Alien Resurrection(Or: How We Can Keep Milking A Franchise)

Where, oh where do I begin with this?  Given how Alien 3 ended, I don't think anybody would have expected there to be a fourth outing.  Between 1994 and 1996 I had started hearing rumors on the web about a fourth Alien film.  What was even more absurd was that it was going to involve Sigourney Weaver's character again.  How?  She died at the end of the last film, which ended that trilogy perfectly, I thought.  I would assume that because of how screwed up the production was on 3, that Fox wanted another crack at the franchise.  The problem is, they wanted another movie that centered around Ripley.  So, how could they do that?

200 years after Ripley(Sigourney Weaver)sacrificed herself on Fury 161, a United Systems Military vessel has recovered blood samples from the prison planet and cloned her.  Why?  Because she was carrying a Queen Alien inside her when she died, so apparently it became a part of her DNA.  After several attempts, they finally succeed in cloning her so they can retrieve the queen.  Thing is, some of that Alien DNA got mixed in with Ripley's so she's a bit of a different creature herself.  Later, a motley crew arrives on the ship to deliver hijacked cryotubes loaded with people so they can breed the Aliens and experiment on them.  Given the unpredictable nature of the beast, things go wrong(surprise, surprise) and the creatures escape.  Oh, boy.  While Alien 3 had a very troubled production, the film still wound up being a very bleak and dark experience which worked in the movie's favor.  Alien Resurrection?  This movie is just so damn quirky and bizarre it just doesn't fit in with the others.  The tone is so different.  Instead of a bleak and grim future, we have a fairly upbeat attitude about things with jokes and other sorts of nonsense.  I think you can credit that with French director Jean-Pierre Jeunet.  There's a good amount of humor in this movie, and strangely enough, it works for this particular movie.  However, the Alien universe isn't exactly a happy-go-lucky universe.  It's supposed to be dark and terrifying.  There are some pretty disturbing elements in this movie, I must say, but the overall feel doesn't seem to feel right with the series.

Cloning in a movie isn't an original idea, it's been done for decades.  The most successful movie that featured cloning was Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park.  But that was done with a different intent.  In Alien Resurrection, it's used as a plot device to bring back a character that died for a reason.  Why?  So scientists can study her and experiment on her and blah, blah, blah.  The thing I find interesting about this movie is that it  was written by Joss Whedon, the guy who did Firefly and The Avengers.  Who knew?  You can tell the movie has his mark on it by some of the dialogue and some of the situations.  Whedon has always had a way of making things....strange enough to creep people out and still make it work.  I think that's part of where the humor comes from.  The writing isn't awful, but it definitely isn't up to Whedon's usual fare.  I mean, to get into a secure part of the ship, you have to breath on the device?  It's a really bizarre security measure.  Fingerprints and eye scanning aren't good enough, but somebody's breath?  Really?

Visually, the film has a very unusual aesthetic.  Instead of the Gothic architecture of the last movie, the ship is very military, kind of like the second movie, but also incorporates some medical stuff in it as well.  The mercenaries ship, The Betty is a run-down P.O.S. that barely functions.  There are a lot of corridors in this movie.  I guess the filmmakers were still trying for the whole claustrophobic vibe of the original Alien, but they didn't really succeed.  The creature designs are actually pretty cool.  The newborn Alien which shows up towards the end of the film is particularly disturbing because it's basically a literal half-human and half-Alien hybrid.  It's hideous.  It's still an interesting design however.  One of the more disturbing aspects of this film show up when Ripley discovers the previous attempts to clone her.  This is not a pleasant scene to watch, because of these "misfires."  It's genuinely unnerving.  This is a more action-oriented film than the previous movies, so we would expect some decent action.  We definitely get it.  We have some interesting weaponry that deals out the damage.  Christie(Gary Dourdan)has two pistols that are attached to his wrists which he can whip out at any time.  Johner(Ron Perlman)has a gun disguised as a canteen.  Vrees(Dominque Pinon)puts together a shotgun with pieces that are a part of his wheelchair.  Some of the guns fire lasers,  though.  There's an underwater section that's really intense with the survivors being chased by the Aliens.  There is a decent amount of action in this movie that surprised me.

On the acting side of things, we obviously have Sigourney Weaver.  I don't think this is Mrs. Weaver at her best.  It's played a little over-the-top.  Winona Ryder plays Call, the newest member of the mercenary band who's on a secret mission of her own.  Ron Perlman is the resident tough guy, Johner.  Michael Wincott is the leader of the mercenaries, while J.E Freeman plays Wren.  The surprising cast member is Brad Dourif as Gediman.  Brad Dourif really plays these bizarre characters very well.  Ron Perlman basically steals the show, though.  Every time he's on the screen, he's being a smart-ass.  I'd be lying if I said this movie wasn't entertaining.  It really is.  It just doesn't feel like a proper Alien film.  It's not dark enough and it's too damn goofy.  The CGI Aliens just really feel out of place as well.

Not all franchises need to center around a particular character.  Indiana Jones and Rambo I can understand because he IS the main character.  But franchises like Star Wars and Alien don't need to be centered around a main character.  There are a lot of directions that the Alien franchise can go.  We don't need Ripley anymore.  Her story has been told.  I understand that Sigourney Weaver would like to play her one last time to finish her story.  As far as I'm concerned, Ripley's story ended in Alien 3.  Looking at all the comic books and novels that take place in the Alien universe, there's a lot of potential for other stories.  Ridley Scott returned to that particular universe with Prometheus, but it wasn't an Alien movie.  However, there are only so many surprises that the xenomorph can provide as a movie monster, and we have seen a good deal of it already to know that it's going to take some extraordinary writing to make that creature mysterious again.  Unfortunately, with two spinoff movies, Alien Vs. Predator and AVP: Requiem, the franchise has been damaged to a certain point where only time may help it recover.  Overall, Alien Resurrection succeeds as a decent sci-fi flick, but it kind fails as an Alien movie.  I'm going to give it a  7.5/10.  It's fun, but it is the black sheep of the franchise.

See No Evil 2

I had watched and reviewed Aliens earlier today and commented on how a proper sequel can be done.  It seems to me that certain franchises can deliver solid follow-ups, while some movies don't actually end up with more than one movie.  Some movies are solid enough on their own and don't need extra movies.  This is especially true in the horror genre.  Did we need 6 or 7 sequels for Nightmare on Elm Street or Friday the 13th?  Not particularly, but they did well enough that someone green-lit a follow-up.  Nightmare and Friday actually ended up with a few decent sequels.  Movies like Wrong Turn, only had 1 decent follow-up and the rest were garbage.  Nobody was expecting a sequel to See No Evil, the first film starring WWE Superstar Glen Jacobs, otherwise known as Kane.  It was a decent enough time, with enough grue and grime to satisfy, but it was nothing groundbreaking, except for Kane.  This guy was built for the genre.  He's extremely imposing at nearly 7 feet tall.  His character, Jacob Goodnight, wasn't particularly original,  but it was Kane's presence and ability to instill fear in people that drove the movie.  However, the film ended with Jacob's rather spectacular, CGI-infused death.  Yet, 8 years later, we get a sequel to See No Evil.

This movie picks up right where the first one left off, with bodies being taken to a local morgue, including that of Jacob Goodnight(Kane).  Amy(Danielle Harris) is about to take the night off to celebrate her impending birthday with her friends, when they get the call that they are getting nine corpses that night.  Amy decides to stay and help out with her "boyfriend," Seth(Kaj-Erik Erikson).  Her friends and brother decide to surprise her.  Two of them slip away when they find out that the body of Jacob Goodnight is being held downstairs.  The two that decide to slip away, find his corpse and decide to get all creepy with it, unbeknownst to them that Jacob isn't really dead(?).  First off, this movie takes place as soon as the first one ended.  Eight years ago.  If you're going to make a sequel like this, you may actually want to do it in a reasonable time frame.  To be honest, the first movie really didn't set the box-office on fire, and wasn't particularly well-received by fans and critics.  It just came and went.  The only thing that stood out about the movie was Kane.  So I have to ask: Why?  Goodnight's death in the first movie would've killed anybody that wasn't Freddy or Jason or Pinhead.  Goodnight was nothing more than abused human being.  Where does he get the special ability to come back to life?  Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the first movie, it was a decent romp, but this screams of desperation.  Secondly, if you're going to make a slasher movie, make the kills spectacular.

