Gravity

In this day and age, when it comes to films about space, there are some very different kind of films. On one end, there are truly low budget horror films like Jason X , Critters 4 and Leprechaun 4: In Space. There are also some decent small, indie films about space like the popular 2009 Moon and Europa Report from 2013.

That said, Gravity breaks all traditions regarding space films. Gravity has a well known director in Alfonso Cuaron, two big name actors, Sandra Bullock and George Clooney in the leads and is trying very hard to appeal to a mainstream audience. When you put it all together, Gravity is one solid space movie but not perfect.

With the exception of the very last scene, space is the setting as we follow medical engineer Dr. Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) and Matt Kowalski (George Clooney ). During a standard spacewalk to the Hubble Space Telescope, the crew learn from Mission Control in Houston that debris is drifting towards them from a dead satellite destroyed by the Russians. As the debris damages the Shuttle and eventually disengages them from the ship, Ryan and Matt find themselves stranded in space with no communication with earth and oxygen running low.

I do not know why big name actors were needed in this film. Some of the small space films I mentioned earlier were just fine without a big name cast and in some ways very popular actors can be a distraction to an original film with the interesting subject like space. None the less, these leads are accountable, and do some very fine acting with some well established characters. Ryan is kind of a loner with a rough past and has lost a young child and is still very much recovering from that and trying to find herself.  Ryan's lost daughter is her main source of motivation and support for her. The leads do have some chemistry and both are quite likable and this is good.

The plot is not complex and very simple and this lends itself to a short running time for this movie. One main focus of this movie is to simply show space. Through excellent design and cinematography, it makes space look spectacular and strangely claustrophobic and it really stands out. There are some highlights to the plot but it is still too thin. At times, I felt a little bored and it felt like there just was not enough to this movie. If there was just a little more to it, this film could have been something else.

 As credits roll, one question I had was, "What is the meaning of the film?". Frankly, there doesn't seem to be one. Without it, you could question why should I care about this. The film doesn't even touch this. Why not? It's a beautiful movie but so what?

Gravity is a good film and I guess I wouldn't call it overrated but you might say it's something of an unfinished movie. That said, this is a film that will be most important more on a second or third viewing.

4/5

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Rush

 

Along with being a film guy, the other passion in my life is sports and the credit for that has to go to my family. My dad played baseball throughout his youth and we have been Detroit Tigers season-ticket holders for years. My mother's family is a hockey family and my uncles and aunts have won numerous high school championships. My younger brother is a baseball and hockey player and I enjoy cheering him on during his games. One sport my mother and father were into before I was born was Indy Car Racing. Unfortunately that sport has declined in popularity and these cars no longer race at our local track, the Michigan International Speedway so I never had a chance to get into it.

Ok, so I went to see the movie Rush which is a movie from Ron Howard about Formula 1 Racing. Being a film person, I knew every actor in this movie but I knew absolutely nothing about the actual people depicted in this movie nor Formula 1 Racing which is a European and not an American thing. Frankly, this is a movie I should have not liked nor cared about at all.

Rush is based off a true story and set in 1970's, about Formula 1 race car drivers James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth) and Niki Lauda (Daniel Bruhl). The movie tells the story of the fierce rivalry of these drivers who were opposites in just about every way and how they interacted with each other and eventually became friends.

As he did in " The Cabin in the Woods",  Hemsworth plays playboy, fun-lover James Hunt. Hunt is a partier who drinks heavily, is frequently hungover, takes drugs and has a new woman every night. He is still a very good driver who is very fun to watch and in the last act shows a high level of determination chasing the championship. Olivia Wilde plays Hunt's wife Suzy Miller though the movie does not allow any development of their relationship as they are married shortly after she is introduced in the movie.

Where as Hunt is just thrown to you as a character and given no back story, Niki Lauda is depicted as a very in-depth character with a detailed history. Lauda is a character who's family has given up on him after choosing to be a race car driver instead of going into the family banking business. He is the exact opposite of James Hunt. Lauda is mean, anti-social, disagreeable and a "my way or the highway" type of guy. After throwing in the towel at a party, on his way home Lauda meets his wife Marlene Knaus (Alexandrea Maria Lara). The love and chemistry between these two is strong and the exact opposite of the empty marriage of Miller and Hunt. Lauda's character also endures a terrible fiery crash with extreme burns to his face and the movie does an excellent job with his makeup and the story of his very painful rehabilitation and return to the track.

