Category: Text Reviews

Nearly 150 years in the future, Earth’s resources are at this point virtually wiped out, with the planet on the brink of total collapse. But hope for the survival of the human race has been found with the discovery of Tanis, a far distant planet that’s very similar to Earth in terms of atmosphere, water and plant life. The people of Earth have launched the immense spaceship, Elysium, with a population of thousands immersed in a cryogenic sleep, along with everything needed to turn Tanis into a new Earth. Now, mysteriously, two of Elysium’s flight crew, Bower and Payton, have been awoken from their sleep to find that something has gone wrong on their ship, with both having to deal with memory loss from such a long sleep and the possibility of a type of space madness called Pandorum…

And that’s the premise of Pandorum a new German-financed science fiction movie, starring American actors Ben Foster as Bower and Dennis Quaid as Payton. And while it’s cool to have this sort of science fiction out there, it’s just a shame that the final product is something that’s a s muddled as this is. Pandorum basically suffers from putting too damn much into, which in the end dilutes it’s final twist to the point that it’s impact isn’t really anything that’s too special.

The biggest problem, at least in my mind, is the element that’s the source of the title, Pandorum itself. Basically using the idea that nearly everyone who’s awaken from this hypersleep might have fallen victim to this (and there’s more than just Bower and Payton), makes all of the characters come off a s just a little too crazy in some areas and thus makes it harder for an audience to get too invested in those characters. Oh, attempts are made, specifically with Bower, but those seem to get lost with everything else that the filmmakers have occurring on this ship.

Had this been pared down with a tighter rooting interest in it’s human characters, and then of course probably retitled, I think it would’ve had the chance at being something special on a smaller scale, but as it is, it suffers from throwing too many twists to the viewer in the illusion of making this story more complex than it needs to be, and as I said above, because of that, the final twist of the film, which should be the actual “big deal” here, is heavily diluted.

It also doesn’t help that this is shot extremely dark and edited with many quick cuts in some areas, making it a little harder to get a grasp of place on the Elysium. Action scenes are shot way too close and again with an abundance of quick cuts (probably used to hide seams) making them more indecipherable than anything else.

I think Quaid and Foster are just fine here, Foster in particular, though as I said, they don’t give you much of a chance to really root for them and much give a damn by it’s end. There are other survivors on-board the Elysium, but they’re created as more cyphers than anything else, and there’s nothing that any of them are really given that makes you really care in the end.

It’s a shame, I was looking forward to this, because I like this sort of science fiction movie quite a bit. But in the end, there’s just too much thrown at you here that takes away what should’ve been more of a tighter focus in it’s main plot. and as such, it’s really hard to give a damn about Pandorum in the end…

In the near future, a new invention has taken over the land, the concept of the “virtual self” where the user can remain at home and by cybernetically connecting to a robot body that can safely interact with the outside world. These “surrogates” act as an idealized avatar in the outside world with the benefit of the host user never being hurt or killed in anyway. Soon though, a murder is committed that not only takes out the surrogate but also kills it’s user, and now FBI Agent Tom Greer has been called in to investigate the case.

Surrogates is the latest comic book to movie adaptation, based on the graphic novel by Robert Venditti and Brett Weldele, and it’s the newest movie from director Jonathan Mostow, who’s previously given us films like Breakdown, U-571 and Terminator 3. And it’s a lot of fun…

I’ve not read the graphic novel so I can’t say really how well it compares to that, but what’s here presents a lot of very good ideas, and though this seems to have been somewhat compressed (the running time of the film is right around 90 minutes), overall it’s story is pretty complete. It’s got a great look to it, especially with some of the more artificial aspects of the surrogates themselves, and the action in the piece is pretty darn compelling.

Bruce Willis plays Tom Greer, and it’s a pretty good and deep performance from Willis where he basically serves double duty as both his real world self and his surrogate, and the differences between the two are pretty well done on his part, with him being more bold to action when in his surrogate body and a lot more pensive when he’s forced to be his real self in a world populated by surrogates. He’s backed up with a good cast including Radha Mitchell as his partner, Boris Kodjoe as his FBI superior, Rosamund Pike as his completely disconnected wife, James Cromwell as the inventor of surrogate technology, Ving Rhames as a character called The Prophet, leader of an anti-surrogate society, and Mostow regular, Jack Noseworthy playing the initial murderer. Everybody does a great job, with me having to give props in particular to Rosamund Pike as Greer’s wife.

