Epic Movie Review

Epic is an entertaining family movie that both kids and adults can enjoy.  This animated good vs evil fantasy film hides some good lessons about balance, and interdependence.  To be honest I cannot think of anything bad about this movie.  It made for a very enjoyable family movie night.

The story is about the struggle between life and death in a forest, and about the relationships of parents and children.  The main character MK is having issues with her father due to his belief, and obsession with, the tiny people who care for a nearby forest.  She is forced to believe when she ends up getting caught up in the succession battle between life and decay in the forest, and is shrunk to the size of one of the tiny people.  MK must ensure that the next ruler of the forest is on the side of life, and at the same time repair her relationship with her father who it turns out was right all along.

This movie will appeal to anyone who likes a good fantasy, and particularly anyone looking for a good movie on family movie night. The movie is very well animated and you find yourself wanting to believe in the world presented.  The plot has plenty of action to keep even your three year old watching, but has enough deeper meaning to be interesting to everyone else.

This movie can be found at www.amazon.com on disk or as a stream for rental or purchase.

Pacific Rim Movie Review

This movie is a fun, science fiction, giant robot vs monster movie.  I rented it last night and really enjoyed watching it.  The technology for the the giant robots, called yeagers, is a bit out there but the way the research was portrayed was interesting.  I particularly liked the concept of there needing to be two pilots to share the load of running the yeager.

That being said I had real trouble believing that the yeagers( the giant robots) would be possible in the time frame that the story seems to portray.  There is a reason we use tank treads instead of walkers.  The sheer power and resiliency of the yeagers is more befitting an organic system than a mechanical one.  Despite this the movie manages to be quite entertaining.  The giant robots are cool, and the special effects are really good.

The plot of this movie is that the world is being invaded by giant monsters from another dimension, and the world built giant robots to combat them.  The movie is a little different from other giant monster movies because they are being deliberately sent as an invasion force to destroy our civilization.  The aliens who want colonize send giant monsters through a dimensional rift that they opened at the bottom of the pacific ocean.  The humans responded by building yeagers to stop them.  This works for a while but eventually more capable monsters are sent and yeagers start to fall.  The governments of the world decide to build giant walls to hide behind at this point, and the remaining yeagers end up in Hong Kong fighting the monsters.  The twist is that just as the yeager program is winding down the monsters break through the wall.  It seems that they are preparing to send a wave of monsters against the world and destroy our civilization once and for all.  The only thing standing between the world and its fate is a rag-tag group of the remaining yeagers, and their pilots.

This movie is a classic example of the giant robot/giant monster movie done in modern times.  Most science fiction or action movie fans will like this movie.  It is not however very original in its plot.  basically it is neon-genesis evangelion meets independence day, so if you expect to be surprised by the twists you will probably be disappointed.  If you want a great Friday night popcorn movie though this could be a winner.

This movie is available on disk or as a streaming rental or purchase at www.amazon.com

Surrogates Movie Review

Surrogates explores the idea of tele-presence taken to the extreme.  Its bleak vision of a future where people no longer interact or go anywhere for fear of getting hurt, but instead send out powerful androids controlled remotely through a virtual reality interface, is a frightening reflection of our growing fearfulness as a society.  It is a trap that we as a people could all too easily fall into.

While I really like the depiction of the technology in this film, and the way that it highlights some potential problems with this type of technology, I do not like the one sided view this story portrays.  It only explores the bad parts of the new society, not the beneficial parts.

The plot of this movie is that after society embraces surrogates for safety reasons someone is murdered by a virus uploaded to their surrogate that kills the operator.  The action follows a FBI agent named Tom Greer, who is investigating the case.  While investigating his surrogate is destroyed by anti-surrogate activists forcing him to carry on in real life.  In the course of the investigation Greer reconnects with the real world and realizes how hollow his existence has been.  In the end it turns out that the virus was created by the same man who made the surrogate technology. He now feels that it is being used incorrectly, and has decided to undo the damage he has done by destroying all surrogates and their operators.  The climax of the movie is that this man uploads the virus to every surrogate, and Greer must find a way to halt it.  In the end Greer opts to let the virus destroy all surrogates, but boots all users before they can be killed.

