CinemaFunk

Courtesy of 20th Century FOX While Inception may be the new kid on the block in the neighborhood of movies about dreams, Dreamscape dealt with dream-linking back in 1984 (and did an alright job, all things considering). The film stars a young looking Dennis Quaid (GI Joe: Rise of Cobra) as Alex, a psychic who uses his powers strictly for personal gain. But when he gets himself in trouble with some racing track thugs, he finds a way to hide by agreeing to participate in an experiment that allows him to telepathically link up with a sleeping person in order to experience their dream. This...

Courtesy of 20th Century FOX While Inception may be the new kid on the block in the neighborhood of movies about dreams, Dreamscape dealt with dream-linking back in 1984 (and did an alright job, all things considering). The film stars a young looking...

Christopher Nolan’s Inception was perhaps the summer’s most widely anticipated movie of the summer; a summer besieged with lackluster remakes and sequels; a summer filled with mediocrity. Acknowledging the depth of Nolan’s past work (in particular, Insomnia and Memento), I too was looking forward to seeing this new sci-fi thriller starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Marion Cotillard, [...]

Don’t know if I’ve ever promoted software here on the site – but I stumbled across Flavors.me yesterday and just love it – using Flavors within minutes you create a personalized website so folks can easily access all of your internet content in one place – this is what I wished Google Profiles looked like, (Google is not known for their design sense of course – I remember the first time I visited Google Video – watched someone’s home-made Batman movie – and of course the ‘twist ending’ was ruined because Google showed thumbnails along the bottom of the screen – including the denouement – sigh).

Anyhew here’s what I whipped over half a cup of coffee:  jett-loe.com

They’ve got a free and a paid option – paid if you want to use a custom URL, (I did as just purchased jett-loe.com – on a personal note to the folks who own jettloe.com – you want $1000 for it?- who other than me would ever want it?  My enemies?  Too cheap).

Flavors host the site as well so it really is simple to set up – in fact there really isn’t a set-up – the whole thing is so light – instant and continuous - for me it feels like the future – apps so simple to use they don’t seem like software – they just are – making your life easier rather than harder – a nice thing in our world seemingly drowning in information.

Courtesy of www.ncm.com Every so often a film comes around that proves originality is not a foreign concept in Hollywood, despite the obvious glut of remakes, adaptations, prequels, sequels, sidequels and so on. Inception is a $160-million dollar science fiction summer blockbuster, filmed to the brim with big ideas and packaged nicely in the form of a heist film. Heat plus Akira Kurosawa's Dreams kind of stuff. And there isn't a costumed crime fighter or CG-rendered character in sight. If you have yet to see Inception, I would advise you to stop reading by the end of this paragraph. Just...

Courtesy of www.ncm.com Every so often a film comes around that proves originality is not a foreign concept in Hollywood, despite the obvious glut of remakes, adaptations, prequels, sequels, sidequels and so on. Inception is a $160-million dollar sc...

OK, so today marks the release of one of the year’s most anticipated films and I know many (including myself) that are going to see it this weekend. So for this week’s “Gimme 5,” we’ll focus on THAT OTHER film being released today…that’s right — The Sorcerer’s Apprentice starring the one and only Nicolas Cage! Now [...]

Our pal Shaun sent along one of his (unofficial and unsanctioned) Team Zissou rings. You can get your own over at his Etsy shop. It comes with a special surprise, but we won’t ruin it. Well it’s got to be.

We are officially in the midst of the Dog Days of Summer, with Major League Baseball just finishing up their annual All-Star festivities and their season hitting its midpoint. Football mini-camps are right around the corner (Go Jets!) and the frenetic chaos that was the NBA period to sign free agents has come to and [...]

TFT 136 running time: 33 minutes 43 seconds – 16.3mb mp3

KNIGHT AND DAY starts at 2 minutes 37 seconds

TOY STORY 3 starts at 24:07

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HELP JETT FIND WORK IN LA– CLICK HERE FOR THE LINKED IN PROFILE

We’ll be reviewing INCEPTION on episode 137 – in the meantime here’s some early observations, (spoiler free of course):

• Best big-budget remake of DREAMSCAPE one could hope for
• If you’re an average 14-year old US male it will be the greatest film you have ever seen
• Outside of that demographic? Eh, not so much
• Joseph Gordon-Levitt is a star
• Comparisons to Kubrick? (people have been doing it Dear Reader) INCEPTION is as close to Kubrick as GET HIM TO THE GREEK is when Aldous Snow cries out during a chase scene that the long corridors they’re running down in are “Kubrickian”
• Christopher Nolan does architecture as well as Michael Mann
• Go in with moderate expectations and you’ll have a good time, (assuming you don’t mind gun battles that go on forever)

"Inception" (PG-13, 148 minutes). An astonishingly original and inventive thriller starring Leonardo DiCaprio as a men who infiltrates the minds of others to steal secrets. Now he's hired to implant one. Ken Watanabe is a billionaire who wants to place at idea in the mind of his rival (Cillian Murphy). DiCaprio Assembles a team (Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Tom Hardy, Ellen Page) to assist him, in a dazzling achievement that rises above the thriller level and enters the realm of mind control--in the plot, and in the audience. Written and directed by Christopher Nolan ("Memento," "The Dark Knight"). Four stars

"Wild Grass" (Unrated, 113 minutes). Because Marguerite went to buy shoes that day in Paris, her purse happened to be snatched, and Georges happened to find her billfold, and everything in the film descends from those improbable coincidences. Alain Resnais' work continues to exercise that freedom: If anything can happen, nothing musthappen, as he creates a free-wheeling exercise in comedy, or fate, or irony, or whatever, with great wit and visual style. Three stars

"Something Better Somewhere Else" (Unrated, 76 minutes). An anthology of four short films telling separate stories, sometimes with overlapping actors, that are delightful and filmed with craft and style. The theme: The grass may be greener on the other side of the road. Yes, but these people are taking big chances, and know it. Written and directed by Ron Lazzeretti, who knows what he's doing. Three stars

"The Sorcerer's Apprentice" (PG, 108 minutes). Nicolas Cage plays the good magician Balthazar, who for 1,300 years has held the evil magicians Morgana (Alice Krige) and Horvath (Alfred Molina) captive. In modern New York, he discovers at last the Prime Merlinian, the master magician who can vanquish the captive villains for once and all. This is young Dave (Jay Baruchel), who would rather smooch with cute Becky (Teresa Palmer) than learn his sorcering lessons. Lots of special effects in a typical two-weekend special. Not and, far from good. Two and a half stars

I know that this is a film blog, but in addition to being a film fanatic, I am also an avid sports fan. In particular, I love baseball and have followed the New York Yankees for years. Today, the baseball world was hit with the very sad news of the passing of the legendary, lion-hearted [...]