Author: AllieHanley

Spectacular flipping car crashes, scantily clad women, adrenaline-pumping action, and new addition to the franchise, Dwayne Johnson, as the I-always-get-my-man Federal Agent out to take down Dom Toretto.

Fast Five picks up where the last film left off, with Dom Toretto (Vin Diesel) heading off to prison aboard a prison bus, sitting hand-cuffed and looking stone-faced in his orange prison onesie. Action explodes onto the screen a mere twenty seconds in as former cop, Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker) and his lady love Mia (Jordana Brewster) team up to free her brother with some tricky car acrobatics and special effects that will get your heart speeding. It’s so fast, you’ll barely have time to tell the couple next to you to shut up and turn their annoying cell phone off. A prison bus cartwheels across the screen, and of course, somehow, no one dies. And, hence, the tone is set for this outlandish installment in “The Fast and the Furious” movie franchise. A franchise which has, since its first installment, created a billion dollar cash cow for Universal.

Now on the opposite side of the law, the three flee to sexy Rio de Janeiro where they meet up with an old family friend, Vince (Matt Schulze), who offers them an opportunity to score some money doing what they do best, stealing souped up cars. The plan inevitably goes awry, three US Federal Agents end up dying, and they barely escape with their lives. But not before driving a car into a ravine, and blowing up a truck.

So in addition to being wanted by the law, they also find themselves on the wrong end of the wrathful and motivated drug lord, Reyes (Joaquim de Almeida ), who is determined to regain his car and a key item hidden inside of it. The US Federal Agent, Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson), is charged with bringing them to justice. Their only recourse is to devise a plan that includes stealing $100 million from Reyes.

For their plan to work, our heroes are going to need some reliable help; i.e. cast members from all previous four films. A fantastical plan emerges that will involve high speed chases, exploding toilets, cars flipping, crashing, and smashing, and somehow a huge bank vault being towed down the street, taking out everyone and everything in between.

Vin Diesel is back as actor and Executive Producer in this fifth film in The Fast and the Furious franchise, which has made financial success in all its films and apparently garnered news of a part six before this one was even released.  Somehow I am not surprised. How can they make six of these things? You’ll be given a hint if you stick around after the initial ending credits featuring Eva Mendes. Worry not. She’s not the actual secret.

Is there really anything new to add to this franchise, except more of what we love about the earlier films? 
Super fast cars and cutting edge special-effects headline this action-driven story that would fall flat if not for director, Justin Lin‘s spectacular effects. When you think you’ve seen every which way a car can explode or crash, leave it to this movie to one up itself. And it does over and over again.

With far-fetched action sequences, and one-dimensional characters you are not likely to walk away from this with any deep thoughts except perhaps wondering at how those Brazilian ladies can look so hot walking down the street with spandex mini-skirts riding up their cracks – literally. 

Face it, Fast Five is not about the human spirit over coming unbelievable obstacles unless you include speeding trains, and bullets flying every which way or some endearing love story. Fast Five is all about the visual eye candy and the thumping music and Vin Diesel and Dwayne Johnson going at it. Fighting that is. Not having sex.  Screenwriter Chris Morgan must have felt a little guilty about the shallowness of his material, as he threw in a small history lesson as to why the people in Brazil speak Portuguese and not Spanish. 

The dialogue seems intentionally absurd and I caught myself snickering a few times at the snappy one-liners and cliché characters, but it was all in good fun. None of the sequels in the franchise live up to the original movie in the story department, but in special effects, this one rules the house. As well it should, what with the bulk of the film’s budget being directed at the effects and not as its stars. Apparently there’s not a whole lot going on in Diesel’s career that doesn’t include sequels to previous work  xXx: The Return of Xander Cage, so I guess the question is why not give him a headlining role in a special-effect-driven film? If the moribund “Resident Evil” can pull a sixth film, why not this franchise that is already in pre-production of #6.