This movie was entertaining, but it could have been a lot better, and the ending was terrible. I would have liked to get a more complete picture of the effects of the technology on society.  This movie will likely only appeal the science fiction, and crime drama fans.  The action is ok, but takes a back seat to the investigation.  It is basically a cop movie with a science fiction twist.

This movie is available at www.amazon.com on disk or streaming as a rental or purchase.

The Sorcerer's Apprentice

This comedic live action take on the old mickey short is very good.  It will make you laugh with and cheer for Dave the young Sorcerer's Apprentice.  The classic scene is there, but there is much more to the movie. The story is really about Dave finding his self confidence and the will to use his power to resolve a centuries old conflict.  Something I really like about the movie is that Dave grows up to be a scientist and that this plays an important role in the movie.

The only thing I didnt really like about the movie is that the villains are not complex characters.  They are bad guys who like being bad guys.  I would have liked to see more reason for them being the way they are.

The plot of this movie is that centuries ago Merlin and two of his three apprentices Balthazar and Veronica, attempted to defeat Morgana le Fey and Merlin's other apprentice Horvath.  In the fight Merlin dies and Veronica sacrifices herself by merging with Morgana so that she can be trapped in a nesting doll.  In the end Horvath is also trapped , and Balthazar is left to continue alone, searching for the heir Merlin spoke of that can defeat Morgana.  The movie then skips to the near present day where Dave as a child runs into Balthazar right as Horvath escapes.  Balthazar saves Dave, who he recognizes as the heir, by trapping himself and Horvath in a magic vase for a number of years.  Dave's confidence is shattered when no one will believe him about what happened, and he is deemed to have had a mental breakdown.  When Dave is older, and studying physics as a grad student, the two wizards finally escape and the story begins again.  Balthazar begins teaching Dave Magic, with a few comic mishaps including the classic cleaning scene, but it goes to his head and he quickly ends up in a bind.  His confidence is badly hurt by this latest failure on top of years of being thought crazy.  In the end he must overcome his inner demons and combine science and magic to defeat Morgana and finally set things right.

This movie should appeal to fantasy fans, and would be great for family movie night.  Its plot and side stories will keep the adults engaged and the kids will love the battles between wizards, and the good verses evil theme.

This movie can be bought on disk, or as a streaming rental or purchase on www.amazon.com.

Thor Movie Review

The movie Thor is an adaptation of the Thor Comics by Marvel, and it exists in the same world as the Iron Man series, Captain America, and The Avengers.  This movie serves as the introduction of Thor and the Asgardians including Loki, and Odin.  I really like the fact that Thor has to find a reason bigger than his own ego to regain his power.

What I didn't like about this movie and the comic series was that while the asgardians take the name and some of the characteristics of the Norse gods there are also some issues that make this impossible.  Things that very old Norse stories speak of are told as current events, and some of the relationships are not correct.  If you ignore that the movie is very good.

In the movie Thor is presented as a very powerful warrior who has arrogance and ego to match his strength.  When the frost giants attempt to retrieve their most powerful weapon from Asgard Thor is enraged and goes to their home to pick a fight, nearly restarting the war between Asgard and the frost giants.  As punishment Odin strips his son of his hammer and his strength and banishes both him and the hammer to earth.  Thor can regain his power, but only if he can shed his ego, and learn to be worthy of his power.  On earth Thor runs into(literally) a young scientist named Jane Foster who is studying wormholes, which is the true form of the bifrost used to transport him to his exile.  While Thor attempts to regain his power, and make Jane his girlfriend, on earth Odin Slips into a coma when Thor's brother Loki discovers that he is really a small frost giant that Odin stole.  Being Odin's non-exiled son Loki takes power and sends a fire automaton to kill Thor in exile.  This, combined with his humbling experience on earth, allows Thor to finally become worthy of his power by nearly getting killed defending a town from the rampaging automaton.

