This blog covers Movies, TV, and other Geeky things...... Movie Reviews (over 3,400 movies rated so far) Countdowns of my top movies by year.... and much more.
The trailer for Mute looked interesting. I'd just watched Altered Carbon a Netflix tv show that heavily used the visual style of BladeRunner and for the most part enjoyed it and it's visual look. Mute looked like a movie that would be interesting. The story of a Mute Bartender that seeks out what happened to his girlfriend after she disappears sounds intriguing. It featured Alexander Skarsgard, Paul Rudd and Justin Theroux so it had a good cast.
I was so wrong, I literally had to endure Mute to get to the end. Unfortunately the movie was a just a strange mess. Just because you have flying cars, neon and rain --that doesn't make you Bladerunner.
The murder mystery aspect of the story was incredible dull. A Mute man wandering around a sexually deviant underworld trying to ask questions without being able to talk didn't work. Paul Rudd and Justin Theroux's characters were just odd and at first their scenes just seem like they were put there just to try and have some type of interesting dialogue. They seem to have nothing to do with the main plot at first. It quickly becomes clear early on that somehow they are involved in the disappearance of the Mute bartenders girlfriend. If they aren't the killers then there is no reason for their characters to exist in the story at all. This takes any sense of mystery out of the story. It is apparent from early in the story that the angry Mute (ex amish) bartender is going to have a showdown with them at some point. I also I found the subject matter in this seedy underworld obnoxious. I literally thought about giving up on the movie about an hour into it. I struggled to get to the end.
Apparently it took 16 years for the director Duncan Jones to get this movie made. Maybe there was a reason that it was so difficult to get this movie made, because it was just a difficult watch. I definitely wouldn't recommend this film. So far it is the worst movie I've watched in 2018 (of course the bad shark movies of the summer on Sci-fi haven't come out yet).
Passengers is about a space flight to a distant planet that will take 120 years. Something goes wrong and Jim Preston wakes up 90 years too early.
It is basically a last man on earth movie abroad a spaceship. Jim Preston (played by Chris Pratt )--can't get his hibernation chamber to work again to go back to sleep. He is basically doomed to live the rest of his life alone and die before the ship reaches it's destination. The first part of the film plays out like a more subtle version of the TV show Last Man on Earth. Jim comes to terms with his dilemma and tries to make the best of it. Swimming in the pool and doing a space walk and at least he has the cool bartender robot to hang out with. But after a year alone Jim is all bearded and has gone a little crazy. He nearly kills himself as a result of his loneliness -and then sits down with the bartender in a scene that reminded me of Jack Nicholson hanging out with the ghost bartender in The Shining.
Of course the smart thing to do would be to try and find someone on board the ship to wake up that could help him get back to sleep--but instead he has fallen in love with a girl named Aurora Lane (played by Jennifer Lawrence) and decides against his better judgment to wake her up instead. What lonely guy on a spaceship --wouldn't want to be alone with Jennifer Lawrence? She like him at first searches for answers and then of course they eventually start to accept their fate and begin to fall for each other. Then of course his secret about waking her up is revealed and let's just say things between them go a little sour. (Queue the third act)
The ship takes on more damage and Laurence Fishbourne wakes up from a malfunction in his chamber. His character Gus is a part of the crew. They all team up and fight to save the ship as the ship is slowly tearing itself apart from major damage. You will have to watch the movie yourself to see how that turns out.
A movie like this relies on the main two characters to have great chemistry. Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence have just that on screen together and basically make what could be boring scenes to some people interesting. It is a simple sci-fi movie that I believe was well written and decently paced. The story was good. The acting was good and the visuals were excellent. It was an enjoyable movie that I think got more bad reviews than it deserved. I think maybe the expectations of what the film was going to be may have contributed to that. I enjoyed it for what it was and give it a 7+ out of 10.
Europa Report focuses on a manned mission
to the Moon Europa which orbits Jupiter in search of life.I personally enjoyed the style of the
film.It was presented as a report
pieced together from footage downloaded from the crews mission.A found footage film to a certain extent.
This style made the film more interesting than it would have been otherwise. At
times we see a screen that shows 4 sections of the craft at the same time.The story itself isn’t anything super exciting, but the sound and visuals give the real a realistic feel to it.The cast was solid. The crew discovers some
mysterious glowing life form under the ice of Europa.They try to complete their mission, but encounter the typical spaceship
movie problems like ship malfunctions that characters have to make sacrifices
in order to fix.This is a low budget
film so we never get a good look at the mysterious creature.The film itself wasn’t as thrilling as I
hoped it would be...but I do give the film some credit for their unique
approach to filming it.
