The Mist (2007)

Directed by: Frank Darabont 

Starring: Thomas Jane, Nathan Gamble, Marcia Gay Harden

IMDB Page

The Mist is a horror film adapted from a Stephen King novella. I haven't read the book (Who reads those anymore?), so I can't say how accurate it is compared to its source material. I can say its pretty dang scary and equally depressing.

The Mist takes place in the state of Maine, like a lot of Stephen King stories do. (Well, I haven't read much from him, but he is from Maine.)  David Drayton (Jane) is an accomplished artist, living in a nice house with his son, Billy (Nathan Gamble). After a rather turbulent storm, the two join their arrogant lawyer-neighbor, Brent (Andre Braugher), to venture into town for some supplies. After reaching the supermarket, the town is covered in a thick mist. Things turn even more strange after a bloodied man runs into the store, yelling about there being "things in the mist". The store is locked down as more odd events start to happen. Soon, it is relieved that there are truly "things" in the mist, as one of the store employees is dragged away by a couple spike laden tentacles. More and more creatures of various types begin to attack the store over the course of the night. David must soon put himself and his son at risk once the survivors' mob mentality turns out to be as dangerous as the creatures attacking them. 

Your local forecast: Highs in the mid 50s with mostly cloudy skies. Low visibility with a 90% chance of being eaten by giant tentacle monsters. 

The Mist manages to be a pretty frightening film. The various monsters are downright terrifying. There are the giant tentacle monsters, which you never really see in their entirety. There are football sized fly like creatures, that have a lethal bite. There are mutant pterodactyl creatures that eat the fly creatures, but will still eat your face. Also: 

AHHHHHHHHHH SOMEONE GET A FLAMETHROWER! 

Spiders. Too many spiders.Millions of little spiders. Spiders that shoot acid web.  Four foot tall giant spiders. Medium sized spiders, that like to jump on top of your head. If you have any degree of arachnophobia, you might want to watch this film with a change of undergarments ready. Or put the television in the bathroom, so you can watch from atop the throne and not have to worry about cleanup. 

Forget the flamethrower, I'm skipping right to the thermonuclear bomb. 

Apart from the fact it managed to scare me, there are a few things wrong with The Mist. First of all, the acting can seem a bit over the top and clichéd at times. (Although the only black guy isn't the first one to die.) I remember a couple scenes were ruined by an odd or over acted reaction from one of the characters. Not all of the acting is bad, there are some parts where the terrified murmur of the crowd as a monster or dead body comes into view will send a chill down your spine.

Thats not a kite on the other end of that rope... 

My biggest beef was with the way the religious zealot is portrayed. She serves as another villain along with the monsters, destroying the logic of the trapped people as they try to make a plan for survival. I'm not very religious to begin with, but I think the way they hammered the bible thumping types was a bit too over the top. The fact that people actually listened to her insane rants, even going as far to kill someone by throwing them out of the store, seemed a bit odd to me. 

(Minor spoiler below. Don't read the next paragraph if you haven't seen the film yet.) 

Those looking for a happy ending might not enjoy this one either. The film's conclusion is deeply depressing. I don't want to give too much of it away, but the actions of the main character seemed pretty hasty considering what he did. It just didn't seem like a normal person would choose to do what he did with almost no hesitation. 

Bottom Line: 6/10: The Mist is a truly scary film. Its held back by only a couple things, mostly I didn't like the ending. Its a well put together film, I enjoyed watching it, but wouldn't opt for another viewing. It just left a bad taste in my mouth.

Dead Alive (1992)

Directed by: Peter Jackson

Starring: Timothy Balme, Diana Penalver, Ian Watkin

IMDB Page

Browsing Netflix instant watching options one lazy afternoon, I stumbled onto a zombie category. Being a fan of zombie films, I quickly started looking through. I had never seen Dead Alive (Known as "BrainDead" to overseas audiences) before, thinking it was going to be awful. It had relatively good reviews on Neflix, and it claimed to be the "The goriest fright film of all time", so I figured "Why the heck not?". While it might not be very frightening, it sure keeps its promise of being "the goriest". 

Clam down, its only a flesh wound.

