Conviciton (2010– 107 mins) H.Swank,  S. Rockwell, M. Driver

Conviction is the true story of a single mother,Betty Anne Waters (Swank) who goes to law school in order to take up the cause of proving her brother innocent of a murder he was convicted of committing. It’s based on a true story so it certainly has a sense of heart warming truth to it. However, and I am not sure if it’s b/c of how it all went down in real life or flaws in the screen play/direction but I had some problems with the story/film, of which I will get to in a few moments. First a bit more on the story. Sam Rockwell plays Kenny Waters, the man accused and convicted of the brutal murder of a woman. Kenny is not a saint by any streatch, he has some history of troubles with the law and generally isn’t a great person. The movie shows this pretty well, but what it shows more is how close the siblings are to one another. A credit to the filmakes are that the movie doesn’t center on the trial, or how he got convicted as much, nor does it center too much on the getting Swank’s character through law school. What it does center on is the relationship of Betty Anne and Kenny. How they have always been amazingly close and have always taken up for one another in life. Rockwell does an amazing job of portraying Kenny’s state of mind during the years after the conviction. The personification of the emotional roller coaster ride he went on. From the highs and the lows to the point of almost giving up, Rockwell shows this with excellence.

There are two things I didn’t like about the portayal of Kenny by the movie though. First, we never once hear him say he is innocent. I kept waiting for the constant proclamation of his innocense. If I was thrown in jail for ANYTHING I didn’t do, let alone a murder, I would let everyone I knew know constantly “I didn’t do it!” The other thing I didn’t like, is they over do the fact that Kenny is just completely unlikeable. We just can’t 100% get onboard behind him because it is beat into our heads that he is a failry despicable person. The 2nd part I can deal with. Some people just aren’t all that likeable, no matter how innocent they may be they still might not be 100% likeable. Sure no prob, BUT, what I cannot deal with is the non-declaration of innocense. So wheather this is b/c the director/screen writers left it out by accident or if they were just trying to leave some semblence of doubt in our minds, I still view this as a big flaw in the story. Yet, I did find the movie entertaining, and likeable and think it’s a good story, up there with the heart warming tales like “Erin Brockovich” without the corney love story thrown in for effect.

Verdict—> A good movie that I think most people will like, even with a few movie making, or plot flaws. It’s very well acted and you just can’t help but like a good true to life story with a heart-warming touch and ending. Pick it up when you can. It’s not a courtroom drama

Faster (2010-98 mins) Dwayne Johnson, Billy Bob Thornton

Dwayne Johnson is “The Driver”, an ex-con hell bent on revenge for getting double crossed after a job and the murder of his brother. On the other side of it is a detective who is nearing retirement (Thornton), another hot shot detective out to solve the new and possibly old cases (C. Gugino), not to mention the mysterious, hot shot assassin out tokill the Driver for one last job. It’s kind of one of those rediculous to believe action type movies, in the vein of a lighter “Shoot em up”. Not quite the level of that action but the rediculous unbelieveable at parts end. It’s a real bad movie, but I have to admit I did like it quite a bit. It’s just fun to see Johnson on the screen pissed and kicking ass. It doesn’t break much ground and no twists you don’t see coming but like I said it’s fun and likeable for the testosterone crowd. Most women won’t like it b/c the story blows, way too many plot holes and unanswered questions, but eh who cares it’s just a fairly fast pased kick ass revenge flick. What’s also a bit to be desired is Johnson has very few lines and tries to keep it as bad-ass and mysterious which is more laughable then scary.

