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  

Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011)

Title: Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011)

Director: Michael Bay

Cast: Shia LaBeouf, John Turturro, John Malkovich, Frances McDormand, Rosie Huntington Whiteley

Review:

Truth be told, the notion of a third Transformers film didn’t exactly excite me. The first film was an interesting trip down nostalgia lane but nothing mind blowing, the second film was sheer torture to watch, a truly horrid mess of a film with a convoluted plot and nothing new to offer visually. So when the news came that a third film began production, I expected more of the same. But I’m the kind of guy who likes to give directors second chances to improve as filmmakers or make up for previous cinematic abortions. The big question with this film for me was: would Michael Bay make the best of this opportunity to redeem himself as a filmmaker?

Michael Bay Directs

Story goes something like this: the Autobots have settled on earth. They have decided to work for the U.S. government aiding them in military operations. As a result of this, we get to see Autobots blowing up people in the Middle East and helping humans “not cause harm to themselves”. Soon, the government discovers that the Decepticons are after an old transformer that crash landed on the dark side of the moon. Its name is Sentinel Prime. This transformer is supposed to be the “Einstein” of the Transformers world. He’s invented something that could quite possibly bring forth the complete annihilation of the human race and surrender our planet to the Decepticons. Meanwhile, Sam Whitwicky is going to job interviews trying to get a regular day job so he can lead a normal life with his new and improved super hot girlfriend. Will he land a new job and manage to stop the Decepticons from taking over earth?

Something distinguishes Michael Bay ’s films. They go fast. Their pacing is frenetic, like a hyperactive child on a sugar high. He likes fast cars, fast talking characters, things blowing up and people running, and screaming…there is never a moment to just relax and kick back in a Michael Bay film. Everyone is always in a rush, even when they are not fighting giant robots, they are in a rush. So expect a film that is always running, from one scene to the next, without giving you any room to breath. I mean, even in the funny sequences, where Sam is talking with his parents, characters step on each others lines, they don’t even let other characters finish their sentences! It’s as if characters where on a race to see which one can talk faster. This has been like this since the first film, and it continues with this one, at an even more accelerated rate. So try and really listen to what characters are saying or else you’ll miss it. Dialog and exposition goes at a blink and you’ll miss it pace. Then there's the hot babes, sadly, Michael Bay still seems to think that women are only used in films as demsels in distress, because it's exactly what he has done in all of his films. On this film, Shia has a new super hot girlfriend to protect. But I will say this about Rosie Huntington Whiteley, she isnt hard on the eyes! Michael Bay really knows how to pick them! And I'm certain we'll see more of Mrs. Huntington in future films, she is after all a stunning beauty, hard to ignore by Hollywood executives.  She's an upgrade from Megan Fox thats for sure! 

Rosie in Deed!

The action goes at a frenetic pace as well, but thats to be expected as well. A lot happens and it happens fast! Within the first five minutes of film we go through a war in ‘Cybertron’ (the Transformers home planet) to a spaceship escaping the war and crash landing on the moon. Then we cut to the Americans sending their first manned shuttle to the moon, to them finding the alien spaceship, to the astronauts coming back to earth. I’m not kidding, this all happens in the first five minutes of film! This movie is simple in nature, but it has so many things going on, so many little distractions, so many characters, that it appears to be complex film, yet it really isn’t. At it’s core, this is your typical aliens attempting to take over earth type of film. Actually, it's a bit of an apocalyptic film, with the earth looking all barren and destroyed, humans scattering about trying to survive, not unlike a Terminator film. At one point in the film I kept thinking "so this is what a Terminator film would look like if Michael Bay took a stab at them" In terms of themes, the film touches upon Tyranny vs. Humanity, and how we shouldnt just sit back and let the greedy take over the earth.

