Category Archives: Movies

Movies

Killing Season (2013) a (mildly…and pointless) review

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In this era of movies released directly to video or pay-per-view, there are times you’re startled by the actors involved in said features.  If memory serves and strictly going by that memory, I can think of direct to video/pay-per-view films featuring among others Bruce WIllis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, Hugh Jackman, Charlize Theron, Samuel Jackson, Kevin Bacon, Kurt Russell, Nichole Kidman, and Nicholas Cage (ok, perhaps this one is expected).

The 2013 film Killing Season was released to theaters in the U.S. (and, according to IMDB grossed a whopping $27,713 in its apparently very limited release) but, for all intents and purposes, it is another of these direct-to-video/pay-per-view features in my mind.

The only thing that distinguishes it from so much other forgotten fare is the fact that it stars Robert De Niro and John Travolta.

While its tempting to say something along the lines of “my, how the mighty have fallen,” especially when I’m feeling like cutting to the chase and noting Killing Season is almost complete crap, the movie’s conclusion nonetheless makes you see what might have interested these two recognizable stars’ participation in this almost comically silly project.

The plot goes like this: Benjamin Ford (Robert De Niro) is a veteran soldier -and pretty much a walking cliche- who lives a stoic, solitary existence in a cabin in the woods.  His son’s baby is about to be baptized and he wants Ford to come see the child but, being all stoic and unemotional and what-not, Ford puts them off.  Clearly he’s fighting demons related to some traumatic event in his previous life and that has driven him away from people, just like all good stoically-cliched characters are want to do.

When his jeep conks out while driving off into the woods one rainy night, Ford encounters a man walking alone who offers to help start the jeep.  The man, Emil Kovac (John Travolta, sporting what looks like spray painted jet black hair while speaking in an accent that would make Borat proud) gets the jeep running and Ford drives off.

However, the stoic unemotional man stops, backs up, and offers Kovac a ride.  They go to his cabin in the woods, talk about good times, and drink down waaaaay too much liquor.  In the morning, they head into the woods to hunt deer.  Turns out Kovac is good with arrows, just like Ford.

While on their hunting expedition, Kovac’s true intentions are revealed.  He hunts and captures Ford and then tortures him.  He claims to want Ford to reveal his sins.

While the opening minutes of the film are almost interminable -filled with cliches and the type of danger that everyone but the protagonist can see coming- it is this section of the film that becomes unintentionally hilarious.  To wit, this is how the film goes:

Kovacs captures and tortures Ford.  Ford escapes and captures and tortures Kovacs.  Kovacs escapes and captures and tortures Ford some more.  Ford escapes and captures Kovacs and…

I’m being dead serious here.

After a while, it was like watching an old Wile Coyote/Road Runner cartoon, except in this case we had two Wile Coyotes banging their heads against each other and inflicting as much pain as they can.  Adding to the craziness is the amount of injury each sustain in their encounters.  Very conveniently these injuries, in particular the ones Ford receives, seal themselves and their characters somehow doesn’t bleed out during the course of the night.

As if you didn’t know by now, Kovacs is a one-time Serbian soldier and Ford was in Bosnia during the war and the two share a common experience from that deadly time.

As downright stupid as most of this film is and as I mentioned above, I found the very ending, which comes after a particularly idiotic scene involving Ford pulling out old shrapnel from his leg and using it as a weapon (I can’t make this stuff up!), offers us the best and only part of this work I somewhat enjoyed even though it too was so much silly fantasy.  I don’t mind SPOILING things here because I doubt there are many out there dying to see this film.

Anyway, the movie’s ending has our one-time adversaries forgiving each other and finally moving on with their lives.

There.

I’ve just saved you ninety minutes of your life.

In sum, even if you’re a fan of Robert De Niro and/or John Travolta, seeing them face off against each other in the supremely silly Killing Season is waste of your time.  Please don’t be like me.  Please just step back and forget there ever was a film named Killing Season out there.

You’ll be glad you did.

Movies

8 Movies That Shouldn’t Have Been Rated PG…

Found this article at Answers.com.  I tend to agree with many of the films presented as being pretty strong stuff for a PG, or in some cases PG-13 rating, but the most surprising aspect of this list is how many of the films mentioned were either directed or produced by one Steven Spielberg.