Dead Alive is less of a scary movie, and more of a dark comedy; with a very, very, very sick sense of humor.  Its a story about Lionel (Balme), a socially awkward mama's boy, who is constantly being controlled by his evil overbearing mother. His mother is soon infected after being bitten by a strange creature at a zoo, and begins slowly turning into a zombie. Lionel tries desperately to hide what is happening to his mum, as a few more zombies are created in the process. Eventually, he has to fight through an entire horde of the living dead in order to save the girl of his dreams. Also, lots and lots of blood. 

Dead Alive isn't very scary at all, but it is a shock film. The gore is so insanely over the top, its not realistic in the slightest. However, that doesn't mean it isn't stomach turning. I found myself grossed out several times over the course of the film, and that is saying something. Some of the ideas for killing humans and zombies are as brilliant as they are disgusting. The effects are well done, on par with films like The Thing. The folks behind this picture have some very active imaginations... And maybe a bit of mental illness as well. Zombies are torn to shreds, impaled, disemboweled, ground up, pummeled to death, and hacked to pieces.  To hammer the point home, have a look at this tidbit taken from the IMDB trivia page:

"During the lawnmower scene, movie blood was pumped at five gallons per second."

You now want to watch this movie.

One of the most surprising things about this film is the director: Peter Jackson. Yes, the same guy who directed the Lord of the Rings films and the upcoming Hobbit films made a film that features two zombies having sex, and a reanimated pile of guts complete with farting anus. 

Bottom Line: 7/10: Its not for everyone, but I enjoyed it. There's not much to the story, but that isn't what this film is about. You're here to watch a man get his entire ribcage torn from his chest and to see a disembodied head mashed into a running blender, not for a deep and interesting plot. There's enough wit and tongue and cheek gore here to keep any horror or zombie fan entertained. Just make sure you don't have a weak stomach. I'll leave you with one last tidbit from the IMDB trivia page: 

"The rental in Sweden (and probably other countries as well) came with supplemental vomit bags."

V for Vendetta (2006)

Directed by: James McTeigue

Starring: Natalie Portman, Hugo Weaving, John Hurt

IMDB Page

From the writers behind the Matrix trilogy, V for Vendetta is an amazing imagining of a not too distant future. Aside from being politically relevant, it wraps a great plot, characters, and action scenes into a rather kickass package. 

Great Britain is now a fascist state. The people are spied on at all times. The government's henchmen, called "fingermen", assault civilians on a whim. Constant propaganda is blasted over the television sets. Any kind of dissent gets you whisked away in the middle of the night, never to be seen again. The film definitely draws from influences like Orwell's 1984. 

It is on her way back from work at a television station that Evey (Portman) runs into a couple of the government "fingermen". Just before they are able to have their way with her, she is saved by a mysterious masked vigilante, who only calls himself "V" (Weaving). V wears a mask bearing the image of Guy Fawkes, a man who attempted to blow up the British parliament hundreds of years earlier on the fifth of November.  The two part ways, only to be reunited later. V attacks the television station that employs Evey, broadcasting a message asking the citizenry to join him in one year's time, on the fifth of November. This time, Evey prevents V from being captured by the government. He rescues her, taking her to a place away from government eyes. 

I don't want to give away too much more, because V for Vendetta is one of those films best enjoyed when you go in not knowing too much of what will happen. However, I will say that I have barely scratched the surface with this description. The plot is very deep and complex, but not too convoluted. It is a story of personal revenge, revelation, as well as a story of revolution. 

Another area where the film shines is in the acting department. Natalie Portman is absolutely perfect in her role, showing true emotion all the way through. If anyone deserved an Oscar for best actress in 2006, it was her. Hugo Weaving (Agent Smith from the Matrix films, for those looking to put a face to the voice.)  is equally good as V. His role has an added level of difficulty: He wears a mask throughout the entire film, allowing him to only emote with his voice and body language. John Hurt has a rather ironic role as the tyrannical Chancellor Sutler, who is always seen on large video screens angrily spouting off propaganda. His role is ironic because John Hurt played the opposite role of the film adaption of Orwell's 1984, as the citizen constantly being watched by a government figure on a television screen.  

Stephen Rea also turns in a memorable performance. He plays a detective tasked with tracking down V after the attack on the television station. As he slowly uncovers a vast government conspiracy, his feelings about the "terrorist" he is supposed to apprehend change.  

