When is a Zombie not a Zombie…when it’s in World War Z.

When I was a teenager my list of most frightening monsters started with werewolves, progressed down to vampires then crazy gigantic insects, zombies, with their lack of intelligence and slower than molasses movements, never struck me as practically frightening. Sure they looked gross but all you had to do was walk away, seriously zombies are that slow.

  

Then I saw World War Z’s take on zombies and wow that’s scary the first ten minutes had me at the edge of my seat but you know what even more surprising, this really isn't a zombie movie. There are no supernatural incarnations, no magical items that makes the zombies, no voodoo high priest directing the calamity.

In this case it is a very virulent virus that causes the symptoms and the overall plot is about the UN trying to find a cure. Of course the Z word comes into play because of the way the virus is spread and the way it attacks the body.

  

The difference in this movie to the other zombie movies I've watch and they are not many, my son is the real zombie aficionado of the family, is the way the zombies move. The virus seems to change humans from individuals into a hive like mentality, where the whole unit will react to stimulus supplied to just one of the infected, that and of course, how fast they react. Start training now if you ever hope to outrun these zombies.

Accepting this story line the movie plays out as a detective movie as Brad Pitt investigates the origins of the virus, the information which the UN doctors seem to feel will allow them to develop a vaccine, within the chaos created by the virus.

  

Director Marc Forster creates a thrilling and chilling 116 minute story that garbs the viewer from the start and does not let him go until the credits start to run. The characters introduced are all believable everyday people, no Winchester brothers here, reacting to events as they play out, which is what ends up making it that scarier.

This movie works on both levels, as a horror Zombie flick, though lacking all the gore and blood usually associated with zombie tales but the action and suspense more than makes up for this and also as a medical action/drama pretty much like 2011’s Contagion and 1995’s Outbreak.

World War Z is definitely a movie to watch.

Superman...can't wait for the sequel

This reboot of the Superman story is great, the action amazing and the changes to the characters were needed to ground the story more into reality. That is not to say that the movie could not have been better as there were some minor problems with the plot and editing, but all in all a movie you do not want to miss. In fact Warner Bros. has already fast tracked the sequel.

The movie starts, from the beginning of the Superman legend, on Krypton showing an advanced civilization that ultimately destroy their own world (sounds familiar?) then to an adult Clarke on a seemingly Australian styled ‘walk-about’.

  

As we learn more about Clarke in the present, we also, at the same time through flashbacks, learn the story of his youth and the life-changing moments that lead him to question who he is, why does he have these extra abilities and what is his purpose. His parents Jonathan (Kevin Costner) and Martha (Diane Lane) share in his turmoil but also, more importantly, supply the grounding that instils the values of honour, family, sacrifice (Jonathan making the ultimate sacrifice) and above all love for his adopted race.

His search to discover himself is completed when he discovers an old Kryptonian space craft and learns about his origins from an artificial Intelligence (AI) created by, and resembling, his birth father Jor-El (Russell Crowe). This all comes to a head with the arrival of General Zod, whose life was returned ironically by the destruction of his planet, Krypton, which ultimately fuels Zod’s need to recreate Krypton, to earth’s and humanity’s ultimate demise.

A note to the religious among the audience, Superman finally reveals himself to his adopted Earth society after 33 years of obscurity.

  

Henry Cavill (the first non-American to play Superman aside for ‘baby’ superman in the 1978 Superman) superbly plays this incarnation of Superman, exquisitely showing the feeling of loss and not belonging that a man-out-of-place must feel.

Director Zack Synder (Sucker Punch, Watchmen, 300) wanted to ground Superman more into the real world than had previous incarnations and thus created (and adopted from more modern comic generated stories) elements that explained Superman known facts.

The symbol ‘S’ actually means hope in Kryptonian (rather than the initial for Superman) the symbol also being a herald/crest for the house of El. The superman costume is in truth an undergarment worn by Kryptonians on top of which fighting armour is placed. No more wearing of underpants on the outside of leotards for our super hero.

And of course Cavill having the body of a very strong (Kryptonian) man, which can be aptly seen in an early shirtless scene of Clarke rescuing oil rig workers (if you look closely you can see the ‘S’ being formed by soot and flame on his chest) and his coming to land after a long sea swim, just so the audience knows that the musculature under the suit, is in fact very real.

