Month: June 2016

Movie Review: CHAPPIE

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Chappie_poster

Far from it from me to tell a ton of people they’re wrong about Chappie, Neill Blomkamp’s first movie since Elysium, but I liked it.  I took a quick look at the Rotten Tomatoes rating, and it currently stands at 32%, which I find somewhat astonishing.  While the movie isn’t exactly a thought-provoking meditation on the vast implications of the inevitable developments in AI, and has a plot containing some significant holes (typical of Blomkamp, the writer), I found the movie to be pretty entertaining. Continue reading “Movie Review: CHAPPIE” →

Movie Review: THE INVITATION

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invitation

About 20 minutes into The Invitation, I considered shutting it off and picking something else to watch – which would have been an error on my part.  By means of explanation, I’ll say that even up to that point, the movie wasn’t bad at all.  It opened well, with a nicely defining moment for the protagonist, Will (played by Prometheus’s Logan Marshall-Green), as he and his girlfriend drive through an LA canyon, responding to a dinner party invitation.  There’s a palpable layer of tension in this movie from the outset, and it never lets up.  Continue reading “Movie Review: THE INVITATION” →

Movie Review: MIDNIGHT SPECIAL

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midnight special

I kicked myself for missing this back when it was first released in March – I’d heard good stuff about it, and just the simple plotline I’d heard from a colleague intrigued me.  But I left it too late – it was gone within two weeks.  Fortunately, as I was browsing for something to review, I stumbled upon it last night, and was happy I did. Continue reading “Movie Review: MIDNIGHT SPECIAL” →

Movie Review: CELL

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cell

Just like 28 Days Later, Cell is a zombie movie without being a zombie movie.  In the former, a fast-moving plague devastates the Earth, turning the afflicted into fast moving rage-monsters that might as well be zombies.  In the latter, a mysterious cellphone signal scrambles the brains of users, turning them at first into fast moving rage-monsters before then turning them into some kind of braindead hivemind somethings that just kind of walk around in groups.  I guess.

Continue reading “Movie Review: CELL” →

Movie Review: HONEYMOON

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honeymoon640PT

One of Honeymoon’s major elements had me thinking about it the same way I’ve thought about the superhero blockbusters of recent years, namely, Americans played by British actors.  Spider Man’s last two actors have been Brits, Dr. Strange, Superman, etc.  Is it that these actors are any better than people you could find in the US?  Or is it that they’re cheaper to hire?  In Honeymoon, the two lead roles of American newlyweds are played by Game of Thrones’ Rose Leslie, and Harry Treadaway, from Penny Dreadful. Continue reading “Movie Review: HONEYMOON” →