Dredd 3D-review

The 2012 movie Dredd 3D is based on the British comic Judge Dredd.  The story was brought once to the screen in 1995.  This time with great characters, great effects, and a mood that is very self-aware. Dredd 3D also utilized its gimmick of 3D and made for an amazing action packed siege movie.

Judge Dredd, played by Karl Urban, is training his new rookie judge, played Olivia Thiriby.  While investigating a murder in a huge tenement building, they find that a criminal named Ma-Ma, played by Lena Headey, is running a drug empire inside and wants them dead.  They become locked inside the building as the criminals go on an all-out attack on the Judges. 

The effects are really cool.  They use a lot of slow motion effects with a new fictional drug that slow the down brain.  With the 3D effects it looks really cool though.  There are many really amazing, violent gunshots and that are shown in gory detail. 

The mood is dark and fun.  There is humor weaved within the story that really makes the story seem self-aware of being a fun action movie.  It keeps a sharp pace and keeps the action moving from the beginning to the end. The script is decent and is very original for an action movie. 

Karl Urban is great as Judge Dredd.  He brings a great face to an otherwise faceless character.  His rookie character, Olivia Thiriby, plays a great psychic, mutant with a backstory that doesn’t take over the storyline.  Lena Headey is a chilling and very believable villain.  As a whole, the cast did a great job bringing life to this explosive movie.

I totally recommend this movie.  Dredd 3D is a wildly fun action movie and is a blast to watch.  If you are looking for something different and something that is full of fast-paced action, you will enjoy this movie.  Hopefully this movie will find its audience soon.  It is the sort of movie we really need to see released more often.

[REC]3: Genesis-review

The [REC] series is an interesting one.  These Spanish movies really took POV films to another level.  [REC]3: Genesis takes things too a bit new level and in a different direction.  The movie takes a bold approach to the look of the demonic infection showing us new characters, and wild new gory effects. 

Koldo, played by Diego Martin, and Clara, played by Leticia Dolera, are celebrating their wedding day.  They have a wonderful ceremony and a great reception but what they don’t know is that they have an infected guest.  When the guest finally goes nuts and starts biting others, chaos ensues.  Can Koldo and Clara reunite and escape the horrors of their strange demonic zombie wedding?

The acting is not bad. Leticia Dolera and Diego Martin bring good characters to the screen. You want them to succeed and get through this horrible ordeal.  The side characters are even memorable and interesting; even as comic relief.  There is a lot of charm around the characters and you hope that they will make it.  The fact that this is a parallel story to the rest of the series only adds to the fun.

The movie switches from POV to normal third person view which is different for the [REC] series.  The practical effects are a welcome change of pace compared to most of the other horror movies that are coming out these days. Adding to the mythos of the story by showing that the demons see themselves as monsters in mirrors and can be thwarted by holy areas and objects were clever changes.

If you are a fan of the series you will enjoy this.  If you are not familiar with the series you can still enjoy this movie.  The characters are at fun and interesting and the knowing the story from the first two movies is not needed to understand what is happening. [REC]3: Genesis is a good movie and a great series that is completely worth seeing.

Skyfall-review

Daniel Craig has brought a welcome sense of realism into the James Bond franchise that was missing in a great number of his films.  I still believe that Casino Royale has one the best chase scenes I’ve ever seen on film.  Skyfall, takes a roundabout approach to bring Bond back to the days of Moneypenny and Q.  It is clever in its nostalgia factor and in its casting choices. Still, it suffers a flaw that no Bond movie should.

James Bond, played again by Daniel Craig is supposedly killed in in the line of duty attempting to get a hard drive that contains all the MI6 NATO personnel.  Bond was only wounded and spends his days drinking with a small scorpion on his hand, which I guess is a drinking game in some countries that can’t afford ping-pong balls.  After returning to active duty he discovers that it was Raoul Silva, played by Javier Bardem, who aims to kill agents in order to get to M as revenge. The biggest questions of course are who is this guy and will he succeed in his mad schemes?

