Jason X and other Horror Movies (Jumping the Space Shark)

When your Horror movie franchise runs out of ideas and you take it into space it is time to throw in the towel.

I was at home sick the other day and finally got around to seeing Jason X….a question I’m now questioning.    Jason X or Jason in outer space was a barely watchable film.   Taking Jason the killer from Crystal Lake into space is basically an attempt to drain the last bit of blood out of an already dead franchise.    I guess people finally got the idea to no longer go camping at that Lake after like the 7^th movie.    By the 8th movie  Jason discovered  that there was a river leading out of the lake that could take him to Manhatten.  Then he went to Hell in the 9th film.  
So what was left for a guy that went from being a killer in a mask at a campground to some sort of immortal black ooze from an X-Files episode.  Space of course!   Why not send him to outer space?    A reimagined Jason in Jason X.

Jason X  2001   2 out of 10

The movie starts out with the Crystal Lake facility deciding that since they can’t kill Jason that at least they can freeze him.   Some idiot in the government thinks he is too important to freeze and wants to research him.   This of course goes wrong and he kills a bunch of people.  Then a brave scientist is able to freeze him while getting stuck freezing herself in the process.    Flash forward to the year 2455  - when a space crew of students finds the frozen bodies and brings them aboard their ship.   They unfreeze the girl and treat her wounds with healing nanbots.   Jason defrosts and goes on a predictable killing spree aboard the ship.  

The music in the film was terrible –it added nothing to the film.  The acting was forgettable –the story dull and boring.   The film is basically a parody of its own franchise that forgot to be funny.  
It was just a pointless and cliche.  At one point a female android kicks Jason’s butt and literally shots off his leg, arm and head.   I felt like I was watching King Arthur in the Holy Grail fighting the Black Knight –without the laughs.    After they defeat him they wait for another space ship to rescue them---and the ships nanobots decide to resurrect him as a new space version of Jason. The movie was just dull.  This movie was just incredibly cheesy and not scary at all.   At least in the old movies at the camp ground at the lake you could expect a few startles.  With the whole trapped on a ship scenario all the deaths were just inevitable and with the crappy soundtrack Jason lost whatever was left of his scariness.


Outer Space is where Terrestial Horror Movies go to Die.  Jumping the Space Shark.....(Hey I'm surprised Syfy channel hasn't made that movie yet).  

 Hellraiser: Bloodlines 1996 was one of the first to go to space......
I didn't even see that one and was shocked to see that there have been 5 movies since the first one.  I guess I lost track of Pinhead after the third film which I thought was terrible and only gave a 2 out of 10.

   I did suffer through  Leprechaun 4 : Leprechaun in Space
(I guess I was more of a completionist with this bad horror series)  
  Let's be honest all the Leprechaun movies were  pretty bad and surprisingly after Space he actually had his most successful movies in the Hood of all places.     A Leprechaun in Space --why not?  
This movie franchise makes up a whole new mythology for the character with every single film.   So sending him to Outer Space makes as much sense as anything else in the series.

 Leprechaun 4   1996   4 out of 10
Here is the trailer of Jason X....

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The Internship 2013 7+ out of 10

The Internship 2013 7+ out of 10

When the trailers for this movie  starring Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson came out I kind of dismissed it as a possible rental and then quickly forget about it.   The plot seemed silly at first glance.  Two old  sales guys lose their jobs and decide to become Google Interns?   I didn’t sound like a must see movie.

Well Sunday morning it happened to be on TV and was only about 5 minutes in so me and my wife started watching it and actually ended up really liking it.   Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson are dong there same old routine in this movie,  it is almost like they are just playing themselves.   Sometime it works and sometimes it doesn’t –this movie it worked.  Vince Vaughn wrote the movie and he crafted it to take advantage of his and Owen’s talents.   What seemed like an uninspired premise –turned into a funny version of a rag tag group of nerds  (Revenge of the Nerds Style) overcoming huge odds.  Sure it was far-fetched –but it was just funny.  Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn work well together in this flick like a well-oiled comedy machine—like a Stan and Ollie or Abbott and Bud.  You can tell that they enjoy working together.  Their comedy chemistry just works so well in this movie.

One of my favorite little scenes is the scene where Vince Vaughn goes to pay for his food at the Google offices and is told it is free.  He goes into a long silly Vince Vaughn still rambling and ends up taking a whole bunch of more food –just because it was free.

If you like either of these actors and dismissed this movie at first –because it just didn’t sound interesting enough –give it a try.  If you aren’t a Vince Vaughn fan you probably won’t like it.

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Minority Report: A Movie and TV Show review

I watched the first episode of the new FOX sci-fi show Minority Report the other day and really enjoyed it.    I heard the ratings were not that good and this saddened me---because I believe the show has a lot of potential and fear it getting cancelled too early.  
2 Episodes in I decided to revisit the movie as well which is basically a springboard for the show.   Here are my thoughts on both the movie and the show.

Minority Report :  The Movie  9 out of 10  2002

I loved this movie.  It is probably my favorite movies that Tom Cruise has been in.   A big factor in my loving the movie is that it was directed by my favorite director Steven Spielberg who as far as I'm concerned can do no wrong.  Another factor is that it was based on a Phillip K Dick story.   Some of the best sci-fi movies have been based on Phillip K Dick stories such as Blade Runner and Total Recall…..This movie belongs in that great class of films.

