Movie reviews

This is an interesting sci-fi drama, about a monster devouring the inhabitants of a small town in Alaska with barely 300 people in it.

It turns out due to man's use of fossil fuels the polar ice caps are melting, which imprisoned mythical creatures from Norse legend The Wyvern, that apparently were created to feast on the dead, but were unsatiated that they moved from the dead to the living, then to all they could find even biting Odin the ruler of Valhalla, hence he banished them to be imprisoned in the polar ice caps for all eternity.

We start off when an unlucky camper enjoying a nice day of fishing cuts his finger on his hook, and walking over to the stream to examine it, his blood drops into the river and moments later the Wyvern, with what looks like the head of a dinosaur, the tail of a snake (a very powerful tail for that matter) and a body with two legs and two wings, makes the hapless man a quick meal.

We then meet some of the people in this idyllic town, Claire played by the lovely Erin Karpluk (Being Erica), who runs the local restaurant everyone congregates to, the local doctor, Dr. David Yates played by David Lewis (White Chicks) who is in love with her, while she only has eyes for Joe Suttner played by Nick Chinlund (Ultraviolet), a drifter who is waiting for an insurance payout for his truck, and holding a very sore heart over the loss of his brother in the same incident. He offers to fix the steps of Claire's restaurant for free, while she offers him breakfast on the house, he politely refuses but she insists that this is the least she can do, we get an idea of how close and friendly everyone is by the fact that some of the customers (if not all of them) don't have to pay for any meals.

Soon afterwards Dr. Yates visits Joe in his caravan, to fix his arm, but really to ask him to lay off Claire as he reckons Joe will be leaving the town as soon as his insurance payout comes through, while Claire and himself will still be in the town, Joe assures the doctor he is not interested in Claire, the doctor apologises and leaves Joe's caravan, but unfortunately he is attacked by the Wyvern, and only his arm is left for the Sheriff, Chief Dawson played by John Shaw (Happy Gilmore) and Joe to discover.

The whole town now faces a desperate race against time to get outside help, relying on General Travis Sherman played by the late Don S. Davis (Stargate SG-1), who previously had tried to get an emergency message to be aired from the town radio station after spotting the creature, but his request was denied by the town's Disc Jockey Hampton played by the lovely Tinsel Korey (The Twilight Saga: New Moon).

When the whole town eventually finds out that there is a monster on the loose, they all face the challenge of contacting help from the outside, and the even more daunting task of what to say to get anyone to believe them.

It is a lovely action thriller very similar in character to Tremors.

Labels: Don S. Davis, drama, Erin Karpluk, fantasy, film review, film reviews, films, John Shaw, Movie Review, Movie Reviews, movies, Nick Chinlund, sci-fi, science fiction, suspense, thriller, Tinsel Korey, Wyvern

This is a very well made crime drama starring John Leguizamo as two characters Dante Mendoza and his twin brother Perfecto.

It starts off with a seemingly ordinary day where a cop Alberto Santana played by Benny Nieves and his partner Joe Bruno played by the stalwart Harvey Keitel (Pulp Fiction), have come to wish Alberto's daughter Celeste a happy birthday, as Alberto , his wife Gina played by Diane Venora (The 13th Warrior) and Celeste are walking arm in arm towards Celeste's present, a gunman from nowhere turns up and shoots Alberto point blank, then hands Celeste a pamphlet that reads "A Message from the Lord".

We meet Celeste several years later who is now a police officer and played by the gorgeous Florencia Lozano (One Life to Live, she looks very much like Matt Parkman's wife in Heroes), and whose partner is none other than her father's partner Joe. She is still very bitter at not having caught the murderer of her father, who also at the same time period that her father was killed, killed two businessmen that had committed insurance fraud, where a fire is set to dilapidated buildings in order to collect the insurance money.

In turns out that a similar murder has just taken place with the trademark of "The Ministers" where two armed men wearing a hairy face mask, enter a drug fueled neighbourhood and proceed to shoot all the men they encounter, but leave the women as witnesses, with one of them quoting scripture to her as his partner kills the others.

