Australia 2008 (PG-13)

Australia 2008 (PG-13)

Australia

Australia

 

Australia **** A long  movie.  Really two  movies in one.  The first half  concerns cattle-ranching,  the second half the approach of War.  Editing could have been tighter especially between the halves.  My favorite performance by  Hugh Jackman; Nicole  Kidman, no so  much.  Looked beautiful on Blu-ray.

Frequency 2000 (PG-13)

Frequency 2000 (PG-13)

Frequency ***.  I like the premise of the movie.  A shift in time allows a son to speak to his Dad just before the Dad dies in a fire fighter accident.  The story that develops regarding a serial killer didn’t really engage me however but the ending was satisfying though a bit confusing.

The Departed 2006 (R)

The Departed 2006 (R)

The  Departed ***** NFK.  Lots of graphic blowing out of the brains.  Two and a half hour movie.  Incredible story with twists and turns that actually seem plausible.  Second time I’ve watched it and I forgot how it ended!  Incredible ending.  Interesting to see two big stars like DeCaprio and Damon especially when they finally share the screen at the end.  They both put in great performances upstaging Nicholson in my opinion.

Munich 2005 (R)

Munich 2005 (R)

Munich ** NFK. This is a long movie. About 2:45.  It really wasn’t that  suspenseful and I didn’t feel that connected to any of the characters including the main character played by Eric Bana.  It seemed very drawn out.  Early look at Daniel Craig.

A History of Violence 2005 (R)

A History of Violence 2005 (R)

 A History of Violence. *** NFK.  Graphic violence.  Very hot graphic sex scenes.  It runs for about an hour and a half and it seemed to end a bit abruptly. Don’t know about Viggo Mortensen as an actor but another guy that looks great playing a bad ass hero.  Great short fight scenes.  Maria Bello looked great. I recognized her from TV’s ER.  I enjoyed the movie.

Atonement 2007 (R)

Atonement 2007 (R)

Atonement. ***  NFK.  An artsy film.  It was filmed beautifully.  I liked the beginning but when it fast forwarded, I didn’t really get into it that much.  It wasn’t my favorite performance by Keira Knightley.

Open Range 2003 (R)

Open Range 2003 (R)

Open Range. **** This is my second time to watch it.  I loved the performances of Robert Duval, Annette Benning and yes even Kevin Costner.  I know Kevin isn’t  a great actor but he looks good playing the part. I liked the story. It reminded me of one of my favorite westerns El Dorado  ( Rio Bravio).   I little violent with a good ending.

How NOT to handle an HTTP 404 error

How NOT to handle an HTTP 404 error

 Watchmen Movie Pack
What a fiasco. This morning I opened my Watchmen Movie Pack that I picked up at Best Buy. Inside was a card with a code and instructions to visit this website which immediately asked me for my credit card number! What? Is this a scam?  It sure looked like it.  There was no reason they needed my credit card number and no indication what this site was.  I was pissed. Why did the packaging at Best Buy not warn me I would need to provide a credit card number?  I was so mad I called the manager at the Best Buy store and I also spoke to XBOX Live support (the movie pack was a cross promotion for XBOX Live).  I actually even filed a complaint with the FTC.  I thought I was doing my part being a good citizen.

As it turned out, I spelled the url wrong ..\watchman instead of ..\watchmen.

The website was directing the request to the unexisting page to their home page.  First, who puts a request for a credit card on their home page with NO explanation?  That’s their first mistake. And obviously, handling an HTTP 404 response by redirecting to a page that asks for a credit card number is their obvious mistake. Surely, I’m not the first person to make this innocent mistake.