Film Review: Dan Da Dan: Evil Eye (English Dub)

Does trauma hold as much power as a ghost?

Dan Da Dan is a Japanese horror manga, anime, and film series involving the world of the supernatural with high school protagonists.  Season one of the anime is available to stream on Netflix, with the second season set to premiere on July 3.  The first film, First Encounter, which is a collection of the first season’s initial three episodes, debuted in 2024. Evil Eye similarly is the first three episodes of the second season. 

IMDb

Some quick backstory on the first season, which the beginning of Evil Eye also covers. High schoolers Momo (Abby Trott), Okarun (AJ Beckles) and an expanding cast of characters populate the show. Momo would normally not be caught together with the nerdy and alien obsessed Okarun in high school society, but a random encounter brings them together and, subsequently, they devise a plan for Momo to investigate an abandoned hospital (reportedly an alien hotspot) and for Okarun to check out an allegedly haunted tunnel. The season plays out with Momo and Okarun questing, surviving supernatural attacks, and being joined by other characters.

Evil Eye picks up with Momo and Okarun joining their friend Jiji (Aleks Le) in his hot springs town to investigate his supposedly haunted house. 

Does Evil Eye feel like three episodes of a show? Yes and no. The film doesn’t hide that it’s for the fans, but it does a good job of leading into the new story.  It does obviously leave off on a cliffhanger but several big budget films have done that recently, namely Dune, Dune: Part 2, and Wicked. In short, fans of the show and casual viewers should both find plenty to like.

But fans of the show should definitely not be disappointed - the animation is as stunning as ever, the English voice work is still charming, and the characters are their compelling usual selves. The horror is on display as well, with creepy visuals, a not-quite-right haunted house (and its landlords) and a downright heartbreaking and disturbing backstory for the titular "Evil Eye" antagonist. 

The antagonist's tragic backstory does a good job of not just representing his own trauma, but that of the town and our heroes. The townsfolk have been complicit in the villain’s suffering, and their misdeeds are quite literally built one on top of one another. So too does the trauma get passed down to the town’s families, eventually affecting Jiji.

Countdown to Avengers 4: Captain Marvel

We've gone and done a fourth installment of Countdown to Avengers! That's right, I teamed up with CT, Pax, and Jay to tackle Infinity War, Ant-Man and the Wasp, and Captain Marvel. Let's finish all this with a look at that last one, with some backup from Pax at Cavalcade of Awesome. You can check out all our other posts here.

SPOILERS FOR CAPTAIN MARVEL AHEAD!

Marvel.com

From IMDb:

"Carol Danvers becomes one of the universe's most powerful heroes when Earth is caught in the middle of a galactic war between two alien races."

I'm not sure where to begin with Captain Marvel, Brie Larson's foray into the MCU and the Infinity Saga's penultimate installment (or is it?). I wanted and want to love it. And I basically do, mostly thanks to Larson as the amnesiac superhero Carol Danvers.

But there are flaws. The film takes a while to get going and yet at the same time it zips around and fast forwards when it wants to. A - pretty big - negative for me is that I don't particularly remember a great action sequence. The film's by no means boring in that respect but if we're judging it by thrills and chills there's nothing that stands out. The dog fight towards the end - before Carol gets her powers - was fun, but that could be in any movie. The end when she's taking out tons of Kree ships? It's cool, but it's kind of one-sided. But I'm quibbling here and tons of others enjoyed the film's action.

Sam Jackson was great and it was wonderful to have his Nick Fury back in a big way. I think a big draw of the film was Jackson and the record setting use of Marvel's de-aging tech that's been used to roll back the clock on Michael Douglas, Robert Downey Jr., Kurt Russell and others. He really connected this film to the others in one of the biggest ways possible. It being a prequel really sets it as part of the universe as well. A young Coulson (Clark Gregg) had a similar effect. We get some other tie-ins to the MCU here, namely an unexpected appearance by the Tesseract.

I'd heard going in that Ben Mendelsohn as Talos was great. He was both a compelling villain and - spoiler alert - a standout ally when that reveal came. His roles as both alien and shapeshifter breathed a bit of uniqueness into the MCU.

The story was a little different than what we're used to in the MCU. It was life as usual for "Kree" warrior Danvers until a mission leads her to Earth. We get her piecing her history there back together and the jumbled storyline was fun. A scene where her enemies use tech to scan her memories was particularly unique and memorable. The film both developed some backstory for the MCU and plotted a course for the future and the supporting characters, particularly Jude Law's mentor-to-Carol character, were fun.

I’m curious to see how Captain Marvel fits into the Avengers. In the comics she and Tony have a civil war so that will be interesting. We see her a bit in trailers and the Infinity War credits scene but it's not much to go on. Much has been made about Captain Marvel vs. Thanos - almost as much as Ant-Man vs. his butt. We'll see how powerful she - and the rest of the remaining Avengers - are.

As a side note, there's been an extreme amount of hate directed towards Brie Larson. Like, weird mind boggling, purest-sense-of-the-word-troll kind of hate. I thought about taking a deep dive into that here (and how I don't get it), particularly focusing on oddly obsessive YouTube videos, but I'll spare everyone.

3.5/5

Extra Thoughts from Pax:

This movie is important for what it is and I appreciate that.  For my wife and my daughter and for the other adorable girl that was in my theater wearing the Captain Marvel uniform while she watched the movie.  For that this movie has my undying support.

I think the first half of this movie is kind of a jumbled mess.  It gains more focus by the end, but that first part is really confusing to sit through.  I don’t think the filmmakers they got for this particular movie stuck the landing.  Despite that, I'm actually really looking forward to Captain Marvel’s return in Endgame.  I’m really looking forward to how the Russo Brothers and Markus/McFeely meld this character into the MCU because I think she could be pretty great.  Scratch that, I think she’s *going* to be really great in Endgame.  It’s just tough to see it here in her solo movie.