Celeste is extremely keen on taking the case, much to the despair of her boss, Captain Diaz played by Wanda De Jesus (Blood Work), as well as Joe. Joe on the other hand feels a little guilty for the death of his partner after so many years, and the last thing he would like is for Celeste to put herself in danger, when he has ingrained himself into their family, and considers her his daughter.

Matters come to an interesting twist when one of the twin brothers responsible for killing her father Dante, takes a liking to her and proceeds to charm his way into her life, first by offering to fix her car which has broken down, if she will go out on a date with him, he asks her if she has a jack, she says no, then he says that would mean extra, as in dinner instead of a date, he then asks her if she has a spare tyre, she says no, and he says that could mean dancing and maybe more.

The other twin Perfecto who has the upper hand amongst the two, is still intent on revenge for the harm that has been done to him, while Dante would like to put the past to rest, seeing he is falling for Celeste, but as things go, it is clear things will never be this straight forward.

John Leguizamo is impressive in both roles, playing the more level headed of the twins Dante charmingly, as well as the psychotic and jealous twin Perfecto in equal measure. The suspense will keep the audience at the edge of their seat, on how it all pans out.

Labels: crime, drama, film review, film reviews, films, Florencia Lozano, Harvey Keitel, John Leguizamo, Movie Review, Movie Reviews, movies, romance, romantic, suspense, The Ministers, thriller, Wanda De Jesus

This is a fantastic science fiction movie that served as a template to launch a new action star in Vin Diesel (Saving Private Ryan, something about his voice reminds me of an engine).

He stars as Richard B. Riddick, a no-nonsense convict, who is being transported by an equally rugged bounty hunter William J. Johns played by Cole Hauser (Too Fast Too Furious). The rest of the crew headed by the captain Carolyn Fry, played by the lovely Radha Mitchell (Phone Booth), are all told to steer clear of Riddick as he is considered extremely dangerous, hence the very large bounty on his head, and are told Riddick would sooner take the ship and leave every one stranded if he could, in order to save his skin.

They crash land on an apparently desert planet, with supplies running low, and the crew of the ship made up of an Imam, Abu Al Walid played by Keith David (Crash) and his disciples searching for New Mecca. In a desperate search for water, they happen to come across what looks like trees from a distance but on closer inspection it seems it is the skull of a dead animal almost like a dinosaur. It soon becomes obvious to the rest of crew that there is life on this planet, and eerily, this particular night, an eclipse will occur which would mean the nightlife will come out in search of food, seeking out fresh victims in the crew.

The captain makes a decision that they must all work together if they are to successfully get out of this planet, and that involves freeing Riddick, while Riddick's bounty hunter William keeps a close guard, weapon at the ready in case Riddick tries anything.

Riddick seems to have gotten a fan in the midst of the crew, which could end up ominously for all involved.

In the midst of all this Riddick does have a little advantage over all the other members of the crew, his eyesight is superb in the dark, however he is extremely sensitive to light not unlike the creatures on the planet, and he has to wear some made to order goggles to protect his eyesight. Since Riddick is the only one able to navigate at night when the creatures on the planet are hunting, he is the only one best equipped to gather the equipment needed to fix the ship, so they can all fly out of this dangerous planet, but Riddick seems to only look out for himself, unless Fry can convince him to show some humanity, which is not one of his strong traits.

Labels: Action, Cole Hauser, drama, fantasy, film review, film reviews, films, Keith David, Movie Review, Movie Reviews, movies, Pitch Black, Radha Mitchell, Rhianna Griffith, sci-fi, science fiction, suspense, Vin Diesel

This is a very entertaining futuristic science fiction movie, that has one of the best trailers out there purely for its suspense.

It stars Bruce Willis (Die Hard) as James Cole who has been placed in a psychiatric ward, lead by Kathryn Railly played by the lovely Madeleine Stowe (We were soldiers), in the same ward is Jeffrey Goines played charismatically by Brad Pitt, he simply steals the show in every scene he is in.

