Monday, April 22, 2013

"Don't Drone Me, Bro!" : A Review of Oblivion


Science Fiction is making a comeback this decade.

I don't mean movies filled with aliens, space ships, and large explosions. Those are nice, but they fit more in the category of Sci-Fi. I mean films that focus on how technology, or scientific events, affect a person's character. Movies that use tone and timing instead of loud bangs and creature effects.

I'm referring to the movies that Oblivion tries so hard to be. Oblivion marks the stepping stone of better things to come in science fiction cinema. I say a stepping stone because Oblivion isn't necessarily great. It's not bad either, but something about it felt disappointing. I'll refer to this mystery effect as it's X-Factor. As much as I try to reimagine my experience in the theater, I can't explain why this movie wasn't great. Perhaps Joseph Kosinski was so lost in trying to get all the pieces that define classic science fiction into this movie, that he didn't leave any room for it to have it's own soul? Then again, maybe Tom Cruise just over acted the hell out of it? I can not say with certainty.

Most likely, it's due to the part my expectations played into the experience. I admit I went into this expecting typical Hollywood Sci-Fi. I may have even craved a little mindless space action, honestly. I wanted Tom Cruise one-liners fired off at mean looking aliens blowing up. While there is some action in this movie, it's not as much as I expected.

Illustration from the Graphic Novel
The movie does a great job of recreating the tone and mystery of a 70's Science Fiction film, like Blade Runner or 2001. The pacing here is much slower than I anticipated, which may be the big cause of my X-Factor experience. There's more plot to this than expected, with decent writing and human emotions being portrayed. While most of it is predictable, there was some nice emotional build up to Andrea Riseborough's declaration that "they are not an effective team". The cinematography is also gorgeous, much in tune with the graphic novel that inspired it.

Tom Cruise's performance is mostly spot on, if not maybe guilty of over acting a bit here or there. That's possibly the only real obvious complaint I have. Even the movie's "epic" conclusion highlights a Cruise monologue that, while well written, pulls the viewer out of the emotion of the moment. I'm sure it looked great on paper, but mixed with Cruise's taste for intensity it just doesn't flow right to me. Oh well ...


Again, I stress this movie is a big step in the right direction for science fiction cinema. 

Oblivion is a good movie, just not ... great?

Friday, April 12, 2013

Dr. Tongue's Evil House of Pancakes Presents Jurassic Park in 3D!!

1993 was an important year for my childhood. It was the first summer of my life where I got to go see movies in the theater on a regular basis. I saw The Fugitive, and The Man Without A Face. I was a little too young to appreciate those movies. I also saw Sidekicks and T.M.N.T. 3, the latter of which I cringe at the idea of watching again as an adult.

Yet none of those films would impact my life as much as the theater presentation of Jurassic Park did. To this day I still remember the awe I felt seeing those dinosaurs come to life on the big screen. It motivated me to read my first novel by Michael Crichton, may he rest in peace. That lead to discovering an author who inspired me to think big and aspire to write my own exciting tales of technology gone astray.

Well now I'm 31 years old, and Jurassic Park is back on the big screen in 3D. When I first heard the news of it's re-release I was more excited to see it on the big screen again then I was in the 3D conversion. Ever since my teens I've been an enthusiast for the theater experience. 3D has made it easier to explain this to people who don't understand the immersion factor of a theater presentation. Tell someone that if they didn't see Avatar in 3D then they didn't "really" see it, and chances are they'll accept that statement. Hell, they may even agree with you. But offer the same argument for a movie like Dark Knight Rises, and a debate will ensue.

Let's get the 3D conversation over with here. It was very impressive how well they converted it to that presentation. If you're into 3D, I highly recommend it. Ok, now that that's over ...

Here's what is even better about this re-release, they're also showing it remastered in it's original 2D presentation. Now, if you don't care about 3D but would like to see this movie again then PLEASE GO SEE THIS IN 2D!

You may be asking yourself, WHY WOULD I WANT TO PAY TO SEE THIS IN 2D WHEN I CAN SEE IT 3D?

Think about every crappy movie remake you've ever seen. Would you have preferred to have just seen the original on the big screen again instead of the money inspired reproduction? I would. Maybe I'm alone in this, but I would pay good money to see older movies in a theater again. Imagine the statement we could make to Hollywood if the 2D version of the Jurassic Park release made more money than the 3D version?

Maybe then Hollywood would give these classic's another chance on our modern cinema's instead of trying to remake them. These are all rumored remakes in development for 2013-2014 releases ...

