After Earth

After Earth
(2013) [Trailer]
Director: M. Night Shyamalan [IMDB]

M. Night has been getting a lot of hate recently, but I still like the dude. I haven't seen Airbender (I'm scared) but I have sat through every one of his other films and I like them all... except The Happening. When I saw the trailer for After Earth, I thought there was potential there, let's see if Mr. Shyamalan has got his groove back.

Synopsis: Humans left earth thousands of years ago and have settled else where in the galaxy. Will Smith and his son Jaden are traveling through space and crash land on earth, but it's not the same awesome planet any more... we should have listened to all the environmentalist hippys.

After telling my wife I went to see this today, she said "Oh, I would have told you but it has been getting terrible reviews." I looked online, she was right, it has shit reviews everywhere... and this is going to be another one.

I'm playing, it's not as awful as it sounds, but it isn't great either. I felt the storyline was insanely predictable and it heads right where you think it will, which is odd for a Shyamalan film. In the beginning of the film we get this quick, lazily voiced over narration to help give us the set up for why and how the humans have exited the planet.... I think that could have been handled more creatively. Will Smith's kid just isn't there yet. He is pretty bad at times and other times he is serviceable. The special effects were OK, but there were a few scenes where you could obviously tell they were acting in front of a green screen.

The idea behind the film is a boy stepping into manhood and overcoming his fears. I thought After Earth conveyed that idea fairly well without being too offensive to my movie senses. Again, this isn't a great film, but I also didn't feel it was a total waste either.

Heat

Heat
(1995) [Trailer]
Director: Michael Mann [IMDB]

I picked up Heat on blu-ray because I remember really liking it the  first time I saw it. From what I recalled, it was a great crime drama and full of action... then I watched it last night and realized I'd actually never seen Heat. I guess somewhere along the lines I talked myself into believing I had... who knows, people are weird.

Synopsis: A crew of robbers are on the defensive after the cops start tracking them on their next job.

I enjoy Michael Mann's direction in most films I've seen of his and Heat is no exception... it's beautifully shot and has a fantastic score. The cast are all pretty strong, but I felt like Al Pacino went a little overboard sometimes. The story is very standard for a crime flick so it was Mann's job to move it along in a unique way. He was successful overall but I did feel like it started to drag towards the last 40 mins.

If you're into crimes movies or police procedurals, check this out.

Star Trek Into Darkness

Star Trek Into Darkness
(2013) [Trailer]
Director: J.J. Abrams [IMDB]

I just rewatched Star Trek (2009) for the 3rd time last night in preparation for this film and I must say, I absolutely loved it. 5 Arnolds easy and afterwards I thought "I can't wait to see what happens next." So here we are... Abrams' follow up and hopefully second installment in a trilogy of new Star Trek films (I guess we'll see what happens now that he has Star Wars to direct as well.) Into Darkness is one of my most anticipated films of the year, so let's see if it's a bust.

Synopsis: The crew of the USS Enterprise are back and on the hunt for a man responsible for planning an attack at Starfleet headquarters.

Into Darkness is a big hit for me and continues the winning streak for Mr. Abrams. It has everything you'd want in a sci-fi blockbuster and it's all wrapped up in a pretty bow. The pacing is extremely smooth and Abrams injects the action at all the right moments. The cast, just like in 2009, is perfect and seems to have settled into their roles. Benedict Cumberbatch was awesome and pulled out a Khan who was unexpected and different from Montalban, but in a good way. I really enjoyed the changes Abrams decided to take with Into Darkness while still paying homage to The Wrath of Khan, there were some other nice nods to the original series in there which were cool to see as well.

I can't imagine how someone who's into Star Trek wouldn't enjoy this film on some level. Into Darkness is why we go to the movies... it's exciting, fun, action packed and delivers a intriguing story that's easy to digest.

Dark Skies

Dark Skies
(2013) [Trailer]
Director: Scott Stewart [IMDB]

I loved Paranormal Activity and thought Insidious was pretty solid, so when I heard the team responsable for those titles was releasing an alien abduction film, I was on board. I mean, who doesn't fear getting probed by ET?

Synopsis: A family is visited by beings from another world and guess what... they're not here to make friends and discuss the latest episode of Game of Thrones.

It probably wasn't the best idea to watch this movie alone in the dark late last night before bed. I almost had to get up to turn the lights on I was so creeped out. Dark Skies is very effective in ramping up the scary moments and doesn't over do it, yet steadily builds on the tension instead. They opted to use the typical alien that everyone thinks of, but the way they used them within the film seemed eerie and off putting, so it didn't bother me as much.

What did bother me were some of the plot holes and choices characters made. There were definitely some believability issues at hand, but hey, it's a horror film... what are you gonna do?

I did enjoy the ending and thought it was a little different from most films in its genre... I obviously won't spoil it for you but it's not happy.

Dark Skies is a fun arm hair raiser that's not a waste in my opinion. I'd absolutely recommend it to fans of horror.

