a glimpse of the real power that we know Strange has in the comics. So if you're looking for a Doc Strange film where he...

I never made it completely through the terrible 1980's "Queen" rocked-out movie, but when I heard that the Sci-fi channel was making a series based on the classic sci-fi character, I waited anxiously for the pilot to air. Eric Johnson, whom many will recognize from "Smallville", takes on the role of our hero. "Flash" is a noble, self-sacrificing character; A small-town hero thrown into a galaxy-wide conflict. Some nice bits of humanity have been introduced to the character in the pilot that made me pleased to see he was being taken seriously and treated like a real person. Real human drama can be a great ingredient for wild, imaginative sci-fi. In the end, however, the pilot proved to be just... okay. Special effects were not up to par with sci-fi's hit, "Battlestar Galactica", and the alien costumes were certainly no match for what was common on "Farscape". The acting was also stale (the alien princess) and at times an...

If you need a quick sword (and sorcery) flick fix, go grab the just released DVD, Pathfinder. Otherwise, wait until it plays on the sci-fi channel some night. Starring Karl Urban, from The Lord of The Rings trilogy, this movie combines Viking Warriors with Native American mysticism, resulting in a concept that's interesting, although not fully executed, in my opinion. Urban does a decent job, although he doesn't have much to work with. Clancy Brown of "Highlander" fame almost reprises his role as the Kurgan (evil immortal from the first Highlander film), but not enough to make his character very gripping. The battles are interesting enough and the special effects okay, but it could have used a significantly better score and more dynamic filming style to give it the energy it needed. It's not much longer than 90 minutes, but still feels a little longer than it should be. Don't let anyone tell you this is a bad movie by any stretch. Conan fans sho...

You may have not heard of this movie. It's distributed through "Fox Searchlight", which usually showcases independent films. But there's nothing "indie" about the production value on this flick. Great actors, sets and special effects, although this isn't a summer CGI filled popcorn flick. The sun is dying, and 8 astronauts are sent on a mission to re-ignite it. Many elements of this film are nothing boldly new. You may be reminded of "Mission to Mars", or "Red Planet" a few times, but it's not so blatant to make the movie un-enjoyable by any stretch. It's a sci-fi suspense thriller, with some possible supernatural elements, although the audience is asked to decide that on their own. If you enjoyed "Event Horizon", but don't wish to be scarred that horrifically ever again, you'll really enjoy "Sunshine". Cilian Murphy (28 Days Later, Batman Begins) and Chris Evans (Fantastic Four, Cellul...

I'm not what you'd call a "Harry Potter Fan". I've read three of the books now, because my sister is a nut for Harry Potter and has somehow cornered me into developing a mild interest in the books. The first 3 movies did nothing for me, although I'll eventually buy all of them on DVD as a more tolerable alternative to "Shark Boy and Lava Girl" for our future kids. I generally don't enjoy stories where adults are idiots and children are the only ones empowered to save the day. Don't get me wrong, I LOVED those kinds of stories when I was a kid, but as an adult they don't fly with me. However, as the characters in the books and actors in the films have gotten a little older, I've been able to enjoy the stories a little more each time. It also helps that each book seems to get a little darker than the one before it. At the end of "Goblet of Fire", we were finally treated to a wizarding duel where the threat of dea...

I just finished playing through this game for the 4th time last night and the replay value is just insane! This game is an action RPG made by the same company that developed Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance and the Champions of Norrath games. Like those games, you have a bird's eye view of the action with an adjustable camera. There are always two heroes on each level. You have the choice of having a live second player or having the second hero AI controlled. (And the AI is pretty good, too!) Although you don't have a choice of what heroes to play until later in the game, you'll play using the core JLAers: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter, Flash, Green Lantern(John Stewart), and Zatanna (I would have preferred Dr. Fate). As you progress, you can unlock Hawkgirl, GLs Kyle Rayner and Hal Jordan, Jay Garrick, Walter West, Green Arrow, Aquaman and Huntress, in addition to new costumes for the existing heroes! Throughou...

The comic book event of the summer has arrived! If you think that the events of a Green Lantern special event won't have significance for the rest of the DC universe, think again. Sinestro, former GL and current renegade psychopath, has regained his yellow ring counterpart to Green Lantern technology, and made duplicates of it to form his own evil "Sinestro Corps". In direct philosophical opposition to the Green Lantern Corps, the Sinestro Corps exists to create order through fear. For this terrifying task, Sinestro has recruited evil and disturbed aliens from across the universe and already the GL casualties number in the dozens. So why does this event have any significance for the rest of the DC universe? Because Sinestro has recruited villains (and even one HERO!) that are among the most powerful characters in the DC universe. And not just GL villains, but major players in the DC Universe. The writing is spectacular and gripping, and t...

After seeing the first Fantastic Four film, I remember telling people it was "fun". Not too serious, but certainly not silly throughout. It had some good moments and was definitely worth seeing despite a little "family-friendly" goofiness. Even that was forgivable, since the Fantastic Four is one of the few superhero teams rooted in a literal family. The trailers for the sequel seemed to promise a darker film with higher stakes and incredible action. Don't get your hopes up. I saw the film last week and was not at all impressed. This film clocked in at 89 minutes, and it's easy to see that all the stretching (no pun intended) was done at the beginning.There is very little action in the first 30 minutes of the film, the characters are as 1-dimensional as they were in the first film and the script was terrible. Sometimes the actors almost seemed to struggle through cheesy dialogue, desperately trying to make artistic choices that made sense in ...

The Matrix Trilogy is, in one of it's primary layers, a six-hour discourse on the subject of predestination. The idea that choice does not begin with our conscious decision, but with events creating factors for making our decisions that are completely out of our control. The brothers suggest in the film that choice, if we have the ability to choose, is a mechanic that exists only within the confines of destiny. We can only choose from the options available to us. And the options available to us exist because of factors that we did not bring about. For example: If I choose to drink a glass of water, it is probably because I am thirsty. But let's go deeper into why I might have made that choice, and see if the choice begins with me, or with something I had no control over. I'm thirsty because it's been awhile since I last had water. I may have been busy(something I could control), forgotten(something I can't), or not known where to get water(I cannot con...

Just saw this movie this afternoon. Like Shawn Of The Dead, this film combines action, drama, comedy and a few scares with incredible skill. Stupid humor suddenly makes way for gripping scares. Bad boy action moves aside smoothly for real human drama. The juxtaposed elements are what make this film so unpredictable. The ending had some great turns and surprises as well. It's clear that these guys know action movie pop culture and they play to that strength with great results. With over-done action cuts they turn mundane behavior, like pouring a couple beers, into an intense, fast-moving sequence that puts a smile on your face. I'd love to see what these film-makers can do when they have a really hefty budget to work with. As a straight-up action film, you won't see any effects or stunt sequences that will blow your mind or even make you terribly excited. But if you've seen a lot of action movies, you will really enjoy the way they reference the "f...