Starz Studios: When in Rome / Edge of Darkness / Saint John of Las Vegas (2010)

This Starz 12-minute program profiles When in Rome, Spartacus: Blood and Sand, Saint John of Las Vegas, Creation, and Edge of Darkness. The only movies I would choose to see based on these movie clips interlaced with vignettes of actors and directors musing aloud (which is not always done well) are Saint John of Las Vegas and Edge of Darkness. When in Rome looks passably humorous but the preview reveals clunky moments and Kristen Bell comes off as plastic (in every poor sense of the word) -- plus the ensemble cast includes Jon Heder (who mumbles a lot) and Danny DeVito (who grunts once). Spartacus (which has Lucy Lawless in it somewhere) is a 300 wannabe but no one is impressed by two minutes of actors lunging into empty air against a green screen. Creation may be a good Victorian romance but I couldn't tell from real-life couple Paul Bettany's and Jennifer Connelly's inconsequential muttering about their film roles. I did become interested in Saint John of Las Vegas because it's a quirky independent comedy starring Steve Buscemi, though the preview was not that informative (and even confusing). And lastly, from the movie clips, Edge of Darkness seems to be a satisfyingly taut thriller -- even if Mel Gibson has reduced his sound bytes into incomprehensible blurts. 2.5 stars.

Starz Studios: From Paris with Love / Frozen / Dear John (2010)

This Starz 12-minute profile features the movies Dear John, Frozen, Creation, When in Rome, From Paris with Love, and The Wolfman through largely satisfying more-than-a-trailer treatments, accompanied by barely noticeable snippets from The Runaways, Cyrus, and Jack Goes Boating. Commenting on his soundtrack, film composer Christopher Young narrates the segments on Creation and When in Rome. The young-love romance Dear John is attractively described by the starring couple (Amanda Seyfried and Channing Tatum), director (Lasse Hallstrom), and wisecracking Starz narrator. Frozen receives mainly scenes from this abandoned-on-the-ski-lift thriller plus a few forgettable comments from actors and directors. From Paris with Love seems obnoxious even in a 1-minute treatment. The Wolfman, of course, is the movie to watch -- though I also plan to see Dear John and Creation (before I try to catch up with the rest on DVD). 3 stars.

Starz Studios: The Wolfman / The Lightning Thief / Valentine's Day (2010)

Here is a 12-minute Starz narrated preview of Shutter Island, The Wolfman, Valentine's Day, Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, and Toy Story 3 as well as short vignettes of The Yellow Handkerchief, My Name Is Khan, and The Ghost Writer with lots of scene excerpts and actor musings on their movies and their roles. 3 stars.

Starz Inside: 2009 Highlights (2009)

Richard Roeper hosts a mini-preview for a series of Starz previews and retrospectives called The Face Is Familiar, Unforgettably Evil, Comics on Screen, Zombiemania, Sex and the Cinema, and a few other movie-menu morsels. Think of this overview as the popcorn shrimp version of Starz's standard fare, which is like tempura-fried scallops (or just fish sticks). See it -- or don't. On the one hand, it's certainly not No Country for Old Men (though it refers to that movie a bit), but on the other hand, it's only 10 minutes of your time. 2.5 stars.

Up in the Air (2009)

Up in the Air deserves all the awards attention it has received and I expect Anna Kendrick (not Vera Farmiga) will win best supporting actress. George Clooney is excellent as the suave, dapper "outplacement consultant" Ryan Bingham, who jets all over the country to impose layoffs and smooth the jarring transition for those deemed to be downsized. (He's even distilled the possibility platitudes down to a perfectly timed patter.) He has no roots (physical or emotional) and his life's goal is to earn ten million frequent flyer miles. Meanwhile, young up-and-comer Natalie Keener (Kendrick) has sold management on digital downsizing -- communicating layoffs through two-way videoconferencing. Ryan is confident he can turn Natalie from her hubris but the clock is ticking then no more travel. Meanwhile he meets and begins to forge a connection with Alex Goran (Farmiga) that may or may not be reciprocated (since the connection is actually a shared sense of rootlessness). Up in the Air is a very smart movie that adroitly and humanely addresses the shock and pain of corporate layoffs as seen in the faces and the lives of those laid off (smartly played by amateur actors who had actually been laid off). Everyone's performance -- and I mean everyone's -- feels dead-on true and gripping. Up in the Air really got to me so I have no problem saying (as I feel certain most do) that it is easily one of the ten best movies of 2009. 5 stars.