There really is a lot of good ideas at work here and I just wished the movie had been a little longer to explore some of that more- one of those ideas included the process of how all licensed surrogate users are all interconnected into a central system which is constantly under observation- when two of the users decide to venture a little further into illegal territory, this central base sees the action and immediately procures a warrant that lets them just as immediately shut down those users- pretty fascinating stuff to see how the justice system works with this…

Even though I wish there was more here, this still delivers a pretty good viewing experience. I know I had a great time seeing Bruce Willis back on screen and giving a top-notch performance. Surrogates is very much recommended…

In the early 90s, a transnational corporation ADM (Archer Daniels Midland) was investigated by the FBI into matters of price-fixing around the world (primarily around the use of the amino acid lysine in food production) and all of that came about through one very big whistle-blower by the name of Mark Whitacre, a very big wheel within the company who sees himself as saving the company in the end, but who has way more going on than either ADM or the FBI knows at the start of this…

The Informant! is the latest movie from director Steven Soderbergh (one of my personal favorites) and he’s got something here that’s really unique that takes it’s swings at both corporate greed and personal ambition, all through the eyes of a guy who’s pretty likable, but makes you question him more in just what the hell was he doing? It’s a dark comedy that’s actually pretty briskly paced, but with a lot to chew on still be it’s end. Now when I say “comedy” with this, don’t necessarily expect this to be something that delivers big laughs, but more smiles and chuckle at watching it’s events unfold…

The events themselves are pretty dry, and not necessarily something that you’d think would make for all that a compelling film, but what makes them work on film though are some pretty compelling performances and a really brilliant score from composer Marvin Hamlisch, who handles this just like he did with some movies he did for Woody Allen back in the day.

And the performances are terrific. Matt Damon takes the lead here as Mark Whitacre and no one has ever seen Damon like this in a movie before, his Whitacre is a smart and passioned guy, but as revealed through commentary voiceovers throughout the action, not necessarily as prioritized as he should be. His wife, Ginger, played by Melanie Lynskey (who was the “other” girl in Peter Jackson’s Heavenly Creatures) does a real nice job as being Mark’s support and in some ways the gateway to the paths that he takes here. And it’s really nice to see actor Scott Bakula as FBI agent Brian Shephard, a guy who really wants to do the right thing, but who gets just a little too emotionally involved with his subject in the puruit of this case. With the exception of Damon, this cast isn’t exactly typical for a Soderbergh movie and also includes such people as Joel McHale (best known for E!’s The Soup), comedians Rick Overton and Allen Havey, and yeah… there’s The Smothers Brothers in roles as well.

Now this is based from a book, and I don’t have any idea just how close to the book it is, and right at the start, before the credits even roll, they tell you that they’re monkeying with some of the situations for dramatic effect, and when it ends up being something that’s just this entertaining, that’s fine. It’s a very well done and well made movie with a real top-notch job from Matt Damon and it offers a lot to chew on… very much recommended…

At a United States science facility based in the Antarctic, U.S. Marshal, Carrie Stetko, who basically has a very routine job at the site, now all of a sudden has murder mystery at her hands, and must come to grips solving this murder right as a major arctic storm is about to enforce the evacuation of the same site.

That’s the basic premise to Whiteout, the latest comic book-to-film translation adapting the acclaimed series by creators Greg Rucka and Steve Lieber to the big screen. It’s also the return to the big screen for director Dominic Sena, who hasn’t been seen since Swordfish and the remake of Gone in 60 Seconds. And it’s a pretty darn good film, not spectacular, but a solid film.

I’ve not read the comic and out of the three of us that went to see this together, only one of us had read the book and according to that one, there are cosmetic changes from the original but for the most part, the movie did follow the book. For Dominic Sena, it seems that the time away from a big screen project has tempered him, and instead of opting for some of the higher energy of his earlier films, this is way more laid back in it’s visual presentation, and at least to me, perfectly fitting with the piece itself.

It’s a good and solid murder mystery, though not at all overtly flashy, but with some nicely drawn characters and a story that, again to me, doesn’t cheat in anyway, in other words, all of the pieces are there for this to come to it’s logical conclusion. I’ve heard that this is getting some bad reviews, with one in particular coming from Entertainment Weekly that also chastises this for some “gratuitous nudity” at the start of the film, that after seeing it myself makes me think that it must’ve been a slow news week for EW when this was reviewed and that it’s reviewer was just scraping for something to rail about, as what’s here is hardly gratuitous at all.