Upstream Color

Upstream Color
(2013) [Trailer]
Director: Shane Carruth [IMDB]

Shane Carruth is known for making a little movie called Primer which I reviewed awhile back... you can read it here. It was a really interesting, albeit confusing title that left me wanting to see more from Carruth, so here is my chance.

Synopsis: Ummm let's see.... I got nothing.

Where Primer was confusing and complicated, Upstream Color is weird and obscure.... actually all those adjectives work for both films.

Warning: If you don't like artsy films that are challenging, stay the hell away from this thing, it might be one of the worst offenders out there.

That said, I still liked the film, for a few reasons. Its soundtrack is incredible and the cinematography is pretty impressive as well. The performances were all great and for being as out there as it is, I still found it very riveting.

I know there is no synopsis above, that's because it's hard to give one, but I'll try now.

I took away a few ideas from Upstream Color and I'm not sure if any of them are right, but I think that was the point of the filmmaker. It builds on this cycle of life where everything is connected, unbeknownst to the organisms and people involved... for the most part. The two leads of the film, break this cycle. The cycle is probably the most confusing part of Upstream Color. Was it a bad thing? I think yes, probably... but it could have been a metaphor for something else.

If you haven't seen the film this next paragraph may be a bit hard to follow.

I had one idea that is kind of interesting. The worms represent a religion or belief system if you will. They are implanted into these people who blindly follow it and give all their money to it. Walden represents their spiritual text (ie: the Bible or Quran) and they transcribe it and memorize it. They then break free of this worm by visiting The Sampler who moves the worms into pigs, in an almost ceremonial way. The pigs are like their former selves that The Sampler (maybe God?) uses to stay connected to them. If this sounds odd, it is, but that's the one issue with films like Upstream Color... they're so vague that they lead you to infer your own ideas into the fold. Is that a bad thing? Is it lazy film making? Who knows.

If you enjoy complex films, check it out, it doesn't get stranger than this.

Iron Man 3

Iron Man 3
(2013) [Trailer]
Director: Shane Black [IMDB]

Iron Man 3 is the first post-Avengers solo effort from Marvel and I'm sure based off the box office numbers it won't be the last. Since I've seen every other Marvel film, at some point it was unenviable that I would check this out. I really loved the first Iron Man, but wasn't too keen on the second one, now I'll see where this installments fits in.

Synopsis: Tony Stark is back and dealing with the aftermath of the attack on New York... see The Avengers for back story. Now a new menace is afoot and ready to do battle, a terrorist named The Mandarin.

I've only seen one other film from director Shane Black, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, but I get the feeling after watching Iron Man 3 that he really isn't into the whole superhero/comic book film genre. Iron Man 3 feels more like a action comedy... then about half way through you start to get to the whole Iron Man thing. Even after that, it's like the suit only comes in sporadically up until the ending. There are also some inconsistencies in the plot, especially in when Stark decides to use the suit and how he decides to use the suit. A few things he does with suit towards the end probably would have helped his situation if he implemented them earlier in the film. I also really disliked how they handled The Mandarin, I won't get into it because it treads on spoiler territory, but I thought it was really lame.

I know it sounds like a lot of negatives coming from me, but it wasn't a bad film. I did find it pretty entertaining and slightly better than the second film. There were also some funny moments and the action towards the end was fun. It's still raking in the big bucks at the theater, so check it out and help keep the Marvel machine well oiled.

Maniac

Maniac
(2013) [Trailer]
Director: Frank Khalfoun (IMDB)

Not too long ago I did a review for the original Maniac, you can read it HERE. I really enjoy William Lustig's version and consider it one of the greater slasher films out there. When I saw the trailer for this remake, I must admit, I was kind of excited… it actually looked pretty good. But trailers can be deceitful, so I figured I'd give it a run through and let you know if it's worth your hard earned time. 

Synopsis: Frodo is a psycho killer who goes around hacking off the scalps of young women.

Maniac is a solid slasher flick... and while paying homage to the original, still manages to feel like its own film. Elijah Woods, who feels completely different than Joe Spinell (the original maniac), still manages to come across as a creepy ass dude and is successful in making the character work. One thing that did bother me about his performance, while not his fault, is that it's all in the first person point of view. It started to really grade on me about 20 mins in and I think I would have liked this film a lot more if it was shot normally. 

Something that should definitely be addressed when comparing Maniacs is the setting. New York in the late 70's was gnarly and a very scary place. The original did just about as good as a job as you could ask for encapsulating that aesthetic. This remake takes place in LA in modern times and it just doesn't even come close to being as effective in my opinion.

If you're a fan of gore, there's lots to make you happy here. There were plenty of cringe worthy moments and if you have a weak stomach, I'd skip out on this. The ending is pretty dark and depressing, the way it should be. In life, there are no happy endings… get used to it people.

If you like horror, especially the slasher genre, I'd take a chance on this. I think you'd enjoy it.