Is there anything I can say about Paul Walker’s performance?  No. He just plays the same guy from the previous films, and conveys that “I’m a better driver than you” rivalry with Toretto. Getting Tyrese and Ludacris (Oh, oops. I suppose now that they’re actors, and not models or rappers, we have to refer to them by their SAG Union names)… Tyrese Gibson and Chris Ludacris Bridges, up on the screen together for their respective roles is not only silly – but, well, ludicrous. They try to play off of each other but really it’s not that great. Gibson’s character, after lamenting at the absolute insanity of the plan, finds out that his share will include $11 million dollars. His comment? “That’s a whole lot of vaginal activity,” Yeah. Apparently he’s in. I wonder if that was the original line?  Hmmm, I think not for a PG-13-rated film.

And since we have the two of them, we need to throw in the “token” Asian guy (See? Hollywood is progressive!) with Sung Kang reprising his role as Han from The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift.  With an ensemble cast of nine there’s not a lot of time for them to say anything other than a one-liner here and there. Especially with entire subplot involving the steroid-charged Hobbs.

To say that Hobbs is over-acted by Johnson is an understatement. But honestly, that’s one of the charms of the film.  His I-will-not-fail attitude and his zippy one liners add to the essence of the film.  When he arrives in Rio, and is asked what he needs from the locals he replies, simply and tersely, “stay the fuck out of my way!”  This is not Johnson in Tooth Fairy mode. Instead he invokes more of his wrestling persona for this film. Which is a good thing, as it would be a lot more dull without that colorful character. Car wrecks notwithstanding.

So all in all, the film is much as you might expect: Gasoline-induced adrenaline, lots of testosterone to be shared amongst the characters and cars. It’s entertaining. If it’s raining this weekend, and you want to get out of the house, go for it. 

This film was screened in Seattle at Pacific Place Theaters April 26th by Allie Hanley.

A stylish period piece set during The Great Depression and filmed without an over abundance of special effects or CGI, the film relies on good old fashion story-telling, rich and dynamic characters, and exquisitely decorated sets that brings to mind an age not seen in Hollywood for many years.

About to take his final exam as a veterinary student, Jacob Jankowski (Robert Pattinson), suffers a tragedy that leaves him penniless and emotionally devastated as his family dies in a tragic car accident.  At a loss for what to do with his life, he hits the road and finds himself climbing aboard a moving train that is transporting a variety of exotic animals and colorful people, otherwise known as The Benzini Brothers Circus.

Given the choice between being red-lighted (thrown off) or performing good honest work (shoveling horse manure) he accepts the latter and meets the beautiful and enchanting center ring performer, Marlena (Reese Witherspoon), who happens to be married to the emotionally flawed owner and ringmaster, August (Christoph Waltz).

Jacob, Marlena, and August toast to his brilliant idea for a new act involving an adulterous scenario… and the elephant, Rosie, is not part of it.

Water For Elephants is an epic story re-imagining the life of a traveling circus in the early 1930’s and centered on a love triangle set in the same style as the film The Notebook – told from the point of view of an aged story teller – Hal Holbrook (currently the TV Show – The Event). 

He opens the movie as Jacob, alone and forgotten standing in the rain, in front of an empty circus main way looking confused and frail.  But as he begins to tell us the story of his past his face lights up with hope and joy.  The moment is short, but the actor is tremendous with his brilliant blue eyes telling us that there is more in what he has seen as a young man than what we see standing before us.

Holbrook reeled me in to the world of the the traveling circus as he sets the stage for this epic tale and the ground work for the role to be taken up and played by much younger actor Robert Pattinson.

Holbrook is the oldest actor to ever be nominated for an Academy Award

for his work on 2007’s Into The Wild

Every movie has it’s moments where an actor gets to be center stage, and really show their stuff.  In this film, even though Jacob is the main character <Pattinson>, has few powerful or meaningful lines to deliver, but instead has to rely on his expressions to convey his characters motivations.  Pattinson, like Holbrook is talented in saying a lot with his eyes and expressions and the casting choice for them to play the same character was smart.

