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The Road, a review by Silence_of_Lambs

112 minutes were taken from my life and spent in absolute boredom.
A short-flick  of 40 minutes would have completely sufficed to transport the message "It's the end of the world as we know it" and "All hope is lost, but we're not going to accept this unto our last breath".
Come to think of it, a splash screen showing these two lines of text would have possibly been even more impressive.

For me it's even more implausible than "The Book of Eli"
Within the first 5 minutes two premises are given:
1) All plants are dead
2) All animals are dead (I just wonder what life form the dog at the end of the movie might have been then)

Since the human organism is somewhat specialized and sadly can't work if only nourished with dust and rocks this in fact only leaves two options for the survivors:
1) Die slowly
2) Die fast

The mother (Charlize Theron) picks option 2 when realizing that the battle for the remaining resources would sooner or later lead to becoming a resource.
The father picks option 1 and subsequently dies when realizing that really, as was to be expected, all hope is lost.
The kid has no chance of picking an option since all relevant decisions are made by it's parents and the first time it is given some responsibility it utterly fails.

40 minutes, really.
But as a short it would have passed even more unnoticed.

The technical aspects aren't that promising either.
Granted, it is beautifully photographed.
But what are these flashes of action sequences supposed to mean?
They are not connected to the rest of the storyline and stand out as random intermissions of external motivators.
Probably they are only there to prevent the audience from sinking into sleep too deep?

This is sad, because the cast is outstanding and they all are doing their best to work against the weakness of the script.

At least it gave me something to think about:
If really all hope is lost, which of the two options would I pick?

Avoid this under all circumstances.

My Rating: (out of possible 5)

(From Michael's random reviews on May 10th, 2012)

Spider-Man 3, a review by Tom

Spider-Man 3 (2007/United States) IMDb | Wikipedia Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (United Kingdom) Director: Sam Raimi Writing: Stan Lee (Original Material By), Steve Ditko (Original Material By), Sam Raimi (Original Material By), Ivan Raimi (Original Material By), Sam Raimi (Screenwriter), Ivan Raimi (Screenwriter), Alvin Sargent (Screenwriter) Length: 138 min. Video: Widescreen 2.40 Audio: English: Dolby TrueHD 5.1, English: PCM 5.1, Audio Descriptive: Dolby Digital 5.1, Czech: Dolby Digital 5.1, Hungarian: Dolby Digital 5.1, Russian: Dolby Digital 5.1, Polish: Dolby Digital 5.1, Commentary: Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround, Commentary: Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround Subtitles: Arabic, Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Lithuanian, Norwegian, Polish, Romanian, Slovenian, Swedish, Turkish

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Stars:
Tobey Maguire as Spider-Man/Peter Parker
Kirsten Dunst as Mary Jane Watson
James Franco as New Goblin/Harry Osborn
Thomas Haden Church as Sandman/Flint Marko
Topher Grace as Venom/Eddie Brock

Awards:
Won:

BMI Film & TV Music Awards (2008)		BMI Film Music Award (Christopher Young)
Scream Awards (2007)		Best Superhero (Tobey Maguire)

Nominated:

Annie Awards (2007)		Individual Achievment - Animated Effects (Ryan Laney)
BAFTA (2007)		Special Visual Effects (Scott Stokdyk, Peter Nofz, Spencer Cook, John Frazier)
MTV Movie Awards (2008)		Best Fight (Tobey Maguire, James Franco)
MTV Movie Awards (2008)		Best Villain (Topher Grace)
National Movie Awards (2007)		Best Family Film
Saturn (2007)		Best Direction (Sam Raimi)
Saturn (2007)		Best Fantasy Film
Saturn (2007)		Best Special Effects (Scott Stokdyk, Peter Nofz, Spencer Cook, John Frazier)
Saturn (2007)		Best Supporting Actor (James Franco)
Scream Awards (2007)		Jump form your seat Scene of the Year ("Spider Man vs. The New Goblin"
Scream Awards (2007)		Most Vile Villian (Thomas Haden Church, Topher Grace)
Scream Awards (2007)		The Ultimate Scream
Teen Choice Awards (2007)		Choice Movie - Action Adventure
Teen Choice Awards (2007)		Choice Movie Actor: Action/Adventure (Tobey Maguire)
Teen Choice Awards (2007)		Choice Movie Actress: Action/Adventure (Kirsten Dunst)
Teen Choice Awards (2007)		Choice Movie Liplock (Kirsten Dunst, Tobey Maguire)
Teen Choice Awards (2007)		Choice Movie Rumble (Tobey Maguire, James Franco, Topher Grace, Thomas Haden Church)
Teen Choice Awards (2007)		Choice Movie Villain (Topher Grace)
Teen Choice Awards (2007)		Choice Movie: Dance (Tobey Maguire)
Visual Effects Society Awards (2008)		Best Single Visual Effect of the Year (Scott Stokdyk, Terry Clotiaux, Spencer Cook, Doug Bloom (For the birth of Sandman))
Visual Effects Society Awards (2008)		Outstanding Models or Miniatures in a Motion Picture (Ian Hunter, Scott Beverly, Forest Fischer, Ray Moore (For the building/crane destruction miniature and effects))
Visual Effects Society Awards (2008)		Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects Driven Motion Picture (Scott Stokdyk, Terry Clotiaux, Peter Nofz, Spencer Cook)

Extras:

• Bonus Trailers
• Commentary
• Music Videos
• Outtakes
• Photo Gallery
• Scene Access

When the movie was first released, I was really disappointed with it. Now a few years later I thought I'd give it another chance. It is better than I remembered it being. But it has its major flaws. Biggest of which is the handling of Venom and Peter Parker's affection with the symbiont. I have the feeling it is the director's way of saying "screw you" to the studio executives who insisted to include Venom against the director's wishes.
In this movie also Gwen Stacy appears, played by Bryce Dallas Howard. I enjoyed Emma Stone's portayal of her in the new Spider-Man movie much more, though.

Rating:

(From Tom's Random Reviews on July 9th, 2012)

Psych: The Complete Fourth Season, a review by addicted2dvd

Psych: The Complete Fourth Season (2009/United States)

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Stars:Extras:

• Audio Commentary
• Bonus Trailers
• Deleted Scenes
• Featurettes
• Interviews
• Outtakes/Bloopers

I just finished season 4... the last season that was given to me for Christmas to watch. Though I do have the next season already ordered to look forward to. Needless to say... I am still hooked on the series. The set is filled with good episodes... but even so... it was once again rather easy for me to pick a favorite episode. As they brought back the character of Mr. Yang from the previous season's finale for this season's finale. Letting us know that Mr. Yang had a partner that is still out there.... a Mr. Yin! And looking ahead to season five I see they are brought back for that season finale as well. Something more to look forward to as these episodes are arguably the best episodes of the entire series.




(From Addicted2dvd's Random TV Series Watched on January 3rd, 2012)