Oblivion

I avoid Tom Cruise films on principle, but at this point HBO stays until GoT so why not.  Oh, yeah, because I saw this, it was called Moon, and it was better.  Partly because it didn't include Tom Cruise.

Oblivion
2013, 124 minutes, directed by Joseph Kosinski

Wastelander Panda

Why -hasn't- a live-action post-apocalypse Australian wasteland survival story starred mutant pandas before?

Be warned: it's not a comedy.  But it's spectacular.  Available as a web series later this week.

Wastelander Panda

2014, 71 minutes, directed by Victoria Cocks

Wyrmwood

The result of a four-year, self-funded shoot, Wyrmwood looks and feels like a classic ozploitation film, complete with badass zombies, a colorful cast, government baddies, and a kick-ass brother-sister duo in Barry and Brooke.  Both immune to the Zombie Infestation, the siblings take wildly different paths to find each other, acquiring friends and special skills on the way.

I can't wait for the sequel.

Wyrmwood

2014, 92 minutes, directed by Kiah Roache-Turner

Warm Bodies

Well yeah, it's cheesy.

Zombie with an inner monologue meets cute girl, eats her boyfriend's brain to absorb his memories, and learns to love again.

But the inner monologue is pretty funny - at least for the target PG-13 crowd.  And it works.  Pretty well, even.

Warm Bodies
2013, 98 minutes, directed by Jonathan Levine

Cloud Atlas

This epic, interwoven adventure tells not one, not two, but six stories across time.  Past lives, past loves, past loss.  It's all connected.  It's seriously the most epic film I've seen since The Fountain.  Alas, Cloud Atlas didn't touch me in the same way, but I appreciate everything the Wachowski's, Tykwer and the actors did to realize this on screen.  Unfortunately, given it's scope and very intellectual overriding motives, I doubt it will do well in mainstream American theaters.  I want to see more films like this made, even if this wasn't exactly what I was looking for.

Cloud Atlas
2012, 164 minutes, directed by Tom Tykwer, Lana Wakowski, and Andy Wakowski

The Book of Eli

I knew this film had religious undertones, but whoa.  Still, this was a good story of the re-emergence of hope in world where it had long passed.  And there's a decent bit of knife combat.

The Book of Eli
2010, 118 minutes, directed by Albert and Allen Hughes

Terminator: Salvation

They've run out of ways to exploit their "go back in time to save the future" schtick, so at this point they've just turned this franchise into post-apocalyptic warfare with an abundance of references to story lines we're assumed to know.  It could be a Resident Evil script if they'd just replace robots with demons - totally generic.

Terminator: Salvation
2009, 115 minutes, directed by McG

Manborg

God damn it don't put a long short or two or FIVE and a Q&A before midnight films!


Robocop meets Army of Darkness with Tron thrown in.  It's not the best film I've seen this year, this week, or even today, but it was a film.

Manborg
2011, 60 minutes, directed by Steven John Kostanski

The Day

Post-apocalyptic survivors, 10 years in, face their final stand.  I liked it.  Watch for the badass female star, refreshingly more badass than female.

The Day
2011, 90 minutes, directed by Douglas Aarniokoski

Resident Evil: Afterlife

This fourth installment in the Resident Evil film franchise suffers from a few flaws I've seen crop up in the series, namely the Too Many Heroes syndrome and Kill the Extras condition.  The fast-paced action just served to hasten many a demise - the group of characters was hardly introduced when they started getting picked off, leaving only the obvious heroes to the end.  And combining Alice (even her new mere mortal version) with other heroes makes some scenes almost comical.  How long can they extend killing one guy so that all three heroes get a few shots at him?  Finally, a cliffhanger ending on a film like this always disappoints.  There's no reason for it; people still attached to the series will watch the next one regardless, so it's just a point of frustration when watching the film on its own.

Maybe I'm just disappointed that the series has turned into a zombie splatter fest instead of the survival horror of the first film.  I suppose Alien must begat Aliens, etc.  But I hoped they could do better.

Resident Evil: Afterlife
2010, 97 minutes, directed by Paul W. S. Anderson

Resident Evil: Extinction

Use the Force Alice.  But damnit.  Don't introduce a large cast of characters then kill them all right away.  The pacing of the film is quick, but yet again all I feel is "transition film".  The large cast is introduced, given cursory discovery, the summarily executed, and we're left with a small core no bigger than previous films.  It seems like a waste when more time could have been spent developing the characters that were going to live.

Besides that, my other complaint was with the cinematography.  Why does every close-up shot of Alice appear to be airbrushed?  In one scene as the camera cuts out and back in, the make-up goes one, the make-up comes off.  Repeat repeat.  It's very disconcerting and completely unnecessary.  Milla Jovovich is very pretty with and because of her flaws and all.  There's no need to so crudely hide them.

The next film will be available on Netflix soon.  We'll see where this goes.

Resident Evil: Extinction
2007, 95 minutes, directed by Russel Mulcahy

28 Weeks Later

I really wanted to like this.  The first film was a notably different take on zombies, and I thought a sequel could further explore the premise.

Instead the writers decided to use heavy-handed oafs from the U.S. military to do stereotypical, stupid, blundering U.S. military things, while the protagonists are slowly picked off one by one.  What a waste.

