Lionsgate / Maple Pictures

Alice in Wonderland is one of my favorite books from my youth. One of my favorite birthday presents was a gorgeous copy of the book with illustrations from my aunt. So as a result, I have seen many incantations of the classic title from the famous Disney animated movie to a plethora of tv series & movies. Enter 2010, hoopla over the Alice in Wonderland remake with Johnny Depp, the way was opened for other adaptations attempting to cash in. Alice, a mini-series on SyFy premiered in late 2009 and became the 2nd most watched mini-series in SyFy’s history (first being Tin Man). But how good exactly was it?

The flesh-eating plague from the first film is still spreading and turning teens into gurgling vomitarioms of puss and blood. This film takes place a few short seconds after the first one as we see the original hero explode onto the front of a school bus right before the title sprawls across the screen, which then leads to a cute animation explaining how the tainted water has been bottled and shipped to a high school in a neighbouring town. From there we have a slight love-triangle story that is peripheral to the fountains of gore that fill the screen.

In the 2006 hit The Devil Wears Prada there was a single line that summed up Meryl Streep’s pitch-perfect portrayal of icy fashion editor Miranda Priestly: “That’s all.” The real-life inspiration behind the character, Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, has such a commanding presence that even those few words are hardly necessary. Her disapproval is apparent with a single glare.

“The Man Who Cannot Die”, better known as the Phantom was created by Lee Falk in 1936. The comic strip runs until this day, despite the creator dieing more than ten years ago. The Phantom was a costumed crimefighter that lived in the country of Bengalla. Bengalla was fictional but located in Africa. In 1996, they finally decided to create a movie based on the comic strip to find out what the “Ghost Who Walks” would do on the big screen.

Muhammad Ali could be the greatest athlete of all time.  Facing Ali is a documentary that interviews ten of Ali’s former opponents throughout his career.  All of the retired fighters offer some brilliant insight into Ali’s career, personality and break down their memories of their individual bouts with him.  The fights that are being recounted mark the pinnacle of personal achievement for these fighters and each fight is equally as significant to each fighter.  The idea and execution of this documentary are exceptional and this film provides substantial entertainment for the duration.

Planet Hulk started out as a storyline from Incredible Hulk #88-#95 (2006). The Hulk was too strong for the planet Earth and so the Illuminati under the direction of Iron Man and Doctor Strange sent him to a planet where he can cause harm to nobody except himself. Of course, things don’t go exactly as the Illuminati probably hoped for. The direct to video movie deals with Hulk’s stay on planet known as Sakaar.

As the resident video game expert for the site, certain movies will always fall into my lap. Any movie that includes something about video games, good or bad I will get the chance to review. Sometimes, I'm not so thrilled and sometimes I'm simply elated to take on the task. But then every once in a while, I get a movie where I'm not sure what to expect. The movie Gamer seems to take that tone. But perhaps the journey will lead to some rather unexpected but pleasant surprises.

Madea's been everywhere. She's even been to jail. But I Can Do Bad All By Myself is not actually a Madea film, per se. She has a cameo, of sorts, but this film is based on a series of stage acts that Perry has collected under the single title of the film. So much of this movie has been out there on stage. I'm not really a fan of Perry's Madea character and the collection of films she/he's been involved in. I had a friend once who used to get them for another friend of his, and he used to joke about making me a copy. Now you know why we're not friends any more.

"Hello. I want to play a game."

Like the Beatles used to sing, when Jigsaw says hello, most folks are about to say goodbye. Jigsaw might very well be dead, but his legacy is alive and thriving. If you don't know who Jigsaw is by now, this might not be the best place to start. He's the Rube Goldberg of horror movies. He develops sinister contraptions and traps that force people to confront something immoral within themselves. The traps aren't necessarily intended to kill. In fact, some do survive.

Weeds started out as something very different from the 13 half hour episodes you will find in the 5th season release. In the beginning Weeds was an offbeat look at a suburban housewife who turns to selling pot to make ends meet. It was a very whimsical change of pace from what was commonly being offered on the networks in that half hour situation comedy dominated world most of us have grown tired of. The characters were certainly outside of the general mold, and their eccentric nature made the show entertaining, if not for the masses, for a tight cult following.