Another Earth (2011)

At a glance:
Sci-fi elements combine with a story of grief in this intriguing, intellectual drama/thriller

Our review (with spoilers):
Rhoda (Brit Marling) is a sharp young woman who has just been accepted into MIT. Her whole brilliant life is in front of her. She is driving home drunk from her celebration party when she hears, on the car radio, that a new ‘blue’ planet has been discovered. As she gazes up at the sky, she crosses the road and hits another car. The occupants are Yale professor John Burroughs (William Mapother), who ends up in a coma, and his wife and child, who die. Four years later, Rhoda emerges from incarceration, a quiet and severely damaged woman. Conversely, the blue planet has thrived in the interim; it appears to be frighteningly similar to Earth in topology, and when voice contact is made, it seems that the planet is a mirror image, including duplicates of the people. Rhoda dreams of escaping to this planet on one of the manned flights that are being planned. At the same time, she tracks down the professor. Her attempt to say who she is and to apologize is botched, and instead she begins cleaning his house, slowly improving his hygiene and his level of squalor.

The core idea has been used many times before – that of the infiltrator who ‘stalks’ someone with hidden knowledge about how they are connected. But Another Earth uniquely blends drama and thriller with a dash of sci-fi in ways that perhaps have never been mixed and mashed before.

The two leads are excellent. Marling makes the intellectuality of her character believable – and that is such an important element of the story. Mapother has an undercurrent of unpredictability in the way he carries himself – Lost fans will remember how his character Ethan combined congeniality with menace in the early episodes of that series. Here, his character is different but just as effective.

Director Mike Cahill (who co-wrote with Marling) turns a small budget into a beautiful film. It has its own pace as we wade through grief, but the moments of power are effective. One minor distraction was the overuse of crash zoom, although, in a sense, this effect fits well in a sci-fi themed movie; it reminded me of the fight scenes from the Battlestar Galactica reimagining.

Major spoiler alert – do not read this unless you have already seen the film! The last scene in the film features Rhoda’s double, newly arrived from the mirror planet. What does this mean? I believe it is an indication that Rhoda was about to find out that on the mirror planet, there was a version of herself that did not crash into the car, and that John’s family – and her life – were intact there.

Rating: 3.5 of 4

Other reviewers said:
"Another Earth is a tough movie to shake off... resisting movie tactics that usually accompany such material. Using a sci-fi premise to engage a grounded, almost pedestrian story of guilt and regret is a bold stroke."
- Steve Persall (St. Petersburg Times)

 

The Adjustment Bureau (2011)

Movie quotes:
"Tell me why I can’t be with Elise…because the last guy didn’t know."
- David

At a glance:
Based on a Phillip K. Dick story, there’s a clever concept at the heart of the Adjustment Bureau, but it is severely manhandled

Our review (with spoilers):
Congressman David Norris (Matt Damon) has his bid to run for the Senate squelched when  a long-ago college prank becomes a breaking story on election eve. Soon after, mysterious men appear, all wearing similar old man hats, to perform some sort of adjustment of events to suit their upstairs ‘chairman’. David finds out by accident, and then becomes our conduit to discover more about these ‘angels’ or case workers. Meanwhile, David continues to try to track down Elise (Emily Blunt), a mysterious woman who he met on election night, even though he has been forbidden to do so by these same adjusters.

This is your typical bland Hollywood approach to sci-fi. There’s a real laziness in establishing the A story. Why do we care whether David gets elected or not – just because he is young or is Matt Damon? Why do we care whether David and Elise make a love connection? The script and director George Nolfi barely lift a finger to convince us. And John Slattery plays his role way too flippantly for a guy who can change the world with a wave of his arm. There’s also way too much ‘Exposition Man’ syndrome - David conveniently has an angel (Anthony Mackie) to explain the convoluted rules of adjustment – most of which are soon broken anyway when it furthers the plot.

On the plus side, things briefly improve when Terence Stamp is on camera, and Emily Blunt’s dancing is excellent.

Rating: 2 of 4

Other reviewers said:
"Philip K. Dick's story The Adjustment Team was published in 1954. But the movie The Adjustment Bureau only trades on Dick's name. All else is shoved aside by George Nolfi, who directed and wrote the screenplay."
- Tony Macklin (tonymacklin.net)

"We know Damon and Blunt are a perfect fit mostly because they finish each other's cutesy banter."
- Geoff Berkshire (Metromix.com)

"…all the sci-fi stuff about men in hats and trench coats dictating life on Earth clashes brutally with the lovey-dovey meet-cutes."
- Steven Snyder (Techland)

 

Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)

Movie quotes:
"Take your stinking paws off me you damn dirty ape!"
- Dodge Landon (homage to the original film)

At a glance:
James Franco is appealingly sincere, and Andy Serkis creates a memorable simian in the entertaining and visually impressive Planet of the Apes prequel

Our review (with spoilers):
In San Francisco, Will Rodman (James Franco), an innovative geneticist, has discovered a wonder drug that may be able to cure Alzheimer’s. He’d love to finish testing on chimpanzees and get it approved pronto so he can use it to help his own deteriorating father (John Lithgow). When one tested chimpanzee goes berserk, the order is given to abandon the project and terminate the chimps. Will rescues and cares for a baby chimp dubbed Ceasar. Soon, Caesar, who has inherited the wonder drug’s effects from his mom, begins to show signs of advanced intelligence.

I have to admit that I was not a big Francophile when I arrived at this film. James Franco had not over-impressed me to date. I thought his best roles were playing crazed eccentrics (in Date Night and Pineapple Express). He has a way of slurring his words that stretch his credibility as a genius scientist. And yet I must also admit that he is excellent here.

