Sunday, 24 July 2016

Carnage Park (2016)



Based upon a true story this low budget movie starts with a nice Resevioir Dogs buzz and hums along nicely to a the Hills have eyes harmony. Ashly Bell who was one of the best things in The Day is the principle victim of   psycho Vietnam veteran Wyatt Moss who has created a "carnage park" in his massive piece of property out in the desert, where people get trapped so he can then pick them off one by one. 
I loved the soundtrack, near the end it really starts to creep you out. Director Mickey Keating also wrote the script and he deserves Kudos for both efforts. Much of the critizm of this movie is that it is totaly derivitive. Telling a story that has been told a million times before and  making it interesting is a talent.  Rotten tomatoes gave is a mere 56%. Its a solid 70% in my blog.

3.5 bloody screaming stars

Wednesday, 20 July 2016

Warcraft (2016)


Overall a pretty good Sword and Sorcery story. Two fascinating aspects.  Warcraft was directed by Duncan Jones. His two previous small movies Moon and Source Code where spectacular. This spectacular seems to have gotten a little bigger than he could manage. You feel the two hours, in a great movie you dont notice the passage of time. Still its a complicated story and to be honest I liked it as much as some of the first LOTOR movies. Second fasonater is that Rangar Loothbroke plays the hero. I did not know Travis Trimell was the lead.  I thought it might be but had to see the credits to verify. While not as good as Rangar, his portrayal as a sword swinging lover of half breed Orcs is enjoyable.

The worldwide box office was close to half a billion, and the movie was set up for a sequel which I expect to see.

RT gave it only 28% with me in the seventies.

3.6 stars

Sunday, 17 July 2016

Eye in the Sky


A taunt thriller about a drone flight whose mission turns from capture to kill. A very philisopical outing where just like the war on terror winning is hard to quantify but the forumla for collateral damage is well defined.
Alan Rickman and Helen Mirren star in Gavin Hood’s nail-biting thriller that explores the ethics of drone strikes
Gavin Hood did a predator like job of directing this movie that at times came close to the ministry of silly walks, but in the end real horror. His nice body of work includes X-Men Wolverine and Enders Game.

Arron Paul and Kim Engelbrecht play the unfortunate drone pilots convincingly. This movie is very well made and thought provoking, a sure box office bomb. (Just $18 million in North America) Just checked amazingly Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 95%. Which nuged me higher in this case

Four Stars for a move that really puts the drone in drones

Saturday, 2 July 2016

Independance Day: Resurgence (2016)


One of the few sequels equal or better than the original. Liam Hemsworth was terrific as the star of the movie. The plot was better, and the plan for victory more plausible. All the characters from the first movie except Will Smith are back. The film takes place 25 years after the first invasion. Humankind remains united and has adopted Alien tech. Very soon its clear that plan of defense was not going to work.

A truly fantastic disaster porn, alien invasion, sci fi spectcale epic blockbuster.
Rotten Tomatoes savaged t with 38%. I would be close to 80. I am not giving it five stars like the orginal, because the orginal was orginal.

4 stars