Shoot 'Em Up (2007) Review:

Sometimes lightning only strikes once, but when it does, it is quite a thing to see. The same thing goes for films,...sometimes films are made and they blow away audiences. Yet the creator behind the project doesn’t go any further than that to make more entertainment. Take William Wesley, the director of Scarecrows (1988) as an example. The film went through a lot to be made and while it didn't have the greatest critical reception at the time, it has garnered quite the following. Yet with that, Wesley hasn't made another movie since 2001. The same could be said for this movie, which didn't do that well at the box office. However, it's another feature with a devoted following for how it was executed.

Mr. Smith & the baby

Directed and written by Michael Davis as the last film he's headed since, this literal "shoot 'em up" film is just that, but it's not brain dead. The plot is about an unknown man who goes by the name of Mr. Smith (Clive Owen) who gets entangled in what seems to be a regular hit job. As time carries on though, he begins to find out there's more to it than just that, since the main target is a baby. With the help of a hooker named Donna Quintano (Monica Bellucci), both race to find the truth and escape the smart but callous Hertz (Paul Giamatti). Meanwhile another man is also after the baby, a lone man (Greg Bryk) who quite honestly could be mistaken for Jason Clarke. For the majority of this cat and mouse chase, things are very much on the move.

The story itself is something to admire because of the plot behind it all slowly unravels revealing what's actually going on. It's a clever way of writing because it requires little exposition dumps. It's more just, as it goes, more information comes to light. This keeps the audience's attention and makes the execution smoother. What also helps are just how intriguing the characters are, no matter how few of them receive character depth. Clive Owen as the unknown Mr. Smith is one skilled marksman and expresses his dissatisfaction for a lot of things, while crunching on carrots. Paul Giamatti as Hertz is one sick villain who has the intellect but quite the womanizer, along with being a poor father and husband.

Monica Bellucci as Donna Quintano may not be the classiest heroine audiences may see, but she does have the right intentions. Bellucci was also in The Matrix Reloaded (2003), The Matrix Revolutions (2003) and The Passion of the Christ (2004). There's also appearances from Daniel Pilon, Julian Richings and Stephen McHattie who was in 300 (2006) and Watchmen (2009). The action is also well done. Considering Michael Davis wanted the movie to be gun centric, that's pretty much what the action involves and it's done in several creative ways. The only issue that arises with these sequences are the effects and plausibility. The validity of some scenes are just not that realistic. If done in real life, the likelihood of it being done would be once because they're such fatal stunts.

"I'm Paul Giamatti,...and I love being crazy"

Majority of the time, the blood shots look real, but every now and then there are scenes that look badly rendered for the year 2007. Most noticeable is a skydiving scene. However, the cinematography was crafted competently. With Peter Pau behind the camera, the shots are very fluid. Pau also worked on several John Woo / Chow Yun-Fat projects and even Bride of Chucky (1998). Sadly, he also has Jean-Claude Van Damme's bummer film Double Team (1997) on his resume too. Music was a delightful listening experience thanks to composer Paul Haslinger. While the score is usually a mix of guitars, synth beats and strings, the music lends itself well to the style and tone of the film. Haslinger feels like he took inspiration from Clint Mansell's score to Smokin' Aces, another stylized hit job film.

Aside from the possibility of the action happening in real life and sometimes the effects looking dated in small areas, the rest of this shooter film is an entertaining one. The story is an interesting watch, the cinematography and music jive together, with a cool Clive Owen performance leading the way.

Points Earnd --> 7:10

Deepstar Six (1989) Review:

The year of 1989 was a strange time. For some reason, the craze was all about underwater horror creature features. As to why that was a thing, it’s hard to say if anyone actually has the answer. It just so happened that's how things fell in place. Right from the very beginning as a matter of fact, in the month of January. The film to start off the conga line of similarities was this movie. Unfortunately, when it was released many were not impressed and the reviews were quite poor. However, upon revisiting it, it's a little difficult to see why it deserved all the disdain. It is by no means perfect, but it's also not horrible either. Now if this was the last film to be released, I think the bad reviews could be tied to fatigue of the genre,...but this literally started the whole thing.