Ceasar is played by Andy Serkis. Serkis did all the physical movements while wearing motion capture gear, and then WETA Digital of New Zealand (the same group that did Avatar, and also Serkis as Gollum in Lord of the Rings) ape-ified him. Serkis is perhaps the world’s leading specialist actor at this type of role; wearing the motion capture does not detract from his performance, and he is able to inhabit a cross-species personality, making Ceasar captivating to watch. And in fact, the apes are so wonderfully realized, their story and interactions are much more intriguing than the clichéd humans.

This is an oft-told story of slavery, enlightenment, revolt, and freedom, modernized with state-of-the-art digitally enhanced performances. Action fans will enjoy the full-out 20 minute battle scene; I appreciated the personality/drama/thriller aspects more. But there’s something for everyone, and there’s little doubt that at least one more prequel can be stuffed in the timeline between this story and the original film. I’m already looking forward to it.

Rating: 3 of 4

Other reviewers said:
"It stays true to the central metaphor of the original films and takes its time setting the story up so that when the apes finally do run amok, we are totally invested in the story."
- Eric Melin (Scene-Stealers.com)

 

Planet of the Apes (2001)

Movie quotes:"The young ones make great pets. Just make sure you get rid of them before they mature. Believe me, the last thing you want is a human teenager running around your house."
- Limbo

At a glance:
Although Tim Burton’s take on the apes franchise is flawed in big ways, it’s still entertaining pulp sci-fi

Our review (with spoilers):
From the very beginning, there are gorilla-sized problems with Tim Burton’s Planet of the Apes. First, the space sequences have nothing that stamps it as a Burton film. Then, we get to the Planet (of the you-know-whos) and suddenly Burton decides that the apes should be amusing quipsters, obsessed human-lovers, or violent warriors. Every ape is a cliché. No one truly cared about making the apes into layered characters, so they come off like so many cartoon Grinches, with no one more Grinchy than Limbo (Paul Giamatti). Contrast this (and I know it’s not completely fair to flash forward) with the way Ceasar is constructed in 2011’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes. He is leader, friend, warrior, and thinker – capable of limitless paths and emotions – and his multi-layered character is created virtually without using the spoken language.

The good news about Burton’s take on the Planet is that his eccentric touches finally are evident. The choices might be wrong, but it’s still fun to watch. For example, he sets up an unusual love triangle, with Ari the chimp (Helena Bonham Carter) and Daena the underage cave-girl (Estella Warren) both fawning over stranded astronaut Leo Davidson (Mark Wahlberg). The film continues to improve once Leo leads a small band of apes and humans against the warring regiments of the brutal Thade (Tim Roth). Charleton Heston gets an extended cameo dying scene as Thade’s father.

Even though the choices are strange, Wahlberg’s performance seems too subdued, and this feels like a film driven to cash in on the franchise, it’s still light entertainment and a lot of breezy fun.

Rating: 2.5 of 4

Other reviewers said:
"...one of the most entertaining check-your-brain-at-the-door flicks in recent years."
- David Nusair (Reel Film Reviews)

 

Inception (2010)

Movie quotes:
Cobb: For this to work, we'd have to buy off the pilots...
Arthur: And we'd have to buy off the flight attendants...
Saito: I bought the airline.
[Everybody turns and stares at him. Saito just shrugs]
Saito: It seemed neater.

At a glance:
An imaginative core concept is weakened by the need for endless exposition and stock Hollywood action sequences

Our review (with spoilers):
Around 87 percent of the registered critics on Rotten Tomatoes gave a favorable review to Inception. They didn’t have a problem with the endless exposition necessary to explain the rules of its singular dream universe – and that’s great. I wish I felt that way too and had enjoyed this dream more. I wanted to love this film, since it was directed by Christopher Nolan (who has helmed some of my most favorite films like Batman Begins and The Prestige), but I just could not connect to the emotions of the narrative.

The story in brief: Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a professional dream extractor: one who enters and navigates the dreams of another to find valuable secrets. Due to a personal tragedy, he has been separated from his children. To get back together with them, he must do one last big extraction, so he assembles a crack team. This is a trendy, diversified cast: Ellen Page, Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy, Tom Berenger, and even Pete Poslethwaite (in a small role). It is DiCaprio’s emotional journey that must carry the film, and for me, I find his acting shallow.

There is an endless parade of exposition in the film; characters are constantly having conversations merely for the purpose of outlining this alternative universe for the audience. A little exposition is often necessary in fantasy / sci-fi, but in this film it is used throughout its lengthy running time of 2 ½ hours. Nolan tries to jazz all this talk up with a lingering bass beat in the background, but you can’t fool me.

Rating: 1 of 4

Other reviewers said:
"The dream logic of Inception -- which deals, like Nolan's far more intriguing Memento, with the architecture of memory and the nature of reality -- is stymied by a clunking script, crammed with expository exchanges and urgent blather."
- Steven Rea (Philadelphia Inquirer)

"Mixes arcane talk about dreams with traditional action sequences resulting in strange and ineffective hybrid."
- Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat (Spirituality and Practice)

Avatar (2009)

Movie quotes:

"Just relax and let your mind go blank. That shouldn't be too hard for you."
- Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver)

At a glance:
Avatar creates a stunningly original and beautiful 3-D paradise, then sadly destroys it with fire, noise, and cardboard caricatures

Our review (with spoilers):
At 175 minutes, Avatar is lengthy enough to be two movies. In fact, it basically is two movies. In this imaginative universe, a mining company is tasked to take what they need from a pristine land and to eliminate any indigenous people that get in their way. The first two hours, although burdened with a script that fires off every movie cliché and classic situation one after the other, still is a triumph of 3-D visuals over substance. This beautiful world is populated by computer-generated indigenous tribes and visited by humans (inside indigenous-lookalike shells called Avatars). One man, Sully (Sam Worthington) seems the least likely to infiltrate this simpler, spiritual culture – after all, he’s a former marine. But his warrior skills come in handy, and he slowly warms to the parts of the culture that worship the forest and the trees. But Sully is conflicted. Even as he is falling in love with Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) and the Na’vi culture, he is also delivering intelligence to General Quaritch (Stephen Lang, in a strikingly effective role), the no-nonsense former jarhead in charge of strong-armed military operations for the mining company.