This movie really leans *hard* on the fact that it takes place in the 90s, and that’s not a criticism.  I loved all of that; the Windows 95 references, Blockbuster Video, the pager.  It's fun, the effects look great.  I loved seeing young Fury and Coulson.  Loved the Flurken.    I appreciate what this movie has now done, even if I didn’t totally love it.  But I very much look forward to the place Captain Marvel will have in the MCU from this point on.

Countdown to Avengers 3: Black Panther

Can you believe that we’re doing a third installment of Countdown to Avengers? It seems like it was only yesterday that we teamed up with Nerd Lunch and Cavalcade of Awesome to tackle all the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) films (and then some) that lead up to The Avengers. Believe it or not, we’re back, and now we’ve got Jay from Life Vs. Film along for the ride as well. 

Marvel

And now we've come to the end. We're looking at the last film before Infinity War. That's right, Infinity War is out THIS WEEK so Jay and I are looking at the phenomenal Black Panther. Let's go back to Wakanda! Mandatory spoiler warning!

This is getting pretty ridiculous. The MCU movies are starting to change the fabric of society. I'm sure Marvel would have made four Black Panthers by now if they knew it would have been such a cultural, critical, and financial success. Black Panther serving as the final standalone film before Infinity War is an interesting choice (coincidence?). The isolated Wakanda opening up to the rest of the world is kind of a metaphor for the MCU opening up and connecting its various characters even more than they already have.

? via IMP Awards

Black Panther follows one of the newer recruits of the MCU, King T'Challa, (Chadwick Boseman) as he tries to fill the shoes of his recently departed father. T'Challa's trying to balance everything that's happening in Wakanda and fully take on the mantle of king when his long lost cousin Erik "Killmonger" Stevens (Anthony B. Jordan) comes along with plans to start a worldwide revolution.

So there's no way I can say Black Panther is a bad film. Simply due to the talent on display and behind the scenes, Black Panther is a very, very good movie. However, it's not my personal favorite MCU film for various reasons. A reason that springs to mind: the whole maglev vibranium train fight at the end sort of seemed taken out of a crummy X-Men movie.

A broader criticism I have for the film is about its villains. Or rather, how they relate to Black Panther. Kilmonger was killed off - bad move. It'd be like if they killed Loki in the first Thor movie (which I guess they sort of did and brought him back so it's possible Kilmonger could return).

It's revealed that T'Challa's father essentially killed his own brother and left his son on his own in America. I felt like this was a big controversy but wasn't handled as such. T'Challa didn't really seem to want to fix or even address this injustice. After he had essentially killed Kilmonger he thought about saving him. You would have thought there would have been one instance of T'Challa saying, "Hey, what my dad did was wrong, I want to fix this." I also don't get killing off Klaue (Andy Serkis). You killed both awesome Black Panther villains. Why? Also, I was kind of hoping T'Challa would have a cool scene where he had to prove himself and survive after his initial fight with Kilmonger. But M'Baku's (Winston Duke) people just kind of save him. And we don't even see that! They just reveal that he's alive.

Like any MCU film there are connections to other Marvel movies. Even though Black Panther is sort of an insulated film (it's literally taking place in a hidden, isolated country) we have some connective tissue. Everett Ross (Martin Freeman) plays a big role in the movie so that's a bit of a connection to Civil War. We also get to see - in a post credits scene - that Bucky (Sebastian Stan) has come out of his self-imposed cryogenic hibernation at the end of Civil War and seems to be doing better...under the care of Shuri (Letitia Wright), no less.

It's always fun to speculate how a stand alone character will fit in with the rest of the Avengers. In this case, we've already seen Black Panther side by side with a lot of the other Avengers, but it was pretty limited (even though his role was not) and in the context of fighting. I've really tried to avoid trailers for Infinity War but it looks like a large part of the movie is set in Wakanda and Black Panther is taking on a leader role. I'm looking forward to some sort of interaction between Black Panther and Bucky. The last time we saw them together they were trying to kill each other. I think Black Panther has the potential to lead the Avengers in future films. I'm not sure if that's happened before or if it's canon, but that would be cool.

Extra Thoughts from Jay:

Every time I think the title Black Panther, I can't help but flip it in my head to Plaque Bantha, so I keep imagining a film about a giant woolly horned beast from Star Wars desperately needing to see his dentist, but I highly doubt that film would be one of the top 10 highest grossing films of all time internationally, which Black Panther now is. In fact, within the MCU it's only currently being beaten by the two Avengers movies, making it the highest grossing standalone character film, which is pretty damn impressive given I'd never even heard of the eponymous character before Captain America: Civil War.

It's clear from the Infinity War trailers that the events - or at least, the locations - of Black Panther are integral to the future of the Avengers, with Wakanda presumably being the location of the Soul Stone. This decision must have been made prior to Black Panther's release, so I'm guessing Kevin Feige and the rest of the Marvel team are all giving themselves pretty smug pats on the back given how successful Black Panther was, and how many guaranteed ticket sales that'll grant them for Infinity War. Those back-pats are entirely deserved though, as BP is an awesome movie. It features many of the best antagonists of the franchise so far in the forms of Andy Serkis' Klaue, Winston Duke's M'Baku and of course Michael B. Jordan's Killmonger, has some awesome action - I cannot wait to see the casino fight and ensuing chase again - incredible production design, supporting characters, music, visuals, dammit, everything is just great. To date it's the only Marvel film that I've only seen once, but that's going to change pretty damn soon, I assure you.

Escape-athon 2018 Review: The Lovely Bones

The Lovely Bones was a huge blind spot for me. It’s safe to say that I’m a decent Peter Jackson fan. I loved all the The Lord of the Rings films. I trudged through all the The Hobbit films. I’ve even seen Dead Alive. But for some reason the appeal of The Lovely Bones wasn’t enough to get my butt in the seat opening weekend back in 2009. Beyond that, interest dropped off and stayed dropped off. Turns out I wasn't missing much. Spoiler alert! 

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In the film, Susie Salmon (Saoirse Ronan) is murdered by George Harvey (Stanley Tucci). Her family has to move on and Susie observes from beyond the grave.