This movie will appeal to anyone who likes action adventure, Superhero and comic fans, Science Fiction fans, and Fantasy fans.  It is an  easy move to watch and the special effects are great.  Except for the violence this would be a great movie for anyone.  As it is anyone but very small children should enjoy it.

This movie can be found at www.amazon.com as a disk or for streaming rental or purchase.  If you have Prime it is available as a free video right now.  It is also available as an instant stream on www.netflix.com.

Pitch Black Movie Review

This movie is both a terrifying trip through a gauntlet of things that lurk in the dark, and a trip to redeem the soul of a man who at first identifies more with the monsters he faces than the people he is with.  Through the trip the main character a criminal named Riddick finds some things that reinforce his disillusionment, but others that stimulate his sense of honor.

The story is good but I find it a little too dark and Riddick is always a little too cold for me to get comfortable with it.  The fact is that Riddick is not a hero, and the story does not transform him into one.  At the beginning he is a dangerous monster of a man, and at the end he still is one, but he has found people he feels worthy of living, and that he grudgingly cares about. It shows that in the end even a monster can help his fellow man.

The show starts out with a cargo ship being disabled and having to crash land on a deserted planet.  One of the passengers is the dangerous criminal Riddick who escapes.  The rest of the passengers find a deserted settlement, and signs that things did not end peacefully.  The settlement has a spaceship, but no power cells.  It turns out that the planet they are on has three suns, and they are heading into a rare time when night will fall.  With the fall of night Monstrous creatures emerge, and Riddick, who can see better in the dark, rejoins the survivors, and begrudgingly helps them retrieve the power cells from the crashed ship.  During the journey some of the survivors die, and fights erupt.  At one point Riddick must step in to save a girl that was in disguise as a boy from being used as bait.  In the end Riddick has decided to leave the planet without the people but the pilot says she is willing to risk her life for them when Riddick asks.  This impresses him and he helps her save them.  In the process Riddick is overtaken by the monsters, but the pilot dies trying to save him.  He manages to win his fight with the monsters, decides to save everyone to repay her sacrifice, and regains some of his humanity in the process.

This movie will appeal to science fiction fans who like horror and suspense films as well.  It will also appeal to action fans because of the fight scenes.  This is not a movie for kids.

This movie can be found a www.amazon.com on disk or for streaming rental or purchase.

Independence Day Movie Review

This is an older science fiction alien invasion story, but in my opinion it is one of the best alien invasion movies I have ever seen.  There are a lot of very sad moments, and great depictions of heroism in this movie.  The way it shows humanity pulling together in the face of the threat is how I hope it would happen if something like this were to become reality.  I really like that the aliens in this movie are here for resources and we just happen to be in the way.  They are basically acting like colonial Europeans.  This motivation is much more understandable than the motivation in some of the alien invasion movies I have seen.

What I didn't like about this movie was the depiction of computer technology, programming, and the reliance of the aliens on our own communication satellites for a synchronization signal.  To me this is a flaw in the plot that almost breaks suspension of disbelief.  First off nobody who has shields is going to use our satellites to bounce an important signal.  They will drop off their own and have secure communications.  This doesn't mean we can't intercept it and do some hacking, but using our own hardware makes it too easy.  Second what kind of rinky dink invasion force lets a scout ship that's been MIA for 50 years with life signs aboard dock without communicating to the people inside? I mean that's some impressive hacking, programming, and translation that had to go into that. The time frame there is just implausible.  In this movie the aliens are woefully stupid when it comes to information security.  I suppose that this is plausible if their culture never came up with hackers.  If this is the case then many of the issues with the plot disappear.  These elements aside the movie was really good and they had to fit all the action in a movie somehow.

The plot of this movie is really simple.  The aliens attack and destroy most of our major cities and military bases.  We then regroup and counterattack using a trojan horse to disable their main advantages which lets us win.  It has been done lots of times mostly badly.  Independence day does it right however.  It uses the human angle and follows small groups of survivors and combatants to give a good feel of what is going on, and the human cost of what has happened.  The ending Trojan horse comes in the form of an alien scout ship that crashed in Roswell New Mexico, and a talented computer geek who learns how to break into their systems and shut down their shields.  Once that is down our weapons are plenty destructive and the tables turn.

