Month: November 2014

Released: 2014

Directed By: Doug Liman

Cast:

Tom Cruise: Cage

Emily Blunt: Rita

Bill Paxton: Master Sergeant Farell

I have a question for everyone: What’s in a name?  The reason I ask is because some of the movies that we all know and love have recognizable names: Star Wars, Alien, and Indiana Jones among others.  That’s not always the case.  Sometimes movies start out with entirely different titles and as time goes on, it changes.  It happens all the time.  It just so happens that from time to time, a movie that’s based on a book or comic will start out with a recognizable name, and the studio will change it.  Why?  The studios seem to think that people might not recognize the original title.  Take The 13th Warrior for example: That’s a movie based on Michael Crichton’s Eaters of the Dead.  The film had the same name as the book, but they changed it because they thought the movie would be….weird.  Here’s the issue: when you change the name of a movie from it’s namesake people end up getting confused as to what exactly it is they’re watching.  Anyone who was familiar with Michael Crichton would be familiar with Eaters of the Dead.  They got confused when the studio changed the name.  Sometimes the original name will stick with the movie in international markets.  Again, that does happen a lot.  Earlier this year, there was a science fiction movie released with the title of Edge of Tomorrow.  When it was first announced, it was called: All You Need Is Kill.  It was based on a Japanese graphic novel of the same name.  Warner Bros. came to the conclusion that most people would have absolutely no idea what All You Need Is Kill would be, so they changed the name.  The new name actually added to the confusion, and as a result people stayed away.

Edge of Tomorrow begins as Major William Cage(Tom Cruise)is ordered to the front lines against an alien menace.  After attempting to blackmail General Brigham(Brenden Gleeson), he’s zapped and wakes up face to face with Master Sergeant Farell(Bill Paxton).  Stripped of his rank and forced into battle, Cage comes face-to-face with a giant blue alien, so he detonates a mine and kills the alien as well as himself.  Cage wakes up with a start face-to-face with Farell again.  Cage is on the front line again when he comes face to face with another soldier, Rite(Emily Blunt).  Killed again, Cage wakes up again, and seems to repeat everything until he saves Rita from getting killed.  She tells him to find him when he wakes up.  If this sound suspiciously like Groundhog Day, you’re really not far off.  We have a character that wakes up every time that he gets killed at the same time he wakes up the first time after getting zapped.  I’m not going to say anymore about the plot as it does get more interesting as the film goes on.  How Cage gets the ability to repeat the same day is one of the interesting surprises that the movie throws at you.

When the film came out, it wasn’t well-received because people were confused as to what kind of movie it was.  It recently came out on Blu-Ray and DVD under the moniker: Live. Die. Repeat/Edge of Tomorrow.  I don’t think that really helps the movie’s cause when it’s constantly undergoing name changes long after it’s been released.  It’s a shame too, because this is a damned good movie.  You could call it Groundhog Day With Aliens, but I don’t think that really gives the film enough credit.  This is a smart movie with some clever writing, and while certain elements don’t really gel, the overall picture is just phenomenal.  Some people would claim that there’s a video game element to the movie, and they aren’t wrong.  Dying when you screw up and then waking up at an earlier point is a tried-and-true video game mechanic.  Putting that into a movie seems weird, but when you see Tom Cruise in action, it actually benefits the film, because you see Cage get frustrated every time he gets killed.  That’s the kind of feeling that gamers get when they have to restart.  It does get frustrating.  It’s also very amusing to see Cage end up breaking his leg and as Rita aims her gun, he goes: “Oh, come on!”  The film definitely has a sense of humor.

