Jammer's Reviews were created by Jammer. They evolved. They rebelled. Some were written to think they were dissertations. And Jammer has a plan — to curtail them moving forward.

When I launched Jammer's Blog (JB) eight months ago, my mind was already churning away, looking ahead to the future of Jammer's Reviews (JR) as a viable web site, and more specifically toward a Jammer's Reviews & Blog (JRB) hybrid site where one would feed the other. (Read more...)

At long last, I've posted my absolutely last review for Battlestar Galactica, for the TV movie "The Plan," which debuted on DVD and Blu-ray nearly three months ago and premiered on Sci Fi Syfy a couple weeks ago. You can read the review over at the home office known as Jammer's Reviews. (Read more...)

Some movies speak for themselves. One such movie is 2012, which comes billed as the end of the world, Roland Emmerich style. This review could simply state "Roland Emmerich destroys the world for real this time" and that would probably be sufficient. If you've seen any of his other movies, you know more or less what to expect from Emmerich. And since you know what CGI effects are capable of in 2009, you can probably predict what the destruction of earth circa 2012 might look like.

An airplane flies through the collapsing L.A. skyline — the first of many things that Roland Emmerich destroys in his latest world-ender, "2012."

And since you've seen the trailers, you know what you're buying going in. The only question here is whether 2012 delivers what you expect respectably and entertainingly, or whether it's a cliche-ridden, implausible, over-the-top exercise in gratuitous mayhem.

Well, why can't it be both? I submit that's exactly what it is. 2012 is what it is: a spectacular popcorn disaster epic that appeals to a mass PG-13 audience. It's a special effects thrill ride that will not be particularly disturbing or depressing. How can "the end of the world" not be depressing, you ask? I wouldn't presume to give away the ending, but like all Emmerich mass-consumable destruction opuses, this one comes with a certain tempered conclusion to make all the world-ending that transpires over 150 minutes somehow seem okay, if you see what I mean. Never mind that untold billions have perished. This movie is not about who dies, it's about who survives! (Read more...)

Complaining about Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen after you've actually paid to go see it is kind of like complaining after commanding someone to punch you in the face. They might not have done it the way you wanted them to do it, but you sort of knew what you were getting yourself into. It's kind of your own fault.

Michael Bay in a nutshell: Megan Fox and Shia LaBeouf run away from one of many, many explosions in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.

Such is the case with the latest behemoth from Michael friggin' Bay. It's overblown to the point of absurdity, and yet I feel like an a-hole for complaining that it's overblown, because, well, of course it's overblown. I saw the trailer, didn't I? I knew that going in. And I read other reviews that said the movie was bad. What was I expecting?

I sort of liked the first Transformers. On the guilty-pleasure scale I gave it a three-star rating, simply because, again, I knew what I was getting into, and the movie delivered on its silly level. And it made me laugh. And the voice of Optimus Prime was ... the real voice of Optimus Prime, Peter Cullen. Which was awesome. Overall, it was sort of a more-frenetic, less-classy Independence Day. (Read more...)

On Monday will be the final episode of "Boston Legal," the David E. Kelley series that, among many other things, found a way to revive William Shatner in a way one previously would not have thought possible.

Denny Crane (Willaim Shatner) and Alan Shore (James Spader) are best friends in the end-of-its-run "Boston Legal."

Now, it's a crime that I did not write about the masterful ending of "The Shield" and yet I am somehow finding time to reflect upon what is obviously a much lesser show, but that's just how the ebb and flow of blogging — or at least my blogging — works. (I had plenty of thoughts and strong feelings on the election we just had, and I watched untold hours of coverage and analysis all year, but I did not feel like throwing myself into the discussion. Sometimes you have the energy, and sometimes you don't.)

I must confess to having a soft spot for "Boston Legal," despite its obvious flaws. It does what it sets out to do fairly well. And that seems to be, like "The Practice" before it, to provide a (liberal) soapbox for writer/creator David E. Kelley to preach from while showcasing its quirky cast of characters. (Read more...)