This movie will appeal to most Science Fiction fans, and some Action Adventure fans.  It may not be the best movie to watch with small children because of the destruction of cities, and one creepy alien scene, but families with older children should enjoy the show.

This movie can be found at www.amazon.com on disk or as a stream for rental or purchase.

The Mummy Movie Review

This movie retells an old horror story as an action adventure thrill ride.  The action never lets up and really bad things happen, but the main characters take it in stride and set about fixing the problem.  The reaction of the characters to the challenges is what sets this movie apart.  They make the movie more of an Indiana Jones style archaeological adventure than a horror film.

There isn't really anything that I didn't like in this movie.  The special effects are pretty good even today.  The story is engaging, and the characters have great chemistry.  They have just the right mix or comic relief and confident action to make this into a great movie.

This movie tells the story around when adventurer Rick O'Connell ( Brendan Fraser) and young egyptologist Evelyn (Rachel Weisz) go to find the city of the dead Hamunaptra.  O'Connell has been there before with his unit of the french foreign legion, but when Evelyn finds him he is in jail for a bar fight.  She manages to get him our of jail, and he leads her to the city.  While there Evelyn wakes the mummy of Imhotep by reading the book of the dead.  Imhotep is a priest who was mummified alive and cursed for killing his pharaoh over his relationship with the pharaoh's concubine.  The rest of the movie is about Imhotep's twin quest's to regain a working body by consuming the organs of those who actually opened his tomb (a competing archaeological team who are basically a plot device.) and to restore his lover to life.  Rick and Evelyn oppose him in this quest because completing it begins destroying the world around them. Also it turns out he wants to use Evelyn as his lovers vessel.  In the end Evelyn, Rick, and some friends set everything to right and escape with some loot as well.

This movie is great for anyone to sit and watch with a bag of popcorn.  It may not be the sort of movie that has a deep thoughtful plot, but it is the kind that is just entertaining to watch.  This is great for any action film lover, or someone who enjoys a romantic comedy since there is the budding relationship between Rick and Evelyn.  This could also be a good candidate for family movie night if your children don't scare too easily.

This movie can be picked up on disk or streaming (for rent or for purchase) at www.amazon.com.

Iron Man Movie Review

This movie is very entertaining to watch.  At the beginning of the movie Tony Stark is not a very likable character.  He is a rich arrogant playboy with no real regard for anybody or anything.  He is in the business of designing and selling weapons and he doesn't really care about what they do to people.  I really like the fact that Tony allows his experiences transform him into a better person instead of making him even more mercenary and uncaring.  By the end of the movie he is still a rich arrogant playboy, but he is one that cares and has become an irreverent hero.

Since this movie came from comic books the science can be a little iffy.  It is never really explained exactly what an arc reactor(the power source for his super suit) is besides an incredibly powerful small electrical generator.  Despite this Tony goes about creating his inventions in a scientific manor, and it is a good science fiction film in that way.

In this movie Tony is captured by a group of terrorists when he is on a trip to a war torn area where his weapons are sold and used.  Tony is injured by one of his own weapons and has a piece of metal seeking his heart that is only kept at bay by an electromagnet.  The terrorists have him and another captive, named Yinsin, working to make them weapons and Tony and his companion use this to construct an arc reactor to keep tony's heart intact, and power a suit of powerful armor Tony is building.  In the end Tony escapes with the armor, but only by Yinsin sacrificing his life.  When he gets back Tony decides to stop making weapons for sale and to refine his armor concept so that he can help people, and perhaps put some of his ghosts to rest.  It turns out that his ambush was no accident however, and he ends up having to fight one of his managers named Obadiah Stane.  Stane arranged the ambush and was selling weapons to the terrorists behind Tony's back.  He has salvaged and upgraded Tony's original suit and stolen Tony's latest arc reactor to power it.  Tony must use his first reactor which has a lower capacity to battle Stane, but wins by knowing the limits of his original design better than his opponent.