The thing Whiteout isn’t though, is it isn’t a big spectacle for the theatres, and it’s a hard sell for anyone other than those that know it’s roots and are predisposed to see it because of that- now I’m not complaining about that, I really enjoyed the film, and I give props to Warners and Dark Castle for making the movie and having something that’s a little different out there, though it’s disheartening that it can’t be recognized for that and in turn will only be judged by what it can turnover in it’s opening weekend.

There are really no big names at work here, Kate Beckinsale who plays Carrie is the most well known, but she’s hardly box office gold, but to me anyway, she’s totally right for the part and she does a decent job as Carrie Stetko, and has some weight behind the performance. She’s backed up with a solid performance from Tom Skerritt as her close friend and confidant on the base (and it’s been awhile since I’ve seen Skerritt in anything on the big screen as well) and Gabriel Macht (last seen as The Spirit) who’s playing one of the changed characters here, a UN agent sent in to help with this investigation, who’s also serving a dual purpose as someone to raise our suspicions over. I really liked Macht here, and as I was watching him, I thought he’d actually be a good choice for Marvel to pursue as Captain America for their upcoming film, but I digress…

In the end though, I think this is a pretty solid film and I would hope that fans of the original material will like it, I know my one friend who read the book did. But other than that, is it the sort of thing that’s going to get anyone else real excited to actually make the trip to a theatre to see it, especially in these current times, I don’t think so, and that’s really sad that most just won’t even give it that chance, but more opt for it later on when it hits DVD and more than likely on cable.

In a post-apocalyptic setting, the future for any sort of life rests in the hands of 9 little burlap bag-covered robotic creatures…

That’s all I’m going to say about a synopsis to the new animated movie 9 from director Shane Acker and producers Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov (I expect most reading this know who Tim Burton is, but for those who don’t know Timur Bekmambetov, he directed the movies Nightwatch and Daywatch and most recently directed Wanted) a very imaginative dark fable that was originally a short film and is now adapted to a feature, though a very short feature weighing in at about 80 minutes. For a video gamer, you might almost think of this as a Fallout 3 fairy tale.

It’s a really stunning looking film, with a terrific art style and given “life” with state of the art computer animation, that’s the really obvious side of things. It’s story though, asks you to bring something to the table on this, and I never think that’s a bad thing for a movie to do at all. I’ve been reading some of the comments for this on IMDB, and reading lots of complaints of plot holes, lack of character development and just not having everything explained to you, and I don’t know, but I just didn’t see that at all and didn’t feel the need to even question these things at it’s end. I thought there was enough there that you could fill in your own blanks as to what happened, the characters of the little robots are indeed somewhat two-dimensional, but there’s a good reason for this (and yet I thought they were still way more human than what you’d see in a Transformers or G.I. Joe), and I actually gave a damn about the little guys…

Sometimes I have to wonder that if 2001: A Space Odyssey came out today would it even stand a chance with that kind of mentality…

But still, I thought this was very good with very nice visuals, a lot of great ideas, and a very good vocal cast including Elijah Wood, John C. Reilly, Christopher Plummer, Martin Landau and Jennifer Connelly, all giving life to the little hopes for the future. It’s certainly nothing like what you’re used to seeing from most of today’s computer animated films and I give Shane Acker credit for not telling you absolutely every little detail to how this world came to be… it adds to the fable/fairy tale quality of the film and if you don’t mind filling in the blanks on your own a bit (and it doesn’t really take that much to do it).