It’s very interesting to see Tom Cruise in a film like this.  Usually, he starts out being the hero and blah, blah, blah.  In Edge of Tomorrow, he starts off as a bit of a coward.  Again, that’s pretty funny.  As the film goes on however, we see Cage evolve from a coward to the hero that we all expect him to be.  Emily Blunt’s character of Rita is very interesting.  She’s a hard-ass in every which way, but she’s connected to Cage in the fact that she had the same power that he does, only she lost it.  Seeing Emily Blunt go toe-to-toe with Tom Cruise is a sight to behold.  She doesn’t really come across as a love-interest, because her character is a decorated combat soldier, and doesn’t really have time for that.  I just love watching these two bounce off each other.  The rest of the cast does a pretty good job.  Bill “Game Over, Man” Paxton plays the tough Master Sergeant with a bit of a smile.  I have to say, it’s awesome seeing Mr. Paxton in a science fiction movie again.  He just seems so comfortable with the genre, and he’s clearly having a great time hamming it up.  So, yeah, the performances are fantastic all around.

You would think that the action sequences would get boring after seeing them repeat each other.  That doesn’t really happen, surprisingly.  No, every time that Cage dies, he gets the chance to change things until he can win the war.  Sometimes he gets run over by a truck; sometimes he gets blown to smithereens.  Whenever he starts again, he remembers what happened before, so he can predict where the aliens will be or and when certain people die.  This make for a rather unique film experience, because it still ends up being unpredictable until the end.  Yeah, there are big explosions and tons of gunfire, but that’s just icing on the cake.  If there’s a downside to the film, it’s the ending.  It’s not bad, but it’s pretty cliche.  That’s the only downside that I noticed.  This is a movie that deserved much more attention than it got, and that’s partially because Warner Bros. kept changing the name.  It’s surprisingly important to have a set name so people know what kind of movie it is that you’re selling.  That aside, this is a pretty smart movie with interesting dynamics and characters that hits the ground running.  It’s not the only science fiction movie that has this kind of mechanic, Duncan Jones’ Source Code is also very similar, and also very good, but it’s a different set up than Edge of Tomorrow.  I don’t think I can recommend this one enough.  It’s awesome.  It’s action-packed, funny and intelligent.  Maybe Groundhog Day With Aliens would be a better title.  9.5/10.

Release Date: August 2014

Distributed by: Warner Bros.

Rating: PG-13 for sequences of intense destruction and peril.

Run Time: 89 Minutes

Cast:

Richard Armitage: Gary

Sarah Wayne Callies: Allison

Matt Walsh: Pete

Max Deacon: Donnie

When I was a kid, I was constantly fascinated by nature’s fury.  What I mean by nature’s fury are the natural disasters that happen periodically: Volcanoes, earthquakes, hurricanes, and tornadoes.  One of the first disaster movies that I had ever seen was in fact Earthquake starring Charlton Heston.  It was extraordinary.  The special effects were unlike anything I had seen before.  It was realistic(at the time), dramatic, and scary all at the same time.  I think that movie is what cemented my interest in movies dealing with natural disasters.  I’ve seen all sorts of disaster movies over the past 20 years, from Dante’s Peak and Volcano to Roland Emmerich’s 2012.  Of all the disaster flicks that were released during the 90s, Twister was the best of the bunch.  It was an incredibly spectacular film that sported an equally awesome cast.  The special effects in Twister were second-to-none.  No one had ever been to bring a tornado to life properly in a film before, and Twister knocked it out of the park.  Part drama and part action movie, it had a little bit of everything in it.  But the reason you went to see a movie like that was for the tornadoes.  In fact, the main reason why anybody would go see a disaster movie is the destruction.  Here in 2014, we got ourselves a new tornado movie.

Into The Storm opens with a bang as a group of students are huddled in a van taking pictures of power lines that are sparking up a storm(see what I did there?), when they see a tornado coming right them.  Unfortunately they don’t get away and get picked up and tossed by the twister.  The next day, storm-chasers Pete and Allison discover a massive storm system that’s about to hit a town called Silverton.  At a local high school, vice principal Gary has his son Donnie going around interviewing people for a school project.  During the graduation, alarms begins to go off and everybody is ushered inside just before a tornado rocks the school.  In a disaster movie, story really takes a back seat to the action.  Is Into The Storm original?  Not really.  Tornado movies have been before, with the aforementioned Twister taking the lead.  So, what sets this movie apart from the rest?  It’s presentation and visual effects, mostly.  Found-footage movies are nothing new, either.  But when you combine disasters and found-footage, it actually makes for a particularly unique experience.  The first movie that did that was the monster movie, Cloverfield.  It was all done from a first-person perspective, with a character holding the camera.  It was an interesting experiment that mostly worked.  Into The Storm takes that and throws you right into the middle of the storm.