The main problem with this film for me is that the afterlife scenes - aka, the whole point of the movie - just felt kind of off and disconnected from the rest of the film. They lacked weight and purpose. I actually wrote in my notes that I was somehow more interested in what was happening on Earth. Going in, I expected the heaven scenes would really be the crown jewel of the film. That said, I think it's a testament to how nasty Tucci's character is and how much you want to see him get justice in the end. Tucci makes Harvey absolutely chilling and disgusting.

Surprisingly, one little detail that nagged at me was the cornfield. If you haven't seen the film, Tucci's character builds a sort of secret pit in the neighborhood cornfield and that's where he murders Susie. The problem was, it kind of seemed to be everywhere. It was right next to the school and not far from the Salmon household. Seeing a map actually helped...because it was actually directly connecting the school and the neighborhood.

Another thing that bothered me was the photo rolls. First and foremost, wouldn't the cops have taken them? Susie's dad (Mark Wahlberg) slowly develops all the rolls of film that Susie had used before her death, apparently one roll a month. Why would you parse it out like that? I would think you'd want to develop them immediately because the odds of finding the killer would go down the longer you wait. Unless he wasn't doing it to track the killer?

Another MVP here is Rose McIver playing Susie's sister. She had a bit of a subplot of suspecting the neighbor George Harvey, which leads to a very tense scene finding a secret book Harvey hid in his house that documents his crimes.

At the end nothing really happens. Harvey gets away and it's years later before he...graphically falls to his death. There's no justice for the family. I guess that's the point the movie was trying to make. That's kind of it. I don't think we really even get a final definitive heaven scene from Susie. So that's it, it's kind of middling for me at the end of the day. Part of me really likes it and I love that I finally crossed it off my list, but it's definitely not, in my opinion, Jackson's best work.

2.5 out of 5 Stars

Review: Rat Film

Rat Film is a documentary about rats and the people involved with them in the City of Baltimore, Maryland. Maybe? It's probably best to refer to the film's official synopsis:

Across walls, fences, and alleys, rats not only expose our boundaries of separation but make homes in them. "Rat Film" is a feature-length documentary that uses the rat—as well as the humans that love them, live with them, and kill them--to explore the history of Baltimore. "There's never been a rat problem in Baltimore, it's always been a people problem".

There were many times throughout the film when I wondered just what was going on, as it also touches on a weird 3D game/map, systemic racism and segregation ("Isn’t it nice to think that when it rains, the whole city gets wet?”), and different elements of crime scene investigations. But it’s somehow all this and more and still compelling, gross (I felt physically ill at one point - the highest praise you can give to art?), surreal, insightful, existential, and weird. It’s like filmmaker Theo Anthony set out to make a documentary about rats and ended up deftly covering a lot more. The film doesn't suffer because of this. If anything, the film's disjointed plot is a big appeal.

IMDb

The most interesting part of Rat Film for me was seeing different rat catchers (and lovers) from different walks of life and how they relate with the rodents. One character - a rat specialist with the City of Baltimore - was particularly insightful, pondering for the film about life, God, and the afterlife. And rats, of course.

4 Out Of 5 Stars

Rat Film is playing at Sun-Ray Cinema as part of their Sleeping Giant Fest. The documentary screens on Friday, March 31 at 5:00 p.m. and on Sunday, April 2 at 5:25 p.m.

Review: The Void

A man and a woman burst out of a dark house in the middle of the night, with two attackers hot on their trail. The man survives, but the woman isn’t so lucky. She meets a grisly end, and a hooded figure - looking like a KKK member with a triangle sewn over his face - watches from the shadows as the assailants set off after the man. The Void goes on to follow Daniel Carter, (Aaron Poole) a police officer who takes the survivor to an on-the-verge-of-closing-due-to-fire-damage hospital. Once there, Carter must deal with insanity, murder, cultists (the hooded figure has quite a few friends), and otherworldly monsters.

Screen Media Films

The stylish and Lovecraftian The Void seems like someone put the films of John Carpenter and Clive Barker in a blender and then tried to strangle you with the power cord (in a good way). You’ll sense elements of Carpenter’s The Thing and Prince of Darkness and Barker’s Hellraiser (I think there’s a scene late in The Void that’s a direct homage to a bit in this film) and Lord of Illusions. A good story unfolds in The Void as well, something that can get lost in a movie like this in favor of zaniness for the sake of zaniness. In fact, there’s prequel-levels of backstory hinted at in the film, something lesser films wouldn't make time for.

But don’t get me wrong, there is definitely zaniness. There's a great atmosphere, thanks to the nearly abandoned hospital and the creepy woods surrounding it. There’s plenty of weird, bloody, and spacey visions to be had, and there’s some great creature effects on display. The Void boasts some very unique horror and gross-out images that are guaranteed to stay with you after the film ends. Writers/directors Jeremy Gillespie and Steven Kostanski have extensive backgrounds in art and makeup, so it’s no surprise the visuals here are great. I also noticed some stellar sound design happening - creatures sound both like monsters from another world AND the poor folks they’ve sprouted from. And the third act features the film’s hospital setting sounding more like our heroes are on a creaking ship that’s about to sink into the mouth of hell.

Screen Media Films

Every actor in the film is solid, with Poole standing out particularly as a man in completely over his head as reality turns on him. Kenneth Welsh also shines as a doctor and leader of the hospital's skeleton crew. If I can fault the film for anything, a specific theme of loss may have been used so much that it somehow gets confusing. But the movie more than makes up for this with its visuals and atmosphere.

4 Out Of 5 Stars

The Void is playing at Sun-Ray Cinema as part of their Sleeping Giant Fest. The film screens at 9:10 p.m. on Friday, March 31 and 9:40 p.m. on Saturday, April 1.

Escape-athon 2017 Review: Explorers

Sometimes, nostalgia can make all the difference. Films can become dated. It happens. That's where nostalgia comes in. You can overlook terrible stuff because you loved it as a kid. But what if you're just seeing an old film for the first time? What if that film is surprisingly good for the most part, but one dated aspect sort of ruins it?

