Category Archives: Cinema Sit-Down

Cinema Sit-Down, Film/Television/Broadcast/Radio, Movies/TV

Hasta la Vista, Franchise!

3 Comments
A poster for the film, which opened July 1, 2015.

“Old, but not obsolete.” That was Arnold Schwarzenegger’s newest catchphrase in Terminator: Genisys. If only the same could be said about this franchise, which couldn’t be saved by the combined forces of the T-800 (Schwarzenegger), the Doctor (Matthew Smith) and the queen of dragons (Emilia Clarke).

After the defeat of Skynet, Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney) is sent back in time to protect Sarah Connor (Clarke) from a Terminator intent on killing her before she gives birth to resistance leader John Connor. However, when he arrives in 1984, he discovers the timelines have been drastically altered and nothing is as it once was.

Normally, I would post a spoiler warning at this point in my reviews, but in this case I don’t care. I haven’t been this disappointed and angry at a movie I saw in a theatre since G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. James Cameron’s first two Terminator films are classics, both of them ranking among my favorite movies. Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines is a retread of T2 and runs counter to its theme of beating fate. Terminator: Salvation at least tries to be different by focusing on the war with the machines in the future, showing plot points that had only been hinted at before.

Genisys, on the other hand, is a muddled mess. A better title would’ve been Terminator 5: Wibbley-Wobbley-Timey-Wimey. Heck, Steven Moffat, the (in)famous showrunner for the BBC’s Doctor Who known for intricate time-travel plots, would watch this and say, “What the bleep is going on?!” It would take an entire chalkboard to diagram this script.

The original Terminator is sent back to 1984, but another T-800 that was sent back to 1973 from an alternate timeline interrupts its efforts to find clothes, theoretically (a word this T-800 is overly fond of) creating said alternate timeline, except that timeline is negated when Sarah Connor and Kyle Reese travel to 2017 to halt Judgment Day (which was somehow postponed again) after battling John Connor (Jason Clarke), who had been transformed into a nanomachine Terminator and sent back in time by Skynet to ensure its creation in an alternate timeline from a future that no longer existed.

Did any of that run-on sentence make sense? I wrote it and still can’t decipher it. This plot has more holes in it than a wall after a machine-gun fight. It gave me a headache the more I thought about it while watching. I was so busy trying to unravel these tangled threads or hoping they’d fix it by the end, I hardly noticed the few genuinely entertaining moments in the movie.

This isn’t the first time a “soft reboot” like this has been done. J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek did it first in 2009, followed by the video game Mortal Kombat in 2011 and last year’s X-Men: Days of Future Past. All of them did involve time-travel. There were two big differences, though: 1) the time-travel was simpler and made more sense, and 2) they respected the continuities that came before them. Each of them told time-travel stories that wouldn’t have happened had it not been for the other entries in their respective series. For example, had the previous X-Men films not happened, there wouldn’t have been a terrible future both Magneto and Prof. X wanted to prevent by sending Wolverine back in time. Also, in these cases, some characters did remember what happened in the old timelines, so those stories weren’t invalidated.

In Genisys, though, it utilizes nostalgia to increase its appeal only to slap those stories and their fans in the face. The audience sees Skynet fall and both the original Terminator and Kyle Reese be sent back in time—only to have Skynet in a robot body “assimilate” John Connor. Then through recycling old footage and/or painstaking frame-by-frame reconstructions, the first T-800’s arrival in 1984 is seen as it was in The Terminator, only to be interrupted by an older Schwarzenegger. Then a T-1000 inexplicably shows up and attacks Kyle Reese, who’s then saved by a Sarah Connor who’s skipped ahead to T2 mode. It was an exercise in instant gratification.
cheapest price for viagra Also in young men they concerns about getting someone pregnant or not wanting to appear inexperienced or worrying about using a condom. The reaction might even be fatal in some instances. female viagra 100mg downtownsault.org This amazing drug really took the world by storm levitra generika for its immediate effectiveness, no side effects, non-prescription formula. Men who suffer from order 50mg viagra erectile dysfunction are actually due to inadequate blood vessel relaxation like Jason Long says.

