Alien

***SPOILER ALERT***

Over thirty years ago, Ridley Scott released a movie to cash in on the Sci-Fi craze 'Star Wars' had created.  What he released was definitely a sci-fi film, but also a horror film. 

'Alien' focuses on the crew of the Nostromo as they commute mineral ore back to earth from somewhere deep in space.  On the way back, they encounter a signal that they are forced to investigate via their contract.  When they arrive on the planet they find ruins of some sort of extraterrestrial habitat.  One of the crew members discovers a group of eggs that contain a 'face hugger' that attaches to the character's helmet.  After an intense scientific study, the 'face hugger' releases from the character's face and all seemed well.  At dinner that night an alien bursts from his body and thus begins a reign of terror that would keep Sigourney Weaver's character, Ellen Ripley, as the sole survivor.

I first saw this film about ten years ago.  I didn't really know what to expect when I saw it but was extremely pleased with what came out of it.  The first forty minutes of the film moved very slowly, in my opinion, but it soon became a very suspenseful and terrifying film.

When this film was first released, the idea of the 'chest burster' was an extremely original idea.  With that scene being the big 'reveal' of the film, it spends much of the first half of the film building up to the moment.  When the moment came, it delivered.  I remember being wowed by this moment when it first happened.

The design of the alien is one of my favorite attributes of these films.  The metallic teeth always seem to stand out for me.  The head-inside-of-a-head concept is interesting but I still wonder what the purpose of having two mouths is.  I never got the impression that the alien killed for food.  I felt that it killed for breeding purposes.

This was Sigourney Weaver's first film, a film that would launch her career.  This being one of the first films to have a female action hero really resonated with the viewers and is, in my opinion, part of the reason that this film was such a triumphant hit.

Over thirty years later this film still has the same impact as it did when it was released and lives up to the hype I had when I first watched it.  My recommendation is to add it to the Essential Collection.

Garfield: The Movie

***SPOILER ALERT***

Studios seem to have gotten into the swing of remaking children's cartoons into live-action films a lot more in the last ten years.  One such film is Garfield.  A lot of kids grew up on either the comic strip or the cartoon.  In my opinion these films provide one of two things; a marketing ploy for the company's to sell toys or a failed attempt at nostalgia for people who grew up on these cartoons.  Garfield provides both but leaves you wish the cartoon had stayed in your childhood.

I do believe 'Garfield: The Movie' is one of the better 'cartoon' films.  However, it is very, very far from perfect.  It is chock full of cliches and jokes that only a child under the age of six could enjoy.  I would detail the plot but I'm not sure there was one.

The CGI that was used to create Garfield is great, although made odd because all the other animal characters were real, trained animals.  I never got used to that and feel as though it was done as a cost saving effort.

To keep this short and simple, when it comes to 'Garfield: The Movie' you're best to just skip it.

Jurassic Park III

***SPOILER ALERT***

In the early 2000's the fan base of the first two 'Jurassic Park' movies demanded another.  The result, was 'Jurassic Park III.'

I felt 'The Lost World: Jurassic Park' was a sequel worthy of the name.  This one, however, is pure farce.

The story reintroduces Alan Grant back into the storyline.  A character I loved in the first movie but was shown in this one as a greedy person who would go back on his word by a simple check.  'Jurassic Park III' starts cheesy and ends cheesy.  It has all the make of a direct-to-video film.

One of the most important elements of the series was lost in this film, the dinosaurs looking visually real.  Even the velociraptors were made to look different and it came off as silly.

From the ringing Nokia phone in the stomach of a dinosaur being heard throughout the film to warn them that the Spinosaurus was approaching to the worst dramatic cut I've ever seen in a movie, 'Jurassic Park III' aims for the top but falls short and hits the producers in the face when it falls back down.

Simply put, this movie was a by-the-numbers effort made to end up in one place, the trash can.

The Lost World: Jurassic Park

***SPOILER ALERT***

After the success of the first film a sequel was a no-brainer, even Michael Crichton penned a sequel to his book.  The question was, can a sequel ever live up to the original film.  In this case, I'd say both yes and no.  In many ways it hits and in many ways it misses.