Explorers is a 1985 movie about three friends, Ben Crandall (Ethan Hawke), Wolfgang Muller (River Phoenix), and Darren Woods (Jason Presson) who stumble upon a technique to create a force field bubble they can control with their computer. They use it to pilot a DIY craft around their sleepy town. Aliens abduct them, however. More on them later.

Casey Callender via Collider

I knew very little about Explorers going in. I just knew kids went to space. It seemed far fetched, even for an '80s film. So I was really pleasantly surprised by the weird tech bubble technique. Instead of the kids somehow blasting off into orbit, they found a physics defying force field technology that actually seemed pretty smart.

So is Explorers a good movie? Just barely. The linchpin scene - the encounter with the aliens - kind of ruins it. Where to begin with the aliens. While they probably looked great by '80s standards (and they don't look terrible now) they're rubbery and goofy. One (Robert Picardo) is sort of like a Jim Carrey-esque/non stop jokes/impressions-up-the-wazoo kind of guy. It turns out the aliens are kids, so it's a parallel with our heroes. The movie as a whole is incredibly '80s. The kids use walkie talkies. They bike places. There are bullies and crushes to deal with. Luckily, the three leads are capable actors.

This might explain the alien business, or maybe it's a testament to how good the rest of the film is, but the powers at be behind the movie went to director Joe Dante and forced him to release the film much earlier than he wanted. Who knows what we would have gotten had he been allowed to finish.

3/5 Stars

Unseen Halloween: The Purge

The Purge takes place in a world where, one night a year, all crime is legal. The film focuses on the Sandin family. Father James (Ethan Hawke) - who works for a security company and has sold everyone in their posh neighborhood their security systems - mother Mary (Lena Headey) and two kids, Charlie and Zoey.

On the night of the purge, Charlie lets in a man who's been targeted for murder by a group of purgers. Zoey's older boyfriend also sneaks into the house before lockdown. He claims he's there to simply talk to James (the father has an issue with the age difference in the relationship) but we find out his intentions aren't really what they seem. All this leads to the Sandin family fighting to stay alive on purge night.

CraveOnline

The biggest problem with this movie for me is that every character is near insufferable. Ethan's James is kind of smug. Lena Headey is kind of bland. The kids are super annoying. But I guess maybe this was intentional.

Something that also annoyed me is that, sure, everything is legal on Purge Night. But it seems like most people who purge put a lot of thought and planning into their activities. Couldn't these people be held accountable for conspiracy to commit...whatever? I don't remember hearing or reading anything that would explain this away. There was some type of announcement that (certain? all?) politicians are immune but that's all I really remember.

The bad guys also get really bent out of shape about people infringing on their right to purge or something like that. But...everything is legal and nothing is illegal, so the "right to purge" kind of goes out the window?

All in all, this was a decent horror/thriller, but nothing to get too worked up over.

Review: Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates

This review was written by local Jacksonville film writer Jacob Lusk! Check out his site at pannedreview.com and follow him on Twitter at @PannedReview!

Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates proves that you don’t need an original plot to create great comedy. All you need are the right people working together, in front of and behind the camera. Written by Andrew J. Cohen and Brendan O’Brien, the creators of 2014’s Neighbors, Mike and Dave easily emerges as one of the best comedies of the summer, possibly of the year, with its breezy yet bonkers style, which stems from the energy of its delectable ensemble cast.

IMDb

And what a dream of a cast. Zac Efron has emerged as a true movie star. He’s like some Greek demigod, both a boy-next-door and an untouchable force, distilling wit, charm, pathos, and lunacy with apparent ease; Adam DeVine, who’s emerging as a noteworthy comic force in the movies, combines the manic energy of the Road Runner and the drunken wit of a Bugs Bunny dissipated by years of gaming and partying. They’re paired with Anna Kendrick, an actress who tempers her pixie-princess vibe with wit and intelligence, and Aubrey Plaza, whose droll, deadpan mannerisms deflect and complement the fizzy raw energy of the other three. This is the stuff of great formula comedies. You don’t need a complicated plot so much as actors who can dream up crazy antics that propel the movie forward and simultaneously develop their characters into real human beings, albeit movie comedy versions of real human beings.

The film is about two brothers who have a habit of ruining family gatherings on a grand scale. (We see flashbacks of a Fourth-of-July celebration going up in flames, of a wedding where their grandpa suffers a heart attack and falls face-first into the cake, etc.) The boys’ younger sister is getting married in Hawaii, and their parents (played by Stephen Root and Stephanie Faracy) present Mike and Dave with an ultimatum: find nice girls to accompany them to the wedding (and keep them in check), or don’t come at all. There’s much rigmarole as Mike and Dave search for girls who will fit this admittedly unusual bill, including a guest appearance on Wendy Williams and countless cringey meetings with women (and a few guys) all vying for an all-expenses-paid trip to Hawaii. (This little seed of the movie is based on a true story.)

The writers and Jake Szymanski, making his feature directing debut (he’s worked previously on Saturday Night Live among other shows), have concocted a modern-day screwball comedy of sorts: A misfit group of weirdos gathered at a luxurious resort for continued hijinks. The only thing missing is a subplot about their being on the lam, pursued by the mob. Mike and Dave even plays a little of the mistaken identity game, because Alice and Tatiana are only pretending to be good girls. In reality they’re as screwed up as the guys. Both of them live in a state of perpetual adolescence: Tatiana is a hot mess, although she’s better able to deal with her insanity than Alice, who was jilted by her fiancé, right at the middle of their nuptials. Now Alice watches the video of their doomed wedding on her phone over and over again. This trip represents both a form of therapy and masochism for her.