This is a good action adventure movie that Comic Geeks, Science Fiction Fans, and anyone who loves a good adventure will enjoy.  The movie is pg 13 and has a lot of violence so very young children may be a bad idea depending on the child, but they will likely enjoy it if it will not scare them.

This movie can be found at www.amazon.com for purchase on disk or as a stream.

Escape from Planet Earth Movie Review

I picked this movie off of Netflix because I couldn't take any more kids programming, but wanted something my daughter could enjoy with me.  I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised.  The movie is fun to watch and funny for both kids and adults.  I like that it has something for everyone, but keeps it simple enough that my three year old can follow it.

What I didn't like about the movie is that it is very predictable.  There weren't very many surprise's as far as major plot points go.  The film made up for this however with the family dynamics between the main characters that were woven around the plot.

Scorch Supernova, is the biggest hero on his world, and it seems that there isn't anything that he cant accomplish.  He is very athletic and if something is possible it is likely he can pull it off.  Unfortunately he has a tendency towards arrogance, impulsive action, and not thinking things through.  Most of the time this is mitigated by his mission controller, his brother Gary Supernova, who is very intelligent, and can think his way out of most of Scorch's jams.  One day Scorch is asked to go to the dark planet, which is earth, to answer a distress call.  Gary counsels him to turn down the mission since nobody has ever come back from there.  They argue and Scorch ends up doing the mission without Gary's help.  When he falls for the inevitable trap Gary ends up trying to save him personally.  This ends up with them both stuck on earth, and Gary being forced to work on a crazy super-weapon by a bitter US general along with some other trapped aliens.  In the end Gary is able to disable the super-weapon, save the day, and escape earth with the help of his family back home and his brother Scorch.  In the end Scorch and Gary realize that they both need each other and that their success comes from their teamwork not Gary's brains or Scorch's physical abilities.

This movie should appeal to people looking for a light Science Fiction Family movie, or people who like a good space adventure.  The animation is done in such a way that kids will enjoy the show, but the dialog is geared more towards adults without being so overly complex that kids can't follow it.  This is a science fiction comedy, but it is not what you would call hard science fiction.  It does however emphasize the power of thinking, and the hero is an engineer.

This movie can be found on disk at www.amazon.com and can be found streaming as either a rental or purchase at www.amazon.com or for free with subscription at www.netflix.com.

How to train your dragon Movie Review

This movie is the story of a boy who made friends with a dragon and a dragon who came to trust a boy.  I really identified with Hiccough the main character because he is a viking that doesn't like normal viking things.  He is clumsy, weak, and clever. These are not exactly what his clan is looking for in a viking.  I really liked how Hiccough's different way of looking at things allowed him to do things nobody else from his village had ever managed, and find his place among his people in doing so.

To be honest I cant really think of anything about this movie that I didn't like.  Seriously I think its that good.  I have watched it probably 50 times with my daughter and I still enjoy it.  How many movies can you say that about?

The basic plot of this movie is that Hiccough's Island, Berk, has been at war with the dragons pretty much forever because the dragons burn down their houses and eat their livestock.  It is so deeply entrenched that the right of passage in his village is to kill a dragon.  Hiccough, being a clumsy and geeky sort of guy, comes up with an invention to help him kill a dragon.  He ends up disabling a dragon known as a Night Fury, but because he shot it with his invention and nobody saw it, nobody will believe him.  Hiccough finds the dragon in the forest but cannot bring himself to kill him and attempts to set him free.  Unfortunately the dragon has lost a part of his tail and cannot fly.  Over time Hiccough gains his trust and names him toothless due to his retractable teeth.  Being clever he fashions a prosthetic tail piece and toothless and he teach each other to work as a team so that toothless can fly once again.  Eventually things come out and Hiccough's father ends up using Toothless to navigate to the dragons Island.  Hiccough tries to warn his father that there is something on the island making the dragons raid Berk, but his father will not listen and sets off with most of the clan.  Knowing that his people will be destroyed Hiccough recruits his dragon training class, tames the captive dragons the clan holds, and flies off to save the day.

