Return of the Prodigal Son - Nilay's Back

Hello to all. It's been a busy few months - wedded in April, settling back into life and work. Thanks to John and Allen for keeping this alive (and sorry for being out of touch - been a helluva time these months). Still, here are a few one-offs, then a full review to follow.

1) Ghost Town - Gervais shows he can be funny in a sarcastic fashion (oh wait, he does that regularly). Tea Leoni is a pleasant and real character. A little Sixth Sense made romantic. On the whole, a good time: B.

2) Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen: Funny stuff, even if they don't mean to be. Megan Fox admits in an interview that "it isn't about the acting," to which Michael Bay claims to have earned Nic Cage his Oscar. Anyway, it's not about the acting. It's about lots of big machines with loud battles. Not as good as the first. Upsides: John Turturro is actually entertaining, Megan Fox does her job, Optimus Prime and Bumblebee are what they should be. Downsides - very long, Tyrese can't act, and the "Leo" character makes Jar Jar Binks lovable (There are so many times one can stand to hear a college kid "I don't want to die!"). C-, but about where you'd expect.

3) Moon : Interesting concept, though the mystery of what is happening should and could have been obscured a bit longer into the film. More than anything, an interesting look into the ways one man develops through life, as seen through the many versions of him. Probably not as good as everyone said it would be: B-.

4) Ran: The epic Kurosawa film, King Lear meets feudal Japan. Worth seeing, eventually. Plan accordingly. See his other films first, usually in the context of a film class. Does have one of the best villainesses of all time. B+.

5) Eureka: Fun series on SyFy. There's a town in the Rockies that is the center of all scientific advances of the last 100 years. No one pay for anything; the diner runs on cold fusion. And the most grounded person is the sheriff, Carter (Colin Ferguson). Things go wrong with experiments each week, usually due to scientists who run amok. The sheriff, with the help of the smartest scientist, his house that talks, the boss of the corporation who he has a thing for, and his daughter, fix the problem with simple solutions that you don't need a PhD to create.
It's actually better than that sounds. The series is pretty good about having a storyline for each season as well as each week's experiment. Fun time, though it is a SyFy show. B.

6) Oscars go to 10 Nominees: Who really cares? The choices tend to be political as the Nobels. Adding more names won't matter unless they decide the Best Picture category should be truly international as well as made of movies that are truly good, not just "worthy."

7) Benjamin Button: Interesting film; could have been a miniseries to more effect. Like so many epics like this, lots of investment in the story upfront, then zip through the last 30 minutes. Technically good; Taraji P. Henson demonstrates she has some talent again (between this and Hustle and Flow, I'm looking forward to whatever she'll be in next).

Good to be back.