With Mike and Dave, finally we have a movie in which it’s not just the guys who are adult children. It’s all four of the main characters, equally stuck in the throes of arrested development. They come from stable, prosperous upbringings that provided too many options and not enough urgency in their lives to make difficult (read: adult) choices. But unlike so many similar-minded comedies of late, Mike and Dave revels in its characters’ bold, often ribald immaturity. It tacks on a jokey lesson about growing up, at the end, only the lesson itself is the joke. We’re not meant to treat these characters as real people, even though they become increasingly human, expanded far beyond their clichés. Because the film doesn’t care about giving us some dumb message, it remains true to the essence of all great screwball comedies, where character reform was rarely the point. What mattered instead was having a ball, and looking terrific, and who cares if the necklace is stolen? It’s a beaut! Did Barbara Stanwyck have a good time conning hapless and rich Peter Fonda in The Lady Eve? You bet. And did she change at the end? Nope. Did Myrna Loy and William Powell of The Thin Man films enjoy drinking too much at their hotels and letting their mysteries sort of solve themselves? By all means. The mysteries got solved, didn’t they? Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates embraces a similar kind of anarchy. It's a stick of dynamite, and I loved every minute of it.

With Sugar Lyn Beard, Sam Richardson, Alice Wetterlund, Lavell Crawford, Mary Holland, and Kumail Nanjiani, as a massage therapist who gives the bride a particularly erotic working over.

Countdown to Avengers 2: Thor: The Dark World

We're counting down to Avengers: Age of Ultron with Nerd Lunch and Cavalcade of Awesome! Each month leading up to Ultron's release on May 1, we'll be reviewing a different aspect of Marvel's Phase 2.  

Marvel

CT from Nerd Lunch and I tackled Iron Man 3 last month, and now it's time for Pax and I to take a look at Thor: The Dark World.

Beware spoilers for Thor: The Dark World and potential spoilers/speculation regarding Age of Ultron.

Thor: The Dark World

Thor: The Dark World picks up after the events of Thor and The Avengers. Our titular hero is establishing order in the Nine Realms now that the Bifrost has been restored. Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), now studying in London with Darcy (Kat Dennings), is done searching for Thor and is trying to get over him. Meanwhile, back in Asgard, Loki (Tom Hiddleston) is in prison. We see him interact with a hologram of his mother Frigga (Rene Russo).

Mondo

So not only has much changed for Thor and his friends and family since the last film, a new villain is on the scene: Malekith, the Dark Elf. Long ago, Malekith tried to obtain the Aether, a powerful relic that can essentially destroy the galaxy and restore darkness to reality. This is bad. What's worse is that Jane of all people manages to stumble upon the Aether and becomes imbued with its powers. Thor reunites with Jane (who's very upset at him for not doing so earlier) and whisks her off to Asgard. Malkeith follows and the rest of the film is Thor battling Malkeith for the Aether.

It might be because I just rewatched this film, but it's the Thor franchise that makes me want to see more Marvel character interaction. I'd love to see Anthony Hopkins' Odin interact with Robert Downey Jr.'s Iron Man or Chris Evans' Steve Rogers, for instance. I think that's a testament to these characters and actors. Some of the relationships in this movie are really quite fantastic. In a nutshell, Marvel's first family is fractured. The relationship between Loki and his mother Frigga is pretty heartbreaking here. She's one of the last connections he has outside of his prison cell, and when she's killed, Loki is devastated. An especially nice touch is when Thor goes to see Loki after her death. The trickster appears calm and collected, but when Thor questions him, Loki drops his holographic facade and reveals that he's disheveled and destroyed his cell in a fit of rage. Another great relationship is that of Thor and his father Odin. The All-Father wants Thor to take the throne and Thor still passes it up. Also interesting is that Odin and Thor have essentially swapped stances on war in this movie. Thor simply craved war in the original film because he was a spoiled brat, however. Here, Odin seeks vengeance for the death of Frigga.

The strongest relationship in the film is that of Thor and Loki, of course. Hiddleston turns in a particularly fine performance. His death (which comes after protecting both Thor and Jane and avenging Frigga) not only validates Hiddleston's role in the movie, it sort of validates Hemsworth as well. The two actors play off each other with ease.

Another great aspect of the film is the visuals. The opening shots of the elf/Asgardian battle on Svartalfheim is pretty fantastic. The visuals and production design sort of reinforce the fact that Thor and his people are more aliens with advanced science than gods. One of my favorite visual effects sequences in the film is the final battle between Thor and Malekith, not just because of their portal jumping, but because Thor's hammer Mjolnir is flying around desperately looking for Thor, almost with a life of its own.

There are plenty of connections to The Avengers for fans to enjoy here. The Bifrost is restored sometime before the start of the film, which we know was still damaged in The Avengers after Thor and Loki's battle in the original Thor. There's a lot of fallout from The Avengers. We see the repercussions of Loki's actions on his entire family. Dr. Selvig (Stellan Skarsgård) is now essentially crazy after Loki's brainwashing and the Battle of New York (the good kind of crazy, however - running around in your underwear, that kind of thing). In one of the movie's funnest moments, Loki briefly takes the form of Chris Evans' Captain America.

I'm sure - like me - you're wondering how Thor will fit into Age of Ultron. For one thing, I've heard a rumor that Jane and Thor didn't work out after The Dark World, so we'll have to see how that plays out for the God of Thunder.

I've also heard that Thor winds up in Asgardian hell and I guess Thor: Ragnarok will be him getting out. Maybe he goes to Asgard to get help to fight Ultron and Loki throws him in hell (where he discovers Odin has also been a prisoner?).

One thing I'm hoping for is that we see more of a Thor/Captain America bromance. Stark and Banner already have their "science bros" thing going on, so it only makes sense that Thor and Cap have something similar (muscle bros?). The brief part in the first movie where the two teamed up to fight Chitauri on the streets of New York was fun, and they seem to be friendly at the glimpses we've gotten of the party scene in the Ultron trailers. The fact that Cap almost picks up Mjolnir while a (briefly) worried Thor looks on in the trailer is something else to consider.

Thoughts from Pax at Cavalcade of Awesome...

I saw Thor: The Dark World in the theater just before it left and then I saw it again when it hit Blu-Ray. I actually quite liked it the first time I saw it but the more I moved away from the viewing my stance changed. I didn't remember why I liked it and the only thing I could think of was that Natalie Portman acted as if she didn't really want to be there and that they completely wasted the potential of Christopher Eccleston as Malekith.

