Resident Evil: Afterlife Review

I must preface myself before you read this review that Im a huge fan of the Resident Evil series. I have played though all the games and have enjoyed every second of them. So, I am incredibly critical when it comes to these movies. The first movie was a fairly well made, violent, and intense movie. Minus some poor acting, its only main flaw is that it didn’t accurately follow the plot of the video games. Here in lies the problem for the series; it deviates so far from the actually plot of the series, that after the first movie it wonders off into B movie goodness.

Glad I got that off my chest. So Resident Evil: Afterlife is actually a great movie. We have Alice opening this movie infiltrating Umbrella HQ in Japan. This is my least favorite part of the movie. Im not gonna say what happens, but the first 10 minutes are entertaining then it turns into an over the top and unrealistic action movie. I know its a Resident Evil movie, but this is not the Resident Evil I know and love. Its a bad knock off of the Matrix meets equilibrium, which are two awesome movies Be Te Dub!

From here on out this movie settles down a bit and we start enjoying a more Resident Evil type movie. We see elements mostly from Resident Evil 5, which mostly takes place in Africa. In this case the movie mostly takes place in LA. The plot isn’t anything amazing here. Its actually fairly bland and doesn’t taste very well. Alice is trying to find a ship that possibly has her friends on it. She meets some people in an abandoned prison surround by thousands of zombies. She finds the boat off shore and attempts to reach the ship with the survivors. She gets to the ship and well, thats where Im stopping, cause the end turns out to be entertaining.

One other thing I wasn’t a huge fan about this movie was the amount of characters and their uselessness. We have Chris Redfield, who in the games is a complete bad-ass, do absolutely nothing. This disappoints me greatly. There still is hope that in future movies he will have a larger and more action oriented roll. Other characters just cause issues and/or die quickly.

Now one thing I want to mentioned that stands out in the film is the 3-D technology in the movie. It is the only film to be shot in the Panasonic cameras that Avatar was. After a summer of lackluster 3-D movies, Ahem! “Clash of the Titans,” Ahem! It’s nice to see some one taking advantage of this stellar technology that James Cameron has worked so hard on for “Avatar.” Even if you do not like Resident Evil movies, go see this for the 3-D effects.

Case in point this movie is a good ride, shut your brain off for an hour and a half and enjoy some great 3-D action sequences. Acting isn’t that bad compared to the last two movies. The cinematography is entertaining and isn’t all zoomed in like most action movies these days. The plot is simple, don’t even worry about it, just watch gorgeous girls kill zombies and this huge masked zombie that wields a massive Axe.

My Suggestion: See in the Theater!

-Matt-

Edge of Darkness Review

A breath of bloody fresh air!

Its official Martin Campbell can pretty much make any type of movie and I am going to love it. He has made my two favorite Bond films(Goldeneye, Casino Royale), and several other great films(The Saint, Beyond Borders). Paired once again with one of the best cinematographers in the business, Phil Meheux, Campbell comes through with perfect camera work, compelling characters, and solid directing. I had lost my faith in the modern cop thriller crime drama genre. After a slew of bad and generic cut and paste dramas in the last few years its good to see a breath of fresh air on the screen. Edge of Darkness is deep, intense, and a ride of mystery and twists.

Thomas Craven(Mel Gibson) is a Boston detective who’s daughter, is in town visiting. An attempt is made on Thomas life, the suspect ends up killing Cravens daughter instead of Him. The situation may not be what it seems, as Craven uncovers clues that lead to much deeper darker business and political matters.

The set up for the story is generic yes, but its the events that unfold afterwards that lead Edge of Darkness to be a above average and well thought out Crime thriller. I cant say much because I don't want to give it away, but Edge of darkness has twists, turns, and some great performances. Mel gives his best since Braveheart as a troubled father who lost his daughter and is keeping in his emotions only so he may solve this case as quickly as possible.

There is so much to say about this movie. Everything in this film minus a few plot holes and minor pacing issues in the second act, which 90% of films suffer from these days, is great! The pacing suffers from what we like to call uncertainty. We don't know what is happening and Campbell develops several plot points at once so we are left to be thinking all over the place while trying to follow the main plot. Not bad, the writers are clever and original. What else would you expect from the writers of The Departed?

Because I don't want to ramble on and on about how great of a movie this is, I'm going to summarize! Great Editing and Cinematography mixed in with solid performances, and a great story. Go see this film, unless of course you don't like bloody brutal movies. Because that is exactly what this movies is. Enjoy!

Check out review at: www.txtmovieclub.com

-Matt-

Legion Review

Legion, one reason why God should probably destroy the world!

WARNING: I AM GOING TO DIVULGE EVERY BIT OF INFO ABOUT LEGION; DONT READ IF YOU ACTUALLY CARE!

I'm not sure if I'm just overly critical as of late, because of that fact that we came out of one of the best Christmases for movies. But sweet, 8 pound 5 ounce baby Jesus this movie is Gawd Awful. I’m going to characterize this review in 2 sections, Comedic influence and possibly a guide on how to make a script make no sense at all.

First off this film, I'm not even sure I should call it that starts out fairly well. Has some good cinematography and camera movement. Some great revealing and developing shots. It’s comical and fits fairly well. Once the grandma shows up from the preview, it goes down hill and every possibly line of dialogue that comes out of any characters mouth, minus Paul Bettany, is horrible and corny! I quote when Dennis Quaid ask what is going on and the cook, Charles Dutton says "These aren’t are regular customers," in a staggered and insecure manner. From this point on the movie acts completely serious and delivering as bad if not worse lines of dialogue. My friend and I were now in a comedy film and it was not all that great of one. That being said, nothing can prepare you for what the hell goes on in the movie.

The plot: People have failed God. So God sends his Legion of Angles, whom takes the form of humans/demons. The only hope for humanity, against God of all people is a pregnant girl out in the middle of nowhere. They never explain why the baby is important and how it can change the fate of humanity. And number one the Angles never rush the small diner in the beginning and just kill everyone. It is my friends a roller coaster ride of nonsense, poor editing, and horrible dialogue. Not to mention the 45 minutes in between the end and the beginning that make no sense, random events happen, and is just plain boring.

My friends do not go see this film. Do not give ephing Scott Stewart, the director, any money for a movie that if best should have gone straight to DVD. So in summary, Bad everything but a good intro and cinematography. STAY AWAY SENSIBLE VIEWERS! RUN AWAY ACTUALLY! Unless of course you are drinking 6 months down the road with friends and you need a good drunken Mystery Science Theateresk, type night!

-Matt-

Aslo check it, this review was a feature article on txtmovieclub.com

http://www.txtmovieclub.com/profiles/blogs/legion-one-reason-why-god