Just Along For The Ride..."Passengers"

Passengers (2016)

Rated PG-13

Starring Chris Pratt, Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Sheen

Directed by Morten Tyldum

The Story:

A starship traveling making a 120 year journey to inhabit a new space colony with over 5,000 souls onboard has a malfunction, and a pod containing Jim Preston (Pratt) opens early. 90 years early. With the prospect of dying long before he arrives, Jim tries everything he can to get help from the crew or to put himself back into hibernation. After over a year alone, Jim stumbles upon Aurora (Lawrence) and then wrestles with the decision of whether to wake her up, resigning her to share his fate, or leave her be. You've seen the trailers, you know what he's going to choose.

The question is, wouldn't you do the same thing?

The movie was very clever in the marketing of this film. Never once did they reveal the giant elephant in the room:

Do you wake someone else up, effectively committing murder as they too will die long before there is help, or do you remain alone?

The movie tackles the situation in probably the best way it can, and with the introduction of another character as the movie heads into the final act, it is summed up perfectly on why Jim made the choice he did, and why it is a decision that probably anyone else would make as well.

The moral dilemma aside, the movie itself is beautiful, both in the space sequences as well as just the impressive visuals of imagination that went into the starship.

Adding Michael Sheen to the mix as the third wheel in the relationship helps break the monotony and allows the characters a chance to interact with someone else.

He's also a good reason why you can't trust androids with your secrets.

: )

Final Grade: B-

Gotta Get Back In Time..."Project Almanac"

Project Almanac (2015)

Rated PG-13

Starring Jonny Weston, Sofia Black-D'Elia, Sam Lerner, Allen Evangelista

Directed by Dean Israelite

The Story:

David (Weston) stumbles across a home movie of his 7th birthday party. Much to his surprise he swears he sees himself in a reflection of a mirror.  The reflection is of himself, now, a decade later. How can this be? That's when he discovers that his dad was working on something to do with time travel.  As David and his friends work to perfect the experiment, they set up some rules so that nothing can go wrong. But alas, when love enters the picture, their travels through time may just jeopardize the entire planet!

This is a smart little science fiction thriller that has a lot of fun with the conventions of time travel.

The amazing part, it is shot like a found footage documentary, yet doesn't feel like it, or like it is contrived to shoehorn that aspect of the plot into the movie.

As with all time travel movies, don't think about the plot holes, or it just ruins the whole thing.

Instead, just sit back and enjoy the ride.

That's all.

The less you say about time travel films, the more chance you have to enjoy them without being spoiled.

Final Grade: B

A "Quantum Leap" Ahead Of Its Time

Quantum Leap (1989)

Starring Scott Bakula, Dean Stockwell

Created by Donald P. Bellasario

The Story:

Dr. Sam Beckett (Bakula) theorized that it was possible to time travel within the confines of your own lifetime. Hoping to prove his theories correct and continue funding for his project, he entered his own experiment, and vanished. He finds himself popping into the lives of other people, and with the help of Al (Stockwell) who appears to Sam as a hologram, they attempt to put right what once went wrong, hoping with each leap that Sam will leap home.

I don't watch a lot of science fiction shows, but when I do, I try and make sure they are good ones.

This, this was a good one.

I have fond memories of watching it with my dad, and then later with my wife.

We all loved the show, and aside from dabbling with an "evil leaper" later in the series run, for me, this show never jumped the shark.

Sadly, this show never gained the mainstream success and popularity of one of Bellasario's later creations,  NCIS or earlier effort Magnum P.I.

But I will take this show any day of the week, and twice on Sundays.  I think most of the fans of the show would also agree.

Bakula got to offer a great range throughout the series, by leaping into a wide assortment of characters. No topic or idea was off-limits as Sam wound up inhabiting people of different race, color, creed, gender, ability and so-forth.

Putting right what once went wrong was often something as subtle as making sure someone didn't get married or making sure they took a left instead of a right.

They were very human interest stories, and while they tried to show that they weren't sent back in time to change anything major (JFK assassination, things of that nature) the life events for these people, it was indeed very major.