A disaster movie can be far more convincing if it feels like you’re on the ground with the characters and Into The Storm does a really fantastic job in creating that kind of tension when you’re basically face to face with the wrath of Mother Nature.  Unlike most other found-footage films, this movie tends to be a little less shaky so you can see what’s going on.  It really helps add to the excitement when you can see a tornado start to form from the perspective of someone who’s on the ground.  If it’s done well, the whole first-person perspective can be very immersive.  The immersion of a film like Into The Storm depends on how convincing the visual effects are.   The combination of the found-footage technique and the absolutely stunning visual effects really make this a very thrilling and intense film.  The chaos that is presented in Into The Storm, is very convincing, along with a lot of the practical weather effects that were used to enhance what you see.  The golf-ball sized hail that you see during the storm isn’t CG, they actually used ice and tossed it at the actors.  Yeah, there’s definitely a lot of CG in this movie.  You couldn’t very well make a fictional movie about tornadoes during an actual outbreak.  It’s too dangerous.  So they had to bring in visual effects artists to create the eponymous beasts.  By using actual footage of tornadoes captured by storm chasers, the filmmakers were able to create several distinct types of tornadoes.  You’ve got the rope tornado, the cone tornado, and the wedge tornado.  One of the most interesting types of tornadoes is the rare fire tornado.  To be honest, the CG tornadoes in Into The Storm, while very well done, tend to pale in comparison when you’re watching the real thing.

A movie like this would have to have some kind of human element, because you can’t just have a movie just showing tornadoes, it’s not necessarily intense.  You have to have people thrown into the mix to sell the illusion that they are in real danger.  Thorin Oakenshield, I mean, Richard Armitage, plays the role of Gary, who is the vice principle of the Silverton high school.  He is also the father to two children, Donnie and Trey(Nathan Kress).  Armitage really is convincing as a man who’s not only looking out for his family but also the other kids at the school.  Matt Walsh plays the lead storm chaser who’s more concerned about making money than his own crew.  The character’s a bit of a dirt-bag.  Overall, the performances are fine and get the point across, but there’s nothing Oscar-worthy here.

Some of the storm chasers in Into The Storm, appear to be in it for the glory and the thrill.  I posted links to actual footage of tornadoes to show you that storm chasing is serious business.  You have to know what you are doing, otherwise you could end up getting killed.  The people who actually go out and chase these storms are usually people who work for TV weather stations so they can help give people a chance to get to safety.  That’s not to say that the professionals don’t run into trouble, they do periodically due to the unpredictable nature of tornadoes.  However, the ones who do it strictly for the thrill tend not to last long, because they are undisciplined and reckless.  Tornadoes are among some of the most powerful forces on this planet and they have to be respected.  Mother nature won’t hesitate to remind you if you don’t respect her.

That being said, Into The Storm is a thrilling and intense ride that doesn’t overstay it’s welcome.  At 89 minutes long, the movie moves along at a brisk pace.  As soon as the twister hits the school, the movie doesn’t let up.  The destruction sequences during the final tornado are some of the most incredible I’ve ever seen.  With awesome special effects, decent acting, and a breakneck pace, Into The Storm is one of the most intense disaster movies that I’ve seen in a while.  If you’re a fan of said genre, give this one a spin.  It’s awesome.  I’m giving this a 9/10.