McCoy, Peeples, Pickett & Blacque

The story takes place in the far depths of the ocean, where a group of colleagues are finishing out their months long shift installing nuclear warheads. Lead by Van Gelder (Marius Weyers) and Laidlaw (Taurean Blacque), the two have their team lay the groundwork over one rift on the ocean floor before finishing. Unfortunately for them, they awake something dangerous lurking below. Written by Lewis Abernathy and Geof Miller, the problem with this feature is the premise in general and the clichés that come with it. As soon as viewers are introduced to the main cast of actors, it is easily identifiable as to who will survive and who won't. It's troubling when a decent production and cast is bogged down with predictable execution.

The film was directed by Sean S. Cunningham, the same director who started the Friday the 13th (1980) franchise. Geof Miller would later write with Lewis Abernathy directing House IV (1992). Co-starring with Weyers and Blacque are Joyce Collins (Nancy Everhard) and McBride (Greg Evigan) as a close couple who have grown on each other since they began their assignment. Scarpelli (Nia Peeples) and Richardson (Matt McCoy) are also a casual couple. The rest of the cast is rounded out by Snyder (Miguel Ferrer), Diane Norris (Cindy Pickett), Burciaga (Elya Baskin), Hodges (Thom Bray) and Osborne (Ronn Carroll). Thankfully the characters are interesting to watch and do have distinguishable personalities to boot.

The horror aspect to this film was fairly credible too. While the cast is not filled with A list actors, that doesn't mean you can't have fun with the rest of the film. The special effects depicted here are very much practical. With Greg Nicotero credited as creature supervisor, the sea monster itself is very much a sight to see. Not only that but there are miniatures used as well for various scenes, which is all the more credible. The gore itself also very much visible. The amount of bloodshed here is more than Sean S. Cunningham's first film. Even the underwater scenes look very much real, even though they were probably shot on a dry-wet set.

"Open wideeeee"

The cinematography also helps with the look of the movie. Shot by Mac Ahlberg, the same director of photography for Hell Night (1981), Re-Animator (1985), House (1985), House II: The Second Story (1987), Robot Jox (1989) and even Oscar (1991), the camera movements are fluid and capture much of the surroundings our story takes place in. Whether it be underwater or in the containment vessel. Lastly, the film score composed by Harry Manfredini was quite a joy to listen to. Usually, Manfredini's score are a lot cheaper in sound, but this time he sounds like he has a full orchestra at his disposal and it sounds wonderful. The film comes with its own motif and everything.

Sadly, the overall plot and execution of the story is very much been there, done that. It's very cliché. Surprisingly, this doesn't stop the film from being entertaining. The actors make their characters interesting. The camerawork and special effects look very believable. And the music by Manfredini stands out from many other works in the past.

Points Earned --> 7:10

Death Machine (1994) Review:

To be able to get oneself on the map towards discovery can take a long time. Getting acknowledgement by age 30 though seems pretty impressive. Especially for Stephen Norrington, who would be best known for directing Marvel's first successful theatrical film, Blade (1998). Prior to this though, his first directorial debut came in the form of a different action/horror film, which was this one. In some ways, viewers will understand the tone of this film, as it was more his project entirely as opposed to the ones he would direct later. This film has Norrington's style written all over it. And for what it's worth, for his first venture it's done okay for the most part. Viewers just need to be aware of couple things.

Pouget, Sharian & McDougall

Written and directed Norrington, the story takes place in the near future where an armament corporation named CHAANK is looking to perfect its latest weapon, which the public has not approved. The developer behind the project is Jack Dante (Brad Dourif), a psychotic and deranged employee of the company. Meanwhile Hayden Cale (Ely Pouget) is the new CEO of the company hoping to turn the company around. At the same time, a group of rebels infiltrates the building to get back at CHAANK's unapproved behavior. However, after Cale goes after Dante for his termination, Dante unleashes his robot called the Warbeast to wreak havoc. Thus the film's title, everyone is up against the "Death Machine".