Bakula brought humanity and an earnest performance to every episode, a touch of class and a bit of humor. He was teamed with Stockwell who brought the sleaze, brought the funnies, but brought the friendship and guidance that Sam desperately needed. The two worked amazingly well together throughout.

Most of the series is available to stream on Netflix as of this viewing.  However, the pilot and the finale are not.

In a way, I'm glad the series finale isn't, because it's one that requires a box of tissues after viewing.

Well worth the time to revisit, or to try for the first time if you missed it 25 years ago.

Final Grade: A

You Look Very Familiar... "RoboCop"

RoboCop (2014)

Rated PG-13 for violence and language

Starring Joel Kinnaman, Gary Oldman, Michael Keaton, Samuel L. Jackson,

Directed by Jose Padilha

The Story:

In the future, OmniCorp has been sending their cyborg troops overseas as peacekeeping soldiers ensuring real people aren't dying anymore.  Only America is refusing to allow these tin men to patrol the streets, and with pressure on politicians by OmniCorp president Sellars (Keaton) and crusading journalist Pat Novak (Jackson) are lobbying to get a RoboCop trial program off the ground.  The missing ingredient: the human factor.  When they receive the gift of a cop that was targeted for assassination (Kinnaman), they hardwire him into the RoboCop program.

This is not your father's RoboCop.

Or mine, for that matter.

The original, satirical take on America in the 80s is still a science fiction classic, however, my fears, as I voiced in my review last year of the original RoboCop (1987), were thankfully unfounded.

While many of names remain the same, there are subtle, and less subtle shifts in tone and behavior to the original.

Whereas Total Recall tried to change the story completely, the over-reliance of the original ended up casting a shadow that the remake could not crawl out from under.

RoboCop takes the least amount of the original and transplants it, without the satiric tone, into a possible future America that could likely exist.

Why wouldn't we want to send robotic soldiers to fight wars and save hundreds/thousands of human lives?

You would think it would be a no-brainer, but politicians want human capability for discernment to be included.

Kinnaman brings life to the suit, literally if not figuratively.  Not familiar with his work, the big names all float around as secondary figures.

At the end of the day though, if I am only going to watch another RoboCop with my kids (assuming they want to watch it again...), it would end up being this version.

Simply because the tone and violence is dialed waaaaay back this go round.

The revamped RoboCop is a perfectly serviceable science fiction/action flick for a new generation.

Final Grade: B-

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: It actually wasn't too bad.  I don't think I'll rush out to own it, but I could watch it on cable in the future.

You Say You Want An "Evolution" ?

Evolution (2001)

Rated PG-13 for language

Starring David Duchovney, Orlando Jones, Julianne Moore, Seann William Scott

Directed by Ivan Reitman

The Story:

When a meteorite crashes in Arizona, two local Community College teachers (Duchovney, Jones) team up with a local wannabe volunteer firefighter (Scott) to fight off an alien race that is quickly evolving and could potentially destroy all life on this planet.

Trying to boil the plot synopsis of this film  down to its basic premise doesn't even begin to do it justice.

What could have easily been a dark or scary sci-fi thriller turns into a fun sci-fi romp instead under the guidance of Ivan Reitman.  It may not be Ghostbusters...

But it's pretty good.

And for my kids, this was their "Ghostbusters" film.

In fact, it's flat out funny and this one has been a staple in our house since it was released in 2001.

It's been watched so much, the original disc has not survived the first decade of its lifespan and has subsequently been replaced.

It was a nice change of pace for Duchovney who got to spread his wings a bit out from under the X-Files and show that he's got a sense of humor.  While he gets some zingers in, he gets a lot of mileage out of being the straight man.

His comic foils?

Orlando Jones and Seann William Scott.

Scott plays pretty much the same Stifler character that he does in every film, but much less crude in this film.  His standout moment?  

Serenading a monster in the mall.

My favorite though would be Orlando Jones who is hilarious throughout the movie, but that's no surprise.

