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Reviews
Prometheus (2012)
Intense, confusing, random.
You know the classic horror movie mistake where the heroine goes outside to investigate a strange noise? In this case the guy sees a strange alien worm and goes up to it saying "here baby, here baby." Well what the heck do you think is going to happen? So the alien by the waterfall eats strange DNA and dissolves while the ship flies away and people on earth find the ancient alien message and they go to the planet and two get lost and one tries to pet an alien worm and gets DNA injected and turns into a monster while the others find some gooey pods and the robot puts bad DNA from a pod inside someone and he goes all veiny and impregnates his girlfriend with an alien baby and the bad corporate people want to keep it alive but she bops them on the head and gets an automated C-section and a squid comes out while the shrivelled trillionaire comes unfrozen and goes to see the humanoid alien but the alien is mean and bops him on the head and tries to fly a ship away to destroy earth but the crew smash their ship into his ship and he crashes but he still goes to hurt the woman with the C-section but she lets the squid out and it impregnates the alien and she gets away to find the original humanoid creators but the humanoid alien goes all bulgy and guess what comes out at the end? An alien! Not just any alien, THE alien! So that's how it all got started!
Contagion (2011)
Thriller with more science than personality
'Contagion' is a fascinating, clinical look at how a virus gets launched into the human race and how humans around the world react. We get a close-up look at scientists, scumbags, looters, corporate bottom feeders, conspiracy theorists, teenagers, the military, ... even Chinese villagers, and how they cope when the world around them starts to disintegrate. It seems that during emergencies the heroes swing into action and the worms come out of the woodwork. Some humans are worse than the virus. 'Contagion' works the way a good documentary does. There are no bloody- eyed, zombified virus carriers launching their infected selves at terrified innocents. The danger and adrenaline comes with a quiet cough, or when one person sips from a glass and someone else picks it up. This movie gives you a behind the scenes look at the disease control command centres and will have you wondering to the last minute -- if you're interested in that kind of thing -- who was patient zero and how did this virus get started? My wife was not impressed with this movie. She tends to like character-driven or blockbuster entertainment. I felt bad that I picked this movie and she had to sit through it, but I sure enjoyed it.
The Mechanic (2011)
A spectacular, hardboiled, and sometimes vicious action movie
A typical Statham movie, like the Transporter but with a higher dose of brutality and nastiness. Statham's character Arthur Bishop, a.k.a the Mechanic, is awesomely tough and cold-blooded, and the assassination plans and escapes are brilliant. But images like that of an old man getting shot in the chest (near the beginning) are hard to shake. Ben Foster is great as the jaded alcoholic who becomes the apprentice assassin. It's not clear where he learnt to take on a 350 pound killer with his bare hands, but like he says, "I've seen some s***." All the men in black suits and SUVs who try to protect their clients are equally impressive, and ineffectual. What use are dark glasses and handguns against killers who can climb buildings? Bishop has his hideaway out on the Bayou where he enjoys the finer things in life, like playing the soft classical music that soothes him after a killing, and rebuilding his Jaguar. (And his idea of rebuilding involves micrometres as much as wrenches.) He's got an arrangement with a woman that involves quick visits and wads of cash left on the table. His friend Harry tells him that he (Bishop) needs companionship, but the movie makes it pretty plain why his friendships don't last long. After the intense action sequences you may be saying cool, but does this guy have a soul? If so, it's well hidden under Statham's half-shaved, snarled-lip mug.
12 Monkeys (1995)
I get it. Cool! -- spoilers
This movie is about being an outcast. You have knowledge that can save the world -- but nobody believes you.
Dr. Railly (Madeleine Stowe) starts out as part of the academic establishment. By the end of the movie she's an outcast, run off with a mental patient. In one of the peak moments, she desperately spray-paints her warning to humanity on a wall. (Now I understand better some of the messages I see from people who have something to say but no way to be heard.)
Jim Cole (Bruce Willis), on the other hand, starts out as a semi-comatose loony who gains confidence and credibility (and the girl) as the movie progresses.
In spite of the different roads they are taking, and their growing passion and awareness, they are both moving towards their inevitable doom. It's a tragedy, but a beautiful one.
This movie is about facing life, love, reality, and your own self, in the face of an uncaring and doomed world. What do you want: to be a success, or to be real?