So, I was not 100% looking forward to my re-watch for this countdown. But watching the film again, I am completely swept away by the charisma of the movie's cast. Hemsworth is simply a revelation when he's playing Thor. He's amazing. And I don't think I need to harp on how great Hiddleston is as Loki. And having these two team up for a "buddy" movie was a great idea. But it doesn't stop with them; Jaime Alexander, Zachary Levi and Ray Stevenson as Sif and the Warriors are also awesome. I want a Sif and the Warriors Three movie. STAT. Make that happen, Marvel. We even get to see Rene Russo and Idris Elba punch out tiny bits of awesomeness in this movie. It's also nice to see Kat Dennings' intern character come back. I had so much fun watching the movie this time and it's all based on the amazing cast.

Coming back to the bad part? Malekith. Completely wasted. Not too surprising since we keep getting visually amazing but ultimately hollow villain characters with very muddled motivations in almost all of these Marvel movies (I accuse you, Ronan the Accuser). And Natalie Portman is not great in this, but she isn't as bad as I remembered. It helps that she's gorgeous in nearly every scene that she's in.

Overall a very enjoyable movie that for some reason I forgot how fun it was to watch. And the humor was much more prevalent than I remembered as well. Not sure why I lapsed a bit in my Thor worship, but I'll be sure not to let that happen again.

Escape-athon 2015 Review: Logan's Run

In Logan's Run, it's THE FUTURE! Everyone lives in an idyllic, domed city, and life is good, except for the fact that it ends at 30.  That's right, when you turn 30, you have to participate in "Carousel" in order to, ugh, try and...get reincarnated...or something? The crowd (which is basically everyone in the city it looks like) sits in a giant amphitheater and watches the participants in the middle, who start to float up and then they all get zapped. This probably sounds confusing if you haven't seen the movie, but seeing the movie doesn't help much either. I'm sure if Logan's Run ever gets remade the updated Carousel would be a reality show. The ritual is barbaric and no one ever appears to make it through. Which prompts a lot of these 30-year-olds to run. That's where Logan comes in.

Nakatomi Tumbles via JoBlo

Logan (Michael York) is a Sandman, a sort of policeman that goes after runners.  We see this happen at the beginning of the film. Logan and his fellow Sandman Francis (Richard Jordan) have to leave their precious Carousel ritual to take out a runner, but Sandmen treat running like a sport, so it's all good.

Later, Logan tries to have some hologram sex or something (seriously, she just materializes out of the computer) with Jessica (Jenny Agutter). Logan learns that she's dissatisfied with life in the dome and is considering running. He still just wants to have sex with her, however. Logan is kind of an asshole.

So a lot more happens in this movie.  Logan is given a mission to find runners outside the city, but he sort of catches on that Carousel is a lie and stuff, so he teams up with Jessica. This really pisses off Franics, and he takes off after Logan and Jessica. Our heroes escape the city, but not before encountering a weird, terrifying robot (Roscoe Lee Browne) who's apparently been freezing runners for some reason. They come across Washington, D.C. and find an Old Man (Peter Ustinov). While chillin' with him in the dilapidated Congress chamber, Francis catches up and he and Logan have it out, with Logan eventually killing his old Sandman buddy. Logan and Jessica bring Old Man back to the domed city and they manage to convince everyone that it's all a lie.

I definitely had some questions about this film. Who runs the domed city? The computer? Why is the robot freezing people? Where is Sanctuary? Was it all a lie? Who is the Old Man? Logan's Run is, of course, based on the book by the same name, so I'm sure a lot of my questions are answered there. Another bad thing about the movie, however - its special effects are dated in a lot of spots, as dated as possible, in fact. But it's not a deal-breaker. The tone of the whole movie is good, and Michael York was great. The movie was certainly influential for other filmmakers over the years as well. I can see similarities to Logan's Run in movies as recent as Snowpiercer.

3 Out Of 5 Stars

Escape-athon 2015 Review: Outland

Outland, Peter Hyams' 1981 tale about a burnt-out lawman in space, takes place on Io, one of Jupiter's moons. The film revolves around Io's ore mining station and its marshal, William T. O'Neil (Sean Connery). 

George Spigot's Blog

O'Neil's new in town, and he and mine foreman Mark Sheppard (Peter Boyle) immediately rub each other the wrong way. There's hints of something sinister going on, i.e., people losing their damn minds: one worker opens his suit while outside the station, another takes an elevator to the surface without a suit altogether, and another takes a prostitute hostage and threatens to kill her. And as if shitty colleagues and crazy miners weren't enough of a problem, O'Neil's wife leaves him, taking their young son with her.

Hyams and his crew establish an effective mystery vibe throughout the film, and it leads up to the reveal that Sheppard is essentially running a drug operation on the side ("When the workers are happy, they dig more ore.") Hence the crazy crewmembers. Boyle's actually pretty menacing, believe it or not, if you're used to seeing him as a goofy Frankenstein monster or Ray Romano's dad.

It's all pretty much a pissing contest between O'Neil and Sheppard, right up until O'Neil discovers a new stash of drugs and narrowly avoids death by Sheppard thug. O'Neil flushes the drugs, prompting Sheppard to hire even more thugs. So a lot of the third act is essentially O'Neil waiting for Sheppard's hired guns to show up on the next transport shuttle. O'Neil is aided in his fight by the station's curmudgeony physician, Dr. Lazarus (Frances Sternhagen). But will that be enough to defeat Sheppard and his goons?

If all this sounds familiar, it's because Outland is essentially a remake of High Noon. O'Neil even trys and fails to secure help from his crew and other members of the station, much like Gary Cooper's Marshal Will Kane tries to get help from his townspeople. But even without the overt similarities to High Noon, Outland is sort of like a western anyway, with Connery's marshal character taking the place of any number of old west sheriffs.

The filmmakers do a pretty good job of establishing this fictional future. This is a world where kids like O'Neil's son reach damn near puberty without setting foot on Earth. The grimy station is a great environment for the film, and is sort of reminiscent of Alien. The movie's also aged pretty well. It did the inflating/exploding head thing almost a decade before Total Recall and the effect still looks decent.

