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I guess one would figure that, given my profession, and time served in said profession, I would have run out to see “The Social Network” when it came out. Well, I didn’t. I live this crap, why would I want to see it in the theatre? Techies are usually portrayed poorly anyway.

So, I finally downloaded the flick this weekend and, lo and behold, it was actually pretty good. Things started out kind of implausibly, with a hot-or-not kind of site being launched on the campus of Harvard. Maybe that’s what really happened – probably is – it just seemed kind of random. Where they caught my attention was when Zuckerberg blogged that he needed to “drop into Emacs to hack the Perl script”. Whoa. Someone did some research here. It’s not tough to come up with the buzz-word “Perl” … just cruise the web and eventually you’ll hit a site that runs it.

But Emacs is the…

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If only it had also been “unpredictable.”

Another 3.5 star rating? Yup. This time for completely different reasons.

“Unstoppable” is a well made, well acted, and well written film. Denzel Washington and Chris Pine do a great job as the veteran and rookie train workers trying to prevent a catastrophe – a runaway train loaded with explosives and toxic chemicals. Washington is good in just about every role he chooses and this is no different. Unfortunately, the role is a bit familiar for him – the wise veteran with the heart of gold who always does What’s Right no matter what. Predictable.

Chris Pine is the rookie conductor – from a well-connected family so everyone with the rail company resents him – and he has marriage trouble and a little girl who he can’t stand to be away from. Again: predictable.

The action scenes are well done. Although the part where they try to drop a guy…

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After seeing the trailers, I was so looking forward to this movie. Willis, Freeman, Malkovich, guns, spy weirdness … all the makings of a great movie.

The problem, as with many recent films, is that the trailers and teasers often contain the only really good parts of the movie. The problem isn’t the actors – it’s the pace and dialog. The movie just moves slow overall. And the dialog isn’t really good enough to keep you interested while you wait for things to get shot at and/or blown up.

The good parts are really good. Hellen Mirren is great as the ex-MI6 agent who still takes “wet work” jobs on the side to fight the boredom of retirement. Malkovich is at his zany best. Willis is solid as a retired super-agent, although maybe he’s a bit restrained. Morgan Freeman is … Morgan Freeman … he’s good in everything he does.

When the team is together it’s pretty…

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Resident Evil has always been a pretty good franchise. Even after a few installments, it’s usually a good show. Afterlife is … well … a good show, but not really a good movie.

Let me explain.

Technically, it’s a really outstanding piece of work. the 3D is done very well. There are a few of the requisite ”things flying at you” scenes, of course. But overall it’s blended in so seamlessly and evenly – right down to details like flowers in front of roadways – that the whole experience just works.

The zombies have evolved further and are quicker and meaner. And there’s a big like 8-foot giant zombie with this big ole axe/sickle thing which is pretty … um … interesting.

The plot line of the evil Umbrella Corp. and its never-ending quest for doing evil is well done as well. There’s enough of a conspiracy going on to keep it…

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It’s a familiar plot. The super-cop has his family killed by the super-bad-guy and is left for dead, only to recover and seek vengeance, laying waste to bad guys by the bushel in the process. That more or less sums up Robert Rodriguez‘s latest film, “Machete.” What makes this film tick, though, isn’t just the over-the-top violence and sexy babes, it’s also the humor of the script, and the diverse cast.

But only 3 stars? OK … lets look closer …

Danny Trejo plays “Machete”, the ex-Federale on a rampage. Trejo looks the part. You can trace his character back to the assassin he played in “Desperado” fifteen years ago. A knife-wielding silent killer. Problem here is, the knife play is more like Jason in “Friday the 13th” than a stylish killer. Overall his character is wooden and relies on the supporting cast to…