That's one of the more depressing things about this movie actually.  I was expecting more blood than I got.  Not even a dismemberment.  Seriously?  Goodnight's got an arsenal of medical equipment to bludgeon and dismember with and nobody loses an arm or a head?  Now, don't me wrong: I have no problems with horror movies showing restraint.  I've seen plenty that really, REALLY went overboard(I'm looking at you, Cannibal Holocaust.).  See No Evil 2 doesn't go far enough.  It doesn't even try.  Aside from one or two kills that are somewhat interesting, like watching somebody being embalmed.  Alive.  That's unique, I hadn't seen that one before.  But that's about as brutal as it gets.  As far as the characters go: Unlikable.  There's not one person here that screamed at me,"They should survive."  Everyone gets what's coming to them.  I realize that this is a slasher movie, so dumb people get killed.  But wouldn't it have taken a little more effort to make the characters a little more personable?  Katherine Issabelle's character is a borderline necrophiliac with an unhealthy obsession with serial killers, and she's irritating to boot.  There seem to be a lot of decisions behind the camera which lead to this movie being not so very good.  The directors were not particularly a good choice, I felt.  Jen and Sylvia Soska are twins and they seem to enjoy horror movies, but they don't seem to grasp the idea that for a movie like this, it needs to have a serious edge.  It can push the envelope, but it doesn't need to shred it.  You can see that they held back.

Are there good things about See No Evil 2?  Yes, there are.  One, the stunts are actually pretty decent.  Most of the blood is practical, which is always a plus.  The embalming death was actually pretty cool.  Kane is simply a presence.  By giving him a mask, that allows Kane to really become monstrous.  Considering that Kane wore a mask throughout most of his WWE career, Kane really got into it and was very threatening and intense.  Danielle Harris is drop-dead gorgeous.  It's too bad that she ends up picking some really bad movies to be in.  This girl's got talent, but it's absolutely wasted here.  She was great in the last two Hatchet movies, but aside from Rob Zombie's Halloween(the first one), she really hasn't had a decent flick.  Everybody else?  I don't care.  The first film was pretty generic, but it had some decent visuals and felt really grimy.  See No Evil 2?  Just plain.....plain.  Aside from Glen Jacobs, there's nothing particularly memorable about this movie.  I haven't seen any other movies directed by the Soska Sisters, but if this movie is any indication, I don't want to.  It's not dreadful; I have seen worse.  But it does NOTHING to stand out from the rest. 6/10 is all this one's getting.  I guess somebody needs to tell the WWE that some sequels just don't need to be made.

Aliens

In 1979, movie audiences were delivered 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.  The sound that the pulse rifle makes is just plain awesome:


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.  Even if you haven't seen Aliens, you have heard this before, I guarantee it:


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.

Disney's Sleeping Beauty

Before acquiring companies like Marvel and LucasArts and producing comic book movies, Walt Disney Studios was known for it's animated features.  These films would often feature amazing animation, stories and music.  One of their first actual movies, Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs, was released in 1937.  In the decades that followed, the world saw the release of some of the most iconic and memorable films in cinema: Pinocchio, Dumbo, Bambi, Cinderella, Peter Pan, and Alice in Wonderland.  Featuring state of the art animation, these films became a part of our daily culture, featuring stories that were funny, smart, dramatic and thrilling.  Walt Disney himself, accomplished more in 20 years, then most filmmakers could ever hope to achieve in a life-time.  One of the most memorable films that Disney has released, and one that I had watched many times as a youngster, was Sleeping Beauty.

Sleeping Beauty features a classic fairy-tale opening sequence with a book opening it's pages introducing us to a kingdom in a far-away land.  It is a kingdom that is celebrating the birth of King Stefan's daughter, Princess Aurora.  Among the many guests, are three wise fairies who come to bestow their blessings on the child, when they are interrupted by an evil and menacing fairy, Maleficent.  Maleficent curses the young princess to die when she pricks her finger on a spinning wheel when she turns 16.  Fearing for her life, King Stefan and his queen send her away with the fairies known as Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather.  This story is as classic as they come.  A tale about young love and the battle between good and evil, Sleeping Beauty has something for everyone.  It's a very charming story with some very unique characters.  Maleficent ended up becoming the most recognized villain in Disney's history.  This is not a character that is really over-the-top.  On the contrary, she's very well-restrained.  That makes her pretty intimidating, actually.  She doesn't really let loose until towards the end of the film.  Voiced by the late Eleanor Audley, Maleficent is not only evil, but strangely alluring at the same time.  The three fairies each have their own unique personalities and quirks.  Merryweather, being the short and stumpy fairy who is also the funniest of the bunch.

There are many things about this movie that still make it work, even 55 years after its initial release.  One: The artwork is very unique.  The backgrounds have a very straight-line theme, and the characters look like something out of a medieval painting.  It's appropriate since the film takes place in the 14th century.  While today's animated movies are slick and very-well done, they lack the personality that the older films had.  Sleeping Beauty is one of the most visually spectacular films that Disney has ever released, in my opinion.  The music is also a character in and of itself.  A lot of the music was based on Tchaikovsky's ballet of the same name, which gives the movie an epic feel, and it permeates the whole affair with a sense of humor and adventure.  Is there anything that really brings this movie down?  Not really, to tell you the truth.  I've said this about several movies, but when it comes to standing the test of time, Sleeping Beauty is among the finest.

With a story that's appropriate for audiences of all ages, Sleeping Beauty manages to both captivate and thrill at the same time, with a villain unlike any other.  Sometimes you can tell how interesting a Disney movie can be by how compelling it's villain is.  Maleficent is extraordinary and ranks among my favorite villains in general.  In fact, there was a recent film starring Angelina Jolie, Maleficent that is specifically about that character and how she becomes so evil.  I haven't had the chance to see that film yet, so I can't comment on how the film is.  Getting back to Sleeping Beauty, this film is classic Walt Disney in every way.  This is a film that I can EASILY recommend to everyone, both children and grown-ups alike.  Having watched this film a lot when I was younger, I still find myself enchanted by how well it tells its story.  Sleeping Beauty is a film we can pass on to our children and grandchildren, and I would certainly hope that everybody who hasn't seen it, gets to see it.  Disney releases certain movies for certain amount of time on home video before taking them off store shelves several months down the line, so I would recommend you just buy this one outright.  At 75 minutes long, it doesn't take up too much time and yet is a very compelling experience.  I don't think 10/10 says enough about this movie.  If you're a fan of animation and Disney movies in general, this is a no-brainer.  Go get it, you'll be glad you did.

Alien: Isolation(Video Game)

What is this?  Have I gone mad?  Have I lost all sense of reality?  I imagine it's possible.  I mentioned in my review of Alien, that there was a video game based on that movie: Alien Isolation.  It's unusual for me to review a video game on a movie blog, but I feel that this game certainly deserves some attention.  For those who are not in the know, Alien is a sci-fi/horror movie released back in 1979.  The film followed a group of space "truckers" as they are sent to investigate a mysterious signal on a nearby planet.  They discover not just an alien ship, but a very violent and destructive organism that begins to pick off the crew one-by-one.  Hailed as one of the greatest science fiction movies ever made, Alien succeeded in terrifying audiences world-wide.  Utilizing claustrophobia and the fear of the dark, Alien featured one of the most iconic movie monsters ever conceived.  The film featured top-notch performances from Tom Skerritt, Ian Holm, John Hurt, Yaphet Kotto, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, and the woman who would usher in a new generation of bad-ass female heroes: Sigourney Weaver.

