Invasion Roswell

For years, the government denied the existence of Area 51, a mysterious area in Nevada rumored to be the site of alien spaceship crash and governmental experiments. It is an area where nobody has been allowed to enter which has fueled many conspiracy theories including alien life and storage of an alien spacecraft, time travels, and weather control. What a place! Finally in 2013 after years of denial, we got confirmation from the government that this place actually exists. It's real! Well anyway pop culture has used Area 51 from time to time including the tv show the X-Files and also the comedy movie Paul. I think Area 51 is interesting and could be used more by Hollywood. That said, Invasion Roswell is a cheap SyFy film that does use Area 51 as a backdrop.

The plot is basic, that being an alien invasion of Earth and a former fighting alien team that gathers together again to fight the aliens and stop the crisis.

Ok, with a cheap film like this, you aren't going to know any of the cast and that's ok. It has the feel of other low-rent movies like Leprechaun 4: In Space with action involving cheesy-type guns that's not terrible but not memorable either. The aliens are kind of different but they are not really interesting and it looks like the movie has some kind of budget but I don't know that it was used well with these aliens.

Also, this is supposed to be a massive alien invasion of the world but other than a few shots, there is nothing shown outside Area 51. The invasion only feels like it's happening in Area 51. Showing the invasion to be more universal would have helped. The film also seems to go and on and it's seems like it will never end.

Invasion Roswell is not a bad film especially considering it's a cheap SyFy production but this type of movie has been done before and much better.

2.5/5

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Ghost Shark

 

Even though they are highly enjoyable subjects in the film world, sharks are kind of limited if you think about it. Obviously they are confined to water, so the killer sharks are limited to that type of atmosphere. Well Ghost Shark is a Syfy film so you know this is going to be a different type of shark film. Let's just say Ghost Shark is quite different and also entertaining.

The movie was shot in Louisiana and is set in a coastal town. The town is having strange and mysterious killings around water that might be caused by a shark or a different kind of shark. As the story unfolds, we learned that the shark is a ghost shark and the story is primarily told through a local drunken sea captain named Blaise Shaw (Dave Randolph-Mayhem Davis).

Obviously this is a very dumb concept if you think about it. A ghost is somehow a shark that is out to kill people? That said, once you accept this rather strange concept, the movie offers more than you might think. The shark has blue tints and good CGI. It's also a shark that can attack outside of the ocean creating different kill scenes in a slip'n slide, a pool party and in the middle of the street from an open fire hydrant. These kill scenes are new and very unique and you can be sure we will never see this again. The captain's story about the ghost shark really just kind of comes out of nowhere and there is very questionable acting here. There is good effort in the storytelling which brings us some different atmosphere and settings including caves, a maritime museum and a lighthouse.

Obviously the ghost shark is entertaining but the characters are good too. Ava (Mackenzie Rosman) is a bratty, self-centered character who does what it takes to confront and kill the shark. Again Blaise is the sea captain and a hot-shot guy who knows things about this shark and is a very likable and entertaining character. Cicely (Sloane Coe) is a young girl that does not get her way because of her young age but she still tries to be the best she can be without being unlikable. Cameron (Jaren Mitchell) is one laid back character and Mick (Shawn C. Phillips) is one large guy who offers some pretty good comic relief.

Unlike most Syfy movies including Sharknado, Ghost Shark pays homage to other films including Jaws with a July 4th setting, seashore atmosphere and the shark obviously. There is also a kill scene in a water-filled bathtub like Nightmare On Elm Street. The eerie lighthouse has vibes of Adrienne Barbeau from The Fog. This film's homage to other films is one reason why Ghost Shark works so well as a film.

The movie does drag through most of the entire third act and as with any Syfy film, it would probably be better on the big screen. Still, not as many Syfy films are this watchable nor as smart as this one. Ghost Shark is one fun movie and one of the best Syfy movies I have seen.

4/5

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King Kong (2005)

When you think of famous cinema monsters, King Kong definitely comes to mind. First released in 1933, it was a film very different for the time and it still has an impact now. There was a sequel in 1962 with another Japanese film in 1967. American King Kong films followed in 1976 and 1986. In 2005, young director Peter Jackson after two years of finishing the successful Lord of the Rings trilogy, made another King Kong.

The film is in it's original setting in the 30's and depicts the Depression era. Theater actress Ann Darrow (Naomi Watts) is out of work due to the economy. Questionable film director Carl Denham (Jack Black) with a warrant out for his arrest learns of an island called Skull Island to make a new film. After hiring Ann, they head to an island they have never seen before with strange creatures including a beast called Kong.

I enjoyed looking at the different aspects of this film including the 1930's setting and old cameras and good CGI. The film captures every aspect of the period from the cars and fashion and shows how times were quite different with economic conditions and a world war going on.

As for director Peter Jackson, he gives a meaty plot here as he usually does. Skull Island feels like an old Jurassic Park including a giant sea monster with again some great CGI. There is also a Mayan horror idea and some surprise kill scenes. Unfortunately, the main battle is all over place and you get the feeling that film was on the island too long but in spite of these flaws this is typically fine work by Jackson.

The characters here are a little complex and hard to out together. Black, who career is mostly comedic work is has different aspects to his character and at time he's got a big smirk of a villain but other times he is caring and does good and is not all bad. It is probably Jack Black's best performance up to then. Watts who has played many different characters in her career does a good job in this adventure as someone who is finding love with supporting actor Adrien Brody.

Even though it's a thick plot, of course most of the audience is most interested in seeing King Kong and this is where the special effects in the movie are the best. Even though King Kong is a dangerous creature, he is loving, fragile and hits in the heart.