Coherence is a super cool low budget sci-fi movie. It centers on a dinner party a bunch of friends are having when a strange comet is flying over. The lights go out and they wander outside to check things out and only notice that the entire neighborhood is in the dark with the exception of one house a few blocks away. A couple of the guys go to check it out to see if they can use a phone and instead return with some really strange and unbelievable news about the other house. This sets up a cool strange twisted movie. It could have been a stage play because pretty much the entire movie takes place in one location. It was a really interesting movie with a intrique little plot details that I don't want to get too deep into since you should discover it for yourself.
I enjoyed this movie so much that I immeadiately wanted to see it again with the commentary track. The commentary enhanced my thoughts and love of the film. The writers did a ton of detailed planning for the twists in the movie but never fully let the cast in on everything. They let them basically improvise dialogue with little hints and topics given to certain actors to see how they would react. The process was strange --as if the directors were letting the actors figure out what was happening in the story on their own as if it was a mystery party. The film was made on what they called a micro budget and the results to me were fascinating. Definitely worth a watch for fans of Twilight Zone and things like that.
The story is about a crew of a spaceship that is sent on a mission to basically reignite the dying sun by dropping a bomb in it. The first crew that was sent out to do this job 7 years earlier and lost contact with earth and never completed the mission. I was interested in seeing this after it was referenced several times after seeing the cool sci-fi movie Infini (which I loved). This movie had a cool cast that includes Chris Evans, Rose Byrne, and Cillian Murphy. Unfortunately the cast wasn't enough to make the film interesting. I was really underwhelmed by the movie. The story got dragged down by the typical - "Someone needs to go outside the ship to fix it scenes". The crew argues about the mission. They get the typical distress call from the original spacecraft and argue some more. They decide to go to the other ship --now the film may might start to get interesting right? Instead just as they are exploring the ship there is an accident and we get another spacewalk to get back to the other ship after something goes wrong losing more crew members. Then the movie just gets weird... Their is someone else on their ship??? And it turns briefly into a slasher flick before another boring "We need to finish the mission" ending. Skip this one and watch Pandorum or Infini instead. Or watch the TV Show The Expanse which does the same scenes in a much better and more exciting way.
Safety Not Guaranteed features a great cast that includes Jake Johnson (New Girl) and Aubrey Plaza (Parks and Rec). This was the movie that Colin Trevorrow who went on to direst Jurrasic World. The story features some magazine reporters looking for an interesting story. They decide to investigate an odd wanted ad that reads " Wanted - Someone to go back in time with me. This is not a joke. You'll get paid after we get back. Must bring your own weapons. Safety no guaranteed. I have only done this once before". This is great premise that makes for an interesting story.
The movie is actually more of a love story/comedy. You don't know whether he is actually a Time Traveler or just a little crazy. The main character played by Aubrey Plaza -answers his advertisement and gets caught up in his life. I won't reveal how it ends. It was a good film, but not a great film. If you are looking for a more traditional time travel film this isn't that. If you are willing to go along for the ride with a talented cast in what is more a love story --than check it out.
My journey through a batch of Time Travel movies continues with Synchronicity. The movie had a pretty simple story in which a physicist (Chad McKnight) invents a time machine using the funding of a rich millionaire (played by Michael Ironside) . Just when he thinks he has failed one of his experiments actually works. A rare plant appears from the future and a cool Sci-fi Noir love story begins. The main character meets a beautiful mysterious girl .(played by Brianne Davis who reminded me of Oliva Wilde in Tron Legacy) She seduces him into revealing his secrets. Then while in her room finds the rare plant that came back through the machine.
The movie had an interesting story with us discovering that some of the things we are seeing have been influenced by events from another version of the main character after he has Time Traveled. There are basically two versions of himself interacting with the other characters at the same time. The movie had a great soundtrack. The soundtrack reminded me of Bladerunner and Tron and gave the film a cool Sci-fi Noir feel. This was a low budget film that made a good use of story, soundtrack and casting to make an enjoyable interconnected Time Travel adventure.
After recently watching both Project Almanac and Predestination I caught a little bit of a Time Travel bug. I starting
seeking out Time Travel movies that I hadn’t seen yet.Time Lapse from 2014 was 1 of 4 Time Travel films that
I watched over the Holiday weekend. When I saw the trailer on Netflix it immediately reminded me of an old
Twilight Zone episode called A Most Unusual Camera. Three roommates find a giant camera in an
apartment directly across from them when they go to check on a tenant that
seems to have disappeared.The camera
is capable of taking a picture one day into the future.
