The Infinite Worlds of H.G. Wells (2001)

Since this year I was not convinced yet to give a maximum rating to anything I've seen, I started looking in less mainstream areas. Unfortunately it's still not the case. Actually I could say that I'm pretty much as disappointed as for the last entry. The difference is that we're talking about a 3-movie-length miniseries, so theoretically it could be even worse. Still, from "The Infinite Worlds of H.G. Wells" some "worlds" deserve the time ...

I'm not in the mood to start a bio description for H.G. Wells. A Wikipedia search and it's done. The movie romanticizes quite a lot a part of the life of the guy who was one of the first SciFi authors sold at a large scale ("The Invisible Man", "The War of the Worlds", "The Time Machine"). This is done through six stories adapted after some of his short writings. These are integrated as real events intersecting with the author's live along one of his best friends, later wife = we get some romance discretely integrated between the lines.

It would be useless to start detailing what's being shown. If somebody remembers "The Outer Limits", what we get here is like a short similar series, but with location fixed in late XIXth century England, and with the episodes connected through the narrator who takes more or less active part in them. To continue the comparison, as in "The Outer Limits", the stories vary from good to mediocre. Unfortunately, at least for me, the part that I liked covers the first two tales (light spoiler - maybe also because these touch subjects dealing with "time travel"). What followed was mostly somewhere between boring and eyes rolling. To be fair, in the conditions of seeing the movie split in pieces, at late hours usually, before getting to sleep (for which it actually helped a couple of times).

As production is a TV series, more than 10 years old, so you shouldn't expect much - although for 2001 is not actually bad. Still the VFX are pretty lame and a bit too much close-ups in framing. I'd like to close though with a positive note, and there would be three things to point out. One - the British cast is beyond the smallest negative comment, although I think I barely recognized one actor. Two - a theme from the soundtrack (Stanislas Syrewicz) that I couldn't find (and I don't think it's possible since it's quite short) which, maybe as a personal feeling, gives a very pleasant sentiment of calm being placed usually in the pauses between the stories. Three - if you like short SciFi, and if you had attempts to write some, is quite a motivating series (at least for reading, if not for writing).

Rating: 3 out of 5

Elysium (2013)

Remember "District 9" ? I remember I've been quite acid talking about it at the time. Why saying that ? Because now, when I started writing about "Elysium" - "from the director of District 9" as the poster says, I've been hit by a deja vu ...

Neill Blomkamp is behind the two titles, a promising director as he was considered following the first of them. I'll try to hold the sarcastic line on my tongue and get to the movie subject. Which in "Elysium", as well as in "District 9" is actually quite ok as idea, setting, etc. To be precise we have a dystopian future in which the overpopulated Earth is the scene of an existential chaos where the lifer expectancy is short enough to ask yourself how long will it still be overpopulated. The rich created an artificial life environment on the orbit, called Elysium = a sort of satellite populated with vegetation and having the last technology in health preserving which apparently allows to cure any disease and to lengthen the lifespan of somebody up to .. forever (one of the many points maybe not that noticeable but which raise questions in this movie, or philosophically said - how SciFi can a SciFi be). Well, in this context, we have him - Max (Matt Damon) - a former outlaw who tries hard to make a honest life in the middle of a neighborhood filled with gangs, by going day by day to work on an assembly line. Until faith (to be read: the supervisor) makes such he has a serious work accident, after which his only hope is to get fast enough on a healing platform on Elysium. How this happens and what's going on around it .. the movie will tell. I move to the critics ...

Which part I'll make very short = there's one and single big problem with this movie. Meaning worse than all the rest. And unfortunately is the same as in "District 9". It becomes way too far fetched from some point onwards despite the SciFi label. I can get over the ultra-populist message it builds, but I'm sorry ... I can't get over a guy who continuously is on the verge of dying but moves successfully from fight scene to fight scene, and many of them looking like cut from wrestling shows. Or to ignore (light spoiler) dreams of political career from a mercenary who seems to have the sword sharpening as a favorite activity in his free time, or many others. I won't even stop on what's related to technicalities or IT because I'm used with the hilarious display in pretty much every movie.

As in "District 9" if you get over these + some excessively tear jerking scenes, you'll have a result that at least won't get you bored. One of the evil characters especially: Kruger (the mercenary) - played by Sharlto Kopley, a South African actor who had the lead part in "District 9" is probably a serious candidate to the title of "best villain" of the year. About the rest, what to say, Neill Blomkamp didn't move yet beyond "promising", maybe next time.

Rating: 3 out of 5

Pacific Rim (2013)

Once upon a time there was "Godzilla". Much before the epic disaster staged by Roland Emmerich (who surprisingly seems to deal much better with action movies, but about this next time). Once upon a time there also were many and diverse versions of robots fighting every kind of terrestrial and mostly extraterrestrial forces. At least two animes come to my mind (way before Transformers). Both (Godzilla & the robots) come from Japan, which seems to have a fetish for metal giants and a pathological fear towards monsters risen from the Pacific. The combination is called "Pacific Rim" and is produced in Hollywood, having though many references and even action locations placed in the Asian world.

I was expecting a light silly story and as many (positive) reviews said a pretty simple one, eventually having the "classical" one per 5 minutes explosion. Something like a mix between "Godzilla" and "Transformers" with a scent of "Battleship". Fortunately "Pacific Rim" is directed neither by Roland Emmerich, neither by Michael Bay and neither by Peter Berg. It's by Guillermo del Toro. Who after an excellent "Hellboy" continued with a lame "Hellboy 2" so I had some reserves. Well ... I guess I start to bore with my references so let's see what's to be said about the actual "Pacific Rim".

- The story: simple as it was said but not so thin as expected. From a rim in the Pacific depths emerges an alien threat = kaiju - the monsters, race who wants to take over the Earth. The counterattack is done first with robots = jaegers, driven through a neuronal interface by two pilots. More in the movie. It's enough to be discovered behind a trailer. And even if we don't have any heavy drama here, the fact that is not describable in just two sentences compensates at least a little the parts hard to believe in the story (normally otherwise for this genre)

- The actors: "Star Wars" style (= something like "starring Mark Hamill"), with the exception of Idris Elba and Ron Perlman in secondary parts, we have an "unknown hero" as planet savior: Charlie Hunnam. Overall the movie is ok regarding the casting, although I guess I would have preferred somebody else in the lead female role = the 2nd half of the robot pilot.