Anyway, check ’em out…

8 Movies That Shouldn’t Have Been Rated PG

The one that most fascinates me is Jaws.  By today’s standards, the gore present in the film may not be that terrible (at least compared to some of the gory films that followed) yet the fact the film was given a PG rating is rather surprising.  We had full female nudity (although heavily in shadows, the shark’s first victim) along with some very gory scenes (including a severed leg sinking to the bottom of the sea).

It is rather remarkable the film received a PG rating back in 1975!

Movies

Can someone hit the pause button?

Today comes word that actor Alan Rickman died.  The name is probably familiar to most people who follow movies and, in particular, the Harry Potter films…

Like many others my age, I first experienced Alan Rickman’s dry, superb acting style with his role as the villainous Hans Gruber in the original Die Hard…

It’s been said that a great action/adventure movie relies not only on a charismatic, rootable hero but also a great villain.  The best of the James Bond films featured fearsome villains to match wits with our intrepid hero and in the case of the original Die Hard, Bruce Willis’ Officer John McClaine (a great hero) was more than equally matched with Mr. Rickman’s Hans Gruber.  Kudos to the movie’s screenwriters to figure out a way for the villain and hero actually meet within the film.  They did so rather smoothly even though the likelihood these two characters would bump into each other seemed really far-fetched.

Mr. Rickman was also hilarious in the Star Trek inspired comedy Galaxy Quest.

You can read more about Mr. Rickman’s passing here…

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/alan-rickman-dead_56979645e4b0b4eb759d434a?

It was reported he died of cancer and was 69 years old.

Rest in peace, Mr. Rickman.

Movies

And so it goes…

An observation more than anything else, perhaps one that I’m a little late coming to:

DVDs -and by extension BluRays- are dying.

This morning and for the first time in a very long time I went over to the DVD Drive In website (you can too by clicking this link).  I like the website because it examines cult films that are often waaaaay out of the mainstream.  Below that link on my bookmarks were links to at least three other DVD/BluRay-centric websites.  They feature your more standard upcoming  movie fare and I haven’t checked those sites out in forever.

Seeing them made me take stock of the state of the DVD and BluRay and, while I’ve made the observation before (I think…when you post as much as I do you’re bound to repeat yourself now and again), its clear from my lack of interest in those websites that the era of the DVD/BluRay is rapidly coming to an end.

Like the Betamax tapes that were wiped out by VHS tapes which in turn were wiped out (sorta) by Laserdiscs which together were wiped out by DVDs/BluRays, the era of the movie on disc is coming to an end because, once again, technology offers us a better “mousetrap”.

There was a time not so long ago I was rabidly purchasing DVDs and, later, BluRays.  The shelves I have filled with films will readily attest to that fact.  I also probably mentioned it before, but the other day while in 7/11, I went through their rack of used DVDs/BluRays (In my area they have them, I don’t know if this is a standard thing in 7/11’s throughout the U.S.) and found a used and very reasonably priced copy of the last season of Matt Smith’s Doctor Who.

I bought it for both myself and, moreso, my daughter.  She loves Matt Smith’s run of the character.  She’s also a senior in High School and no spring chicken.  Anyway, when I gave her the DVDs she looked at them, frowned, and said: “What do I do with these?”

Yikes.

Nowadays, if I’m looking to purchase a film (and its extras in many cases), I look them up on VUDU…

http://www.vudu.com/

Of course, you can do the same through Amazon and iTunes, but I’ve grown to like the VUDU service particularly because they allow you to transfer many of your films from DVD/BluRay to digital with a minimal charge.

Sadly, not all films I’ve bought are available to be transferred and it appears at least some I’ll have to buy yet again if I want to have them on this convenient digital system.  Regardless, those cluttered shelves of mine are beginning to get a lot less cluttered as I give movies away.

So add movies to the list of entertainment best available digitally.  No more need to buy physical books, no more need to get music CDs (vinyl still lives to purists, of course!), no more need to buy physical copies of video games, and no more need to buy DVDs/BluRays.

Soon we can all live in very small houses…

Movies, TV

A little more on The Abominable Bride…

Yesterday I reviewed the New Year’s day premiere of the 4th season Sherlock episode The Abominable Bride.  If you’ve read the review (its here), you know I absolutely loved it.

Loved it.

But what’s most surprising is the fact that it appears this episode has really torn some fans of the show.  While I’m clearly in the camp that loved it, there are those who really detested the episode.

Over at IMDB and on the page representing the episode, the main user review featured (at least for now), is highly negative.  Scroll down a little more and a couple of the topics featured in the message board also note the series is “going downhill”.

