Movie Review - Virus

Virus

(2016)

Blumhouse Productions / Busted Shark Productions / Chapter One Films / Dimension Films / IM Global / Miramax : Lionsgate / Entertainment One

7.5 / 10

"Worm-flu hits America..."  I really wasn't looking forward to watching this film with that tagline, though the synopsis and trailer were enough of a hook to fish me in... and I am glad they did.

There's some new illness going around and it spreads with the speed of Speedy Gonzalas.  At first, the news tells people not to worry... then to stay at home... then the airwaves are taken over by the CDC as everything goes to hell.

What you get here is a typical "Teenagers will do what teenagers will do survival story".  the difference being it's pretty strongly directed and acted.

The story by Barbara Marshall and Christopher Landon had me in mind of Stephen King's Cell (also reviewed on this blog) though done better.  Instead of a cell phone signal affecting people, it's a strange infectious disease... or is it?  What the writers do best is to create strong and engaging characters.

Respect to directors Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman for breathing new life into the genre by creating relatable and realistic characters, adding tension and scares where required, and especially for some very nice camera shots.

Something else which booted the film in my eyes was the absence of an annoying character.  There's usually one character in this type of movie that is irksome and usually lowers the movie; the best example of this is "Snot-Girl" in The Blair Witch Project.  Luckily there's no such character here - thank you.

What you get are sisters Emma and Stacey Drakeford who have been forced to move to the new housing estate in a new city, thanks to their teacher dad's transfer.  The sisters are realistically portrayed by Sofia Black D'Elia and Analeigh Tipton, respectively.  Even though all hell is breaking loose around them it's a story of their relationship and how strong their and their families bonds are.

Even though there aren't many big special effects in the film, what there is are well done and nicely throughout.  The airstrike comes straight to mind as an example as does the "wiggly" ears...

If you like science fiction films about humans fighting an unwinnable fight against unknown forces then this would be worth a watch.  You will also see how Cell should have been done.

 

Movie Review - Cell

Cell (2016)

The Genre Company / 120dB Films / Benaroya Pictures : Signature Entertainment / Saban Films

3.5 / 10

"Cell" was not my favourite Stephen King book; It was one of my least favourite of his works and for some of the same reasons as this film.

The first thing that made me sigh with apprehension was a film company calling themselves "The Genre Company" - Nice of them to choose a story which doesn't sit well in a genre.  For me, this isn't a Horror film as a lot of the elements of horror are lacking, suspense and tension aren't even a part of this film.  That said, they're missing from the novel as well.  There is only rudimentary aspect of drama in the film as it's too short to build up any characters that you can relate to, and when one of the main characters are killed the viewer feels very little.  So I'm not inclined to call it a Drama.  This is a shame as Stephen King is the master of believable and relatable characters, even when they're placed in extraordinary situations; it's even more of a shame as Mr King also wrote the screenplay.  There's some action thrown in, but again, not too much.  The only genre that suits this film would be Science Fiction; but that would also be a loose fitting.

I liked the idea of a pulse being transmitted through the cell phones and turning the user into a raving maniacal killing machine, this is a fresh take on the Zombie, though King doesn't leave it there, he has them keep evolving into something completely different.

I can understand the people transmitting the pulse as their voiceboxes are manipulated to make the transforming sounds.  However, the scene with the changelings at the University is ludicrous, to say the least.

The main trouble with the story is the lack of reason.  You are never told why the cell phones started transforming people or what the changelings will finally transform into.  Handled correctly it could have given the movie a more ominous feel, but everything is shot in a nonchalant way that it's dull and boring.  If this was what the director Tod Williams had planned, then he was wrong.

I like John Cusack, though I didn't like his performance in the other King movie adaptation "1408" though that was better than this one.  However, I can probably put that down to the lacklustre direction of the movie.  There were only two actors who stood out in this film; Samuel L Jackson as Tom McCort, for once he doesn't give his usual tough guy performance, here he's a normal guy; the other is Stacy Keach who does a good job of portraying a stoic and phlegmatic headmaster of the University.

