Das Leben der Anderen/The Lives of Others (Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, 2006) - Rating: 4/5

Two films kept buzzin' in my brain as I watched this: Coppola's "The Conversation" and Truffaut's "Fahrenheit 451." In "The Conversation" Gene Hackman plays the man listening in on people's lives who gets drawn into their stories. In "Fahrenhit 451" our lead firefighter finds that he too is drawn more to the interests of those he's supposed to destroy.

Rating: 7/10

The Terminator (1984, James Cameron)

It's interesting to note how our eyes have adjusted over the pas 20 years. I remember The Terminator being pretty cutting edge with the effects back in '84. Watching the movie today is almost hard to bare. The scenes of Arnie's head, which is clearly a replica; and the overused Back to the Future lightning effects; and the jittery stop motion animation. The film does succeed in giving the back story for the series but that's about all that's left of value in this now very dated feeling sci-fi classic.

Rating: 5/10