For someone who had no knowledge of Formula 1 Racing, this movie was a perfect introduction and a way to get into it. The movie also depicts the 1970's realistically with the men's long hair, fashion and drug use. Formula 1 Racing is shown through the various racetracks and the film show it's cultural impact and popularity in Europe. Rush includes strong cinematography showing high level racing and anybody would be entertained by this movie whether you are into automobile racing or not.

When it's all said and done, Rush is a moving and powerful movie by director Ron Howard to add  his already great resume. Howard makes us care about a story that most Americans don't even know about. Rush is likely one of the top films of the year. No caution flags or pit stops are going to stop it.

4.5/5

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Aliens (1986)

Initially, I blew off the Alien series as if it was nothing. I thought it was a series that was just normal sci-fi stuff so I had with no intention to go run and watch these movies. Well, the Alien series is not just your ordinary series. This series is quality and deserves attention. Aliens which is a sequel to Alien and the second movie in the series is the movie which made me first love these films.

The plot involves Ridley (Sigourney Weaver) who is going to investigate a planet where contact has been lost with the colonists with aliens likely having attacked them. The cast led by Weaver is very good and all bring something to the table but I don't really like Bill Paxton and how the film portrays him as one of the Marines aboard the warship on it's way to the planet colony.

Released in 1986, you would expect this film and the sets to be dated and showing age of only that time period but actually it is just the opposite. Director, James Cameron has a style here that seems ahead of it's time. The ships really feel as if they are from something in space and considering this movie is over 25 years old, that makes this even more sweet and impressive.

The first Alien brought action but it never really stood out even though it was quality but the action in Aliens is what I would call "blown me away" fantastic. The pieces coming together in just right amounts including great killer aliens and I can't see anyone not liking it.

 Aliens does what most sequels don't and that is to surpass the original and helps this series stand out even more. I believe Aliens is one of the best sequels of all-time that any audience would love.

4.5/5

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The Serpent and the Rainbow

Wes Craven really is kind of a hit or miss director. He made The Serpent and the Rainbow in 1988 at an interesting time of his career after having some success with Nightmare on Elm Street but after the disaster of Deadly Friend. The Serpent and the Rainbow has a few interesting ideas but Craven never really develops them very well. This is really a big miss film from Craven.

Dennis Alan (Bill Pullman ) a researcher out of Harvard goes to Haiti to tackle the mystery of a zombie legend and also a type of drug that might be connected. There is also a voodoo theme as the drug is used in Haitian voodoo rituals.

You really to have to question what Craven was doing with this film. He starts with what seems like an interesting plot and the really lets it sink. The plot really goes everywhere and is very hard to follow. There is also a love story that is very shallow as well as dream scenes that never seem to end. By act 3, you expect that it can't get much worse but you would be wrong. It also has an ending that has you saying "What am I even watching?" Frankly, this is a movie where in the end, you don't even know what you just watched.

Interestingly, this was Bill Pullman's second film ever and before he had his big roles. Actually, he plays his role very well and the character is smart, has a heart and is easy to root for. Pullman makes this movie somewhat bearable along with some rather different zombies.

I think this is a case where Craven basically had a couple of random ideas and put them together and called it a film. I hated this movie with a passion even more so considering what it could have been.

2/5

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Ragin' Cajun Redneck Gators

Even though they reach a limited audience, 2013 has been the year for Syfy films. With it's original name, Sci-fi, it's was a channel in the beginning that brought us reruns of old films and some original films that didn't really have an audience. As time went on, the channel delivered some popular tv shows including Ghost Hunter and also cult shows like Mystery Science Theater 3000 and Firefly. In 2010, it made a drastic change when it broadcasted WWE Smackdown drawing in the wrestling audience. Through the power of social media including twitter in 2013, it's original film Sharknado was a major hit that brought much more attention to the channel. Because of the Sharknado hit, their films are finding more of a audience. These films are very strange and all over the spectrum including Aladdin and the Death Lamp, Ghost Shark and Flying Monkeys. Ragin' Cajun Redneck Gators is another film to add to this strange collection.

