Slater Reviews

The Business (2006–2007)

Impressive

[10/10 · 2 October 2006]

I'm really impressed with this show and with IFC. I accidentally started watching "The Business" because it was on after Laura Kightlinger's "Minor Accomplishments" show. I starting watching her show because I heard her plugging it on the Opie and Anthony radio show. The O&A radio show has a connection to her through Jim Norton who worked with her on HBO's "Lucky Louie" show. Anyway, once I tuned in, it wasn't long before I set my Tivo to record both of the IFC shows each week.

I'd previously seen an episode or two of "The Festival", which I guess was the precursor to "The Business", and it didn't really hold my attention. But now, after enjoying "The Business" so much, I'm wondering if I should have given "The Festival" more of an opportunity. That being said, I just added the DVD of "The Festival" to my Netflix queue.

Overall, I was very pleasantly surprised by the writing and acting. The dialog and interaction between characters really made me happy. I was also very impressed with the actors, most of whom were basically unknown to me, but they all did a great job. I should note that leaving such positive feedback is a departure for me as I'm typically very cynical and jaded. I just didn't realize that IFC was airing such quality content in the form of original (I think) series. I hope there will be more to come.

Snakes on a Plane (2006)

Best comedy of the year!

[7/10 · 18 August 2006]

The movie has a bunch of predictable plot points, which is to be expected in a "popcorn flick" of this type. But unlike most of the crappy movies that are heavily marketed today, I liked it.

There really is nothing to be scared of in this film. The moments of terror are, instead, moments of hilarity. I'm convinced that this was the filmmakers' intention since they did such a good job of making me laugh during scenes in which people might normally be expected to scream. In a way, this film could be considered a parody of so many other poorly put together suspense thrillers.

Overall, the movie has decent action sequences, almost campy writing, and the relatively unique idea of using snakes on an airplane. I gave it 7 stars on IMDb, which is my minimum rating for good movies. You won't be better or worse for seeing it, but if you can appreciate certain cinematic elements, I recommend you go for it. Plus, you can walk away with an infinite number of quotable Mad Libs-esquire lines like, "Get this snake off my ****!"

Blade: Trinity (2004)

Simply for simple minds

[6/10 · 8 December 2004]

Warning- several people in my theater talked or took cell phone calls while I saw this film so maybe that's influencing my opinions a little. Though, this is typical of every film I see, in every theater, in every state in the U.S. I'm a little bitter about the state of affairs in movie theaters, but I digress...

I agree with most of the early comments by "the unemployed critic" here on IMDb. Particularly, the direction of David Goyer has left this movie wanting. The basic storyline was decent, however, it is the execution of that story with which I have a problem.

I am a big fan of the previous Blade films but Trinity was shallow in most areas:

1. We are bombarded with new characters for which there is no character development. 2. Jessica Biel is attractive, which is enough for most of us, but we have virtually no other reason to like or dislike her. Her link to Whistler is weak to say the least. They faintly hint at a more complicated relationship, but there are no plot points to support it. 3. The always likable Ryan Reynolds made a good career choice here but the director let him down a little. Everything he says is an attempt at humor with no serious side to the character. With a few exceptions, the jokes were ill timed and not funny. But he did get ripped for the film so maybe he could jump from this into some other action hero roles.

After about 7 or 8 years of using IMDb religiously, this is my first posted comment on a film and I want to keep it as short as I can. I'll reiterate that "the unemployed critic" has, with some exceptions, described my own feelings on this film. I recommend finding his/her post and reading it.

Basically, if you're the type of person who can get past simple-minded eye candy with no story depth to speak of, you're going to enjoy this film. You will also enjoy this film if you're the type who likes giving the rest of the theater patrons a narrative of such brilliantly clichéd inner-dialog as "Oh, snap!" and "No he didn't!"

Trinity, like the first 2 films, was good in both the visuals and the soundtrack. Despite my negative critiques I think that, overall, it wasn't that bad a flick. It just wasn't all that special, either.