- The direction & the technic stuff: excepting things like - mostly all the battles take place at night during rain which looks like saving on the FX budget a bit, the movie looks impeccable and is directed also impeccable. We are far from the kitsch in Transformers regarding the robots design, who aesthetically (at least for me) look way better in "Pacific Rim". And about the direction, what can I say ... for this kind of movie, to name it like I did is enough that the frequency and the length of the battle sequences don't even try to surpass the records established by Michael Bay :)

Verdict: a light SciFi, summer blockbuster type, nice to see and with a boring factor reduced to a minimum compared with other titles in the same genre

Rating: 4 out of 5

Dark Skies (2013)

It seems that lately I'm terribly uninspired in my choices. Since I didn't see a horror for quite a while I turned my attention to "Dark Skies". As parenthesis, I have to notice that unlike 10 years ago when I was addicted to this genre (and I hated comedies) I'm more and more reluctant to it (and I started to accept comedies .. sort of .. although I still find many to be somewhere between childish and stupid). Maybe it's the age = the everyday life stress, I don't know ... In any case, from time to time I appreciate a good horror ... Unfortunately thout, what we have here tends again, at least a bit towards a comedy (and the problem is with "at least a bit") ...

Long, long, looong ago am facut daca-mi aduc aminte un soi de clasificare pe subgenuri pentru horrors. Cred ca era ceva in genul: serial killers, alien monsters, zombies, haunting/atmospheric = demons, spirits si alte entitati, si poate si altele. Personal, in afara de ultima categorie restul pentru mine is in general doar entertaining fara prea mare potential de speriat efectiv. In ce priveste subgenul din urma se mai intampla sa mai am .. tresariri :). I guess that the haunting/atmospheric = demons, spirits and other entities horrors are the ones with the best "scare" potential. That's probably where the number of these has increased heavily throughout the last decade, from "The Ring" to "Paranormal Activity", and more recently "Sinister", "Mama", "Insidious" and others. Actually .. this subgenre has got so often approached that it starts to lose the effect. And to finish this double introduction, "Dark Skies" is the perfect example.

Remember "Signs" ? By M. Night Shyamalan ? I honestly don't recall too much. Just that the subject was something about a family that's targeted by an invasion of grey people from other galaxy. Something like that we have also in "Dark Skies", but approached in a way that wants you frightened at least once at each 10 minutes. More precisely, we have a couple, with two kids, living somewhere in a suburb, in whose house + also in the their behavior, various unexplained phenomenons start to appear (e.g., firstly the family fridge is devastated; I'll leave the rest to be discovered, otherwise there's nothing left .. already the trailer shows pretty much everything). The development sounds quite known I guess. Maybe if it would have taken the already "classic" direction of poltergeist activity the result would have been better in terms of "unrecommended before sleep". But the "more original" motivation for the activity of invisible malefic forces - which is:"the grey extraterrestrial are doing experiments on people for many many years already", makes many of the scenes in the movie at least far from logic if not hilarious.

I have to admit though that despite the script that would have failed by itself, the directing and the way the movie is shot can give you the creeps from time to time. There are a few scenes, especially one towards the end composed from let's call them "alternate reality visions" which can create a pretty unpleasant sentiment related to what the brain can produce in the moments when it gets .. lost. So maybe after all is not the best recommendation to see in the evening before sleep if you're more sensitive (unless you have to work during the night). But again, all these are valid individually without relating with the motivation in the movie. Which fortunately is not reminded continuously so sometimes you can forget about it. But it's enough to remember in most of the cases that it's not about any demented spirit, nor a possession case, not even madness, but just about invisible aliens well organized with a work plan (even though we don't know it in detail). I repeat myself, but the so called "scary effect" for a horror has a maximum impact especially when it's related with something acting irrational/unpredictable with purely malefic intentions (= classic haunting for instance). If I imagine the 5th division of grey creatures, in which agent 57 reports about the "nocturne terror" experiment on the Barrett's and the results obtained following his visits disguised as Sandman (forgetting about the sudden hunger and emptying the fridge as collateral victim) and also asking for funds to detour three stacks of birds to the respective house, well it already starts failing the horror criteria above ... Which may not be bad if you don't want to be scared :) But the result in this movie is that it's not as dark as it wants to be and, absurdly, not sufficiently comic to take it as light entertainment = is as grey as the "imminent" danger about which it tries to convince us ...

Rating: 3 out of 5 (at the limit)

Screamers (1995)

As it can be seen I'm a bit out of subject. I had to recycle something from memories, movie that I recalled by chance after I finally finished reading "The Man in the High Castle" by P.K. Dick. By chance = I've checked IMDb to see what are the chances of the mentioned title to still get on screen (seems they're fine), and I've parsed the list of movies based on PKD material released until now. I've forgotten about "Screamers", so let me try forcing a bit my brain to see what I can remember ...

The movie is a Canadian production (as far as I remember), quite old as it can be seen, with not too many actors, Peter Weller ("Robocop") being probably the most known of them. The story goes like this: somewhere on a planet colonized for mining purposes, two sides are at war for quite a while, one using as weapons the "screamers". A sort of subterranean robots able to detect living beings and having attached some very sharp blades - in other words a sort of mobile and reusable anti-personal mines. On top of that in the features is included also an advanced AI = self-repairing and maintenance. I think it starts to be obvious where this is going, right ? ;) Well, one day, after a long period of silence in the conflict, the commander of one side receives a truce message from the adverse party and leaves the camp to check what's behind this. What he finds .. you can see in the movie :) (I don't remember very exactly anyway).