Frankly, seeing these negative comments surprises me though by now it should not.

It proves yet again that critical opinions of artistic works can vary -sometimes wildly- from person to person.

As someone who did not think all that much of either Star Wars (back when it was originally released in 1977!) and absolutely hated Guardians of the Galaxy, yet finds himself strangely enthralled by the mess that is Supernova, it should come as no surprise that others won’t agree with my opinions.

Yet the negative reviews of The Abominable Bride nonetheless did surprise me.  Not that they’re many (despite the mentioned critical comments, the film nonetheless scores a high 8.6 out of 10 on IMDB), but it just seemed like those who didn’t like it either didn’t get “into” it (ie, lose themselves in the story as I did) or were frustrated by the fact that the show went on such a flight of fancy.

I admit, the episode did go off on a tangent (especially when the previous series ended on such a cliffhanger).  Still, it’s hard to believe those who didn’t like it didn’t at least see something good in that episode, whether it be the clever dialogue or acting or…

Ah well, that’s why they’re called opinions.

Movies

Ring out the old…

As 2015 rapidly reaches its end, I’ve somehow found a few minutes of time to ring out the soon-to-be old year with a couple of thoughts.

First up and excuse the sentimentality: I want to thank all those out there who’ve read and enjoyed my books and have subsequently taken the time to either review them on Amazon or Goodreads or Library Thing or personally send me kind words regarding your experience.

Though I’m not arrogant enough to think all of my novels will or should be enjoyed by everyone out who gets their hands on them, words cannot express how grateful I am to hear from those who have enjoyed the material I’ve worked so hard on.

To all of you, there is much more coming and I appreciate your patience in waiting for the next book’s arrival.

The reality of writing is that it takes an awful long time to get each of my novels finished in a way I’m satisfied with.  Trust me when I say I’m as eager to get them out as I’m sure many of you are to read them.  The new books will come.  Slowly but surely, they’ll come.  And when they do, I guarantee they will be the very best works I’m capable of delivering.

The second and last thing I wanted to talk about before bowing out for the year (Don’t worry, I’ll be back to posting no later than January 3rd or 4th) is, of all things, Star Wars.

No, I have not broken down and gone to see The Force Awakens (If I catch the movie at all it will be when it reaches home video).  What I’d like to talk about is the original 1977 Star Wars.

You know, the movie I’ve gone on and on (and on and on) talking about how when I originally saw it in 1977 I was the right age and a sci-fi fan and how I just couldn’t get into it and so on and so forth and how, to this day, I never became a Star Wars fan…

Well, draw a deep breath: I’d like to see the original film again.

No, not the “Special Edition” I saw a few years back when George Lucas tinkered with the movie and replaced/expanded many of its special effects along with adding the whole “Greedo shoots first” bit.  I’m talking about seeing the original film I saw back in 1977.

While I remain, at best, ambivalent towards the whole Star Wars phenomena, I can’t deny the zeal (and box office success) resulting from the release of The Force Awakens.  It is this zeal which has (ahem) awoken in me a desire to revisit the first Star Wars film and, to be very honest, give it another chance.

Thing is, I can’t.

Not legally, anyway.

Sure, I can see a smudged, poor sounding copy that was released to VHS tapes and, later laserdiscs before finally being put in as an add-on to the “Special Edition” releases, but let’s be honest here: The quality of those copies is horrendous.

So to repeat, the only way to see the 1977 version of the film in a print that looks and sounds as gorgeous as it did back in 1977 when it was originally released and without the many add-on special effects George Lucas inundated the film with…is to do so illegally:

You Can Watch an “Unaltered” Version of Star Wars in HD Today, If You Bend The Law

The article’s heading tries to be too kind.  To see a beautiful restored HD copy of the original 1977 Star Wars you have to go to a torrent site and download it.  There you will find the work of a group of Star Wars fans who were eager to see the film they treasured in a sparkling clear format.  To do this, they found multiple sources and cleaned up the various elements and ultimately recreated the film for this HD era.

According to the article above, their work is nothing short of breathtaking.

However, by making it available to others to download, they are engaging in -and causing those who download their copy of the film- into performing illegal acts.  Though they make not one cent from their work, they are still releasing copyright material they have no rights to.

I suppose the one good thing which may come from their efforts is that Disney/Lucas may finally be forced to release a cleaned up HD copy of the movie on their own.  That is, of course, unless George Lucas still refuses to allow its release.