Director: Renny Harlin

Released: 2014

Run-Time: 98 minutes

Movie Trailer

CAST:

Kellan Lutz: Hercules

Scott Adkins: King Amphitryon

There were two films about Hercules released this year.  One starred Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as the titular hero.  It was pretty good movie.  It took a very unique spin on the mythology of the character.  The filmmakers of Hercules played with the idea that Hercules himself may or may not have been the son of Zeus as the mythology claims.  His 12 Labors that he apparently accomplished by himself were exaggerated.  Dwayne Johnson was the perfect choice to play Hercules.  He had the charisma as well the physique to play the character.  They took as much of a realistic approach to the film as possible, and actually made Hercules an actual human being, albeit an exceptionally strong one.  In fact, you can read my review of that film here.  So where was I?  There were two movies about Hercules….oh, I remember now: The Other One.  By The Other One, I mean The Legend of Hercules.  Oh, dear, where do I begin?

This “story” begins with the invasion of the city of Argos by the tyrannical, mustache-twirling King Amphitryon(Scott Adkins).  Later that night, Amphitryon’s wife gets pregnant by Zeus who happens to be invisible.  She eventually gives birth to a son whom she calls “Hercules” in secret.  When Hercules grows up he is betrayed by both his brother and King Amphitryon, sent to Egypt and eventually sold into slavery.  He must then valiantly battle his way back to Greece to exact vengeance on the King and his brother.  I’m not sure how you can convey sarcasm on a blog, so I guess I’ll just use pink.  There are so many problems here, it’s hard to pinpoint where it all went wrong.  First off, The Legend of Hercules was billed as an origin story.  That’s all well and good, if the origin story was interesting to begin with, but Hercules never really had an interesting origin story outside of being the son of Zeus.  While Dwayne Johnson’s film actually touched on a few of the labors, this movie only touches on one: The slaying of the Nemean lion.  When you actually look at the story, it contains elements of far superior films like Gladiator and Braveheart.  The problem here is that The Other One is not even close to being in the same league as those movies.

I knew that something was wrong when they cast Kellan Lutz as Hercules.  I don’t think having Twilight under your belt qualifies you to play the son of Zeus.  He’s horribly miscast.  Yeah, he’s built, but he has the personality of a paper bag.  Dwayne Johnson is light years ahead of Lutz in the talent department.  I’ve never been impressed with Kellan Lutz, but I was hoping that Scott Adkins would pick up the slack.  I’m actually not going to blame Adkins outright for how laughable Amphitryon is, but he did really overplay it.  Adkins is at his best when he’s playing angry Russians.  In The Legend of Hercules he’s only given two real moments to show off his physicality, but in between he’s scowling and screaming.  That makes for an irritating villain, not an intimidating one.  The rest of the cast is ultimately disposable, because there is nothing here that resembles a good performance.

The action sequences, likewise, are just as bland.  You can tell that Renny Harlin was inspired by the look of Zack Snyder’s movies.  I say that, because most of the action has slow-motion thrown in and not in a good way.  Slow-motion should be used as a method of emphasizing a particular piece of the story.  Here, it’s used as a gimmick.  I suppose the same could be said for Zack Snyder’s movies, but at least he gives it some effort.  It’s not that Renny Harlin can’t make a decent action movie, he can.  Look at Cliffhanger.  That was an awesome movie.  I think that Harlin has a habit of surrounding himself with questionable talent as far the filmmaking aspect goes.   The writing in this movie is terrible.  Every moment that Hercules opens his mouth is a face-palm moment.  Who the hell talks like that?  The action’s inadequate, but what the special effects?  I’ve seen better CGI in a video-game.  There’s a sequence that was clearly made for 3D, in which Hercules realizes his potential and literally breaks his chains.  he swings two gigantic blocks of granite around like they were tennis balls.  It’s rather embarrassing to watch and unconvincing.  The movie also feels like it runs forever and a half.  It’s what a movie about Hercules should never be: Boring.  That is the film’s greatest sin.  It’s just not exciting to watch.  If there’s anything good about this movie, it’s that some of the art direction is actually pretty decent with some fantastic backdrops and set designs.  That’s it, though.