The production is low-budget, and from what I remember not very spectacular = probably resembles quite a lot an episode from "The Outer Limits", at least much more than a mainstream movie. But the story is ok and it gets a bit more alert towards the end ( I recall an ending twist, or something around there ). What's interesting to see is that even though the movie was released in '95 the base material, much more older, can be considered as an inspiration source for quite many films where the AI in robots/machines gets crazy, exponential being obviously "Terminator" and being followed by many others. So, to conclude, if you're in the mood for a decent SciFi without expecting much as production value, give it a chance ;)

Rating: 3 out of 5

Safety Not Guaranteed (2012)

Wanted: Somebody to go back in time with me. This is not a joke. You'll get paid after we get back. Must bring your own weapons. I have only done this once before. Safety not guaranteed

This is written on the poster :) In case it wasn't visible enough. And it represents a classified ad from '97 published in a bi-monthly US magazine targeting mainly .. life on a farm, around the farm, etc. For real. Meaning that's what really happened + an P.O. Box address that I didn't reproduce. What's not that real is the part with "This is not a joke". Actually it is a joke, and you can find the complete story here: The time-travel ad . To put it short, the editor needed something to fill up the page. Of course, the conspiracy theory says that's just a late cover-up excuse :) especially given the context in which that ad cause a lot of online activity at the time and after with responses, investigations, theories, other following ads, and so on. I remember that I stumbled into this a while ago (before the author's explanation) and I lost I think something like 30 minutes surfing from link to link and getting more and more amazed up to what something like this can go (+ I caught some other publicly made "time travel" tracks, with a trust degree ranging from "hmmm..." up to "this is laaame"). I never thought though that the ad will generate also a movie script. And I have to say it now that this wasn't bad at all to happen ...

The movie is an indie with not too many actors, and surprisingly for the budget also featuring some nice effects on the ending. It starts with the idea of investigating the above ad. The inquiry is lead by a journalist, who is more interested in finding his high school girlfriend, who by chance lives in the same city with the ad author. Consequently, the job is actually done mostly by two interns, freshly college graduates - an Indian with a classic geek/nerd profile and a girl a bit too fed up with the everyday life. Actually the job is done mostly by the last of them, who seems the only one able to successfully interact with the ad author. Author, who in the movie is a measly supermarket employee, apparently having some mental issues, but possessing a big hangar, lots of spare parts and a time machine made of these + an even bigger ambition to travel into the past. Well, there is more to say from the subject but I don't want to spoil something that can be a very pleasant hour and a half in front of a screen.

Essentially the movie is a comedy, that gets also a bit into romance from a point onwards (reaching up to some scenes which were a bit too corny at least for me). And obviously we can't ignore the "SF" = the time machine. Without getting into spoilers about this, something deserves a note: if you're carefully watching the action flow you'll have a way to explain yourself the "I have only done this once before" part ;) in case you'll feel the need to. And you might feel the need to if after the ending you'll read again the ad :)

Rating: 4 out of 5

Total Recall (2012)

I have sufficient problems on my head these days, so I've found myself thinking on what sense does it have to keep this blog running, especially since I don't know how much time will I have for movies soon. Anyway, I managed to catch the 2012 version of "Total Recall", especially since for a while the SciFi became sort of a rarity at the big screen level (I'm not counting the superhero stuff that's pretty much the same story with a different mask every time). The opinions I heard before were not very good. My opinion after .. let's say it's divided.

I don't know if it has sense to tell something about the movie subject, since we're talking about a remake after something that we can call a genre classic that being the '90s version directed by Verhoeven and starring Schwarzenegger. I'm going to do something else, with the risk of losing the attention due to the writing volume, that being a resume of the P.K. Dick short-story-ului which is the base of the movie. In the story, Douglas Quail (with an "l" at the end and not a "d") is a minor clerk (not a worker building his muscles in a factory or on a construction yard) living a pretty dull life, and being married with a sort of hag as a wife named Kirsten (so not Lori and far from being so tender in the first phase as the movie version). The man decides one day to achieve his life dream, that being to travel on Mars, but since he does not have the necessary money for this tries to solve it with a visit to Rekal Incorporated, firm that handles memory implants according to the slogan "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale" (the title of the novel). Without more details, our man chooses a packet that will guarantee him the experience of having "lived" two weeks on the red planet as an Interplan agent (a sort of intergalactic CIA). Service payed, subject taken by the operator, execution problem .. the memory is already there, but was deleted after Mr. Quail assasinated an important person. Therefore, the client half asleep is sent home where is taken by the Interplan agents with the purpose to eliminate him from the current planet. The reasoning - you know too much and if we erase your brain again, you'll go again to Rekal to "leave" to Mars. Well, here comes "the movie" = for something like half a page in the book Doug uses his fists and runs desperately. After which he gets an idea about a compromise - and here starts the spoiler for the book :) : he will surrender in the terms of replacing his Mars memory and "tendances" by something more powerful that will erase his subconscious travel desire. Done: Rekal Inc., meanwhile recruited by the government, finds in the mind of the subject a powerful childhood fantasy in which he sees himself as the saviour of the Earth from an extraterestrial invasion. And like this, the new memory package is created with the perfect memory to eliminate his Mars travel dreams: more exactly, the invading race impressed by the innocence and compasion of the little Quail decides to embark in the flying saucers and leave as long he will be alive on the blue planet. Service payed (by the government), subject taken by the operator, execution problem .. guess what ;)

This is pretty much what I remember from what I've read not long ago, and which is the basis for the two movies. Why did I spent my time with writing so much text instead giving a summary for the 2012 version. Well, because like in the 1990 one, the movie goes way further than the short story. In the same time, compared to the '90 film we have major differences = Doug does not get to Mars, Lori = the wife becomes the principal evil character, we do not have Quato anymore, etc. And these are the main reasons (more or less conscious/obvious) for which the movie is bashed. And this is wrong ... Because after all the visual "original" diverges a lot from the written original, as it can be seen from the story above. And in this years' film we do not have a total remake after all, we have an adaptation of the remake. Which adaptation gains exactly from having an original script (and it is quite original) and for that deserves appreciation, and not the contrary, since the book was anyway already far before the movie came up. Talking about which script or story is better, I think this is subjective here. As story (and movie overall) I think I like more the one from 1990. As a script on the other hand the new one seems more close in a few points (not many) to P.K. Dick as general atmosphere (the piano scene for instance). AS general, because as I said the original novel is quite far and quite simplistic after all in the literary universe it belongs to + is filled with a fine sarcastic humor characteristic to the author that is lost almost completely in the movies. To end my plea about the wrong comparison done between the productions one should take in account also the time when these were released. We have more than 20 years as a difference. And to be more clear where I'm going with this, I always had a feeling (possibly a wrong one) that the '90s "Total Recall" got a bit influenced by the politics of the time. More exactly, I don't know why but every time I'm seeing it I'm involuntary thinking on South Africa and Apartheid. Starting with the evil leader = Kohaagen - Dutch name (that doesn't show up in the book) up to the oppresive situation against the mutant population on the Mars colony (that again has nothing to do with the book). Probably it already starts to sound weird :) so I'll stop my rambling here. Conclusine: it's a movie to be seen ;) ..