The plot is kind of like the plot for Logan’s Run  --in that the main character is a cop that ends up on the run himself.   In Logan’s Run the main character is a cop that has to hunt down anyone that runs once their lifespan has been scheduled to expire.  In Minority Report the main character played by Tom Cruise is a cop that arrests criminals before they commit crimes based on a program called Pre-Crime.  Pre-Crime relies on three precognitive telepaths that are able to see murders before they happen.   The problem is all of a sudden his name shows up as a murderer and he runs knowing that he doesn’t plan to murder anyone.   The movie follows him as he tries to prove that he is innocent and uncovers some things about the program that throw the whole program into doubt.

The movie has a fun and exciting plot with some solid action sequences.   The look at the future is visually appealing and some of the concepts from this  2001 film feel like they are starting to happen already.   Speilberg is one of the best there is and as usual delivers a good film with  a satisfying ending…. If you like Sci-Fi and Spielberg this film is a must see.

Here is the trailer for the film

The TV Show:

The TV show is off to a great start with a story that jumps off from the film years later as Pre-Crime has been abolished.   The Precogs  that were sent to live a normal life at the end of the film are now the center of this TV show.   The story follows one of the Precogs (played by Stark Sands)  that has taken upon himself to try and stop the murders.  He secretly teams up with a cop (played by Megan Good)  and together they try to solve crimes together.  Megan Good is excellent as the cop and Stark Sands (interesting name) plays socially awkward well as Dash.  This is a typical fish out of water cop team up story like Castle or Sleepy Hollow with he interesting twist  being the Precogs themselves.   There is an interesting background story involving the 3 Precogs that I hope the show gets around to revealing.   The show feels like a natural extension of the movie incorporating many familiar elements. 
This isn’t a reboot –but instead a cool sequel that makes use of the cool elements from the film.  Check the show out while you still can

Here is the trailer for the TV show

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The Maze Runner: Scorch Trials 2015 8+ out of 10

The Maze Runner: Scorch Trials 2015  8+ out of 10

This movie covers the second book of James Dashner's 3 book series that was adapted for the big screen.

The first movie was basically a Lord of the Flies meets The Cube. (An interesting mix).
Here were my thoughts on the first one.
http://bradgeekness.blogspot.com/2015/01/the-maze-runner-better-than-hunger.html

The first movie had a cool and unexpected nature to it and the ending –just left questions that you want to know more about.  
The sequel picks up where the first movie ended with the Gladers being rescued and taken to a facility to supposedly have a better life.  Of course things aren’t exactly what they seem and Thomas the man protagonist –doesn’t just accept things at face value.  With the help of a mysterious teen that has escaped from a different maze, Thomas makes a discovery that causes him and his friends to break out of the facility and make a run for it –through a wild area called the Scorch.

At this point the movie takes a dark and exciting departure from the previous film.  The area called the Scorch which includes the destroyed cities of Earth is inhabited by Zombie like creatures and what is left of society struggling to survive makes for a thrilling movie.  I was sitting in the theater watching this and thinking this is why I love movies.  I go to movies to be thrilled ……To see things I don’t see in the real world and this movie was a sequel that improved on the already good original.    

Zombies, dark tunnels, an escape through  exploding building and half fallen sky scrapers all lead to good fun.  The movie had some great scenes and went in some weird directions.    The only drawback to the movie was the ending which seemed to lack a level of epicness that it needed. It probably would have been a 9 out of 10 for me if the ending hadn't have seemed so small.   Being the middle section of a 3 part story the movie didn’t have a strong ending as the teens finally make it to their destination in the film and it is basically just a small group of rebels that look like extras from Red Dawn.  A twist occurs near the end that the movie telegraphs a little too much –so I wasn’t surprised when it happened.   The movie sets itself up for the final film (which I’m looking forward to)—but the story now stripped of some of the mystery from the first film needed a better end to its second chapter.

The cast was good.   My favorite character Minho played by actor  Ki Hong Li was great in both films.  The addition of Aidan Gillen from Game of Thrones fame was a welcome addition.  I can see him getting good roles for years to come. 

This film series was an obvious attempt to try and create a franchise along the lines of Hunger Games…..Every movie studio is trying to find the next Harry Potter, Twilight or Hunger Games.  
As a result several good films like I am Number 6 (which was meant to be a series) have been made and not succeeded in making it into a series.  I’m glad The Maze Runner ---will apparently get a chance to end its story.  I personally like it better than the Hunger Games –which I grew bored of after its second film.

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Hot Tub Time Machine 2 2015 6 out of 10 (Time Travel #1)

Hot Tub Time Machine 2  2015  6 out of 10

Time to jump back into the hot tub for a little drinking and time travel.  John Cusack (one of the main characters from the first film) skipped out on the sequel.....(maybe he read the script).   I'm joking it really wasn't that bad (unless you listen to the critics and the box office, since this sequel failed to recoup its budget).    I remember seeing the first movie (Because of the title alone) and liking, but not loving it.  There were really good elements to the first film --but a lot of potential that wasn't realized.     In the sequel we pick up the action with the guys having totally different lives --after the events of the first film.   They have basically taken advantage of their time travel adventure and created their own Back to the Future 2 version of Biff Tannen's world.    They have exploited their journey to invent things and songs for wealth and fame.  I love anything time travel and enjoyed the films many references to other time travel films.  The film tries to hard to be "The Hangover" of time travel movies - but still provided some entertainment along it's path of debauchery.   I especially enjoyed the scenes with Craig Robinson singing the songs he stole from the future (like when he sings the Lisa Loeb song).

In this adventure the plot takes the gang to the future to try and find out who came back in time to shoot Lou's dick off (Yes that is the story). Once in the future Lou just wants to go and check out what the stip clubs of the future are like --until he starts flickering out of existence --which sets them on a mission to stop the guy who shot him in the dick in the past.   The movie had some funny moments in the future and a silly plot that eventually makes some since.    Don't think to hard or deeply about this film just have fun with it.

 

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