Silent Hill (Film)

The most literal translation of a video game I've ever seen. Has all the cliches, down to the female characters, item use, and the main lead even has to memorize a map to get through a level. Hell, it even has end bosses. Very stylish, but no fun unless you're playing. Interesting, but I don't think a video game can be translated into a workable film. The mediums are just too different. Would love to be wrong.

The Sentinel (Film)

Well directed, but kinda generic.

Alex Rider: Stormbreaker (Book)

Picked up these series of books featuring a 14-year old James Bond-like character because I'm a sucker for spies and the first book's a movie released by end of summer. Designed for Harry Potter reading level. FInished a book a day. There is 5 books in the series with a sixth to be published as we type. Not bad. The 4th and 5th book are the most interesting of the bunch. Fast reads. Looking forward to the movie.

Thank You for Smoking (Film)

A biting black comedy, well worth seeing.

Premiere's Greatest 25 Screenplays

In the May issue of Premiere with the X-Men on the cover, they list what they consider to be the 25 greatest screenplays of all time. They are:

25. The Wizard of Oz
24. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
23. Gone with the Wind
22. The Shawshank Redemption
21. North by Northwest
20. It's a Wonderful Life
19. To Kill a Mockingbird
18. On the Waterfront
17. Tootsie
16. Pulp Fiction
15. The Apartment
14. Lawrence of Arabia
13. The Graduate
12. Dr. Stranglove: or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
11. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
10. The Godfather Part II
9. Some Like It Hot
8. Network
7. Sunset Boulevard
6. Annie Hall
5. All About Eve
4. Citizen Kane
3. Chinatown
2. The Godfather.

1. Casablanca



Interesting list and some great suggestions for movie rentals. The only one I really didn't care for was Dr. Strangelove. Perhaps I should see it again.

You and me, sitting in the aisle, Louie, this could be the start of a beautiful friendship.

Space, the final frontier... (DVD)

I've taken a little break from Cicley Alaska and decided to step into the future, or is it the past? After collecting the entire Star Trek series (with the exception of the animated series) on DVD, Paramount has decided to try and squeeze blood from a stone and repackage the show in a series of themed releases that fans helped decide which episodes should be included. The first of these was the Borg Collection. This included episodes from Next Generation and Voyager. It's been a while since I've seen some of these episodes and with the high asking price for the various series, I decided to pass on getting them, which is why these collections are perfect for me. I had great fun watching these Borg episodes and plowed through them within a week of getting them. The next collection deals with a Trek staple, time travel.

*Red Alert*

I'd like to take a moment and reflect the impact Star Trek has had on my life. While I never really followed the Classic trek television series with Captain Kirk, I saw all the movies. It was with some interest I started watching Star Trek: the Next Generation in syndication. The first two years of the show were uneven at best. I almost stopped watching the series. It was in the third year I was hooked. All told, from 1987 until 2005, for almost 20 years, Trek played a bigger part of my life then I had thought. It wasn't until it finally left the airwaves, I began to realize how much this show and its vision of the future, shaped my life and my perceptions for a better tomorrow. The show was far from perfect, but I did admire its goals, as noble as any show before and after.

*End Red Alert*

This collection of time travel episodes encompass a broad range of shows and include Kirk, Picard, Sisko, and Janeway. There are a few episodes that I felt should have been included, but weren't. I was surprised to see a duplicate episode in the Borg collection and this time travel one. They could have put something else. Overall I didn't enjoy these nearly as much as I did the Borg collection. I think it was because with the Borg, there was a unifying theme connecting all the shows. It almost felt like one long movie spanning the galaxy. And with this time travel, such a thread did not exist. There are some great shows collected here, but sadly no extras.

Set phasers on stun with me sitting in the aisle.

Northern Exposure Random Musing

One of my favorite Northern Exposure episodes had a local Indian Shaman doing some research in the small town of Cicley Alaska, the setting of the show. It turns out Native American medicine held great power in the healing properties of stories. Medicine men would often tell specific stories to their patients to help them with whatever was ailing them. These stories were very effective in helping them with their patients. This particular medicine man was in Cicely to see if western medicine had something similar. He began to interview the various citizens to find out if white people had their own healing stories.

Running parallel to this storyline was local aspiring filmmaker, and budding shaman in training, Ed Chigliak is hired to put together a film festival to rival Sundance. He was not successful and found himself lost in despair. He was not alone. The visiting shaman found no similar healing stories from the local residents. Dejected, he went to find Ed to say his goodbyes. He found Ed seeking solace in a darkened theater watching Citizen Kane. He asked Ed why he was there. Ed told him when he felt bad, he could always count on watching Citizen Kane to make him feel better. The shaman had found what he was looking for. The stories he was searching for were being projected on a silver screen or found in people's living rooms inside TV's. I always liked that way of looking at movies.

Feeling better and sitting in the aisle.