I loved the original Twilight Zone episode as you see the
three people devolve and turn on one another based on speculation as to what
the next day’s picture meant.Theirs actions start to become a self-fulfilling prophecy.This movie follows the same logic –but to a
silly extreme.The logic of the three
main characters is absurd at times.They find the body of the guy from across the
street in a storage locker and he his skin is completely fried.They immediately jump to the illogical
assumption that if his death is caused by doing something different that what
the picture shows. This of course makes no sense . No intelligent person
would ever jump to such a silly conclusion.This assumption drives the
plot as they try and stage what they saw in the picture of the next day based on
this nonsensical conclusion. The characters are so simple minded in their use of the time machine camera.The one guy places bets on greyhound races…..The
lowest level of betting possible—which leads to the conflict of the film which
includes a bookie that starts to question why the guy keeps winning.That is an acceptable
story for the 1950’s , but who in 2016 wouldn’t buy a lottery ticket instead of
bettering on greyhound dog races???? The one character is more concerned with what painting he paints each day than anything else. If these
little details didn’t bug me so much I probably would have enjoyed the film
more.What actually happens to the
characters in the story is interesting –I just feel the writers didn’t know how to craft the story without the
ridiculous leaps of stupidity to drive the characters actions in the film. If you can get past the stupidity of the characters you may find it entertaining.
You had me at Ridley Scott directing a Sci-Fi film.After Spielberg and George Lucas:Ridley Scott is one of the few directors that I’ll see a movie by no matter what the subject matter.I didn’t see the Martian on the big screen (I probably should have), but I did finally get around to seeing it last week.
The film centers on an Astronaut getting left behind on Mars after an evacuation in which his crew mates leave the planet after thinking he was was dead.It is a story of survival and as such has many obstacles along the way.Matt Damon does an excellent job as the stranded Astronaut. He is finally able to make contact with NASA to let them know he is still alive and then must stay alive long enough for them to send someone to bring him back. It is a tough role since he spends most of the movie alone and has to convey his story by basically talking to himself with no one to play off of.
The movie looks incredible (as do all of Ridley’s films) and the story is interesting.My only problem with the film is the ending.Let’s just say that I was invested in the movie until the rescue attempt at the end.The ending just seemed so far fetched an cartoonish that it let me down.I know they were trying to be dramatic –but I wanted to keep the believability that I had sustained for the rest of the film.
Ex Machina is an interesting Sci-Fi movie that takes a
look at the subject of Artificial Intelligence.The movie basically features 3 characters and has the feel of a stage
play.It stars 2 of the actors currently
in the new Star Wars movies Oscar Issacs and Domhnall Gleeson and Alicia Vikander as the AI….The cast is excellent especially Alicia whose movements and speech have a graceful elegance.
The plot:A
computer programmer working for a Bill Gates type owner wins a corporate contest to
spend the week at his Alaskan hideaway.Of course there is a catch.He is actually brought up there to be a part
of an experiment in testing the new AI robot the founder has created. The movie follows his week of questioning and creating a bond with the AI while being questioned by the Bill Gates type character about it. Artificial Intelligence is an interesting
subject matter and a good sci fi that tackles it always makes me think about
and want to watch other AI type movies. Watching
this film made me want to dive back into Blade Runner (especially in the
sceneswhere he is questioning the AI to
see how human like she was. I found this extremely intriguing. It reminded me of Twilight Zone episodes and the books of Issac Asimov were running through my mind as I watched it. Great Sci-Fi makes you want to watch other
great sci-fiI thought of Spielberg’sA.I. while watching it.I thought
about George Lucas’s classicTHX-1138. AS soon as the
movie was over I dug into the DVD extras (always a sign that you really enjoyed a movie)
Without giving anything away about what happens in the
film –I’d definitely say it is a must watch for any fans of hard Sci-fi. The characters feel like they are in a jail in a sense that the setting is claustrophobic while they are inside the house . Just outside the house is a beautiful wilderness that includes a stream and a giant waterfall. It is a great contrast to the room with it's glass walls where the interviews take place. Definitely check this movie out.
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.
