Arrival *review*

Arrival

Arrival is certainly the most entertaining and thought engaging movie I’ve seen all year if not the best film I’ve personally seen that has dealt with the subject of language, addressing both the importance of it and the struggle to conquer the barriers is represents.  Arrival is not a film to breakdown into pieces, it’s better when experienced naturally  as the less you know about the film the more enjoyable the experience you receive.   So out of deference to the film this review is going to focus specifically on the technical aspects of the film without really saying much more about its story or theme.

With that said I can’t talk about Arrival without talking about the impressive acting of both Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner.  It is very nice to Amy Adams start breaking out of her sweet and innocent roles and showing the world that she is a much more diverse actress then she often gets credit for. Jeremy Renner is also to be commended for causing me to stop making Hawkeye jokes early in the film and simpily become invested into the character he was currently portraying which was a refreshingly different kind of role for the avengers actor. The other actor roles were so small that it’s not really worth mentioning but it is always nice to see Forest Whitaker and his lazy eye pop up.

The visuals of the film were also very impressive as the actual special effects were rather reserved as the film primarily relayed on breathtaking camera shots and cinematography it was visual treat in all the ways movies used to be amazing before we relayed solely on CGI to sell our movies instead of actual talent.

Arrival is something that has been sorely missing from the theater of late, a solid think piece of entertainment that is not bogged down with pretentious Oscar bait soliloquies.  Arrival doesn’t feel like it has to cater to anyone but itself everything flows in a elegant narrative that can appeal to everyone, and In an era of cheap, knock off, check your brain in at the door movies it’s nice to see someone stand up and attempt to once again  challenge our minds without sounding like a  pompous snob.

Spoiler Corner: No seriously ,they are actual spoliers ,they will bite! Dont say I didin't warn you.

.  So the military wants a linguist to translate an alien language so they don’t start an installer war but they won’t actually take the linguist to the location to help communicate with the creature directly?  That just seems like a ridiculously unnecessary complication of the situation.  

. Why are all advanced races and people giant squids? 

. They even write in ink, come on!

.  That said I do actually like the featureless designs of the Heptapods it helps keep the focus on language as there are no facile features to read and very little body language to interpret.

. oh, look it’s a bomb,  how on earth did that ragtag group of soldiers get on the alien ship, plant a bomb and get out without the aliens or the military higher ups putting a stop to it.

. Subtitles!!!  Who else suddenly feels a great sensation of relief.

. Wait, they understand her perfectly now?  Were they were just trolling us the whole time?

.  OOOOHHH I get it now, that’s not now it’s later… that…that is pretty clever actually; I did not pick up on that one.

. So uhh, who’s going to tell Superman that Hawkeyes putting the moves on Lois Lane?

Cinema Saturday: Reign of Fire

Cinema Saturday Presents:  Reign of Fire

Run Time: 1h and 41min 
Year: 2002

Rating: PG-13

Movie grade: B

Principle Cast:

Director: Rob Bowman

Writers: Gregg Chabot & Kevin Peterka

Christian Bale : Quinn Abercromby

Matthew McConaughey : Denton Van Zan

Izabella Scorupco : Alex Jensen

Gerard Butler: Creedy

Synopsis: A local mining company awakens a species of dragon-like animals by accident.  With no way to stop them the earth is scorched by the dragon-like creatures and it’s now up to those who are left to find a way to survive this burnt earth.

Spoiler free review: if you like dragons this movie has dragons if you like to actually see dragons then this movie has very few dragons.  Decent apocalyptic flick as long as you don’t set your standards very high.

Review:  What if I told you there exists a movie where batman fights dragons amidst a post-apocalyptic earth?  I bet your already furiously typing batman vs. dragons into Google but don’t waste your time scrolling through hundreds of unrelated photos, and one truly mind scarring picture of a joker dragon,  the movie you’re looking for is called Reign of Fire  and it’s sadly not as epic as it sounds.