I give Spielberg a lot of credit for not recycling the story from the first film.  Instead, Site B was introduced.  Site B was said to be the place where the dinosaurs were nurtured before being brought into the park.  More importantly, Site B had no fences.

In an effort to save his job and creations, John Hammond hires a group of experts to travel to Site B and document the dinosaurs in their natural habitat.  John calls upon Ian Malcolm to join this group and he refuses at first.  John informs him that his girlfriend, Sarah Harding has already left to the island and goes as a rescue mission to save Sarah.

When he arrives there is the usual sense of amazement, but things get more complex as Ian discovers his daughter, Kelly, stowed away aboard the trailer and is on the island with them.

Shortly after their arrival, a group of InGen helicopters arrive on the island and they attempt to poach the dinosaurs.  This turns awry when the original group lets the captured dinosaurs loose.  Sarah and fellow group member Nick take the baby t-rex to the trailer and begin to doctor the baby.  This of course makes mommy and daddy angry.

The two adult Tyrannosaurs come to retrieve their infant.  After a successful reunion the tyrannosaurs get hostile and attempt to push the trailer off the cliff.  Thus begins the terror of 'The Lost World.'

The numbers are greater in this movies.  More dinos, more deaths, more action.  Whilst on the island the movie, in my opinion, is a great follow-up.  The mistake comes when InGen brings one of the adult Tyrannosaurs and the infant back to San Diego.

Immediately the adult roams the streets searching for it's child creating terror to the citizens along the way.  The sequence is only about ten or fifteen minutes.  I feel this was forced into the end to feed people's demand to see the dinosaurs in a city.  I, personally, would have loved to see the velociraptors in the city.  That would be an interesting predicament.

I do feel the sequel fell short of the original but I did thoroughly enjoy it.  My recommendation is to own it.

Jurassic Park

***SPOILER ALERT***

It's hard to believe that 'Jurassic Park' is on the dawn of it's 20th birthday.  In 1993 people waited in long lines to see Steven Spielberg and Michael Crichton's newest, truly original idea; Jurassic Park.  The theatrical run of this movie was right around six months. The only time I've heard of a theatrical run that long since then was for 'Titanic.'

All the patrons waiting in line to see this stunner of a movie were waiting for a true treat.  I still get excited to this day when I hear Richard Attenborough say 'Welcome to Jurassic Park.'

John Hammond had the idea of creating a theme park in Costa Rica where he would recreate through the power of genetics; dinosaurs, which have been extinct for a very long time.

At first the idea was marvelous. The select patrons he had tour the park so they could sign off on it were first amazed.  A stunning shot of a Brachiosaurus eating from a tree as well as a herd of dinosaurs by a lake truly showed off the power of CGI, which was in it's infancy back in 1993.  About an hour into the movie, the amazement turned to horror.

In a moment of greed, one of the computer operators turned off the power grid so he could access the dinosaur embryos to bring back to someone who wanted to exploit John Hammond's idea.  However, the operator never returned and the fences began to fail all over the park with the tourists left in front of the Tyrannosaurus paddock.

Moments later, the T-Rex broke free from it's fence and began to attack the tourists.  From there on out the movie took a turn towards horror.

I remember being a child and being horrified by the Velociraptors in the kitchen.  It was a scene of true terror in my then childhood mind.  To this day I appreciate that there are also thrills in this film not involving dinosaurs such as the perimeter fence climb.

This movie is not without fault though.  To this day I still wonder how the T-Rex got into the Visitor's Center at the end to attack the Velociraptors, leaving the building fully intact.

Without further ado, I recommend this film as part of the Essential Collection.  After all, how could you own movies and not grab a hold of this magnificent gem in cinematic history?

Apollo 18

***SPOILER ALERT***

'Apollo 18' is one of many, many found footage films that have come to be since the success of 'The Blair Witch Project' over a decade ago.  In general, I find most of them to be pretty good.  When compared to the others in it's genre, this one lacks a little.