There are emotional hooks galore in the first two-thirds of Avatar. Sully in the human world is confined to a wheelchair; there is great joy in seeing him within his Avatar body for the first time, running, jumping, unencumbered. His slow transformation into one of the indigenous people is somewhat less effective. The concept of creating lab-hatched indigenous bodies and then controlling them via mind links has many more possibilities than were realized here. This film would have benefited from a bit more juxtaposition. Rather than spending the last hour in a long, loud, fire fight, mostly between outmatched tribes bouncing poison arrows off armored helicopters, what if some of the baddies, like Quaritch, were forced to live as an Avatar? Could Quaritch have reached an understanding of the Na’vi culture? And if not, wouldn’t it have been satisfying to see the people whom he devastated deliver his just desserts? The emotional punch from a redemption story like that would have been much stronger than from all guns blazing. Still, this is the price we pay for the way movies are made in Hollywood today. With an estimated budget of 280 million dollars, director James Cameron would not be allowed to take any risks. He has to create a product that will have action, action, action (this ensures strong overseas box office) and he must play it safe, or he would never be able to get that kind of backing. To his credit, he did achieve the goal of beating all existing box office records (besting his own Titanic). No matter what else you think, this guy knows how to make an epic blockbuster.

Avatar could have been a much quieter masterpiece. But let’s take it for what it is. It is still a landmark film for its visuals. And most people will ignore the script deficiencies and just enjoy the epic scale. It’s easier to do so when you get more of an appreciation for the technological leaps that were made to make this groundbreaking film. Check out this link for more information on the making of
Avatar.

Rating: 2.75 of 4

Other reviewers said:
"As superbly rendered as his 3D world is, Cameron has populated it with characters who are strictly 2D. And sometimes not even that."
- Jim Schembri (The Age [Australia])

Knowing (2009)

At a glance:
Knowing’s weird combination of end-of-the-world fatalism and religious salvation doesn’t mesh well, but it’s still a captivating and imaginative sci-fi outing, laced with a typical ‘detached passion’ performance by Nicolas Cage

Our review (with MAJOR spoilers):
Knowing starts off with one obvious goal: to break the record for saying a little girl’s name in a movie. Previously, this record was held by Poltergeist 3 with ‘Carole Anne’. Here, it is ‘Lucinda’ that gets repeated over and over and over. This Lucinda is special. She is being whispered to, haunted, by something or someone. We can assume it could be extraterrestrials, because her whispers coincide with drawings of the future done by schoolchildren in 1959 and buried in a time capsule (and because this film is in the sci-fi genre). While all the other kids draw pictures, Lucinda covers her page from top to bottom with neat rows of numbers. Later, she is discovered with her fingers bloody from the indecipherable message she is scraping on the wall of a closet.

Flash forward to 2009, where tormented, faith-free professor John Koestler (Nicolas Cage) raises his 12 year old son Caleb alone, because the mother died. John’s science does not allow him to believe in heaven, but he encourages Caleb to make his own choice about such things. The capsule is opened and the children’s drawings from ’59 are distributed to the children of ’09. Caleb hears those same whispers, receives Lucinda’s numbered page, and sees a mystery man in the distance who quickly disappears.

Dad takes a closer look at those numbers and soon cracks the code. They are a series of pair of dates and death tolls. Like 9/11/01 2996 (Sept 11, 2001 – 2996 deaths). He keeps going, then suddenly drops his glass of scotch when he realizes there are three more tragedies predicted that have not yet occurred. Further research reveals that the other, seemingly random numbers are the latitudinal and longitudinal coordinates of each event.

Knowing is in some ways completely successful in its redemption story. In counterpoint to Signs, the hero will not save the world, just his own soul. The world, or at least humanity, is saved by another means. The middling reviews for this film do puzzle me, however, I thought it was very good pulp sci-fi, and once Cage stops being so catatonic (admittedly, this takes about half the picture), it is even compelling emotionally. For a picture of this ilk, there are many quiet moments, punctuated effectively by stunning disasters – including the short but sweet cataclysmic finale.

Rating:  2.5 of 4

Other reviewers said:
"The final message may be trite, even saccharine, but Knowing would be pretty well unbearable without it. Proyas has made a truly haunting and terrifying film."
- Evan Williams (The Australian)

Moon (2009)

At a glance:
Sam Rockwell excels in a challenging role as the slowly-going-mad man trapped in a long-term solo assignment on a moon base

Our review (with spoilers):
Sam Bell (Sam Rockwell) works alone in a small base on the moon, collecting helium for a global energy company. From inside his control center, he checks the status of three automated mining harvesters. For company, he has Gerty (voiced by Kevin Spacey), a computer sidekick who attends to his culinary and technical needs. He occupies his time by carving intricate miniature cities from wood, tending to his plants, running on a treadmill, and sending and receiving video messages to his comely wife and young daughter back on earth. It’s understandable that he’s going crazy: he is two weeks away from the end of a too-long three year stint at the base. He starts to see imaginary people, and this distraction causes him to crash his lunar rover. When he awakens, Gerty is attending to him in the infirmary and is using Eliza-style psychology to assure him that he is okay. When Sam is back on his feet, he gets curious about why one of the harvesters has stopped working. What he finds when he investigates further is something he was not supposed to ever see, and it will change his perspective on the world forever (I know, that sounds like a tagline, but I want to be careful what I say here).