The scene where he faces emergency surgery is STILL hilarious every time we watch the movie, and you just can't help but laugh.

That's always the sign of a good comedy, great writing and acting when a scene that you've seen countless times still puts the same smile or laugh on your face no matter how many times you've seen it.

Finally, in many movies, a song is used so perfectly that whenever I hear it on the radio, my first thought always turns back to the movie that used it best.

This movie lays claim to best performance of "Play That Funky Music".

:)

The movie itself, well it gets played at least once a year.

Usually more.

Lots more.

Final Grade: A+

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: Own it. Love it. Watch it quite a bit. :)

Third Time's The Charm... "Riddick"

Riddick (2013)
Rated R for language, violence and nudity

Starring: Vin Diesel, Jordi Molla, Matt Nable, Katee Sackhoff, Dave Bautista

Directed by David Twohy

The Story:

Riddick (Diesel) is left for dead on an unknown planet.  Far from dead, he heals and finds a remote outpost and sends a signal that is picked up by bounty hunters looking to collect on the reward for bringing in Riddick dead or alive.  Santana (Molla) and his crew arrive first, followed by another group led by Boss Johns (Nable) who is the father of the pilot on a previous ship that Riddick was on.  He wants answers first, then revenge.  Riddick wants off the planet and gives them a choice: give him a ship or die.

You can probably tell which option they chose.

Put me in the category of "meh" for Pitch Black and the Chronicles of Riddick.  They were okay, but nothing that I absolutely loved.

Vin Diesel, however, vehemently disagrees with that assessment.

So much so, that one of the conditions on getting him back into the Fast and Furious franchise was that he wanted to get the rights to Riddick.

Universal relented, and has more than made up for it with the last 3 installments of The Fast and Furious each being more successful than the previous.

Meanwhile, Diesel and Twohy decided to make a rated R movie on a much, much smaller budget.  That way even a moderate success at the box office would pay big dividends as opposed to the Chronicles of Riddick movie that had over a $100 million dollar budget and didn't fare so hot.

Smart move.

Aside from a bit of a slow build, this was probably my favorite of the 3 movies.  Once the action gets started, it doesn't really let up, and Riddick almost takes on a horror film as he makes his way through the crews of both ships.

I almost wonder if I should revisit the  first 2 installments again and see how the whole saga plays out.

Maybe someday...

Final Grade: C+

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: If you've enjoyed the franchise before, you should really like this third installment.

A Month Of Marginal Movies Comes To An End... "Elysium"

Elysium (2013)

Rated R for language and violence

Starring Matt Damon, Jodie Foster, Shalrto Copley

Directed by Neil Blomkamp

The Story:

In the year 2154, the wealthy have moved to Elysium, a man-made space station that keeps the inhabitants healthy and prosperous.  Naturally, none of this care and prosperity make it back to Earth, where people slave away, hoping to someday make it to Elysium.  Secretary Delacourt (Foster) wants to ensure no illegals ever make it to Elysium and employs extreme measures, such as sleeper agent Kruger (Copley) to make sure nobody leaves Earth.  When a former criminal (Damon) is faced with a chance to make something out of the last few days of his life, he fulfills a promise to his best friend to get her to Elysium.

There was an interesting sci fi flick crammed into a bloated mess about immigration laws.

Too slow and plodding, with the setup way too long for the inevitable payoff.

I think I fell asleep for 10 minutes, woke up, and apparently hadn't missed much.

I'm not sure how Jodie Foster received such top billing, she hardly is even in the movie. 

Unless it was the part I slept through?

:)

Final Grade: C-

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: Nah, an interesting idea hidden behind a bloated story is not my idea of something I want to watch again.

"After Earth", What Else Is There?

Oh my stars and garters...

The Story:

Cypher (Will Smith) and Kitai (Jaden Smith) crash land on Earth.  Cypher is injured and must rely on his son to save them both.  Can Kitai save them both, or will the planet, or an evil nasty that is chasing him, finish him off first?

First, I can't believe I watched the whole thing.

