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Posts Tagged ‘StarWars’

Luke, I AM Your Father

Posted in Movie Review, Movies, Quotes, Reviews, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 14, 2023| Leave a Comment »

“10,000 Saints”  (2015) — movie review
This review is for the 2015 coming of age drama “10,000 Saints” (aka:  “Ten Thousand Saints“).  My version uses the numbers and not the words in its title.  The movie stars Asa Butterfield as Jude Keffy-Horn (main character);  Ethan Hawke as Les Keffy (Jude’s dad);  Hailee Steinfeld as Eliza Urbanski;  Emily Mortimer as Diane Urbanski (Eliza’s mom);  Julianne Nicholson as Harriet Horn (Jude’s mom);  Avan Jogia as Teddy McNicholas (Jude’s best friend);  and Emile Hirsch as Johnny (Teddy’s brother).
Basically, Harriet is raising Jude in a small town in Vermont.  Les lives in New York City and is dating Diane.  For some poorly explained reason Les and Diane send Diane’s daughter (Eliza) to visit Jude on New Year’s Eve.  Eliza shares drugs with Jude’s best friend (Teddy) and they (Eliza and Teddy) proceed to have sex.  Eliza goes home and Jude and Teddy steal some Freon to get high which results in Teddy dying.
Blah, blah, blah…  Funeral.  Everyone feels guilty.  Jude moves to NYC to live with his dad (Les) because going to NYC was Teddy’s dream for them to escape Vermont.
Les is a small time pot grower and no-account, but he welcomes his son into his “home”.  Eliza discovers she is pregnant and turns to Jude because she has nowhere else to go.
Blah, blah, blah…  They meet Teddy’s older brother, who turns out to be gay, but who promises to marry Eliza and help raise the baby out of guilt about his brother (Teddy).
Blah, blah, blah…  Eliza has a baby boy.  Jude holds it.  Eliza puts the baby up for adoption.  (Adoption and “good” parenting are two BIG plot points in this movie.)  End of movie narration.  It’s some years later and the baby is now playing soccer in a park.  Jude’s voice narrates that Eliza is about to start a family and he already has one.
So, is this a good / great movie as either “coming of age” or as “drama”.  No.  It’s a mildly interesting movie at best.  I have to admit I really only picked this movie up because I’ve been haphazardly trying to follow Butterfield’s career.  I really enjoyed him in “Ender’s Game” and “X+Y” and thought he was pretty good in “Hugo“.  I’m not a big fan or Hawke and I only “recognize” Mortimer by face (from “Newsroom” and not by name).  I “really” should know Steinfeld as I’ve seen her the most of all of these actors, but I didn’t recognize her name and just had that sense of “I should know you, but don’t.”  She also played major characters / roles in “Ender’s Game“, Marvel’s “Hawkeye” and the remake of “True Grit“.  Overall, the acting by all of the cast was pretty good to very good.  I particularly liked Hawke and now feel obliged to go back and have a look at some of his earlier work.  LoL.
I guess my biggest problem with the movie is there is no attempt to explain why the two lead teen characters become the way they are since they both appear to have been raised by loving mothers.  We seem to be led to the conclusion, that somehow not having fathers in their lives is the reason the kids have turned out the way they have.  Having personally been raised by a single, working mother, I found this mildly offensive.
Side note:  Jude and Johnny are in a “band”.  They play a couple of songs in the movie as a plot device.  I say that because although the music isn’t to my taste, it fills a couple of minutes and provides a reason for the lead characters to be developed / “fleshed out”.  Actually, I couldn’t stand the music, but I did “enjoy” watching the guitar players fake performing.  This is something I would have never given a thought to if I wasn’t trying to learn guitar myself.  Again, LoL!!
Final recommendation:  At best this gets a moderate recommendation.  The acting (expressions and dialog) was mostly okay to good, but it was just too hard to believe any of the characters were real and / or doing what was happening in the movie.  It was also difficult for me to place myself in NYC, Vermont and New England back in the 1980’s (when the movie was set).  I’m not sure why, it just was.  All in all, it’s not a bad movie, and certainly not a waste of time viewing, but it’s also not a movie which I can’t wait to see again (even in a few years).
Post-script:  the movie title comes from a line of dialog in the movie.  At Teddy’s funeral, the minister is trying to express that some people believe we have ten thousand saints looking down from heaven and watching out for us.  The “source” of this is a loose interpretation from the Bible:
1 CORINTHIANS 4:15
For though you might have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers.  Indeed, in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel.
The post title is a reference to StarWars and is a play on one of the reveals in the movie.  It (the reveal) is not a shocker to us (the audience), but it is to one of the characters.
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Click here (14 June) to see the posts of prior years.  I started this blog in late 2009.  Daily posting began in late January 2011.  Not all of the days in the early years (2009-2010) will have posts.