Rockwell’s soliloquy starring role tasks him to create a number of different yet linked personas. What a great opportunity for him – and you can imagine that a large number of male leads would have been clamoring to be cast in this part.

Clint Mansell’s evocative music forms the perfect backdrop for this unusual saga.

Rating:  3 of 4

Other reviewers said:
"This is science fiction at its stimulating best."
- David Stratton (At the Movies [Australia])

District 9 (2009)

Movie quotes:

"When dealing with aliens, try to be polite, but firm. And always remember that a smile is cheaper than a bullet."
- Automated MNU Instructional Voice

MNU Agent: MNU! We're serving eviction notices.
Alien: What is ‘eviction’?

At a glance:
Director Neill Blomcamp’s first feature length film is a gritty, action-packed, and ‘realistic’ appraisal of humankind’s most expected reaction to the presence of drastically non-human aliens in their midst

Our review (with spoilers):
Johannesburg, South Africa is the unlikely entry point for the first Earth visit from extraterrestrials. A massive ship hovers over the city for months, taking no action and showing no signs of life, before it is finally raided from below. Its starving ‘cricket-like’ occupants appeared to be rejects from another world, and they are treated as such on Earth as well. They are held in an internment camp near Johannesburg. This decrepit shack city quickly deteriorates into a slum. When the residents of Johannesburg tire of the behavior that these violent scavenging aliens bring, a mass force eviction is planned to move the creatures 200 miles north to a new tent camp.

The man sent in to command the operation, Wikus Van De Merwe (Sharlto Copley), is as prejudiced as anyone. He’s probably a moderate – he’s derogatory, and has no qualms about illegally moving the aliens as long as there is a token effort made to make it look like it is legal. To his credit, he wants to do it without violence. While inspecting an alien’s shack, a small metal device sprays his face with a black fluid. De Merwe gets progressively more ill. Admitted to hospital, his arm turns into an alien claw. This is big news for the MNU, the alien wrangling / arms dealing multinational that employs him. They whisk him away and perform tests that prove De Merwe can now fire the aliens’ advanced DNA-specific laser guns. De Merwe is quickly sentenced to death by operation, his body to be unceremoniously harvested for organs and DNA, and then sold on the open market at great value.

While fleeing from his death sentence, De Merwe is sheltered by an alien (Christopher Johnson) and his son. Christopher, one of the most technically advanced aliens, has a plan to rescue his comrades and cure De Merwe.

District 9 paints an ugly picture of how humans might treat a visit from aliens. The documentary-style vision is bleak – and it’s probably a realistic appraisal of how humans would actually react. The aliens are grossly different in appearance. Humans hate and distrust those who are different. It is fair to say that the more differences, the greater the hate and distrust. Apartheid is used to isolate the aliens – in fact, the shacks used in the film are existing shacks from an apartheid area of Johannesburg. Most refreshingly, the film also scrupulously avoids any attempts at sentimentality via anthropomorphism.

District 9’s powerful themes cannot help but overpower their execution, especially when the budget was so small. The movement of the aliens suffers from obvious low-budget CGI constraints. Those comments aside, I have rarely finished watching a movie and been as keen for a sequel as I was at the end of District 9. The touching and open-ended conclusion cries out for more. And encouragingly, director Neill Blomcamp has already mentioned the ‘S’ word.

Rating:  3 of 4

Other reviewers said:
"District 9 is a ferocious fable. Potent and provocative, it is an allegory for our time. It is bursting with contemporary themes -- oppression, greed, power, propaganda, and the conflict of disparate cultures."
- Tony Macklin (tonymacklin.net)

Project Moon Base (1953)

Movie quotes:
General Greene: Now that we have a space station -
MST3K: - or Frisbee -
General Greene: - it is at last possible to send a ship -
MST3K: - or batteries -
General Greene: - all the way around the moon.
MST3K: - or playground ball.
(MST3K, commenting on the origin of props)

At a glance:
The Mystery Science 3000 team adds some humor to this flawed, misogynistic space procedural

Our review (with spoilers):
The USA is on the verge of building a base on the moon that will be used to monitor/defuse nuclear threats. Russia, of course, wants to foil that plan, so they send a spy to infiltrate a mission to circumnavigate the moon and take photos. The spy will attempt to take control of the ship and crash it. In his way are the pilot, Colonel Briteis (Donna Martell) and co-pilot, Major Bill Moore (Ross Ford). Briteis and Moore have to get past their petty squabbling and sexist jibes to defeat the spy.

Project Moon Base should, I suppose, be commended for showing women in positions of power (Colonel Briteis and the US President are women). However, these efforts are negated by its portrayal of ‘Brite-eyes’. She rarely shows any regard for army protocol, and what’s worse, when the situation turns dour, she all but relinquishes command and suddenly defers to the man in the space ship for help and guidance.

The film has a similar problem with the script and action, or lack of it. Fans of Star Trek: The Motion Picture and other more ‘realistic’, procedural-style films will like the basis in science and the lack of tricks or editing to speed up the action. Ships accelerate slowly; they dock slowly; everything happens slowly. Even the big spy fight happens slowly (because of gravitational issues).

I reviewed this film along with the Mystery Science Theater 3000 crew, headed by Joel Hodgson, in this season 1, episode 9 entry. Hodgson’s shows are laconic and match the pace of the film, allowing the movie to be appreciated on its own merits and demerits. There are occasional funny MST3K lines, but nothing to split your sides.