Rating: 4 out of 5

.. PS: at least for Kate Beckinsale & Jessica Biel it deserves this :D I've almost forgotten :P

Iron Sky (2012)

Sorry for the delay, but I wasn't able to post my entry last week, although I had it in my head. So I'll be back with the following too soon. For the moment "Iron Sky" or adapted freely "How to launch an extraterrestrial invasion with a smartphone" is a sci-fi satire/parody, with a budget a bit bigger than the usual indie. Partially supported through crowd funding, the movie is a German-Finnish-Australian production. The subject: The return of the nazi .. from outer space .. or more exactly from the dark side of the Moon :)

I guess I've already summarized the story above, and since I'm delayed already I won't get any longer. The movie is .. to compare to something having an element in common, as credible as "Inglorious Basterds" (keeping the proportions). There are holes in the script, and other issues. But ... again, unlike for instance "Prometheus" from last week, in this case we have something not taking itself much into serious. On the good side, we have also some other stuff like the score that varies from blues pieces to an arrangement foe Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries", starting with a arrangementcazul de fata avem ceva ce nu se ia prea in serios. In plus, avem cateva puncte de remarcat incepand cu partea de coloana sonora care merge de la cateva blues-uri pana la un aranjament pentru Ride of the Valkyries de Wagner, excellent synced with the movie scenes. The FX have a couple of glitches but overall are to be appreciated given the movie budget (altogether with the production design and the other related stuff). The actors, although I didn't know anybody besides Udo Kier, surprised me in a very pleasant way. And finally .. the parody scenes .. which might have been more, but what's striking is the well-known Hitler scene from "Untergang" (the clip heavily used with alternate subtitles on YouTube).

In the end I have to admit that the movie looks more like a B series one, but it's on top on its category :) It might not be much, but deserves the time, it's fun, witty, and ... subjectively speaking I've placed Julia Dietze on the list to watch for in the future ;)

Rating: 3 out of 5

Prometheus (2012)

There are already more than two weeks I think since I've seen the movie = immediately after I mentioned it in the summer preview entry .. as head of the list. The reason Why last week I picked another title is that I had a pretty long break since my last rated movie, and I wanted to have something deserving to be watched on my blog. The reason why I returned to "Prometheus" now is because I feel I owe getting it down from the top of the previews list (even if the list was just chronological according to the release date).

Because I might have started a bit too harsh (and I intend to end even more), "Prometheus" is not exactly a movie to be avoided. Unlike, for instance, the last blueish production signed by master Cameron here you have a script, some story, a bit of acting .. but no Sigourney Weaver (who's present in "the blue world" if the irony wasn't clear enough). It doesn't worth to get started with the subject for many reasons, from the spoilers (I'll have plety of those below) to the simple fact that I'm not in the mood. In case there is still somebody completely lost from the subject, what we have here is a prequel to the "Alien" series, and I will say that it seems to have the role of creating a spin-off. That's enough. The subject is after all one of the good points of the movie. The handling of it though ... Suficient atat.

I didn't see every Ridley Scott movie but I don't remember which one was the last that disappointed me like this one. I have to admit for instance that "Kingdom of Heaven" and "Robin Hood" were not exactly masterpieces but they were a bit above average, level that in my head was the guaranteed minimum for Scott (he's still the first in my top of directors by the way .. but I'll argue my option when I'll have something supporting this, if it doesn't change before). Again "Prometheus" is not bad. It's just .. medium quality. I don't know from where to start and where to and .. for me is somewhere at the same level with Jeunet's experiment in Alien 4 - which even if it was crazy at least it had some originality and sufficient action to be fun. I think this is the point where "Prometheus" lost - it wanted to get more philosophical than the script can handle (although the idea and the story have potential). And like this it lost the action in Alien 4, and it didn't reach to the deepness of Fincher's Alien 3 either (very underrated movie). It doesn't even worth comparing with the first two in the series. But if this would have been all, we would still have a movie "a bit above average". But no ... we have more ..

We have a ship that enters the atmosphere of an unknown planet and lands more precisely than a trained paratrooper exactly near the alien structure (yes, I know .. spoiler: there are many of those, come on, that's the justification ? .. one in every valley, huh ?).
We have a Guy Pearce with a makeup almost as horrible as J. Edgar's buddy in the last Eastwood movie .. was it really a problem to set the guy's age at 60 instead trying to make him look like 100 ? (you have to see the movie to answer this, but I'm sure that I can fight back any argument with an alternative challenge me ;) if you dare).
We have madame Shaw instead of Ripley who apparently wants to look more badass (spoiler again) by cutting and sewing back her own belly and after that doing olympics training in 100 meter hurdles races ... And no, there's no excuse in portraying her as in pain from time to time, neither that medicine in 100 years will be more advanced, and neither that the movie is a movie as long as it takes itself as seriously as it does. And still, maybe it would have been credible, but to end this, sorry, but Noomi Rapace is no Sigourney Weaver ;).

Rating: 3 out of 5

John Carter (2012)

Considering that I'm forced by deadlines to be in "continuous work mode" despite the holidays (at least until tomorrow), and that I also lost a day in airports, I was thinking to jump over the entry for this weekend. But I took advantage of my short home return and I spent two hours yesterday going to see "John Carter". So, I have something that really deserves trying write my weekly blog entry, even if it's on the rush ...

Maybe it's known, maybe it's not, but it seems that this movie was a pretty big flop at the box office for Disney (the main producer) compared to what was expected. I don't know why "Prince of Persia" came into my mind when I've heard that. And I don't know why I was expecting to have the same contradictory opinion with the American public that I had it also ther (because it seems in Europe the current title did more reasonable with the earnings). But I'll come back to my difference of opinions further because it's not that important. Let me talk first about the subject.

"John Carter" is the second amplitude writing = I don't know how many books, of Edgar Rice Burroughs, who's much more known for .. "Tarzan". By the way, this was a reason to doubt about it .. because at least regarding the "jungle boy" I'm quite far from being a fan. I the current case we have an army officer who after the American Civil War is not really in the mood to continue his military career and starts digging for gold. Which he finds alltogether with a portal to .. Mars. I know .. also me when I first heard the story I thought that "Tarzan"'s author tried unwillingly a prequel to Pierre Boule's "Planet of the Apes", yielding into a result of a wild intergalactic salad good to be at most a subject for second hand comics. But something from the trailer (a scent of .. "Star Wars" :) to make the salad complete) made me to keep the hope up.