Alien: Isolation takes place 15 years after the events of the original movie.  The game begins as Ellen Ripley's daughter, Amanda is offered a chance to find out why her mother hasn't been seen in 15 years.  It seems that the flight recorder from the Nostromo has been found.  It's been taken to a space station to be examined and collected by Weyland-Yutani, the company that Ripley's mother worked for.  As soon as we board the space station, we begin to see that something terrible has happened and the space station is falling apart.  People are scarce and there appears to be something lurking in the shadows.  The developers at Creative Assembly sought to replicate the atmosphere and tension of the movie, and to that extent they succeeded.  Right from the get-go, the work that went in to bringing this world to life is apparent as many of the designs of the corridors and technology are lifted directly from Alien.

As you can see from the screenshots, the detail is almost immaculate.  What you can also see, is that the game takes place from a first-person perspective.  This is not an action game, even though it has elements of action in it.  No, this a first-person survival horror experience.  The moment you enter the station, you feel a real sense of foreboding, as if something really bad is about to happen.  There is definitely a palpable sense of dread the further you get into the station and begin to find out what happened.  The first hour of the game is basically a setup for what happens next.  After an hour, you finally encounter the creature itself, and let me tell you, it takes your breath away.  While some of the other enemies in the station can be killed, the Alien itself can't be.  You're limited in the kind of weapons you have, so taking on the monster is suicide.  The best thing you can do is hide and hope it doesn't see you.  If it does, it's game over.  This is where the real tension of the game reveals itself.  Like in the movie, it's not necessarily what you see that scares you, it's the sound of that thing stomping around, either in the corridors or in the air vents above your head.  One of the few things that can help you avoid being seen by the Alien is a motion tracker.  It's not always accurate however.  One of the worst things you can do when staying hidden, is not moving after the Alien leaves.  It could come back and rip you out of the locker you're hiding in, because it could hear you breathing.  Sound plays an integral part of this game.  Any sound you make could alert the creature to your presence.  It's very intense, almost to the point of being unbearable.  You have no idea where this thing is going to pop out, save for that little motion tracker you've got.  I'll be honest, there were a couple of times where I had to quit the game, because it got to be too crazy.  One other thing I should mention: This game is unforgiving.  I couldn't make it anywhere on the hard difficulty before quitting in frustration, so I knocked it down to easy.  Is it easier?  You have a little more wiggle-room to make mistakes, but it's still pretty hard.

That's not to say it's all hopeless.  You do have a few interesting tools that you get throughout the game that will help you either fight off the Alien or distract it.  You have a noisemaker that can throw the creature of your trail for a little bit, giving you time to escape.  Or you can use a molotov cocktail to injure the monster and drive it off that way, but you won't kill it.  The Alien isn't your only enemy on board the station.  No, you've got security forces, scavengers and droids.  With the human forces, you can take them down easily enough, or you can use the noisemaker and basically get the Alien to go after them instead of you.  But it won't go after the droids.  The droids are one of the downsides to this game.  They suck.  They take a lot of hits before they go down and if they get a hold of you, they deal quite a bit of damage.  Luckily, they're slower than molasses, so you can outrun them.  However, if you do run, there is the added risk of attracting the monster.  You have to be very careful how you approach certain situations.  There are long stretches of gameplay where you don't encounter the Alien at all.  The second half of the game starts to become more of an action game.  The first half of the game is basically survival horror and the second half the game is run-and-gun.  Almost.  You do get a flamethrower to help ward off the creature, but this section of the game relies on too much gun-play.  Your character isn't a soldier, she's an engineer.  That leads me to another interesting point about the game: It's crafting mechanic.  You pick up schematics for molotovs, EMP grenades, pipebombs and medkits throughout the station, so if you have enough scrap, you can build stuff that'll help you.  Visually speaking, this game is a stunner.  It all comes down to details and this game has it in spades.  The corridors are appropriately spooky.  Hell, the game even retains the whole future-retro technology from the movie.  For example, the computers that you sometimes need access to, remind me of the computers from the late 70's and early 80's.  The human characters are exceptionally well-detailed, particularly during cut-scenes.  There will be times when you have to space-walk and the scenery is exceptional.  You can even see the clouds moving on the nearby planet.  The station itself is a marvel to behold.  It's HUGE.  You thought the ship in the movie was big.  That has nothing on the space depot.  That also leads to ANOTHER problem with this game: Backtracking.  There's a lot of it.  You have trains that will take you to different parts of the station, but some of the locations start looking a little too familiar.

The creature itself is remarkably well-designed.  While some of its walking animations seem stiff, the rest of it is fantastic to watch.  It's surprisingly graceful for a perfectly-evolved killing machine.  Although, if you watch the creature too much, it'll kill ya.  So, don't get hypnotized by it.  It's a thing to be feared.  What really makes this game so damned effective is the sound.  It really sends chills up and down your spine.  When the creature is stalking the halls or the vents, you can hear and you have no idea when it's going to make an appearance.  Atmosphere is everything in a game like this, and the sound really amps it up.  The voice-acting definitely helps draw you into the game.  Some of the characters sounded familiar, so I had to look them up.  I'm surprised at what I found.  One of the main characters, Marshall Waits, is played by none other than William Hope, the guy who played Lt. Gorman from the second Alien movie.  Returning from the original film are not just one, but several of the main actors: Tom Skerritt, Veronica Cartwright, Yaphet Kotto, Harry Dean Stanton and Ellen Ripley herself, Sigourney Weaver.  They all came back to record some stuff for audio logs from the Nostromo.  I think having Sigourney Weaver reprise her iconic role after nearly 20 years, lends a credibility and authenticity that I don't think this game would have had otherwise.  In fact, there are two DLC(Downloadable Content)which allow you to play AS Ellen Ripley herself or as some of the other members of the Nostromo crew.  I think it's fantastic that you can explore the Nostromo a little bit.  Of course, you have to contend with the Alien, so it's not all warm fuzzies.  But the details on the original Nostromo crew are fantastically detailed.  The ship itself is replicated in nearly every detail.  So, it's kind of an interesting trip back.

Many of the screenshots I've just posted were from the XBOX ONE and PlayStation 4 versions, but I'm playing this game on my PC.  My specs(for those who actually care):

AMD-FX6300 Six-Core Processor at 3.8ghz

8GIGs of DDR1300 RAM

AMD RADEON 7770 4gig video card

1 Terabyte harddrive

Windows 8.1

Overall, this is a fantastic game, but if you're a gamer and you're reading this, be prepared to die.  A lot.  It is a difficult game, but one that I feel is worth every penny.  Is it perfect?  No.  Some of the issues I've noticed I described already.  One of the issues that I didn't mention, was that while the lighting effects are incredible, they also make it hard to discern friendly human from enemy human, and if you accidentally shoot an innocent person, it's game over.  The game's difficulty is also a double-edged sword.  While it can be satisfying to escape the alien, it gets really frustrating every time you fail.  Even on the easy level.  Some of the puzzles are kind of ridiculous, though.  The solutions to those puzzles are almost always in the same room.  If you frighten easily, or have a weak heart, stay away.  This IS a stressful game.  There are also too many sections where nothing actually happens.  But it's the atmosphere, the sound, and the tension that help drive this game forward.  There have been multiple games based on the Alien franchise, but most of them have failed on nearly every level, especially last year's Aliens: Colonial Marines.  The less said about that....thing, the better.  Alien Isolation definitely captures the essence of what made Alien such an incredible movie in the first place.  At least the first half of the game.  But it's still more than what most companies would have been able to pull off.  The folks at Creative Assembly have crafted a very memorable experience that is both challenging and satisfying.  It took me a little over 15 hours to complete the game.  Half that time I think, was spent cowering in a locker.  No other survival horror game has given me the creeps the way this game did, so that's definitely an achievement.  If you're a gamer, and a fan of the Alien franchise I think you owe it to yourself to try this game out.  Just be aware that it requires a lot of patience.  Despite some of the game's glaring issues, I'm giving this baby a solid 9/10.  Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go scare myself silly again.