Bottom Line: 10/10: V for Vendetta is one of my personal favorites. Its very easy to make political connections between the world in the film and the world we live in today. This may be a turn off for some, but its not a movie that hammers you too hard with a political message. Its a well done drama film, with some truly moving moments and characters. Theres even a couple of well done action scenes thrown in, but don't expect non-stop bullets and explosions. 

The Other Guys (2010)

Starring: Will Ferrell, Mark Wahlberg, Eva Mendes

Directed by: Adam McKay

IMDB Page

Yet another Will Ferrell movie from director Adam McKay and.... Will Ferrell. Don't know who Adam McKay is? Name a Will Ferrel movie, and chances are he's directed it. (Anchorman, Talladega Nights, Step Brothers) All of those films manages to be slightly better than mediocre, with a few good laugh out loud moments. The Other Guys follows that formula, having quite a few genuinely funny moments, while being held back by copious amounts of bathroom humor. And Will Ferrell screaming.

He has to, its in his contract. 

Allen Gamble (Ferrell) and Terry Hoitz (Wahlberg) are two NYPD officers living in the shadow of another pair of detectives, P.K. Highsmith and Christopher Danson (Samuel L Jackson and Dwayne Johnson). Terry is looked down upon by the rest of the department because he accidentally shot Derek Jeter at a Yankees game, and Allen is just an office dwelling loser who enjoys doing paperwork just a little too much. When the two prodigy officers are killed in the line of duty, its up to the other guys to step up and take down the corporatist villain.

The best thing about The Other Guys is the casting. Ferrell isn't venturing into any new territory with his role, he still plays the loser who tends to raise his voice at inappropriate times. Wahlberg has great chemistry with his costar, with Wahlberg providing a real world "ground" for some of Ferrell's ridiculous actions.

Scream one more time... I dare you. 

 Michael Keaton has a role as captain Gene Mauch, the guy in charge of our two main characters. There is also many smaller roles that provide good laughs, including a hilarious cameo by Derek Jeter that I mentioned above.

There are a few problems with the Other Guys. It is your typical Ferrel romp, so if you arn't a fan of his other movies, this one will be no different. A lot of the humor rests on Will Ferrell doing Will Ferrell things, so at some points it can feel like the jokes are repeating themselves. I found myself not even paying attention to the main story, which wasn't too bothersome for me. It involves taking down some rich businessman involved in some kind of ponzi scheme. Its certainly a relevant story in todays age of government bailouts, but it took a backseat to the jokes here. The end credits are very interesting, featuring some impressive graphics and animations about today's Wall Street world. But they feel like they belong in a Micheal Moore movie, not a Ferrell comedy movie.

Bottom Line: 7/10: About on par with other Ferrell/McKay films, although its not as quote-able as Anchorman or Talladega Nights. A few great laughs with a great cast, but nothing memorable.

How To Train Your Dragon (2010)

Directed by: Dean DeBlois, Chris Sanders

Starring: Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, America Ferrera

IMDB Page

Lets face it, if you've been in the business of making feature length computer animated films, you've been chasing Pixar for the past 15 years. Many studios have tried to match the charm, humor, and heart that Pixar seems to nail every single time, and haven't succeeded yet. There have been a few memorable attempts, like DreamWork's Shrek (which has been wrung dry by a number of less than stellar sequels). With How To Train Your Dragon, DreamWorks still hasn't topped Pixar, but it has come pretty dang close. Lets just hope they don't ruin it with a bunch of crummy follow ups. 

I've heard the sequels were only made so Eddie Murphy wouldn't starve trying to find work. 

How To Train Your Dragon takes place on the fictional Island of Berk during Viking times. The island is almost constantly under attack by dragons, who will destroy houses and make off with the villagers' livestock. Most of the time of inhabitants is taken up by repelling the dragon attacks, or supporting the effort through other means. Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) is having trouble living up to his father and village leader, Stoick the Vast (Gerard Butler). He desperately wants to kill a dragon himself, but is kept back by his father and others out of fear he will be killed or hurt. 

Against his fathers wishes, Hiccup sets out to kill a dragon on his own. Using one of his inventions, he downs a "Night Fury", the most feared type of dragon that is known to the villagers.  Once face to face, he finds himself unable to kill the creature, letting it go instead. The dragon, nicknamed Toothless, is unable to fly on his own. With the help of Hiccup, Toothless regains his flight abilities. Soon, the two learn to trust each other, becoming good friends. But that friendship is soon put to the test when Hiccup's father leads an attack on the dragon nest. 

