Parasite (1982)

Parasite (1982)

Director: Charles Band

Cast: Demi Moore, Luca Bercovici, Tom Villard

So here’s another one of those films that made me crap my pants when I was a kid. Back when I was about 5 or 6 years old, I had this uncle who would take me to all the movies he’d go see, and that’s how I ended up seeing Parasite (1982). Never mind that it was an ‘R’ rated horror film with rape scenes and gore, my uncle just took me to everything he went to see with his girlfriend. I remember at one point his girlfriend realized I was frightened out of my skull and offered to hold my hand if I got too scared. For Parasite I held her hand the whole time! This was the first 3-D film I ever saw; it came out during a time when 3-D was enjoying a revival during the 80’s. The 3-D effects so impacted my young mind that I remember seeing freaking slugs everywhere, even after I’d left the theater! Ah, the delicacies of having a feeble and gullible mind! Those days are long gone and horror movies don’t really scare me anymore, but ahhh, the memories! Back then this movie frightened me like no other! I think what frightened me the most were the body horror elements, creatures squirming beneath the human skin is still a frightening idea to me. So this Halloween, I’ve decided to revisit films that scared me as a child and this was one of them, how did it measure up after all these years?

Parasite is a post apocalyptic science fiction horror story. It takes place in a society that is on the brink of extinction, with people living in a “dog eat dog” state of mind. The film follows a scientist who has created these slug creatures that live under your skin and then burst out of your body, killing you on their way out. He was making these things for the government to use as a weapon, but after creating them he decided he wants no part of it. Unfortunately, he’s created two slugs, one he keeps in a containment unit and the other has found a home beneath his skin! Now he must find a way to kill the slug within him, and destroy the experiment so it never reaches the hands of the government. Unfortunately, he escapes to a wasteland filled with gangs of idiots who live for raping and pillaging. Will he manage to kill all the slugs he’s created?

Parasite was a film produced and directed by b-movie mogul Richard Band. For those not in the know, Richard Band is responsible for all those Full Moon horror movies that include the Puppet Master, Bloodspecies, Dollman, Trancers and Demonic Toys movies among many others. But before creating Full Moon, he directed movies like Parasite, these Richard Band theatrical releases are way better than anything he ever did under Full Moon. I mean, these movies while still well within B-Movie parameters, where extremely watchable movies, which is something I can’t say for a lot of the films he directed and produced for Full Moon. During those early years, Richard Band directed films like Laserblast (1978) and Metal Storm: The Destruction of Jared-Syn (1983), both of which are fun because they are bad. The dialog on these films is atrociously hilarious and the special effects are laughable, yet entertaining. Parasite complies with all the troupes you’d find in your a-typical post apocalyptic low budget movie, the end result was something along the lines of Italian Mad Max rip offs like 1990: The Bronx Warriors (1982) mixed with a little bit of David Cronenberg’s Shivers (1975).

The film does have a few amusing things about its cast. First, this was Demi Moore’s second theatrical role which shows once again that many stars start out their careers in cheap ass horror movies. Johnny Depp started out in A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), Kevin Bacon in Friday the 13^th Part 2 (1981), Meg Ryan on Amityville 3-D (1983) and Matthew McConaughey and Renee Zellweger both started out in Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation (1994). On Parasite we get Demi Moore playing the role of the post apocalyptic survivor, her performance is nothing to brag about. The film also counts with Tom Villard in the role of Zeke, who gets to one of the better death scenes in the film. Some of you horror hounds out there might remember Tom Villard as the main villain in the obscure 90’s slasher film Pop Corn (1991). But the best performance in the whole film comes from a guy called Luca Bercovici who plays Ricus, the leader of the post apocalyptic gang. Bercovici went on to appear in bigger and better films, usually as the villain. Some of you might remember him as Kevin Costner rival in American Flyer (1985).

Still, there was something that set Parasite apart, something made it special. Sure it was a cheesy,  low budget production all the way, but it had one great thing going for it: Stan Winston was doing the monster effects. That’s right, the same guy that created the creatures seen in Predator (1987), Aliens (1986), Terminator (1984) and Jurassic Park (1993) started out with Parasite, creating all the slimy slugs and the gory body horror. Some of the makeup effects truly stand out and when you mix those effects with 3-D you got yourself some horror movie magic that will make any five year old squirm in his theater seat. At that tender age I was subjected to slugs slithering beneath the skin of people, stomachs exploding and slugs splitting people’s heads apart, no wonder I grew to love horror movies! Stan Winston’s work alone elevates this film a bit, but truth be told, Parasite remains a low budget post apocalyptic film of the cheesiest caliber.  

I mean, the cheese just flows here. For example, the government sends this really weird character called “The Merchant” to find the scientist that created the slugs. Funny part is this Merchant also shoots lasers…truth be told he’s like some sort of a Terminator who drives a black Lamborghini, which I’m sure was supposed to be a futuristic car, but now looks retro. In fact, the film is set in the “not too distant future” of 1992! That always cracks me up when movies do that, it reminded me of Escape from New York (1981), a film in which “the future” was 1988! Parasite was even promoted as being “the first futuristic monster movie”! Even funnier is that it’s supposed to be futuristic, but the town in which the film takes place looks like it came out of the Old West! But anyways, this is all part of the films b-movie charm. For a Charles Band film, this movie is actually pretty cool and has its moments. I remember the film had me by the throat during that scene in which everyone is just waiting for the slimy creature to pop out of that canister! That scene is still pretty effective in my book.  Since Parasite was first released in 3-D back in 1982, you will see many things being hurled at the camera, the filmmakers really squeezed the 3-D to full effect, objects are always placed in the foreground so they would pop up. I remember the 3-D being a highlight. Some might consider this one to be in the lower echelon of post apocalyptic films, but I’d give anything to re-watch this one in a theater with those red and blue 3-D glasses and I'd especially give anything to feel those same, frightful chills I felt while watching this one as a kid.