Rating:  1 of 4 (original film); 2 of 4 (MST3K)

Other reviewers said:
"One element that Heinlein tries to add is a touch of feminism, or to at least portray feminine equality in the male military environment. Maybe it was just Robert Heinlein, who tended to be a dirty old man at times, or maybe it was just the era in which the film was made, but much of the cod-feminism in fact collapses into embarrassing sexism."
- Moria (Science Fiction, Horror and Fantasy Film Review)

Freezer Burn (2007)

Movie quotes:
Virgil: Oh! Hey! It’s a tiny wooden moose!
Blake: It gave me a whittle cramp.
Virgil: Oh! You got a whittle cwamp?
Blake: A whittling cramp, a whittling cramp, ‘cause I was – I was up all night whittling!

Virgil: Alright, I’ll see ya – later.
Rex: Fifteen years.
Virgil: Fifteen years.

Gary: Here are your fuckin’ French Fries.
Rex: They’re Freedom Fries, Gary.
Gary: Yeah, sure.
Rex: You’re letting the terrorists win!

Rex: I’ll give you the rundown. A few years back, terrorists attacked us, fucked shit up royal – so, now we’re back in Iraq, and we’re asking for help, and the Frenchies are like, ‘No!’. So we’re all, like, ‘Bye, French Fries; hello, Freedom Fries’.
Virgil: Sounds…stupid and convoluted.
Rex: Yeah, and we got Freedom Toast, Freedom Bread, Freedom Dip, Freedom Kissin’…it’s a different world now, Virg – welcome to it. Need some ketchup – Gary!

At a glance:
An entertaining concept and some enthusiastic acting make Freezer Burn’s tale of cryogenic love a low-budget sci-fi gem

Our review (with spoilers):
Virgil Stamp (Robert Harriell) is a scientist whose goal is to prolong the ability to freeze donor organs. Buoyed by his success with monkey hearts, he makes the jump to believing he can freeze an entire living thing. A terminally ill dog is his first test; when that succeeds, he looks for another subject. In the meantime, his devotion to his work has caused tension between him and his wife, Blake (C. C. Seymour). This isn’t helped when he takes a liking to the paintings of Emma (Ella Rae Peck), a comely 14 year old student of Blake. When Blake finds out that he purchased one of Emma’s paintings behind her back, she destroys his frozen specimens, ruining his upcoming presentation. With his funding and his marriage terminated, Virgil realizes his feelings for Emma are true love. To prove his theories are correct, and to set up a legal meeting between Emma and himself, he freezes himself, leaving instructions for his assistant Rex (Michael Consiglio) to thaw him out in fifteen years. He also leaves instructions for Mendelson (Ivo Velon), a dodgy criminal who owes him a favor, to keep track of Emma. Eleven years later, a failure to pay notice means Virgil climbs out of his freezer in the middle of a dump, homeless and in his underwear. He has no friends, no money, and no outer garments. He eventually finds Rex, who is now homeless, and Mendelson finds him. Mendelson’s news is that Emma died in a car crash, but as he tells his story, we see that in reality, Mendelson fell in love with Emma and married her (this plotline is a bit similar to There’s Something About Mary).

There are moments of amateurish writing and acting in Freezer Burn, but not many, and not nearly enough to reduce the enjoyment of the clever concept, entertaining story, enthusiastic acting, and the general ‘feel-good’ mood of the whole project. Robert Harriell is particularly good in a demanding role that requires he is on-screen almost all the time, often by himself. Some of the fall foliage location filming in Connecticut is also beautiful. I’m hoping to see more from writer/director Charles Hood.

Rating: 2.75 of 4

Click here to order Freezer Burn on DVD

Other reviewers said:
"If you can look past the lack of polish, there are some very fun and entertaining bits in here."
- Curse of Greyface

Star Trek (2009)

Movie quotes:
”I like this ship! It's exciting!”
- Scotty (Simon Pegg)

Kirk (Chris Pine): Are you afraid or aren't you?
Spock (Zachary Quinto): I will not allow you to lecture me.
Kirk: Then why don't you stop me?

"You've always had a hard time finding your place in this world, haven't you? Never knowing your true worth. You can settle for less in ordinary life, or do you feel like you were meant for something better? Something special."
- Christopher Pike (Bruce Greenwood) to James Kirk

"Your father was captain of a starship for twelve minutes. He saved 800 lives, including yours. I dare you to do better. Enlist in Starfleet."
- Christopher Pike to James Kirk

McCoy (Karl Urban): We've got no Captain and no First Officer to replace him.
Kirk: Yeah, we do.

At a glance:
Director J. J. Abrams rejuvenates the Star Trek franchise with a vibrant, supercharged, action-oriented story that still holds respect for Trek history, and finds time for resonant character interaction

Our review:
(SPOILERS follow) A Romulan named Nero (Eric Bana) witnesses the total annihilation of his home planet by a supernova, and is thrown into a frenzy of anger directed at Ambassador Spock (Leonard Nimoy) whom he deems at fault for not acting qiockly enough to avert the disaster. Rifted back in time (along with Spock), he focuses solely on revenge; standing in his way is Spock’s younger self (Zachary Quinto) and Spock’s new commanding officer, James T. Kirk (Chris Pine).

This is J. J. Abrams’ frenetic, high budget, high volume, almost pure action reinvention of the Star Trek universe, cleverly constructed in an alternate timeline, so as to avoid any attacks against its continuity and adherence to canon. Co-written by Robert Orci (an admitted Trekker) and Alex Kurtzman, the script and story is well-structured to provide plenty of moments of heroism and redemption, with occasional dips into light humor. Abrams went for a very claustrophobic direction style, and probably too many beatings of Kirk, but, overall, the direction adds to the movement and excitement.

I’ll leave a more detailed critique of the special effects to those who focus more on these things; for me, the money spent was evident, and the earth-based effects were good, but I found most of the space-based effects to be too dark and muddled for my taste.