And it confirmed, because unlike mega productions such as "Transformers" or, since it's on the screens right now "Wrath of the Titans" (which I didn't see, but I find hard to believe that it might be able to outcome it's predecessor at an above average level), here we have the story. Plus something that the above maybe dream they have, but it's just a fake impression: "the epic feeling". Oh, yes :) ... "John Carter" manages to get both. I'll try to refrain myself from spoilers, but the context of teleporting on the red planet, the factions that are in conflict around there, the romance part, and even a small piece of soap opera, with an ending twist not extremely spectacular (and possibly predictable if you can reason fast enough that the script will be stupid if it would be missing) but anyway sufficiently good for the final ... well, to be honest ... even if would get to "Transformers 10" (hopefully not !) I really doubt that we'll get to see something like this.

The movie has also some less good parts like cliche lines and far fetched action scenes. But you can get over these, because in the end it doesn't get itself too seriously to feel them to strong. In summary, instead a "Tarzan" mixed with "Planet of the Apes", what you get is much more like a "Prince of Persia" mixed with "Star Wars" (and to be even more accurate - the first "Star Wars"). The main actors are ok - and actually the couple here seems to have a better chemistry than the main more known protagonists from "Prince of Persia" ( although it's also possible that I'm subjective about the lead actress :) ). The effects are nice .. I don't know what to say about the rest .. Just go and see it ;)

Rating: 4 out of 5

The Thing (2011)

Antarctica .. 1982 .. Winter .. (well .. Winter is pretty much all the time around there, even if it's called Summer once in a while). Near a Norwegian exploration station a discovery is made: a structure burred under the ice which looks like an alien shio. Not far away, frozen in a block of is found also .. the pilot (or how the title of the movie says - "The Thing"). Guess what happens next ?

Besides the invariable answer of "obviously, something bad", the biggest spoiler (that's so big that it doesn't make much sense for me to ignore it) is that the movie is not a remake for the 1982 John Carpenter's classic. It's a prequel. Well, that shouldn't tell much to somebody who didn't see the '82 movie. I've seen it long ago and I don't remember much, but still the fact that I've found out this is a prequel made pretty clear how it's gonna end. Well, surprise, it's not exactly like that. Anyway, going back to Carpenter's original, that's considered as one of the best horrors ever made. And you have to admit, that all the above context offers a perfect support for something like this. Imagine "Alien" (since it's not much until a prequel for this one too) set in an isolated research station in Antarctica. Besides that, about the creature, there is also probably the most important element, to quote a tagline from the original: "man is the warmest place to hide". Anyway from this start also the bad parts, to say it so ...

As I mentioned, it's been a while since I've seen the original, but I remember that I liked it. What I don't remember is if it had something that's basically granted by the context, but not to much exploited in the new version compared to the movie length at least. I'm talking about the lack of trust, which might go up to paranoid behavior, between the group members, given that it's not known "who is human and who is not". The movie could be 15 minutes longer, which 15 minutes should be dedicated to something like this. The psychological thrill provided by this context is barely exploited by the movie, maybe besides a scene or two (well, central to the movie, it's right). Besides that, as other points to criticize there are a bunch of scenes that don't add up, smth like (small spoilers below):

- "we must go and search for survivors where the chopper crashed"
- "not possible, that place can't be reached, we need another helicopter to go there"
(later in the evening, the two "survivors" are coming back on their own feet at the basecamp - and, well, "the thing" doesn't have wings if that's supposed somehow to explain)

or ...

- "and now what we're gonna do ?"
- "the closest station is a Russian one, at something like 80 km from here"
(the second day, a helicopter is tailing a dog that runs from the Norwegian base to an American one - or at least that should be the continuity with the movie from '82 even if it's not completely shown .. so .. to understand from this, that the dog ran more than 80 km with a chopper behind it)

And there are others too. To these, negatively speaking, you can add also the quality of the VFX which might be better than the '82 one but still far from the 2011 standards on a movie that has the Universal logo in the beginning. Anyway, long story short, I can't say that I lost my time with it. With all its issues, in the end what I wanted to see was a decent horror, not some Oscar material, and for that it was way better than, let's say .. the remakes from the last years of the initial versions of slasher series like "Friday the 13th" or "Nightmare on the Elm Street".

Rating: 3 out of 5

Repo Men (2010)

Unfortunately I don't have anything left to preview, and I have to fall back to something seen a bit longer ago since this week I didn't have time for movies. But since "a bit longer ago" wasn't that long ago and "Repo Men" is a Sci-Fi that surprised me positively, I fortunately have a subject. I would have preferred though something more accessible because I must start by saying that you have to have a tough stomach to get over this movie from start to finish (no pun intended :), you'll get it when you'll see the movie) ...

What's the idea ? Well, in brief we have a not very far future when there exists the possibility to save your own life (sort of speaking ...) by using the services provided by "The Union" - a sort of corporation that deals with medical services that consist in organ transplant without waiting queues. But, there's a catch ... Primo - the prices are huge and generally imply monthly payments with an interest. Secundo - in case of payment delay, the company property = the liver, the heart, etc is returned .. by force. Meaning that the corporation has a special department of "repo men" apparently having some skills in surgery .. what makes the movie a bit more bloody in my opinion than it should be. As a feeling I got, if you manage to get over the first 5 minutes it's fine :) .. you won't get much more intense than that (just more bloody but the maximum psychical effect is passed .. I guess).

Without saying too much, the story follows two of the repo guys, best buddies, one of them adding involuntarily to it's marital troubles related to the job also a physical one = a new borrowed heart. More details in the movie. The idea is that up to the moment where this happens, the script makes everything it cans to disgust you (starting with the first 5 minutes from the beginning). Not necessarily visually, but more related to the idea of "humanity" that's sent. In other words what you get first is one side of the story - the one seen by the "repo service". After the mentioned guy gets his new heart, he slowly gets drawn and ends up on the other side (no spoiler here, it was probably obvious) - the side of the ones potentially prone to get hunted if they didn't pay on time. And something changes, obviously also in the tone of the movie. Besides this, the story starts to get some complexity, and the ending is one that has serious chances to surprise you. Without saying more than I should, it at least a part of what you'll see leaves you an impression that's stretched too far to be credible, just wait ...