  

Continuing in this theme, Superman’s soul-mate, Lois Lane, is also grounded in reality. I could never understand how a seemingly Pulitzer prize winning investigative reporter could not see that in fact she has worked alongside Superman for years, well ‘director’ Synder solved this dilemma by having Lois (the beautiful Amy Adams) track Clarke/Superman down and identify him even before the world knows about him.

Synder and the writers (David S. Goyer – screenplay & Story and Christopher Nolan – story) though missed one major inconsistency. In Krypton they bred citizens based on society’s needs, so when a new scientist is required they genetically grew a child who will become that scientist. Zod and his crew were mostly soldiers and Zod himself a general, so we must assume that they were grown and trained as proficient fighting machines. If this is so then they should be, at worst, evenly matched with Superman (strength vs. technique) but when Zod gains our yellow sun’s super generated powers surely he would be more than a match for Superman, who for all we know, has no fighting training or experience.

  

That being said the end of Zod is a great departure from the Superman we've come to know (though Zod suffered the same demise in another Superman film though not as personally).

The Man of Steel’s editing also was a bit off as well. Good editing is as much about good timing as telling a story and any good DJ will tell you knowing when to change the rhythm from slow to fast and back again is critical to keeping dancers on the floor so is good editing critical to keeping the audience interested in the story as it is unfurling on the screen.

At some periods the movie seems to slow to far down, allowing the audience to drift away from the story from time to time. The end result is the movie seems long, unlike the editing of the Avengers which kept you riveted to the end while not realizing the time spent in the cinema, by the by both movies were the same length at 143 minutes.

  

And now for a bit of movie trivia, the movie showed two quick references to Lexcorp, the company run by Superman’s titular arch rival Lex Luthor. First in a scene at the Kent’s farm house: a tanker with the Lexcorp logo drives by and later the logo appears on a truck in Metropolis during the fight with Zod.

In the final fight scene Zod and Superman, at one time, end up in a construction site with a safety sign saying 143 days without an accident, Zod throws Superman into the sign which then says 0 days without an accident.

Also, as a possible nod to Christopher Nolan’s Batman, the satellite that Zod and Superman crash into during their epic fight has the Wayne Enterprises logo on it.

  

My suggestion, go and see Man of Steel, you’ll end up sorry you did not. See you later and I hope we can meet at the Movies

After Earth, thrashed by the US critics, turns out to be a very watchable movie, for an enjoyable evening out with your friends or family.

The sci-fi movie, starring Jaden Smith as the young warrior Kitai Raige, is played out as a father and son coming of age story with his real life father (Will Smith) as Kitai’s father, military hero and ultimate warrior Cypher Raige.

Unlike the last time this father and son worked together where the father went through a transformation (Pursuit of Happiness - 2006) this time the transformation is entirely with Jaden Smith’s character.

The movie follows a fairly predictable story line where Kitai has to take on a perilous journey to save his father and himself while coming to terms with demons from his past concerning the death of his sister.

The adventure takes place on Earth a millennium after the human race has left because of man’s destruction of the planet due to overuse of the planets resources, and though this set-up was ideal to make allegories about our present day’s political and environmental issues, writers Shyamalan, Gary Whitta and Will Smith obviously ignored this temptation.

The movie, shot digitally in Switzerland and the US, was the first project worked on by M. Night Shyamalan in the last twenty years that wasn’t based on a self-created screenplay.

Will Smith, who has wanted to work with Shyamalan for years, hired him to develop the overall look and feel of the film but it was Smith himself who coached Jaden and directed most of the action and how the story played out on screen.

Though neither of the Smith’s will get nominated for their acting ability in this movie, the characterizations of their roles was good enough for the movie to play out with no obvious stilted or cumbersome acting. Jaden, though, did get nominated for MTV’s (Seventeen Magazine’s sponsored) Bad A** teen award.

The movie though definitely needed a science consultant, which would have allowed easy fixes to some obvious faux paus.

First, the lush green temperate vegetation that Kitai has to travel through would not have survived with temperatures dropping to below zero every night and rising back to normal levels during the day.

Second the needle Kitai used to inject anti-toxin into his heart did not look long enough to actually reach his heart. And then there is Cypher’s (Will Smith) self-surgery to connect the two ends of an arterial break through two self-inflected holes in his thigh, which are just big enough for the plastic tubing he used to make the connection, really! And how may I ask did he connect the end of the tube to his ruptured artery.