Reign of Fire begins with our main hero Quinn as a boy bringing some bad news about his scholarship, which I can only assume was for some kind of Ivy League privet school, to his mom.  Quinn’s mother is distracted by a work emergency and leaves young Quinn with a responsible adult who encourages a 10-year-old boy to explore an uncharted and dangerous mining cavern. Quinn, like any 10-year-old boy, eagerly enters the cavern and runs into a dragon nest. The rest of the film follows Quinn and other survivors of as they try and stay alive during a dragon ruled apocalypse eventually teaming up with a group of dragon slaying Americans.  

The premise is exciting enough, Dragons awaken in modern day London, humanity driven to the brink of extinction, but something gets lost in translation and the movie just ends up another offering to voracious critics to dismantle and destroy.  On the other hand just because the film might not be box office gold doesn’t mean we should undermine its entertainment value, arguably Reign of Fire is more interesting and better put together than some other films in the dragon market, after all, it does take dragons out of the sword and sorcery genera and place them in a more modern setting.   Ironically the problem with Reign of Fire is not its cheesiness, it's over the top acting, or even its insatiable quippyness, most of that is rather entertaining in its own ridiculous way. The problem is simply that the movie suffers from an underuse of the film's gimmick, that gimmick being dragons. 

The opening of the film hypes you up for a truly apocalyptic tale, you’re expecting to see dragons fill the skies while cities burn to the ground, but instead you’re shown shadowed out glimpses of the unfolding horror. When we finally arrive in the new barren future the world has turned to ash, leaving nothing visually stimulating for what feels like another 20 minutes. But who cares about all that, you came here for dragons and that’s what you really want to know about.  Well let’s put it this way When the dragons do show up they look good and they are pleasure to watch, all the sequences with the large Bull dragon are a real treat to be sure, but the screen time is mostly dominated by Christian Bale and his band of misfits bemoaning about how the world is dead.

The truth is the plot doesn’t really start moving until the Americans, led by Matthew McConaughey, show up.   McConaughey provides some much needed human conflict to the story as his character Denton and Bales character Quinn have very different views about how to deal with the dragon problem. McConaughey and bales performances, as well as the rest of the cast, are hammed up but enjoyable making the tensioned exchanges between Denton and Quill the most entertaining thing in the film, aside from the dragons of course.

The acting is hammy, the plotting is simple and there may not be nearly enough dragons but Reign of fire is still a fun modern B movie with plenty of antics and cheesiness to keep B-movie lovers more than satisfied  and keep’s  the film from becoming as lifeless as the ash burnt landscape that surrounds them.

  

Fast facts:

. The film was shot on location in Ireland

. The film crew needed to gain special permission to film on location since Irland had a major 

breakout of foot and mouth disease at the time

. The dragons in the film are a combination of many different animals.

. Arnold Schwarzenegger was orginally rumored to have a role in the film.

Quotes:

1^st Line: “hello Quinn!” ~ random construction worker

Last line:    “well here’s to evolution” ~ spoken by 

Denton Van Zan : “ Edens not burning its burnt”

Creedy: "Only one thing worse than a dragon... Americans."

Quinn Abercromby: Anything happens, you know what to do.

Creedy: Uh no. I have no idea.

Quinn Abercromby: Me neither.

Denton Van Zan: You see they have great vision during the day, and even better vision at night. But in the failing light, they can't focus. Magic hour.

Denton Van Zan: Envy the country that has heroes, huh? I say pity the country that needs them.

Mini-commentary:

. I always knew there was a clear link between birds and dragons. Pigeons have been in bed with dragons for years and now we have proof! (1:20)

. Ok, that’s like the 5^th quip I’ve heard in under five minutes: (3:34)

. Are you kidding me with this?  Go inside and have a look?  Glad we have such responsible adult’s here (5:16)

. It’s unsafe? That’s why you sent a 10-year-old kid down there? What on earth is wrong with you? (6:57)

.You know it would have been nice to actually see the apocalypse instead of letter writing and stock footage. 9

.Painfully Obvious Product Placement for Star Wars: (14 min)

. What? Dragon prayers? this is ceartinly the last thing I expceted to see in this movie. (15:27)