Verdict—> Guys will like it girls (unless they just love Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson) won’t. Poker night for the guys our hanging out for a testoserone night then grab it. Other then that prolly not. Not anything special you will like wi

The Switch (2010– 101 mins) J. Aniston, J. Bateman

In The Switch we get the usual platonic friends whom one of them really likes the other more then the other might. We get the usual guy is really in love with his female best friend. It kinda goes back to what Harry (Billy Crystal) famously said, “Women have male friends, guys have women we haven’t slept with yet.” The rub here is that Anison’s Kassie, is feeling like she won’t ever find “Mr. Right” (I’m right over here Jennifer BTW), so she decides to get artificially inseminated. In a drunken fiasco Bateman’s Wally accidentally washes the donor’s sperm down the sink and then replaces the sample with his own. Upon meeting up with Kassie a number of years later he notices some similarities with her son and himself. (No spoilers here you can get all of this info from the trailer)

It’s hard to describe this movie fully. It’s billed as a romance/comedy/drama which is a hard thing to really pull off well. This movie doesn’t pull it off either. I think they try and throw 3 labels on it b/c it’s not good at any one of them. The Switch is more of a feel good-ish drama with a few laughs and romance elements to it. The film suffers for a few reasons. First Wally is annoying as hell. Sure, it’s his character in a way, and we try and like him and get there at times, but then he falls back into the annoying as hell place. Second we get another one of my pt peeves in the other object of Kassie’s affection not being a bad person. The movie wants to get us to root for Wally over the other man,Roland (Patrick Wilson) but does so hoping we will just because it says so. He’s not a jerk to the son, or to Kassie so they just want us to say hey Bateman is the star so like him! It also starts off VERRRYY SSSSLLLLOOOOWWWW. The movie doesn’t start to get interesting until Kassie comes back and has a kid and it takes a bit to get there. I will say that Thomas Robinson who plays Aniston’s son Sebastian is cute and excellent in the role, and almost makes the movie worth watching for himself. Almost. I can’t say it’s bad b/c it is slightly enjoyable but I am sure I would have gotten a bit bored if I wasn’t at work while watching it.

Verdict—> You will feel a bit good at the end b/c it’s a decent feel good movie but you will come away wanting more out of this movie. I can’t say it’s a MUST see at all, in fact it’s quite dismiss-able, but if there is nothing you feel like seeing and like Aniston and Bateman you might enjoy it. It left something to be desired after I saw it. A feel good romantic/comedy/drama which isn’t all that funny and isn’t overly dramatic.

I was listening to one of the most recent episodes of the great podcast “The Instance”, when Turpster, “Dills” and Scott all seemed to have differing opinions on the idea of PVP in MMOs. A caller said he made a character on a PVP server b/c a friend played there. However, he has since grown sick and tired of being quickly killed by players who are 20 to 50 levels (or more) higher then him while he just goes about his business. Scott had agreed that this kinda sucks and had mentioned an idea that PVP servers should allow people to only attack other players within 5 levels of themselves. While I agree 100% and think it’s a good start (more on my take in a minute), Dills and Turpster both basically feel that you are already on a PVP server by choice and it should continue to stay run alone at your own risk no matter the level.

Dills also went on to make an excellent point that when this happens it creates more large scale PVP. The basic idea is that you then tell a guildie or friend that you are being ganked (pestered) by these higher ups and then a group of higher levels comes with the cavalry to bail you out and dish out some revenge on the guilty party. This in turn, brings their friends and then “IT’S ON!”. While in theory I agree with this idea being fun, who has time for this? Who can rile up the troops every time they are ganked and wait around just to get one ass-hat off your back? Not me that’s for sure. I generally have a few hours at any one time to play, and I don’t want to spend what little time every night getting safe or even with one jerk with a superiority complex, just to get a couple of quests done. The only people who can are teenagers , college kids and the unemployed who all have limitless amounts of time to enjoy this never ending stream of chase the mouse once a jerk comes around. And believe me there are a TON of them.