This movie basically takes the concept of Superman and mixes it with Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Nine teens that were the hope of their dying planet Lorien have been sent to Earth with protectors to keep them safe until their special abilities reveal themselves. They are being hunted down by an alien race called the Mogadore and are being killed off in order. This movie follows Number 4 as he struggles to survive after numbers 1-3 have already been killed over the years.
Number 4 has just moved from Australia (where he was starting to get noticied) to a small town in Cleveland called Paradise with his guardian Henri. Henri is played excellently by the always entertaining Timothy Olyphant who is basically the Obi Wan character to Number 4's Luke Skywalker. While in this small town Number 4 befriends a nerdy character that is being bullied at school and falls in love with a girl --just as his powers start to reveal themselves. Meanwhile the Mogadore, which look like some cheesy villains from an episode of Buffy or Angel are tracking him down. The villains were laughable --but it all made sense after I watched the movie because it was co-written by ex-Buffy Producer Marti Noxon. Despite the silly villains and the lame bully storyline the movie gets good as the Alien hunters finally track him down and some cool and interesting battles take place. Number 6 played by some cute Australian girl shows up just in time to help save him and they are able to fight off the evil aliens and by the end of the film set off to find the others of their kind. The remaining Loriens are going to need to band together in order to protect Earth.
This movie was based on a series of books that deal with these Super beings written by authors James Frey and Jobie Hughes. Like several book series recently it was meant to be a series like the Harry Potter's, Hunger Games and Twilight's of the world. Hollywood wants franchises and if the first movie doesn't make enough money --many of these potential franchises don't make it past the first movie --which is a shame. I'll blog about theses franchises that didn't get off the ground in my next blog. I Am Number 4 was obviously meant to be one of these big money making franchise --but it didn't quite happen. So instead we are left with this cool movie and interesting story that is obviously meant to continue and never does. Maybe this series could and should come back as a TV series the same way the original Buffy movie eventually came to the small screen. I liked the movie and the direction it was going --but maybe it was better suited to the small screen instead of being expected to be the next Twilight at the box office.
Going in totally Blind: I knew absolutely nothing about this movie before watching it. I had just heard in general that this was a Sci fi film worth checking out- but for once I literally knew nothing about what I was going to watch at all. I hadn't even seen the trailer so I was completely flying blind as to what this movie was about going in. I just knew that it was Sci-fi and that Captain America (Chris Evans) was the star. It is refreshing to go into a movie with no expectations at all. --yet that didn't help me decide how I even felt about it.
The Plot: The story is about a future where humanity has basically caused an ice age with their ill conceived attempts to avoid global warming. One forward thinking inventor predicted this happening and built a super train called the Snowpiercer that continually travels around the globe. The concept of the movie itself is pretty silly to buy into in the first place - but it you put the absurdity of the concept aside it makes for a strange and wonderful setting for a interesting and really strange film. The train is basically a Noah's arc carrying what is left of society concept has been used before in many Sci-fi with a spacecraft carrying the last of humanity to a new world.
It took me sleeping on it to be able to nail down how I felt about it:
This was the odd kind of film that when you finish it you don't really know exactly how you feel about it.
It was good -but not great.
It was really interesting - but yet totally flawed.
I wanted to go to the internet and find out how in the world it got a 95% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes? I'm a sci-fi fan and so I can see and understand what people really loved about it --yet I can't see the average person liking this film at all. So I pulled up IMDB reviews to see what some other people thought....and reading some reviews there people were ripping it to shreds.
Where do I fall on this film??
My problems with the film:
1. The story itself was nonsensical. Literally nothing about the movie makes logical sense from a reality based point of view. I agree with one reviewer from Norway on IMDB that listed out at least 25 things that made no sense at all. He is totally correct and if you look at this movie from any realistic point of view --the movie will be a failure for you.... I can totally see how some people love this movie and call it brilliant and other people think it is total crap.
2. The film was a little on the long side. It is never a good thing when you are watching a movie and feel the need to check and see how much longer you have to go to get to the end. That is probably the biggest factor in the film not getting a bigger rating from me. It could have been about 25 minutes shorter.
3. Watching this film ---I thought "I bet a book version of this would be good" Okay so that is actually kind of a compliment --but a backhanded one in that what I mean by that is that -- "The book is probably a lot better than the movie".