Then there is the diving of the eagle chasing after Kita during his travels through ‘After Earth’, When birds dive they fold their wings in to reduce air resistance but this eagle dives with its wings out stretched and the final faux paus; the signal cannot get through because of atmospheric interference, so the answer is to climb to the top of an active volcano, spewing millions of ionic metal particles into the atmosphere, to get a better signal, really!?

In the whole scheme of the movie though most viewers would not have questioned this as attested by the whoops of joy at the action scenes from local cinemas and the tooting car horns at the drive-in. And truth be told I, like the rest of the Barbados audience, enjoyed this movie.

After Earth’s financial success though will be a hard fought battle, with an estimated production budget of US$130,000,000 and an US income (up to 9^th June) of US$54,516,057 but producer/co-writer Will Smith does not see this film as the end all and be all of this project, he envisions a multi-platform franchise including books, graphic novels and interactive video games which would be generated from the 300 page bible already developed (by Eisner Award-Winning comic writer Peter David alongside Michael Jan Friedman and Robert Greenberger) covering the history of mankind from their decision to leave earth right up to the events depicted in the film.

Resident Evil: Retribution

Alice is back! and if you ask who is Alice is then you need to see Resident Evil 1,2,3 and 4!
Retribution’s writer/director Paul W.S. Anderson tackles the rebirth of the Resident Evil universe in an intelligent and logical story line that unfolds as the plot moves along with the action of the film. In the end he successfully creates a natural jump off into another series of Resident Evil ‘Alice’ films. A bonus to Resident Evil fans since the last installment seemed to have the storyline coming to an end.
Though it is hardly unexpected that Anderson would have the indebt knowledge to extend this particular universe since he actually wrote and produced all of the first four Resident Evil films and directed two, the first and fourth installments.
While the story moves along fairly well paced there are a few speed bumps along the way, with fight scenes that, while satisfying the masculine needs for slow motion violence, do nothing to aid the plot line.
Anderson, interestingly, does bring back old characters, all of whom previously died in past iterations, some human, some not, but all readily explained in the reality that is Resident Evil. At the same time adding, to comedic effect, some tongue-in-cheek comments about this from the characters themselves.
This film also introduces an important development in the Zombie culture, zombies with guns! And in one gory scene a zombie with a chainsaw! Now possibilities in season 3 of “The Walking Dead” TV series become explosive!
The “Alice” fighting scenes do devolve from the current style of fast, close up, jumble of bodies (Avengers, Batman, Spiderman, Expendables 2) where it is hard to actually make out what really happened (unless you’ve seen the movie a few times – like I have) other than the bad guy just got whooped, really badly!
Resident Evil reverts to the past fashion of slow motion movie-ography showing incredible attack and counter attack by the antagonists and hero/anti-hero. I loved it!
Milla Jovovich reprise's her role as Alice and at only 37 years old, still has a good run at continuing with this character in the rebooted Resident Evil franchise. Just look at Arnold Schwarzenegger – 65; Bruce Willis – 57 and Sylvester Stallone – 66 in the recently successful action movie Expendables 2.
The Ukrainian actress (I despise the modern political correctness of calling both males and females actors, equality is gained by accepting our individuality not ignoring it) who began her career as a child model, at the age of 9, has grown with the recurring Alice role over the last 10 years, during which time she has been refining her acting ability, this is evident when comparing the 2002 launch of the Resident Evil franchise to this years evolution.
As an actress Milla, while owning the ‘Alice’ character has also acted in 39 other roles in Big Screen action and drama to guesting in some Small Screen TV series.
All in all Resident Evil: Retribution is a good action film for adrenaline junkies. What takes this movie from ‘B’ to ‘A’ is the well conceived plot and character development that remains true to the Resident Evil genre, but sighing just slightly at the ‘B’ style return of the Mutant bad guys of the second and third installments. I look forward to many more years of Resident Evil and Milla Jovovich’s kick ass ‘Alice’ character.