Cole tells an unbelieving Kathryn that he is from the future where there are no animals, and a plague has wiped out most of humanity, and his mission is to prevent the first occurrence of the virus that lead to the plague.

However he is constantly taken back to the future for a progress report, which disorientates his thoughts and mindset. It turns out he is a prisoner in the future, and doing this mission will guarantee a pardon.

It seems there are problems sending him back to the correct time line to continue his mission; after being debriefed on how progress on the mission is going. When sent back, in some cases he is several years out of sync with the proposed date he is supposed to be in, with one occurrence landing him in the trenches of the First World War where he is unfortunately shot in the leg.

Of course Kathryn doesn't believe a word he says, and sees him as an advanced delusional schizophrenic, until she happens to look through an archive book of the First World War, and sees a clear picture of James in it, she also happens to have the bullet from World War One in his leg removed and analysed, and she confronts him as to how he came to have a bullet from World War One in his leg.

At this point she begins to believe him, and although James wishes for it not to be true, and that he is still a psychiatric patient (since he prefers this timeline) in a world without a plague, realises he must continue his mission of preventing the plague that has wiped out most of humanity. It becomes a desperate race against time for James and Kathryn to find who is responsible for the plague, the only clue they have to go on is a sect called the Twelve Monkeys that may or may not be responsible for setting off the first instance of the plague.

Labels: 12 Monkeys, Brad Pitt, Bruce Willis, drama, fantasy, film review, film reviews, films, Madeleine Stowe, Movie Review, Movie Reviews, movies, science fiction, suspense

This is a dark futuristic view of how the world could possibly become, where everyone has a surrogate, a robot with all the features of a human, that is controlled remotely by the owner, with the owner having all their senses interact with whatever the machine is encountering. The owner lives in a virtual world, where the surrogate lives his or her life for him or her, the plausible justification for it of course is that the owner is less at risk from disease and infection, and indeed any harm to their real body, they can virtually go to work, and play, with no worries about their real body, all the toll is taken on the surrogate.

From the opening credits we get introduced to the justification for surrogates, with first a machine where a monkey controls an arm containing a nut with just its mind, to people who are paralysed, controlling robots to do their daily tasks, and people in the army using surrogates for war without any fear of their real bodies being in danger.

Soon Congress signs in to law surrogates for the use in every day lives, but as usual there are objectors to this whole idea of surrogates, the main opponent of this is The Prophet played by Ving Rhames (Pulp fiction), who has set up communes where only humans are allowed. We meet our protagonist, a very young looking Bruce Willis (12 Monkeys) as Tom Greer along with his partner Peters played by the lovely Radha Mitchell (Pitch Black), who are investigating the murder of a surrogate, but in this case, the owner of the surrogate died at the same time the surrogate was destroyed. It turns out that the owner of the surrogate is non other than the son of the inventor of surrogates, Canter played by the dependable James Cromwell (L.A. Confidential).

It seems a weapon has been developed that not only can destroy surrogates, but can at the same time end the life of the operator connected to the surrogate. Tom has personally set himself the task of finding out who murdered Canter's son and getting hold of this deadly weapon, but he has a mountain to climb to get to the bottom of this, with the head of his department Stone played by Boris Kodjoe (Starship Troopers 3 : Marauder), not happy with his tactics, and Tom himself having doubts about the whole idea of surrogates, unlike his wife Maggie played by the gorgeous Rosamund Pike (The Libertine), who prefers this new life than any other, and looking at her surrogate and indeed virtually all of the surrogates, you can see why, as they all look young and flawless, there is a memorable scene where the real Tom comes into his police department and the clerk surrogate looks at him and mutters "you look terrible".

This of course is a warning about how the current state of the Internet could evolve, from people able to do many things online they previously had to do in person, to being able to do their daily tasks from the comfort of their computer.