 

Rating: 2 1/2 out of 5

Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (2015)

The Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (2015)

Director: Wes Ball

Cast: Dylan O’Brien, Ki Hong Lee, Kaya Scodelario, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Giancarlo Esposito, Rosa Salazar, Lily Taylor

The whole kids versus ‘the system’ thing has run its course in my book. But you know Hollywood, they’ll keep pumping out movies based on the latest young adult hit novel until the whole things been bled to death. The Hunger Game movies are a huge bore for me; all they do is talk, talk, and then talk some more and it’s not even good dialog. For example Insurgent (2015), the latest sequel from the Divergent series was such a letdown of a film! Nothing happens! Worst part is that I actually enjoyed the first one! Even worse is that Naomi Watts and Kate Winslet were on this thing! Which brings me to the problem with some of these franchises: Hollywood will do a good first film to kick the franchise of and then follow it with watered down, less than stellar sequel. When it comes to franchises, sometimes Hollywood doesn’t pay much attention to sequels because they figure we’ll see whatever they pump out, because they’ve already got us hooked. They figure we’ll pay for a shitty sequel because we just gotta know how it ends. Well, I got news for you Hollywood, I’m not gonna fall for it! I’m not seeing the next Divergent film! That franchise is dead in my book. I’m sick of Hollywood stretching out films with unnecessary dialog just so they can pump out another extra sequel! What’s this sucky new trend where they turn the last film in the franchise into two films? Its bullshit I tell ya! So of course, I went into Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (2015) with extremely low expectations. Was this to be another stretched out, shitty sequel?

In the first film, Thomas and his crew of misfits managed to escape the maze in which they were living in, yet the question remained, who is running the show? Why where they placed in this maze in the first place and what comes after you escape it? As we soon discover, the kids haven’t escaped the clutches of ‘Wicked’ just yet, which by the way is the name that they have for the government on this series of films. That’s right my friends, the government on these films is so evil that it’s called ‘Wicked’. So anyhow, the kids have to run yet again and escape into the wild and crazy scorched earth; a post apocalyptic waste land filled with infected zombie like ex-humans. You see humanity has been infected by a deadly virus for which there is apparently no cure. The government is trying to find it, but with no success! Apparently Thomas’s blood is what can save humanity! Will the wicked government ever capture Thomas and manage to harvest his blood?

The good thing about these Maze Runner movies is that they are not boring, as opposed to The Hunger Games and Divergent films. Sure they got their expository dialog, but it’s quickly followed by action and interesting visuals. This movie has some pretty nifty action sequences, and staying true to its title, they actually do run for most of the film, this is without a doubt a chase film. So in this sense you can rest easy, the film won’t bore you to tears. And another good thing it has going for it is that it’s visually interesting. There’s this moment where the kids are running away from a thunder storm which I thought was pretty cool from a visual standpoint. There’s another sequence where they have to run away from a zombie horde while running through a series of toppled down buildings which was fun.  So while the whole theme of young kids versus the system is getting pretty old by now, The Maze Runner series is keeping things interesting by telling their tale with an emphasis on action. So kudos to the filmmakers for that!

The thing with this series of films is that there’s a shroud of mystery throughout the whole series of films. We’ve yet to fully understand why these kids were put in that maze in the first place, the answers are alluded to, but never fully answered, which I think is a successful element in these films, they want to keep us guessing. Keep it a mystery and people will want to come back for the next film. A new addition to this film was the whole post apocalyptic angle. I love post apocalyptic films and the icing on the cake is that we also get zombies on this one, now there’s a surprise! So for a while there, this turns into a zombie flick. Sans the gore of course, because we gotta keep it ‘PG-13’, can’t forget our target audience here are teens. Still, it was a pretty intense and fast paced film. The characters were likable, I thought it was interesting how each of the rebels is from a different ethnicity as if to make sure kids from all over the world are represented on the film, which reminded me of Children of the Damned (1964), which did a similar thing. This is probably done to give teens from all parts of the world a character they can identify with. I liked that they made the Asian guy a kick ass character, but the black guy does next to nothing, so I guess Hollywood still has to deal with giving black characters more substantial roles. To me, each one of the kids should have their moment to shine, not just the white guy. This is director Wes Ball’s second film, his first was The Maze Runner (2014), so this guy has two for two in entertainment value in my book, let’s see if he can keep it up for the third one. I’m curious for Maze Runner: The Death Cure (2017), let’s hope they don’t stretch that one into two films.

Rating: 4 out of 5

11 Reasons Why Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) is Cinematic Gold

Like most film buffs out there, I’ve seen Mad Max: Fury Road more than once already and I've realized one thing: I’m ready for another watch! Actually, I’m seeing it tonight, on the silver screen, where it should be seen! If you haven’t seen Mad Max: Fury Road yet, stop whatever you are doing and watch it! This movie is a masterpiece and I’m using that term in the most literal way possible. Mad Max: Fury Road is George Miller’s best film to date, Miller finally made the Mad Max movie that he's always wanted to make. But why is Mad Max: Fury Road so freaking cool? Well, it’s a spectacle in every sense of the word, it's sensory overload! At times there’s so much coolness happening on the screen that I simply could not take my eyes off the screen! This does not happen often. Usually I’m rolling my eyes back at the stupidity I see in theater screens, but with Mad Max: Fury Road it was like watching a masterpiece unfold, like I was being a part of cinematic history by watching this one for the first time in theaters. So since this film has turned me Mad Max crazy, I’ve decided to count the many ways in which this film kicks ass, just to make sure that you, my dear readers, finally take the plunge and see this one in theaters. So kick back and relax, cause up next, I offer you 11 reasons why Mad Max: Fury road is the best Mad Max yet!