To me, I take my PVP on my terms. I will flag myself on my PVE realm when large battles break out, such as open world fights, or even if the opposite faction is invading/raiding one of our capital cities to take out the city’s leader. To me, THIS is the true epic PVP. People fighting everywhere and bodies strewn about. PVP is NOT the bored 12 year old with a level 85 who wants to go stalk level 15’s b/c he got his homework done and is bored on a rainy day. They should definitely do something about this action b/c it takes away from a great game. And when you alienate a sub-sect of your player base you run the risk of losing subscriptions. Is it likely to happen? Nah, not in the least. Not while there are tons of PVE realm options out there. And you know what? I am fine with that. I am fine with being in my safe haven of PVE realms on all MMOs that I play. I don’t play on any PVP realms on any games b/c of the reasons I mentioned above. It’s just NOT FUN to spend the majority of your free time running back to your corpse b/c someone is bored. Let the kids and unemployed waste all their time doing so. When I spend precious time playing a game I love (say WoW or RIFT), I want to spend that time PLAYING, not being frustrated or wasting that time.

I won’t speak ill of Turpster or Dills’ opinions on the matter b/c they both made great points, and both seemed to understand completely the frustrations some people might have with PVP realms. It’s well spoken points and counter points, and understanding of all angles which makes these two GREAT additions to the podcast and great replacements for the recently departed (b/c of a new job) Randy. Hard shoes to fill of course, but these are two great choices. Besides, I am one who thinks The Turpster should be on every single podcast I listen to, the guy is just fricking hilarious.

So until next time peeps remember…. The Instance rocks and is still the best gaming podcast out there and well…. PVP SERVERS STILL SUCK

Happy Monday GeekJock readers, today we focus not on just one topic but a smattering of potporri to get us going… From NCAA to 38 studios to the Hurricanes I will give you a few things to think about this fine damn pollen filled monday!

When I last covered them, the Canes were sitting in the 7th/8th range and were in control of their own destiny for the most part. But that was 2 and 1/2 weeks ago. Since then they went on a wonderfuly brutal streak losing 4 of 5, dropping games to teams they really should have beatten in Atl, Toronto, and Columbus. On the other hand the Rangers and Sabres have been beating the hell out of just about everyone and both have some distance between them and the Canes. So the Rangers sit in 7th, 6 points in front of the canes (Canes with 1 game in hand), and the Sabres are 3 points in front of the Canes with them both having the same number of games left. Since the Rangers are so out in front of them right now I will only break down the games remainging for the Canes and Sabres.

So with 10 games left here is how it shakes out.

Canes 10 games left  6 home (OTT, TBX 2, MTL, Buff,Det)   4 away (TB,Was,NYI, ATL)

Buffalo 10 games left 5 home (Fla, NJ, NYR, TB, Philly)   5 away(Mon, Tor, Was,Car,Col)

So it breaks down that the Sabres have the slightly easier schedule left down the stretch. Even with the extra home game the Canes have quite the uphill climb here. I am not one to shy away from my predicions and change them at all, so I will stand by it and say the Canes in dramatic fashion will finish in 8th but it’s now going to take a minor miracle to do so. So either I am right or I save some cash on playoff tickets, sounds kinda win win for me.

NCAA Tourney

Yes the 2nd most wonderful time of the year is upon us with March Madness in full swing. I love doing bracketts but alas I am admittedly terrible at it. With the sweet 16 here I have 8 of the 16 teams correct and 3 of my Elite Eight already gone and 3 of my final 4 still alive. It’s looking like Kansas will have the cake walk to the final 4 and the Tar Heels are destined to clash with Ohio St this weekend. Pitt crushed a ton of peoples brackets with the loss, but you cannot fault the ref’s for the foul call when it was about the most obvious call in the world. Can’t fault the player for playing hard but you can fault the coach for not letting his players know DON’T FOUL!!!!! Either way another Big East team bit the dust and the screamings of OVERRATED! can be heard for miles. My assanine habit of going with my heart hurt me as usual when St. John’s put up a complete GOOSE EGG and got tossed in the first round to Gonzaga. I didn’t really go out on any limbs this year with my final four picks taking Kansas, Ohio St., UConn, and Pitt, with Kansas beating Ohio St for the title. My Tar Heels will hopefully give the Buckeyes a run for their money if they can get by Marquette this week but I don’t know if they have the overall game right now to beat them. I will be happy with an Elite Eight showing in a season that they were hardly supposed to get to the big dance anyway. This team manages to stay together and they will have a legit shot at a title in the next 3 years.