Pattinson has these compassion filled expressions that convey so much with only a handful of words, and his comfort level around the circus animals looks natural.  If he didn’t have two more vampire movies coming out I think that this film would have been a great departure for him to showcase that he is more than a teen heart throb with bushy eyebrows and a cowlick that so many guys love to hate.  Unfortunately, he has this great performance in Water For Elephants that gives him a breathable chance of redemption but it may be forgotten when the machine that is Twilight rears it’s profitable head come July 21st at Comic Con Intl.

Marlena and Jacob have a moment together, to bad Witherspoon blows it with her wooden persona.

His love interest is played by Reese Witherspoon who was completely miscast for this role and doesn’t resonate well with her character.  It takes two to have chemistry on the set, but somehow she comes across as stiff and puppet-like.  Somehow, Pattinson still pulls off a believable performance to her wooden one coming across smitten and enthralled even though she’s really not. 

Witherspoon is a fine actor as we have seen in many other roles but in Water For Elephant she holds the film’s love story back with an innate rigidity.  On the positive side, she does well in many of the physical scenes where she’s performing with horses and the elephant.  It’s just that when she’s evoking this sense that Jacob should be lusting after her, she really fizzles and so does the big love triangle moments.  It’s like she was going through the motions of acting but not really feeling the role.

She’s more like the cute girl next door, and not the lady you risk your life for.  In her moment to shine, she definitely lacked luster and left me with a so what feeling.  Her main costume was also distracting as it looked like she was showing off more than she was.  I expected more from her.

This was a candid photo between scenes and not an actual still – She’s scantily clad for the 1930’s, even as circus performers go.

Even though Witherspoon wasn’t the star performer of the film for me, I was once again, taken with Christoph Waltz.  He had the the choicest dialogue in the film as August and took full advantage of those moments to craft a complex  character. 

He plays a sadistic tyrant that you want to hate him for being so cruel and merciless, but then Waltz captures some essence in getting you to feel sorry for him, similar to the character he played in Inglourious Basterds in which he won the Oscar.  To take an ugly character and somehow create this aura that you feel sorry for them in light of the havoc they have ensued is an amazing acting fete. When I read the novel, I had no sense of ever feeling sorry and hopeful that the August character would ever be anything more than a bad guy/villain in the story.  Waltz portrayal brings a lot more depth than the original work and is by far the best performance in the film.  He has several moments to shine, and in every scene, he does.  It’s one of the stronger performances of a supporting actor so far this year.

August and Marlena toasting to their new acquisition, Rosie – the elephant.

Even though Robert Pattinson (Remember Me (2010) has a world of fans, he also has a equal number of movie-goers done with the whole vampire thing… setting that aside, he really is good in the film and I hope some of the would be haters out there give this film a chance, as you’d be missing out on something special.  Water For Elephants is no Titanic and doesn’t pull at the heart strings as much as The Notebook, but it’s still enjoyable and well made.  The rich tapestry in which the story is set is a large part of what sustains the film for the 122 minutes.  There are many moments in the film that are rich and touching.  Even so, not as good as I was hoping for, being a fan of the original work.  The film still managed to hold my attention and I enjoyed it overall.  If you’re a guy who just can’t stand Pattinson and get roped into going to this film, take heart, he gets beat up and punched at least five times.

This film was screened at Pacific Place AMC Theaters in Seattle, WA April 20th by Allie Hanley.

What do you get when you combine movies like Kick Ass and Run Lola Run – and a female Jason Bourne?

You get Hanna, a thoughtful action thriller from director Joe Wright (Pride and Prejudice, Atonement), who describes his movie as being “part fairy tale” with exhilarating action scenes, multilayer characters, compelling story, and a thumping sound track that makes this my favorite film this year.