  • Carrie
  • Escape From New York
  • Robocop
  • Mad Max
  • Pet Sematary
  • Point Break
  • The Crow
  • An American Werewolf in London
  • Child's Play
  • Drop Dead Fred
  • The NeverEnding Story
  • Overboard
  • Highlander

I don't know about you but I'm sick of remakes. Well ... except for Evil Dead. That was pretty awesome, and Carrie does look like it's going to be pretty good. Wait, I'm losing focus here.

I don't want to see a new Escape From New York. I want to see Kurt Russel larger than life again! Here's our chance to show Hollywood that there's money to be made in re-releases. Please, for the love of classic 80's and 90's cinema GO SEE JURASSIC PARK IN 2D!!

Oh, since you've been such a good sport for reading this far here's a classic SCTV clip with John Candy about 3D movies. Enjoy!

Saturday, April 6, 2013

Dead By Dawn : A Review of Evil Dead (2013)

Detoxing is a bitch. The body pains and aches for a fix. Your sensitivity of all your senses increase to painful levels. You can hallucinate, seeing movements out of the corner of your peripheral. The woods start to chase you. Dead animals appear around you, and family members begin to lie to you. They say you killed them. They say you're dangerous. You can smell their filthy souls. Dead by dawn ... dead by dawn ... you'll rot in hell you filthy bastards!!

OK, maybe detoxing off drugs isn't exactly like that, but it makes for an interesting metaphor. You certainly battle demons both internal and external. That's exactly what the new heroine of Evil Dead goes through in this 2013 remake of the 1981 original. Mia is a struggling addict who, with the help of her friends,organizes a "cold turkey" getaway at her family's old vacation cabin to get through her detoxing period. It creates for an interesting plot device to motivate the characters to stay at the cabin, despite the odd events that occur around them. They assume most of the hysteria by Mia (Jane Levy) is just manipulation to get back to the city to get high again. Oh how wrong they are ...
Now as far as biased reviews go, I'm a big fan of the original Evil Dead. It's a monument achievement in independent horror films. It launched the careers of both Sam Raimi (Director of the Spider-Man Trilogy) and Bruce Campbell (Burn Notice). For the past 30 years, Evil Dead has set the standard for campy horror movies. Even if you've never seen Evil Dead, chances are you've heard a few of it's hero's one liners.

With a fan base as strong as Evil Dead's, and it's lead actor Bruce Campbell, it's a challenging move to produce a remake with new characters and motivations. When I first read about the new lead character's drug detox plot, I started to lower my expectations. I began to fear for a CGI gore fest. While that could be entertaining, Evil Dead deserves better.

Thankfully Director Fede Alvarez felt the same way. Not only did he recreate many of the classic scares of the original, he did it all without the aid of CGI. As a student of film, you must see this movie to see how well this is done. Certain scenes that I assumed were done with CGI now confound me as to how they were done without it. The soon to be infamous Tongue scene comes to mind here, where the Demon Possesed Mia splits her tongue licking a razor blade.

Alvalrez stayed true to Evil Dead form in other ways besides classic gore techniques. The movie had a great pacing and soundtrack to it. It felt like an Evil Dead movie, and that's not an easy feat. All the little pieces of technical development have to flow together. The writing, while a new original take, had many winks to the classic. Especially in some of it's running gags. My favorite gag was how Mia's brother David (Shiloh Fernandez) always fixed major wounds on people with duct tape. 

The one issue I had during the movie was the lack of an obvious hero. Where is Ash? Is Mia the new Ash? Can't be, since she gets possesed early on. Is it her brother? It seems so until the very end. Before I spoil these questions, let me point out that Ash isn't the obvious hero in the original either. He was a very scarred and unlikely hero until he finally cut up his girlfriend to bits and started carrying around a chainsaw.
* Spoiler Alert!! *
In retrospect, the hero of the film should have been obvious considering the show stealing performances of it's star. Jane Levy lead this movie forward like a rock star! It's hard to believe she had never seen Evil Dead until after she got the part. I can understand why she would want this role without prior knowledge of the series. Mia is such an entertainingly diverse character. Levy got to be a loving sister, a struggling drug addict, a frightened woman, a possessed killer, a taunting demon, and in the movie's epic finale she gets to pick up a chainsaw and kick some undead ass. She even gets to drop a few demon killing one liners then. Best part of the movie is how she loses her hand. Sorry Ash, but Mia just outclassed you.


While a movie like Evil Dead isn't for everyone, I do highly recommend it. It's a reminder of what can be done without CGI effects. It's a resurrection of the fun of a campy horror film done right. For women, I also point out the achievements of Jane Levy. As an actress, Levy brings Mia to the levels of Sigourney Weaver's Ripley. She just flat out kicks ass! 

For the sake of your soul, which smells filthy by the way, go see it!