It’s Pure Eye Candy

Normally one doesn’t associate the post apocalypse with color because post apocalyptic movies are usually a bleak and dark looking bunch. Not so with Mad Max: Fury Road! On this film George Miller wanted to create a beautiful and colorful take of the apocalypse. This doesn’t mean that the movie loses its post apocalyptic look or feel. You’re not going to see rainbows and flowery fields on this film, this is still very much George Miller’s post apocalyptic wasteland, but the color palette that was used turns everything into intense reds, yellows, blues. It’s no wonder one of the characters says: “Oh what a lovely day!” Indeed.

The Post Apocalyptic Wasteland is Epic on this One

If you’ve seen the Mad Max trilogy, you probably noticed that the post apocalyptic wasteland grows with every picture. Where the first one only showed us a glimpse of society disintegrating, by the second film the post apocalypse shows its head and the craziness begins to grow. By Thunder Dome we have entire societies forming, trying to reinstate normalcy by adding a form of government with new rules and laws. But this growth is only natural, with each movie, the budget kept growing. For example, with the first film Miller had less than ten million dollars to fulfill his post apocalyptic vision, but for Fury Road Miller managed to get 150 million, so of course the post apocalyptic wasteland we get in Fury Road is more epic than what we’d seen in previous films. The society that we are presented with on this film has actually found a way to survive in the wasteland; a society whose main concerns are feeding, breeding and driving cars. They’ve even created a new religion where heaven is called Valhalla and you have to spray metallic colored spray on your mouth before you die serving your leader! The post apocalypse has never looked or felt more epic.

Say Goodbye to The Interceptor and Hello to Imperator Furiosa’s War Rig

In the first five minutes we are treated to visuals of Max, basking in the wasteland with his trademark Interceptor parked by his side. The Interceptor still looks every bit as cool and kick ass as it ever did, but Miller apparently wanted you to cut ties with the old movies and absorb the new one, so in the first few minutes during Fury Road its goodbye to The Interceptor which gets taken out of commission rather quickly. Of course, you came to see a Mad Max movie; you want more of that cool looking Interceptor. But wait, we are then presented with Imperator Furiosa’s War Rig which is this kick ass gigantic rig that Max drives for most of the flick, it’s just awesome looking. When you see how cool it looks in action you won’t have time to even remember The Interceptor. Of course, The Interceptor can never be replaced, but the War Rig is a fine substitute; at least for this film. And speaking of cars…

The Cars are Bigger and More Elaborate

Since this time around George Miller has a bigger budget to bring his visions to life, this time the cars are bigger and way crazier in design. I loved the cars in this movie! I was watching Road Warrior the other day and really, the cars in Fury Road leave the cars in previous Mad Max films in the dust. They are bigger and way more outlandish! You have to see them to understand but these are monster trucks, gigantic in proportion, with more fiery turbines and gigantic tires than you can shake a stick at! They are awesome to see in action!  Once again, you get the feeling that this is what George Miller always wanted to do with his Mad Max films, and since this is the most expensive Mad Max of all, he really wen't crazy with the designs for the cars. Everything is bigger and crazier! 

It Plays with Interesting Themes.

The first one was a revenge flick, the second one was purely about survival and the third one was about Max the savior. What’s this fourth outing about? Well, on this film Max plays the savior once again, helping Imperator Furiosa and her five lady friends reach ‘The Green Place’. In this sense, Fury Road felt a bit like Thunder Dome. Yet this new film also plays with new themes to the series, namely, it’s all about feminism. On this film, Immortan Joe treats women like breading cattle. For Immortan Joe, women are for procreation and for drinking their delicious breast milk. It is alluded that they are objects to him, which is why the five wives run away with Imperator Furiosa, leaving graffiti all over Immortan Joe’s chambers that read “We are not things!” and "Our babies will not be Warlords!" Also sending a message of peace. So Immortan Joes wives run off in search of their freedom, hopefully to a place where they can be treated as human beings.The film also touches upon politics and religion through the characters of Immortan Joe and his crew of zealot followers. They will do anything to serve the Immortan, but at the end of the day, it's all a facade. Immortan Joe is a sick man, lying to all of his followers. Ultimately, they learn that a god can die.   

It Isn’t Centered Around Max, Yet the Movie Still Manages to Grab You

This is probably the only hiccup I found in this film, that it wasn’t really centered on Max, it's Theron's Imperator Furiosa who takes center stage. But, on my second watching I realized this really doesn’t matter. Aside from the fact that Theron's character is great, and their story a good one, this wasteland is such an interesting place, filled with so many crazy characters and cool looking cars that I realized that the real star of these films is the world that Max inhabits. It is so rich, so well constructed. Sure Max is the driving force at the core of these films, but the world he inhabits is really what wows us. I’m sure Miller will give us more of Max in future films, but the star of the show will always be The Wasteland Miller has created. Even the title of the proposed next film lets us see what these films are all about. The next films title is: Mad Max: The Wasteland.

It Is George Miller’s Best Film to Date, Period.

I’ve seen all of George Miller’s films and he has a pretty solid repertoire. First of course there’s the Mad Max franchise, but then we have the ‘Nightmare at 20,000 Feet’ segment from Twilight Zone: The Movie (1982 ). Millers segment was so good that they used it to close the film with a bang. The Witches of Eastwick (1987) is a great film about Satan (played by Jack Nicholson) falling in lustful love with three witches played by Susan Sarandon, Michelle Pfeiffer and Cher. It’s an awesome comedy, from the bygone era when they made comedies for adults. Its script explored the nature of men and women, relationships and sex. The film also has some excellent visual effects. Then Miller went with a dramatic film called Lorenzo’s Oil (1992), a story about two parents who never gave up in trying to find the cure for their sons decease. Then he made three children’s films one after the other: Babe: Pig in the City (1998), Happy Feet (2006) and Happy Feet Two (2011). I’m of the mind that Miller made these in order to make the studios happy so they would give him the money to make Mad Max: Fury Road (2015). To me Fury Road is the culmination of all of Miller’s cinematic knowledge. Mad Max: Fury Road is without a doubt in my mind Millers most amazing, escapist fantasy. The cinematic wizardry displayed in this film and the sheer understanding of what makes a film amazing could only come from a master with the knowledge and experience that Miller has acquired through the years.  