This time around I think Bay was trying to focus more on the human side of the story, we get to see more of Sam trying to make it as an adult in the real world. It felt to me like the Transformers were secondary this time around. We don’t get to spend a lot of time with Optimus Prime (the leader of the Autobots) or even Bumble Bee, a character who ended up being an integral part of the previous two films. Bumblebee and Sam had developed a friendship over the past two films that was addressed on this one when Sam finally sees Bumble Bee and tells him “I don’t get to see you anymore”, but ultimately their friendship isnt as explored as in past films. In these films, the Transformers have never been truly developed as characters, something that is needed in a series of films where half of the characters are computer generated images. We need something to  bring them to life, something like character development. But this doesn’t happen this time around either, as a result, we don’t make a connection with any of the Transformers whatsoever, they feel like what they represent, machines. In this way, the film contradicts itself because in this film the Transformers complain that they are treated as machines rather then the Gods they were on Cybertron. How can they expect to be considered more than machines when that’s all that the filmmakers let us see of them? Their machine side?

I will say this about Transformers 3, it has some show stopping action moments and really, that’s what Michael Bay is good at, action. I wonder why he hasn’t concentrated his efforts in making the quintessential good action flick instead of fooling around with toy robots. Oh yeah, the millions. I forget. But the one moment everyone will be talking about will no doubt be the scene in which the good guys are inside of a building as it is being cut in half by a giant robotic worm, you probably saw a glimpse of that scene on the trailer for the film. That scene is sheer cinematic spectacle, and I was happy to discover that the sequence is actually an extended scene, it isn’t a quicky action sequence, they really took their time with that sequence. The film still suffers from some of the same ailments that previous films suffered from: sometimes you can’t tell what the hell is happening up on screen. But I will say that thanks to the magic of slow motion, we can now appreciate things a little better. Yes my friends, the new filmmaking technique for Bay this time around is slow motion. I can hear him now: “slow things down with slow mo so they can actually see what’s happening! That’s it! By golly we’ve finally got this filmmaking thing figured out!” Story is still a big jumbled mess, with many a loophole, but they did manage to make the whole thing a bit more comprehensible than the mess that was the second film.

Bottom line? This movie is exactly what you’d expect it to be. A big budget summer spectacle. Its loud, fast, has a mega hot babe, many fast cars, lots of explosions, and lots of special effects. To top things off, this film doesn’t have one character doing comedic relief, its got about ten of them. John Malkovich, was funny on this one but I kept asking myself: “what the hell are you doing on this film?” And what about Frances McDormand? I guess you can’t blame actors for wanting to try the big budget summer movie on for size. I’m actually glad they were on this film, they make things more bearable. Malkovich had me giggling with every scene he appeared in, he had me thinking he should do more comedies. John Torturro was funny too. So we got a cast that’s beefed up by good actors, while others get lost in the shuffle. Which reminds me: what the heck happened to Sam’s parents? They appear and disappear from the film never to be seen again. And what the hell where they doing on this film anyways? They were such useless characters! Only there to offer up a couple of laughs, that’s it, like many of the characters on this film. Hell, even the Asian actor from The Hangover shows up on this one. And what’s his purpose? Comedy relief!

I guess this was supposed to be the Return of the Jedi of the Transformers franchise. By sequel laws, this one was supposed to be the biggest, the darkest, the most dramatic, and the most expensive of all the films in the series. It is a bit darker, and it’s action sequences are bigger and more complex, and truth be told, this one wasn’t as bad as the second one, but still, I couldn’t help getting that feeling that I was watching more of the same. Not a total waste of celluloid. It is what it is, a big summer blockbuster. Cant blame it for being what it's supposed to. 

Rating: 3 ½ out of 5

Mutant Chronicles (2009)

Title: The Mutant Chronicles (2009)

Director: Simon Hunter

Cast: Thomas Jane, John Malkovich, Ron Perlman

Review:

So ever since Sin City and 300 achieved box office success with their computer generated techniques of having all the backgrounds in the film be computer rendered drawings and making the actors the only real thing in the film, countless movies have tried to duplicate this formula. They've tried and failed? Nope, they've tried and died. An ugly death. Ever heard of a this science fiction film called The Gene Generation? You probably havent, but it tried to do the same thing, and failed horribly as well. Such an awful film. But it though its cgi could save it. It didnt. Mutant Chronicles is yet another example of how this technique can go horribly wrong.

The story concerns this machine that falls on earth and basically starts to turn humans into mutants. What do these mutants do? All they care about is destroying your brain with their hook like hands, and carrying you back to the mutant machine to turn their victims into mutants as well. Or something like that. In comes this special unit of humans from across the world to go into the mutant machine, and presumably, blow the thing up. Thats it!