Artwork by White_Wolf_Redgrave. Courtesy of Deviant Art.

(Ironically, Skynet’s avatar is played by Matt Smith. Yes, the 11th Doctor is responsible for all these screwy time-travel shenanigans. I’m not surprised. The irony doesn’t excuse the poor storytelling, though).

The worst part was—as the movie’s spoiler-ific second trailer showed—turning John Connor into a Terminator. It wasn’t enough to simply have a machine masquerade as him. No, the hero who’d been a focal point of the entire franchise was turned into Skynet’s pawn. It rivals Frank Miller’s deplorable treatment of Superman in The Dark Knight Strikes Again, where he’s become a willing servant of Lex Luthor. It’s beyond stupid.

Salvation was intended to be the first of a new trilogy, which I’m guessing would’ve been focused on the war with the machines, showing John Connor’s rise to power, and ultimately culminate with what was the first 10-15 minutes of this film. Everything would’ve come full circle. Unfortunately, the studio that made Salvation, the Halcyon Company, went under, leaving the franchise in limbo. So, after that was all sorted out, they gave us this.

There’s a scene where Sarah Connor and Kyle Reese remark on how people seem glued to their mobile devices—smartphones, PDAs, etc.—that are all about to be connected through a network called Genisys (which is actually Skynet). It was meant to be a commentary on modern man’s dependence on technology. I think this tangled mess of a “reboot” was made just for that scene. The stupid thing is this has always been one of the franchise’s themes. It’s a timeless idea. If the filmmakers wanted to “modernize” it a bit for the kids, they should’ve just done a straight reboot. Even that isn’t necessary. Despite advances in technology, the older Terminator films—especially the first two—still remain relevant.

Apparently, there are plans for two sequels to this film already. Now I wish someone could send a Terminator back in time to prevent Genisys from being made.

Final Grade: D

Enjoy the article? Watch my video review–wherein the T-800 tries to keep me from watching the movie!

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJTurkNMHfw]

Cinema Sit-Down, Movies/TV

Chris Pratt is Here to Save Jurassic World

One of the posters for the film, which was released June 12, 2015.
One of the posters for the film, which was released June 12, 2015.

After being in “development hell” for over a decade, the fourth Jurassic Park film—the first since 2001—has finally been released. Does it tower over its predecessors like a mighty brontosaurus or fall prey to vicious mistakes like a pack of raptors?

A new theme park with cloned dinosaurs has opened on Isla Nublar, but the park’s latest attraction, a huge genetic hybrid called Indominus rex, has escaped and gone on a rampage.

From the start, Jurassic World has several challenges related to its premise. While the idea of the park opening and being successful is interesting, it still rehashes the original film by, once again, having these dangerous animals break free. Only this time there would be more people to eat. Creating a new breed of dinosaur seems like a lame gimmick to cover up the unoriginality. Think of how Terminator 3 is a retread of Terminator 2, except the villain is a female T-1000. Come to think of it, some would ask, “if the first park was a disastrous failure, why try it again?”

The film does manage to address these issues, for the most part. The new park was established by an entrepreneur to fulfill the dying wish of Dr. Hammond (the creator of the original park, played by the late Richard Attenborough). While it seemed Hammond had learned the hard way in previous films that the park was a bad idea, it could be argued that as he neared death he saw this as the best idea he had and wished to see it come to fruition. Seeing a chance to make a unique moneymaker, the entrepreneur seized upon the idea. In that way, it continues the series’ theme of man’s hubris in his attempt to control and/or manipulate nature. The creation of the Indominus rex (or “I-Rex,” as I like to call her) plays into this theme since she was created to reignite waning interest in the park. In fact, initially it’s only the I-Rex that escaped from its cage, creating a domino effect that freed several other species of dinosaur.