All in All this will be a much more exciting Tourney then last year when the committee all but handed DOOK the title, with the worst seeding and layouts I have ever seen. All of us with normal minds and sound bodies will be rooting like hell that the Rat’s, DOOK squad throws up their own goose egg ASAP, but CBS just loves them and they seem to get the majority of the calls in every game…  being the Rat does have it’s privleges I guess.

38 Studios

At PAX East last week, Curt Schilling’s dream team unveilled a trailer and some gameplay footage of the single player RPG Kingdoms of Amalur:Reckoning. The trailor looks great, as they almost always do, but as most trailors go they show no gameplay fottage at all. There is a couple of videos up on youtube of the presentation with some gameplay. The game breaks down into a mixture of Oblivion mixed with some looting of Diablo. Not a bad combo at all, but not breaking any new ground at all either. There seems to be some UI tweaks and improvements over some of the genre staples and that should be good as well. What I can say is, it will be a game I will love to play but right now with the info out there, it’s not a game I simply am jonesing to get my hands on. Sure it will be good and be fun but it’s not crazy awe inducing game that we must have at this moment. (Unlike Diablo 3 which, if we don’t get in 2011 I might lose all faith in Blizzard but that’s a post for another day entirely).

The other thing that was missing as usual from 38 Studios announcements was any furthur info on Copernicus, the world blowing MMO that is based in the same Kingdom of Amalur from the single player RPG. I am a huge fan of Schilling’s vision, R.A. Salvatore’s writing, and Todd McFarlane’s art styles, so I am wanting them to release this game before my kids graduate high school (my daughter is 7 so that gives you an idea of my annoyance and egaggeration here) but they have been so hush hush about it all it makes you wonder how much they have even started. Do they have any of it done? Are they waiting on some feedback and revenue from the RPG to do anything further? Or are they just really wanting to pick their moment to shine and make the huge splash in the industry. This trailer (seen below) is a good start but I want more from 38 studios, I expect more as well. Let’s step up the info train a notch boys!!!!

Now enjoy the cinematical trailer! (Thanks to machinima for getting it on youtube).

Well Vegas is over… for a day or two now and my lord I am still recovering from the amount of beverages that were consumed in the few days span. Well, we got our asses kicked in the Ice Hockey tournament we played in so hey might as well decide to drown our sorrows in sin city right?  I don’t exactly want to make any excuses but when you are a pretty casual beer league team with some talent here and there but nothing major (and 99% of our team 35+), and when you start the tourney off vs a team with 3 guys who are 21 and just got finished playing major junior hockey… Yeah you are pretty much screwed. Most of the years the tourney director is top notch at setting up divisions, but that was not so this year. Two of the the four teams in our division were of that caliber and we were basically out of the tourney after 24 hours of being in Vegas and it was the first time in the 8 years going we finished 0-3.

So long story short we ended up having a nice long weekend of cutting up gambling and oh yeah, taking in some alcohol. Good times were had by all and no jail stays or tickets and not TOO MUCH money was lost so success anyway I would say.

When I was in Vegas while watching one of the ACC tournament games I was amazed at a commercial I saw for Arkham City. The game isn’t even out for seven months or so and they are showing off an amazing trailer for it with great game play. I found it on gamespot as well so if you haven’t seen it enjoy. The only downsides I can find are; 1. This isn’t out until October GRRRRR, AND I read a quote that says this is the last time that Mark Hamill will be voicing The Joker for anything, and that is a real shame. Bring on the game I can’t wait any more for it!!!!

Anyone else have a strange crush on Harley Quinn?  Just saying…..

The GeekJock will be MIA for a few days this weekend, but fret NOT! I shall be back next week.