.That a good point! If these things are as ravenous as were led to believe how come they don’t eat each other? (26:24)

. So what’s the first thing the American does? Take a sip from a flask, is that a stereotype? I feel stereotyped. (30:39)

.You know, for all that bragging this doesn’t seem to be going all that well. (44:42)

.This is really not going well.  They may want to rethink that whole mighty dragon slayers thing. (47:48)

.All problems are settled through fisticuffs and pro wrestling (59 min in)

. And… there we go, the official “You’re not my real dad” moment every whiny teenager has. (1: 1: 02)

. A dragon attacking a castle, I see what you did there ... well-played movie. ( 1:1:12)

. So did that door just close all by itself? I'll just assume it's the pressure of the dragon flame pushing the door closed and not a movie mistake.  (1:15:15)

. Ahhh more Quips, I was starting to wonder why no one commented on the 666 earlier  (1:21:00)

.  That answers the cannibal questions but not why there are still so many. (1:21: 38)

. hahaha! I wonder if McConaughey tastes like chicken. (1:31:00)

. Ok so kill one bull and they all disappear? movie logic 1:36

 Clip of the dragon prayer.  Because the end of the world will turn everyone into dragon worshipers.

Cinema Saturday: Zeiram

Cinema Saturday Presents: Zeiram

Alternant Titles: Zeiramu, Zeram

Run Time: 1 hr and 32 min
Year: 1991

Rating: not rated

Movie grade: B+

Principal cast:

Director/Writer…. Keita Amemiya

Yûko Moriyama/Edie Mirman(dub)…. Iria

Kunihiro Ida/ Steve Bulen (dub) ….Teppei

Yukijirô Hotaru/ Robert Axelrod (dub) …. Kamiya

Masakazu Handa/ Jeff Winkless (dub)…. Bob

Mizuho Yoshida…. Zeiramu

Synopsis: a bounty hunter team lands on earth in order to catch one of the most dangerous and vicious intergalactic villains, Zeriam.  However their plans go awry when a pair of electricians stumble into their base and find themselves trapped in a virtual world with the deadly Zeriam.

Spoiler free review:   If you like 90’s sci-fi action films then this film will not disappoint. This movie has it all lasers, bounty hunters, electricians in gaudy uniforms and an indestructible monster bent killing everything in sight.  This is the kind of stuff that made the 90’s so great.

Review:
    Bring a torch with you because were delving deep into the vaults today to bring one of the best alien movies to come out of Japan into the light.  Zeiram is a true gem among the Japanese action sci-fi genera; it has everything anyone could want from a movie of this caliber, indestructible monsters, sexy bounty hunters, snarky computers and a lovable but bumbling comedic duo.   Zeiram follows the story of two electrician’s Teppei and Kamiya, played by Kunihiro Ida and Yukijirô Hotaru respectively, who upon a routine inspection find themselves transported into a virtual zone where the bounty hunter Iria has trapped the dangerous Zeiram. Hi jinks ensue as our two reluctant heroes’ are chased all throughout the virtual zone by the lumbering Zeriam.  The plot itself is basically what you would expect but that in no way dampens the enjoyment level of watching this movie.

   The performances of the cast are immensely enjoyable; they are just over the top enough to be entertaining but serious enough to be believable which fits the style of Zeiram very nicely.  Even the English dub deserves some praise for being a fun and pleasurable experience that not only does a rather decent job of distracting from awkward lip movements but manages to keep a lot dialogue close to its original source material; I would even argue that I prefer Bob’s dubbed voice to his Japanese one.   Whether it’s dubbed or in Japanese Zeiram never takes itself too seriously but doesn’t let its self get too silly either.  The pacing of the film is pretty well set with the slowest part of the movie being right after the opening credits as we get acquainted with our cast, which is still peppered with an assortment of amusing antics for the viewer to enjoy.   The actors themselves are a lot of fun to watch and for this being most of the casts first film they do a very good job, especially for Yûko Moriyama who truly creates a likable and relatable character in Iria, and a personal favorite of mine from Shusuke Kaneko’s Gamera trilogy Yukijirô Hotaru who steals the show away from his younger co star a little too easily.