Daniel Craig is still great as Bond. He is still able to straddle the line between hard cold killer and smooth operator, which is fun to watch.  The real fun of this movie comes from Javier Bardem as Raoul Silva which is like watching a mix of Heath Ledger’s Joker mixed with Anton Chigurh from No Country for Old Men.  It is evil genius at its best and it’s at least some what original in its insanity and motivation.

The movie brings a nostalgic factor back into the movie that was missing in the others.  With the return of characters like Moneypenny and Q, the Aston Martin, and a big booming Bond score the movie has a feeling of old-school Bond.  I am not sure what the future will hold for the series but it’s certainly going to be interesting to see where they take it from here. 

The only thing that makes this movie at all hard to watch is the run time.  At 143 minutes there are a lot of scenes that felt like filler and that is no good during a Bond movie.  If they would have cut just a few of the scenes or trimmed others it could have been much easier to sit through.   The movie itself is still very fun and worth seeing.  I look forward to more of the series and hope it will grow toward this dark, realistic Bond.  

Silent Hill Revelation 3D-Review

Silent Hill Revelations 3D is the sequel to the 2006 movie Silent Hill, based on the popular video game of the same title.  Silent Hill Revelation 3D shows a lot of inspired new creatures and clever visuals.  The problem is that it is bogged down in lame characters and a weak script.

A teenage Sharon, from the first movie, played by Adelaide Clemens, is in a new school in a new town.  Her father, played by Sean Bean, are on the run and trying to hide from a cult in the ghost town of Silent Hill attempting to bring Sharon back into the town.  What is their purpose? 

The acting for this movie has gone downhill.  Sean Bean doesn’t even try. Half the time he seems to be looking like he has been contracted into doing this movie and he is dying to get back to Game of Thrones.  Adelaide Clemens does an okay job and is cute as a button since she is a spitting image of a young Michelle Williams.  The charm of this movie comes from the bit parts of Carrie-Anne Moss and Malcolm McDowell in small, yet colorful, parts that show them having fun with over-the-top roles.

The visuals are fascinating. They return the undead nurses and add a bizarre mannequin spider creature.  Most of the scenes in Silent Hill Revelation 3D looks to be nightmare fuel.  Conceptually it is really well done.  The script is laughable. The dialogue is awkward and there are a lot of expository statements that would be better shown than said.

As a whole Silent Hill Revelation 3D is not a very good movie.  In the hands of a better writer this could have worked out.  If they really wanted to fix this concept maybe they should have just started with a new, bold set of characters who we can care about for a change.  I’d give this movie a miss unless you are a big fan of the series or a fan of the videogames.

Paranormal Activity 4-review

The Paranormal Activity series is one of the few I know that seems to get more intricate and better with each movie that comes out.  While the first was so subtle and creepy it has expanded it’s own mythos to involve so much more than a demonic entity causing chaos.  It now involves covens, cults, and new gimmicks in each new movie. 

The movie begins by showing the ending to Paranormal Activity 2.  We are then introduced to Alex, played by Kathryn Newton, a young teenage girl who is big on taping aspects of her life.  She also enjoys the joys of Skype.  Alex and her boyfriend come across a boy named Robbie who lives across the street.  When his mother is put in the hospital he is asked to stay with Alex and her family.  Many odd things start occurring around Robbie.  The main question is why?

The story is decent.  It certainly follows the main concept of the Paranormal Activity universe.  There are a few plot holes and many questions from the past movies left unanswered but considering that, it is still a good movie that is at least trying to bring something new to the table. You can sometimes give it a benefit of the doubt.   This movie shows just how expansive this coven really is. 

I thought of using computers to show the audience the footage was a clever idea.  It worked well with the rest of the story so it moved the narrative along smoothly.  There is a thematic element of “the boy who cried wolf” which is really hard to work in an age where you can literally get footage of just about anything from anything be it a camera, computer or cellphone.  Still, the movie pulls off this feat and it works out well.   The ending felt a bit rushed which is a shame because it really is an interesting movie and I want to know more.

Paranormal Activity 4 is worth seeing if you are a fan of the rest of the series.  It brings some new plots twists that were not expected. While not terrifying, it does build on the other movies well.  If anything, it makes me wonder where it’s going to go from here.  It’s at the very least worth a matinee or a rental.  