The story isn't anything too new for an animated fare, following a familiar path with only a few small deviations: Character X is misunderstood. Character X meets character Y, who is also misunderstood. Character X and Y become friends, much to the disapproval of their respective friends and family. At some point, there is an epiphany, and character X and Y must save the day. Everyone loves them, the end. This doesn't stop the story from being good, its quite good in fact, just not anything new in the area of kid friendly animation. 

Speaking of animation, this is an amazing looking film. The fire and smoke legitimately look real. Textures and fabrics look fantastic. One of the other things How to Train Your Dragon does well is facial animations. While the human characters are still caricatures of human beings, they emote visually as well as any live action actor. This holds especially true for Toothless, who is only able to "act" through various facial expressions and animal like noises. The dragon can go from a "puppy dog" look to "I am going to murder you" in an instant, with the ability to show off a large range in between. 

Action scenes are plentiful and well done. The aerial shots are spectacular, with a mix between fast paced dogfights, or slow cruises through the clouds.  I wish I could have seen it in theaters, I bet it would have given James Cameron's Avatar a run for its money in the 3D department. 

The supporting cast of characters isn't as nearly as interesting as our two stars. They provide not much more than a couple of laughs. The voice talents are good, each fitting their role suitably. Like I said above, most of the entertainment comes from the chemistry between Toothless and Hiccup. This is impressive, considering Jay Baruchel was not only reading lines off of paper in a tiny room, but his "costar" didn't even exist outside the minds of the animators and artists that brought him to life. 

Bottom Line: 9/10:  While How To Train Your Dragon still isn't as good as some of Pixar's greats, its the closest another animation studio has ever come. A charming story, combined with great main characters and some slick looking animation make this one of Dreamwork's best. 

  

Inception (2010)

Directed By: Christopher Nolan

Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page, Tom Hardy

IMDB Page

Everything about Inception feels big. The scale, the characters, the music, the action, the visuals... Nolan has definitely has the ability to give a film an "epic" feeling. While being held back in only a few areas, like a plot that is perhaps a little too big, Inception provides for a very entertaining ride. 

The opening to the film is initially very confusing. You jump right in with our main character, Cobb (DiCaprio), transcending different dream levels as he attempts to extract secrets from the mind of Saito (Ken Watanabe), a wealthy Asian business mogul. I was totally lost in this opening, and not in a good way. Soon, all of the characters wake up, and you start to find out what exactly is going on. 

Cobb is part of a corporate mercenary team that specializes in infiltrating other's dreams to steal secrets from their subconscious. The opening scene was a "dry run"; Saito was testing out the team before dropping his hard earned dollars. Not much explanation is given into the past of this team, nor the technology behind it. Its not a huge issue, but I would have liked to have heard more about the mysterious machine that is used to sneak into other's dreams, other than "it was a secret government training project". 

Cobb is also haunted by the memory of his dead wife. She haunts his subconcious, making it increasingly harder to preform his job. He is also wanted by the US government under suspicsion that he had something to do with her death, making it almost impossible to re enter the county to see his children. Saito offers him a deal: Preform an extremely risky operation, called an "inception", which involves implanting an idea in someone's head, rather than stealing one. In exchange, Cobb will be able to enter the US again to see his son and daughter. The majority of the film is taken up by planning the inception. It also explains all of the rules of the dream world, which makes the film's opening scene finally make sense, as well as prepare the viewer for the film's finale. The finale is ingenious, if not a bit too complex; consisting of a dream, within a dream, within a dream. 

Nothing confusing here....

Apart fron the intriging story, everything else about Inception is top notch. The visuals are the best part, allowing for us to see some truly mind bending stuff when the characters enter the dream world. The action is typical Nolan, with plenty of PG-13 rated gun play and car chases. The hard hitting and ominous score by Hans Zimmer has the same feeling, shaking you right to the core during action scenes, and perfectly helping to set the tone for others. Once scene in particular blends action with a true "how did they do that?" moment. A fight between two characters happens in an upscale hotel, as gravity does all kinds of weird things around them. 

Not for those with vertigo. 