   Truthfully all the actors are very entertaining in their respective roles but I always like to make a special shout out to the suite actors who are often the unsung heroes of these old monster movies and Mizuho Yoshida certainly knows his stuff as his performance as Zeriam  is very believable for a creature with no facial expressions Yoshida manages to convey a lot of personality and menace through simple body gestures and little help from some fantastic visual and audio effects.  It does help that the visuals of Zeriam are a real pleasure to look at and show an almost zealous amount of detail to the craft.

   All of Zeriam’s forms and Iria’s weapons are unique and fantastic from Zeriam’s secondary Oni head to Iria’s crazy laser bazooka.  Even Bob her computer partner has a fun a unique avatar that lets it expresses itself.  I really can’t praise the visuals enough as very few lower budget Japanese movies look this good. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the amazing score the film has; from the incredible synthesizer opening to the haunting Gregorian like chant that serves as Zeriam’s personal theme all of it being an incredible auditory treat.    Zeriam is one of those movies that seem to embody everything that was great about the late 80’s and early 90’s  it’s that weird movie you stayed up really late on a Saturday night to watch on some late night marathon and you never forget.  Any fan of cult cinema should absolutely give Zeriam a try.

Fast facts:

. Zeriam managed to produce an anime OVA and movie sequel

. Actor is also well known for his character in the Gamera trilogy

. Director also directed two season of Super Sentai entitled Zyuranger and Jetman

. during one night of shooting oil was used to help thicken the fog on set but since they had been shooting in a residential area some of the oil clung to drying cloths of several residents.

                                      

*Quotes:

Opening Line: “Keep the change maybe you can buy yourself a car” -Kamiya

Ending line: "Big Smile!" -Bob


Kamiya: “It’s Sunday and I don’t feel like going to work and this gorgeous babe walks by, I notice she drops something so I went after her like a gentlemen.”

Teppei: “What she do? Scream?”

Bob: *Rambles on about the mission*

Iria: Bob will you please shut up! If you don’t, I will be forced to infect you with a virus.

Bob: let’s not get carried away; after all were all friends’ right?

Kamiya: looks like a movie set; these filmmakers are always stealing from us.

Teppei: “(it’s) some kind of alien. when I asked for directions it tried to shoot me.”

Score: take a listen to a small clip of the awesome opening theme.

Mini Commentary:

. GAHH! This movie just started and it’s already insisting that I never sleep again. – (:59)

. Massive carnage, head impalement's and creepy monster this movie is going to be great!- (1:00)

. I’m not usually a big fashion critic, but what in the seven galaxies are they wearing? -(3:15) (17:20)

. that’s a clever segway and a wicked cool intro theme.-(13:36)

. wow, space people really are advanced, she’s already got the new PlayStation VR system.- (32.52)

. And I thought the last one was ugly. What did Zeiram eat that had fetus faces all over it? That’s seriously messed up and potentially disturbing that a multi baby faced aliens are running around the cosmos.- (40:00)

. Rummaging through a lady’s purse? Not cool man, she might be really sensitive about you seeing what types of grenades she uses.- (42.11)

. I’m guessing this is how the Japanese salary man feels when dealing with their difficult boss- (56.40)

. And Now You Know:  In Japanese superstition if you sneeze for no reason it means someone not near you is talking about . You and if you sneeze twice they are talking poorly about you.  For the sake of the joke most artists correlate just one sneeze with both good and bad gossip.- (58:50)

.Painfully Obvious Product Placement for: kirin beer- (1:04:30)

.That got him… oh, Well, not quite got him.- (1:13:49)

.There we go now he’s out for the coun…. What’s it take to kill this thing!- (1:21:00)

.Wait, Are those monster boobs? Japanese are weird.- (1:23:00)

.Boom! Head shot! About time!-  (1:29:20)

. ha ha ha we should take care of all are alien  monsters this way.

* all dialogue is from the English dub version of the film.