This week is our annual treck to Vegas for the Vegas Hockey Classic we play in each March. It’s a  great time of beer, gambling, food oh yeah and some ICE HOCKEY. I will hopefully be able to round up some pictures from one of the guys cameras as Mrs GeekJock is staying home this year.

So enjoy your weekend and make sure to watch the ACC tourney and root for the HEELS b/c I am sure to have some money riding on a few of those game!

Last week I posted the cool video of Felicia Day on Fallon and the awesome announcement of the Dragon Age:Redemption web series. Today Day Tweeted the link to her interview and short spot on G4 TV’s X-Play. Doesn’t get much better then having Morgan Webb narrate an interview with Felicia Day. Geek Godess nirvanna at it’s best! I have been trying to track down as much information as possible about the project (first installment due out likely late this summer) so I can make some informed judgement/predictions. I stumbled uppon this plot point from a Game Informer article.

The series was co-produced, written by, and stars nerd-culture darling Felicia Day, who created the story based on her character Tallis, an elven assassin. And since Tallis is being played by Day, she’s sarcastic and headstrong. As USA Today reports, Tallis is on a quest to capture a magician. Along the way she gathers a party and presumably learns a little something about the meaning of friendship.

Sounds like an interesting start. As much as I adore Day’s acting, the real test will be seeing if she can pull off “assassin” as an actress. She has a good start tho in the trailor with giving those bad ass glances after romping thru the woods. Hopefully she can shed some of her innate cute sheepishness and bring out the badass in her. The other thing that interests me is the length. It’s mentioned as a 6 part web series. If we only get 5-6 mins of action/story in those 6 parts then it could fall flat. BUT, if we get somewhere in the range of 15 mins of story/action like each act of Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog, then coming in around 90 mins would be EPIC. The difference in a 30 min total run time and 90 min total run time is a big deal to me, in potential quality. At 30 mins it could feel rushed and poorly made. Somewhere in the 60-80 min range will likely mean a higher success rate and could open the door again for bigger video game inspired projects. Instead of studio’s scoffing at  the idea of turning games into a crappy movie (Hello DOOM!), studio’s might be willing to green light smaller web series content where we would see characters from other series in the flesh. Where we might never have seen Mass Effect on the big screen, maybe after this it could get green lit or even made to a web series.

Help us Felica Day you’re our only hope! Ok cheezy I know, but WOW I hope this will be good.

This years NHL trade deadline went down with a decent amount of trades but the damage for the most part was fairly minimal. Besides the Penner deal not a whole lot of big names went places. I had a feeling that the Hurricanes would do SOMETHING but I also knew this something would be fairly minor. While they are in their usual position of the last few years of 7-10th in the conference and playing decent by my standards, they are not firing on all cylinders looking for a division title or anything. So I knew they would show they wanted to make it but not make the splash they made in 2006 before the Cup run.

It started a week or so before the deadline when they must have had an offer they couldn’t refuse for Ian White so they sent him packing. In return they received a 2nd round pick in 2012 and a young fairly journeyman type defenseman in D. Joslin(yes I know technically the deals were seperate, but they really are the same deal). I didn’t mind losing White in this deal b/c he was solid, nothing spectacular and even with 10 assists and a +4 he just wasn’t throwing his weight around like I had wanted him to. He looked bored on the ice. So bring in a young guy with something to prove and let him fight for a spot. The pick? Eh, who knows. The pick is likely to become a late 2nd rounder next year so either they use it themselves for trade bait in this years draft or another deal, or they try and load up in next years draft. Either way, it’s a deal I am neither for nor against and am ok with it.