*Credit for screenshots go to their respective sources.

X-Men: Days of Future Past

For many comic book fans, the X-Men are some of the most well-known characters.  Wolverine, Storm, Cyclop, Professor X, Magneto and Mystique are all part of a universe that is both diverse, amusing and thrilling.  During the 80's, there was a story-line in The Uncanny X-Men which garnered praise from many comic-book fans: Days of Future Past.  Taking place in both the future and the past, Days of Future Past showed a dark future with mutants and humans like on the brink of extinction.  They're only hope is for someone to go back in time to prevent a war with mutant-hunting Sentinels from ever happening.  When the live-action films started coming out, people were wondering if we would ever see the Days of Future Past story-line put on the screen.  With Bryan Singer returning to the director's chair for the latest X-Men film, the live-action version of Days of Future Past is now a reality.

In the not-too-distant future, we witness a world that has been ravaged by nuclear war, and we see people both human and mutant alike being forced into concentration camps by large robots known as Sentinels.  Most of the mutants and mutant-sympathizers have been eradicated, and it's up to a small band of mutants to try and turn the tide.  Leading the X-Men are Professor Charles Xavier(Patrick Stewart and James McAvoy), Magneto(Ian McKellan and Michael Fassbender), Wolverine(Hugh Jackman), and Storm(Halle Berry).  Magneto and Xavier have put aside their differences to combat this world-ending threat and their last hope is to send Wolverine's consciousness into the past to prevent Mystique(Jennifer Lawrence)from assassinating Dr. Bolivar Trask(Peter Dinklage), the very man who created the Sentinel program during the 70's.

The X-Men comics, at their very core, was their message about racism and fearing/hating those that are different from the rest of us.  It's that message that tends to resonate with audiences world-wide.  The first two films did an admirable job of bringing the characters and their fight against prejudice to the screen, the third film: The Last Stand, threw all that out the window in favor of spectacle.  What Days of Future Past does, is that it addresses a lot of the issues in some of the past X-Men films and comes to a conclusion that not only advances the story, but wipes out previous mistakes.  In many respects, this film is both a sequel AND a reboot.  D.O.F.P(Days of Future Past) brings back many of the original cast members from the previous films including, Shawn Ashmore, Halle Berry, Ian McKellen, and Patrick Stewart in their respective roles.  We're also introduced to new mutants, such as Bishop(Omar Sy), Quicksilver(Evan Peters), Blink(Fan Bingbing) and Sunspot(Adan Canto).  The main villain at the core of the picture is Dr. Bolivar Trask, played by Game of Thrones star, Peter Dinklage.  His short stature masks an impressive ability to deliver a very compelling and, at times, sympathetic performance.  You don't truly hate him the way you hate Brian Cox's William Stryker from the second film.  Throughout the film, we get to see Wolverine try to convince the younger Professor X of the coming war and subsequent end of the world.  Hugh Jackman IS Wolverine.  His character has evolved over the years.  From a wandering loner to reluctant leader, he is now forced to try to convince and guide Professor Xavier to becoming the Professor X that the world needs him to be.  All the performances in this movie are fantastic.  Jennifer Lawrence really inhabits the role of Mystique, while Michael Fassbender has his own agenda as the younger Magneto.  Unlike many of the previous X-Men films, this one isn't about Wolverine.  Oh, no.  This movie centers on Professor X, Mystique and Magneto.  James McAvoy portrays Prof. X as a man who has been broken by the departure of not only his best friend, Magneto, but by the mutant he grew up with, Mystique.

When X-Men: The Last Stand hit theaters, we were given a brief glimpse into the Days of Future Past story-line in a Danger Room session.  One of the things that really stood out about this sequence as the appearance of a Sentinel.  Just his head, actually, but it really got people wanting more Sentinel action, and D.O.F.P delivers.  The movie opens with a bang in the future as mutants are fighting a losing battle and the fearsome machines.  The design of the Sentinels underwent a kind of change for D.O.F.P.  Here are some comparisons:

1.

This is the Sentinel that first appeared in the comics and subsequent TV series that aired during the 90's.

2.

This is the initial prototype Sentinel that Trask built during the 70's.  As you can see, while it still retains some of the design of the comic book version, it has a more sleek and plastic look as befits a product from the 70's.  Note that this is a behind-the-scenes photo with director Bryan Singer.

3.

This is the Sentinel that appears in the future scenes of the film.  This is a far more threatening look, as these suckers have the ability to adapt to defend themselves against mutant powers.  These are more sleek, scary, and unstoppable.

For fans of the comic book story, there are some changes that were made, even though the majority of the story-line is intact.  The biggest change, is that instead of Kitty Pryde going back in time, it's Wolverine, because he's the only mutant that can physically survive the trip.  That's the biggest change.  Another one, is that the target of assassination was Senator Kelly.  But in the first X-Men film, Kelly was killed, so to maintain some kind of continuity with the other movies, they had to find another target, Peter Dinklage's character, Trask.  Honestly, the changes actually make sense when you watch the other movies.  The action sequences are stellar.  One of the highlights is Quicksilver's moment in the Pentagon, when they're trying to free Magneto.  Because the character moves so fast, it seems like time slows down, and it's both exciting and funny.  The scenes that take place in the future are dark, bleak and absolutely stunning when the X-Men make their final stand against the Sentinels.

Composer/editor John Ottman returns to give X-Men: Days of Future Past an exciting score with some very familiar themes.  It gives the action sequences a very frenetic pace, and the character-development moments an intimate and sympathetic feel that draws you in.  In a film like this, music is extremely important and ends up becoming a character itself.  So, how does this entry stack up to the others?  It's better than Last Stand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine, for one.  Honestly, it's one of the best ones.  X2 is still number one on my list, and Days of Future Past comes in at number 2, with First Class taking the number 3 spot.  Days of Future Past has been designated the second film in the First Class trilogy.  So, we've got one more movie on the way, tentatively titled: X-Men Apocalypse.

Overall, X-Men: Days of Future Past is probably one of the best action movies this year and offers up some extremely compelling performances from it's lead actors.  With outstanding direction by Bryan Singer and some of the most visually striking action sequences I've seen in years, we have a movie that actually lives up to it's name-sake.  It's a great story with an extremely satisfying conclusion.  It's not a perfect movie, though.  One of the actors from the previous movies, Anna Paquin doesn't even make an appearance in this version of the movie, even though her name is on the list.  Apparently, they are releasing another version of the film next year that has Paquin's character, Rogue.  That seems like a pretty silly decision.  However, those little tidbits don't really detract from the experience as a whole.  It's an amazing experience.  It comes highly recommended at 9.5/10.  On a side note: As of this writing, the film is currently available on Blu-Ray and DVD.  My suggestion: Pick up the Wal-Mart version because it comes with an exclusive edition of the original Days of Future Past comic.  That's definitely worth 20 bucks.

Sharknado 2: The Second One

When Sharknado was first announced with a trailer, it sent shockwaves through the Internet.  I'm not kidding.  EVERYBODY was talking about this sucker.  It was all over twitter.  Hell, even celebrities were talking about it.  Released by The Asylum, the creator of modern-day shlock films, Sharknado was actually regarded as one of the best "bad" movies ever.  For a movie that sported terrible visual effects, hammy acting, and one of the most off-the-wall concepts ever, it actually delivered.  In spades.  Yes, the visual effects were crap, and yet, they helped make the film the modern legend that it is.  The film basically catapulted 90210 star Ian Ziering into b-movie superstar status.  I don't know how the hell it happened, but Sharknado actually wound up being more fun than most of the blockbuster movies that came out last year.