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Escape From Planet Junkyard

Posted in Movie Review, Movies, Reviews, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on November 25, 2020| Leave a Comment »

“Soldier”  —  movie review
Today’s review is of the 1998 action movie, “Soldier“, starring Kurt Russell as “soldier” Sergeant Todd 3465.  We know this because he has “Todd 3465” tattooed on his face.  Whatever…
Okay.  Todd is the product of the selective training of soldiers from “orphaned” youth (i.e. babies).  The film progresses through their aging and training into dispassionate killer soldiers whose only sense of self is tied up in their profession of violence and following orders absolutely without question.  Selected trainees who cannot make the grade are summarily executed, so only the “best” survive.  Todd survives the training and multiple battles / wars to become a “seasoned” veteran.
Along comes the movie bad-guy in the form of West Point graduate Colonel Mekum (played by Jason Isaacs) who brings along a group of replacement soldiers which have been genetically altered to be superior to the previous batch who were “only” a selected, raised and trained batch (which is Todd’s group).
Mekum uses one of his new soldiers (Caine 607, played by Jason Scott Lee) to demonstrate the groups superiority and the new soldier defeats the old in three-on-one combat.  Two are killed and the third (Todd) is presumed dead and all three bodies are disposed of as a “training accident”.  Todd is dumped on a the garbage planet “Arcadia 234”.  Apparently, in the future, we have such a shortage of resources on Earth we have to explore other worlds to survive, but we have such an abundance of energy that we can transport naval aircraft carriers to other planets to dispose of them (along with a host of other laughable items).
Todd wakes up and finds himself injured on this junkyard planet with a bunch of settlers whose re-settlement ship crashed on this planet.  They’ve made due the best they can, but basically live like homeless folks somewhere in southern California – hot, dry with terrible sand storms.  And, of course, they nurse him back to health…
Blah, blah, blah…  Todd discovers his humanity and begins to make friends.
Now, the good Captain wants to give his men some combat experience, so he decides to land on a junk yard planet and kill anyone they may find there.  (Because that’s how all good officers train their new soldiers.)  Of course, the new guys stumble on Todd’s friends and Todd doesn’t take too kindly to his new family being slaughtered.  So, he goes all Rambo (v5, not v1) on the new guys, but he doesn’t have to show any mercy (v1), so he just kills them all (definitely v5).
Blah, blah, blah…  Lots of explosions, fights and killing goes on and Todd kills all of the new guys with the big final set piece / fight scene against – you guessed it – Caine 607 – the last remaining new soldier.  Todd wins, gathers up the settlers and they commandeer the dead soldiers’ space ship and continue to the original settlement location, with everyone lives happily every after.  Well, all except Mekum, who accidentally blows himself (and Arcadia 234) to smithereens.
So, is this movie any good?  Does it work within any of its genres:  Sci-Fi, action-hero, “Escape from New York / LA / Stargate / Arcadia 234”, family protecting killer soldier (I mean hero) versus genetically engineered killer soldiers?  Did I enjoy it and / or find it entertaining?  Well, despite the fact this movie was an absolute bomb at the box office, I would say:  Yes.  Sometimes.  And, yes!  Of course I enjoyed it.  I mean seriously.  Read through that list of genres, again.  Talk about a pitch being in the batter’s wheelhouse!
Seriously.  This is not a very good movie unless you are seeking a simple minded, summer-type, action movie with fights, explosions, special effects, and (“Oh, the humanity of it!“) one emotionally fulfilled killer wiping out a couple of dozen emotionally unfulfilled killers.  Did I mention there are fights, explosions and special effects?  In other words, you paid for “Snake” Plissken, so eat your popcorn ’cause you’re getting “Snake” Plissken.  The movie doesn’t make ANY sense on so many levels, you just have to hit the switch and say:  “Okay, blah, blah blah…  How long until the next fight and explosion”.  On that level, this is actually a pretty good movie and I found myself rooting for Todd and emotionally fulfilled (me, not Todd) when Mekum blows himself up.  Evil fails spectacularly and good is triumphant!!
Final recommendation:  moderate.  This movie never tries to be anything it isn’t and is successful at being what it is:  a pretty good pop-corn and soda / matinee / action-hero film.  Put it this way, I’ve owned this DVD for over 10 years and this is only the third time I’ve viewed it.  Good enough to keep on the shelf and watch again sometime, but not good enough to schedule another viewing in the immediate future.  A final note:  If you are a total film nerd, there are literally dozens of references to other movies (StarTrek, StarWars, Predator, Blade Runner) and many of Russell’s roles from other movies.  Now that you’ve been told this, you HAVE to view the movie just to see if you can find them.  You KNOW you do…  Then go check out the Wikipedia and IMDb pages to see how close you got to their lists.  Caution:  it’ll cost you another viewing or two to confirm who is right.
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Click here (25 November) to see the posts of prior years.  I started this blog in late 2009.  Daily posting began in late January 2011.  Not all of the days in the early years (2009-2010) will have posts.