While the script isn't very deep, there are some aspects that make it memorable in its own way. For one, the characters are unique; maybe not the most memorable, but they are fun to watch. Joining Pouget and Dourif are William Hootkins and Richard Brake as other corporate executives. Making up the trio of rebels infiltrating the corporate building are Andreas Wisniewski, John Sharian and Martin McDougall. More surprising is that Hootkins also played in Hardware (1990), which had a similar premise. Brake would go onto play the Night King in HBO's Game of Thrones. Sharian would go on to play a role in The Machinist (2004) and Wisniewski was in Die Hard (1988) before this film. The script also has the characters throw out a bunch of pop culture references, which is fun.

Unfortunately, there are parts to the story that don't work. One being the plot in general. The idea of an evil corporation developing weapons that nobody wants has been done several times before. The idea of having a rampaging robot killer on the loose is very similar to that of Hardware (1990) and there's even elements of Roland Emmerich's Universal Soldier (1992). That and the getup Brad Dourif wears looks pretty ridiculous, almost like pre-Tommy Wiseau, bad wig an all. But this doesn't take away the spectacle of the film. The action in this film is very energetic and the special effects are decent for the budget this film had, headed by Peter Hutchinson. Even the gore is up there. Some of the deaths are pretty gruesome.

"Did you know I'm really a good guy?"

For overall visuals though, that was disappointing. While cinematographer John de Borman was competent in the way the camera was handled, the coloring to the picture is very drab. There's too much dark colors like gray and black making the look of the overall production uninspired. It's just not as interesting as it could be. The same could be said for the musical score composed by Crispin Merrell. While the score isn't hard on the ears, it's not the most dynamic in its presentation. The sound relies more on atmosphere than it does actual theme based tunes. While occasionally there are hints of synths, pipe organ and percussion that sounds like Brad Fiedel was involved, it doesn't get more complex than that.

It is certainly not an average film, because it shows significant effort went into it. But what doesn't work is its dull plot, music and camerawork. Thankfully, the action, gore and characters help make the film marginal fluff entertainment.

Points Earned --> 6:10

Robots (2005) Review:

Robots have always captured the attention of viewers. Whether they have a glossy rounded finish or if they're jagged and rusty. It seems that interacting with these mechanical beings has always been a way for humans to feel connected to something other than themselves. While self-aware artificial intelligence is not totally ingrained in the global society, it is getting there. But what if there was a place where all of this existed already? Leave it to Blue Sky Studios to develop something like this, which feels like it went largely forgotten. Considering this was in their early stage of developing animated films and their only other franchise starter was Ice Age (2002), that's pretty good. This movie actually makes the thought of a robot world very fun and exciting if it were to actually be a real thing somewhere in another universe.

Rodney and Friends

The story is about average robot named Rodney Copperbottom (Ewan McGregor), a young enthusiastic inventor hoping to make a difference in his world, after seeing his mother and father work very hard. His inspiration comes from a popular celebrity by the name of Bigweld (Mel Brooks) who's positivity stemmed from helping other robots. Written by David Lindsay-Abaire, Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel, the script to this feature has a number of valid points to make when it comes to following your dreams. No matter the struggle, a goal is a goal, which should be the main focus. Sometimes sacrifices need to be made to help others. These are morals not only learned but reaffirmed as well by Rodney's parents (Stanley Tucci and Dianne Wiest).

Along his travels, Rodney also meets other robots Fender (Robin Williams) and Piper (Amanda Bynes) who live with Aunt Fanny (Jennifer Coolidge). It's here where more of the comedy ensues, which is fine. However, there are moments that probably have certain undertones people wouldn't exactly appreciate now. Examples like cross dressing or characterizing that cross dressing as "ugly". That and the occasional body humor, like flatulence. It's okay, but in some ways it's that kind of juvenile humor that seems unnecessary. Aside from those particular aspects, directors Chris Wedge and Carlos Saldanha were competent in their roles. Really, the whole moral to the story is what they get props for, because they kept that as the main focus.