Ian Ziering returns as now-famous shark-slayer Fin Shepard, who's on his way to New York with his ex-wife, April Wexler(Tara Reid).  On the way, the airplane hits some turbulence that's loaded with...you guessed it, SHARKS!  One of the sharks punches its way into the plane and eats April's hand, while the pilot(Robert Hays)and his co-pilot get pulled out of the cockpit by more...sharks.  Fin, being the courageous fella that he is, gets into the cockpit and manages to land the plane, and by landing the plane, I mean he crashes it.  Soon, it appears that two sharknadoes are bound to collide in the middle of Manhattan, and Ian Ziering...I mean, Fin Shepard, is trying to find his brother and family and trying to get them to safety.  On the way, he has to contend with sharks in the sky, sharks in the subway, sharks in elevator shafts and sharks that are on fire.  Yes.  This movie has flaming sharks.  Screw it.  This is a Sharknado movie, you know what you're in for.

One of the things that this movie has is cameos.  Lots and lots of cameos.  One of the first ones is Robert Hays, who played Striker in the Airplane movies.  Judd Hirsch who was in Independence Day plays a cab driver, who is actually pretty funny.  There's Andy Dick as a police officer, with Al Roker and Matt Lauer as themselves.  There's just too many to list, to be honest.  I think that kind of speaks volumes about what kind of movie you're dealing with here.  It was actually hilarious to see Matt Lauer try to NOT use the word, "sharknado."  Like the previous film, there's plenty of people being munched, squashed and dismembered.  The visual effects have actually improved a little bit.  I guess instead 10 dollars, they got 12 dollars to make the movie.  In other words, the effects are still crap.  Yet, if a movie like this actually had really good special effects, it would surprisingly detract from the experience.  Make no mistake, ladies and gentleman: These movies are Mystery Science Theater 3000-worthy.

If you thought that the last movie was nuts, Sharknado 2 takes it to another level of insanity.  There is a sequence towards the end of the film, where after an explosion sends Fin flying through the air, he lands on top of a shark(how convenient)and rides the shark like a surfboard to its death.  Let me repeat that: Fin. Rides. A shark. Like a surfboard.  Hey, that could be a new catch-phrase.  Instead of, "He jumped the shark," which they reference in this movie, they could say, "He surfed the shark."  Yes, no?  So, yeah, they throw in everything AND the kitchen sink.  The music in the film is actually not awful.  It's appropriately over-dramatic.  This movie also features a song that was written for the first one:  The Ballad of Sharknado by a group called Quint.  Oh, my god.  It's awesome.  They even have a music video:



I'm not entirely sure what else I can say about this movie.  Yeah, I can tear it to shreds like most people would do, but isn't that kind of what Sharknado was going for in the first place?  It knows what kind of movie it is and it goes full steam.  The actors are TOTALLY in on the joke.  Believe it or not, they are actually planning a THIRD movie.  I don't know about you, but I'm totally on board.  I love these movies.  I have no shame.  No shame at all.  Yes these are bad movies, but they are strangely a ton of fun.  Sharknado is one of those movies that you have to laugh at what's happening on screen.  This is totally a movie for drinking games.  My final verdict:

Special effects: 2.2314/10
Acting: Ian Ziering/10
Sharks: Jumped
Overall: 9/10

Go see it.  You know you want to.

Transformers: The Movie(1986)

*SPOILER ALERT*(For people who actually haven't seen this movie yet(for shame).)

Transformers.  What else really needs to be said?  Instead of putting up a trailer as I usually do, I decided to show the first 5 minutes of the original Transformers animated movie from 1986.  Why?  Because the first 5 minutes of the film introduce you to one of the most amazing villains ever to menace the galaxy.  I grew up watching Transformers as a kid, and we had some of the toys, which the show was based on.  But the Transformers became more than just toys and TV shows.  It became a pop culture phenomenon.  Kids all around the world knew what the Transformers were.  It had awesome characters like Optimus Prime, Megatron, Starscream, Ironhide, Ratchet, and some of my personal favorites: The Dinobots.  A movie was released in 1986 as a bridge between seasons two and three.  Oh, what an impression it made.

In the year 2005, the Autobots are continuing their long struggle against the oppressive Decepticons who have conquered Cybertron, the Autobots home planet.  But the leader of the Decepticons, Megatron, gets word of the Autobots' plans to go to earth to get more energon, the Transformers' main energy source.  The ship is intercepted and Megatron plans to infiltrate earth's warning systems and attempt to destroy Autobot City.  As soon as the city is under attack, the Autobots send a distress signal to Optimus Prime(Peter Cullen) who shows up in the nick of time to save the day.  He does so, but at a very high cost.  In his battle with Megatron(Frank Welker), Prime is mortally wounded and eventually dies, but not before relinquishing the Matrix of Leadership to his second-in-command: Ultra Magnus(Robert Stack).  Megatron is also gravely wounded but is abandoned by HIS minion, Starscream.  Soon, Megatron is discovered by a monstrous planet devouring.....planet, Unicron(Orson Welles).  Unicron gives Megatron new life as Galvatron(Leonard Nimoy)and is tasked with destroying the Matrix of Leadership.

Here's something funny for you: This movie takes place NINE years ago.  Where was I when all this was taking place?  I don't remember laser guns or giant talking machines that could turn into cars.  In all seriousness, though, this movie is an absolute blast.  At nearly 30 years old, it definitely stands the test of time, unlike some other animated movies based on cartoons.  Why?  Giant robots that could turn into vehicles or guns and stuff like that, that's why.  You had some of the most iconic characters ever.  Optimus Prime, the leader of the Autobots could turn into a big rig.  Bumble-bee turned into a Voltswagen Beetle, while Ironhide became....a minivan.  Megatron could change into a hand gun, while Starscream could soar as a jet.  It was amazing stuff to witness as a kid.  There was fantastic animation and incredible action.  That was the just the series.  The movie took it to a whole different level.  Oddly enough, this movie wasn't without it's controversy when it was released.  The filmmakers had the audacity to kill off several of the main characters including the beloved Optimus Prime.  That particular one pissed a lot of people off, mainly the parents of children who nearly inconsolable after witnessing the death of their hero.  Very understandable, Optimus Prime became something the kids could look up to as a hero.  Parents literally complained to the filmmakers about the whole thing, and the guys who made the movie were genuinely taken aback at the backlash.  Here's the thing, though.  It was a risky decision and probably a business decision too.  Mattel wanted to sell new toys, so they had a hand in making some changes.  Story-wise, this film took a pretty a dark turn, especially when it introduced the main villain of the story, Unicron.  This is a creature that munched on planets for energy and was generally not a nice guy.  But it definitely had an impact on how the Autobots responded to the situation.  So, not only did they have to deal with the Decepticons, they had a planet-sized menace to fight.  It was a very solid story and while it was darker than the series, it still had that sense of wonder and adventure throughout.

The film introduced many new characters to the franchise: Blur played by John Moschitta, abd Ultra Magnus who was voiced by Unsolved Mysteries host: Robert Stack.  The reborn leader of the Decepticons was played by legendary Star Trek actor, Leonard Nimoy in one of his most recognized roles.  Susan Blu played the first female Transformer, Arcee.  But perhaps the biggest casting surprise was the legendary Orson Welles as Unicron.  The man's voice really gave Unicron a very frightening tone and behavior the likes of which we hadn't seen since Darth Vader.  Sadly, Welles died before Transformers was released, but after he had completed his work, so he didn't get to see the fruits of his labor.  Each of the robots in the film had their own unique personality and quirks that made them unique.  Hot Rod, played by Judd Nelson, was an impulsive and risk-taking new Autobot who had the potential to become something greater.  Kup, an elderly, but experienced Autobot was voiced by Lionel Stander.  Each of these characters were given their moment to shine and they shined brightly.