I really enjoyed the hell out of it, and would just love to see more animated movies taking chances in these type of directions. For those that are parents looking to take their children to this, well 9 may not be the movie for them as it is very dark and disturbing in it’s own way, though at the theatre that I saw this at, there were some children there, and as I the credits rolled, from what I could hear in the background, they really enjoyed themselves… I know I did too…

In the near future, the biggest things around the world are two video games with a big twist: One is called Society (think of The Sims or Sony’s Life) and the other is Slayers (which is of course any combat game you can think of), the catch is that these games use real people as the avatars for the players playing the game- Slayers using sentenced prisoners and Society using those just in need of a paycheck. Slayers has a further catch though, with the avatar who can survive 30 games getting the chance to go free. Both are the creation of uber-genius Ken Castle, and now right as the star avatar of Slayers, Kable, is near his 30th victory, a terrorist group called Humanz is on the verge of exposing Ken Castle’s terrifying secret for the future…

That’s the premise of Gamer the new movie from the team Neveldine/Taylor (Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor) who previously gave us the [i]Crank[/i] movies. I didn’t much care for the first Crank movie (and thus didn’t see the second), but I think Gamer is a hell of a lot better, with lots of violent action, some very good science fiction ideas and a lot of biting satire. Last year, there was a movie, Death Race (which was a lot of fun) that was a re-make of the Roger Corman/Paul Bartel film Death Race 2000 and while it was fun, Gamer actually comes a lot closer to the satire that the original had going for it, while still keeping the thrills of the film.

Neveldine/Taylor’s visual and editing style makes Tony Scott look like a tired old man… I was put off by it in Crank but really think it works well for Gamer. And while there are holes one could see in some aspects of the storyline, I won’t necessarily think that they’re anything to different than what was seen recently in District 9, in other words, there’s enough there that you could write your own explanation if you want, though that’s not necessarily the purpose of the film. Even though at it’s core, it’s a high-adrenaline action film, there’s still some ideas at work here, and as a video-gamer my own self, lots of stuff to chew on. Neveldine/Taylor also wrote the script, and on the gaming end, I think they get a lot of it right, even if they are dealing in extremes.

The cast is pretty decent, headed up by Gerard Butler as Kable, they all handle this pretty earnestly, with the more satirical elements being handled by Kyra Sedgewick as a TV “reporter,” Michael C. Hall as Ken Castle, the creator of the games, and the young actors playing the various gamers controlling the avatars. Hall, who’s best known for the TV series Dexter really looks like he’s having a lot of fun here, playing Castle as, at least to me, like what you’d get if you crossed game developer Cliff Bleszinski with media mogul Ted Turner.

And technically, it really is a good-looking film, and it’s spastic editing style serves the purpose towards the satire of the film. It is extremely violent though, and if that thing turns you off, then you’re forewarned.

I had a real good time with it though, It’s action is very good, there’s some good ideas at work here (though not as entirely fleshed out as they could be) and what I thought lots of good media and gaming satire that’s seems right on the money, and for that, Gamer gets a big recommendation here…

In Jurassic Park, when commenting on the fantasy that has come to life, Dr. Ian Malcolm at one point says to John Hammond the immortal words, “Life finds a way.”

For the Final Destination movies, the philosophy has always been the opposite: Death finds a way. Starting with the first film, which is a very fun genuine horror film, a group of teenagers are spared their lives from horrible accidents that wipe out a good many people because one of them gets a vision that that horrible accident is about to happen. Now in it’s fourth iteration, simply titled The Final Destination the formula remains the same…

… but this time it’s in 3D!!

And that’s the rub, there’s really nothing that’s very different for this film from the others, other than the fact that if your theatre is equipped, this time the grisly events can be witnessed in 3D, and it’s pretty good 3D at that. Now I like this series, though I’ll certainly grant you that the first one is the best one, but I’ve always had fun with it, and the fun to be had with these is watching the intricate Rube Goldberg-esque ways in which… Death finds a way. These are B-movies to be sure and they don’t try to be anything else other than short mindless diversionary thrill rides. David R. Ellis is the director here and he’s previously helmed the second film in the series as well as Snakes On A Plane, and he’s sticking to the formula… and there’s nothing wrong with that, as long as that’s what you’re expecting. If you’re expecting more than that, well you probably shouldn’t even be interested in the first place.

Oh, I could talk about the characters, but there’s really no point, they are all 2-dimensional and they all serve their purpose for this movie, but if you like these movies, they’re probably not the reason that you’re going to see the movie anyway. If that is what you’re looking for, then look elsewhere, this one’s not for you.

I had fun with this, and the fun comes with sitting next to my friend who I saw this with and making our own little MST3K-like comments along the way, while being treated to some decent 3D effects. It’s by no means the greatest movie in the world, but still a fun diversion if you’re so inclined to enjoy something that’s a fun diversion more than anything else. If you’re looking for more than that, then this ain’t for you, but then you’re probably not reading this anyway…

1941. Once upon a time… in Nazi-occupied France (these words open the movie), an S.S. Colonel nicknamed the Jew Hunter, Hans Landa continues his duties, and now it’s in the hands of American Lt. Aldo “The Apache” Raine and his hand-picked group of Jewish-American soldiers known as “The Basterds” to spread fear through the Third Reich by viciously killing Nazis.