Now, onto the bad. I've mentioned a few times already that the plot can get a bit convoluted. You can get lost easily if you miss only a couple of lines of dialog. For example, Cobb and his team encounter armed resistance upon entering someone else's dream. I had no idea who these goons were, or why they were fighting our main characters. On my second viewing of the film, I caught a couple of lines I had missed on my first time through. Apparently, people who fear having their secrets stolen via the dreamworld have trained their subconscious to fight any intruders. It was really easy to miss, so make sure you aren't distracted while you watch. To add onto that, make sure you have the time to sit and watch, as Inception clocks in at a two and a half hour runtime. 

Also, just a pet peeve of mine, an AED (Automatic External Defibrillator) is used in the completely wrong way to revive a character that has died. Yeah, you could say it works because its just a movie, or they were in a dream at the time. I'm not going to subtract anything for this, but it had my inner medicine nerd yelling "YOU CAN'T DO THAT!". 

Bottom Line: 9/10: While it gets caught up a little in a complicated story, Inception pulls through with flying colors. Once you can understand whats happening, the story will pull you and and won't let go. The dream worlds are beautiful, characters are interesting, and theres plenty of bullets and explosions for the action fans. On top of that, one of the most well done ambiguous endings I've ever seen. 

The Fifth Element (1997)

Directed by: Luc Besson

Starring: Bruce Willis, Milla Jovovich, Ian Holm, Gary Oldman

IMDB Page

The Fifth Element is one of those movies I have caught bits and pieces of over the years. Given its two hour and some change runtime, I never caught more than half of it when being aired on broadcast television. I just recently sat down and had a chance to view it all in one setting. Now it makes a whole lot more sense, and was a thoroughly enjoyable experience. 

The plot is a bit convoluted, but easier to follow if you are actually watching the film. A "great evil" appears every 5,000 years to wipe out life on earth. The key to stopping the evil is passed down by priests from generation to generation.  Also needed are the five "elements": earth, fire, water, wind, and a fifth; which can be described as "love" or "heart".

Capitan Planet does not have a cameo

An acient race of beings, who are also tasked with stopping the great evil, are halted by mercenaries hired by hired by the corporatist Zorg (Oldman). Enough DNA is recovered from their wrecked ship to recreate one of the beings. The recreation, Leeloo (Jovovich), is a genetically perfect being, also serving as the fifth element. She soon escapes, running into a ex-special forces taxi cab driver, Dallas (Willis). The two team up with the priests (Ian Holm and Charlie Creed-Miles) that have the necessary knowledge to stop the great evil, while fighting Zorg and his goons along the way. It sounds confusing written down, but is not too hard to follow while actually watching.  

The main appeal of this film is its sheer visual brilliance. The future New York City has an amazing, if not over the top, look to it. It almost is more of a bright fantasy look, rather than the cold steel vision of the future that is so popular. This look alone was almost enough to hold my attention throughout the entirety of the film, there is never a dull looking image on screen. The effects are top notch, and hold themselves even 14 years later. There is a perfect blend of CGI and practical effects, both being done extremely well. 

All of the characters are just as colorful, in costume design and personality. (Fun fact: over 900 different costumes were designed for use in the film) The Fifth Element is filled out by an excellent cast. Oldman steals the show as the evil corporatist Zorg. He blends into his role so well, I was shocked to find out it was him in the credits. Willis plays the typical Willis character: The wise cracking badass who smokes too much, all the while tongue firmly planted in cheek. It isn't anything new for him, but he does it well. Jovovich plays the naive acting Leeloo. She is a source of a few of the film's best laughs, and is plenty easy on the eyes. Ian Holm and Charlie Creed-Miles are a delight as the two sometimes bumbling priests. And finally, where the characters get too colorful, is Chris Tucker as the eccentric Rhuby Rhod. The film looses points for this character, who serves no real role and is utterly obnoxious for every scene he is in. I would call him the "Jar Jar Binks" of this movie, until I remembered The Fifth Element was around two years before the Phantom Menace. That makes Jar Jar the Rhuby Rhod of Star Wars. 

Screenwriter: How can we take Chris Tucker, and make him even more annoying? .....Bingo.

Bottom line: 8/10: The Fifth element is wildly entertaining, well worth a watch. Its held back in only a couple places, such as a complicated plot and Chris Tucker. However, the other characters, and the brilliant design of the future world, make this a good one for any fan of the sci-fi genre.