Resident Evil 6- video game review

Resident Evil 6 is the sixth installment of a survival-horror franchise that has done it’s time.  In this game instead of following a single storyline there are three separate campaigns and then a fourth that you unlock by finishing the previous three.  They all intertwine in different ways and it is in that way the makers of this game were trying something new.  The style of each campaign is a bit different each time as well.  For instance- In the Leon campaign  it’s more the standard Resident Evil game from the past, with Chris it’s more shooting and action,  with Jake it’s running away from creatures and situations, and in the Ada campaign it’s puzzles.

I was not a fan of the different campaigns.  My personal opinion is that one really decent and well-run story is so much better than four intersecting ones that just glance at one another and don’t let you care about the characters.  The intersections also mean that you are going to be fighting the same boss fights twice with multiple characters.  It comes off as really lazy on the part of the game designers.  They really needed to attempt to add some more variety to the monsters.  Every campaign faces a creature with the stamina of Jason Voorhees that you will face countless times and in several forms.  It gets so redundant fighting them again and again. 

The game play is okay for the most part. The AI for the partners has improved a lot more from the last game.  A welcome change I was happy to see that maybe twice I had to take care of my partner in a fight.  Navigating the new version of the inventory was a challenge at first but I got used to it.  The worst part by far is the constant use of “monkey-see monkey-do” commands. Since Resident Evil 4 for some reason these commands keep popping on the screen and expecting you to hit the button at just the right time or die.  It brings to mind games like Dragon’s Lair where the game gets frustrating incredibly fast unless you memorize the button actions.  As if that wasn’t frustrating enough the game added several death races against the clock sections where a single second off your game will lead to the character’s dying in an overly long cut scene.

I understood that Resident Evil 4 changed the series to be more action based.  The sequel added a teammate element.  The problem is that the Resident Evil universe has really played out its story.  Capcom should wrap it and Silent Hill up and start a franchise that is bold and different.  There are other really amazing games that have proven that survival-horror can still be an amazing genre of game.  The two Dead Space games still blow me away and they seem to have borrowed a lot of the feel directly from Resident Evil.  This game is superfluous.  It really ads nothing to the universe other than the side note that Jake is Albert Wesker’s kid and that is not even a shocking Darth Vader-style reveal since Jake is a new character himself. Nothing new is brought to the table. 

Resident Evil is okay.  It has become a neutered form of the survival-horror it once was.  There are sections of this game where you fly a crashing plane and have a car chase. That is not the mood I have at all with a Resident Evil game.  That is a mood I have with an Uncharted game.  If you are a fan of the series it’s probably going to disappoint you in its lack of growth.  If you are looking to start playing the survival-horror genre I’d look elsewhere because this is certainly not that genre anymore and you can find a lot better.

Sinister-review

I love it when a movie surprises me as much as Sinister does.  The movie is genuine and chilling in its presentation.  It uses creepy super 8 films of families dying to create a horrifying atmosphere.  The acting is good and the scares are truly worthwhile in this awesome movie.

Ellison Oswalt, played by Ethan Hawke, moves into a new house with his family.  He is a true crime novelist and he is there to investigate the murder of a family that happened in that house.  While in the attic, he discovers a box of super 8 “snuff” films of families in different house being murdered in different ways.  He notices a familiar creature in each of the films. 

The movie was really spooky.  I am not one that is easy scared but the limited use of the Buguul character was smart and the use of the really spooky super 8 footage was really wonderful.  There are aspects that are just not scary, such as seeing ghost children.  Still, the use of camera work and shadows are really well done and I couldn’t help but be affected by it.   

The acting is really well done.  Ethan Hawke brings a very believable character to the screen. We can really imagine seeing these horrible films and still being drawn into the mystery to keep watching again and again.  His wife, played by Juliet Rylance, also brings a worthwhile character to the table.  You can see her anger and frustration with her husband and there is an air of subtleness in their performance that works well together.

This movie is really fantastic.  The real fear it brings comes from the subtle atmosphere. The ending throws any aspects of predictably out the window.  Sinister would make a great companion film with the likes of Insidious.  It’s a clever movie that is completely worth seeing this holiday season.