This movie should appeal to people of any age.  It is a great movie to watch with your family.  It should particularly appeal to anyone who has ever had trouble fitting in.  It is a good parable for what can be accomplished when you change the way you look at and do things.

This movie can be found at www.amazon.com on disk or as a streaming rental or purchase.

Lilo and Stitch Movie Review

Lilo and Stitch is a fun family movie that you can watch with your kids.  This animated science fiction film is really all about acceptance and chosen family.  The film does a good job of making you identify with both Lilo and Stitch, and under the comedy both of their stories are a little sad.  I really like the fact that this can be seen as either a girl and her alien or as an alien and his little girl movie because it becomes very obvious through the film that the are good for each other.

What I didn't like about this movie is the Galactic Federation.  The movie manages to portray the society as extremely rule-bound and formal, and sort of wild west at the same time.  The reasoning behind why they would want to imprison stitch are flimsy and don't make a lot of sense for a cosmopolitan society.

Basically the story follows the life and meeting of Lilo and Stitch.  Lilo is a little girl who lives with her sister because their parents died.  she has trouble fitting in with the other kids in her town, and acts out violently at times.  Stitch is a genetic experiment made by a mad scientist in the galactic federation.  He is basically made to be a force of chaos and destruction.  He is very hard to hurt, and highly intelligent.  When Stitch's creator is put on trial he is used as evidence against him, and stitch's behavior at trial end up getting him banished to a remote asteroid.  Rightly seeking to avoid this horrible fate stitch escapes confinement, steals a ship, and crash lands in Hawaii.  Looking like a dog he is picked up and taken to the animal shelter where Lilo adopts him.  Lilo is very understanding of his violent tendencies and tries, largely successfully, to help him overcome them.  In the course of doing this Lilo comes to terms with her own situation, and deals with her own issues as well.  Eventually Stitch is pursued, and ends up dragging Lilo into his problems.  In the end they save each other.  Stitch saves Lilo from being abducted by the Galactic Federation.  Lilo saves Stitch by claiming him as a member of her family, and not letting the Galactic Federation take him away.

This movie makes a great family movie because it shows that anyone can be good, and that everyone has a place where they belong.  It says that even someone who was made to be bad can overcome that with the right family, and an understanding environment.

This movie can be found at www.amazon.com on disk or as a streaming rental or purchase.  It is also available on Netflix if you have a subscription.

Titan AE Movie Review

Despite the movie starting with the earth being destroyed this movie is a pretty upbeat science fiction story, about a people overcoming the loss of their home and at the same time a boy coming to terms with the loss of his father.  What could be a fairly depressing tale ends up being goofy but inspirational.  The film is animated so the there are no special effects to degrade, and the animation is pretty good.

The things that I don't like about this movie are that the destruction of earth does not hit very hard and it is never adequately explained why the antagonists the Drej are after us.  The best I could get is that the technology we were developing was a long term threat to them, but it was never explained why.  Despite these shortcomings I did really enjoy the movie as a basic hero's journey tale in space.

The story follows the main Character Cale who was a young child when he escaped the destruction of earth in the care of his fathers friends.  His father piloted a spacecraft that is supposed to be the hope of humanity, but was never seen again.  Years later Cale is working in a scrapyard when another of his fathers friends, Captain Korso shows up wanting Cale's help to find his fathers ship.  It seems his father left a map in a ring with  his son detailing where he planned to go.  Eventually Kale accepts his destiny and takes up the search.  Through the journey he sheds his bitterness and reconnects to humanity.  Their quest has many twists and turns and Cale becomes good friends with Korso's crew.  At one point Korso is revealed to be  a traitor, and it is left to Cale and his new friend Akima to find the ship before Korso and the Drej can destroy it.

This movie will appeal to anyone who likes a good space adventure, but if you are looking for a hard science fiction film this is not for you.  There is definitely the type of science fiction with more fiction than science.  That being said this is a movie that you could potentially watch with the whole family if your children are not sensitive to mild personal violence, and the fact that the movie has the destruction of earth in the first scene.

This movie can be found at www.amazon.com on disk or streaming for rental or purchase.