What did you watch over the weekend?

This weekend, in a fit of extreme laziness and desire to stay right next to the air conditioner, I turned into one of those people who binge-watches a whole season of TV. (I'm not judging, it's just not how I personally do television). The show was Amazon's scifi comedy and socioeconomic satire Upload. It's quite uneven in its laughs and execution -- a giant suspension of disbelief is necessary for its premise of life after death via technological upload, but the 'rules' within the show's universe were ridiculously inconsistent -- but overall I found it endearing and loved the female lead, Cameroonian-American actress Andy Allo. Have any of you watched?  

What have you been watching? Please say "1991's Oscar nominees". The Smackdown is on Sunday!

National Pet Week: "Sam" from I Am Legend

Team Experience is celebrating pets at the movies (and in our homes) this week. Here's Tony Ruggio...

With my third family dog growing up "Sydney"

I’ve always been a dog person. Some of my first memories are of rolling in the carpet at three years-old next to our first pekingese bruiser Gin Gin. His death at the hands of a roaming pack of stray dogs in our neighborhood was my first real brush with tragedy and emotional trauma. Two more family dogs would come and go over the next twenty-five years, each one’s passing more devastating than the last. 

It’s no surprise then that I would take to the tale of a man and his dog in 2007’s I Am Legend, or its inevitable conclusion. The movie itself is a flawed slice-of-apocalyptic-life blockbuster, a one-man show for Will Smith wherein he and German Shepherd Samantha roam a desolate New York City...  

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Review: Gemini Man

by Tony Ruggio

We live in a polarizing world, a place of right or left, love or hate. In the age of the internet, if you want to be noticed, if you want to be included, not ignored, you take a side. No one wants to wail about both the good and the bad and find themselves alone on an island. They want to see the good or see the bad and say to everyone "god is good" or "god is awful." 

I don't believe in astrology or zodiac signs but Geminis supposedly have dual personalities, an ability to harbor two different points of view simultaneously. Coincidence or not, I'm a Gemini. I find myself witnessing most debates from the middle of love and hate, from geopolitical quagmires to frivolous media circuses to the movies.

Film criticism often succumbs to group-think, and the need to deify or decry a particular movie. Following in the footsteps of Joker, Gemini Man is the latest victim of such...

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Lunchtime Poll: So, you're turning into an alien...

by Nathaniel R

Today marks the 10th anniversary of District 9 (2009), a major sleeper hit and Oscar success in its year. Remember that year when it seemed like anything was possible for the sudden extra Best Picture slots ... before the awards strategists and specialty distributors conquered the new system to make it more like the old system again in terms of what got a Best Picture nod. 

District 9 was totally snubbed in Best Makeup which was insane. What does the makeup branch have against body horror anyway? Which brings us to today's lunchtime poll. You've become infected and are turning into an alien. Choose which movie alien you'd like to become and why. Here are some of movie aliens for inspiration and to get the conversation started...

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Sweden narrows down Oscar options: true story, sci-fi drama, or gay romance?

A few tidbits of note in the Best International Film competition at the forthcoming Oscars. Two countries have been approved to submit that never have before: Uzbekistan and Uganda! In other "U" alphabetized news, The Ukraine will select their film on August 23rd.

But the most speficic recent news is that Sweden has already whittled their possible submission down to three films, and one of them is basically a Georgian film (though Georgia definitely won't be submitting it as they do not approve). They are...

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