Starring sixteen year old Academy Award Nominee Saoirse Ronan (Atonement), as the fiery Hanna, who has been genetically engineered and trained in the secluded wilds of Finland by her ex-CIA father, Erik (Eric Bana), to be a deadly assassin.  With revenge on her mind, Hanna has no other goal but to kill the high level CIA boss, Marissa (Cate Blanchett), who killed her mother when she was an infant.  Hanna embarks on a cat and mouse hunt that begins in Finland, travels through stunning Morocco and ends in Berlin amongst a fairy tale inspired theme park –literally.

Hanna is hunting with a bow and arrow, and she easily takes down an Elk.  As she’s butchering the animal we hear a voice proclaiming, “You’re dead.”  She pauses for only a moment and then lunges at the voice, screaming fiercely and in attack mode. 

The voice is her father who is training her to be ever vigilant and self sustaining.

Hanna is no ordinary 16 year old.  She is living in a remote cabin that resembles something from a fairy tale like Snow White in the wilds of a snowy forest.  Her only companions include her father, a tattered Brothers Grimm fairy tale book, and an outdated encyclopedia – in which she can recite from cover to cover.
Her father has taught her many things like how to fight, improvise, and even speak several languages, but in doing so, Hanna has missed out on so much.  The time has come, and Hanna decides she is ready, but for what?  As she pushes a button that turns on a signal, we are soon to find out.

The focus of Hanna’s revenge, Marissa, played by Cate Blanchett.

When it comes to portraying a female in the role of an assassin, it’s refreshing to see a female character like Hanna, that rely on skill, knowledge, and expertise rather than sexy outfits and the size of her chest and the length of her legs.  So thank you to the writers, Seth Lochhead (screenplay & story) and David Farr (screen play) for breaking away from recent Hollywood trends that objectify women in TV/films and running with something different and far more satisfying.

The movie Hanna is listed as an action/thriller while director Wright prefers to describe it as a drama with action.  His description lends to the characters having more depth, and a broader and more satisfying story so I am entitled to agree with him on that sub genre we are seeing more and more often.

While some of the stunts and the amount of henchmen Hanna takes down pushes the limits of plausibility, the overall film is so satisfying that I didn’t quibble over the details.  Visually, Wright avoids and proves that you do not have to employ a bumpy camera to convey action sequences and instead uses many steady and framed shots that show provide a much clearer vision of the story. 

Another aspect that plays well to the film is the score that was composed by The Chemical Brothers. The body wriggling beats compliment the overall movement of the story and is a wonderful example of how the right music can take your film to the next level. 

Yes, Hanna is a merciless assassin, but she is also an extremely naïve teenager that lends to some lite-comedic scenes in the film and helps to keep the character of Hanna from being some sort of automaton.  I impart a good portion of that to the actress Ronan in her portrayal of Hanna.  In some of those lighter scenes she shows us an innocent side that conveys that she has a soul and is not some unfeeling product of vengeful father.

Eric Bana (Troy, The Hulk) is Australian who speaks throughout the movie in English but with a German accent.  Cate Blanchett is British who speaks with a Southern Accent (Virginian maybe?).  Ronan is from New York, but grew up in Ireland, and speaks with mostly German accented English in the film.    Is this important?  Not really, I just wanted to point this out more as curiosity and a nod to their acting ability. It’s the sort of thing you only notice when it’s bad and in this case it’s not but it was a little unexpected hearing Blanchett with the Southern drawl. I wonder if it was in the original story or if she added it?

And more along those lines of in case you were wondering… how do you pronounce “Saiorise” which means freedom in Gaelic?  So anyway “sur-shuh” is how she pronounces her first name, and incidentally Ronan, also means freedom in Gaelic.

Hanna is a what all action movies should aspire to with a pulsing soundtrack, scenes that visually make sense, a fulfilling story that ends with most of the loose ends tied up convincingly, and my time happily spent in a movie theater being awed and entertained.  In fact, I think I might go see it again…. a rarity for me.  

Editor’s Note: Look for our interviews with Saiorise Ronan and Joe Wright at Wondercon on this week’s podcast.

This film was screened March 29th at the Seven Gables Theatre in Seattle, Washington by Allie Hanley.