One of the film’s greatest strengths is its pacing and suspense. While Spielberg served only as an executive producer and not as director, Colin Trevorrow does an excellent job of channeling Spielberg’s style. At first the audience is shown only glimpses of the I-Rex as it hides among trees. Then a low shot of the legs. Only when it escapes from its cage and chases Chris Pratt is it fully seen. Not only that, but the scenes where the I-Rex stalks the humans—often coming within an inch of them—while they’re hiding is quite terrifying.

(SPOILERS AHEAD!)

Speaking of the I-Rex, it’s arguably the film’s primary villain. No, I think “supervillain” might be a better descriptor. Seriously, the creature could just as easily fit into an Avengers comic. While its primary genetic stock is that of a T-Rex, the rest is kept top secret, allowing filmmakers to unveil new abilities—or “superpowers,” if you will—as the film progresses. It’s intelligent enough to create misleading claw marks on its cage, it can cloak like a chameleon, it can hide from thermal scanners and it can communicate with raptors. Those are the ones I can remember off-hand. Couple that with being held in isolation all its life (though it did eat its sibling), and the heroes have a large, angry beast intent on putting itself on top of the food chain. However, unlike the original Jurassic Park, which presented the dinosaurs as animals and not monsters, the I-Rex is shown to kill for sport and not simply for food. Why it does this is never explained. Animals don’t do this. It would almost imply a human level of intelligence, but the I-Rex doesn’t display such behaviors. It seems like this was done simply to vilify the creature.

tadalafil uk The good news is that Kamagra sildenafil is seen as quick-fix to treat erectile dysfunction in men and the best part is you do not need to get out of the house as everything is just a click away. Erectile Dysfunction (ED), or sexual canadian cialis online impotence, is quite annoying and even frustrating to a man. Ignoring your inner well-being is the reason for why buy levitra online this product is not recommended until other methods have been tried first. This really is awesome because it does not need to be swallowed, gulped or need to be placed under the tongue to have purchase cialis on line a blissful night. The pacing and the I-Rex’s villainy come to a head during the surprisingly satisfying climax. The franchise’s famous T-Rex, which was glimpsed once before this, and Blue, one of Chris Pratt’s raptors, join forces to battle the I-Rex. The T-Rex, despite being a bit outmatched, manages to get some redemption after its embarrassing defeat at the claws (and teeth) of the spinosaurous in Jurassic Park III. It was a little gimmicky, I admit, but the Godzilla fan in me relished every second of it.

(SPOILERS END)

I’ve spent all this time talking about the dinosaurs, but what about the humans? Only one character, Dr. Henry Wu (B.D. Wong), returns from the previous films, and his is a secondary role. While it takes about twenty minutes for him to show up, the star is Owen Grady (Chris Pratt), a raptor trainer. He proves to be resourceful, charming and smart, accusing the park owners of tampering with nature and unethical treatment of the animals. Now I understand why many in Hollywood think Pratt could play Indiana Jones. The rest of the characters, of which there are many with intertwining stories, end up in Pratt’s shadow, to an extent.

The most surprising is Vincent D’Onofrio, a powerhouse of an actor who is saddled with playing a cliché military man who wants to use the dinosaurs as weapons. He borders on caricature given the preposterousness of this notion. Not only have the creatures proven difficult to control, since they know nothing of tactics or weaponry, they could easily be defeated by enemy soldiers (heck, one of the raptors is killed by an RPG in the film!). The cast also includes two brothers (Nick Robinson and Ty Simpkins) who are sent to the park with their aunt (Bryce Dallas Howard), the park’s head of operations. While they give good performances, Howard comes across as a typical workaholic and the boys’ anxiety over their parents’ divorce isn’t quite resolved. The older brother promises to stick by the younger, but aside from reuniting with their parents at the end, the main issue isn’t addressed. Some might argue its better that way since divorce is a common experience for many kids, but I still felt it needed a bit more resolution.

Much like 2006’s Rocky Balboa, Jurassic World makes frequent allusions to the original film in the series and ignores the other sequels, but doesn’t retcon them away. Indeed, it does use nostalgia to bolster itself, sometimes in a borderline meta fashion, but not so much that the film can’t stand on its own merit.

