Sci Fi – Page 5 – Splatter: on FILM

XMEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST (2014) movie review

May 26, 2014October 25, 20154 Comments

X1 & 2 Director, Bryan Singer redeems the time in his new origins film: Future Past. String theories aside, this virtual Delorean skims through time like a stone over lake waters rushing back to meet favorites Fassbender, McAvoy, & Lawrence, once again 70’s clad and dejected. Merging screen time with the greats: Stewart & McKellen proved seamless. Hugh Jackman, post Pilates and pre-adamanium, reveals all then mediates the mediums while hoping the future-clueless superhuman mutant leaders won’t shoot the messenger.

Not one character played scene stealer romancing the camera for a few seconds of personal glory, at least no more than deserved. It felt unified, cause-driven.

Perhaps Singer wasn’t the only player seeking redemption since X-Future Past screenwriter Simon Kinberg also wrote X3 (2006), a film which made me stand in the theater and beg for the 2 hours of my life back. All past is forgiven. We look to the future.

Back to moral basics, this premise pleads the value of all life. It reinforces a “live together die alone” higher concept. It seeks the return of all prodigals. …all while meeting my Dad’s requirements for kicking, explosions, robot-foes, and sic-fi joy.

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 (2014) movie review

May 15, 2014October 25, 20152 Comments

Worth the $12 ticket, director Marc Webb hosts an amazing team of A-list actors and special effects crews to bring audiences a stellar sequel. I’m not usually in love with sequels, but the pacing of Spidey’s action to exposition ratio feels equal here. I have no complaints. Build + action = symphonic and explosive art. These actors belong on screen, a delight to watch. A well cast team gives the film believability and validity.It helps that I’m an Andrew Garfield fan. He makes a viewer comfortable with his levels of felt emotion. He makes us hurt with him. Even the new Harry Osborn (Dane DeHaan), bitter rich kid with inner angst, reminded me of a young Leo DiCaprio. Very similar bravado. I’m wondering why serious actors have to make desperately vicious or perverse films to be considered for their craft. The residents of Osage county screamed over a dinner table and earned Oscar noms, but not the character actors stunting on primary colored backdrops. The Emma Stones have to break up with their Spider-Man boyfriends believably in front of uber critical distract able teen audiences. Is that not award worthy? Plus, if you haven’t seen Emma Stone’s lip sync battle with Jimmy Fallon yet, you are in for a treat. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLBSoC_2IY8)

Jamie Foxx is an incredible actor. He won the Oscar in 2005 for his performance in Ray (2004) . I was fortunate enough to catch the Ebony Magazine premier of the film Ray in LA, and his portrayal was indeed awe-inspiring. Pained, drug-addicted, cheating, and sorrowful but awe-inspiring nonetheless. Yet, the seemingly simple and fun-to-play character role of bumbling Max Dillon turned Electro in Spider-man 2 was brilliant. He provided the development of character necessary to incite pity. Pure Frankenstein.

This film allowed us time to understand the monster and to evaluate the hero’s role in that moral dilemma. That’s no child’s play.

GRAVITY (2013) movie review

March 2, 2014October 25, 20151 Comment

Value life. Value breath. Value grief and lessons learned, the voices echoing from those we’ve lost.

Film is craft, is art. It teaches and inspires. In this film by Alfonso Cuarón, we wear the helmet, floating unharnessed, fighting to survive one cataclysm to the next…for the whole film.

George Clooney and Sandra Bullock are the trustworthy protagonists. He is there for the ride, loving life, feeding hope. She is fearful until she can let go and quote, “No matter what, you’ll have great stories to tell, and it’s been one ‘hell of a ride.'” It is at that.

This film did more than offer the viewer a space suit and helmet. It begs one to know the gravitas required for survival, and it teaches us to appreciate those who keep us breathing

Tonight I am grateful for my sisters. One keeps me talking, and one keeps me breathing.

One brims with joy daily, always busy, always helping, always herding others onward toward adventures she dreams up or jumps on board with. She confessed to me recently about a night spent crying, agonizing about future and life. It humanized her, helped me to relate, saved me somehow. I found my tears and she called to keep me talking. She saved me then and on many other occasions, and I am grateful.
My youngest sister is full of deep wisdom and reminds me to allow myself to rest, to take in beauty, to appreciate silence and sunshine and music. She saves me and I breath once more.