Computer Generated Effects Do Not Take Over the Film!

This is something we hardly see today. A film that was actually shot in front of the cameras and not inside of a computer! Do you know how I’ve longed to see a movie like this one? Only a handful of directors have resisted giving into using computer effects extensively, Tarantino and Scorsese come to mind. These are directors who understand that a film simply looks better when it’s actually shot on film in front of a camera, with actors and sets. Nothing can replace that realistic, tangible feeling you get from capturing visuals through the lens of a camera. Of course Miller uses computer generated wizardry as well, but he uses it to enhance what he has already filmed, to paint a landscape, a vast colorful wasteland. In no moment do you feel that you are watching minutes upon minutes of entirely computer generated images. Nope, on this film the cars blow up in your face and the fire and brimstone feels and looks real. Thank you mister Miller for that! Lovers of film were missing that real, tangible cinema!

Intensely Evil Maniacal Villains are Back!

Yes! Finally! This is something I loved from films that came out of the 80’s the villains where insane and maniacal! Absolutely psychotic! Memorable! Hell, sometimes the villain would steal the show and become the main character of the film. Remember those days when we’d get villains like Jack Nicholson as The Joker in Tim Burton’s Batman (1989)? How about Clarence Boddicker, the crazy bad guy from Paul Verhoeven’s Robocop (1987)? Still remember them don’t you? That’s what you call a memorable villain. Sadly, Hollywood’s current idea of a villain is a banal one. Today’s films are filled with lifeless villains you could hardly tell apart from the good guys. For an example of this watch the Robocop remake, blah. Invisible villains seems to be the order of the day at Hollywood. Thankfully, truly evil bat shit insane villains have always been one of George Miller’s specialties. Remember The Toecutter from Mad Max (1979)? That guy scared me as a kid! How about Lord Humungus from Mad Max 2 (1981)? Totally insane, that one even went for sadomasochism! Immortan Joe is another fine addition to the list of insane villains and it’s the kind of villain I love. Over the top, crazy looking and relentless! Boy, I had truly been missing these kinds of memorable villains in my movies. Thank you George Miller for bringing that back!

It Feels Like the 80’s Again!

The ideas in this film are so crazy that they bring to mind the 80’s, a decade when the craziest films would get made. I mean, who the hell green lit Dead Heat (1988) you know what I mean? But suddenly, there you are, watching a zombie cop, fighting a re-animated dead cow and you’re left wondering just how the hell did this movie get to the silver screen? Who the hell said sure, here, take 5 million dollars and make that zombie buddy cop movie you always wanted to make? I don’t know, but it was the 80’s and crazy movies like that one would get made left and right and get released in theaters! Nowadays seeing a movie of such a crazy nature released theatrically is a rare thing. Machete (2006) and MacheteKills (2013) are two rare exceptions. Want to make a movie about a baby crazed, milk drinking villain who runs a post apocalyptic society with an iron fist and likes to chase heroes through the dessert on monster trucks? Sure, here you go Mr. Miller! And you say you want a truck with a rock and roll stage on it, with flame throwing guitars? Sure, here’s 150 million! Do your best! Make your masterpiece! And thank the movie gods, Miller did just that!

Mad Max: Fury Road is Why We Go to the Movies!

We go to the movies to escape our reality, to let our minds go for a while and escape the every day life. We want to see something grand, something amazing and Mad Max: Fury Road offers us that and then some. It's non stop action from beginning to end, now go and watch this masterpiece before it leaves theaters. This kind of film only comes around once in a blue moon. It’s a special kind of film, the kind that is crafted not by a studio but by a filmmaker who truly wanted to make it. Mad Max: Fury Road is the reason why we go to the movies, now go watch it where it’s meant to be seen: in the theater!

Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

Title: Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

Director: George Miller

Cast: Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, Hugh Keays Byrne, Rosie Huntington, Nicholas Hoult, Zoe Kravitz

Mad Max: Fury Road is insanity caught on film! It’s 100% purely bonkers! It harkens back to the glory days of the 80’s, when even the craziest of ideas would get green lit by a studio. Mad Max: Fury Road is the long awaited return of Max Rockatansky to the silver screen. Oh how I had been longing for this day! You guys know how much I love post apocalyptic movies...so yeah, I was pumped for this one. I’ve re-watched these movies with a vengeance, over and over again throughout the years and I’m sure I am not alone. People love these movies! But why? Why the obsession? I think its because they are about cars, speed, revved up, tricked up engines and spectacular vehicular mayhem.  Who doesn't love a cool cinematic car crash? Much less a whole film filled with them? No other series offers that better then the Mad Max movies. People also enjoy the post-apocalyptic angle of these films, another area in which these films deliver like no other movie can. It’s no wonder these films have influenced thousands of rip offs, with thousands others using Mad Max as their blue print. And let’s not forget, this is Mel Gibson’s most iconic role, it’s the one he’ll always be remembered by. So we’re talking about a legendary series of films here. And thanks to the cinematic gods, here we are back again! Back to post apocalyptic world of Mad Max, thirty years after the last Mad Max movie! Did they wait too long to make this film? Would director George Miller capture that Mad Max magic again? Would Tom Hardy prove himself worthy of playing the role of Max Rockatansky?

