Granted, I didn’t fall in love with “The Mutant Chronicles” as much as I’d hoped, but with post-apocalyptic movies it’s almost impossible for me to be disappointed. Director Simon Hunter’s Science Fiction horror flick doesn’t disappoint even if it’s never anything above average. Hunter gathers all the right elements for the post-apocalyptic epic from corporate corruption, war, and religion, as well as the teaming of a group of survivors who could save the world with their collective skills on the battle field. Bringing strong memories of “Seven Samurai” to mind, Hunter and co. aim for a more comic book or video game approach by treating each character with a mini-bio per their introductions. Thanks to the ever vigilant Brother Samuel who acts as the resident moral center and martyr.
Category Archives: Movie Reviews
Fuck (2005)
Oh man, do I love the word fuck. I use it and I use it all the time and though it can often sully my attempts to be taken seriously by a few individuals, I use the word fuck and all of its variations whenever and however I please. It’s practically a bodily function. And even my most foul mouthed friends have taken great pains in getting me to use it less frequently. People are very startled by the word Fuck, and no one knows why. What is it about this four letter word that sends people in to a fit? Why does the word fuck send even the most liberal people in to a series of gasps and furrowed brows?
American Zombie (2007) (DVD)
“Jesus was the original zombie.”
I guess zombie movies have reached the point where they’re basically self-consuming niche titles that have nothing new to offer. They’re either vague remakes of Romero, or vague remakes of “Shaun of the Dead” which is where “American Zombie” comes in. It’s a mock documentary that also tries to be social commentary, and more often than not it manages to work well as a tongue in cheek little satire on society and its fear of immigration and outsiders. Every society has to have a minority of individuals who choose a lifestyle that we have to chastise and condemn, and director Grace Lee takes an interesting step in exploring this collective action of a fearful society through the scope of the horror genre that turns zombies into a group of re-animated beings seeking to go about their lives in a world that has little room for them.
Hancock (2008)
Whether it makes money or not, “Hancock” will not be the next superhero franchise to break the bank, nor will it be as anticipated as the action figures from Marvel. “Hancock” has so much potential in the first half to focus on a superhero who is far from the people we get in theaters who happen to be upscale and of the Caucasian persuasion, but the turn in the second half is probably some of the most nonsensical pro-feminist propaganda I’ve ever seen, with the writers anxiously working toward taking an insignificant and uninteresting character and turning them in to someone who could contribute.
Wall-E (2008)
“Wall-E” dares to be anything but predictable. It’s quiet, it’s subtle, it’s intelligent, it features barely any dialogue at all, and it asks us to think of a world where garbage has become so cumbersome we’ve been shoved off our planet by our own waste. “Wall-E” is simply a masterpiece. Continue reading
Roger Dodger (2002)
See kids, this here’s what we call a thinking piece. It’s verbose, intelligent, evenly paced, and all kinds of brilliant, which is why I’m glad it never got in to the hands of a commercial director, because with tweaking it could have been a very cheesy rip off of “Alfie” in the vein of “Hitch.” “Roger Dodger” is a character study about a womanizer whose principles are always of use to the aspiring lover of all women, while the individual is so sleazy and manipulative that he may soon find himself alone and without a person to love be they a wife or any other family near him. Though Dylan Kidd does demonize the man who approaches women with such disrespect, he also explores that the character Roger isn’t truly a lost cause to society.
Batman: Gotham Knight (2008) (Two-Disc Special Edition)
So it’s finally here, the long awaited mid-quel to “Batman Begins” that leads right in to “The Dark Knight.” While Warner is taking a fantastic approach to this mid-quel by enlisting a host of top notch cutting edge animators and keeping true to the dark adult nature of the movies, even casting the one and only Kevin Conroy to voice Batman yet again (and he doesn’t miss a beat), “Gotham Knight” feels more like a template of which Christopher Nolan could expand upon should he decide to continue the series after “The Dark Knight.” There are only so many rogues who can be justified on screen with realism, but “Gotham Knight” provides us with some famous villains who could excel with a big screen treatment under the right people.