The filmmakers wisely stuck to the Jurassic Park tradition of utilizing practical special effects and CGI, though this film has more of the latter than the previous entries (at least from what I can remember). The most obvious use of animatronics is seen when Pratt and Howard discover a dying brachiosaurus that was wounded by the I-Rex. However, practical effects weren’t used for scenes featuring muzzled raptors, where only their heads could be seen. The creature designs are all excellent, especially that of the I-Rex.

While it has plot and concept issues, Jurassic World still manages to be an entertaining summer blockbuster. It certainly rises above the other Jurassic sequels, but it can’t compare to the original classic.

Final Grade: B

Cinema Sit-Down, Movies/TV

Mad Max the Fury Road Warrior

The poster for the film. (Image courtesy of Wikipedia).
The poster for the film. (Image courtesy of Wikipedia).

“Mad” Max Rockatansky returns from beyond Thunderdome after a 30-year absence. Tom Hardy may have replaced Mel Gibson in the Pursuit Special’s driver seat, but director George Miller is still at the helm of the post-apocalyptic franchise, which has yet to crash and burn.

Max is captured by the followers of a wasteland cult leader (Hugh Keays-Byrne), but Max quickly finds himself protecting the villain’s harem of concubines as they escape in a trek across the desert to the fabled “Green Place.”

(SPOILER WARNING!)

While I haven’t seen the previous Mad Max films in their entirety since college, I remember each one having a distinct style and flavor. The first was a police revenge story a la Dirty Harry—albeit a dystopian one—that featured a good story with much pathos. The Road Warrior (aka Mad Max 2) was a post-apocalyptic western that presented Max as mysterious, almost mythic figure. It was also the superior action movie of the trilogy. Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome is pure ‘80s sci-fi cheese (Tina Turner played a wasteland queen. ‘Nuff said!)

So, I went into Fury Road hoping to get a film that had elements of all three, and to a certain extent that’s what I got. It does have some pathos and some cheese, but it’s mostly a modern-day remake of The Road Warrior. Like the older film, it features a long trek involving a “caravan” in need of protection and lots of vehicular combat. However, Fury Road lacks the western styling of Road Warrior, which was bookended with a voice-over from a narrator who turned out to be one of the children in the tribe Max helped, making Max seem like a legend. Fury Road, on the other hand, begins with a narration by Max himself, but no concluding voice-over at the end. In that regard, I’m not sure what Miller was going for, especially when he borrowed as heavily from The Road Warrior as he did. However, if I was going to describe the film’s style, it’d be that it is an issue of Heavy Metal magazine brought to life—what with its deranged, often hyperkinetic energy—only classier. This is most apparent with the War Boy who‘s strung up like a marionette on a stage-like truck where he plays a electric guitar.

Also, like The Road Warrior, Max plays a secondary role for much of the film, while the supporting characters take center stage. This is predominantly Furiosa (Charlize Theron), a wasteland warrior with a makeshift bionic arm. She’s just as hardened as Max, but hasn’t lost all compassion. She liberates the five wives of cult leader Immortan Joe—one of whom is pregnant with his child—so she can take them with her to the “Green Place,” a land untouched by the fallout. She holds her own with Max while also serving as the heart of the movie. In most stories, these five concubines would’ve existed simply as eye candy or conquests for the heroes, but here they’re women trying to escape from slavery. While scantily-clad, they’re treated respectfully and prove useful during the journey.

As alcoholics stop from drinking alcohol, they will develop cravings or compulsion to drink. order tadalafil no prescription Prior, this subject was taboo due to its embarrassing nature and the shame felt by sufferers, the subject was taboo levitra 20mg price for a long time, and is the wonder medicine to increase sexual vitality. viagra without prescription canada There are certain preventive factors which have contributed to the disease affecting younger men. It is often guided that the user cialis 60mg can cut the process of sending stimulated signals to the penile nerve causing no erection process. Tom Hardy does his best, but Mel Gibson remains the better Max. Even at his coldest, Gibson’s Max was still a sympathetic character. Hardy’s Max just seems like a hardened drifter. While Miller tries to ingratiate him to the audience with visions of a child he couldn’t save, those who haven’t seen the first film won’t realize this is a reference to his murdered son.