3.5 Out Of 5 Stars

Nebraska

Spoilers ahead!

Nebraska follows the curmudgeonly and constantly befuddled Woody Grant (Bruce Dern) as he struggles to make it to (you guessed it) Nebraska with his son David (Will Forte). Woody's mission, should the reluctant David choose to accept it, is to claim $1,000,000 he believes he's won through a sweepstakes. Along the way, Woody and David get waylaid in the former's old stomping grounds, a place where secrets and greed are revealed.

FilmNation

That probably makes the movie sound a lot more serious than it actually is. In reality, Nebraska is a relatively light film about family: the pressures of it, connecting with it, and coming to appreciate it.

Luckily, director Alexander Payne and his crew assembled a great cast to tell this seemingly insignificant story. Dern and Forte have near perfect chemistry together, which might surprise anyone unfamiliar with Forte's non Saturday Night Live work (i.e., most everyone). Woody sounds like a walking contradiction - amenable but stubborn, giving yet cantankerous. But Dern somehow pulls that off. Forte is great because he seems genuinely interested in his father and his past, as interested as his father is disinterested in everything but his $1,000,000, in fact. June Squibb as Woody's wife and David's mother Kate is also great, the kind of woman who henpecks her husband incessantly and flashes the graves of former would-be suitors but provides a sweet and protective matriarch for her family nonetheless. Bob Odenkirk as David's brother Ross and Stacy Keach as Woody's old "friend" round out the great cast.

With Woody's real motivation revealed (he wants to give the money - except enough to buy a new truck and an air compressor - to his sons), he and David finally make it to Nebraska. And it's revealed that, no, of course they didn't win $1,000,000. You might think Woody would get angry, but that would be out of character, really. He reacts exactly as he should, and the same way as when he discovered that he "won" $1,000,000 in the first place - with acceptance. And it's no great loss, since, on the way home, David trades in his car for a new truck (Woody's name is on the title, but David gets to drive it) and picks up a new air compressor as well. But what about David and Ross' inheritance, though? That's the thing about family, Nebraska tells us - it's its own reward and worth far more than $1,000,000.

4 Out Of 5 Stars

Unseen Halloween: Carrie (1976)

Unseen Halloween is an October feature where we watch and review older horror films that we'd never seen before. Enjoy!

Carrie is a 1976 horror film directed by Brian De Palma and adapted from the novel by Stephen King. It's about the titular Carrie (Sissy Spacek), who discovers that she has telekinetic abilities and uses them to get revenge on her classmates when they pull a cruel prank on her at prom. Meanwhile, Carrie's mom (Piper Laurie) is batshit crazy.

malikafavre via joblo

The highlight of the film for me was Spacek as Carrie. There's a theme of growth and self-discovery throughout the film and Spacek really nails it. Carrie goes from being a shy, near-mute girl to a happy person to a chilling murderer in the space of a week or so. The famous shower scene at the beginning of the movie marks Carrie's first period, and it's as awkward as it sounds. That scene also perfectly demonstrates how cruel Carrie's classmates are. Seriously, these women behave like animals.

Carrie's gym teacher Miss Collins is one of the only nice people in Carrie's life. Betty Buckley did a really great job in the role. Nancy Allen and John Travolta play a couple of assholes, one of your standard high school couples named Chris and Billy, the ones that dump all the pig's blood on Carrie at the prom. They were pretty good in their roles, although Travolta for some reason can't drink a beer to save his life - he's constantly got a beer mustache/beard on his face.

One of the more interesting parts of the film concerned the characters of Tommy (William Katt) and Sue (Amy Irving). I was never really sure what their intentions with Carrie were (although maybe I just didn't pay close enough attention). They cooked up a plan to have Tommy take Carrie to the prom (despite the fact that Tommy and Sue are dating), but I didn't know if that was part of Chris and Billy's plan to humiliate Carrie. Tommy seems to genuinely like Carrie, however. One of the movie's more memorable scenes involves Tommy and Carrie dancing. As they spin, the camera rotates around them in the opposite direction. It's all rather dizzying, and it kind of makes you feel like you're dancing with them, their giddy mood almost rubbing off on you.

In the end, it turns out that Tommy and Sue were genuinely just trying to help Carrie, so it makes it all the worse when we discover that Tommy is killed in Carrie's massacre. Sue survived however, and one of the final scenes shows Carrie reaching up from the remains of her house to grab her. Turns out this was all a dream, however.

Wait...let me back up. Carrie and her crazy mother got sucked under the Earth  - along with their entire house - after Carrie's mother tried to murder her for showing her "dirty pillows" at the prom. Carrie ended up having to kill her mother with her telekinesis, slinging a bunch of knives into her and crucifying her (the religious imagery in the film isn't very subtle). And while we're on the subject of Carrie's mother, Piper Laurie was definitely a standout. She apparently thought she was filming a "black comedy" and not a horror film. I don't really know what that says about her performance, although her "dirty pillows" and "They're all gonna laugh at you," lines are pretty funny (now I appreciate that Adam Sandler bit even more).

So as someone who has now seen Carrie, I would recommend it. It's got some great central performances and it's a pretty unique horror story to boot.

3 Out of 5 Stars

2010: The Year We Make Contact

It's easy for sequels to be overlooked and overshadowed by their predecessors. 2010: The Year We Make Contact, is a great example. The film takes place nine years after the events of Stanley Kubrick's masterpiece, 2001: A Space Odyssey. How to compete with that film, a movie that's almost universally recognized as a classic? In 2010, Dr. Heywood Floyd (Roy Scheider) is on a joint US/Soviet mission aboard the Leonov to discover what happened to astronaut Dave Bowman (Keir Dullea), his ship the Discovery, and the murderous computer that ran it, HAL 9000. 

