THE FATHER LIFE

Planet 51 (Rated: PG)
Directed by: Jorge Blanco, Javier Abad, Marcos Martínez
Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Jessica Biel, Justin Long, Seann William Scott, Gary Oldman, John Cleese
Planet 51 takes the aliens-have-landed genre and throws it in reverse.  This time, it’s an American astronaut landing on an unsuspecting alien world – a world which just happens to be at [...]

I’ve been playing video games for as long as I can remember.  It started one fateful evening when my family went out to dinner and there was this new machine at the restaurant, and it wasn’t a pinball machine.  It had two long blocks and the goal was to knock the smaller block past the [...]

In the television world, no show, no matter how original and smart is completely safe. Some of my favorite shows of all time have been cast into the awful world of cancellation. From the hilarious and poignant Freaks and Geeks, to the over-the-top (and apparently over people’s head) intelligent humor of Arrested Development to the [...]

The scene: Four parents sitting at a cocktail table drinking a beer and munching on chips with salsa. The board game is splayed out in front of us. The category is “vehicles.” One parent shouts out, “bus.” Another parent states firmly, “airplane.” Sounds like another boring game night of Pictionary, right?
The “builder” continues to plug [...]

The Wolfman (Rating: R)

Cast: Benicio Del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, Emily Blunt, Hugo Weaving
Director: Joe Johnston
Joe Johnston’s The Wolfman breaks the remake mold and has brought back the popcorn thriller in an unexpectedly refreshing way.

The story is based on the 1941 classic. Del Toro (Che) plays Lawrence [...]

Ghostbusters: The Video Game succeeds in the end by simply feeling right. Whether on 360, PS3 or Nintendo Wii, the game has enough of that Ghostbuster spirit from the movie to be forgiven it’s slightly derivative game play. Not quite Batman: Arkham Asylum but cut from the same cloth.

Tennis pro Serena Williams shocked her many supporters with her behavior at the 2009 U.S. Open. After being called on a fault, Williams cursed at and threatened the lineswoman who made the call. Although published prior to the incident, I wondered if her background had any bearing on her actions. I have admired Williams as [...]

Republished with permission of gamepeople.co.uk game reviews.
A search for ‘poker’ in the iPhone App Store will swiftly confirm that the iPlatform has not escaped the craze. A multitude of apps for playing on various online free-play sites, calculating the maths, timing your home tournaments or even watching manga girls take their clothes off as you [...]

I am pleasantly surprised and encouraged by the resurgence of the graphic novel in the American anthology of boyhood fiction. Captain Underpants and Diary of a Wimpy Kid are two series that have led the way for this trend; is Malice in the same ballpark? Maybe…
I am pleasantly surprised by this [...]

Fight Night Round 4 on 360 and PS3 aims to provide realistic boxing action on the big consoles. The sequel to the popular Fight Night Round 3, it offers plenty of options and moments of boxing history for fans. But for me, it completely lacked the juxtaposition of beauty and brutality that so transfixes me when watching the real sport. It’s quite an enjoyable game against friends, but played alone it lacks heart and stymies progress.