This time around Max is still surviving in the post apocalyptic waste land, just like everybody else. After a nuclear meltdown destroyed humanity (as seen in The Road Warrior (1982), the world is one messed up place, with small groups of humans spreading themselves thin throughout the world. Society has been unable to rebuild itself from the ruble. All that is left is animalistic craziness, humans surviving on their basic instincts. All they care about is food, water and procreating so that humanity can live on. Immortan Joe, the despotic leader of one of these ram shackle societies, has five wives with whom he is always trying to have babies with. He feeds on freshly squeezed breast milk and he is obsessed with one of his wives, who is pregnant with his baby. Too bad for him that one of his cronies, a woman named Imperator Furiosa (Theron), decides to go her on way and steals one of Immortan Joes trucks! Her plan is to return to her childhood home, a green paradise filled with enough water and green trees for everyone. Imperator Furiosa also steals Immortan Joes five wives, including the pregnant one! Will Immortan Joe allow this? Will Imperator Furiosa make it to her home town and how does Mad Max Rockatansky fit into all of this?   

Mad Max: Fury Road was directed by legendary filmmaker George Miller, the guy behind the original Mad Max trilogy of films: Mad Max (1979), The Road Warrior (1981) and Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985). He also made The Witches of Eastwick (1987), Babe Pig in the City (1998) and in a turn towards the dramatic, Lorenzo’s Oil (1992). If we look at his repertoire, most of his films show an emphasis on the visuals. Even Babe: Pig in the City, a children’s film, displays a huge amount of care in constructing a visually interesting world, something we can really dig our retinas on. This was essentially the approach that Miller took with Mad Max: Fury Road, a film with very little dialog, and a whole lot of action. It almost fells like a silent film in this way, feelings and emotion are displayed through action rather than words. When designing this film, Miller asked that the art direction be as colorful and beautiful as possible in order to set itself apart from most post apocalyptic films, which usually have a bleak color palette. This is something that is extremely evident on Mad Max: Fury Road. Even though the film feels extremely familiar, like we’re entering Miller’s post apocalyptic vision once again, the film definitely sets itself apart from previous Mad Max films. It’s the most visually striking and colorful of all the films in the franchise. There’s this awesome moment in which what is happening in the film is so visually awesome that one of the characters says “What a lovely day!” My sentiments exactly. This movie is truly beautiful to look at.

The big attraction with these films are the cars and the stunts performed with them, which are amazing as expected. The cars on this film are awesome; they are filled with skulls and spikes and whatever else they could think of. Big tires, flame throwers, machine guns, guys hanging from tent poles, they really went crazy with the car designs for this movie, seeing them in action is a delight on itself. I was worried that George Miller would succumb to computer generated effects the way that most filmmakers have, and while he does use computer effects to an extent, he doesn't do entire sequences completely rendered in a computer, which is a delight for me. Most of the vehicular mayhem happens right in front of the cameras. Of course, Miller does use computer generated technology, but he uses in an artful manner, to enhance what he has already filmed, to make it beautiful. Like a painting. He doesn't create a world inside the computer; he enhances the world he has already filmed, which is the best way that you can use cgi, and I applaud Miller for that. It shows that he wasn't about being a lazy filmmaker, where  75% of his film happens inside of a computer, no sir, Miller is a real, true blue, bonafide filmmaker who cares about shooting a film in front of the camera. He cares about constructing a shot, about creating a specific look, an atmosphere. Special effects are but a tool to enhance. So kudos to Miller, you made my day sir! You might be 70 years old, but same as Ridley Scott (who’s well into his 70’s) you sir are still making amazing films. Dare I say this is one of your best films ever? Mr. Miller, I salute you man! Your cinematic expertise shows through and through on Mad Max: Fury Road!

The thing I loved the most about this movie is that it’s so heavy metal, 80’s style heavy metal. Skulls, bones and rock & roll are infused into every strand of dna of this film! How so? Well, there’s this awesome vehicle that is basically a moving rock and roll stage, that is composed of drums and amplifiers and drummers and a crazy dude, hanging from wires, riffing on his heavy metal guitar! It doesn't get more heavy metal than that! The whole vehicle functions to stimulate the chase, like the beats of a war drum. And speaking of the chase, that’s all this movie is, it’s a two hour long chase. Honestly, I didn't feel the two hours. They felt short to me, I was having such a blast in this crazy post apocalyptic world that the two hours wheezed by. You know how sometimes while watching the old Mad Max movies you’d fast forward to the chase sequences? Well, now you don’t have to because this whole movie is about cars going at high speeds, exploding and crashing in colorful ways.

So did Tom Hardy do good as Max? I’d say yes, the only thing is that Max  feels different. Obviously it shows just how much of Mel Gibson was put into Max the character. Hardy's take on it is different. A man of even fewer words. He speaks as little as possible and when he does its in grunts. Max is more of a mystery on this film than on previous ones. He seems madder, crazier, more enigmatic. I can’t say I blame him. He has been living in this crazy, shitty world longer now. Though it is a pleasure seeing Max Rockatansky back on the screen again, if there’s one thing I can say that I didn't love about the film is that Max is not the primary focus of the film. I wanted more Max, instead the film is more about Imperator Furiosa, which isn't a bad thing either because she’s a fascinating character. But if we really get down to it, the only one of the Mad Max films which was truly about Max is the first film, which is all about him and his family and friends, and his revenge. The rest of the films in the series are about him protecting or helping someone, serving the role of savior. In that sense I'd say Fury Road is similar to Mad Max: Beyond Thundedome (1985). Still, that’s just a minor hiccup. The film is amazing. It deserves to be seen more than once, something I will be doing before it leaves the silver screen, where it should be seen and appreciated in all its cinematic, post apocalyptic glory.

Rating: 5 out of 5 

Oblivion (2013)

Title: Oblivion (2013)

Director: Joseph Kosinski

Cast: Tom Cruise, Morgan Freeman, Olga Kurylenko, Andrea Riseborough

Review:

Joseph Kosinski proved himself to be a very stylish director with great command over the look and design of a film with TRON: Legacy (2010) a film that at first I wasn’t a big fan of, but has sense grown on me. There’s just no denying its visual splendor and the awesomeness of the designs involved in that picture. The look of the sets, the vehicles…the wardrobe, there’s no denying it all looks very slick, very avant garde. So of course, I was extremely curious for his sophomore project, the sci-fi film Oblivion, a film that first started out as a graphic novel written by Kosinski that never got printed. Still, he used that unprinted graphic novel as a sales pitch to studios. Disney didn't bite (they wanted the film to be PG) but Universal did. So as you  can see, we’re talking about an extremely talented individual here. This Kosinski guy isn’t just any run of the mill director, he not only writes graphic novels, and directs films, he’s also got a background in 3-D architectural design, which probably explains why the sets on his films look so freaking awesome and futuristic. It’s pretty obvious that Kosinski siphons all that knowledge into the look of his films. What worries some people is that his films might be stronger on the visual department then on the story or depth department, is this true?