This particular film takes place shortly after Apollo 17 several decades ago.  The film tries to play this off as a mission that NASA didn't want us to know about.  However, I feel there's no way that NASA could launch a space shuttle without Americans knowing about it because they make a lot of loud noise.  If there was an Apollo 18 I'm sure the government would have told us about it but made a cover story to hide what they were really doing.

I found the aliens to be awkward at best, they were moon rocks.  At certain points the rocks turn into these crab-like creatures that make people go crazy.  I thought it was creative but silly at the same time.

During the mission, the two astronauts encounter a Russian space vehicle as well as a dead Russian cosmonaut by a crater.  Of course, one of the astronauts is curious so he goes to discover the crater causing the whole alien rocks attack to start.

My problem, I just didn't buy into the idea.  I couldn't get myself to believe that this could have possibly happened.  At the end when they told us that some of these rocks were returned to earth and were now missing I understood the idea but found it silly.  It was supposed to be a horror film of sorts but I was never scared.  I never even jumped.

The film is entertaining though.  The development of the astronaut's importance to his family and the heartbreak I felt when I learned he was expendable and NASA wouldn't allow him to return to earth to his family was done well.  I don't know if there is this kind of corruption in the government but if there is it's harsh.  I don't find anyone expendable.

This film is a good watch.  My recommendation is to rent it.

Piranha

***SPOILERS AHEAD***

Every now and then a movie comes by that seems like a pathetic movie just from the trailers.  A movie that looks every ounce of cheesy with a low-budget, horrible acting and writers that don't know the difference between a comma and an ampersand. When you are finally convinced to watch one of those movies you find that it wasn't as horrible as it looked from said trailers but enraptures you into the story.  You feel for the characters and are left wanting more at the end.  This is not one of those movies.

Piranha is every ounce of pathetic that the trailers make it out to be.  Not only that but it is also disgusting.  I understand piranhas don't kill you in one bite like sharks do, but man is this movie disgustingly gory. The gore is also way over the top and empty.  I didn't feel any horror with it.  At a certain scene the deputy decides it's safer to close down the beach and does so in time.  However, all the spring break patrons refuse to listen to the deputy and go in the water and the piranha fest begins.  I felt like the feast was deserved.  If the swimmers had listened to the deputy they would be safe.  I had a lot of respect for the police because they continued to help the people out of the water even after they ignored their orders.

Steven R. McQueen, who is probably most famous for his role on the CW's "The Vampire Diaries" takes on the lead role here.  His acting is great for the cliche teen angst, rebellious character he was playing.

I found the film's emphasis on porn equally disturbing as the gore.  It was way over the top.  This was definitely the worst role I've ever seen for Jerry O'Connell who plays a porn director who is obviously more concerned with his own genitalia than the lives of children.  Of course he gets his just desserts.  Christopher Lloyd is also not at his peak.  His role seems oddly out of place.  I wish the character would have played a larger part because it was the most intriguing part of the film as a scientist who is fascinated by the discovery of the extinct species of piranha.

When it comes to recommending this movie, my recommendation is to spend time on some other film and to just skip it.

Previous Winners

Before this year I celebrated ten years of film and five years of television by awarding a top ten films and film series and a top five television series. I also went to theatre for the summer of 2012 to celebrate, those films are deemed 10th Anniversary Gems. The Gems are allowed to be nominated for future consideration. The winners this year will be added to the list. Here are the winners to date:

FILM SERIES
Harry Potter
Pirates of the Caribbean
Saw
Lord of the Rings
Terminator
Transformers
The Twilight Saga
X-Men
The Matrix
Star Wars

FILMS
The Island
Titanic
Buried
Avatar
Stand By Me
Stop-Loss
Pearl Harbor
The Time Machine
Where the Heart Is
The Mist

TELEVISION SERIES
Lost
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
One Tree Hill
Glee
Supernatural

10th ANNIVERSARY GEMS
X-Men: First Class
Super 8
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part Two
Green Lantern
Thor
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
Captain America: The First Avenger
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
The Lion King 3D