The rest of the characters in this film are fun to watch too. Working behind the scenes to provide all robots only new parts is Ratchet (Greg Kinnear) and his mother Madame Gasket (Jim Broadbent). Both of them have good chemistry with each other as they look to take over Bigweld's company. There's also Cappy (Halle Berry) who is an assistant to Ratchet, but has a fairly predictable character arc. There's also voice appearances from Paul Giamatti, Natasha Lyonne, Dan Hedaya, James Earl Jones, Al Roker, Jay Leno, Stephen Tobolowsky, Terry Bradshaw and Drew Carey in some small roles. And the reason why these characters are fun to watch is because everyone who participated gave good performances.

Ratchet,....yes,...very evil

From a visual standpoint, the animation was well done for its time. If it was made now, it's more likely than not that certain things would have more details to them, but overall it still holds up. What's more impressive is how creative the studio was in making the robots universe. There are so many contraptions and mechanical gizmos that make it seem like their world is so much more entertaining than our current one. For music, composer John Powell scores the film with much appreciate energy. After working on other films like Antz (1998), The Road to El Dorado (2000) and Shrek (2001), Powell has proven his knack for scoring animated films. The music Powell creates is a great mix of jazzy and classic orchestral compositions.

Parts of the writing may be somewhat insensitive for today's time, but it's a very low count. The animation, while could be improved today, largely still holds up with fun characters, energetic music and a great overall story.

Points Earned --> 7:10

Futureworld (1976) Review:

Usually when a sequel is made without the inclusion of the creator of the original, is where things go downhill. Michael Crichton's film debut with Westworld (1973) was a unique sci-fi / horror film that made its viewers think about what if technology goes awry. Strangely enough, a sequel was made to that, but Crichton wasn't even involved. He wasn't even credited for any of the characters used in his original film! However for this followup, things seemed to stay intact, which is surprising. The more interesting thing about this, is how the story played out here compared to the other. The problem is, it's kind of expected, especially after seeing the trailer to this. But does that make it bad? Well,...it depends on what makes the bigger point.

Peter Fonda & Blythe Danner

Worked on by a totally different crew, the story continues from the events of Westworld (1973) as the new and improved Delos. This time Delos is being claimed as "Fail Safe" from its new head of the company Duffy (Arthur Hill). But someone is not convinced and that person is Chuck Browning (Peter Fonda) a news reporter who covered the disastrous nightmare that Delos had from the original film. Joining him is Tracy Ballard (Blythe Danner), another reporter who was looking to take point on the story Browning was given. Together they are invited by Duffy to tour the new Delos system and see all that has been changed. While being there and with Browning's suspicions, they begin digging deeper to find if the company is doing something they shouldn't.

Written by Mayo Simon and George Schenck who had worked on separate projects before this actually manage to maintain fairly good continuity with the original Westworld (1973). While Peter Fonda's character was not in the first film, he is properly introduced and given a history as to how he's connected to the past plot. Yet there are two aspects of the film that don't make a whole lot of sense. The first one being the return of the infamous gunslinger played by Yul Brynner. The reason why he appears is not clear as to why and he has no dialog, which comes off feeling more like a gimmick. The other error in writing belongs to the antagonist of the plot. It's an interesting direction to take, but the motivation doesn't exactly explain itself in detail.

It's strange how the thing that attracted people to Delos were the worlds they could visit. Wasn't it just amazing alone they could build robots? It seems like director Richard T. Heffron who mainly worked on made for TV movies didn't have a strong vision on the story's direction. There's also a subplot about the robots maybe having the possibility to develop feelings but it doesn't go beyond speculation. The example used in this story is about Harry (Stuart Margolin), a veteran worker from the original Delos who befriends an out of service robot named Clark (James M. Connor). The acting in general is acceptable. All the cast members who participate are as believable as they can be. Action is one of the things that didn't turn out okay,...it's just very lame. Nothing out of the ordinary.