What I liked about it:
1. The movie is totally bizarre and strange sci-fi. I tend to like weird and interesting sci-fi movies where you don't exactly know what is really going on and this movie is definitely that. If you are able to suspend your disbelief at the silly plot that has so many holes that it should derail this train ride --then there is definitely some excellent stuff to get out of the film. In order to like this film you have to be able to completely throw out common sense and completely suspend your disbelief in what you are seeing. Think of it as a comic book (it is based on a graphic novel after all)
If you get caught up in the trap of thinking "That makes no sense" or "that couldn't happen" you will not like this film.
2. Despite the concept of the train being so unrealistic--the train makes for a great setting for a story. This is why I said a book version would be great. The goal of the film of the lower class at the back of the train fighting their way up the body of the train to the top not so subtle message about society. The different sections of the train make for interesting and intriguing set pieces for the story. The train setting also reinforced the notation of all the passengers --no matter which class being trapped on the train because of the claustrophobic nature of the train itself. Like many sci-fi movie it was a look at society in an unusual setting. The lower class at the end of the train dreamed of making their way to the front --while the passengers at the front lost themselves in overindulgent behavior --like drugs and parties. It was definitely weird.
3. The main character played by Chris Evans --makes his way to the front of the train and its creator and basically finds out the many truths behind the train which I won't reveal in full because it would spoil things. I felt at times like this movie was an episode of the old BBC series The Prisoner. There is a definite --- "You are number 6" vibe to the film.
Influences: I personally saw a lot of the Prisoner as a main influence for the film. I can see other influences such as Hunger Games especially in Tilda Swinton's character which was just like less glamorous Effie in Hunger Games. Metropolis is another influence that I've seen many people mention with tiny bit of Terry Gilliam thrown in as well. In fact there was a character called Gilliam which I thought was a direct homage to him in the film (but I could be wrong).
I would recommend this film to true sci-fi fans.
I would not recommend it to the average movie fan that
Star Wars news has been coming fast and furious lately. It is hard to keep track of all the breaking news. When it was announced that Josh Trank would be directing one of the new Star Wars Spin offs ----all I could think was " Who the hell is Josh Trank?" I wanted to to hear names like Joss Whedon or Spielberg...not Josh Trank. I immediately looked him up and noticed that he had directed Chronicle a sci-fi movie in the lost footage genre that focused on a story about three high school students that make a discovery in an underground cave while attending a barn party. The three kids end up with mysterious super hero like powers. I had put this 2012 movie in my Netflix queue awhile back, but hadn't gotten around to watching it yet so the Star Wars connection moved it to the top of my queue.
The lost footage style of the film seemed forced as usually, but the story of these three friends discovering and learning how to use their new found powers was excellent. I had thought several years ago that if I ever wrote an invisible man story it would be based on how having these powers could break down a persons o mortality and this film did exactly that with super powers. We get to see the main characters at first having fun with their new powers in childish ways that most teenagers in reality probably would. They test their powers in the backyard and then play pranks on people at the grocery store as their powers grow. Of course their goofing off leads to someone getting hurt and they then must discuss that they need to establish rules for how they can use their powers. It was a strange film that really got into how having these powers would effect someone in the real world. I absolutely loved the story and how it went down. Definitely one of the better lost footage films I've seen so far.
The Star Wars Spin off connection:
I now know who Josh Trank is and if his handling of the Jedi like abilities of the characters in this film are any indication of what he may be capable of with a Star Wars spin-off then I'm all in. The movie was excellent and really got into how a person could become in touch with his darker side with just a little nudge here and there. A normal person could keep his morality --but someone with super powers may have a harder time walking in the light side of the force. I would have liked to see Josh Trank's take on the fall of Anakin after seeing this film. So well I still hold out hope that Whedon will one day get his hands on a Star Wars film.....for now ..I'm excited to see what Trank brings to the table
Definitely the best opening sequence for a Big Ass Spider movie ever. This movie knew exactly what it was and took full advantage of that. It was cheesy and over the top and that worked well for this giant mutant creature feature. Starring Greg Grunberg (from Heroes) as cocky exterminator that gets involved with a giant mutant spider that has escaped from the government. The spider keeps killing people in interesting ways like spraying acid on a hospital patients face and melting it Raider of the Lost Ark style. As the spider kills it keeps growing until it is near King Kong size and about to lay its eggs. The movie has some funny dialogue and at times feels like an episode of Reno 911 if it had a giant mutant spider in it. The security guard that tags along with him as the giant spider crushed and skewers people with its legs is great cheese ball comedy. Like I said this movie knew what it was and embraced it and was very enjoyable as a result. If you want a funny entertaining creature feature---give this movie a chance while we wait for Sharknado 2 to fall from the skies this summer.