Films/ TV Series of 2012 standings

Beginning this year and continuing on annually I will be inducting one film, one film series and one television series to my 'babies' as I like to call them. My babies are pretty much the movies and television I feel are elite in each area. From January to June I will nominate many in each category and then eliminate all but two to move on to face the two I nominate from my lists from July to December. From those four I will choose one winner to claim each category. The nominees in each category are as follows:

FILM SERIES
Paranormal Activity
Bourne
Marvel Cinematic Universe
Jurassic Park

FILMS
Frozen
Super 8
The Human Centipede
Gattaca
Chronicle

TELEVISION SERIES
Being Human
The Colony
Dexter
Survivor
Teen Wolf
Vampire Diaries


The two that will be moving on from each category to face the December candidates are:

FILM SERIES
Jurassic Park
Paranormal Activity

FILMS
Frozen
Chronicle

TELEVISION SERIES
Teen Wolf
Being Human


All the nominees that I did not choose can be renominated in the 'second semester' if I feel they stood out more and have a shot of winning of the two 'semester one' candidates as well as the nominees in 'semester two.'

Spider-Man

***SPOILER ALERT***

I recently decided to take the opportunity to rewatch the Spider-Man trilogy. The other night I watched the original film, "Spider-Man." Now a decade old, watching this movie had me reminiscing about the origin of the modern comic book movie. "Spider-Man," from what I remember was the first of the new wave of comic book movies. I remember sitting in the theater and being wowed at the visuals and the storyline. Up until then a good comic book movie had been few and far between, nowadays there are usually around 4 that release a year.

On the downside, comic book movies have come a long way, most becoming 'grittier' that this film has become more and more of a popcorn flick. Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker and Kirsten Dunst as Mary Jane Watson are also not my favorite picks for those roles. I always found MJ's hair color irritating because I feel it's obvious that it is colored for the role. I've never been a Green Goblin fan and I don't change my position with this film. I feel the costume is shotty. I don't like the helmet. The Goblin I knew actually had a goblin-like face.

Looking at the positives, I loved the actress that portrayed Aunt May. I believe she really captured the role and brought the 'naivete' to the ways of the world that I believe this character should have. The whole 'with great power comes great responsibility' mantra is a powerful one. It had me thinking about ways I would use power like that. Uncle Ben's character is definitely an integral character to the mythology of Spider-Man and that character was portrayed accurately in this film.  I'm a big fan of the costume design of the Spider-Man outfit. I believe it is cinematically pleasing and I enjoy just looking at it.

I still find this film to be a great casual watch, but at the end of the day my recommendation is to own it.

In Time

**SPOILERS AHEAD**

I recently took the opportunity to watch the film "In Time" starring Justin Timberlake and Amanda Seyfried. The film is set in the future where time is the currency. When a human is born there is a time code on their arm that contains a year. When they age to 25 they cease to physically age and this clock begins to countdown. Through many methods the person can gain more time or lose existing time.  This time is spent as a form of currency. An example would be that coffee cost them 4 minutes, whereas a day's labor could add 2 days to their clock. When this clock reaches zero the person dies.

I found the characters to be both believable and real. The segregation of the people living day-to-day versus those with a millennium or more was one of the stronger elements to me. In the "ghetto," as they called it, people seemed rushed and frantic. Most of them had merely more than a day at a time. Those in New Greenwich were very leisurely, no sense of urgency. However gambling was big in the richer parts of time.

I appreciated the fresh idea that had me thinking of myself in a similar situation. What would I do if my time was definite and I knew when I was going to die unless I did something to stop it? Are certain creature comforts worth time out of my life?

A few negatives for me were the action/ running man cliches. I did expect at certain points in the film that our main character would be running within seconds of his life.  I also found Amanda Seyfried's character, Sylvia, hollow at times and I never found her quite endearing.  At times I thought about Kate Winslet's character in "Titanic." The rich girl who doesn't appreciate her lot in life.

All of this being said, my recommendation is to own it.