So, who is your Clooney? To whom are you grateful for life-giving reminders? Survival is worth fighting for. Not just arrival at the next module or re-entry into the next atmosphere. Survival goes beyond the water landing and forces you to hold your breath long enough to resurface from the waters and to learn to walk again.

This film taught me that survival is in the next step and the next. It’s in letting go and moving on. It’s smiling at the future despite past pain. It’s in feeling the gravity of every moment and treasuring it as if it were your last.

THOR 2 The Dark World (2013) movie review

November 24, 2013October 25, 20159 Comments

Scandinavian heritage and curiosity regarding its folklore may have encouraged your ticket purchase, but no one can deny an attraction to Chris Hemsworth‘s beautiful body…of work. Avengerites across the globe sit theater-bound searching for clues in the connective tissues between the franchised Marvel movies.

Natalie Portman is finally allowed to laugh in Thor 2. It takes grizzly black goblin goo, but giddy Natalie trumps stern constipated Nat any day. She courageously glides into a galaxy far away without a hitch. She is scientific, pragmatic.

It is, as always, Tom Hiddleston as Loki who steals the show. He is the maniacal brother with daddy issues who woos an audience with ease.

Zachary Levi (best known as the lead in the tv show Chuck) adds contagious joy and enthusiasm to every scene he graces.

Riddled with humor, color, high action, and life, Thor 2 is as promised, a true comic book film bringing characters to life. It did not disappoint.

ENDER’S GAME (2013) movie review

November 20, 2013October 25, 20151 Comment

Heartbreaking. As essential questions go, this film delves deeper into the empathetic psyche forcing a mirror glance into beliefs about war and genocide than most want to explore.

A jocund former Juliet becomes starfighter as Hailee Steinfeld lifts lazer blaster to teach Ender, the young Asa Butterfield, how to win a very serious anti-gravity laser tag sphere game. The guarantee from the start is that it is all a game. The government recruits children because they lack the fear and hesitation that comes with a fully developed frontal lobe. Instinct and impulse rule decisions, so in the training camps they learn to lead and develop war strategies in interactive gaming scenarios.

Warning, this film is NOT for children, despite promotional ploys. Children love games until the mask is lifted and the game becomes real. Young men feel bulletproof in war until they understand the gravity of the task before them and see themselves in the reflection of those they are fighting. This film lifts the mask, albeit slowly.

The Last Starfighter is a parallel precursor film of sorts, and my favorite pre-teen film. It is fun,lively, and oh so 80’s. Alex Rogan, least likely intergalactic warrior, breaks the record on a video game at his trailer park only to be approached and recruited by the game’s creator who needs a Starfighter in space. Alex is left with a decision to sacrifice known for unknown and use his innate skills to take down the enemy in the real universe or go back to playing games.

Or is he? Where ignorance is bliss, knowledge negates choice. Just as Truman could never have continued the Truman Show once he knew the… truth. In the same way, Jack from Lost, knows he must go back and save the island and the Little Mermaid will never be content to swim for life. Heroes like these stand alone, optionless on the platform only to bow and wish the afflicters a hopeful “Good afternoon, good evening, and good night.

Innocence has its own beauty. It equates with child-likeness. Harrison Ford and Viola Davis do an excellent job in this film of grieving its loss when weighing the cost in the light of war. Highlighting defensive strategies allows audiences to root for underdogs. Good guys must win, until the plot twists and we don’t recognize the good guys anymore. Ender’s twist ending unmasks the essential question of the film, and therein his heartache as well.

WORLD WAR Z (2013) movie review

November 18, 2013October 25, 20153 Comments

They run faster, stare harder, scale walls, headbang, stick around for a quick bite, and have no feelings. Sound like your last relationship?

This zombie apocalypse has a new face. In our world, the slow moving, cannibalistic, “Walking Dead” reign. However, director Mark Forster, a favorite since his Finding Neverland (2004) and Stranger Than Fiction (2006), and WWZ‘s producer Brad Pitt have reinvented the franchise.