One of the most unique aspects of this film was its soundtrack.  It was decided to give Transformers a hard-rock soundtrack so it would energize the picture.  Boy, did it ever.  Besides the awesome score by Vince DiCola, we got a bad-ass soundtrack that included Stan Bush, Spectre General, N.R.G, and some music from Weird Al Yankovic.  Music can be extremely important in a film, but with Transformers it really elevated the entire project.  Here's a music video from Stan Bush(Warning: Extremely Cheesy):


Michael Bay: THIS is how you make a Transformers movie.  Make it about Transformers.  Yeah, the new movies have great whiz-bang special effects, but they lack heart.  All the effort was put into making the machines look awesome(which they do), but the story and the characters just don't match up with the rest of it.  The 1986 film is easily the best of the bunch.  If there are any downsides to the film, it's that they killed Optimus Prime.  It was definitely a brave decision, but....it's OPTIMUS PRIME, dammit!  So, yeah: Transformers The Movie is easily the best Transformers film ever.  Anyone who says otherwise, hasn't seen this one.  10/10 is what I'm giving this one.  This is a must-own for any fan of Transformers, young or old.  It holds up nearly 30 years after its release.  Take it away Optimus:

District B13 and Brick Mansions

DISTRICT B13



Parkour became popular during the late 1990s and early 2000s in France by Raymond Belle and his son David Belle as well as David's childhood friend: Sebastien Foucan.  It is a sport in which movement through a city is done in a very efficient manner, usually through jumping off rooftops, climbing, and running.  While parkour had its start in France, the popularity of the sport spread all over the world like wildfire.  All you have to is go to YouTube and search for parkour.  You will find thousands of videos demonstrating this unique and spectacular phenomenon.  It's gotten so popular that certain military organizations have begun utilizing some parkour in their training.  Parkour has been featured in many movies in the past 15 years, and the two people truly responsible for that are David Belle and martial arts/stuntman Cyril Raffaelli.  The first movie to truly revolve around the use of parkour is District B13, directed by Pierre Morel.

The French action film begins as Leito(David Belle)is under attack from goons trying to recover the cocaine that he's stolen from the local crime lord.  He escapes by jumping out windows and running along rooftops so that the goons can't follow him.  The crime lord kidnaps Leito's sister, Lola(Danny Verissimo) to force Leito to his compound.  Both escape to the border of their walled in neighborhood, but are betrayed by the local police inspector.  6 months later, undercover narcotics agent, Damien Tomaso(Cyril Raffaelli) is about to make the biggest bust of his career, when the drug kingpin that he's escorting discovers that Damien is an undercover cop.  All hell breaks loose and Damien eventually gets his man.  He is informed by his superiors that a nuclear weapon has been stolen by the crime lord, Taha(Bibi Naceri)who also kidnapped Leito's sister...again.  Damien's orders are to go in to District B13 with the help of a local, Leito and disarm the bomb.

The only real reason the story exists is to move the film along from one action set-piece to another.  It does so in fairly expedient manner, so you're never bored from one second to the next.  The opening action sequence featuring David Belle is exquisitely awesome.  Now THAT is how you introduce somebody like Belle.  When he's jumping off rooftops or through windows, it's David Belle that's doing that, not a stunt double, and there are no visual effects and no green screen.  It's all done on location and it makes that sequence all the more exciting.  Cyril Raffaelli's introduction is also spectacular, if not as acrobatic.  The sequence inside a casino shows off Cyril's impressive martial arts abilities as well as some fantastic gun-play.  The stunt-work in this scene is just brutal.  Again, there's no CG or wire-work involved here, it's all done for real.  While the rest of the film's action sequences don't necessarily match the quality of the introduction sequences, they are just as fun to watch.  There's some car chases, but the film mostly involves parkour.

I'm not sure the film would've worked as well if David Belle and Cyril Raffaelli weren't involved.  While I wouldn't consider these guys top-notch actors(Belle is more of an athlete), they do a decent job.  But the reason why we watch a movie like District B13 isn't for their acting abilities, it's for how they move, and it's some of the most spectacular stuff I've seen in a movie.  It's non-stop action from beginning to end with no real surprises other than to see David Belle jump from rooftop to rooftop.  District B13 is one of the most unique action films I've seen in the past decade.  This one comes highly recommended.  9/10.  For those who don't know who David Belle is:



BRICK MANSIONS


The French action film begins as Leito Lino(David Belle)is under attack from goons trying to recover the cocaine that he's stolen from the local crime lord.  He escapes by jumping out windows and running along rooftops so that the goons can't follow him.  The crime lord kidnaps Leito's Lino's sister, Lola(Danny Verissimo Catalina Dennis) to force Leito Lino to his compound.  Both escape to the border of their walled in neighborhood, but are betrayed by the local police inspector.  6 months later, Undercover narcotics agent, Damien Tomaso Collier(Cyril Raffaelli Paul Walker) is about to make the biggest bust of his career, when the drug kingpin that he's escorting discovers that Damien is an undercover cop.  All hell breaks loose and Damien eventually gets his man.  He is informed by his superiors that a nuclear weapon has been stolen by the crime lord, Taha(Bibi Naceri) Tremaine(RZA) who also kidnapped Leito's Lino's sister...again.  Damien's orders are to go in to District B13 Brick Mansions with the help of a local, Leito Lino and disarm the bomb.

If the above paragraph looks familiar, it should be.  It's nearly the exact same description that I gave District B13, albeit with some additions and subtractions.  Other than that, it's a beat-for-beat re-make of District B13.  I wouldn't say it was shot-for-shot, but it comes pretty damned close.  Remakes like Brick Mansions bother me, because they don't really try anything new.  I can deal with remakes as long as they try to bring something new to the table, but Brick Mansions just doesn't do that.  David Belle plays the same character he played in the original film, just with a slightly different name.  The story is EXACTLY the same, the same plot points are hit in the exact same order, and some of the action sequences are precisely the same, just not executed as well.  There ARE some differences here, I'll give the movie that.  Paul Walker's character actually has a personal stake with what happens in Brick Mansions, as he believes Tremaine murdered his father.  RZA's character of Tremaine, while not really a good guy, isn't a complete scumbag, and RZA's performance is actually somewhat compelling for once.  He seems to enjoy playing the bad guy.

The introduction of David Belle's character is pretty much the same in Brick Mansions, with Lino stealing drugs and escaping Tremaine's lackeys.  It's still somewhat spectacular, but it utilizes some CG and green screen effects, which actually takes away from the thrill.  Paul Walker's introduction as Damien is not even REMOTELY as good as Raffaelli's.  Walker's performance is pretty serviceable if not ground-breaking.  He looks like he's having a hell of a lot fun though.  Some of the stunt-work in this version are still pretty good, as most of them are done for real.  The car chases are pretty exciting.  Tremaine's reaction to seeing his car get shot is actually pretty funny.  He shoots the guy that shoots up his car and threatens to do the same to the next guy who does that.  The other really new characters are Damien's grandfather who promises to give up smoking entirely if Damien gives up chasing Tremaine.  The other is Tremaine's second-in-command: Rayzah(Ayisha Issa).  That's pretty much it.

Brick Mansions, unfortunately, was Paul Walker's last fully completed movie before he was killed in tragic car accident last year, so I'm not reaming this film a new one like a lot of people have been doing.  I think Paul Walker as an actor, while not necessarily the greatest, was fun to watch in his other movies.  It's a shame that he never got to complete Fast and Furious 7.  While that film is on track to be released next year, utilizing his brothers as body doubles, it's too bad that his last completed project was nearly a shot-for-shot remake of a superior movie.  Brick Mansions isn't really a terrible action movie.  On the contrary, it's still a lot of fun, but it really doesn't have the same impact that District B13 did.  While Brick Mansions is decent time-killer, District B13 is the superior film in every way.  It gets a 7/10.