When celebrated Army helicopter pilot Capt. Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal) wakes strapped to a chair in what appears to be a space capsule, he’s confused and disoriented.  On the screen directly in front of him is the all business face of Goodwin (Vera Farmiga).  She’s trying to communicate with Colter but he might as well be on another planet.  She does her best to bring reason to the situation and begins repeating cryptic, key phrases that resonate with Colter triggering his memory of who he is and his past. 

His mission is simple, “find the bomb and you find the bomber.”

His essence is transported from capsule to a passenger seated aboard a commuter train heading for Chicago.  A lovely lady, Christina (Michelle Monaghan ), is sitting across from him.  She is thanking him for his advice, and yes she just might “go to India and become a guru.”  He looks around and wonders if this is a simulation and treats it so.  He imagines that all of the people are Sims fashioned to test him in some new military scenario.  Here’s “the token pretty girl” designed to distract him from his mission but as the passengers seem too real and the train too dusty, Colter realizes that this is the real deal, but by then it’s too late.

B O O M the train explodes and the eight minutes is up.

Is there a way to get around this 8 minute rule?

We’re back… not in heaven but back in the capsule with Goodwin’s steadfast face declaring “we are running out of time,” and he has to go back, “find the bomb, and you find the bomber.” <let’s do it again> 

Yes, but the next eight minutes will be similar, yet subtly different as new clues present themselves to Colter who is by now getting wiser, and making better choices in how he spends his quickly ticking away minutes.  As desperation pushes him, mistakes and progress are made in equal measure unveiling more clues to who the bomber is and ramping up the tension and suspense.

B O O M – the train explodes! <again – but it’s cool because we keep seeing new things, and getting to know more about the passengers on the train> 

Goodwin & Rutledge try to remind Colter – that time is running out – but WHY if it’s time travel?

Colter is confused -again.  Goodwin reassures him and explains once again (you wonder how many times they have already been through this) that they are running out of time.  He needs to discover every clue that will lead him to the bomber and ultimately prevent another attack by the same perpetrator and

B A M they send him in again.  You get the idea and hopefully enough info to get your interested but not to much to spoil how much fun this film is to watch.

Part Groundhog Day (minus the comedy), Sliders, and definitely similar to Quantum Leap (that starred Scott Bakula -who also plays Colter’s father, but only as a voice on a cell phone) but so much smarter than those shows which flaunted a low-brow science fiction bent to the whims of pulp writers and Hollywood number crunchers.

Source Code takes only the good stuff from those shows and then ups the ante by a factor of five, even when it too bends the rules of space and time to make the story jump.  The explanation on how the whole thing works as described by the scientist/boss of the Source Code Project, Dr. Rutledge (Jeffrey Wright) behind the new technology, seems plausible enough that I’m willingly to play along and enjoy the ride.  Apparently, it all works somehow because of Quantum Physics and the brain staying alive for about eight minutes after death, or something or other.  That part was confusing but by then I didn’t care.  I just wanted to see what would happen next, as each scenario becomes more interesting and exciting as the story unfolds.

Jake G spends a lot of screen time looking confused yet determined- which sums up his character.

Continuity is crucial when trying to pull off a story that takes place mostly within the confines of eight minutes that gets repeated over and over;  And attempting to keep it on track takes a lot of precise effort keeping every tangent straight, as us Geeks are hard to please and if it doesn’t add up – we won’t like it! 

One of the ways Director Duncan Jones (Moon) and writer Ben Ripley (TV movie- The Watch) keeps everything straight in the film is by creating concise time lines that inventory everything that is happening with each tangent keeping the overall story evenly paced and providing riveting clues without backtracking unnecessarily- a tight rope that is walked magnificently with precision throughout the entire 93 minutes – the perfect amount of time to tell this story. 

Director Duncan Jones on the set with Jake G and Michelle Monaghan,

The achievement accomplished in this film speaks of a way more experienced director and writer than just the few meager credits they have to their names; And if you haven’t seen Jones’s Moon, add that to the top of your movies to watch list.  It’s fantastic and Sam Rockwell’s performance is magnificent but back to Source Code.

