Elysium

Quentin: What did you think of this one?

Jason: We went to see Elysium yesterday.

Jake: I thought it was great, but I know it left you cold, Q.

Quentin: Everything is leaving me cold these days. Maybe I should let you guys talk for a while.

Jason: Elysium is a dystopian sci-fi story set in the year 2154. The earth has been ravaged by disease and poverty, so the super-rich escape to a giant space station in the sky called Elysium. The director, Neill Blomkamp…

Jake: Who also directed District 9.

Jason: Thank you. He said the movie is very much about today, and he’s right. Just like I think The Hunger Games isn’t fantasy, the attitudes of the 1% in this movie are the same attitudes we live with now.

Fruitvale Station

Quentin: We went to see Fruitvale Station yesterday, but we decided to sleep on this one before we discussed it.

Jake: It’s about Oscar Grant, the young man who was shot and killed by a BART police officer in 2009.

Jason: The incident was recorded by several people on their cell phones and was widely viewed on YouTube. The three of us talked about this, and we didn’t see any reason not to lead with a link to one of those videos (after the jump). If you don’t want to watch, we don’t blame you. But this is why someone made a movie about Oscar Grant.

The Wolverine

Quentin: Jake, I think you should start us off today.

Jake: Okay. We went to see The Wolverine last night.

Jason: There weren’t very many people there.

Quentin: Never a good sign.

Jake: Afterward, in the car, I came up with this idea that kind of grew out of my frustration with the movie.

Quentin: Which was?

Jake: Not enough Wolverine. I know that sounds crazy, because it’s called The Wolverine and the character is in almost every frame. But it’s not crazy, is it?

The Way Way Back

Quentin: It’s nice to talk about a film we liked for a change.

Jake: Today we went to see The Way Way Back.

Jason: A movie with no explosions.

Quentin: Don’t get us wrong. We still love us a good action flick. But lately they haven’t been delivering the kind of thrills teenage boys look for.

Jake: So we turn to another genre we love: the coming-of-age drama.

Quentin: And we’ve had a couple of those as well this year.

Jake: Mud. The Kings of Summer.

Pacific Rim

Quentin: You should have laid your bet on this one, Jake.

Jake: Is it just me, or are all these movies starting to look the same?

Jason: It’s not just you.

Quentin: We went to see Pacific Rim today, but I could have sworn we walked into Transformers 4.

Jake: There was a little Top Gun in there too.

Quentin: And Star Wars.

Jason: And some Armageddon.

White House Down

Quentin: You owe me a hundred bucks, dude.

Jake: I do not owe you a hundred bucks.

Quentin: Bullshit. It didn’t end with a digital clock counting down.

Jake: But there was a digital clock as an element of the ending.

Quentin: That’s not what you said. “A hundred bucks says it ends with a digital clock ticking down.” That was the bet. We never saw the time past two minutes, and I consider how they handled it to be a twist on the cliché.

Jason: Plus the double ending.

Jake: You agree with him?

The Return Release Day Giveaway

Quentin: Time for another giveaway.

Jason: Only this time it's free books.

Quentin: Jake, you want to give us the lowdown?

Jake: Sure. We're giving away 5 free e-books of #TheReturn on July 5, 2013.

Jason: Release day.

Jake: This is a Rafflecopter giveaway, so there are several options.

• Tweet about the giveaway. 10 points.
• Follow us on Twitter. 5 points.
• Like Brad's Facebook page. 5 points.
• Tell us your favorite movie. 1 point.

Quentin: We also have a new feature this time, right?

Jake: Yes. You can refer a friend and get an extra point for each one you refer. Up to 10 extra points.

Jason: We strongly encourage people to use this feature. Help us spread the word and maybe Brad will stop complaining about how much we spend on popcorn.

Jake: The giveaway will run until midnight on 07-05-13.

Quentin: We'll hook up 5 winners with free e-books from either Dreamspinner Press or Amazon.

Jake: And Dreamspinner will be doing tweetaways of The Nothingness of Ben over the next two weeks, so people who have been hesitating to buy will have no excuse.

Jason: Though #TheReturn is not a sequel.

Quentin: But the action of #TheReturn does follow the action of Ben. Chronologically.

Jason: Yes, but they can be read in any order. Each book stands on its own.

Jake: Anyone who reads our reviews should read #TheReturn, because we're in it.

Jason: Albeit briefly.

Quentin: I got a few more scenes than you two.

Jake: Did you count your lines or something?

Quentin: Maybe.

Jake: Weirdo.

Jason: Enter today!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

World War Z

Quentin: I was really surprised.

Jake: Much better than I expected.

Jason: After all the bad press, I thought for sure it would be a real stinker.

Jake: We went to see World War Z today.

Quentin: What was the deal with the push back?

Jake: It was originally scheduled for release in December, but supposedly the ending was” incoherent,” whatever that means. I would love to have seen it, just to know how bad it was. The studio pushed the release back six months, hired Damon Lindelof and Drew Goddard to rewrite the third act, and then shot additional footage for two months. This is what they ended up with.

Jason: Do you think they fixed it?