Clark,...the man of steel

As for visuals, the set design looked great. Throughout the film, it is a definite that all the props and sets used were physically there. And for some of them, credit is due as to how creative some of the futuristic things are, like boxing and chess. They even revisit the old abandoned Westworld set of Delos, which is pretty eerie. Cinematography was handled by returning cameraman Gene Polito and also Howard Schwartz. Both do a decent job keeping the look of the film similar to that of Westworld (1973). Then there's the music from returning composer Fred Karlin. What made Karlin's music memorable from the original was his use of prepared piano. That's not here but he does rely on deep pulsing synthesizers and has a main theme for the sequel which is nice. It's a fair match.

This sequel misses the mark when it comes to making the antagonist one that makes sense. The use of Yul Brynner is wasted and the action is rather dull compared to the first. However, the actors still perform well, the set design is still appreciated along good continuity and appropriate music.

Points Earned --> 6:10

The Chronicles of Riddick (2004) Review:

Before Vin Diesel came on the scene with his cult franchise The Fast and the Furious (2001), he was also known as Richard B. Riddick. While the character itself doesn't have as many films as Diesel's other tent pole franchise, Pitch Black (2000) was quite the unique film. Not only did it have a sense of mystery surrounding its main cast, but also pit them against a very hard deadline of escaping a dangerous planet. Following up to that initial success is this sequel, which almost turns in a full 180. Unfortunately, the showing here is less than stellar for how the story was executed this time. That's sad since some people were also from the original film.

"Guys,....I could really use Paul Walker right now..."

Solely writing and directing this feature was David Twohy, the same director of Pitch Black (2000). Knowing this, it seems additional writers Ken and Jim Wheat were needed again as they helped co-write Pitch Black (2000). The title itself doesn't really make sense either. The "chronicles"? What chronicles? This film is just one long overly drawn out story, with little to no record of what Riddick has been up to. Taking place five years after Pitch Black (2000), Riddick finds himself reuniting with Imam (Keith David) to find his home planet being invaded by a race known as the Necromongers. Simultaneously, he learns that Jack now called Kyra (Alexa Davalos), who he saved with Imam in Pitch Black (2000), is being held in a prison on another planet.

If viewers thought the convenience of landing on planet exactly when it was going to eclipse in Pitch Black (2000) was too contrived, then this will be far worse. It just so happens the subplot related to Kyra crosses paths with the Necromonger plot thread. What are the odds? On top of that, there's even more subplots going on about Riddick being the so-called “chosen one” who will overthrow the Necromongers told by an elemental played by Judi Dench. There's also two characters among the Necromongers, Vaako (Karl Urban) and Dame Vaako (Thandie Newton) who plan to commit treason on their leader Lord Marshal (Colm Feore). Why all the different storylines? Was it truly needed for this?

What made Pitch Black (2000) so entertaining was its single story line. Nothing involving "the chosen one" tropes or political treason among ranks. If there's one thing Twohy did get right, it was keeping the continuity to the first film. That was done well. Seeing Keith David return and on his home planet was cool. There was even an explanation as to why Jack had a name change. That's all good! It just all the added plot threads that weigh down the pacing and entertainment value to the main story of focus. It's fine if the idea was to expand Riddick's universe and lore, but it's too much too soon. That doesn't mean the actors aren't credible though. Even Nick Chinlund has an appearance as a snarky mercenary.

Thandie Newton & Karl Urban

From a visual standpoint, it's half and half. The action sequences are fun to watch. Vin Diesel has proven himself to be an action star as well as Alexa Davalos, Karl Urban and Colm Feore. Sadly, it's the camerawork handled by Hugh Johnson that doesn't come off very appealing. Much of the time, Johnson relies on a lot of Dutch angles and shaky cam, which gets very annoying when trying to watch. Music again, is also another component that could have been better. With composer Graeme Revell returning for round two, one would think he'd make up for his rather dull score from the last film. No luck, Revell continues to make his music as bland and anonymous as possible. A real let down.

Sequels tend to not perform as well as their predecessor, but they don't tend to fall too hard. This one did just that though. While the action, acting and continuity is kept in-tact, which is shocking compared to most sequels. The plot is overly complicated with poor cinematography and uninspired music.

Points Earned --> 5:10