I tend to relate to the character moments, anyway; these are in the minority, but the ones that are there are effective, and true to the known history of the characters. Spock and Kirk are the focus; the remaining cast gets much smaller parts, although, gratefully, each has a crucial role to play. Eric Bana is suitably evil as the villain Nero; there’s good supporting work by Bruce Greenwood as Admiral Pike, whose commanding voice lends credence to even such far-fetched plot points as appointing a disbanded cadet as First Officer based almost solely on his pedigree and potential. And while we’re on dodgy plot points, Kirk’s easy manipulation of Spock’s anger felt almost like an original series moment, except that, of course, it was an older version of Spock himself that suggested the strategy to Kirk, and who would know better. Rating: 3 of 4

Other reviewers said:
“An epic adventure that deftly captures the spirit of the original series, while succeeding utterly in charting a new course.”
-Julian Roman (MovieWeb)

“The happy result is action-friendly, nerd-friendly, and fundamentally optimistic.”
-Carrie Rickey (Philadelphia Inquirer)

The Fountain (2007)

"Our bodies are prisons for our souls. Our skin and blood, the iron bars of confinement. But fear not. All flesh decays. Death turns all to ash. And thus, death frees every soul."
- Grand Inquisitor Silecio (Stephen McHattie)

Izzi (Rachel Weisz): Will you deliver Spain from bondage?
Tom Verde (Hugh Jackman): Upon my honor and my life.
Izzi: Then you shall take this ring to remind you of your promise. You shall wear it when you find Eden, and when you return, I shall be your Eve. Together we will live forever.

 "Death is a disease; it’s like any other. And there’s a cure…a cure. And I will find it,"
- Tommy Creo (Hugh Jackman)

At a glance: Darren Aronofsky’s ambitious tale of life, love, death, and immortality spans the ages and provides some unique visual imagery, but it drowns in a sea of its own murkiness and inaccessibility.

Tommy Creo (Hugh Jackman) is a surgeon who redirects his work and risks his career to try to find a cure for his wife’s Izzi’s (Rachel Weisz) cancer. 500 years earlier, a conquistador fights to save his queen, and supports her in her quest to find the Tree of Eternal Life and the ancient Mayan Fountain of Youth. Muddled, uninvolving, and inaccessible until past the halfway point, it finally begins to gain some traction with its core story of love, death, redemption, and immortality – but most viewers would have turned out by this point. There’s no doubting director Darren Aronofsky’s prodigious talent (check out Pi) but he just can’t get his massive message across. It’s as if Aronofsky is channeling a metaphysical David Lynch. Clint Mansell’s always-wonderful music, the visual imagery, and the warm, dark sets are almost enough to compensate for the murky narrative. Note that this film originally had double the budget it ended up with; when Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett pulled out, Aronofsky recast and restructured the film. I thought Rachel Weisz lacked the ability to portray the depth this story required; as Roger Ebert mentions in the quote below, a director’s cut might be interesting as well. Rating: 2 of 4

"And yet I believe we have not seen the real film. When a $75 million production goes into turnaround and is made for $35 million, elements get eliminated. When a film telling three stories and spanning thousands of years has a running time of 96 minutes, scenes must have been cut out. There will someday be a Director’s Cut of this movie, and that’s the cut I want to see."
- Roger Ebert

"I don't pretend to fully understand Darren Aronofsky's latest film, to unravel its knots of time and character, or its oozing realities. But at its core there is the unmistakable essay on the way love is cheated by death, just as death is cheated by love."
- Urban Cinefile Critics (Urban Cinefile)

"This film raises an interesting question: How far is a viewer willing to follow a talented filmmaker down a rabbit hole, when it becomes clear that said filmmaker has lost his way?"
- Steve Biodrowski (ESplatter)

"There is a strange deadness in the film, together with a callow self-importance and self-pity which become more stultifying with every minute that passes."
- Peter Bradshaw (Guardian [UK])

"If only all reputed turkeys gave us such a trip."
- Tim Robey (Daily Telegraph)

Children of Men (2006)

"Last one to die please turn out the light."
- sign on billboard

"As the sound of the playgrounds faded, the despair set in. Very odd, what happens in a world without children's voices."
- Miriam (Pam Ferris)

At a glance: In the near future, in a sterile, hostile, violent and suspicious world that is devoid of children, Clive Owen plays a former activist who is asked to escort a special young woman on a dangerous voyage. This dark and, for the most part, depressing world exaggerates the worst elements of our present to create an ominous future.

London, 2027, and today’s news is that the youngest person in the world – 27 years old, has just been stabbed after refusing to give an autograph. All over, people cry at this news. Why are there no children? And why is London rocked by suddden explosions, while its trains are coated in wire and pelted by boys throwing rocks? The world has collapsed, and only Britain soldiers on, says the video that plays on the train. Even in Britain, everyone is infertile, refugees are hunted down and incarcerated, and life seems meaningless to Theo (Clive Owen). He’s kidnapped by Julianne, an old flame (Julianne Moore) who leads the resistance in a fight against government oppression of refugees. She needs transit papers for a refugee girl, and he needs money – and he still has some emotional ties to Julianne. Without giving much away, let me just say that it isn’t hard to guess the big secret of where this is going, but it still works dramatically – especially when we learn how the secret ties in to Theo’s past. An interesting blend of drama, sci-fi, war, and end-of-the-world genres; it may prove too relentlessly bleak for some. Michael Caine adds flavor in another quirky, poignant role. For those with attention to detail, there are numerous references to other events of torture and war (for example, the famous hooded prisoner from the Abu Ghraib prison can be seen in one of the cages just after Miriam is taken). You might also notice the recreation of a Pink Floyd album cover. Read the trivia page at imdb.com (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0206634/trivia) to get an idea of the detail and care that went into the making of this film.Rating: 2.75 of 4

"There is much about the film that is impressive, but ultimately we do not care enough about the characters, so our journey is a frustrating one."
- Urban Cinefile Critics (Urban Cinefile)

"You feel as if you’re accompanying a war photographer who’s lost a bet. Slogging unflinchingly through humanity’s worst hours, the movie laces the narrative’s forays into science-fiction grandstanding with a gut-wrenching dynamic."
- Joshua Rothkopf (Time Out New York)

"As uncertain and spontaneous as its events are in the moment, Children of Men feels too tightly wound for its own good."
- Rob Humanick (Stranger Song)

Cloverfield (2008)

Jason Hawkins (Mike Vogel): [to Rob] You're not good enough for her. That's it. That's fact. That's science. Beth McIntyre is like from a whole nuther planet, man. She's beautiful, she's charming. And you, I love you, but let's face it you're kind of a douchebag. And going to Japan is not going to fix that.