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An Honest Binge

Posted in Reviews, Science and Learning, Series (TV or Streaming) Review, TV Series, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 14, 2018| Leave a Comment »

Today’s “binge” review is for the series “Lie to me*“, which aired between 2009 and 2010.  I purchased two of the seasons (I haven’t seen Season 3 – from 2011) on VUDU while on sale for $5 each.  Season one has 13 episodes and season two has 22, so I watched about 26 hours of the show over the last week (ish).  Season three (13 episodes) is not currently available to purchase on VUDU, and even if it becomes available, I’ll still wait until it’s on sale for $5.  (Cause I’m just cheap / thrifty that way.)  Which means I may be waiting some time before I see / review the final season.  I believe the series was cancelled for lack of audience.  My brother referred this series over a year ago (he said it was terrific / must see), but when I told him I was watching it, he claimed to not remember it at all.  Go figure…
The series is basically a crime drama / investigation / police procedural starring Tim Roth as Dr. Cal Lightman, Kelli Williams as Lightman’s partner, Dr. Gillian Foster, Brendan Hines as Eli Loker, a graduate student / employee of the Lightman Group (Lightman and Foster’s company), Monica Raymund as Ria Torres, another employee, Hayley McFarland, as Emily Lightman (the Dr.’s daughter) and Mekhi Phifer as FBI Agent Ben Reynolds, muscle assigned to work with the Group.
The company specializes in “reading” body language and micro-expressions to act as human lie detectors.  The premise is Dr. Lightman is a “genius” at this and can tell if anyone is trying to lie.  Hence, he gets lots of work from the government and various police forces.
The show is based on the actual scientific studies and work of Dr. Paul Ekman who serves as a consultant for the show and who actually performed these duties for real agencies, in the real world.  I was completely unfamiliar with “micro-expressions” or the work of Dr. Ekman.  I read “Body Language” by Julius Fast, way back in the early 1970’s when it was a best seller, so I have been “kind-of” familiar with the general concept of “reading” people for most of my adult life.  Fast’s book was published in paperback in 1970, which is the version I read.  Dr. Ekman has loads of books and has been publishing for over fifty years.  You can find some of his videos on YouTube if you are interested in the topic.
Is the show any good?  Does the “science” work?  Yes and who knows for sure…  I thoroughly enjoyed the series after I got over my initial doubts that ANY of the premise is actual science.  If the show works (as entertainment), who really cares if the science is real or not (see StarTrek, StarWars or any of a million other series).  It IS entertaining.  Mostly because Roth owns this role.  I’m not familiar with much of his other work, so I don’t know if he’s acting or doing a John Wayne (playing himself in every role, over and over again).  I remember Roth from one of the Hulk movies and kind of remember him from “Reservoir Dogs“, but I haven’t seen that in ages, so, like I said, I’m not sure.  The other actors are mostly ok to good in their roles, but to be honest, it’s all mostly attractive yuppie stuff, so I wouldn’t say I’d go out of my way to look for any of them in other roles.
Final recommendation:  Strong, but with reservations.  I did enjoy the series and found the premise interesting enough that I will look into the scientific basis if I happen to stumble on a used book on the topic of micro-expressions / lie detection / body language, but I doubt if I would ever really try to use any of the info I might glean from the book.  Generally, I think I’m a bit too narcissistic to care about other people’s body language now that I’m retired.  I’m not sure their “truth” is worth all that much effort on my part and I certainly would not devote enough time on it to become expert level.  Like I said:  interesting premise and entertaining series.  I’m looking forward to viewing season three.
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Click here (14 July) to see the posts of prior years.  I started this blog in late 2009.  Daily posting began in late January 2011.  Not all of the days in the early years (2009-2010) will have posts.