Immortan Joe and his family are disgusting villains that remind me of the Harkonnens from David Lynch’s Dune. They’re a gross, over-the-top brood of tyrants. Immortan Joe’s bulbous body is covered with sores, which are barely hidden by muscular see-through body armor. With his mane-like hair and sneering mask, he looks like a rabid lion. Mad Max films are well-known for their bizarre bad guys, and Immortan Joe is a great addition to the pantheon. Interestingly, the actor playing Joe also played the Toecutter, the psychotic biker gang leader who murdered Max’s family in the original film. It’s a great nod to what has come before. However, his minions, the “War Boys,” look like an army of Quan Chi cosplayers. This isn’t necessarily bad, they look great and each have distinctive personalities, but their appearance is still slightly derivative.

The film’s greatest strength is that it sticks to its roots. While some modern film techniques were used to make it, the aesthetics remain unchanged. The vehicles retain their insane, cobbled together hot rod stylings. Miller wisely made sure they looked like vehicles from the 1970s and 1980s for verisimilitude. While the date of the nuclear war is never given, it seems implied that it happened around the time of the first film’s release or not long afterward. The previous Mad Max films were definitely products of the Cold War, so it’s surprising Miller convinced Warner Bros. to release another sequel and not a reboot given the somewhat dated nature of its premise. On the other hand, those films have had a powerful impact on pop cultural, even if many young moviegoers are unaware of it.

One of the reasons why those original films have aged so well is their minimal use of post-production special effects. Most of the explosions, stunts and chases were done practically in camera, and they still remain both astonishing and thrilling. Here, however, Miller does employ some CGI, but does not over do it. Most of the work, it seems, was done in camera. The most obvious CGI effect was a violent sandstorm the characters pass through during a chase sequence, and even that was still satisfying.

The story, in a weird way, is something of a reversal of The Ten Commandments. Max and Furiosa are trying to lead their band to a “promised land” by wandering through the wilderness, but when they encounter Furiosa’s tribe, they learn the uninhabitable swamp they passed through was the fabled “Green Place.” Furiosa tries to lead them further into the wasteland hoping to find a new home, but Max convinces them to go back to Immortan Joe’s Citadel and take it over while it’s unguarded. Ironically, one of the concubines had tried to return to Joe during the journey, but was prevented from doing so. In The Ten Commandments, the Israelites regretted leaving Egypt and wished they could return to their lives of slavery, but they pressed on to a new home. In Fury Road, the heroes do go back from whence they came and make that their “promised land.”

Mad Max: Fury Road, while a little derivative, is still a post-apocalyptic thrill ride that remains true to its roots. It should please both fans of the series and newcomers alike.

Final Grade: B+

Cinema Sit-Down, Game File, Games and Software, Movies/TV

From the Controller to the Big Screen

Five Nights at Freddy'sPrince of Persia, Doom, Hitman, Max Payne, Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, Tomb Raider—yeah I can do this all day. There are more than enough examples of gaming franchises that have made the leap to the big screen. What about it though? With Five Nights at Freddy’s going to the big screen, a thought occurred to me: I have never been a fan of gaming movies. Before you bemoan me, let me explain.