George Lucas’ obvious disdain for the original 1977 version of Star Wars remains one of the great modern mysteries in the movie world.  Given how successful his film was and is, whatever qualms I may have over the film obviously pale compared to Mr. Lucas’ views.

Which, in a very long winded way, brings us back to what I wrote about my own novels above.  I absolutely don’t want to release any of my works unless I’m certain they’re “good enough” to be released.  Perhaps Mr. Lucas is caught in a version of this, only his “rough draft” copy of the film was already released to great acclaim.

The Special Editions will always exist.

Why not give fans access to a pristine, cleaned up HD copy of the original, unaltered, original version?

Anyway, see you in 2016!

Have a great Holiday Season and a terrific New Years!

Movies

Smokey and the Bandit Trans Am…

While Star Wars was indisputably THE big summer hit of 1977, there was another film released at that very same time and in direct competition with that movie that was also a very big hit: the Burt Reynolds/Sally Field/Jerry Reed/Jackie Gleason action/comedy Smokey and the Bandit…

I love Smokey and the Bandit.  Back in the day I saw the film over and over and over again and have large swaths of its dialogue memorized.  Though the film does show its age today, at the time it was easily the most exciting and hilarious action film I’d ever seen…and the stunt work was like something from another planet.

The reason I point this out is because there is an upcoming auction which will feature a Trans Am that was used to promote the film back in the day.  Check it out…

Smokey and the Bandit Trans Am set for auction

From the article, here’s what I assume is a photograph of that particular Trans Am:

1977 transam

Now, note what I said above: The auction features the Trans Am used to promote the film.  While the car looks exactly like the one in the movie, this car was never actually in it and this is partly the reason why I’m pointing the article out.

The other, more interesting to me reason is I’ve always been curious if there were any of the original Trans Ams actually used in the film out there somewhere.  Given the sometimes grueling stunts these cars performed, I also wondered how many were used and how many were destroyed in the process of the film’s production.

And the article answered my questions.  From the article:

The four 1977 Pontiacs that were used for filming were so damaged that they were destroyed soon after filming was complete, according to auction house Barrett-Jackson, which is selling the car.

They “only” used 4 Trans Ams for the film?  That surprises me, to tell you the truth.  As anyone who’s seen the film knows, these cars were really put through their paces.  Some of the bigger showcase stunts, especially those involving the car jumping high in the air, I’ve long suspected left the vehicles useless.

Now I know that all the cars used in the film, alas, didn’t make it.

Now I know and, if you were as curious as I was, so do you!

Movies

Momentum (2015) a (mildly) belated review

While I can’t remember when/how I first heard of the 2015 film Momentum, I do recall seeing the trailer and thinking it didn’t look too bad:

Then, shortly afterwards, appeared reports the film was given a very limited release in England and flopped.  Hard:

Hardly a blockbuster! Morgan Freeman thriller Momentum makes just £46 from its opening weekend at cinemas across Britain

The above article, from dailymail.com, notes the film was released to only 10 theaters as well as simultaneously being available on demand.  Therefore it is possible those interested in seeing the film watched it from the comfort of their homes rather than heading out to the theaters (It is also my understanding the film was dropped into theaters without any advertising which is a sure fire way to generate a cinematic bomb).

Regardless of the bad press, I remained curious to see the film and yesterday had a chance to do just that.

So, was the film a decent enough action/adventure time killer or a waste of time?

As it turns out, all the above.

Momentum, despite its $20 million budget (this is according to IMDB), “feels” like a cheaply done film.  Yes, there are special effects and stuntwork but the overall look of the film is surprisingly dreary for a relatively higher budgeted film.  Comparing the “look” of Momentum with that of, for example, the also low budgeted The Frame (you can read my review of that here) and there is no comparison at all.  The Frame looks gorgeous while Momentum…doesn’t.

The visuals aside, how does Momentum fare as a movie?

Well, it starts off rather silly, with a bank robbery wherein the perpetrators, including our hero Alex Farraday (Olga Kurylenko, looking as beautiful as ever), perform a bank robbery while wearing high tech but ultimately silly sci-fi looking costumes.  How silly are these costumes?  When any of the members of the robbery team talk, a band of lights come on where their mouth is to indicate who is speaking.  Was that really necessary?

Anyway, you get glimpses of the costumes in the above trailer and, while they may look neat, other than showing us who is speaking with those fancy lights and hiding their looks, one wonders why the thieves didn’t save their money and get some cheap Richard Nixon or Ronald Reagan masks…or something.