The Hunger Games

Just walked out of the Hunger Games, 11:45am showing at Regal at Kendall Villages. What a great story! Kudos to the writer Suzanne Collins for a great story and to Gary Ross and Billy Ray (sharing credit for the screenplay). This is the first (in a long time) movie I’ve seen where I have not read the book prior to viewing. So please excuse me if I talk about the movie without the benefit of the book’s details.
Hunger Games is listed as a Young Adult movie, which is marketing talk for teenage girls romance, within an adventure sitting, and without the sex that accompanies so many modern romance stories today. And being the second block buster book series to be given the ultimate Hollywood treatment, it has to be compared to Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series (which I did read before seeing the movies). While it does not have the pathos so evident in Bella and Edward’s love story, it does offer more than enough romance for the gentler gender and adventure for the male in all of us.
First you need to know where I’m coming from. I’m a hopeless romantic, but I’m also a gray-bearded, divorced fifty-three year old man, slightly overweight (stop laughing Giselle…my sister calls it as she sees it - fat) with Asperger's, who still believes in the goodness of my fellow man and that love will always win out in the end. And before you ask, no I do not believe that there is a Santa Claus, but I know his spirit still exists.
The story, for those of you who haven't read the books, and I know there are a lot of you, unfortunately, while not overly complicated, operates on several levels allowing the viewer (remember I’m commenting on the movie and not the book) continued interest in what’s happening on the screen. Unlike, many of the recent films I’ve seen, if you miss any of the movie (bathroom break) you will miss an integral plot twist or character building scene. And believe me at two hours and twenty-two minutes it was a chore, at the end, not to take a bathroom break…remember fifty-three year old man here!
Jennifer Lawrence playing the lead character, Katness Everdeen, was able to effortlessly use the non-verbal screen time to show, with an acting maturity beyond her years, the real emotions of her character at the time. Something her role competitor, Kirstin Stewart (as Twilight's Bella) was not able to do with as much success. This is where a book has the advantage, it can describe, in page by page detail, the emotions being felt by the character within any time frame, from a second or two, to months and months, sometimes even years. In film you do not have the luxury of endless screen time with only a young woman sitting and staring out of her window as the season’s change. 
I was riveted for the entire two hours and twenty-two minutes as the screen play refused to use many of the romantic clichés that we, as movie goers, have become accustom to. Moving the story along at a pace that kept the viewer interested and the character alive just by the viewer wondering how they would react to each new event as it unfolded.
Though it was disturbing at first to see youngsters (from what looks like nine or ten up to early twenties) participating in killing games, especially the initial game opening brawl, I do understand enough of history – not to mention what’s happening in Africa and the middle East today -- that this scenario is not unlikely. What I did feel a bit disappointed about is the story’s lack of an in-depth rationale for why the hunger games were started in the first place and what the games instigators hoped to achieve with it. The movie hinted at a past rebellion as a reason but not enough details to explain why the game rules themselves. Maybe the book does it better and hopefully the next two movies will delve into this in more detail.
And believe me, there will be sequels, the viewing public cannot, and in my opinion, will not be satisfied with just this one magnificent movie.