At the end of the day, all the problems that this movie has can be laid at the feet of Renny Harlin.  He just made some seriously poor decisions.  The casting of Kellan Lutz was just poorly though out.  Scott Adkins wasn’t properly utilized, given that he’s actually a talented individual.  The action sequences are completely generic and don’t elicit any kind of emotion except boredom.  The music is completely over-the-top and unnecessarily grandiose.  This movie was poorly executed.  Between this and Dwayne Johnson’s movie, I’ll take The Rock’s movie over this garbage any day of the week and twice on Sunday.  I will admit that Dwayne Johnson’s movie is far from perfect, but at least real effort was made to make it stand out.  I can’t believe that I’m saying this, but Alan Steele’s Hercules Against The Moon Men is a better film than Renny Harlin’s, and Moon Men was an absolutely dreadful picture.  There are better films about Hercules out there: Disney’s animated film, the original Steve Reeves movies and even Kevin Sorbo’s television series is pretty decent.  Of the two Hercules movies this year, the winner is without a doubt, Dwayne Johnson’s movie.  Stay away from The Legend of Hercules, far away.   My final verdict is a 3/10.  Send this puppy back to the pits of Hades.

Released: 1986

Directed by: James Cameron

Cast:

Sigourney Weaver: Ripley

Michael Beihn: Hicks

Bill Paxton: Hudson

William Hope: Lt. Gorman

Paul Reiser: Burke

In 1979, movie audiences were shown a science fiction film like no other.  Instead of the uplifting “what happens when we meet aliens” theme of Close Encounters of The Third Kind and the fantasy world of Star Wars, the world got a terrifying look at the unknown.  Alien, directed by Ridley Scott, introduced the world to a new kind of monster: The xenomorph.  Taking place on the claustrophobic ship, The Nostromo, the crew battled for survival against an unseen creature that picked them off one by one until only one remained.  Alien was a major box office hit.  It was enough of a hit that 20th Century Fox commissioned a sequel.  Not wanting to tread down the same path that Alien did, they decided to take the franchise into a different direction.

As the film opens, we see a lone ship floating through space when it is picked up by a salvaging vessel.  The salvage people discover a lone survivor: Ripley(Sigourney Weaver).  Waking up on a strange space station, Ripley is greeted by Weyland-Yutani exec, Carter Burke(Paul Reiser), who informs Ripley that she’s been in hypersleep for 57 years.  Later, at a hearing, Ripley’s report of what happened on the Nostromo are met with criticism.  She also finds out that there is a colony on the planet LV-426, the same planet on which the Nostromo encountered the vicious creature.  When they lose contact with the colony, Burke and Lt. Gorman(William Hope)of the Colonial Marine Corps convince Ripley to join to find out what happened.  Accompanied by marines such as Corporal Hicks(Michael Beihn), Private Hudson(Bill Paxton), Private Vasquez(Jenette Goldstein), and an android: Bishop(Lance Henriksen), they arrive at the colony to find it deserted, save one little girl, Newt(Carrie Henn).

As far as movie sequels go, it’s rare to find one that almost outdoes the original film.  James Cameron’s Aliens does almost exactly that.  Fox Studios wanted a sequel, but they didn’t want a rehash of the original film, so James Cameron was brought to direct a more action-oriented picture.  Hot off the success of the original Terminator, Cameron was given the opportunity to create a worthy follow-up to one of the most iconic movies ever made.  He was also given license to redesign the creature as long as it remained true to the essence of the original monster.  Adding different life-cycles to the xenomorph, made the species more of a threat, especially when the Queen Alien is introduced.  Having the film take place 57 years after the original film, also helped reduce the temptation to do another “haunted house in space” kind of movie.  Where Alien was a psychological thriller/monster movie, Aliens is more of an action movie.  That doesn’t mean it doesn’t have its fair share of surprises, however.  The performances in the film are outstanding.  Everyone brings their A-game.  Carrie Henn, who plays Newt, had no prior acting experience or training, does remarkably well among her more seasoned co-workers.  Bill Paxton plays the smart-ass Hudson, while seemingly a coward at times, steps up to the plate when the going gets rough.  Jenette Goldstein plays the tough chick marine, Vasquez.  She’s as bad-ass as they come, armed with a powerful smart-gun, which is the future-equivalent of a mini-gun.  Paul Reiser is fantastic as the corporate weasel, Burke.  The two real standouts in the supporting cast are Michael Beihn and Lance Henriksen, both of whom appeared in The Terminator.  Beihn plays the loyal and confident Hicks who packs a shotgun, “for close encounters.”  Henriksen brings a surprisingly human quality to his role of the android, Bishop.  We learn right from the get-go that he’s an android, so that sets up some tension between him and Ripley.  The REAL star of this film franchise is Sigourney Weaver.

