Apollo 18: Disappointing Trip to the Moon

Too bad you never get a clear view of the aliens

Apollo 18 is boring.  There I said it.  It is a thriller set primarily on the moon where a bunch of astronauts discover a new species on the moon.  It is a "found footage" movie, because even though Apollo 18 is a secret mission that no one should ever know about, every second of every one of the mission's members life needed to be documented.


The problem with the movie is that uses the found footage trope poorly.  The main scare, repeated many times in the movie is one of the cameras catching the alien moving out of sight of the astronauts.  I kept expecting something to happen and by the time it did, I was already falling asleep.

I'll give the movie credit for having a neat way to tie the creatures with a large aspect of the history American space travel.

*1/2 Stars.

Awkward: Not Shy to Say I Like It

I recently caught Awkward, a new MTV series, a few episodes into its run and it pleasantly surprised me.  In Awkward, Jenna Hamilton, who gets injured in an accident, however it is misconstrued as an accident. Jenna then has deal with her newfound fame in high school, navigating reactions from friends, enemies and adults.

The primary storyline of the show is the romance between Jenna and Matty, a jock at her high school.  Jenna's rival for Matty's affection is Sadie, the school's spoiled, rich, bully.  There is a second thread about an anonymous, mean spirited letter Jenna receives after her accident.

Awkward is a surprising good comedy-drama.  The writers have slowly built the characters over the year to make them layered and interesting.  For example, the spoiled and rich Sadie is a chubby girl and over the season you have seen that her weight and family issues play a large parts in her meanness, not just at Jenna, but at herself.  Jenna's mother was a high school mean girl who got pregnant right out of high school and wants to relive her fun high school days through her daughter, yet doesn't want her to make the same mistakes as she did.  Of course, their are characters that don't work, such as the high school's counselor who just isn't funny or interesting and sticks out as a sore thumb as misplaced.

Jenna herself is an interesting character.  She seems like she is a typical high school girl who believes that she is smarter than almost everyone about her, however she is constantly discovering how little she does know.  Her relationship with Matty is a one sided affair; he is unwilling to publicly acknowledge their relationship or to even define it.  At the same time, Matty's best friend has told her how he feels.

Awkward is fun gem of a show.  The writers seem to care about developing the characters.  The acting from the lead character is really good and many of the supporting characters hold their own.  I really want to see how this show develops.

Fall Season Begins: The New Girl

The pilot for Zooey Deschanel's new sitcom was just made available early on iTunes.

What worked for me:

• Zooey does have an undeniable charm onscreen.
• I like that one of the main characters is sort of a "bro" douchebag, it lead to some of the episodes funnier moments.
• The male roommates are actually funny and have decent interaction with each other.

What didn't work for me:

• The events of the pilot happen too quickly, the characters became best friends so quickly it seems rushed.  However I suppose it was necessary to get the plots going.
• The hint at the main romance between the Zooey and one of the roommates too quickly.
• Zooey isn't actually that funny, just really cute.

I know that the show is called New Girl, so most storylines will concentrate on main character, however I hope that they can integrate the other three guys or even Deschanel's model friend otherwise this show will get real stale, real fast.

** Stars

Rise of the Planet of the Apes: Great Rework of the Origin Story

The Planet of the Apes franchise had been stale for a while.  The 2001 remake of the original was a lackluster ridiculous movie with cheesy special effects and bad acting.  This decade-later remake starring James Franco, however is a lot of fun.  The number one reason I enjoyed this movie so much is the fantastic and effective performance by Andy Serkis as Caesar, the lead ape who leads an ape revolution.  The performances by all the ape in fact are fantastic, it was hard to believe that they were all CG and that there was a human behind each performance.

The story is also really good and satisfying.  The story of the rise of Caesar from the child of James Franco's character to leader of a revolution against the mistreatment of his fellow apes is compelling.  On the other side, I wondered how the writers would come up with a plausible method to display how a few hundred Apes in California could ever get to a large enough force to eventually take over a planet.  This question is answered satisfactorily in the movie.

The worst part of the movie are the humans.  James Franco does not really do much in the movie.  Event though the movie take place over almost 10 years, James Franco looks exactly the same.  Frieda Pinto is given almost nothing to do in the movie, her character is bland, uninteresting and totally replaceable.