Stormchasers: IMAX (1995)

Stormchasers is an educational documentary on hurricanes, monsoons, and tornadoes that happens to be exciting (esp. if you catch it on a three-story IMAX screen). If you are watching it on a TV or computer screen instead, remember what you are trading away to watch an almost larger-than-life IMAX movie in the comfort of your living room. Do not watch Stormchasers expecting a sensationalistic, adrenaline-juiced joy ride of a tornado-chasing TV crew that never gets deeper than "That was AWESOME, dudes!" Stormchasers is an eye-candy documentary about weather scientists doing weather science, whose job is to fly into hurricanes and use instrumentation and data to discover new storm behaviors. After all, it has been meteorologists, not joyriders, who have significantly improved hurricane and tornado predictions and saved thousands of lives over the past 20 years -- and are on track to save many thousands more lives in the next 20 years. 4.5 stars.

24: Season 8 (2010)

24 is surely one of the five best-written dramatic TV series in recent decades (along with Lost, The X-Files, and what have you). It may have its detractors from season to season but no other series is so disciplined in structure yet also layered (with parallel and overlapping timelines) and risky (when writing only six episodes ahead). What's the 411 on Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) this season? Seeing how he's been through hell and all (and caused some himself) in past seasons, well, he's not so keen on torturing people anymore. (One government guy says "We don't do that anymore.") Jack has "retired" and plans to get into being a grandfather, chilling out, and napping the day away. (This is not the Jack we knew! Maybe instead of "taking a chill pill" he needs a "blue pill"? The guy who used to be awash in testosterone and constantly screaming "Drop the gun! Drop it *now*!" wants nothing more than to move to L.A. and babysit his granddaughter. Granted, he now values what is really important -- but you just know he is going to get sucked back into CTU by the crisis du jour.) A pre-emptive assassination attempt in New York City on the history-making architect of a Palestinian peace treaty reveals a second threat of nuclear weapons on U.S. soil. The current (and somewhat tepid) CTU director puts former FBI agent Renee Walker (Annie Wersching) back undercover with Jack to infiltrate a ruthless Russian mob -- against Jack's protests because she cracked once and he thinks she'll crack again. She assures Jack she has everything under control -- but gradually learns how little that is true -- while the infiltration progresses with setbacks and switchbacks. Chloe O'Brian (Mary Lynn Rajskub) is back as the technical analyst whose loyalty to Jack always saves the day (with that worried furrow so frozen into her brow that she looks schizophrenic). Dana Walsh (Katee Sackhoff) is Chloe's erstwhile supervisor who endures sexual harassment from an underling as well as a manipulative stalker from her past. [This review will be updated as the season progresses. Episode 7 airs Feb. 9.] So far just 4.5 stars.

Lost: Season 6 (2010)

Quite likely the best-written TV series ever, Lost puts visceral oomph in the phrase "to be on tenterhooks" as Lost fans quiver over the twists and turns of every episode and season. Now the much-anticipated final season of this superb series has reconnected "Losties" with their addiction and resumed the storyline after the previous season's cliffhanger. After an hour-long rapid-fire recap of the first five seasons' storylines, Season 6 launched with a two-hour premiere picking up from the final moment of last season with the ignition of a hydrogen bomb (in the belief that destroying the island's energy source would end the space-time shifts and restore everyone's lives to normal). The fade-to-white leaves us hanging for a few extended moments until we learn that it may have indeed worked. However, through interwoven slices of the storyline, we progressively learn just how more greatly complicated the fate of everyone involved has truly become. We learn just a cryptic bit more about Locke and Jason (partly because each one is still, supposedly, dead) but the most poignant part is seeing the Oceanic 6's lives as if the crash had never happened. (Things get complicated.) Do not call yourself an American and miss this show! Episode 1, LAX Parts 1 and 2 (The bomb explodes and time splits: the Oceanic 6 land uneventfully and continue their tragic lives even as they confront the second Locke and risk death back on the island) [Wow, 54 nonreviews have been posted before I am the first reviewer to actually see Season 6. This review will be updated as the season continues.] 5 stars.