The writer/director team gets to tell a real science fiction story that is not dictated by a quota of product placements, action scenes, boob shots, and explosions though there is certainly a number of those to be seen along the way but they are valid and add to the experience.  Thankfully, traditional Hollywood money crunchers didn’t seem to have much influence on messing up this script or if they were present they made good decision this time around.  I’ve seen a lot of movies recently that start out good and fall apart half way through, or worse, have a horrible ending.  This film is solid from start to finish.

I feel like there is some potential that you will walk away from this film asking questions, but not in the predictable fashion.  It’s affecting story, characters, and ending will be interpreted by every person on a different level but there is an obvious message:  Life is short – make the most of it, and secondly, don’t sweat the small stuff.  Neither requires much brain power to assimilate but like I said, those are the obvious messages.  The not so obvious ones are more meaningful and left for you to discover when you see this film <don’t you hate it when the critic gives everything away?>.

Therefore, I will only tread lightly on the potential of more meaningful themes to be seen, as you Geeks out there will no doubt be fighting over what this and that means in the film (as they were when I walked out). 

Why is it cold in here and how comes things are breaking?

As all good science fiction stories do… it asks “What if?”  And if you go along with it, and suspend what you know about reality, you will leave enchanted by the possibility of asking “what if” as I did and hopefully ignore some of the plot holes which really aren’t so bad.

The film is solid and well produced on many levels including a well shaped story, excellent production quality, interesting characters, smart editing, etc.  My expectations were low, as it sounded like an impossible task to create a Hollywood film bent on repeating eight minutes over and over again, and starring Jake G, whose last two roles – Love and Drugs, and Prince of Persia, both being less desirable fits than this one left me not excited to watch.  Simply – he’s good in this film and he redeemed his acting street cred with me.

Next week I will be reviewing what looks to be equally good, Hanna, a film from Joe Wright (Atonement) .  Please feel free to comment the Geekscape forum and share your thoughts on this film and the nuances of quantum mechanics, multiple universes, and the potential/consequences of effecting the past and future.

This film was screened March 29th in Seattle by Allie Hanley.

Paul is a film about best buds Graeme Willy (Pegg), a talented, but out of work illustrator and Clive Gollings (Frost) wannabee sci-fi writer, who are on a geek pilgrimage to visit Comic-Con and claim the autograph of their common hero Adam Shadowchild (Jeffrey Tambor).

They begin their adventure in proper geek attire (iconic super hero t-shirt, con badge around the neck) and devour all that Comic-Con has to offer snapping pictures of the many slave Leia’s, collecting autographs, gawking at what’s to come and playing with comic inspired toys like two kids in a candy shop. 

After the con, they continue the theme of their dream trip to America by renting an RV.  The plan is to take in the the most renowned alien visitation sites like Area 51 and the infamous Black Mailbox but they get so much more than they ever dreamed of.

In the middle of their odyssey Graeme and Clive inadvertently pick up a hitchhiker who is none other than an alien (Rogen) named Paul who has just escaped from his government captors.  You would think this would be a dream come true for the duo but after one of them faints with fright it’s up to Paul to win them over with charm and appeal.

With Agents Zoil (Jason Bateman), O’Reilly (Joe Lo Truglio) and Haggard (Bill Hader) on their tail and being lead by a very recognizable voice – Sigourney Weaver – the pals get into some shenanigans and learn what it’s like to travel with a pot-smoking, foul mouthed, extra-terrestrial who is not only versed in futuristic science but apparently has a love for all things pop culture.

Paul was written by Pegg and Frost who are known for films Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead and directed by Greg Motolla (Superbad).  All three are fans of Steven Speilberg and the film plays like an homage to him by borrowing lines, scenes, and even music from his movies (also from George Lucas films).
After watching the Paul panel at Comic Con Intl. last year I thought I had a good idea of what to expect from best friends Pegg and Frost’s new movie; low brow humor, goofy sci-fi storyline, flavored with a dry-British humor, pot jokes and overt profanity.  It was all that plus so much more.