The last third of the movie from when Caesar stands up to his oppressors in a primate facility to the end is thrilling.  It improved the movie from interesting character study on Caesar to an exciting action movie.  

*** Stars

Attack the Block: Fantastic Fun Film

As I mentioned on the podcast A Fistful of Popcorn, Attack the Block is my favorite movie of the year.  I have not had a better time at the theaters this year.  There are several reasons why:

- The lead, Daniel Boyega (Moses) is a compelling character.  Even though his character is a teenager, he is not played as an immature kid.  He is the leader of a gang and he is serious in his role.  He recognizes his role as the leader of his crew and sticks to his code of ethics for the Block.  I expect to see Boyega doing big things in future movies.

- The soundtrack for the film is fantastic.  The music in the film hit the right notes making us get exciting to see more of the action that occurs on screen.

- For an alien invasion movie, the script is refreshing fun and simple.  Compared to silly blockbuster movies such as Battle: Los Angeles and the upcoming Battleship.  There is no overblown romance story line bogging down the script or overdone plot points that become increasingly confusing.

- The aliens themselves actually are better looking than other alien movies.  They are genuinely scary and not silly humanoid slime creatures with guns.

This movie will be a sleeper hit when it eventually goes wide, I urge everyone to see it.

***1/2 stars

Another Earth

A young girl, Rhoda, during a celebration of her acceptance to M.I.T. gets drunk and crashes into another car killing most of the family members in the other car.  This is not very interesting at first, however, this happens during the night when the world discovers another planet, and it is a replica of our planet, Earth.  After serving a four year sentence for her crime, the girl returns from prison a changed woman; from a young, hopeful girl to a broken, sad, woman.  At the same time, a company plans an expedition to Earth-2 and offers an open position on the shuttle in an essay contest.  Rhoda enters the contest, in the hope that maybe she can discover what her life would have been like without the crash.  She also decides to visit the lone survivor of the crash, a former professor, who had his life destroyed in the crash.

Another Earth is well made, its themes of redemption and overcoming loss are meant to strike a deep chord with the viewer.  However, I could not get into this movie.  It felt cold and distant.  Brit Marling's performance as Rhoda is slightly boring, her character never really gives us a chance to invest any interest in her character.  The story of redemption did not work well for me, it seemed rather implausible.  It is easy to tell that this movie is lovingly made and personal to its writer/star, and I can also see how other people may like this movie, however, this movie didn't work for me.

** Stars

Captain America: Holds Up to the Template

Captain America is the newest superhero film to hit theaters.  This being one of the many superhero films this year, I thought I would try and make a template to use when writing about these movies.

Our Hero Before He Gains Power:  Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) is a weak, sickly boy in WWII America who wishes he could join the US troops fighting Nazis in Europe.  He is constantly rejected by doctors because of his small size and sickly composition.  He shows the traits of being a hero, but lacks the power to properly back up this words.  I liked Rogers, he is a good guy, who I root for to catch a break in life.

How the Hero Gets His Power:  Steve’s traits as a good person allows him to meet a government doctor who place him in an experimental program which allows him to given superhuman abilities.  I like the simplicity of  the steps that go into getting Rogers his powers are not convoluted or goofy, they are believable.

Love Interest:  Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell) is a plucky officer of the Strategic Scientific Reserve, the agency responsible for giving Rogers his powers.  She is not a timid damsel that needs to be saved.  She is a capable operative who is resourceful and supportive of Captain America.  In addition, Evans and Atwell have great personality together on screen.  

How Compelling is the Villain and Does His Plan Make Sense:  The villain, Red Skull is a direct foil  to Captain America.  The good traits that make up Captain America’s personality are in direct conflict to the evil of Red Skull.  He is a badass who definitely lets you know that he is evil as often as possible. His plan for world domination however, is rather complicated and downright silly.  He goes through a ton of steps basically so that he can create a giant plane so that he can bomb the US.

Action Scenes:  They are entertaining and there plenty of them.  The special effects during these scenes are really good.  The effects are not overdone and do not overwhelm the film.

I really enjoyed Captain America.  It is a really good superhero film that works because the hero is likable, the special effects are reserved and the villain is compelling.

*** Stars