That’s all I’m going to say about the plot summary to Quentin Tarantino’s long-awaited new movie, Inglourious Basterds, though there is much, much more to this. If you know Tarantino films, then you know there’s a certain over-the-top pulp sensibility to all of his previous works, and Inglourious Basterds is no exception to it, perfectly fitting in with the same sensibilities of his more contemporary pieces. While I don’t think this is as effective as Reservoir Dogs or Pulp Fiction it’s still a mighty entertaining film. Now of course, there is a previous movie called Inglorious Bastards, and the only things this shares with this is it’s bastardized title and it’s rollicking sensibility… don’t come into this expecting to see an accurate World War II adventure, but do expect something with Tarantino’s hallmarks, tight characterization, well-crafted dialogue, and a great attention to detail in building his own mythology… you’ll get that in spades.

I have only two things that I would’ve liked to have seen in this movie… one would’ve been an additional chapter chronicling a little more of The Basterds exploits, though their inception and mission is laid out well, the movie does make a jump from 1941 to 1944 and maybe another scene would’ve been good to see, as The Basterds aren’t as prevalent in this as the title might have you think, and an additional scene would’ve added more to that. The other thing I think I would’ve done would’ve been to take out an additional “insurance policy” of sorts with this, in the fact that the film isn’t any sort of real reflection of the events of World War II. What I would’ve done at the start might’ve been to sort of stick it in the face of some of the more historical movies that go to pains to tell you that they’re based on true events, and thus I would’ve started this with a card that says the following- “What you are about to see is not true, and is in fact a work of… pulp fiction.” Yeah, it would be self-referential, but it would certainly be an upfront obvious counter to some of the criticisms that this is receiving in that Tarantino does re-write history. For the Tarantino fan, there’s enough there to cover that in throughout the movie, but for the uninitiated, this would’ve been your counter.

Still, for the fans, there’s much fun to be had… Tarantino, of course is always referential to other movies, and with Inglourious Basterds there’s a lot here as well, from the opening chapter which heavily references Sergio Leone’s Once Upon A time In The West, to it’s second chapter which references Robert Aldrich’s The Dirty Dozen to discussions later on of Leni Reifenstahl’s films. He also continues his terrific work with music for the film, though instead of using pop classics, here he uses a lot of score music from other movies and it’s all real effective. And of course there’s some stuff that’s just pure Grindhouse, like referring to a later recruit to The Basterds, Hugo Stiglitz, with his own Jack Hill-esque title card that basically tells you this incidental character would be cool enough to carry his own movie.

On top of that, this is just extremely well cast… of course the big deal is that uber-star Brad Pitt leads this ensemble, and make no mistake, it’s very much an ensemble piece, and Pitt is great as Aldo Raine… but the real meat of this is carried out with characters who aren’t part of The Basterds and who aren’t really well known to most viewers (myself for instance), actress Melanie Laurent who plays an escaped Jew named Shosanna Dreyfus now living in france under the name of theatre owner Emmanuelle Mimieux, Daniel Bruhl as German war hero Fredrick Zoller and most effectively Christoph Waltz as Col. Hans Landa, who personally I think is good enough here to get an Oscar nomination, but that’s me. With The Basterds though, viewers will recognize The Office’s B.J. Novak, and Tarantino’s fellow director Eli Roth. Veteran character actor Til Schweiger plays the above-mentioned Hugo Stiglitz and it’s probably his coolest moments ever on film. And doing voiceover, you’ve got Samuel L. Jackson and a brief scene using Harvey Keitel.

Like I said above, I think this is highly entertaining, and though not necessarily in the same league as some of Tarantino’s previous films, that’s no insult as I tend to think even Tarantino’s lesser works are way more fun than a lot of movies already out there. Inglourious Basterds was the third movie I was most looking forward to this year (the other two being Watchmen and Star Trek) and it’s just a hell of a good time at the theatre and one of those movies that I’m going to enjoy again and again once it’s released for home. Highly, highly recommended…