The film is more like a love note for all sci-fi movie fans touching on films like Close Encounters Of The Third Kind, E.T., and Star Wars (listen for the slowed down version of the music from the Mos Eisley Cantina when Frost/Pegg walk into a red neck bar).

Some borrowed scenes and dialogue are easily recognized while others are more cleverly buried.  I noticed material from at least 10 other films like Aliens, Raiders, Star Trek, Jaws, Battle Star Galactica, Back To The Future, Total Recall and many more.  You would think that in order to include so much from other films the story would loose ground but surprisingly it doesn’t.  The writing is ingenious and the geek inside me was so getting a kick out of the references.

Paul is an alien like none other, or is he? 

Well he does have the power to heal with his finger tip (ET), can cloak himself (Predator), and resembles the shape of the aliens in Close Encounters but he also has some characteristics that set him apart. 

Since Paul has spent the last 60 years in a government bunker advising the powers that be on political, scientific, and pop culture issues he’s soaked up quite a bit of culture including a fondness for getting high and telling jokes.  Even so, he’s had enough of Earth and is ready to go home. 

Not a huge fan of Seth Rogen as he always seems to be the same guy in every film and after seeing him in person talk about Paul last year I was skeptical.  But actually, his comic timing and wit plays out well as this character is unlike his portrayal of the Green Hornet. 

This hour and forty minute road trip movie is a celebration of geek culture which may not translate well for mainstream moviegoers.  Nonetheless, it’s still funny and has a lot of heart.
As one of the folks this film was written for I enjoyed myself immensely and was filled with geek-joy from start to finish.  My cheeks still hurt from smiling so much.

Independence Day meets Black Hawk Down in this Jonathan Liebesman (The Killing Room) directed science fiction/action film.

Battle LA stars Aaron Eckhart (Batman; The Dark Knight) as Staff Sgt. Nantz, a career military man who is bone weary of battle and ready to retire.  Just as he is ready to return to civilian life a mysterious meteor shower off the coast of Los Angeles turns from human evacuation to full on attack by aliens.  Nantz is pulled back in to lead a unit of marines under the newly graduated 2nd Lt. Martinez (Ramon Rodriguez).

The squad is sent into Santa Monica (California) to rescue civilians hiding out in a police station that has been surrounded by Alien’s determined to kill all humans so they can take our natural resources, particularly water.  The squad makes it to the police station after taking fire and loosing a few squad mates to find only a handful of survivors. 

A fight erupts outside and a marine is able to drag a barely alive alien into the station. Nantz feels like this may be their only opportunity to find a physical weakness.  He’s assisted by a pretty veterinarian (Bridget Moynahan) who helps to tear open the alien in search of their vital organs.  After some close calls the group moves out and the movie shifts from third gear right into over-drive.

“We’ve got to find a vital organ, this may be our only chance to see inside of one of these.”

The script is full of cliché characters that we have seen in many war films and the sub-genre science fiction/action films (Aliens) where you have the weak leader who has to rely on the “old dog” to make the tough decisions like “should we go right, or should we go left?”  You’ve got the survivors who must be protected at all costs, and who get picked off one by one, except of course for the cute kids.  Even so, this film still rocks with the realistic battle scenes, explosions, gun fights, suicide missions, and alien goo.

The movie plays like a first person shooter video game (Gears of War, Halo) with simple characters that build over time and mission objectives that move the story forward to a massive grand finale of marines working together to shoot-em up, blow-em up, and kick some Alien ass.  With buildings crashing down, massive explosions and cool alien space craft flying about, the squad fights their way for about ½ of the entire movie keeping me thoroughly entertained despite some weak story lines and a slow first twenty minutes that was an unnecessary attempt to build more worthy character motivation as it’s an action film, not a drama.