Some criticized the action zoom in at minute 5 or so in the film initiating the continuous conflict, but character development, schmaracter development, right? Pitt and Jolie have laid the foundation for Pitt’s trustworthy, fatherly character by adding a new child to their brood each year. We buy that he is the hatchet-wielding family man with a heart of gold whose war-shredded past shows in each line of his face and in his stringy beard. He is apt for the task, a believable and beautifully clever team player father figure rushing to save the world.

Back to nuts and bolts. To see or not to see. Despite its furious filming foibles and over budget fear-driven rewrites, they succeeded. Zombie flix can easily ring cheesy, but true to genre, it is scary. Rental was a good call for me. I can’t do gore or 2 hours of breathless intensity. So, the catchy bird-like zombie squawk that introduces each toothsome attack became my cue to get up and fold some laundry or send an email. The Zombies weren’t skip-trudging toward their next human meals; they rushed for the bite to turn the next victim. Anxiety comes in ocean waves, then pulls back long enough for audiences to breathe.

Don’t miss Jimmy Fallon’s “Yodel” interview with Brad Pitt: (linked below)

ABOUT TIME (2013) movie review

October 26, 2013October 25, 2015Leave a comment

A conceptual Time Traveler’s Wife, more Groundhog Day in its repetition, About Time is not the next Notting Hill.

It is a lightweight film about living without regrets. It has perhaps the sweetest voice-over opener I’ve seen with true moments of originality and grace, but the script and story, though not complete “rubbish,” was perhaps a bit “dodgy.” Like a run-on sentence without commas, too many scenes felt too drawn out and annoyingly slow, like a director’s cut.

Sex and the occasionally purposed “F-word” earned it the “R” rating. Both unnecessary and both stealing from what could have made this a keeper of a chick-flick.

Rachel McAdams herein only ever plays the sweet dimensionless rather every-woman role with very little personality. Passenger seated in this and many a film, she does allow her leading men to shine in the spotlight. She and Domhnall Gleeson have tangible chemistry.

Fans of Gleeson will no doubt flock. He is known best for his role in the Harry Potter series, but I loved him best for his sweet insecurity in Anna Karenina (2013), his sass in Never Let Me Go (2010), and his quirk in True Grit (2010). In About Time, he is, as my British friends would say, “so lovely.” Truly, his face alone tells his story.

This film preaches carpe diem, seizing moments of life in the face of grief and powerlessness. We all rush about our days, forgetting to stop and take tea by the seaside, as his family does. Some sprites have the gift of making the mundane special. Even those who could go back and have “do-overs” find that it’s not about fixing the details, but in savoring them.

WOLVERINE (2013) movie review

July 31, 2013October 25, 20154 Comments

I am sad to report that this film was a shameful contribution to an already too slobbery Wolverine franchise. I usually respect director James Mangold for his visual decisions. I loved his 3:10 to Yuma, and Night and Day was just plain fun. Though not all great decisions, I did recognize some of his signature camera angles in this, his stunt tricks like killing off the same guys more than once, and his forced Christ-pose via tethered arrows. I was surprised at his choice to spare audiences the sight of blood, perhaps keeping it PG-13. The Wolverine’s 3-prong approach is usually a bloody business. Not here.

Perhaps we blame the cuts made on the editing floor – or rather the cuts that should have been made. The Venomous skin-peeler could have made fewer appearances, said almost no lines and still perfected her 80’s snake dance move at the end. Every scene took a mini-series pace. This movie made an episode of Downton seem rushed. Hugh Jackman, though I’m a great fan of his body…of work, could have left his one liners at the door and sung this. There’s an idea! Wolverine the musical!

This tale follows our hero from Japan at the end of the Second World War to animal activism in Alaska, through too many Inceptionesque visits with nightie-clad ghost Jean Grey, and back to Japan.

Upon re-entry into Tokyo, it feels like a remake of The Karate Kid Part 2. Remember when Mr. Miyagi takes Danielson back to Okinawa? Ralph Macchio fights the angry cast off son, wins the girl who falls in love with him over a tea ceremony, and finally fights in the great battle at the end to the sound of spinning drums. It’s all here in this film. But I really missed that Peter Cetera song in this one. So, here you go:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgRw3m4h13c&feature=youtube_gdata_player

MAN OF STEEL (2013) movie review

June 23, 2013October 25, 20151 Comment

Epic film or epic fail?