I don't have time to write much more. The main cast - Jude Law, Forest Whitaker, Alice Braga, Liev Schreiber does an excellent job. What I would like to point out anyway is the score that's superb. I don't remember exactly what's coming from the main composer = Marco Beltrami, but what left stuck in my head is the usage of some songs here and there having a very powerful effect on the associated scenes. For instance, if I'm not mixing them already ... those 5 minutes from the start which I keep mentioning are rolling on a version of the well-known "Sway". To symmetrically complete it, Dave Stewart (who should sound familiar at least due to "Lily Was Here") has a song on the end credits, that fits so well as conclusion that made me stuck my eyes on the screen until the final frame.

As an ending idea it's a movie that I consider underrated, but unfortunately I had to admit that there are reasons to, probably the cause being the aggressiveness excess. Anyway .. trust me .. even so this is not completely gratuitous = if you like SciFi's with some substance behind you should see it.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Pontypool (2008)

YAZM ... Yet Another Zombie Movie :) Well .. sort of ... = I include into "zombie movie" pretty much everything that's horror/SF involving hordes of "infected" people (dead, undead, alive, whatever). "Pontypool" is anyway something different from anything I've seen before ...

First of all I should say that we have here an indie production which apparently found a pretty original way to lower the costs. All the action takes place inside a radio station, more exactly around the transmission room. Well, after all it seems that the movie is based on a book, so probably it was implicit to get to this setting. And to be even more cheap on the budget (just to say so), it's a local radio station, with three on place employees, established somewhere at the basement of a church in a minuscule town from Canada. What we have in the movie is a winter day matinee show, hosted by a guy who is apparently a "former glory" in terms of radio broadcasts, but whose agent doesn't seem to be able to find him a better position somewhere else. So, what starts as an usual broadcast session slowly turns into something less credible than every day's news. From some point on, the news from the diverse sources received on the wire are quite the opposite with the normal daily calm of the small surrounding community. For instance, instead of the usual weather forecast info, the correspondent ends up transmitting news about the "flow" of violent people devastating the local doctor's office. Or, in the section "live from studio", some of the members of the familial choir invited to preview the oncoming local musical adaptation of "Lawrence of Arabia" start having unusual behavior (well, more unusual that the one implied by the musical). And so on, what was initially looking as a hoax targeted to the show host, starts getting proportions ...

I can say that up to its first half the movie has an impeccable script, very clever and witty (just observe the repetitions ...), and which keeps you stuck to the screen. After this, the whole "ivasion" of "zombies" (I suppose that the main idea is obvious already) starts to be treated in a way somewhere between surreal and ... stupid. I'm not gonna disclose now what's the "virus" in this movie's version ... but I really doubt that the same idea was ever used in another one. The same for "the cure" (they're related after all). I tried to consider more the originality for this part but I can say that it might become a bit to hard to be believed from some point on, even if you keep in mind it's a movie. Probably that's why you get actually the "surreal" part integrated = in the context of the possible infection combined with the stress, the characters get to some dialogues/behavior which are a bit out of the surrounding context.

The main role is played by Stephen McHattie, probably a guy a bit less known (he's Canadian), but who I was expecting from some time to see as leading actor. And it deserved the wait. I think it's actually one of the main reasons to see the movie. Generally the cast is quite well chosen. Besides that we have the cinematography part which for me was extraordinary. I can't imagine how much further than that you can go in the conditions of the action placed in the same room pretty much of the movie. And the last cherry on top, the sound ... not the score, but effectively "the sound" - effects, editing, mixing. Well, the context of the movie = radio station (& more to see ...) pretty much demands it, but I can't appreciate the quality of what my ears have heard. For all of these, even if the last part of the movie was a bit disappointing, and draws it down pretty much ( I estimate that 3 of 4 viewers to have a final reaction of something like .. "that was stupid ..."), still ...

Rating: 4 out of 5

5ive Days to Midnight (2004)

I'll start with the impresion I've been left after seeing the movie in the today's entry. Or better said the impression the impression I've had and the movie made stronger. It's about the fact that if you try to do an average of the value of the mini-series and TV series in the last 10 years you'll get definitely something better than the same for the big screen movies (talking about production of a certain level of box office, not every unknown indie out there). Unfortunately I don't have time for series lately so I limit myself to mini-series, where "5ive Days to Midnight" also belongs.

With the risk of a double introduction, I'll extend a bit what's above with the idea that what applies to mini-series/series unfortunately doesn't also for TV movies. And a perfect example for that, especially since it relates to my current blog entry, are the productions signed SciFi channel, or Syfy after rebranding. I can't give the title of a certain movie right now, but there are a lot of them produced that can be considered probably C, D ... or up to Z-movies (probably if you search enough you'll hardly find a B one among them :) ). Low budget, cheap effect, thin story ... I think I've seen a couple of those during the years and I never couldn't explain myself why somebody could even put that small amount of money into such productions. With the mini-series there's a completely different story. I don't remember seeing something bad from SciFi (maybe "Earthsea" but that was close to average still). Pretty much all of them varied from ok to exceptional. Unfortunately these don't come out very often, from what I've seen during the years what would deserve your time being probably "Dune", "Children of Dune", "Taken" and the masterpiece which is "The Lost Room". Oh .. and of course :) the latest watched (although quite old now) "5ive Days to Midnight".

Now, since I've finished the double introduction :) and bored 90% of the people who managed to get to this line, I can finally get to the subject. So, what we have is a miniseries in 5 parts of 40 minutes each, describing 5 days from the life of J.T. Neumeyer - physics professor somewhere in a faculty from U.S. The story begins on a day of Monday, the anniversary of his daughter and also of his late wife's death. Due to the last part the professor makes a visit to the cemetery where ... surprise, close to the tomb stone he finds something that seems to be a briefcase from the future protected with a ciphered electronic lock. After getting home, our main character manages quite easily to guess the correct combination and opens the case being presented with the 2nd surprise ... The content is a file, apparently 50 years old considering the paper state but ... 5 days newer than the current day. More exactly it contains an investigation documentation about the death of the guy who's looking at it = the same J.T. Neumeyer, death that is supposed to take place on 3:55 AM on Friday, the same week. And that's only the start :) ...

