Movie | The Avengers | Pass-ish

Self indulgent to the extreme, an hour too long and the plot is a mess. Plenty of explosions, though. I'll leave this one for the masses, I'm afraid. Somehow, it all just bores me to death. I could care less about any of the characters. Works if you hardly see any movies, are aged 10 or just like a lot of noise.

TV | Under The Dome | Pass

Where's the beef? Hopefully, no stunt cows were hurt during the filming of the intriguing pilot. We'll be back next week to check it out!

Movie | The Dictator | Pass

It's not easy making a completely tasteless comedy be actually funny. If you're easily insulted, skip this. But, if you don't mind being in the gutter for a few minutes...well, I laughed. So there have it. Maybe there's just something wrong with my sense of humor...!

Movie | The Expendables 2 | Pass-ish

As dumb or as entertaining as the last one, depending on how you felt about the original. The relentless tough-guy act is grating and yet they film these scenes with a soft lens. I'm sorry, but these guys are old and they have wrinkles. Let them, I say! That would be tough, not what this movie does. It just comes across as unintentionally comical. This cast deserves a better plot and dialogue...again. Only worth seeing if you have absolutely nothing better to do.

Movie | The Reflecting Skin | Pass-ish

Really strange movie. Can't say that I enjoyed it, but it was well done.

Movie | Upstream Color | PASS

Awesome. Slow. Mildly disturbing. Confusing. Stunning. Must see.

TV | Inside Man | PASS

Spurlock does it again! Must see television.

Movie | Swing Vote | PAss

Long, a bit formulaic and yet highly enjoyable and well worth seeing!

TV | In The Flesh | PASs

When some people saw the original Night of the Living Dead, they said that it was an intentional commentary on racism and bigotry. That may or may not have been true, but this television mini-series runs with that premise. Here, in addition to the other social issues, you can add fear of homosexuality. Excellent three-part mini series, quite well done and a must see for genre fans. Just a bit of gore and not terribly scary (other than how scary people are in general...) and I'm looking forward to Series 2!

Movie | Whip It | Pass

Slow, familiar, but not as bad as the critics said. Cute enough to rent, that's for sure.

Movie | Identity Thief | Fail

What?! How disappointing...and not funny. Such a likeable cast, too. What a waste.

Movie | The Day | Fail

Didn't work.

Movie | Blank City | Pass

Good documentary that traces the history of the No Wave film movement in New York.

Movie | Epic Movie | Fail

Waste of time, with the laughs few and far between.

Movie | Wolf Town | Fail

Dumb as a rock. It's bad when you want the wolves to eat the people.

Movie | Freaky Faron | Pass

Bad acting + bad production + interesting story = fun movie?! It was!

TV | King & Maxwell | Pass

It's okay, not bad. Could be better. Hopefully it will get better and live on. Awesome to see Ryan Hurst (Sons of Anarchy) again. He is, of course, the best part.

Movie | The King Is Dead! | PAss

Good movie about a young coupe dealing with horrible neighbors. Some violence and quite a few really funny moments. Rolk de Heer also did the fascinating Bad Boy Bubby. This movie is basically a reverse of that movie. In Bubby, things start bad and get better, King is the more typical reverse. Recommended!

Movie | The Wraith | PAss

Pure 80s razzmatazz...delightful! Fun to see the cars, the clothes, the music and the oh-so-young cast of cool actors.

TV | Utopia | PASSPASSPASSPASS

Amazing new British television show. Violent conspiracy theory-type show. Love it!

Same guy that did Pulling, which I didn't like. This is nothing like that.

Update: Mind-bendingly BRILLIANT! Sort of a Breaking Bad meets X-Files. Massively recommended. There had better be a second series or I'm going to be very angry! My new favorite show.

Movie | Universal Soldier: The Return | Fail

Unwatchable.

Movie | Teknolust | Pass-ish

I didn't like this very much, despite the William Gibson/David Cronenberg cyberpunk-sexual-esque theme. That can be mildly interesting, sort of, but not here. The pace was a snoozer, the production poor and Swinton was just odd. Even the music wasn't very compelling.

Movie | The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra | Pass-ish

Cute concept (spoof of 50s sci-fi) that gets tiresome quick.

Movie | 16 Blocks | Pass

Fun thriller about a cop who has to transport a witness 16 New York blocks. Mos Def was fantastic and Willis does his shtick.

Movie | Cat Run | Fail

Movie | Gaslight | Pass

Movie | Dead Noon | FAIL

Sadly, this was a horrible failure. Just unwatchable. Which is too bad, because there are Twisterns out there that are marvelous. Just not this one.

Movie | Liberal Arts | Fail

Okay, I'll admit that we only made it through the first 45 minutes of this waste of time. So maybe the rest is a knockout. But, man, was that first 45 minutes a snoozefest. Why do movies like this even get made?

Movie | Samurai Avenger: The Blind Wolf | Pass

This is a very low-budget affair, that's basically Lone Wolf and Cub set in modern times, but it's a Western. With samurai. I know, nuts, huh?!?

If that catches your fancy, then this is not a bad way to spend an hour and a half. Despite some slightly shaky acting and a narrator that doesn't do much other than irritate, the story is interesting, the action is good and the cinematography is excellent.

The martial arts are nothing to write home about. It appears that they might know a thing or two about handling a sword, then they go and do something stupid. Some gore, mild nudity, language, violence is certainly present but not too bad (I fast forwarded through one part). Overall, this is a fun twisted Western and a must see for sub-genre fans. All others need not apply.

Movie | Once Upon A Time In The West | PAss

Geez, this thing is long. Amazing, beautiful and...boring. Still, for a three hour movie, it kept my attention and I watched it from start to finish. That says a lot.

Movie | Ruby Sparks | PAss

Recommended! Dano is as marvelous as ever, the script is brilliant and the production top notch.

Movie | Gallowwalkers | Fail & PAss

Also known as Gallowwalker.

If you're a hardcore Twistern fan like me, then this Matrix-like horror-Western is a must see. It's got some really grotesque stuff going on, the cinematography is incredible and everything about it screams "perfect sub-genre"!

But, "normal" folks are gonna hate it and they clearly got a super deal on ridiculous wigs.

I loved it.

Movie | Tell No One | PAss

Fabulous French thriller somewhat like The Fugitive. Somewhat slow to get rolling, but definitely see it.

Movie | The Giant Mechanical Man | Pass

Not great, really slow, but at least we cared about the characters. Fischer is so likeable. Topher is not, but he's supposed to be that way in this film so I suppose that's...good?

Movie | Splinterheads | Fail

Boring.

Movie | Paper Man | Fail

Boring.