Film Recommendation of the Week...

Falling Skies
Release date June 19th, 2011 on TNT.
Running time-45 minutes per episode.

This is a sci-fi adventure series that focuses on the aftermath of an alien invasion. From the little we know so far, 90% of the Earth's humans have been killed, all armies have been destroyed and the aliens have set up camps where humans are used as slave labor to collect scrap metal, seemingly to build some sort of craft. Reports from all over the country state the aliens have set up theses massive mother ships in every major city of the United States.

We are left with roving bands of survivors, a mixture of civilians with nowhere to go and the remnants of the US armed forces, who are doing battle in small insurgent groups while trying to figure out how to defeat the alien invaders. The main character is a US history professor looking for his captured son, played by Noah Wyle of the television hospital drama "E.R.".

He plays the typically earnest, Huckleberry Finn-type character who tries to exemplify the best in all of us. I can do without the All-American do-goodism, it's a cheap cliché that requires no thought, and quite frankly it's downright tiresome. Other than that, some of the babes are pretty hot and the three episodes so far have been quite entertaining. In other words, it is a nice addition to what will turn out to be one of the most boring summers in sports, television and film I've witnessed in years.

Let's be real-if the most pressing and urgent situations in pro football and basketball are those stupid work stoppages, then it's time to ignore the issue until the idiots in charge resolve it, because we all know it will be beaten to death on sports talk radio. So tune them out and watch something more entertaining than another pathetic episode of "Mob Wives" or "16 and Pregnant". We have the producers of last year's killer series "The Walking Dead" to thank for this. We should have had more episodes of this show by now, but they will not air until October or November of this year. Fucking sucks.

UPDATE-we are now heading towards the season-ending two-hour finale on Sunday, August 7th. All the episodes have been extremely good, and I'm glad the writers steered clear of overexposing the main character. His "Honest John of America" bullshit was seriously getting on my fucking nerves. Stay tuned, because I have a feeling it's going to be excellent.

The aliens have been in cahoots with some of the survivors who, in exchange for their lives, have been giving them information on where to find and kidnap the young humans they need for their mission. They control the humans by setting up harnesses along their spinal columns. These harnesses have been used against the aliens themselves. they are controlled by some super-tall and thin human-like aliens who look nothing like the multi-legged creeps that have been out in the streets doing their dirty work.

Just as it seemed completely hopeless for humanity, the gang are planning an attack on the alien's spaceships with explosives conjured by by a rogue ex-con anarchist who'se been giving everyone fits but seems interested in helping out. This cat has managed to figure out the type of bullets necessary to pierce the alien attacker's up-to-then bullet-proof armor, which has been a major hindrance in the army's ability to put up any sort of resistance.