Wrath of the Titans

The return of the demi-god Sam Worthington. Since wheeling into international fame on Avatar, it seems his mere presence in a film means block buster! Avatar, then Clash of the Titans, then Man on a Ledge, now Wrath of the Titans.
But this is where he, or rather the film makers falter. The production values are great and the special effects outstanding, the Tartarus prison, while a nice effect seems to have been designed with 3D in mind and, as in most cases, where an effect determines story line, it seems a bit contrived.
Unlike Avatar, where the 3D effect enhances the amazing alien environment, Tartarus seems to be set up in isolation, with no rhyme or reason to explain its constantly shifting environment and no key to solving it…most unlike the logical Greeks.
Dan Mazeau, David Johnson, Greg Berlanti and Beverley Cross, as the writers, also fail to fully explain the complexity of the story line as was done in the first installment. What happened to Perseus first wife, Io, a simple death for one resurrected by Zeus is just not enough.
What about Perseus’ now obvious attraction to Andromeda, when did that happen? In the first installment he showed no romantic feelings towards her at all, even though she was the princess he ended up saving, though it was obvious she had feelings for him.
And, for that matter, what’s up with Andromeda? She started out as a beautiful, but pampered princess, with intelligence and a sympathy for her people’s welfare and now is a warrior queen, when did that happen? And why?
The gods’ predicament also raises a question of logical continuity. If Zeus, his brothers and children, are losing their God Power, then why are they concerned about their father, Kronos, for surely he will be losing power as well.
To solve this dilemma, while watching the movie I had to quickly develop the reasoning that the Gods all have a certain level of power to start with and this power is increased by the amount of humans that worship them, as premised by the storyline.
Zeus and Poseidon, by controlling their humans worshipers, are able to limit Hades power thus averting the dominance of his hate regime.
Kronos, recognizing that the dominance of gods was weaning, due to humans increasingly lack of fate, decided that, for gods to remain in power, humans had to be brought back into the fold, so-to-speak, and set forward a plan to get rid of his god-sons, who were obviously not up to the task.
This all fell to ashes on the death of Poseidon and Zeus, since my hypothesis would not allow this to happen, at least not in the way that it did, but at least it got me through most of the movie.
Sam Worthington, as Perseus, again excellently portrayed his character, as a human with demi-god powers (though why these powers remain when the gods powers are being reduced seemed to give credence to my personal theory) who insists on the nobility of humankind, allowing his human half to lead his choices.
Rosamund Pike, who takes over the role of Andromeda from Clash's, Alexa Davalos, works well as the warrior queen and shows the depth of her acting ability by using facial imagery only to show the love her character has for Perseus. Rosamund is perfect for the role of Andromeda, able to show the beauty and poise of a royal princess, the sense of purpose of a true ruler and the fighting ability of a true warrior.
Toby Kebbell as Agenor, Poseidon’s son, unfortunately was given a one dimensional role which, though the storyline hinted at a great back story, failed to supply the humour I think the writers were going for.
Hades, though, came through with flying colours. This character, Lord of the Underworld, usually is the bad guy, as Ralph Fiennes played him in the first installment (and again in this, the second installment) and continues in Wrath as the antagonist. But the script and Ralph Fiennes, both worked excellently together to create a depth of character seldom seen in those cast in the role of the devil.
Despite its defects, Wrath of the Titans is well worth seeing and I did enjoy, once again, sharing in the adventures of the hero Perseus, though I think the story would have been fuller with Kronos actually getting free, inciting fear in humans to create the worship he needs to retain his power, thus allowing him to rule both gods and humans alike.
But thwarted in the end by Andromeda’s army defeating Kronos’ worshipers; the solders on the battlefield, by strength of arms, and the priests in the temples, by Andromeda’s intelligence and compassion.
This would lead to a loss of Kronos’ power at a critical point in his one on one battle with Perseus, allowing Perseus and thus humanity, once again, to be self-reliant in determining their own future.

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen

Salmon Fishing, now ladies, before you skip over this fishing story, know that it is in fact a very romantic story, and guys before think that this is only a love story…well actually, yes, it is only a love story. The fishing really only provides the environment for the story to evolve.
But guys, before you leave, know this. Salmon Fishing in the Yemen is not your typical emotional roller-coaster movie, written to drag tears up, screaming and clawing, from our macho centre, located somewhere in the depths of our balls sack. No this cleverly crafted stylish tale comes at love, not typically from straight on (a most American trait) but from the periphery of life, a style more suited to where the film was created, England.
So guys, we have no grand gesture that instigates love, no earth shattering wrong committed to break the couple apart and no insightful, emotionally charge, incident that brings them back together. What we do have is, in fact, everyday life, that’s all it is, just everyday life. Something that gives hope to very ordinary, normal man that maybe, just maybe, there is hope finding real love of each of us.
Ewan McGregor, as far from his Star Wars - Obi-Wan Kenobi character as you can possible get, plays the reluctant Dr. Jones who at first is dismissive of a Sheik’s ambition to create Salmon fishing in, as the title suggest, Yemen.
Enter the English PM’s Press Secretary, who sees this as great PR for the Government and pushes the idea using Government funding and assets. The book (of the same name by Paul Torday) from which the movie is based, plays mostly to the political satire generated from this situation but screen writer Simon Beaufoy, preferred to centre on the love story.
Emily Blunt, as Harriet, continues to excel as an actor from the first time I saw her in The Devil Wears Prada, bringing nuance and believability to her role as the instigator of the Sheik's wishes. I look forward to seeing her in The Five Year Engagement later this year.
I can see that this movie will not appeal to the typical Love Story viewers, because it does not evoke the out springing of emotion resulting in copious tears usually associated with this genre but it remains a charming Love Story that a guy can take his significant other to, without the needed box of Kleenex. So really a win win movie experience.