This film does have a very long running time of 3 hours and 7 minutes. This is a pretty good remake but I think maybe it tries to do too much. If you took out a few scenes and ideas and tightened it up, it could have been a masterpiece.

4/5

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Children of the Corn

Of all the Stephen King books and films, I find the movie Children of the Corn to be about the most interesting. As a fan of horror movies, I think films with children as villains seem to work for me. Poltergeist and Insidious are two quality horror movies that involve children and families. Village of the Damned was another and this spawned others. Children of the Corn is one of the most interesting of these films because of it's originality, atmosphere and it involved many kids, not just one. This series had some sequels with the first one coming out in 1984 with mixed reviews. The most recent in the series was a remake on the Syfy Channel in 2009 eight years after the last one.

This remake uses most of all all the same ideas of the original including corn fields in Nebraska and kids with religious views who have killed their parents and looking to strike again. This time the victims are an argumentative couple who were on their way to a honeymoon trip in California.

As a creepy kid film, it is very important that there are good performances from the child actors. Here, I was disappointed in the child characters. Other than the Isaac character (Preston Bailey) just about every kid plays their part like extras. At the same time, these characters are not creepy and don't work well as villains.

Even though you could pick at it a little and get maybe something, there isn't much of a plot here. I do like the leads of David Anders and Kandyse McClure but they aren't given much to do and they really mope around a lot. There are some interesting sets here but the kill scenes are not particularly good. There are some beneath the surface ideas that do come into play here. and these include the idea of race, spiritual aspects of the corn and religious overtones throughout.

Of course you can't take any of this story too seriously, but obviously there is no way something like this could happen in our country with our government. A town full of killer kids and young pregnant girls would be responded to quickly by the police and military and would be a CNN headliner for weeks. A minor flaw maybe but still hard to overlook.

I found Children of the Corn to be disappointing and a movie with an hour and half plot that ran too long at two hours. This is a tv film that feels like a tornado stringing things and ideas around with no purpose and really just wasting our time.

1.5/5

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Kids

You can look at the film Kids in a lot of different ways. Maybe it's a film for teenagers. Maybe it's a film for adults. Maybe both. Well anyway this film came out in 1995 and never really never got a chance. A difficult film with an uncomfortable subject but that is why it works.

Directed by controversial director Larry Clark, Kids from 1995 was originally given an NC-17 rating but was then released unrated. The plot tells the controversial story of  a group of poor teens  who's life consists of mostly drugs, alcohol, sex and AIDS.

The movie has a thin plot and even thinner character development. Even with these flaws, Clark is trying to depict a teen world that we don't usually see where these kids get away with a lot. I could relate a bit being with familiar with classmates who have similar problems. Some scenes are quite realistic and very hard to watch but many of the actions have very real consequences. This is a film that could only be made by a director with an attitude and a lot of confidence and Clark has that.

I found the New York City setting to be very real and effective. This is a setting we've seen quite a bit but here New York City is not glamorous but is gritty, run down with a dangerous feel to it. Not the New York City we usually see in movies. The setting is very effective and helps makes the story.

Kids is an interesting movie that depicts the dangers of our world and is a wake-up call to parents. It is probably one of the most controversial films of it's time and for an audience of the right age, it is a must-see.

3/5

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Fright Night

I wish I had seen the original Fright Night from 1985. Usually you don't watch a remake until you see the original but with Fright Night it was different for me. This remake of Fright Night is one of the few films that I liked that is aimed towards my (teenage) age group.

With the same idea as the original, a teenager finds that his neighbor is a vampire. With many ideas involving teen themes, this turns into survival story in the Las Vegas area.

Unlike most remakes which usually have bad casts, this film is just the opposite. Known actor Anton Yelchin is the lead with rising stars Christopher Mintz-Plasse and David Franco in supporting roles. Established star Colin Farrell plays the villain who is a vampire let loose into a cast full of teens. The vampires in this movie are of an old style and not like the modern vampires of recent movies and I appreciated and liked this.

The Las Vegas setting provides cool hip scenes as well as some desert scenes which is kind of different for the horror genre. The movie also has an ending that puts everything into perspective and closes the film very nicely. All of this makes this film really stand out.

Fright Night is solid and a hit. I think it is one of the top remakes ever.

3.5/5

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Hugo

I read the book Hugo in the 5th grade I think but it is only a vague memory. The film adaption is is a different type of kids movie. It is a masterpiece film that does everything the right way and works on every level.

The main setting is in a train station in the middle of Paris in 1931. The plot follows the book storyline of how an orphan named Hugo Cabret (Asa Butterfield) finds a key and a secret that dates back to his dead parents. The key and secret will change his life and history forever.

The film is directed by Martin Scorsese. He brings the film into the light by making it more of a family film than you might think. He makes Paris of the 1930's really stand out. CGI works in the backgrounds even though it's does not really seem like a heavy CGI film.

The film has some good performances. Asa Butterfield is a rather new actor who hasn't been in many movies and delivers a fine performance that should help his career. Chloe Grace Mortez is another lead who's really in her prime now and is also good. The supporting cast of well known actors from Jude Law, Ben Kingsley and Sacha Baron Cohen all do their usual solid work.

This film kind of got overlooked because I don't think this movie had a big target audience nor do I think many people remembered the book that well. I also think many people will regard it as only a kids film which it's not. Obviously, Martin Scorsese has done wonderful work in his career but to me, this is one of his most magical and powerful films. Hugo is a film that I wished more people cared about.

5/5

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