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Battleship (2012)
Fun and Patriotic
This movie has got a lot of bad press which I don't think it deserved. Everyone I know who has seen it likes this movie. It's fun, thrilling, patriotic, and even inspiring. Besides being a action thrill ride with stunning visuals it has a heart. Some may think it is corny or cliché to show patriotism in the way this movie does, but it allows me to see the men and women of our armed forces as they mostly are: brave and courageous. People in the theater clapped when the older crew of the Missouri came slowly marching on the deck, ready to sacrifice for their country again. A movie like this gives me a good feeling about our service men and women.
Good acting for a action flick, the characters are played as I would imagine them to be, and to some point know as I grew up around many in the Army. Taylor Kitsch is one of those overlooked gems. Not all guys who play heroes in action movies can act that good. I was pleasantly surprised in Brooklyn Decker and Rihanna, coming from modeling and the music business you don't necessarily expect acting chops that good. Liam Neeson is always a pleasure to watch in whatever he is in. Gregory D. Gadson did a wonderful job. I know none of these performances here would win any awards as awards standards seem to be geared to overly dramatic roles, but if anyone in this movie deserved one it would be Gadson. I enjoyed the development between the characters of Lieutenant Hopper and Captain Nagata, the progression from enemies to allies. And I enjoyed the humor.
Some of the ideas and concepts are played for dramatic effect, such as the signals which in reality wouldn't be visible, but making them visual enhances the viewing experience just like adding sound to outer space scenes. However I didn't expect a hard science film when I went in to see this. The aliens are interesting even if humanoid. Making the aliens humanoid soldiers gives the movie a sense of soldiers fighting soldiers as opposed to soldiers fighting monsters as in Aliens or Starship Troopers. It is still science fiction-fantasy-action but it does have that war movie feel. When going in to see this movie I hadn't realized it was based on the game, which I played as a kid. I felt the 'pegs' were made to work quite well given what inspired them, making them out to be some sort of alien device. The whole idea of turning the game into an alien invasion movie made for a nice twist.
Battleship made for a great beginning summer action flick that I really enjoyed. I get a good feeling watching this movie. And who wouldn't enjoy a real American hero kicking some alien butt!
AVP: Alien vs. Predator (2004)
A Good Modern Day Monster Mashup
I first went into this movie back in 2004 not sure what to expect, just hoping it wasn't going to be completely stupid, like a SYFY movie of the week, or a disappointment like Alien 3. What I got was an entertaining romp which although not as serious to the origins of the originals was quite entertaining. Surly there was problems with dialog and lighting (digitally brighten the faces being the worst). The problem with dialog being just the standard stuff people would say, some may call it cliché but there is a lot of reuse and cliché phrases in the common language.
The good things about this movie are the action, environments, creatures, and the fictional history created involving how all three species were connected. Some may find that last annoying, a mishmash of different elements of history to create a basis for a story (not unlike Stargate or Chariots Of The Gods), but this is fantastical fiction after all. The environments, although on Earth, are moody and atmospheric, not to mention dark and claustrophobic. The creatures, a mix of CGI and practical effects, have never been better (especially the slime!), and I appreciate the return to the original Alien head design. And the action is as good as you can get without being ridiculous.
This movie is not great, like Alien or Aliens, and maybe just on par with Predator but it is a lot of fun.
After Earth (2013)
Certainly not as bad as everyone says
The setting is interesting, action intense, some of the visual effects are as good as they come (although maybe not on par with Life of Pi), and the acting is good, that is it is appropriate for the characters and story. There is even deeper, philosophical aspects to this story. In a sense it is a study of fear and how one fights to overcome that fear. Troubled family dynamics are explored such as father/son issues as well. There is character development, something you don't see in a lot of summer fare. Once one gets past that this movie has a real father and son playing the leading roles, ignoring that they are stars and looking at them, with the appropriate suspension of disbelief, as characters within a story you can enjoy the interaction of the characters. Not the best movie I've seen this summer but not the worst. I really don't know what people expect nowadays but I was entertained, that is all that I ask. Kudos to the filmmakers for releasing a movie that wasn't a sequel or a comic book adaptation!
Prometheus (2012)
Finely...science fiction without superheros!
Finely an intelligent science fiction movie this year. This one will make you think, and it is somewhat disturbing. The performances are excellent and the characters are complex. There are likable characters and there are unlikable characters. I certainly appreciated the levity in the movie as well. Most of all, and this is important, it isn't what you would expect.
This is not really a prequel to Alien and it seems more in the vein of 2001: A Space Odyssey, a complete contrast to the former. The plot is complex, not as simple as Alien. The menace in this movie comes in a more insidious form, more like a disease than a creature, and the many ulterior motives of certain members of the crew. And very few questions are answered, maintaining the mystery.
There seem to be a lot of naysayers concerning this movie, most complaining about plot and characters. They are all wrong. One reason being is they came into it believing it to be something it wasn't: a clone of Alien with all the answers to the questions brought up in that movie. This it is not. I've heard and read that the characters are not worth caring about. That is all personal choice. You choose to care about a character or not based on your own judgment of them. There is here considerably more character development than in Alien.
The naysayers are simply angry that they didn't get the movie they wanted. And some people simply can't understand this movie. One individual I know, who considers himself highly intelligent, actually believed that the setting was the same planet as in Alien. If you pay attention you will find this not the case.
I have seen this movie four times, that is how much I enjoyed it. I have seen no plot holes or any serious inconsistencies with the movie Alien, just a relatively original story. There are of course some similarities to other stories in science fiction, but most of these are still in print (Alien itself was borrowed form many stories).
Best to check out this movie with an open mind instead of going to see 'the movie that happens before Alien'.
Tales of an Ancient Empire (2010)
So, so bad!
This is the first movie I have reviewed here, and I do so as a response to those who are praising this movie.
I don't know how anyone can honestly praise this movie, it is a shear mess. Editing and pacing were terrible, production quality below most TV episodes. I'm sure the actors did the best they could with what they had but what they had wasn't much.
This movie is in no way near as enjoyable as "The Sword and the Sorcerer", it is in no way nearly as coherent. This movie made little sense, even with the ham-fisted exposition. The trailer for this movie was better than the movie!
Maybe this mess could be salvaged by throwing it into the category of "so bad it's good", and that's a big maybe.
There are only two suggestions I have for watching this movie: either watch it inebriated or, simplest of all, not at all.