Battle Beyond the Stars

Battle Beyond the Stars
1980 [Full Movie]
Director: Jimmy T. Murakami [IMDB]

A childhood favorite of mine right here. I remember this movie being an epic one as a young lad, but up until now I had forgotten it mainly... except for some imagery. I recently discovered it on blu-ray, so I decided to give you a review and I also made a poster.

Synopsis: A peaceful planet must seek out the help of mercenaries to defend itself against an upcoming invasion.

This movie is basically Seven Samurai in outer space. Take that and mix it with the most popular movie franchise at the time, Star Wars, and you have Battle Beyond the Stars. It's campy, it's fun, and also not that great of a film... but I still enjoyed watching it. The score by James Horner is massive, it's truly a work of art to behold. The special effects and model work (partly by James Cameron) will remind you of Star Wars big time, but they still hold up mostly. Battle Beyond the Stars is toted as a Roger Corman cult classic, although I don't know how much he actually had to do with it, as far as I know he was only a producer. Still... it feels like something he would direct.

The main negatives are character development and plot. Lots of weird holes are left open and most of the seven mercenaries are forgettable.

I included a link to the full movie on youtube up at the top of the review, so if you wanna get your retro 80's sci-fi action on... feel free.

Pacific Rim

Pacific Rim
(2013) [Trailer]
Director: Guillermo del Toro [IMDB]

I wanted to take another stab at adding some more exclusive content to Williams Film Review, so I designed the poster for this review. I think it has a nice minimalist vibe to it. Check it out over there to the left. You done? Ok good. On we go.

I've been looking forward to checking out Guillermo del Toro's newest film, the monstrosity (pun intended) known as Pacific Rim. It stars Idris Elba, aka Stringer Bell, who I love and based off what I saw in the trailer, it looked like a knock out... let's see if it holds up to its promise.

Synopsis: Sea monsters come from a parallel dimension that opens up from a crack in the Pacific Rim. We create giants robots to fight them. There you go.

I was totally on board for the Pacific Rim express and found it to be exactly what I want from a summer block buster. It's del Toro's take on Godzilla or any of the other Japanese monster movies, only more stylish and modernized. The story and characters are what you would expect from a block buster, they weren't perfect but Guillermo manages to inject enough of his own vision into the equation to really have those elements not stand out in a negative way. The one thing I thought I was going to hate, I actually liked... the special effects. I was worried Pacific Rim would end up being a shitty CG love fest, akin to Transformers, but I found everything to be well crafted and quite the opposite. Having it set in places like Sydney and Hong Kong helped give it a unique feel, and the robot/monster designs felt inspired but fresh.

Pacific Rim won't win Oscars for its drama, but it totally offers a fun time at the movies and it's perfect for the season.

Blade

Blade
(1998) Trailer
Director: Stephen Norrington [IMDB]

My good buddy Sam Slater picked this up for me as a gift, so this review goes out to him... thanks Sam!

I've actually wanted to check this film out for a while, but just never got around to it. Now that I finally own it on blu-ray, I figured it was time to jam on it.

Synopsis: Wesley Snipes is a vampire hunter tracking a pack of particularly deadly killers led by.... Stephen Dorff?

One thing you immediately notice when watching Blade is how much it feels like The Matrix visually and action wise. It did come out a year prior to The Matrix, but the "internets" say they were in production at the same time. So, who knows if The Matrix ripped this off... but it sure does feel like it did.

Snipes is pretty believable in his roll and I also really loved Kris Kristofferson... I thought he was perfectly cast. One person who didn't work for me, was Stephen Dorff. I like him as an actor, I thought Somewhere was one of the best films of 2010, but as the ruthless leader of a vampire clan... he just didn't seem like a realistic choice.

Overall I loved the action and style Blade laid out and found it to be a fun genre flick. I think I'll have to pick up the second installment at some point and give that go.