Aparitions (TV, 2008)

STALE REVIEW.

By that, I mean that I did not watch this series just recently.  I actually watched it this last fall/winter when it was leaving Netflix, but I only finished watching it on the last night that it was available to stream so I didn't think it was fair to you guys to post about it just then.  But it's back now, and I really enjoyed it, so I'll hack out a blurb about it.  It's a television series about a Catholic priest/exorcist.  He's an older man with a white beard, and a badass to demons, but also a really gentle supportive man to humans.  I'm not particularly religious, but I found his character really likable, due in no small part to his comparatively liberal opinions (not casting people out because he doesn't agree with their beliefs/practices, just wants everyone to be happy and safe).  The powers that be in the Vatican don't like his attitude, and the demons in Hell don't like his success rate... and by the end, the story gets pretty big and heavy.  I tend to enjoy supernatural-type stories (video games such as Darksiders and Legacy of Kain; shows like Buffy, Angel and Supernatural; movies like City of Angels and The Deaths Of Ian Stone) so this is right up my alley.

Uncertainty (2009, NR)

This film starts with young lovers played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Inception, 10 Things I Hate About You) and Lynn Collins (X-Men Origins: Wolverine, John Carter) trying to decide how to spend their Fourth Of July, so they flip a coin and... we follow them through both options.  The film cuts back and forth between the two alternate versions of the day and we see where each option takes them and what other decisions arise as a result.  In one version, they go to Collins's family's barbecue and in the other version, they go to their friend's party.  An attempt to be a Good Samartian makes one version of their day more pleasant and the other into a nightmare.  The story is chock-full-of decisions.

The Next Three Days (2010, PG-13)

In this film, Russel Crowe (Gladiator, A Beautiful Mind) plays a teacher whose wife, played by Elizabeth Banks (Zack And Miri Make A Porno, the TV shows Scrubs and 30 Rock) is imprisoned for a murder he's sure she did not commit.  The first act of the story is setting up characters, their relationships, and their situations.  The second act has him deciding how desperate he is and planning a breakout/escape for her.  You can figure out what act 3 is about.

While I've never been a fan of Elizabeth Banks (I had a big crush on her from when I first ever saw commercials for her films, but I've always disliked her characters and the acting has never wow'ed me), she did OK in this role.  Once again, I found her character dislikable in several ways, but she did come across as genuine and the loving family dynamic was believable.  Russel Crowe has had his ups and downs in my opinion: not to say that he has performed particularly badly in acting roles that I've seen, just that some of his films interested me far more than others.  I'll admit that I'm part of the common denominator that loved Gladiator, but he seemed just a little two-dimensional in Robin Hood.  He's great with brooding and intensity, but now that I think about it he doesn't really display a lot of range.