RIP Paul Walker 1973-2013:

Apocalypse Now

The in Vietnam during the 60's and early 70's was a very turbulent time in American history.  We went there to eliminate Communism and liberate South Vietnam from the Communist North Vietnam.  It became clear early on, that this would no ordinary battle against the North Vietnamese army, also known as the Vietcong.  Why?  The Vietcong dressed and looked like civilians, so we had no way of telling one from the other.  Throughout the war, there have been numerous....incidents involving the murder of civilian Vietnamese.  Our people were outgunned and out-manned in a country where the Vietcong had the advantage.  Approximately, over 3.8 million people on all sides lost their lives by the time we had withdrawn.  There have been numerous films over the decades about the war in Vietnam, but one truly stands out among the rest: Apocalypse Now.

As the movie begins we see a strung-out soldier, Captain Benjamin Willard(Martin Sheen)being given orders to travel to Cambodia and terminate the rogue Special Forces Colonel Walter Kurtz(Marlon Brando).  Along the way, he meets up with Colonel Kilgore(Robert DuVall)so he can get upriver.  On the surface, the story seems like pretty one-dimensional about one man's mission, but as the film goes on, it starts descending into chaos, as Willard travels to Cambodia to confront Kurtz.  Apocalypse Now is an extraordinary look at how war affects soldiers on a psychological level.  While some soldiers are of sound mind, others start losing their sanity, and this is extremely evident when we finally meet Kurtz.  We also see Willard start unraveling as the film progresses.  While we see the first half of the film as basically a war film, with explosions and helicopters wreaking havoc on the Vietnamese, the second half becomes more psychological as the soldiers accompanying Willard start seeing some very strange things and it starts freaking them out.  The final part of the movie is just plain nuts.

Shamefully, I never actually saw this movie before today, and I'm not entirely sure why.  It's an experience like no other, because it's a movie like no other.  Francis Ford Coppola has crafted an incredible film which explores a soldier's decent into madness.  It would not have been as successful if the performances hadn't been top-notch.  Martin Sheen is fantastic as Willard.  We also have appearances from Harrison Ford and a very young Laurence Fishburne.  The two real standouts in this film are Robert DuVall as Kilgore and Marlon Brando as Colonel Kurtz.  DuVall gets the pleasure of having one of the most iconic lines in movie history:


Marlon Brando's character of Colonel Walter Kurtz doesn't actually show up until towards the end of the film, but his presence is felt throughout the entire picture. That's because Captain Willard's mission is to assassinate Kurtz.  But on the way, we start learning more about Kurtz and we start to understand why he went native, as it were.  It's a very interesting character study into how somebody with so much clout and so much power was able to manipulate his way into getting what he wanted.  His character takes on this kind of....father figure or savior for the local tribes and Brando's performance is nothing short of astounding.  He's very subdued and literally cloaked in shadow, but when he speaks, it's hypnotic.  Part of what makes the role so interesting is the way it was shot.  The shadows he was filmed in helped sell the character as mysterious.  It's a very effective technique.

A lot has been said about how troubled the production was when the film was being made.  There is a documentary on the latest Blu-Ray release called "Hearts of Darkness," which apparently goes into detail on how this film miraculously got completed.  Martin Sheen had a heart attack, Marlon Brando was overweight and doing his own thing, and a lot of the sets were destroyed during a typhoon in the Philippines where the film was shot.  I haven't actually seen the documentary yet, but when I do see it, I will review it.

One of the most unique things about this film was the soundtrack.  You had music from The Doors, Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries during the infamous helicopter raid, and the actual score from Coppola and his father Carmine really gave the film a bizarre and yet epic feel to the whole experience.  I loved it.  Apocalypse Now is one of those films that really defied expectations and went on to become one of the most iconic war films of the 20th century.  With outstanding performances from Martin Sheen, Robert DuVall and Marlon Brando, Apocalypse Now stands the test of time as a movie that explores the psychological effects of warfare on a soldier.  For fans of cinema, this is MANDATORY viewing.  It's an extraordinary piece of film-making and very important in terms of its scope and subject matter.  Movies rarely get better than this.  10/10.

Gojira(1954 Godzilla), Godzilla(1998) and Godzilla(2014)

Normally, I would say this is a unique situation, but I've done comparison reviews about the Total Recall and RoboCop movies.  However, what we've got here is still a little different.  This time, we've got THREE movies with the same name.  Godzilla.  If it seems like I've been a Godzilla run recently, it's because my interest in Godzilla has skyrocketed with the recent release of the Gareth Edwards film.  I recently picked up two more Godzilla movies, the 1998 film with Matthew Broderick and the original film, Gojira.  Of the three films, one really feels out of place.  Anyone who's a big fan of Godzilla will know exactly which movie I'm talking about.  But I'll get to that later.  Right now, I'm going to jump in with the original film, Gojira.

Gojira:



Gojira begins as a ship is returning home from a fishing trip when it's struck by a mysterious object and destroyed.  As word spreads that the ship has sunk off the coast of Tokyo, another ship is apparently attacked.  Unlike the first ship, this one has three survivors.  They say it was a monster that attacked them.  Later, during violent storm at night, a family is sleeping when the house begins to shake violently and collapses.  In the morning, the authorities arrive to discover a massive footprint in the ground, and determine that a gigantic animal of some kind was responsible for the destruction.  What they also discover is that there is radioactivity in the footprint, so they tell people to stay back because it's dangerous.  One of the local fishermen says it's a god named Gojira who has come to feed on people.

Anyone who hasn't seen this one has more than likely seen some of the other Godzilla pictures:  The cheesy, over-the-top films with wild monsters and visual effects.  This one is not cheesy.  In fact, it's played deadly serious.  Here's why:  The film was released in 1954, just nine years after Hiroshima and Nagasaki were destroyed by atomic bombs.  This film was created as a response to those events, and as a cautionary tale about the horrors of nuclear weapons.  For Japanese audiences, this was a particularly terrifying film.

The story is fantastic.  There is a very palpable sense of dread and mystery that permeates the whole movie.  What sunk the ships and destroyed the small fishing village?  The answer is both fascinating and terrifying.  A gigantic sea monster, apparently woken by nuclear testing, is apparently responsible.  This being 1954 Japan, they didn't really have the luxury, time or resources to do stop-motion animation, like the Americans did with King Kong in the 30's.  So, they had a guy get into a suit and stomp around miniatures.  By today's standards, this looks particularly archaic, but in 1954, this style of film was state-of-the-art.  The performances by lead actors, Akira Takarada and Akihiko Harata are great.  Takarada plays Ogata, a photographer.  Harata is a scientist who has created a potential super-weapon to counter Godzilla.  The effects, while dated by today's standards, still sells the scale of the beast and how he rampages across Tokyo.  Unlike the films that followed Gojira, this film is far more dramatic and really touches on how humanity reacts to a situation like this.  The film definitely delivers on the destruction and mayhem, and it's use of miniatures is incredible.  The creature's design was very unique in it's day and it's become iconic.  Also, iconic is the beast's roar.  Anyone who hasn't seen a Godzilla picture will still recognize that sound.  It's a part of pop-culture now.  Gojira has amassed an enormous following, and with 31 films out there, Godzilla's popularity shows no signs of slowing down.

There are a number of reasons why this particular is so important.  One, it ushered in a new era of science fiction and gave birth to the Kaiju movie genre, which is the giant monster movies.  We ended up with, Mothra, King Ghidora, and Monster Zero among others.  There are a lot.  And some of them ended up with movies of their own.  Not only that, Guillermo Del Toro released Pacific Rim as love-letter to Godzilla in 2012.  It was an impressive film.  So, the original Gojira has influenced movie-makers over the decades in terms of visual effects.  We see a lot of movies with monsters that have been inspired by Big G.  Hell, even the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers were influenced, with their gigantic monsters and robots going at each other.  In other words, Godzilla is a cultural phenomenon cherished by millions of people all over the world.  The other big reason why this film is important is the message it's trying to send about the use of nuclear weapons and the consequences of said weapons.  When we dropped Fat Man and Little Boy on Japan, we knew they would be powerful, but we had no idea what the extend of the damage would be.  During the film, we see footage of Tokyo in ruins and it is very reminiscent of the destruction that the Japanese had witnessed during the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  So, the question the movie asks, which is the real monster here?  Is it Godzilla himself or is he just the symptom of a larger problem:  the unknown dangers of using super-weapons?  The main scientist who inadvertently creates a super-weapon to defeat Godzilla is actually afraid of what could happen if it falls into the wrong hands and used for the wrong reasons.  There is a very serious moral implication about the use of these weapons, and you really don't see that in movies these days.