Second, I'm not sure I actually did.  I think at one point I hit the remote by accident and skipped an entire chapter of the movie.

I don't think I missed anything.

Then, I know for a fact that I wrote a different movie review somewhere near the third act of the movie.

So let's hit it:

Will Smith.  The man exudes charisma and charm.  This is likely his most uncharismatic role. Ever.  You want to play against type, well done Mr. Smith, you are effectively boring.

But if you want to talk about a lack of charisma?  Look no farther than Smith's offspring, Jaden.  If it wasn't bad enough to endure a Karate Kid remake that was bogged down in boredom, barely watchable only for Jackie Chan, apparently we are now forced to a lifetime of Jaden Smith movies because of who his dad is.

What a shame for moviegoers everywhere.

If you really want a cure for insomnia, Walmart has a 2 pack with After Earth & The Karate Kid bundled together.

Of course, let's not leave the blame entirely on the Smith household.

No, I give you M. Night Shyamalan, writer & director of this science fiction epic...of disastrous proportions.

It's been all the rage to bash Shyamalan since The Sixth Sense.  Apparently when you storm onto the scene with a movie that great, it's all downhill from there.

Sidebar:  Come on folks, the Sixth Sense wasn't THAT great.  It was apparent what the shocking twist was if you were watching the movie.  Good, not great.

But from that point on, Shyamalan had an uphill battle where he seemingly had to throw a "twist" at the end of each of his movies, and they began to suffer for it.

That said, I'm one of the few people that actually didn't mind Lady in the Water, so go figure.

However, when you can't translate The Last Airbender into a good movie... I mean the cartoon was phenomenal.  All you had to do was a straight-up adaptation... but nooooo....

So, I would say the bloom is definitely off the rose with his career, if it wasn't already before.

Look carefully at the movie posters and trailers... Where was his name exactly?

Nowhere.

The studios didn't want you to know it was his film.

Sad, but true.

So if you haven't already wasted your time watching this film, save 2 hours of your life (it'll feel more like 4) and go watch just about any other Will Smith movie instead.

Yes, that even includes Wild Wild West.

Final Grade: I waffle... I feel I should give it a D-... but an F sounds much better.  How about...  F+ ?

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor:  Not even if you paid me.  Unless you were willing to pay me a lot, then we'll talk...

Dead or Alive, You're Coming With "RoboCop"

I'd buy that for a dollar!

The Story:

In the future, Detroit is pretty much on its last legs as a drug filled haven for criminals.  The cops are gunned down frequently, and corporations are looking to be the future of law enforcement.  It is here that Officer Murphy (Peter Weller) gets gunned down, and is transformed into RoboCop.  From there, it's a question of a bit of Murphy's humanity remaining in the machine as he tracks down the bad guys that killed him, and leads him to the big reveal of who really is behind the crime...

Big Corporations!

Wait, this is the future?  I'm pretty sure that could sum up America, especially Detroit, right now.

: )

My back to back love reviews for the great city of Detroit looks back at the 80s masterpiece: RoboCop!

Paul Verhoeven's first American film remains his greatest work.  Ultra-violent, ultra-funny, it takes swipes at Americas capitalism and other issues that were prevalent in the 80s and still carry some weight today.

The satirical news and commercial spots that interrupt the film are as good today as they were over 25 years ago.

Weller does great as the stoic cop.  His performance is nearly robotic, even before he undergoes the operation. :)

 His lack of presence is made up for with scenery chewing bad guys, among them, Ronny Cox and Kurtwood Smith.

Yep, I have to say it, Robocop is a science fiction/action classic in the genre.

I fear that the retread/reboot of the franchise is going to stall out as badly as the Total Recall did.  Nobody is clamoring for a remake, and when you take a cult classic and try and update it, you have to throw out all the stops and make the remake stand on its own two feet.

We will see.

Final Grade: A

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: I don't own this one, just never have gotten around to getting it, and I think this is only the 3rd time I've seen it since the first time I rented it back in the day... but it's still pretty darn awesome.