Pop Journal: Inception

Inception (MOVIE / 2010)

Inception comes from Christopher Nolan, the director of The Dark Knight and Memento. Let's get this out of the way, this movie was freaking awesome. There is so much to like in this movie it's hard to put it all in one little paragraph. If you know nothing about this movie it's about Cobb, Leonardo DiCaprio, who is an expert in invading someones dreams to steal information who is tasked with invading someones dream only instead of stealing an idea he is planting an idea. DiCaprio is surrounded by an amazing ensemble cast in this movie that straddles a lot of different genres; Heist movie, Sci-Fi, Action and Noir. As the movie is set in the dream world you would expect a lot more gimmicky things happening, but once the film hits it's stride at the end you are grasped by the different narratives being intertwined. Saying that I should warn you that near the end of the movie there are five different realties existing on screen at the same time, but things never get to the point you can't follow what is happening. The ending does leave some questions as to the true nature of what you saw and demands another viewing.

Tyler's Take: LeBron James to Miami

Last week LeBron James announced that he was going to leave the city where he was born and raise and leave to sunny Miami. Now I firmly believe that it is within LeBron's rights to leave and play basketball wherever he sees fit, but there is a right way to so these things and a wrong way. LeBron James has just forever given us an example on how not to do something.

There really is no way that I can put everyone into the shoes of the people of Cleveland and the heartbreak they just experienced. In short they had a young man who grew up in the city, or at least close to it, and rose to the level of savior when he was drafted 7 years ago. He took them to their first NBA Finals ever and it doesn't really matter then that he lost because the fans knew there was plenty of time for the titles to come. Cleveland went from the worst attendance in the NBA to selling out almost every game, heck the value of the team almost doubled in the seven years LeBron was there. Then this happened.

Imagine if you will that it's 1993 and Michael Jordan has just won his 3rd NBA title and a year removed from leading America to Gold in the Summer Olympics. Everybody loves Michael, there is nothing he can do wrong. He is on the Wheaties box and everyone is wearing his shoes. But something is different, instead of announcing his would be retirement Michael Jordan announces that he is moving to Spain and gaining citizenship there so he could play against the USA in the upcoming Olympics. It doesn't matter from here on out if this fictional Jordan would go on to Spain and have success, what matters is he left us for someone else and the day would come where we would have to face the man we idolized in another country's colors.

"People leave teams all of the time," you may say. And you'd be right. It's not the leaving that hurts, it's the goodbye. I had the opportunity to listen to "The Decision" as I was, like millions of others who watched it on ESPN, enthralled by what would happen. Mere minutes before the announcement experts were being asked what they thought would happen and many came out and said they thought he would stay because he wouldn't have gone on national television to rip out the heart of his home town. I even agreed with them, I thought that he would surprise everyone and say he was staying.

We all know that didn't happen. He was on that stage surrounded by kids and said he was leaving. He was calm, cool and collected and said all the right things. The only problem was he was saying all the right things to everyone. LeBron had just broken up with the city of Cleveland on national TV. Now we have a little over 3 months to listen to every NBA analyst talk about whether or not this will work. Personally I think it may work out and they may win some championships. I also know that I will no longer "witness" LeBron's ascension to greatness like I once did. I think that Cleveland feels the same.

Pop Journal: Predators

Predators (MOVIE / 2010)

Predators is a film that does to Predator (1987) what Aliens did to Alien, takes a thriller where you don't see much of the antagonist and follows up with a visceral action flick. And it works. It really works, in fact this movie even feels like it could have been released a few years after the original. Fortunately the makers of this film decided to match the R rating of the original, not that I didn't enjoy the PG-13 AVP films of recent years, this film shows you why you should fear these guys. Adrien Brody delivers a great performance, one you could tell he was having a lot of fun playing, and the rest of the cast works really well. There is one exception to this as Laurence Fishburne makes at best a cameo as a crazy survivor who's in the film for no more than 10 minutes it seems. For a moment I thought the ending my eschew from a true us versus them fight, but the finale delivers a great sequence and leaves this film open for a sequel of it's own. Predators stands apart from other films this summer, and as such may not make the most money but it definitely deserves some attention.

Pop Journal: Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief

Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (MOVIE / 2010)

The Lightning Thief is the first movie based on a series of "tween" books that takes ancient greek mythology and brings it to the modern day. Many things in the films universe can be seen in the Harry Potter films, in fact this film was directed by Christopher Columbus who directed the first 2 Potter films. Percy is a young man who is a misfit who comes to find out he is the son of the God Poseidon and is thrust into a fantastical journey. He is framed for stealing Zeus' Lightning Bolt and his mother is taken hostage. The story is not an original one, but you do have fun following him on his adventure. The special effects are good, not great, and there are a lot of familiar faces in the film. The film presents you with enough mythology to keep you up to speed with Percy's race to save his mother. The idea may not be an original one but I had a lot of fun watching this movie and hope that good success comes from the rentals (it did pretty bad in theaters) that we can see Percy's next adventure.

Pop Journal: The Twilight Saga: New Moon

The Twilight Saga: New Moon (MOVIE / 2009)

Yes, I just watched New Moon. Since I don't have a review up for Twilight I will kind of lump that in with this one. You see, I don't really mind these movies and that is really the best I can say about them. While watching them there is never a point that I want to stand up and get out of the room as fast as I can. In Twilight I had a couple of issues with how cheesy some of the effect were, but all of that was addressed in spades with New Moon. There are a lot of interesting things going on around Bella, but the biggest problem I have with these films is that I cannot stand her. This is all coming from the movies as I have never, and probably will never, read the books. I don't know why Jacob and Edward are swooning over her, nothing was presented to me to say "Wow, this highly emotional chick is whats I need." But in spite of her moping around the entire time I found myself intrigued by what would happen next, a tepid intrigue but nonetheless I made it through the viewings unscathed.

Pop Journal: The Box

The Box (MOVIE 2009)

Here's an interesting film from the maker of Donnie Darko (which I enjoyed) and Southland Tales (possibly the worst movie ever made) that sticks to those previous works in pacing and themes. The Box asks a lot of questions and presents you with a lot of different ideas and leaves you to take what you will from it. What did I take from it? I don't know. The cast gives good performances that make you interested in what is happening to them, but as they have no idea what is going on the same is true for you as the viewer. It does feel very similar to Donnie Darko, which was also a period film, but there is not a really big emotional payoff at the end. Yes, a sacrifice is made but it is made in response to a situation that really has no connection to the rest of the narrative. The Box is one of those movies you may enjoy if you don't need answers and want to take a mind bending ride.

Top 30 TV Shows (Live Action) FINAL

30. Frasier

29. Fringe

28. Diners, Drive-ins and Dives

27. ER

26. Iron Chef America

25. Human Giant

24. Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip

23. Monday Night Football

22. CSI:

21. Survivor

20. Seinfeld

19. Star Trek: The Next Generation

18. It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia

17. Dexter

16. Psych

15. The Office

14. Mythbusters

13. 24

12. Newsradio

11. Late Night with Conan Obrien

10. 30 Rock

9. How I Met Your Mother

8. House

7. Scrubs

6. The X-Files

5. The West Wing

4. Arrested Development

3. LOST

2. Saturday Night Live

No question. Friends has had more influence on my life than any other show out there. In the mid 90's I wore sweater vests because Chandler wore sweater vests. I would say that 50% of the in jokes I have with my family is references from Friends. Sure it got a little shaky when they focused on Joey too much at the end, but there is nothing as consistently funny to me as the 10 years of Friends.

1. Friends