The thieves wind up robbing a security box of its diamonds but within the box is also a computer chip.

This computer chip becomes the movie’s “MacGuffin“.  On the chip is information that can take down a powerful and very corrupt U.S. senator (Morgan Freeman in a role that it looks like he did over a day or so while nowhere near any of the other actors).

What happens is one of the thieves, Kevin Fuller (Colin Moss), ex-lover of Alex and the man who brought her into this job against her wishes, was always after this chip and, by extension, the Senator.  Alex winds up in the cross hairs when a “cleaning squad” led by the deadly Mr. Washington (James Purefoy, looking like he’s enjoying himself while playing a slimy bad guy) shows up to take out Kevin and another person working for him while Alex hides and witnesses the whole bloody affair.

Of course Alex becomes Mr. Washington’s target as she winds up with the chip and what follows is the best part of the film, an open air version of Die Hard with Alex on the run from the bad guys.

We’re soon introduced to other characters, including Kevin’s wife (given the fact that Alex is Kevin’s ex-lover, she has good reason not to like Alex) while mayhem follows in their wake.

I won’t go into too many more details but a little after the halfway point of this film the (ahem) momentum sputters and some really stupid things happen that call into question Alex’s plans for taking down these bad guys.  Without giving too much away, we have another of those cliched “character gets captured on purpose to effect her plan” and, given what Alex goes through in this section, she’s either a masochist or stupid or both.

Despite all that, the movie manages to salvage a pretty good climax involving, of all things, Mr. Washington’s tie.

Yes, I’m serious.

In the course of the movie Alex references Mr. Washington’s “ugly” tie a few times and as a viewer I thought it was one of those throwaway “humorous” lines.  Yet these seeming throwaway lines wind up having not one but two terrific -and very clever- payoffs in the movie’s climax.

Again, I’m being dead serious here.

It is the cleverness of these payoffs that makes me wonder if Momentum’s script might well have been far better than the final product suggests.

Unfortunately, the movie doesn’t quite end with that second tie payoff (but it should have!) and in the movie’s closing minutes it is clear the makers planned Momentum to be the first in a series.  Our evil Senator is still out there as is Alex and the envisioned -but seriously doubtful to be made- sequel would likely feature the two on a collision course (hey, maybe that was the name they would give the film!).

Considering the amount of money the theatrical release in England didn’t make, don’t hold your breath waiting for the sequel.

Momentum wound up, to me, not being a total waste of time but neither is it a movie worth recommending.  While I felt the cast in general did its work, the people behind the scenes, including the director and, in particular, cinematographer could and should have done better.

A real shame because there are parts in this film that lift it from your typical brainless action-fest.

Movies

I suppose it was inevitable…

Considering our ADD society’s constant demand for getting what’s new new NEW, it shouldn’t be all that surprising that, a mere handful of days following the release of the latest Star Wars film, there’s already rumors about what’s coming up in the next Star Wars film…

Star Wars Producer Kathleen Kennedy Confirms the Entire Cast Will Return for Eight Star Wars Film

For those who have seen the film or, like me, have read the plentiful spoilers out there (as the saying goes, you can’t swing a dead cat without hitting ’em), this apparently includes a certain actor/character who…well…you thought might be done based on what happens in this film.

So what to make of the fact that Ms. Kennedy says the entire cast will return?

Was Ms. Kennedy simply trying not to be spoilery regarding the fate of this certain character in the freshly released film (the interview presented might well have been made shortly before the formal release of the film)?  Maybe said character will return like some of the others in the original three Star Wars films, ie as ghostly presences?  Or is it possible that the character’s fate wasn’t quite as permanent as the viewers thought?

I lean towards the later.

Which brings me to the next point:  I know what you’re thinking, did he fire five shots or…

No, wait.

You’re thinking: Ok Mr. Smartypants, you’ve written over and over and over again about how much you don’t like Star Wars all that much and how when you were a young kid you went into the theaters to see the original 1977 Star Wars and walked out wondering what all the hype was about and blah blah blah.

So why do you keep commenting on it?

Frankly, the fact that Star Wars never floated my boat doesn’t mean that I’m not interested in the series and its world wide reaction.  The fact is I’m a science fiction fan.  I write science fiction novels.  I LOVE science fiction.