Well, if TRON: Legacy and Oblivion are any indications, Kosinski’s films are solid on both counts, visual and thematic. TRON: Legacy was a film that criticized oppressive governments that want to turn everyone into a robot in their attempts at creating a “perfect society”. This is no light subject matter; in fact, films of this nature have a strong subversive tone to them. I included TRON: Legacy in an article I wrote about SubversiveCinema a while back. Actually TRON even went as far as commenting on how the system controls the media, the entertainment of the people in order to send out a certain message or point of view. Oblivion is the same type of subversive film, it hits on the system and the way things are set in our way of life. So if you ask me, Kosinski is setting a patter as a subversive filmmaker, which is something I love. You gotta have guts to stand up to the system and tell it like it is in this world. Too often people prefer to live life ignoring the realities of the world we live in and “not asking too many questions”. So this isn’t just an empty special effects heavy film that looks pretty. Nope, this is the kind of film that says hell yeah ask questions! In fact, ask as many as you have to and get to the truth. Look at the other side of the coin, not just the side “they” show you.   

First up we meet Jack and Victoria, a couple which typifies the American marriage. Victoria for all intents and purposes is the house wife who stays at home while the man, played by Tom Cruise, goes out to get the job done. Their purpose is to be “an effective team” in service to the system so they can retire and go on to live in paradise, enjoy the good life. This couple has all the comforts of modern technology, but no connection with nature or the planet they live in. In this way Kosinski comments on how technology has distanced us from the finer, simpler pleasures that our world offers us like sitting on a field of grass, basking in the sun, listening to good music, reading a good book. Jack is a character who longs for these things in a world that denies them to him. The system wants to keep him busy, producing, being “effective”, while truthfully, Jack longs for baseball games and a homey, warm cabin by the lake. He wants to live life next to his loved one. In this sense, Oblivion really connected with me and my personal view of life. I, like Jack, and many of you out there I’m sure, long for a life with less buildings, less cars, less machines and more contact with nature, more freedom to enjoy the wonders this world holds for us. But getting the “job done” and surviving in this world always gets in the way.

But there are lies in this world. This is one of those films in which the main character is not who he thinks he is, his entire life is a lie. There’s a bunch of these movies out there that have a main character whose whole life is a lie. I’m doing an article on these types of films so keep an eye out for that, but basically, the message is that you are being lied to by the system, and when I say the system, I mean the powers that be, the media, the government, the big companies that rule everything, big money, the man, you know what I’m talking about. It’s the idea that we’ve been taught one thing, when in reality, things are entirely another way. Take for example the idea of god, as the being who created us, religion as a whole. Is it all real, the idea of an old man floating up in heaven, sitting on a golden throne room with a bunch of angels flying around singing songs to him? The film also addresses this issue, and blasts it into Oblivion. This is a film that is tired of the lies, and wants to unmask them, it longs to unmask the powers that be and show them for what they are.

Take for example war, and the way the media will immediately make you think that people from a certain country are evil or your enemies. I’ve never agreed with this because there is a distinct difference that we as people need to realize, governments are not the same as the people they rule. Sometimes a government will do something which its people do not agree with, but we cannot vilify an entire ethnicity, an entire country for the madness that their government commits. Oblivion speaks of these themes saying if we look at things closer, if we search for the details, for the truth, we’ll realize that we are them, and they are us. Like that scene in Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket (1987) where two enemies at war with each other, end up in close hand to hand combat and end up looking at each other in the eyes and suddenly realize: what are we doing here? Why are we killing each other? Who has programmed us and put us here?  Most of the time, soldiers go to a war and they don’t even know why they are there, same as the character of Jack in Oblivion, who does his job, but doesn’t even know for what purpose. He’s just here to get the job done. Like a soldier who simply follows orders, without knowing why he's doing what he's doing.

As you can see, Oblivion is a pretty deep movie. Yet, its strength in design is not to be ignored. I mean, visually, conceptually, the film is a wonder. Hell, yes, this movie is cool looking! I personally enjoyed these robot drones that appear on the film, they look so robotic, and the sounds these robots emit make them come off as so evil, so cold and inhuman! I’m pretty sure this is exactly what they aimed to project with these drones and in my book they achieved it. True, Oblivion does have themes and situations that will remind you of other sci-fi films you have seen. Some moments reminded me of The Matrix (1999) and The Terminator (1984) others of Wall-E (2008) and Independence Day (1996). It even pays homage to 2001: A Space Odyssey (1969) in some points, but at the same time, Oblivion is a film that gives you lot’s of surprises, new ideas and twists keep popping up all the time, so while it does have similarities with older films, it keeps things interesting and flowing. This was a well made movie, it’s brainy, intelligent sci-fi, with great effects, great moments of action, and heavy themes. A grade A sci-fi film with a rebellious streak to it and lot’s to say, highly recommended.