To make this film worth watching you would have to go back to the drawing board.  I think if you took the Peter Jackson approach to this story and turned it into a trilogy, it would allow you to build the characters and implement the "Road Trip" feel of the book into the film.

I am still waiting for a good Stephen King movie adaptation... will it be IT?  Could it be The Gunslinger?  Living in hope...

   

Movie Review - Hunger Games Saga

The Hunger Games Saga

The Hunger Games - Catching Fire - Mockingjay (Parts 1 & 2)

2012 to 2016

8 / 10

I'm reviewing the entire saga and not the movies individually as it should be regarded as one story.  Even though the movies work in their own right I would advise watching, as well as reading, the entire saga since they are a perfect continuation of a rebellion and their reluctant figurehead Katniss Everdeen "The Mockingjay" played well by Jennifer Lawrence.

The first movie deals with the ignition of the rebellion, the Hunger Games.  Devised by the survivors of the nuclear way, when they say factions taking on factions.  It was decided to hold a "Games" where two members of each district, randomly picked (one male and one female), are forced to fight each other in an artificially created arena, until one walks out.

In relation to the book, this is quite a good conversion (as you would expect as Suzanne Collins helped write the screenplay), though I do feel as though it should have been an hour longer.  Everything seemed too rushed.  The bad thing is that there are quite a few key moments in the book, especially the relationships between Katniss and Rue and Katniss and Peter.  Because there was no time in the two-hour twenty-two minutes runtime to do these relationships justice.  The good thing is that in the next three movies the relationship between Katniss and Peter is done really well.  But not knowing if the first film would do well, they probably thought there would have been a chance that the follow-up movies wouldn't be made.

The acting is okay, Jennifer Lawrence does an amiable job in The Hunger Games and by Mockingjay Part 1 you can see her acting skills have grown as she is more believable as Katniss the reluctant rebel.  The star of the four movies though is the actor portraying Peeta, Josh Hutcherson.  Right from the start, he does a more than agreeable performance showing a quiet shy boy who has always loved Katniss, though from afar, right to the haggard brain-washed mutt of the capitol.  He even has some of the better scenes as his character is also intelligent enough to understand and rationalise the situations around him.  If anything Peeta is the strongest character in the saga.  I also loved Elizabeth Banks' portrayal of Effie Trinkett; it is splendid and as the saga continues she brings a warmth to the character that adds power to the story.  Woody Harrelson does an agreeable rendition as Haymitch.

However, Stanley Tucci is risible as the Television Host Caeser Flickerman, though there is a good chance this is how the character is meant to be - though I didn't read him that way in the book.  I just couldn't get into Liam Hemsworth as Gale, whose character gets more story-time as the saga continues, though he just seemed so two-dimensional and that made me distrust the relationship between him and Katniss.  Then Donald Sutherland (playing President Snow), Philip Seymour Hoffman (playing Plutarch Heavensbee), and Wes Bentley (playing Seneca Crane), just feel as though they've turned up, dressed up, and read their lines, which is a shame as they are good actors.

The direction throughout the four movies is pretty good and at times gives us some great moments.  One of my favourite scene's comes from Mockingjay Part 1, it's the segue that takes part in "The Hanging Tree" song - who would believe that Jennifer Lawrence can hold a tune.  Here you have Katniss and her propaganda team filming the destruction at District 12, her hometown, to the tech guys pushing the footage to all the other sectors and their rebels picking up the song as an anthem, to them singing it on a mission.  Brilliantly thought out and directed.  "The Hanging Tree" is also a pretty decent song, my favourite in the saga.

The story, though rushed in the first installment, is pretty well paced through the remaining movies building tension at the right moments and picking up the pace in the action scenes.

I would recommend this to people who like action films, dystopian futures, and drama.  I watched The Hunger Games and Catching Fire one day and both Mockingjay movies the next.  I believe that watching them pretty much back-to-back is the way to go as it made the experience more enjoyable.

The Hunger Games - Trailer

Catching Fire - Trailer

Mockingjay Part 1 - Trailer

Mockingjay Part 2 - Trailer

The Hanging Tree - Song

The Hanging Tree - Scene