Further, the miniseries carries us through the five days, along which ... :) I'm gonna stop with the details here. The only thing I'm saying more is that from the initial phase when Neumeyer is convinced that all of it is a bad prank of one of his not so right in the head students (probably having also some hidden Photoshop talents), he gradually starts to believe more and more that the found file is accurate due to the things that are happening. Why and what's going on from that ... see the movie :) Anyway, what's above (the start) it's probably less than 5% of the subject, so you have enough to see. I wouldn't say that you'll find out something extremely spectacular to give serious thinking, like how it was for "Sucker Punch" last time, but what you'll get in the ~200 minutes of movie you have, it'll probably keep you stuck to the screen. Every day comes with something new, making the story unravel itself in very "catchy" way let's say.

The movie has a bit of the 90's air, starting from the cinematography and going on to the sound, acting, etc .. Well, it might just an impression (but fast scenes shot in slow motion by lowering the frame rate, that's for sure not very popular after 2000). Anyway, I won't be very long with this part and I'll add more just the fact that I liked the soundtrack, especially the intro, which seems it was composed by a pretty unknown guy - John Nordstrom.

If it was for me to make a comparative evaluation among all the titles I've mentioned in the beginning, I could place "5ive Days to Midnight" along the rest, but probably a bit behind them. I can't say that it reaches to the "Dune" level due to the story which is incomparably complex and also because of the budget. About "The Lost Room" it doesn't even feel fit to compare. I really doubt that Syfi channel will ever manage to top what they achieved with that production. Besides, "5ive Days to Midnight" has also some flaws in the script, but as a recommendation don't even try to bother thinking too much with trying to explain yourself what doesn't fit where it should, or having questions like "why so .. and not so ..". It's really not the case :) so don't do it. You'll ruin the whole movie feeling. Just enjoy it as it is ;)

Rating: 4 out of 5

I Am Number Four (2011)

I think I'm getting old ... Either this, or my "head wheels" are not running very well again (to put it elegantly) ... Or both. The result is that from all the movies I've watched lately (quite a lot compared to my normal weekly rate), I've chosen for today probably the most lame title considering its value/rating. And this due to a total subjective criteria of a semi-nostalgic feeling for a period when the free time wasn't such a big problem. "I Am Number Four" is a SF having the main target somewhere in the 15-19 years old interval (if not even lower than that). And as I already suggested is a real catastrophe, mainly talking about the script (because the rest has some good parts though). Anyway, the script doesn't mean also the story, this one having some potential, and it's probably better to say a few words about that before going forward to the rest.

It is told that sometime in the Universe there was a planet whose inhabitants (having apparently a similar look to humans) were completely eliminated by another race called the mogadorians. With one exception. Nine of the children were sent in a safety exile accompanied by a guardian and something else (you'll find out in the movie) for protection. At least until they would have learned to use their inherited superpowers. Were was the exile ? Obviously on Earth. Anyway, it seems that the mogadorian "tradition" states something like a job is not done until it's done, so the nine were followed by a group from the overtaking race having the specific mission of "vaporizing" the escaped ones. Considering that (as a speculation, because the movie is not clear at all) the interplanetary traffic is probably not that simple, the mogadorian group wasn't large enough, or didn't have the means to carry the necessary tech to completely cleanse of life also this little blue primitive planet. So the tactic is to hunt the 9 one by one. What we have in the movie is pretty much this targeting the fourth victim, after the first three were finally and hardly killed after more then 10 years of hunting (probably either due to low mogadorian efficiency or too long vacations ...).

Like said before, the movie is terrible considering the script. There are lots of unexplained stuff that do not make any sense. Or even worse. If for the unexplained stuff you can invent an explanation by yourself in the end, you have the other category where the script becomes effectively stupid. This covers minor situations as impact in the story like - why in the world would you go in the middle of a party exactly through the local sheriff's son nose when you know you're on top on the "wanted" list to get on the upper floor of a house when you know you could superjump and sneak without being seen by anyone. But you have also much more important parts, like the one coming from the title (which seemed pretty stupid starting with the trailer). You don't get any clear explanation in the movie for the numbering thingy. Why number four ? And it's not related to the order in which it seems that the rest are killed... because at some point we get to meet number six. Let's just say it's a code, something like agent 007 applied for outer space aliens. Apparently this would hold as an explanation ... but ... in that case what's the idea of hunting and executing them in the order given by their number ? (and again ... when you get to number six the movie contradicts itself also on this part). Well ... it's a mess, and it's not the only example. You also have age differences that are unrealistic and other stuff. So, why am I spending time writing about this movie, then ...

Because, eventually I liked it. Despite everything above, it manages after all to bring you a coherent enough story to watch. And due to the general feeling of teen movie it reminds me of other times :) Besides that, we have though some good parts. One would be the effects. It's rare when it happens that I'm impressed of something in this area. And this because usually the stuff you get are variations of the same idea, explosions of different kinds, robots of different kinds, monsters of different kinds, etc. We have these also here. But I haven't seen telekinetic powers for quite a while ( pretty much since "use the force" from "Star Wars" - another nostalgic point hit :) ). So at least in what I'm concerned I was satisfied with the VFX more than with any other movie I've seen this year (and I've seen some serious contenders on this part). Something else to talk a bit about would be the soundtrack by Trevor Rabin. Search for main theme pe YouTube and you'll get just a short sample from what it offers. It's nice and relatively original both on the slow and on the alert tracks.

As a conclusion, something that it's easy noticeable (and also confirmed by the IMDb boards) would be the similarity as air/target/etc up to the "lame movie" qualifying with "Twilight". But it's not totally true. What I can say is that yes ... for the first part = air/target it's quite close probably. I've seen "Twilight" recently, only the first one, and by chance, because I was pretty convinced by the bad reviews to skip the series. It was indeed quite bad in almost all aspects, except for the story potential. With this in common, further, the difference is quite big in case of "I Am Number Four", and I've already explained it in what was mentioned above (well, "Twilight" has also a theme stolen from Yiruma - "River Flows in You" but I won't count this). And on top of that "I Am Number Four" has also another plus - the actior. Compared to "Twilight", here we might say that we have Oscar performances. And subjectively speaking :-p for guys, wait until you get to see number six in action ;).