Los Angeles under attack by Aliens

 Alien science fiction films are all going to have some similar characteristics especially ones that have aliens attacking humans on Earth.  Battle LA may be filled with some cliché story lines and characters, notably the “we can’t give up speech,” and dying for a higher cause, even so it does a really good job of telling a visual story in an exciting, action packed way which is good enough to forgive the former. 

The film incorporates some realistic looking battle scenes that made my two-tour Iraq friend squirm in her seat and a well known film critic (can’t say his name) jump back and popcorn fly, -so much for being uber sophisticated. 

Realistic military scenes deliver heart pounding action.

The camera was overly shaky at times with similar techniques to The Hurt Locker and the edits are sometimes a little to quick but by no means is it enough to ruin the film.  The story is not as interesting as District 9 nor does it have the bloody brains getting pulled out of human bodies like in Skyline, but it has some heart pounding fight scenes, very cool shots of LA being torn apart, and was a welcome relief to watch after so many hum drum films that are out right now.  It’s certainly not going down as the best science fiction film ever made, but it’s still pretty good.

For an entertaining hour and fifty-six minutes go see this film while it’s in the theater.  It’ll be a good re-watch when it comes out on DVD but nothing brings a film like this to life better than the big screen and pounding sound system in a well built Movie Theater.  One more thing – glad they didn’t make it in 3D as that would have been over-kill on this already visually striking film.  Ooh-Rah!

Surprise, I bet you thought you killed me!

Is it just for kids?

Disney’s latest animated feature directed and written for the screen by Simon Wells (The Time Machine-2002 and Prince of Egypt) about nine year old Milo (Seth Green) who discovers just how important his mother (Joan Cusack) is when she’s whisked away by Martians to help raise their own children.  Milo steals aboard the space ship that has abducted his mother in an attempt to rescue her.

When he arrives on the planet Mars and is taken into their underground world he discovers a society dominated by female aliens who are only interested in raising their female offspring.  The males are dumped into a wasteland-like environment that Milo escapes to.  He then befriends another human, Dribble (Dan Fogler from Fanboys, Kung Fu Panda) who came to Mars under similar circumstances.

Both team up to save Milo’s Mom, but not until he describes how “good” his mom is to the male Martians who haven’t a clue as to what he is going on about:

Reason one, “she takes me to Disneyland,”

Reason two, “she feeds me,”

Reason three, “she tucks me into bed,” and so forth. 

I’m sure all the mom’s in the audience know that in order to be a “good mother” you need to take your child to Disneyland.  The beyond blatant advertising was insulting and a turn off and one of the many reasons all adults should stay clear of this film unless forced by physical threat.

Animated features can be classified in three categories; watchable by kids, watchable by both kids and adults, and adults only.  Mars Needs Moms is one of those that pretty much is for kids only, and pity the poor parents who have to sit through it. 

Of course the film has its moments and the cutesy puppy love between Milo and Ki (Elisabeth Harnois), and the Mars version of the wicked queen (Mindy Sterling) are all characters that little kids are familiar with and will doubtless love anyway.  The lack of originality drove me batty while I was watching it.  It’s almost as if the entire team swallowed up the last few Disney animated features (and snuck a few Pixar in) and then vomited up this flavorless cartoon that does everything it can to yank a tear out from you in the end, only to make you smile happily – if your like nine years old or younger.

Mars Needs Moms brings nothing original to the screen visually or in the soundtrack which was completely uninspiring.  You can usually count on at least one good song from a movie like this… so don’t expect any of the music to be nominated. 

As for the art, the actual shape of the Martian characters look a lot like re-worked Antz characters.  Nothing seems inspiring or original in the Disney production which was based on a kids book written by Berkeley Breathed (artist/writer) of the same title.

The 88 minute cartoon is one big contrived Disney commercial but will little kids love it? 

Absolutely. 

They might even leave the theater eating their broccoli and appreciating Mom a little more and if you get guilt- ed in to taking your niece of nephew, go ahead and save a few bucks as the 3D was just one more attempt to increase revenue dollars.  Kids will love it just as it is.