And while I will wait to see the latest Star Wars feature when it hits home video (again, based on what I’ve read and the fact that this movie appears to be a homage/remake of the original Star Wars makes me even less interested in seeing it right now), I nonetheless will eventually see it.

I’m always hoping a sci-fi work –any sci-fi work- will knock my socks off.  Star Wars and its various sequels and prequels never quite did it for me but I’m always curious -in a professional way- about what sort of stories/movies draw people in and I’m certainly willing to give the film a look.

Eventually.

In the meantime, those who like/love the film, I’m happy for you.  Really.  Clearly there are very many of you out there and while the film hasn’t been universally loved, there are plenty who do like it.

I hope when I get around to seeing it I won’t regret the time spent doing so.

Movies

The Frame (2014) a (mildly) belated review

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As much as one loves them, it is easy at times to become frustrated with movies.  If you see enough of them, you pick up on certain familiar storylines and characterizations and long for something new.  Something original.

Yesterday I was in the mood for something genuinely different and scrolled through some of the movies available free to watch through Amazon Prime.  I found the film 2014 film The Frame and read the short description of it.  It went like this:

From Jamin Winans, writer and director of the cult smash hit, INK, comes a mind-bending science fiction thriller about two strangers who find their lives colliding in an impossible way.

Not a whole lot to hang on to here, but the movie’s poster looked kinda cool…

The Frame

…and I wasn’t doing much else so I sat back and watched it.

Wow.

Where to begin?

The film looks really nice.  The cinematography and effects (though limited) are incredible for what I’m assuming is a low budget film.

The story, however, is the main draw and it is fascinating.

The movie opens with Alex (David Carranza), in a parking lot looking out at a city before him.  He watches the city and the (ahem) framing of the shot is quite striking.  After a while, he walks through this parking lot, pulls out a slim jim, and breaks into a car.  He takes off with the stolen vehicle (after, tellingly for later in the movie, turning off the radio) and we watch as he becomes part of a warehouse heist.  These scenes show us that Alex, though a criminal, is both smart and cool under pressure and DOES NOT believe in violence.

The movie then abruptly switches to Sam (Tiffany Mualem), an EMT Paramedic who, in her opening scenes, is filmed at the same angle as Alex was in his.  We watch as she intrepidly enters a home where an abused wife lies bloody and unconscious on the floor while her daughter cries and her abusive husband is about to get violent again.  As with Alex’s opening scenes, these scenes serve to introduce us to Sam and show that she is also intrepid, smart, caring, and cool under pressure.

And then the movie connects these two characters in a most interesting way.

I’m tempted to stop my description of The Frame right there.  I’ll mention a little more, but it will involve SPOILERS so I’ll do so after the trailer is presented below.

The Frame turns out to be a riveting sci-fi/fantasy about the connection between two very flawed yet very sympathetic characters and the bizarre worlds they live in.  What’s perhaps most incredible of all is the actors who play Alex and Sam have an incredible on-screen chemistry even though they (MILD SPOILER) share no more than a few seconds of time together within the film itself.  And when they do, and provided you get as into the movie as I did, you will tear up.

The Frame is a mind-bender of a work and and I must congratulate not only the actors involved but writer/director Jamin Winans for creating such a unique, thought-provoking, and ultimately emotional work.  I’ll have to check out his other works.

Highly Recommended (Some SPOILERY thoughts follow the trailer)

BEWARE!

SPOILERS BELOW!

You’ve been WARNED!

The big twist of The Frame is that Alex and Sam are actually characters in their own TV shows and that they see each other as fictional creations.  Alex watches Sam in her EMT show while Sam sees Alex in his.  If the movie has one flaw it is that Sam’s show is perhaps not as compelling as Alex’s and it would have been nice to see two equally compelling shows within the movie.

But that’s a minor complaint.

The “fictional” characters of Alex and Sam wind up -though it is never explained why- actually talking to each other through their respective television screens.  This understandably freaks Alex out.  Being a thief, he at first worries of being surveyed by the cops.  Sam, on the other hand, wonders if she’s showing signs of severe mental illness as she’s talking to the TV and its talking back to her!

These are delightful touches that only add to the overall picture.  When Sam realizes Alex’s TV show is about to reach its series finale, she fears for his life and tries to save him even as time may be running out for both of them.

As I said above, I highly recommend The Frame.  It is perhaps more a fantasy than science fiction but it presents some very strong emotions along with mind-bending concepts.

At the risk of repeating myself: I strongly recommend it.