Rating: 3 out of 5

Super 8 (2011)

I was thinking this morning to write in this entry about the last Harry Potter. But I told myself to wait until the evening to add one more movie on the list of the ones I've seen this week (which I think is a record for this year = I'm finally in vacation .. at least theoretically). The result is that after watching "Super 8" I've changed the topic title as it can be observed, although I can't say that on my scale is much difference between the two, both being around 3.5 out of 5. Anyway, I've chosen "Super 8" because it fits perfectly to the "summer movie" description as I see it = we have a mix of adventure, drama, & love story in a SF (which is actually quite light as effective SF elements = 1979, on Earth, with .. almost entirely .. normal people). So it covers pretty much all the age categories considering the potential public target.

The action is set in a small fictive town from US, where a small group of children tries to shoot a zombie movie for entering a contest. One of the shooting sessions taking place in an abandoned train station is interrupted by a derailed train, fact that actually starts the development of the plot. 1. The train doesn't seem to be a usual train, but one belonging to the US Air Force, 2. The derailing is not accidental but provoked by a biology professor acting as a kamikaze behind a truck's steering wheel and 3. From the train something escapes ... To find out exactly what, and other details, :) go see the movie. The plot is nicely developed, although not very complex. On top of that the script itself has plenty of cliche and also some small gaps in the production. If you've seen the last "Star Trek" by the same J.J.Abrams you can compare the both to get the idea. It is pretty much the same = watchable, not boring, but you shouldn't expect any complexity from the story, which after all is not that original when you look at it in the end, especially if you take each piece individually. The part that adds the watching value is mainly that you don't get the whole story once. It reveals gradually piece by piece and that matters a lot in keeping a sort of illusion that covers the lack of depth.

I'm quite sure that the movie would've been received better if it was in 3D (I'm not a 3D fan by the way ...) especially considering that the cinematography is not very original, and the effects are the ones that steal the show. Anyway, even in 2D these look very good, probably on top being the train accident. Apart from the technical part, the first thing to notice is the children group "carrying" basically the movie from the beginning to the end, and whom I tend to believe that we'll be hearing of again as names in the next generation of actors.

Despite the fact that the story is in the end relatively simple, this impression is covered like I said above throughout the movie by the way it unveils. What should be mentioned are some tendencies/resemblance with other older titles, that might bring some pleasant memories for who has seen them :) . I would mention here "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" by Spielberg (who is actually producing "Super 8"). I don't recall the movie in details, but visually, as setting and I would risk to say also as sound I think it relates to what you can see in "Super 8". Another reference, quite explicit this time ( just watch the credits ... or what's near them :) ) is Romero, about who (coincidence) I was writing in the previous entry about "The Crazies". The reference doesn't stop at the name and at the zombie movie the kids are trying to shoot but it goes in depth a bit further up to the idea of crisis cell managed by the army, and also other stuff, but I'm not sure it's ok to give more details because I'm really getting close to spoiling something :) . So, the conclusion is like I was stating in the beginning, around 3.5 out of 5 .. but since I'm always rounding ;) ...

Rating: 4 out of 5

Source Code (2011)

"Source Code" is the movie that has probably the most idiotic title from all I've seen in the last 10 years - and that's for not exaggerating and saying since when I watched the first movie (is that bad, that I think it's the first time when I actually prefer the Romanian "translation": "Identity Transfer"). And to add a bit more to that, the trailer follows closely on the stupidity level. Probably that's why my final impression is completely opposite, because I expected something bad, and what I've seen was pretty different from that. So ...

The starting idea is quite simple. We have a train going to Chicago which blows up at a certain moment. This is a fact that happened (= considered in the past), and that was announced as the "prequel" for the real terrorist attack to come = blowing the whole town up. Therefore, all the affair is investigated under time pressure by the US Army, using the latest secret available technology ... the "source code" ... (again, bad choice of name ... really bad). What's this .. source code ? ... apparently it refers to the possibility for one individual to mentally relive the last 8 minutes from other individual's life, by accessing the short term memory from the dead guy's brain. So, this brings us to the starting point of the movie, when an US Air Force pilot wakes up enclosed in a capsule, having the mission to continuously explode in the bombed train where he relives the last minutes of a passenger, until he manages to find out who placed the bomb there.

From this starting point, the movie gets more and more complicated. What's interesting is that it doesn't attempt to explain much. I really don't want to say more, not to spoil anything, so I don't know how clear will be what follows form here, but ... Well, the ending is not that cryptic being quite easy to understand, but you don't know exactly why is like that = you're pretty much left to place the links yourself to explain it, which I think is the best choice in this case. I will only say that the main idea in what you see is not as time related as it is space related. And from this onwards you can try to fit the facts to get some coherence. As a personal interpretation (which originates in some short story ideas that are waiting to be finished someday ...) and for the sake of the conversation, let's consider as premise that "u're soul" or smth like this is not dead when you're dead. What the movie gives me built from that (actually it doesn't give because it doesn't say how .. but it's supposed to be possible) is an hypothetical solution to the problem of how do you connect "your soul" to "your body" or more exactly to "your late brain" in order for "your soul" not to start again from 0 .. neurologically speaking :). Well, as I said, is a very personal interpretation and I don't have neither the time and the mood to talk about it now ... let's go back to more "real" and concrete stuff :)

Like I said above you won't get much explicit interpretation given by the movie (or at least none that relates to the deeper parts) - it's just facts and as the movie unravels the story will give you more and more information = again plain actual facts. Probably if it would have given all from starters it would be much more fuzzy in the end than it is, so I think it's quite ok scripted as it is = (light spoiler) gradually revealing elements from what's nothing else than the starting context. The thing is that doing so and adding also the repetitive action, the result might be a bit ... cold, if not actually boring from some point on, so we have also a bit of love story added in the script, to add more warmth (besides what the explosion fire gives). My conclusion is that the script is beautifully written (especially considering that comes from a guy who doesn't have much until now besides ... "Species" 3 and 4). To this, you can also add the directing - Duncan Jones ("Moon"). I don't know what else to mention because I don't think there is anything to .. The cinematography, the sound, the effects, even the acting ... all of it is .. let's say normal, nothing impressive. And honestly, you can feel the lack of something more = it would have had top movie potential if it had more to add at least to one of these categories .. without it ...

Rating: 4 out of 5

PS: Did I tell you that the trailer sounds .. plain dumb ? ...