In his interview with Russell Crowe, Jimmy Fallon called Steel “…a giant film.” He’s right. The effects are phenomenal. The star power triumphant. But, the story?

My Man of Steel Report Card grade = C-

A+ – casting Henry Cavill. He’s just got beautiful…uh…acting skills.
A grade – performances from Russell Crowe & Kevin Costner.

F – for Originality. Plagiarism plagued the pages of this script. “…it’s a singularity. A black hole in space.” Then the tripod, planet-searing octoship heads through the explosive space anomoly. I was shocked that no one thought to eject the warp core and say, “I’m givin her all she’s got Captain.” Throwback? To Trek 2009? Someone obviously didn’t listen to JJ Abrams give his TED Talk and say something close to “If you’re gonna rip anything off, rip off the character. You don’t rip off the Shark from Jaws.” Steel stole the shark.

Any other stolen bits in this our pun-titled Man of Steel? How about those metallic robot tentacle arms from outer space? They are from Avengers, yes? The ship from Prometheus buried in the mountain? Amy Adams was in a first season Smallville episode. Sadly, they should have left her there. Too cruel? Too soon? I don’t know. Even a vocal octave drop couldn’t turn Enchanted princess Amy Adams into the hard-hitting, danger-loving one-of-the-boys newshound Lois Lane.

What this movie failed to steal from Supers past was some much needed Clark-Lois chemistry, purposeful action sequences, Daddy issues based on trust, Christ-figures without the pressure of perfection, and thoughtful dialogue.

So many beautiful shots do not make up for the fact that Lois found out Clark’s secret identity in a day and made a quick trip to the farm to meet Martha then into space without a hitch.

My pal Steve called me today, still mad about this Superman tale gone awry. He said, “Character development between Clark and Lois was ridiculous. One moment they are strangers, the next they are having an intimate moment surrounded by a hundred soldiers waiting for the Kryptoninans to pick up Clark. Come on!!!!”

I know, Steve. I know.

STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS (2013) movie review

May 27, 2013October 25, 20158 Comments

We are here as witnesses to one another’s stories. Some stories I just wouldn’t want to miss. This film excavates human emotion while exploding (quite literally) on-screen. I love JJ Abrams. He understands my need to connect with the characters and my almost equal desire for on-screen action. He took the Trek dynasty to another level. My expectations, though very high, were more than met. I felt lucky to witness this.

Lessons in leadership: I swear it was like watching Twenty-seven Secrets of Highly Effective Leaders onscreen (…I made up that book title FYI). ie…Sometimes we must fight the instinct to go out guns blazing and instead trust the people around us to use their gifts to work together in order to win the day.

Favorite moments: The heartbreaking wordless scene near the beginning felt “Up“esque in its ability to tell a visual story. Beautiful. Brilliant.

Music in Film: I love Giacchino’s scores. I’m always listening for LOST moments in his sound.

“Stop with the metaphors, Bones!”: What did they say in the special featurette of the first JJ Star Trek film (2009)? …something to the tune of “Star Trek has always been beautiful classical music. Star Wars is rock and roll. We wanted to combine the two.” That’s what they’ve done with the new Trek films. There are so many gorgeous nods to old Trek, aka Tribbles, Spock yelling “Kaaaaaahhhhhnnn!” Oh, and that Cumberbatch… I just love it all.

Here is a link to my review of the 2009 Star Trek film: https://splatteronfilm.wordpress.com/2011/03/20/star-trek/

In this next chapter, Captain Kirk’s story needed an arch. He HAD to play the classic pompous pilot ignoring his mentor’s pleas for humility, fight an impossible battle, and sacrifice for the good of the many. What happens when we must bury our mentors? Perhaps the last lesson they taught becomes the loudest voice, the unsolved mystery, the final fight left unresolved. Frodo had to go on alone to deliver the ring. Superman had to find his birth father to fulfill his destiny. Skywalker had to become a Jedi against all odds. Each of us must listen to our mentors, make choices, and learn from our mistakes. Sometimes we must venture into the darkness of our own hearts to recognize that even heroes need saving.

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