Matthew R. Reis: Film and TV Critic

When will it be over! (Now on DVD) 2 Stars As featured in: The Ithacan Shane Acker’s first feature- length film, “9,” is a flawed, post- apocalyptic vision of the not-so- distant future. Based on a short film, also named “9,” the film has some thrilling moments but should have never been adapted for the big screen. The film, set in a time of economic upheaval, depicts a dictator known only as the Chancellor who enlists the help of a team of scientists to develop technologies that will allow the state to prosper. The smartest scientist develops a ma- chine so ingenious, fittingly called The Brain, that it regrettably starts thinking for itself. Though the creator insists The Brain isn’t fully operational, it is put to use anyway by the Chancellor. The machine eventually turns its back on its creator, ensuring the inevitable destruction of the world. “9’s” fairly simple story line prevents the film from becoming a great, dark fantasy in the vein of Tim Burton’s “The Nightma...

Boom goes the dirty bomb (Now on DVD) 4 Stars Blog Exclusive! What if you had only minutes to live? What would you think, feel and do in that short amount of time? Well Jake Gyllenhaal (Brothers) knows he has to make every second count in order to save the city of Chicago from a terrorist attack just 8 minutes in the future. As Jake finds out in "Source Code" anything is possible except failure. Army helicopter pilot Col. Colter Stevens (Gyllenhaal) awakens aboard a Chicago bound train with no memory of how he got there. Feeling confused Stevens rushes into a bathroom and looks in the mirror. What he sees is terrifying. He realizes that he’s inside somebody else's body, but before he digests this information a bomb rips through the train as easily as a knife cuts through butter. As everyone perishes Stevens is transported to a futuristic, metallic pod stowed away in a remote arctic wasteland. He’s tightly strapped into a seat that is surrounded by video monitors. In...