Overall, this is an incredible film.  Yes, it has destruction aplenty, but it also comes with a message and a warning about nuclear weapons.  While the following films would eventually forget the message in favor of spectacle, the original Gojira remains a landmark picture that needs to be seen by anyone with a remote interest in cinema.  This monster of a movie gets a perfect 10/10.

Godzilla(1998)



Our film begins as a Japanese fishing boat is heading home during a storm, when it is suddenly and violently attacked by an unknown force.  There is one survivor who keeps uttering the word "Gojira."  Later, at Chernobyl in Russia, a scientist by the name of Nick Tatopoulos(Matthew Broderick), is studying irradiated earthworms that have grown to unusual sizes due to the radioactivity in soil due to the Chernobyl accident.  He is later reassigned by Colonel Hicks(Kevin Dunn)to investigate what appears to be a giant footprint and the remains of the fishing vessel that was attacked earlier.  Tatopoulos discovers that this creature was a result of nuclear testing and that the creature is making it's way to New York City.

I remember there was this HUGE hype about a new Godzilla movie being made.  I knew it was being made by Roland Emmerich, the guy who directed Independence Day.  The trailer that I posted above is absolutely fantastic and it really amped up the excitement for this movie.  Toho, the creators of Godzilla had sold the rights to Sony Pictures in the hopes that maybe an American film company could actually deliver on a Godzilla picture.  The result is a bit of a mixed bag.  Don't get me wrong, it's a spectacular film with grandiose visual effects and size of the monster is impressive.  The film is also loaded with big explosions and large action set-pieces that will definitely satisfy people who are into disaster movies.  There are a few problems here that really did the film a major disservice.  One: Emmerich jettisoned the original Toho creature design for something that looks like it came from Jurassic Park.  It's essentially an overgrown iguana.  This is NOT Godzilla.  Two: The whole baby Godzilla subplot was completely unnecessary and silly.  Three: Matthew Broderick is woefully miscast here.  While he was absolutely fantastic in Ferris Beuhler's Day Off, he doesn't have the screen presence to carry a major action film like this.  Four: The film accuses the French of being the ones responsible for this mess, and then relies on them to be the good guys later on.  That's some really.....interesting writing.  Five: This Godzilla doesn't actually breathe atomic fire like his predecessors.  You can't have a Godzilla movie and NOT have him breathe fire.  Yeah, there are scenes where he causes fire to be blown, but he doesn't create it himself, and it feels like they were tacked on to keep the fans at bay.

Here's what DID work:  The visual effects are incredible.  Utilizing a large budget, Emmerich definitely goes to town on wrecking New York City.  The creature itself is actually impressive in scale.  This is not a man-in-a-suit Godzilla.  The explosions and the destruction are nothing short of impressive.  The film is surprisingly well-paced with a pretty good sense of humor.  It definitely does NOT take itself seriously.  The secondary cast members are mostly amazing.  Hank Azaria plays Victor "Animal" Palotti, a camera-man for a local news network.  He's hilarious, especially when he nearly gets stepped on by the monster.  His reaction is priceless.  Harry Shearer is the sleazebag anchor, Charles Caiman.  Shearer knows how to play creeps very, very well, and Caiman is definitely a self-absorbed cretin.  He's fun to watch, though.  Kevin Dunn gets to play the hard-ass Colonel Hicks, and does so very well.  While most people remember Dunn from the Transformers movies as Shia LeBouf's father in those films, he really gets to be awesome in this one.  The guy that really steals the show in this film is Jean Reno, who plays the French insurance/secret agent, Phillipe Roache.  As much as the film dumps on the French for being responsible for Godzilla, the French guys are really fun to watch as they try to eat and drink American food and pretend to be American soldiers.  The musical score by David Arnold really makes the film intense.  The one thing the filmmakers did do right, was keep Godzilla's roar.  They modified it a little bit, but it's been modified a little bit over the decades anyway.

This movie was intended to be the first in a trilogy of films, but it did so poorly and was not very well received, especially by Toho.  They yanked the rights away from Sony, because of this movie and released their response, Godzilla 2000, two years later.  I really can't blame them for making that decision.  Roland Emmerich's choice to redesign Godzilla left a sour taste in the mouths of Godzilla fans around the world.  When I first saw the film, I loved it.  16 years later, I still enjoy it.  It's got amazing visual effects with a great secondary cast.  The pace is intense the moment Godzilla hits New York.  It's also got a great sense of humor.  As a giant monster movie, Godzilla hits most of the right notes.  What it gets right, it does very well.  As a Godzilla movie, it fails miserably.  It lacks the charm and the creature design of the previous films. With an annoying subplot involving baby Godzillas, combined with the not-so-hot performance of Matthew Broderick, the film just....flounders.  It's a shame, too, because this could have been really spectacular, and the sequels could have been great.

After Toho reaquired the rights to Godzilla, they responded with Godzilla 2000, giving the world a proper Godzilla flick.  In 2004, Godzilla Final Wars was released.  In that film, we get to see the 1998 monster get obliterated by the actual Godzilla.  That was a moment of sheer awesomeness.  Don't believe me?  Check it out:

I give the 1998 Godzilla an 8/10 as a giant monster movie.  As a Godzilla movie: 2/10.  It's Godzilla in name only.
Godzilla(2014)



Since I had already reviewed the latest Godzilla movie, I'll post a link to that review here.  The latest film was released to theaters 60 years to the day that the original film was released in Japan.  The marketing campaign for the new film was nothing less than incredible.  When I first saw the teaser and the shadow of Godzilla himself, I was excited.  When the film was released in May, it was astounding.  I got to see it in 3-D.  If there was a movie to see in 3-D this year, it would've been Godzilla.  It was spectacular.  If you want more details, check out my review in the link above.  I want to shed some light on some of the criticisms that have been leveled against the new Godzilla.  The main criticism is that there wasn't enough Godzilla in the movie.  Here's the thing:  The monster in the original film, which so many people loved, wasn't in the movie for more than 20-30 minutes at most.  People don't complain about that, yet they complain about not enough Godzilla in the new one?  The best Godzilla movies are the ones where he doesn't take up the entire screen time.  It would ruin the final battle.  When the big guy shows up, it's got to have an impact.  Some of the near battles that you see throughout the film cut away so the anticipation for the final battle ramps up.  Godzilla definitely delivers on that.

The other criticism is that the human characters are bland and not much use.  I disagree.  Bryan Cranston's character of Joe Brody really gave the human element a much needed depth and an emotional anchor that gives Ford(Aaron Taylor-Johnson)the motivation to protect the people he cares about.  The human element in this film is just as important as the monsters.  The original film had a very strong and obvious message about the dangers of nuclear weapons.  The message is still there in this new film, but it's more subtle and behind-the-scenes.  Godzilla 2014 is a damn good movie, and doesn't deserve the derision it's gotten.  It's not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but Godzilla is quite possibly one of the best action movies this year, and I believe it does right by the original film.  It certainly corrects the misfire that was the 1998 Godzilla.  Since the new movie did so well, a sequel is being planned for 2018.  It is apparently going to include some of the classic monsters of the previous films, such as Ghidora.  But it's too early to tell as information is scarce at this point.  It hasn't even reached the script phase yet, so patience is required.  But the King of the Monsters will be back.  That's for damn sure.