While Alien put Weaver on the map, it was Aliens that really cemented her as the action heroine of the decade.  The first movie had Ripley trying to survive, Aliens has her going on the war-path and it works very well.  The character’s relationship with Newt is initially one of kinship, as both are orphans and survivors in a way.  But their relationship gets stronger as events continue to spiral out of control.  Mrs. Weaver was nominated for an Academy Award for best actress for her portrayal of Ripley in Aliens.  Getting nominated for a science fiction movie is extraordinarily rare when it comes to the Academy.  But it’s easy to see why Sigourney was nominated.  Her performance anchors the whole film, and while her character is beaten down by tragedy, her relationship with Newt gives her new reason to keep going.

The differences between this movie and its predecessor are night and day.  As I said before, this is an action movie and the action is absolutely intense.  From the marines first encounter with the xenomorphs in the atmosphere processor to the final battle on the Sulaco, the tension and the excitement ramp up with each encounter.  The movie gives us some very iconic sci-fi weaponry: The M41A pulse rifle with a pump-action grenade launcher(I SOOOOOO want one.), the smartgun, which automatically goes after moving targets, and the flamethrower.

Like the previous film, Aliens has many iconic elements.  One of which is important in a movie like this: The music.  Composed by James Horner, the music of Aliens goes from the quiet emotional moments to the highly action-packed militaristic pieces that really amp up the film.  The sequence in which Ripley rescues the marines has you on the edge of your seat.  The music during that sequence really pulls you in.  During production, James Horner’s relationship with James Cameron became pretty rough, because Cameron was demanding Horner do some things in a specific time frame which Horner wasn’t particularly keen on.  I have the soundtrack to the film, and a lot of what you hear on the soundtrack isn’t in the movie itself.  What is in the movie is incredible.  In fact, one of the pieces became so iconic that it was used in action movie trailers after Aliens was released.

Like the original, there really isn’t a whole lot wrong with Aliens.  In fact, this possibly one the best examples of how to make a good sequel: Acknowledge what came before, while giving the audience something new.  There is a reason why James Cameron is a damn good filmmaker, and Aliens is one of the prime examples why.  He gets compelling performances out of his lead actors and gives the audience one hell of an action movie.  Aliens was released to really great reviews back in 1986.  4 years later, James Cameron reintroduced 15 minutes of new footage into the film and re-released the film on home video as a Special Edition.  A lot of that new footage actually fleshes out characters a bit more, especially Ripley.  We find out in the extended version that Ripley was a mother, and that her daughter died while Ripley was still floating around out there somewhere.  That actually gives Ripley’s relationship to Newt more emotional depth and cements the bond between the two.  We also get more of Hudson’s goofiness during the drop.  While there are extended cuts, there are several that truly stand out.  After Ripley’s hearing, the film actually cuts to the colony on LV-426 before it was overrun.  We also get to see the ship from the first movie.  But this also shows where everything starts going to hell in a hand-basket.  The other memorable sequence involves robot sentries, which are automated machine guns.  Which version is better?  I prefer the extended version as it feels like a more complete experience.  Overall, I consider Aliens to be one of the best science fiction movies out there.  As a sequel, it is definitely a cut above the rest.  It’s just as compelling as the original film, but it has more action.  Whether you choose the theatrical version or the Special Edition, Aliens gets a 10/10.