28 Weeks Later
2007, 99 minutes, directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo

Æon Flux

I never really watched Æon Flux on television, even though it aired when I was in college and MTV was regularly playing on the common room TV.  That said, I'm familiar enough to know that the series existed, and lasted more than three or four episodes.

Sadly, this film really, really feels like they had to cram an entire series into an hour and a half.  Start to finish the pacing is just too fast.  Maybe if I didn't know it was an adaptation I'd be more comfortable with it, but I kept feeling that all these characters have bigger stories to tell that were shoved under the carpet so the arc could play out on screen.

Æon Flux
2005, 93 minutes, directed by Karyn Kusama

Monsters

Unlike most reviews you'll probably read, I didn't think this film was Cloverfield 2.0.  It could have been, but the director did an admiral job taking his film in a different direction.  I'm intrigued by the production style, with the entire film done as ad-lib with an almost entirely extras cast, based on a rough paragraph outline per scene.  (Indeed, as the credits rolled, I thought they were a temporary version as only the two lead actors are credited.)  Don't let the sci fi fool you; this is a love story set in post-apocalypse Mexico.  The fitting conclusion was the announcement by star Whitney Able that she was engaged to co-star Scoot McNairy.  (Alas, I didn't have my camera, though I'll rectify that tomorrow.)  I'd see this again.

Monsters
2010, 97 minutes, directed by Gareth Edwards

Zombieland

I avoided this during Fantastic Fest, choosing instead to see the secret screening that turned out to be the forgettable RoboGeisha.  This one turned out to be a great, campy, fun zombie-killed show, which I'm sure played well at the Paramount.  They could have cut out the random cameo bit entirely though, sadly.  You know what I mean.

When you can't nuke it from orbit, double tap to be sure.

Zombieland
2009, 88 minutes, directed by Ruben Fleischer

Alas, I didn't feel well enough earlier today to be sure I'd want to go out tonight, and when I did the drafthouse had sold out.  Why does this theater think that people seeing Zombieland want to see  a special behind-the-scenes preview of Did You Hear About the Morgans?  Hello market?

9

I'm really disappointed. The film starts with far too little time spent introducing the audience to the environment - the newly formed lead character intrinsically knows too much too quickly, and the action commences before the characters have context. Going back later and filling in the history with movie reels is no excuse for writing a poor exposition. This really just ruins the film.

It's billed as an adventure for adults and children, but I think anyone over 8 will be disappointed by the clumsily advanced plot, and anyone under 8 will be scared by the imagery. The saddest part is that, since the film is SO short, they could have had plenty of time to create a good story with proper pacing. Did they run out of money? I expected better.

9
2009, 79 minutes, directed by Shane Acker

City of Ember

And this is why I go to festivals. Per the director Gil Kenan, this was the "premiere [of the] finished film for the first time in front of a live audience." What a pleasure to attend.

Sure, there are some spots where I think the plot could be tightened, but it's a beautiful telling of a great story. It's a fine ending to another film festival.

City of Ember
2008, directed by Gil Kenan

Post Impact

Last month, in planning for a European vacation, I utilized our fancy new DVR's Dish Pass feature to record every show about Germany. In addition to the expected fare (Rick Steve's Europe, Smart Travels, Passport to Europe), it swept up a host of biographies on the pope, History's Misteries' "Nazi Ghost Train", and a cheesy little Sci Fi channel original called Post Impact. Why not?

Oh, you know what? I've seen the last 15 minutes of this movie - twice. I remember this SolStar
thing. Wow, what a disappointment. Maybe it will make sense this time. Or not.

Decent movie for lovers of third-rate action-based science fiction, which I guess means Sci Fi hit their mark.

Post Impact
2004, 90 minutes, directed by Christoph Schrewe

I Am Legend

This was my first experience at the new Alamo Drafthouse at the Ritz. I attended the Last Night at the Alamo in my pre-blog days (and have three original Alamo seats - fourth row, just left of center - to prove it). But I was a bit miffed by how the Heroes of the Alamo Foundation was handled during the transition, and the tickets for the opening night gala at the Ritz went on sale while I was in Japan.

Buttnumbathon submissions were also while I was in Japan, and the weekend before last I was unsuccessful in winning a standby seat. (The number after mine was called, grr.) So here I am, finally, to see a first-run film that sounded right up my genre.

Overall, this was a good film, I guess. I think the director wanted to say something epic, but the script he had to work with was the zombified corpse of the 28 Days Later script. Years ago, Independence Day was new, exciting, epic. I felt this could have been the same thing, but the script just didn't support it.

And don't let me start on the on-again off-again pseudo intelligence in the antagonist.

I Am Legend
2007, 101 minutes, directed by Francis Lawrence

La Hora Fría (The Cold Hour)

I had high expectations for this movie. It's one of the few truly "sci fi" films to screen at this year's Fantastic Fest, and sci fi is my favorite genre. I loved the concept, and the movie was filmed and choreographed beautifully. When it was introduced, we were told that "all questions would be answered" if we just stayed until the very end. Alas, I disagree, and after a night of restless sleep filled with dark passages and impending doom, I have to say that I'm not satisfied. Just what, exactly, does come out at the Cold Hour?

La Hora Fría (The Cold Hour)
2006, 93 minutes, directed by Elio Quiroga