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2nd Viewing – No Change

Posted in Movies, tagged , , , , , , on October 23, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Today I watched the second movie in the Tron series:  “Tron:  Legacy“.  I originally saw and reviewed this film back in 2010 on its initial release.  I recently (back in Sept) reviewed the original movie:  “Tron“.
 
My reviews of both were not particularly favorable.  When I did the initial review of “Legacy“, I hadn’t seen the original in over 20 years and it (the original) was a vague memory at best.  The newer version suffered for comparison with my nostalgic memories of the original.  On re-watching the original (in late September), I realized how mediocre the original was, despite the fact that I personally enjoyed it for bringing back old (and good) memories of younger days as a geek programmer.
 
So, how did the newer version fare after a second viewing?  Surprising well!
 
The acting is pretty average:  Jeff Bridges and Garrett Hedlund are particularly unengaging, although Olivia Wilde (with lots of sideways glances) is gorgeous and Michael Sheen practically steals the movie with a “Jack Nicholson-ian / Joker-esk” take as “Castor / Zuse”.  With the exception of the bike / fight scene, everything here (philosophy and special effects) has been done before and (mostly) better in the originals:  “Tron“, “Matrix” and the various “StarWars“.  (The bike scene was very good special effects.)  But did this make it a “bad” (mediocre) movie?  I have to say not.  For me, the big problems were why certain things happened in the movie.  There was no ground work laid before a couple of things happened and then there was no subsequent explanation afterwards.  I can’t say much more without seriously compromising anyone’s viewing of the movie, but several times I just felt like saying:  “Huh?”  If a movie character suddenly displays a power or a weakness, you kind of HAVE to explain to the audience what just happened (before or after).  Otherwise, the audience is placed in the position of not being able to suspend belief for the “universe” of the movie.
 
I believe I enjoyed it more on the re-watch than I did on the original (particularly Wilde and Sheen) – even though I’m not sure the movie played as well on the smaller screen.
 
So, my initial review pretty much stands:  “Tron: Legacy” is an okay, enjoyable movie, but not a highly recommended.  As a “collector” of Sci-Fi movie with special effects and / or animation, I would get this movie at about the $8-10 price point or $15 for both as a set.  Otherwise, watch it on NetFlix or when it cycles through your On-Demand channel.
 
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Click here (23 October) to see the posts of prior years.  I started this blog in late 2009.  Daily posting began in late January 2011.  Not all of the days in the early years (2009-2010) will have posts.
 
   

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