Ragin' Cajun Redneck Gators is set in the swaps of Louisiana where a Cajun redneck community finds themselves getting attacked by strange killer gators. These gators are far from typical, quite dangerous and more than what they seem.

Like Sharknado and Ghost Shark, there is a definite lack of budget but an extra effort by the filmmakers to make this work is evident. There are Cajun rednecks that are funny and kind of realistic, mutant gators, and a Romeo and Juliet love story involving feuding families. It's all a unique and interesting combination.

Unlike the Ghost Shark and Shakando, we don't care much about these characters. Attractive lead character, Jordan Hinson plays Avery from one of the feuding families but nothing memorable really comes from her performance. Her love interest, Tristan (Victor Webster) is a character who is frankly limited and who we don't really root for even though he is in danger from the gators throughout. The only positive person who steals the show is Michael Baird who plays Avery's father Dale. He has an excellent Cajun accent and is a charismatic "life of the party" kind of character who kind of steals the show.

For what it is trying to be, Ragin' Cajun Redneck Gators should have been better. It has a good original idea and tries to go with it but falls a little flat because I think it tries to do much. Because of that, I think it is probably the weakest Syfy films of 2013.

3/5

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Bats: Human Harvest

After watching many horror films over the years, the idea of bats being the central feature of a film never really crossed my mind. Bats sometimes are in the background but not the stars of the show. These little mammals are obviously small and maybe a little creepy but unless you get very close, I just don't find them very scary.

That said in 1999 came the movie Bats which received negative reviews and has been long forgotten. Bats was only for die hard horror fans. Then close to ten years later in 2007 and really out of nowhere, came this sequel on the SyFy channel, Bats: Human Harvest.

The setting is supposed to be Afghanistan but unfortunately it looks nothing like Afghanistan. Here there is a Delta Force groups of soldiers trying to track down a terrorist who is a rogue American weapons researcher but along the way, they are attacked by genetically-altered killer bats.

Looking at this, the main reason this film fails is because of the bats. There are no close ups of the bats and they are very generic and boring. They just don't work as a villain or a source of danger. Being a SyFy film, there are many unknown actors who are shallow and really struggle at times. All in all, the horror aspects as well as the CGI here is just of very low quality.

One thing I was wondering is just what does this film want to be? It has horror aspects to it but it also contains a war story that is itself pretty shallow and wouldn't work on it's own as a war film. Frankly, I do not think war stories mesh well with horror ideas so this puzzle doesn't really fit even though it is original no doubt.

Bats: Human Harvest is frankly very low quality junk horror that is very hard to sit through and I couldn't wait until it was over. Frankly this series is useless and unnecessary.

1.5/5

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Win Win

Even though you maybe could question it, I think being a teenager is one of the toughest parts of a person's life. It's the end of childhood and many things need to be done as you transition to being a grown up. We have seen many films throughout the years on this subject; some good and some bad. Win Win tackles this subject with excellent results.

Here Kyle (Alex Shaffer) is a troubled teenager and is put into an alternative family billet home of Mike Flaherty (Paul Giamatti) after running away to New Jersey to his grandfather Leo (Burt Young). Flaherty is a wrestling coach so there is a wrestling theme to the story as well as stolen money and a teen trying to find himself.

Initially you go into this expecting a sports story but it's not really what this movie is all about. There are many genres and subjects in this movie. There is a drama involving a troubled teen. There is a sports story. There is a story involving economic problems from work. This all comes back to the story of a kid just trying to be himself in the toughest time of your life. All of these aspects are covered very well with just the right amount of attention to each. Usually a type of mish-mash of things like this in a movie is not good but here it works.

Similar to Hailee Steinfeld who was an unknown teenager casted in the 2010 movie True Grit, Win Win puts Alex Shaffer in the lead role as the troubled teen. Shaffer is someone known for being a wrestler and had never been in front of the camera before. In spite of that, he delivers an outstanding performance that you can't not love and I can't say enough about him. The rest of the cast which includes Paul Giamatti, Amy Ryan, Bobby Cannavale and Burt Young is solid and works in every way.

Many films stood out in 2011, but I think Win Win bettered all of them. It's a great film with a huge heart but it just didn't seem to find its' audience. I consider this a forgotten classic.

5/5

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