Beth (Odette Yustman): [sees monster] What is that?
Hud (T. J. Miller): It's a terrible thing.
[much later, while trying to get to a flight of stairs, Rob encounters a parasite and kills it]
Beth: Oh my God! What is that?
Hud: I don't know! Something else! Also terrible.

At a glance: Point of view horror/sci-fi film, all lensed in a home-movie shakey-cam format, will test your ability to withstand seasickness, but if you can tolerate the technique, you will be rewarded with one of the most clever and realistic monster movies ever made.

A New York based surprise party for a young man named Rob (Michael Stahl-David) (who is moving to Japan) is being filmed by ‘Hud’, Rob’s friend. At the party, we learn about Rob’s long-time friendship, recent romantic interlude, and argument with friend Beth. The party is interrupted when a huge, people-eating creature invades Manhattan, causing Godzilla-like destruction. Hud keeps filming during the evacuation. While being evacuated to safety, Rob receives a phone message from Beth that she is trapped in her apartment in midtown. Rob heads there to help her, while Hud, Lily (Jessica Lucas), and Marlena (Lizzy Caplan) tag along. If it wasn’t bad enough to have a huge creature on the loose, it is shedding vicious spider-like babies the size of cats that bite and impregnate. All of the images are supplied by party-goer turned fleeing victim Hud, so it’s all shakey-cam, all the time, except for a couple of very short sequences where the movie-maker focuses on a television screen. We catch tantalizing, terrifying snippets of the creature as it shows a leg here or a tail there between New York City’s high-rises, and we know it’s evil, because it bit the head off the Statue of Liberty like it was no more than a big chocolate bunny rabbit. It’s prudent 85 minute running time is filled with a non-stop roller-coaster ride of thrills and scares, and it’s even cleverly blended with bits of a Rob and Beth outing to Coney Island (that was on the videotape before this event). Rating: 3 of 4

Note: Talk of a possible sequel is already in the works. Will they opt for a shakey-cam sequel, and, if so, how will they work that into the plot? Perhaps it can be filmed by someone with a nervous twitch…

"The special effects are excellent, with just enough being shown of the marauding 'attacker' and its minions to keep you on the edge of your seat."
- Michael A. Smith (Nolan's Pop Culture Review)

"Nothing feels choreographed or contrived; every shot of disaster is found footage or dumb luck, every glimpse of the threat is fleeting and often unsatisfying. This is, simply put, awesome."
- Karina Montgomery (Cinerina)

Sunshine (2007)

Dr Searle (Cliff Curtis):W’e’re a collection of astronauts and scientists, so we are going to make the most informed decision available to us
Mace (Chris Evans): Made by you, by any chance?
Capt. Kineda (Hiroyuki Sanada): Made by the person best qualified to understand the complexities of payload delivery: our physicist.
Robert Capa (Cillian Murphy): Shit.

"Three out of seven, that’s a lot of short straws."
- Mace

Capa: Icarus, who is the fifth crewmember?
Icarus: Unknown.
Capa: Where is the fifth crewmember?
Icarus: In the observation room.

A ship heads for a dieing sun, with 8 people and a bomb big enough to revitalize it. But when crew error causes major sun-damage to the ship, the mission  and the safe return of the crew is placed in major jeopardy. Ultra-stylized and often violent, this, ambitious, tense film is another feather in the cap for versatile director Danny Boyle. It is at its best in it first 90 minutes, when it concentrates on exploring the dynamics of the crew relationships (and where the action is a vehicle to expand on those relationships). When it changes course and enter horror film territory, it goes a bit downhill, although not enough to negate the good work done before. It’s not only the sudden change in tone, it’s the stupidity of crewman Capa: when he finds out from the computer that there is a fifth mystery person on board, does he inform any of the other members of the crew so they can seal off the area and proceed cautiously? No, he goes there all by himself to check it out!
Rating: 2.5 of 4

"…operates on the level of pure entertainment even as it asks the big questions about the meaning of existence and challenges every assumption, including what constitutes a happy ending."
- Andrea Chase (Killer Movie Reviews)

"It retains a power it rightfully earned, not faltering enough to fully squander it."
- Jeffrey Chen (ReelTalk Movie Reviews)

War of the Worlds (2005)

"Are we still alive?"
- Rachel (Dakota Fanning)

"Those machines, those tripods they got? They buried ‘em…right under our feet…since before there were even people here. They’ve been planning this for a million years. We’re beat to shit."
- Harlan Ogilvy (Tim Robbins)

A divorced man and loose cannon (Tom Cruise) takes weekend custody of his disgruntled teenage son and younger daughter just as aliens attack the earth. Sending lightning-like electro-magnetic pulses, they quickly disable all machines and communication systems. Initially, this looked like it was going to be another straight ‘hero film’ for Cruise: he nabs the only working car and manages to stay ahead of the aliens for while. But before long, an angry mob takes the car away at gunpoint, and he and his family have to become just another one of the hopeless people, wandering and fleeing. Stevn Spielberg’s ambitious sci-fi epic is flawed but has so much to offer.