The next 2 deals waere on deadline day. It didn’t take a brain surgeon to know the deal that was going to go down on deadline day. I had told my wife not 4 hours before the press release “Don’t be surprised if the Canes get Cory Stillmantoday”. Florida was making it well known that everyone was available, and knowing Rutherford’s (Canes GM) loyalty to every ex-Cane it was obvious he would come calling. Stillman had a no trade clause but there was little doubt he would waive it being that his family is still here in NC and his son is a star forward for the Jr. Hurricanes. It’s no secret he loves the area still and he is a great fit for what the team needs now. Sure the teams main needs are a defensive forward, solid defensive D-man (or two) and a sniper type winger for the power play (which has been down right AWEFUL of late). Stillman fits that sniper role fairly well. Sure he hasn’t exactly been lighting it up for the Panthers this year, but he’s still got the shot but Fla is just down right awful and have no one to get himt he puck on the PP. Leaving him to have to try and do too much and he’s just not that player anymore. Cory has fit in just like I knew he would and played great for the Hurricanes since coming over. He’s already got 4 points (2g 2a) in 5 games and is a +2 in those games. He’s a free agent after this year and at 37 either he signs a cheap 1 year deal to stay here or I suspect he will retire here. The price was fairly small for him, with the canes only having to give up Ryan Carter and a 5th round pick this year. Sure this goes against the need for a defensive forward like I mentioned (by getting rid of their top 2-3 defensive centers) but I guess you gotta give up something to get Stillman.

The second deal was both a great addition of a defensive defenseman and addition by subtraction. Sergei Samsonovhad been on the Canes for about 3 full seasons game wise. He tallied 54 goals during his time here but never seemed to be as good as the first 38 games he played after he was picked up by the canes. He had no pressure once he came over and seemed to thrive. Over his tenure my problem with him wasn’t the fact that he always seemed to be putting on a stick handling clinic but more that he is too damn streaky. This year and the majority of last I have felt he is just plain DONE. Which is surprising b/c as old as we think he is, he’s only 32! Anyhow, it was his time, he was far too useless defensively and couldn’t put the puck in the net this year with any consistency. So by getting a good defenseman with 1 more year left on his contract in Bryan Allen. He’s not a flashy defenseman, but if he stays healthy, he is a go to shut down guy for this team and already considered by me to be the best or second best defensively on the Hurricanes. So not only do they add a solid D man for this year, they rid themselves of a offensive black hole and a defensive liability in Samsonov. I wish Sergei well in Florida, and hope he can revive his scoring touch, maybe in the western conference next year.

So after these two deals the Canes sit a bit stronger but not on overwhelming contender for the division title. Even tonight they show how they can hang with the better teams in the league for a while but eventually they will falter or burn out. They finally gave Peters a start after using Ward for 24 (or so) straight starts. Ward is clearly the work horse but with 6 straight weeks of at least 1 back to back in each coming up they need to get him some rest to be ready for the playoffs and not burnt out. They faltered a bit in the 3rd period and the Blackhawks were there to bury them completely with 3 goals in about a 5 min span. In order to go anywhere in the playoffs they are going to have to get a bit better then that and win some of those games. Their schedule down the stretch isn’t overly impossible and there are a bunch of games that are winnable. I think they should be able to win 10 (at least) of the last 16 games. If so that could be what they need to get to the 7th slot in the east, with 6th being a bit of a longshot. RIght now Philly, Boston, and Tampa occupy the top 3 spots of the Conference. Two of those ,Philly and Boston, are teams that the Hurricanes simply cannot beat this season, and I suspect they won’t be able to in the playoffs in the 1st round. Subsequent rounds potentially when on a roll but not the 1st round. So the only shot I suspect they have to get past round one is to take care of some business and get into 6th or 7th and hope to draw the Lightning in the 1st round. Yet, first they have to win those games and get in.

GeekJock prediction—> Canes end up finishing 8th and losing in 5 in the 1st round winning 1 game at home in the series.