Rating:  4 out of 5   

Warm Bodies (2013)

Title: Warm Bodies (2013)

Director: Jonathan Levine

Cast: Nicholas Hoult, Teresa Palmer, John Malkovich, Rob Corddry 

Review:

The thing with Warm Bodies is that I initially thought I’d hate it, I went in with my bag of rotting vegetables, ready to throw them at the screen. To me it looked like it was going to be the Twilight of zombie movies and in some ways it is and in some ways it isn’t. What Twilight did with vampire movies is it softened them up; it turned the monsters into the heroes. It turned blood sucking creatures into beings who sparkle in the moonlight; it made vampires for lack of a better word, ‘cute’.  And Warm Bodies does soften up the zombie film, it’s main character is a walking corpse, but you wouldn’t notice if you saw him from afar, except for the pale skin and a couple of scars. And yes my friends, let’s not forget this is a film about a zombie who falls in love with a human girl! So yeah, zombie movies are getting the Twilight treatment in a way, just compare Warm Bodies main zombie with the Edward Cullen character from Twilight, and you'll see they don't look all that different. Going into the theater I thought, “That’s it for zombie movies!” I don’t want my zombies falling in love; I want them mindless and brain hungry! But whatever, this being a zombie movie and me being a zombie movie nut, I decided to give it the benefit of the doubt. Strange thing is I ended up enjoying Warm Bodies!

Warm Bodies tells the story of ‘R’ a zombie who wants to be something more than just a zombie. He wants’ to improve himself, better himself, and maybe even be human someday. Everything starts one day when R is on one of his food runs (i.e. looking for humans to eat) when he stumbles upon a group of rebellious humans who are fighting against the zombie hoards. In the middle of the battle, R notices a young human girl named Julie and its love at first site, and well, R starts to feel, his heart starts beating! Should R follow through with his feelings for Julie? Or are their worlds too different for them to fall in love?

One of the things I dug about Warm Bodies is that it actually delivers a couple of original ideas, number one, the idea that a zombie can go back to being human is one that hadn’t been done before in zombie films, and least not in any that I can remember. And number two that a zombie could fall in love with a human and vice versa. Now in a worn genre like the zombie movie, well, originality is a welcomed thing! The film presented us with one or two original concepts, which proves at least the filmmakers where aiming for something different.

The idea that we can hear a zombie’s interior monologue is a good one, again, I don’t believe I’d ever seen that done before. The idea is that R is conscious of his zombie state, but can do nothing about it. He sees himself act as a zombie, but thinks like a normal human being. Of course, to zombie purists this makes no sense whatsoever because zombies are walking corpses. Rationality, logic or thought normally don’t fit into the equation. But this isn’t your typical zombie movie and in the world of Warm Bodies zombies that think do exist. The idea is that R hasn’t been dead for long and isn’t as far off dead as the ‘Bonies’, which are zombies that are so dead that they literally look like walking skeletons. So I guess the filmmakers behind Warm Bodies bent zombie rules just a bit, as does every movie. All movies create their own universe and rules, in the universe Warm Bodies, zombies can think just fine.

Another good thing that Warm Bodies has going for it is that it’s a socially conscious zombie film, you kind of get the feeling that something like this is what George Romero would be doing nowadays, but of course, less cute. Recently I saw a Quentin Tarantino interview, in which he states that every director has his day, makes great films then their time passes and they get old and no longer make great films; though I still haven’t lost my faith in him, I feel this is exactly what happened to George Romero. To me old age got to him and he lost it. His last one, Survival of the Dead (2009) was a huge disappointment for me. Though not all that bad, it failed to live up to Romero’s post-apocalyptic glory gory days. Warm Bodies reminded me a bit of Romero’s socially conscious zombie films. Warm Bodies portrays modern society as robots, automatons who are growing increasingly disconnected from one another thanks to I-Pads and cell phones.  I really dug how Warm Bodies explores class differences by infusing the film with a bit of Romeo and Juliet into the story. Same as Romero and Juliet, R and Julie come from completely different backgrounds. Julie is one of the human survivors; she lives inside of a walled city that still manages to have some comforts while R lives inside of an abandoned plane, in a zombie filled neighborhood. Yet they come together, because together, they will change everything. There’s even a balcony scene, so if anyone had any doubts about it, yeah this is a zombie version of Romeo and Juliet. By the way, the actress who plays Julie -Teresa Palmer- is a true beauty, I really hope we see more of her on the silver screen, and soon! 

So that’s it for me ladies and gent’s, I say Warm Bodies is a good zombie film. It might get a little too cutesy at times, especially when it comes down to zombies thinking, talking, feeling, and falling in love, but it’s still entertaining and has something to say. A word of warning to zombie fans, there’s not much in the way of blood and guts, though brains are eaten the gory details are left in shadows or out of camera. I also thought that the ‘Bonies’ looked too CGI, they could have pulled those off a little better, I didn’t buy into those things being real at all. But the idea of the film, the concept that a corpse can come back to life through the power of love, is a splendid one. So is the concept that in a world that is constantly trying to dehumanize us, it’s important that we remember how to feel and emote, to communicate and help each other out. I enjoyed how the film emphasizes the importance of every day good deeds, simple things that make this world a more pleasant one to live in. That if we only put more of an effort into actually feeling emotions and interacting with other human beings, then maybe we can change things and make things in this world better, and though these are not the usual concepts we’d expect in a zombie movie, well, I still had a blast with Warm Bodies. Recommended!

Rating: 4 out of 5  

Rock and Rule (1983)

Title: Rock and Rule (1983)

Director: Clive A. Smith

Review:

You might not have heard of Rock and Rule, the animated post apocalyptic Rock and Roll fantasy, but that’s okay, it’s not your fault, the film got the shaft from MGM during one of those major studio shake ups where a lot of people get fired and some movies get ignored and lost in the shuffle; one of those movies was Rock and Rule. Basically, what happened to Rock and Rule is one of the worst things that can happen to any film: all the work, sweat and tears that went into making it got ignored because another film screwed it up for them. Said film was Michael Cimino’s Heaven’s Gate (1980) one of the most expensive turkeys in the history of cinema. That particular film cost United Artists 44 million dollars; an astronomical amount of money back in those days. The film ended up making little more then 3 million in box office returns. Obviously heads were going to roll over at United Artists. By the time it was all said and done, MGM bought United Artists (which almost went bankrupt over the whole Heaven’s Gate fiasco) and MGM ended acquiring all of United Artists films. Problem was that MGM was not enthusiastic about Rock and Rule, therefore the proper promotional push needed for a film to take off was not given.