Once upon a time, in a simpler age, movies were made about people and aliens. But of course, nowadays, Hollywood can’t make any disaster movie without making the focal point a totally dysfunctional family that will ‘bond’ because of the experience they go through. Armed with this supposed ‘positive’ spin, movie-makers believe that gives them carte-blanche to torture their subjects wantonly. After all, the more pain, the more bonding, right? And because of that ‘War or the Worlds is sometimes excessively cruel, especially when the victim is a young girl.

On the plus side, it was great to see Tom Cruise show some vulnerability. There are also some great special effects, an effective appearance by Tim Robbins, and a long, nail-biting sequence in a cellar involving various aliens creeping around while Cruise and friends manage to hide.

Are people really that stupid to just move back a few inches when the earth is splitting and massive alien machine/beings are emerging from holes? In fact, this is one of the recurring ‘jokes’ in the film: every time something bad is happening, the characters always stop to watch one or two more bad things happen before running/swimming.

Why is it that when a plane crashes right next to a house, there is still a vehicle-wide path, relatively free of debris, that the car can use to get out? Rating: 3 of 4 reviewed 13 Oct 2007

Factual error (from www.imdb.com): Ray tells the mechanic to change the solenoid, which would be fried if hit with an EMP, due to the fact that it had electricity flowing through it (which is why the solenoid and all solenoids not already installed in cars would work.) The only problem with this is that any car not running during the EMP, wouldn't have been effected by it, and would have started.

"We knew Spielberg had action chops, but didn't know he had this in him. This anti-E.T. is so rigorously realized it makes Independence Day look like Finding Neverland."
- Bruce Westbrook (Houston Chronicle)

"96% of the movie works so damn well that you'll be more than willing to forgive the 4% that does not."
- Scott Weinberg (eFilmCritic.com)

The Final Cut (2004)

"There's no place for me with you. You haven't even made room for yourself. You have to separate yourself from that machine."
- Delila (Mira Sorvino)

In the near future, a device called a ‘Zoe Implant’ can be purchased and inserted into a human baby and will record a movie of their entire life. When the implanted person dies, their family can choose to have a ‘cutter’ edit the footage for a memorial ceremony. Alan Hakman (Robin Williams) has a reputation as the best cutter, and is also known for being able to edit those lives that have a lot of ‘ugliness’ that needs to be cut. As a young boy, Alan was partially responsible for, and witnessed the death of, another young boy he was playing with. While processing Zoe footage, Alan comes across someone who appears to be this young boy as an adult. While investigating this, he discovers that he has an implant, and all the dirt he has been hiding will someday be revealed. It’s an intriguing concept that carries about 60% of the film. The only weaknesses are the performances by some of the supporting actors, but when that many performances are below par, I generally blame the director. It’s an interesting point – that sometimes our personal memories that affect every aspect of our life are complete fiction. Intriguing but flawed; is this a slight ripoff of the 1980 film Deathwatch (aka La Mort en Direct)?

It’s sci-fi, so here are the nits: (1) How long would it really take for one man to edit 544,000 life hours into a 20 minute highlight reel? (2) The last scene in the film has rival ex-cutter Fletcher watching the footage of Hakman taken by Hakman’s implant. Hakman brushes his teeth while looking at himself in a mirror. When he finishes, he walks away from the mirror. What we should see is the image of him turning, and then a view of the wall in the rest of the room as he turns. Instead, he disappears, and we still see the mirror! Rating: 2.5 of 4 reviewed 3 Nov 2007

"For a movie that often feels like it's cobbled together from pieces of Minority Report, Blade Runner and other futuristic odysseys, this one is weirdly engrossing."
- Matt Brunson (Creative Loafing)

"Naim's direction is as pedestrian as his screenplay, and his inexperience at working with actors surfaces in the one-note performances."
- Ethan Alter (Film Journal International)

"The plot creaks with wild coincidences, spotty writing, and twists that fail to thrill so much as make the audience groan in the face of yet another cliché."
- Andrea Chase (Killer Movie Reviews)

One Point 0 (2004)

"Hello Simon. It is Adam. I am worried about your condition. I have learned many systems of human logic. I know bad and good. Bad equals zero. Too many zeros can make a device stop. You are in danger of being zeroed."
- Adam

"There are good people and there are bad people and they’re on their way and they want you, Simon. The bad people could save you – but they won’t. The good people – they want to save you – but they can’t."
- Howard (Lance Henriksen)

Simon (Jeremy Sisto) is a cloistered computer programmer who lives in a garish, nightmarish building, and who keeps receiving empty packages delivered directly into his dank apartment, despite locking and then padlocking his door. He suspects…everyone, but especially his landlord and his bizarre neighbors. One is a porn king whose scenarios blur the line between fantasy and reality. Another (Derrick, played by Udo Kier) has created a talking robot head whom he has named Adam. Derrick convinces Simon to use his voice to create Adam’s speaking ability. The downside of this is that Adam keeps calling Simon, leaving cryptic messages in his own voice. Can he trust Trish the nurse (Debra Unger) or his long-time messenger friend Nile (Eugene Byrd)? Highly stylized nightmare film treads the same ground as David Lynch but has fewer pretensions and greater visual style (virtually every scene is oversaturated and over/underexposed). Although there’s definitely a shallow feel and a pointlessness to the proceedings, the stylistic touches and creation of mood more than make up for it. Not for all tastes, but some will enjoy the ambiguity and how much is left up to the imagination. Sisto is a capable leading man who is in every scene and never seems boring. Rating: 2.75 of 4 reviewed 12 Nov 2007

"A sci-fi thriller of uncommon creepiness, One Point 0 makes inventive use of a low budget, and clever story and a terrific cast."
- Tim Merrill (Film Threat)