NHL Drops the ball

The big suspension that came down today was the 10 game suspension to NY Islanders Trevor Gillies.  It was his first game back after being suspended for 9 games for acts during the Isles- Penguins fight night that happened a few weeks ago. Now, I am not going to go all fanboy and say he shouldn’t have been suspended for that game, b/c he should. Not 9 games mind you but 3 or 4 based on what the NHL has been handing out. This 10 game suspension is fairly ridiculous as you will see the evidence below. In this game the Isles were beating the Wild and Cal Clutterbuck hit Isles rookie Justin DiBenedetto blatantly from behind and into the boards. Gillies then came flying in from the side in which the NHL called a hit to the head on a play that there was no justification for. Oh I 10000% disagree. Anyone who has played the sport, pro or otherwise knows, as many NHLers this year has said, the game is a fast one with fast pace and split second lightning decisions. When you play and someone railroads your teammate you go after him. As well, when you are someone who delivers such a hit, on purpose or otherwise, you know to be ready b/c they are coming for you.

So here is the hit and afterwards more of my thoughts on it. This clip by All Star Sports shows the better angle on it all and how the hit by Clutterbuck is as bad if not worse then the one that Gillies delivers. 

So sure the hit is quick and hard but there is two things I want to bring up about it. First it wasn’t from behind. Second Clutterbuck knew it was coming and as an agitator himself should have defended himself more obviously. He just hit the kid BLATANTLY from behind head first into the boards and he’s now getting NOTHING for it? Come on NHL.  The fact Clutterbuck was barely dazed tells me he left himself in thta position on purpose and really did brace himself to not get hurt. Just watch it closer next time. If you want to suspend Gillies for this fine, but in no way what so ever can you justify suspending him and NOT suspending Clutterbuck as well. It’s simply trying to save face with the hater world of the hard hitting aspect of hockey by suspending a “goon” a second time in a row. They are suspending the name and not the play. Trying to send a message and not trying to justifiably suspend the act. Double standards suck NHL and you have made a huge boo boo here. We see hits from players like Lucic and Cooke go unpunished, sometimes not even penalize in games! Yet, a player stands up for a teammate and we suspend him for 10 games.

Poor form NHL, I expected better from you and hope for better in the future. I hope the guys on NHL Home ice (XM radio who agree with my side as I heard them taking the same side the day after the hit) are heard in the league office as they speak to many of those officials on a weekly basis. This one sided suspension is uncalled for. Better watch out NHL you might start being compared with the NFL and their awful disciplinary fines and suspension policies.

Middle Men (2009– 105 mins) L. Wilson, G. Ribisi, G. Macht

Middle men is the story of a man who pioneers the way people on the internet use credit cards to pay for web sites. Namely, porn sites. It’s a comedy with some drama elements to it, but ulitmately its pretty funny. Luke Wilson plays Jack, a businessman who gets thrown an oportunity by a seedy acquainance, involving 2 idiots (Ribisi & Macht) and their successful porn picture web site. They are druggy idiots who came up with a great idea but have no idea how to cash it in or manage it. Thats where Jack comes in. Jack comes up with the main idea of making transactions come accross as something other then a porn name on the card statement. The story spirals out of control dealing with Russian mob investors, porn stars, and plenty of people trying to screw one another.

It’s basically a typical easy come easy go story. People get rich abuse the money live high on the hog and eventually crash. But it’s just fine of a movie. It goes with my narrator theory. Movies with a familiar narrator that is pretty funny with good lines makes movies about 100x better. Here we get Wilson narrating most of the movie, and hes pretty funny so it makes the movie that much better. There are plenty of familiar faces in here. Ribisi does his normal idiot stoner character which never gets old, James Caan does a sleezy lawyer, Kevin Pollak is a fed, and Kelsey Grammer checks in for a few mins as a congressman. It’s not crazy gripping or a write home movie, it’s more of one that will end up on comedy central at 2am. Yet, it’s funny pretty well written and there’s plenty of boobs, so naturally most guys will like it.

Verdict—> A funny quirky dramedy with some good actors doing good roles. Not for everyone and the abundance of boobs might turn someone off. This is afterall, a movie about the guy who invented a better way to bill for online porn. Kinda like a Pinapple Express it will end up more of a guys movie then a date or double feature type. But I did laugh and enjoy it.