Labels: Boris Kodjoe, Bruce Willis, film review, film reviews, films, internet, James Cromwell, machines, Movie Review, Movie Reviews, movies, Radha Mitchell, Rosamund Pike, sci-fi, Surrogates, suspense, thriller

This is a lovely movie encompassing sadness, hope and suspense.

It is shot almost as a documentary in the life of one charming Senegalese taxi driver played wonderfully and humanely by Souleymane Sy Savane , who is commonly referred to as Solo.

He is trying to get into flight school, as well as looking after his new wife, adopted daughter and baby on the way.

He happens to come across an elderly gentleman, William played with a great deal of melancholy by Red West (former bodyguard of Elvis) in his cab, who wants him to pick him up on a certain date no questions asked, and take him to "Blow Rock" where he is never coming back all for a considerable amount of money for a taxi driver.

Solo is a little saddened at this, as he says in his country, everybody looks after the elderly, even so much as to put food in their mouths if they have no teeth.

Solo is a little apprehensive, but takes the money, but he is hoping whatever William is planning on doing he can be dissuade him. He reckons he probably just needs a friend to get him to see how much life is worth living, and so Solo takes on the task of being his friend, introducing him to his lovely step daughter Alex played by the adorable Diana Franco Galindo, and his pregnant wife Quiera played by Carmen Leyva who isn't too pleased with Solo bringing in a stranger into the house.

Solo charms his way into the William's life, at least the little he knows of it so far, and tries to get William to reveal a little about himself, any family if any, and the reasons why he would like to go to "Blow Rock" and never want to return, Solo tries to get William introduced to his family, his friends and associates, surprisingly the gentleman does seem cordial and sociable at these moments, but there is a deep sadness in his eyes when alone. Just as the audience begins to believe Solo is making headway it suddenly changes, which keeps the suspense enthralling throughout.

Labels: Carmen Levya, Diana Franco Galindo, drama, film review, film reviews, films, friendship, Goodbye Solo, Movie Review, Movie Reviews, movies, Red West, Souleymane Sy Savane, suspense, taxi, taxi-cab

Movie reviews this week looks at the ecological suspense thriller The Day After Tomorrow with Dennis Quaid (Inner Space) as a climatologist Jack Hall, who for years has been warning the U.S. government and the world in general that its' reliance on fossil fuels is causing a great deal of harm to the planet (a couple of years before Al Gore's Oscar winning An inconvenient truth).

His estimations of a global disaster from global warming which would usher in another ice age, which he predicts as a best guess estimate certainly not in his lifetime, that polar melting with disrupt the North Atlantic current, suddenly escalates to the present, with an ice age hitting the vast majority of America, and Jack in a desperate rush against time to save his son Sam Hall played by Jake Gyllenhaal (Donnie Darko), who is trapped in New York, which unfortunately is at the epicentre of this ice age.

This is one of the first movies to highlight the environment impact of our reliance on fossil fuels, with several scenes to ponder the potential disaster on our hands, one of these is a helicopter going over Scotland that suddenly just freezes at minus 150 degrees Fahrenheit and there is a great scene, where Jack has been telling the scientific community would happen albeit with some scoffing, that the sun would accelerate the rapid decline in temperature to beyond freezing point, immediately freezing structures, and anything that happens to pass within the rays of the sun at that particular time, unfortunately he gets to witness this phenomenon first hand in a desperate race against time to find shelter while everything around him freezes as the sun comes up.

There is also an unforgettable scene as the Tower of Liberty freezes solid.

Not only does he have to breach the bitter cold, he also has to fend off dogs that have gone insane from hunger, looking for anything warm blooded to eat, ergo any humans they can find.

We find out that Jack feels he has let down his son a little, and this journey to find him is something he has to do to make up for their relationship, there is a brilliant conversation at the beginning, where Jack finds out Sam has failed Calculus, and Sam replies he got every question right, and the only reason the lecturer failed him was because he didn't write out the solutions but did it instead in his head, Jack asks him if he told the lecturer, he told him he did, but the lecturer said if he couldn't do it in his head neither could Sam.