What went wrong with this movie? Well, apparently this film director Simon Hunter (sorry dude, I got a feeling you wont be making movies anymore! Pack up your things and go home) was relying too much on the films computer generated images to blow everyone out of the water. Guess what my rookie director? In this kind of film, that is simply not enough. What kept a film like Sin City going? Was it the backgrounds? Was it the fact its striking black and white imagery? Nope. What held it together, what kept audiences watching were the characters, and the situations they got themselves into. And when you combine both visual awesomenes, with a great script and great performances, this type of film can be great. Unfortunately, the characters in Mutant Chronicles are so boring, so one sided, so lifeless that you just dont connect with them. The movie has a very dreadful palette, devoid of any color. Everything is grey and lifeless. In my opinion, the films look fits perfectly with this movies script and characters. You dont get to know them at all, all they do is blow shit up. And sense you cant connect, you dont care, you dont give a hoot where this movie is going, youll most likely disconnect it almost as fast as I did.

Weird thing is the film has a decent cast. Thomas Jane is perfect for the science fiction/action/horror film. He has that hero look to him. Kind of like a younger Christopher Lambert. On this film he plays the leader of the pack thats going into the mutant making machine. Along with him we have Ron Perlman playing of all things a priest, for what religion, who the hell knows, but he is a priest who wants to gather the mutant ass kicking army to go and destroy the mutant making machine. John Malkovich plays the polititian who gives the okay for the mission to move forward. The rest of the crew are a bunch of actors you've never even heard of, except for that Asian chick that played cute little Miho in Sin City. Im guessing Malkovich was paying somebody some kind of favor doing this cameo thing he did here. His participation in this film was almost as unnecessary as was his participation in Eragon. Actually, Malkovich plays the exact same role on Mutant Chronicles as the one he did in Eragon. Really, you see a guy like Malkovich on this kind of movie and you wonder what the hell he is doing there. He stands out like a sore thumb! Unfortunately, this cast is completely wasted in a lifeless story, that doesnt ask you to warm up to anybody. The actors just feel like robots moving the plot around, there is no life to these guys!

Finally, whats the purpose of these mutants? Why are they turning humans into mutants? Why are these machines doing this? Who the hell knows, all I know is that a movie with a lousy villain makes for a lousy movie. This was Mutant Chronicles case. We just get a group of bloodthirsty mutant creatures with hooks for hands who come, puncture your brain and then turn you into one of them. Thats it and thats all. No depth, no true purpose. You'd think that a movie thats based on an already established universe would have no problems giving us a film with characters that are fleshed out. Unfortunately, this was the case!

And what about the direction? The visual aspect of the film? The storytelling? Well, let me put it this way: I was watching this movie and suddenly I realized that what wasnt allowing me to connect with the film (aside from all the points Ive already mentioned) was the boring way in which it was directed. The way they set up the shots was so dreadfully boring, nothing interesting visually. Many camera angles were from far away, or completely static. In my opinion they disconnected us from what was going on in the film. There was no dynamic camera movement. Everything was dreadful and boring visually. The editing wasnt helping the film flow either, sombody put this film together really quick. So what we have here is a film that takes place in a future that looks like it was stuck in World War II (but with futuristic weapons! Get it?) and all the ships and machines run on steam, what some refer to as Steampunk. They had all the proper elements in which a science fiction film could thrive in. Unfortunately, the dreadful direction, storytelling, performances and script were so lifeless that the film never had a chance to take off, or grab you.

I got an idea for all those film producers out there. Before you go and give a couple of million dollars to a director, make sure its a very visually oriented director, an artist with a vision. Not a fanboy with a hard on for computer graphics. Cause in this kind of film, cool graphics just isnt enough. We need that human element in there, we need for someone to use computer generated images as a means to tell a good story. But not just anybody can do this. It has to be a director with a vision, with a desire to tell an involving story, to pull us into the mystery. A film without a visionary director behind it is nothing. Its lifeless, just like this film was. Theres nothing positive I can say about this movie, my advice is stay clear off this one, it truly blows!

Rating: 1 out of 5