THE SENTINEL and SILENT HILL: Sneaking Into Theaters

[AndyDursin]

There are some reviews out for THE SENTINEL (most of them less than stellar) but goodness, did I miss something or is it shocking that a film with Michael Douglas, Kiefer Sutherland, "Desperate Housewife" Eva Longoria and Kim Basinger has all but been thrown away by its distributor? There have been few ads, and not a lot of exposure considering the cast...obviously not a good sign!

Likewise, SILENT HILL is the first American movie from director Christophe Gans and isn't even being screened for critics (despite a meaty, two-hour plus running time).

Are the studios so down on these movies that they don't care, or are they just waiting for this summer's "Sequel/Remake Row" to start the machine up (and by the way this whole summer seems like a re-run...MISSION 3, POSEIDON, XMEN 3, THE OMEN, PIRATES 2, SUPERMAN RETURNS, MIAMI VICE, GARFIELD 2, CLERKS 2...where have we seen this before? )

[Monterey Jack]

Ironically, most of the TV spots I've seen for The Sentinel have played during 24. "Where's the Syntox nerve gas, DAMMIT!?"

[AndyDursin]

Ironically, most of the TV spots I've seen for The Sentinel have played during 24. "Where's the Syntox nerve gas, DAMMIT!?"

lol. Monty I was about to post a 24 rant thread, but will wait until the season's over. Still, do you agree with me this has been the least satisfying year of the show to date? Every element feels recycled, and while it's still entertaining, there's been so little suspense generated...it just feels like deja vu. (Hey another CTU mole! Another traitor at the white house! Jack is back at CTU...now he's set up...AGAIN?!? Hey another character has been killed!). Also shocking is how little Jack Bauer has been a factor in this season...President Logan almost feels like the lead character!

[Monterey Jack]

I dunno...even "bad" 24 is still pretty addictive. Yeah, season 5 basically plays like an amalgam of previous years, and the way that they've been eliminating old favorites (Palmer, Tony, sweet, sweet Michelle... ) has made the entire season play like spring cleaning, yet I found the recent developments with Prez Logan to be quite shocking (Didn't see that coming... ), and there've been some juicy character standoffs (like between Logan and secretary Heller this week). Still, seeing as how how Kiefer just signed a $40 million(!) deal to keep the show on the air for another 3 years, I'd like next year to have a completely different feel. Why not move the action out of Los Angeles for once? Why not have Jack be cut off from CTU fro an entire season for once? No ridiculous soap opera subplots that go nowhere, no "Location X is always a five minute drive from CTU" temporal silliness, just 24 hours of Jack maiming and torturing and yelling "DAMMIT!" Remember, Jack's still in hot water with the Chinese government from season 4, so maybe they'll find out he's still alive by the end of this year, so he'll have to go back into hiding next season. Anyways, the Jack Bauer Power Hour still delivers the goods for this fan.