A similar situation happened to Terry Gilliam’s The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988); an amazing film, but in the middle of a studio shuffle (this time it was Columbia Pictures) the film lost the people that championed it, the ones that cared. The way things work in Hollywood is that when new studio executives come in, they don’t want to market the films that the previous studio executives were producing and so, though Gilliam’s Adventures of Baron Munchausen was an epic fantasy film with some amazing images and effects….the film ultimately got the shaft from the new guys at the studio. As a result, the film tanked at the box office. Not because it wasn’t any good, but because when a studio gives a movie the shaft, it doesn’t get the proper merchandising, and when a film doesn’t get that needed promotional push to get into audiences psyches…well, then the movie tanks because the movie doesn’t exist in the publics’ consciousness. They don’t know about it, because the studio didn’t make sure the public knew; this is what happened to Rock and Rule.

Now I’m not saying Rock and Rule is the best animated film in the universe, or that it’s even any good, I’m just saying it never got the chance to find its audience. What kind of film are we talking about anyways? Well, Rock and Rule is one of these old school animated films. The kind that was painstakingly hand made, without the use of digital anything. This thing was done frame by frame by the efforts and passion of a talented group of animators. Some reports say that over 300 animators worked on the film. The animation studio that produced Rock and Rule was a Canadian one known as Nelvana; they were they guys responsible for doing that animated segment in the Star Wars Holiday Special (1978), the one were Boba Fett makes his first appearance. So anyhows, this little animation studio wanted to make it big, so they decide after producing various half hour animated shows for television, that they would make their first full length animated feature film. These guys even turned down Ivan Reitman, who asked them to produce Heavy Metal (1981) for him; I mean these guys were obviously really driven, they really wanted to make their own thing, and that they did.

Rock and Rule tells the story of a rock band that’s trying to make it. Omar, the lead singer, is having a hard time accepting the fact that Angel, the bass player can sing as well, maybe even better than he can. Together they play in a rock and roll bar called Mylar. At the same time, the biggest Rock and Roll god on the planet, a guy by the name of Mok; is looking for a way to open up a portal to another dimension (presumably hell) so he can bring forth a demon (presumably the devil himself) so he can take over the world, or something like that, it’s never really quite clear. Mok’s computers tell him that the only way to open up the portal is by using something called ‘The Armageddon Key’; said key can only be used when certain musical cords are sang by “a very special voice”; that voice is the voice of Angel. So he goes about trying to convince her to sing for him. Will she accept his offer or will Mok have to end up using other methods to persuade her?

Rock and Rule started out as a children’s film in the mind of the guys at Nelvana; they were going to call it ‘Drats!’ But as time went by, the project evolved. It got darker and darker, until it became adult oriented and finally ended up being what it is: a post apocalyptic rock and roll sci-fi. This film is often times compared to Heavy Metal (1980) and for good reason; same as Heavy Metal, it mixes the worlds of science fiction and Rock and Roll. They also share the fact that they are animated films made for adults. Both films include foul language, drug use and nudity, both films have trippy visuals. This is probably what made it a hard sell for the guys at MGM. It got what I like to call the ‘assured death formula’ for any film: it was too kiddy for adults, and too adult for the kiddies. Topple that with the fact that Americans were having a difficult time accepting that animated films could be made for adults, and voila! You got yourselves a turkey. The film cost 8 million dollars, yet recuperated little more than 39 thousand at the box office. Ouch!

But that doesn’t mean this is a bad film. Same as HeavyMetal, it’s not the best animated film ever made, but it certainly wasn’t the worst either. Rock and Rule has some cool ideas going for it. For example, the soundtrack for the film was produced by artists such as Debbie Harris (strange, she’s playing on my I-pod right now as I type this…), Iggy Pop, Cheap Trick, Earth Wind & Fire and Lou Reed. It also has a cool sci-fi angle to it, we get flying cars, and Blade Runner like city landscapes. We get a strong female protagonist in the form of Angel, the girl with the ethereal voice. The best thing about the film though is MOK, the villain; a mix between Mick Jagger and David Bowie, but certainly more Bowie than Jagger. The only problem I had with the film is that it sometimes didn’t transmit some of its ideas in the best way possible. I guess the animation was too crude, or didn’t really show us what we needed to see in order to understand the ideas. For example, the opening scroll tells us that this is supposed to be a post apocalyptic world, yet we have cities and flying cars? Nothing terribly post apocalyptic about it. Mok wants to bring a demon from another dimension, but it’s never really stated why he wants to do so. What’s his purpose? As a viewer, you have to kind of fill in the blanks, which tells you that the film needed some work storytelling wise.

Still, there are times when the film dazzles and shines. What we need to keep in mind is that this film was made in a time when computer animation was in diapers, in fact, computer animation is used sparingly on this film; 90% of the film is hand drawn frame by frame. We need to remember what a painstakingly difficult process this was back in those days! This was a film that started production in ’79 and was finally released in ’83! That’s about four years of production! To animate one of the characters they used real brains! The animation gets really psychedelic and trippy at times, so I guess, visually, the film does have its strengths. But at the end of the day it’s a mixed bag. It might have some cool visuals, but storytelling wise, script wise, it needed work. This is something that the animators themselves acknowledge when they say that they didn’t really have a script to work with. They had a “pool of ideas” but not a script; hence, the uneven, underdeveloped nature of the plot and characters. Across the years, Rock and Rule has garnered cult status, and in my opinion  the film  is a curiosity in the world of American animation. It can proudly stand next to films such as Heavy Metal (1981), American Pop (1981), Wizards (1977) and other American animated films that were trying to break the mold, trying to present themselves as something more than just for kids; and as such, this one succeeds

Rating: 3 out of 5