First and foremost, a lot of these movies are terrible. Except for Tomb Raider, they were all pretty poor representations of what the games actually are. Don’t agree? Take Street Fighter for example: what were Ken and Ryu even doing assisting in a military operation like that? What was Deejay (played by Juwanna Mann’s Migel A Nunez, Jr by the way) doing working with Bison? And why, God why were the fight scenes so dry? The entire franchise is in the fighting genre and is usually centered around the conflict between Ryu and the dark hado within him (see: darkside of the force). They chose not once, but twice to focus on the military struggle between Shadoloo and basically the rest of the world.

street fighter

Then there’s Mario with John Leguizamo. You can love that movie all you want to, it was doomed from the moment the gumbas were 6 foot tall. Star power is all well and good, but most of these characters have been around longer than the people they try to get to play them. Under no circumstances did I want to see Jake Gyllenhaal play Prince Dastan in Prince of Persia. Find some random, hungry actors who—gasp—actually resemble the characters they’re suppose to portray.

Feeling good about your self and loving your body in general can surely create a http://deeprootsmag.org/category/departments/bloggingfarmer/ female viagra samples transformation in your life. In the course of going through the two-stage filtering, the water is free from any female viagra pill toxic or synthetic chemicals. High cholesterol is not an ailment but a metabolic imbalance than can be a reroute to various diseases and body dysfunction.Cholesterol is a fat burner that has a calming effect on deeprootsmag.org acquisition de viagra the nervous system and rejuvenates the normal level of hormone in the body and cures the problem of weak erections, erectile dysfunction and so on. ); in this way the company could be more complicated and men experience it. What can I do about my erectile dysfunction? Although there are certain lifestyle factors that can increase the preponderance of people with heart illness, but suggested to get help from the medication and start living your sexual life again, but do not forget getting a prescription generic viagra pill for the disease. Maybe, just maybe, games should be left to their original media. I am admittedly not a big reader. There are thousands upon thousands of stories that I will never enjoy because it’s not my go to for entertainment. If you don’t play games, there should just be certain things you miss out on. Far better that than be introduced to a subpar version of something that is normally amazing.

I won’t be completely negative. There are magical times when the jump to a movie does actually work out. There’s one trick to it: animate it. There is no more shining example of this than Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. Done hands on by SquareEnix to ensure it was legit, fit with the story, and looked beautiful. There is a clear difference when a team truly loves and enjoys what they’re working with instead of simply doing it for the love of money and deadlines. Not to say that it’s perfect, but the way the Japanese markets cinemate—just made that up, means to make into a movie, you’re welcome—their manga is usually animated. They may not always be cannon, but you never have to worry about wild creative tangents that mean nothing to the source material.

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children

There’s always hope for the future. The current Marvel cinematic universe shows that not everything has to fall apart once it hits the big screen. With blockbusters like Uncharted and Assassin’s Creed gaming could get a better look as well. Fingers crossed, I would really hate to see Nathan Drake embarrassed in front of the masses.

Cinema Sit-Down, Movies/TV

Preview: Diani & Devine Meet the Apocalypse

It seems like everywhere you turn there’s a new post-apocalyptic show popping up somewhere. New among the throng is the indie film Diani & Devine Meet the Apocalypse.

While Diani & Devine is not quite complete, it should be released some time in the next year thanks to its incredibly successful Kickstarter campaign (the film raised over $100,000). Diani and Devine is written by and stars Gabriel Diani and Etta Devine, and it tells the story of two comedians struggling to live in a post-apocalyptic world.

DDMTA Etta Devine & Gabriel Diani
Etta Devine and Gabriel Diani

Many times it happens that male start’s their sexual activities with proper erection but cannot maintain until viagra 100mg sales the climax. Some women may experience sexual problems at certain times in their lifetime, such as pregnancy, breastfeeding, menopause, and while suffering cialis generico in india from a long-standing illness. This enhanced blood cialis prescription flow results in healthy, long and thick erections. Tentex Forte tablets offered by Himalaya healthcare prove to be beneficial to every man as the impotence treatment. viagra buy australia robertrobb.com
The film also features performances from Armin Shimerman (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine), Arye Gross (Castle), Barry Bostwick (Spin City) and many others.

Armin Shimerman
Armin Shimerman

I’m interested in seeing what sort of take Diani and Devine will have on this popular genre. What caused the end of the world, and will our two heroes survive it? Only time will tell. Make sure to follow them on Twitter and Facebook to stay up-to-date.