Labels: Dennis Quaid, disaster, drama, film review, film reviews, films, global warming, ice age, Jack Gyllenhaal, Movie Review, Movie Reviews, movies, suspense, The Day After Tomorrow, thriller

This is a deeply disturbing drama, that is based on true events although a great deal of liberty was taken with the truth, as often happens when movies are made based on such events. Nonetheless this is a deeply engrossing poignant drama.

It stars the superb Kate Beckinsale(Underworld) as Rachel Armstrong, a high flying journalist that has revealed the identity of a CIA agent Erica Van Doren played by Vera Farmiga(Running Scared), the government are none too happy about this, and have a federal prosecutor Patton Dubois played by Matt Dillon(absolutely brilliant in Traffic) in on the case, to get Rachel and her newspaper to reveal their source, he is at first charming to Rachel in a Southern manner, but then begins to place governmental pressure on Rachel and her employers on every area to get them or her to reveal her source, or else face federal indictments that could land her in prison.

As not being able to divulge their sources is key to the openness many journalists are able to benefit with regarding their potential sources, she refuses, backed by her boss Bonnie Benjamin played by Angela Bassett(What's love got to do with it, Malcolm X), and her top notch lawyer Alan Burnside played by Alan Alda(What women want).

Matters come to a crescendo as the CIA operative whose cover had been blown confronts Rachel on a number of occasions to reveal her source, and the strain on her life at work and home is beginning to tell especially with her husband Ray played by David Schwimmer(Friends).

It is brilliant acting all through, and you are never quite ready with the what has been laid out for the finale.

Labels: Alan Alda, Angela Bassett, based on true events, Courtnet B. Vance, David Schwimmer, drama, film reviews, films, Kate Beckinsale, Matt Dillon, Movie Reviews, movies, Nothing but the truth, suspense

This is a very strange and engrossing movie, starring Russell Crowe(Gladiator), Jon Foster, and a brilliant Sophie Traub(The interpreter).
It tells the story of a recovering psychopath Eric Poole(Jon Foster) having his record exhumed for killing his religious parents, because in his mind, he didn't really do anything, according to the detective who has made him his own special pet project, Detective Cristofuoro(Crowe),
he is addicted to the "tenderness" of the kill, and remembers nothing of the incidents.

Cristofuoro has made Eric his "pet project" partly because he has nothing else of interest in his life, his wife is terminally ill, and stopping Eric is all he looks forward to.

On his release Cristofuoro meets him telling him, he is a psychopath, and will kill again, and they both know this, and he(Cristofuoro) will be watching him to make sure it doesn't happen.

Prior to this meeting we are introduced to the young, often effervescent, typical teenager Lori(Sophie Traub), who is having some problems at home opening up with her mother and her new boyfriend, she finds escape with what seems romantic notions about Eric, and soon after his release makes the trip to go and see him, hiding in his car, as he goes on a road trip, telling his aunt Teresa(Laua Dern, Jurassic Park), he is off to view some colleges.

During the road trip we find out that Lori had met Eric before although he is having problems remembering, there are some well acted tense moments, when you wonder what on earth Lori has got herself into, as Detective Cristofuoro paraphrased would say "he will kill again it is only a matter of time", but the alarming reality for Lori is she knows all about Eric with an angst ridden typical teenager, innocent manner "loves" him, much to his confusion.

We also get an insight on how Eric views people, notable Detective Cristofuoro who he regards "as a small beans cop with a vegetable for a wife", he tells Lori he only has to ask about his wife to "shut him up", she replies that isn't this how people generally are, the look of nonchalance on Eric's visage speaks volumes.

This is a brilliant suspense thriller, and a solid performance from all, the star of the movie notably without a doubt is Sophie Traub and she is sure to be a rising star.

Labels: drama, film reviews, films, independent movie, indie, Jon Foster, Laura Dern, Movie Reviews, movies, Russell Crowe, Sophie Traub, suspense, Tenderness, thriller