2010 on Facebook

One big aspect about 2010 is the creepy vibe throughout the film. For instance, the film starts with a deep, distorted voice (which, it turns out, belongs to the missing Dave Bowman) saying "My God, it's full of stars." This line is in reference to the monolith Dave discovered at the end of the first film. Interestingly, this line isn't in the original film, but does appear in the book. Also notable is a scene where a probe is searching for signs of life on Jupiter's moon Europa. The probe's on-board camera pans across the surface as the crew looks on. I don't particularly remember a creepy factor in 2001 (suspenseful, sure), so I think it's notable that it's so prevalent in this sequel.

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Also notable in 2010 is the US/Soviet relationship. The film was made during the Cold War amid tensions between the two countries. This factors heavily into the movie's plot, despite the fact that it was, at the time, portraying the future. This quality definitely dates the film. In fact, the film's ending is a bit preachy, with a cosmic message that the Earth's inhabitants need to live in peace. The US/Soviet subplot does add a bit of political intrigue to the film, however, so it's not a complete waste of time.

The cast is one of the film's strongest suits. Scheider is the film's star, and he's a little more grandiose than Jaws' Chief Brody (oddly enough, both characters are members of a team on a ship, hunting for something...hmm). Helen Mirren is great as the Russian Captain Tanya Kirbuk (Mirren is actually of Russian descent despite being known simply as a Brit) and Lithgow turns in a solid performance, portraying a nervous American engineer named Walter Curnow. Bob Balaban plays Dr. R. Chandra, Hal 9000's creator.

With the special effects of today's films, you may think that 2010 looks dated. And it does, to an extent. But there are some beautiful cosmic shots, such as a scene where the crew's ship is sent hurtling towards Jupiter after they attempt to "air brake", a process where they slow their velocity by using the planet's atmosphere. There's also a great Gravity-esque scene where Lithgow's character travels from the Leonov to the Discovery while tethered to a Russian member of the crew.

Reflections on Film and Television

At the end of the day, 2010: The Year We Make Contact is a smart, engaging sci-fi flick, overshadowed by its predecessor simply because of the high bar set. Seek it out if you're looking for a thoughtful, well-acted space drama.

3.5 Out Of 5 Stars

This review is part of Forgotten Films' 1984-a-thon.

Escape-athon Review: Riddick

Riddick (there’s no “The Chronicles of” before that) starts out slow and silent. A good beginning for this sort of flick. We quickly learn that Riddick has been abandoned on a planet and left for dead by the Necromongers, the race of people he became leader of at the end of the previous film.

Collider

As I said, the beginning feels slow, but that’s good. We become re-acquainted with Riddick and meet some of the planet’s indigenous life (read: predators). In fact, we even see Riddick get to raise one of the planet’s dog-like creatures from a pup to a full-grown terror (yes, the beginning takes that long).

Eventually, however, Riddick wants to get off the planet. In his quest for escape, he activates an old beacon that attracts two different groups of bounty hunters. One of the groups turns out to be led by someone who shares a connection with a man from Riddick’s past. But what happens when you mix the bounty hunters, monstrous aliens, and Richard B. Riddick?

I really loved this film’s attitude. As I mentioned, it starts out slow, and it always stays pretty focused and small-scale. Gone are the blockbuster ambitions of the previous film, The Chronicles of Riddick. I believe at one point Riddick mentions something about finding his animal side again, and I think that’s exactly what the filmmakers were going for with this sequel.

I also appreciated the acting in the film. Vin Diesel gave it his all as Riddick once more, and Katie Sackhoff played another one of the badass chicks that 2013 produced so well. Even Karl Urban, who very briefly reprises his role from Chronicles, seemed dedicated to the part.

The plot was a little predictable in parts but it was decent in general. One aspect of the story - the fact that a huge, seemingly never ending rain storm releases amphibious monsters from the ground - paralleled the eclipse that allowed the nocturnal aliens to prey on Riddick and the others from Pitch Black. This felt a little recycled but it was a nice callback to the original at the same time. I also liked how the arrival of the bounty hunters in this film forced Riddick into the role of monster once again.

If you’re looking for a decent sci-fi action flick, you could do a lot worse than this one. And if you do watch this, chances are you’re a fan of the Riddick character. If that’s the case, you shouldn’t be disappointed at all.

3 Out of 5 Stars

Escape-athon Review: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug picks up shortly after the end of An Unexpected Journey. Titular hobbit Bilbo Baggins and his companions are still trying to make their way to the Lonely Mountain to face Smaug. Gandalf unexpectedly parts ways with the group but they still manage to make it to the mountain and Smaug. But can they defeat him?

Warner Bros

I really enjoyed this film, and that’s coming from someone who was pretty disappointed with the first one. What’s different? Well, for one thing, the dreaded high frame rate is a lot better in this film. It was very jarring right off the bat in the first Hobbit but I didn’t mind it as much here. Still, anything that’s predominantly CGI and fast paced looks pretty terrible to me. For instance, the “ring vision” (whenever Bilbo puts on the ring) is pretty tough to watch.

I also feel like the acting was a little stronger here. Newcomer Lee Pace was creepy as an elf king. Evangeline Lilly as Tauriel the elf was dreamy (a little dramatic at times, but dreamy). I really enjoyed her unexpected romance with Aidan Turner’s Kili. Orlando Bloom was...Orlando Bloom. Luke Evans as Bard was an unexpectedly compelling character.

Other than the high frame rate, the effects were a mixed bag for me. Before seeing the movie I read (see badassdigest.com) that several of the CGI villains were originally played by actors in costume and makeup. I’m not sure why the filmmakers decided to replace them with CGI characters. It definitely made me nostalgic for the practical character effects from the original Lord of the Rings films (although, that’s not to say that Desolation had no good practical effects).

On the other side of the spectrum, I think they did a great job on Smaug the dragon. Both Benedict Cumberbatch’s performance and the computer rendered dragon were amazing and the film really jumped up a notch once Bilbo met Smaug.

Another positive is that the whole film had an old-fashioned fantasy feel to it for me. This could have easily been a film I watched growing up in the ‘80s and ‘90s but I’m not sure why. It could all be simply because I grew up on that creepy Rankin and Bass version of The Hobbit and I’m simply remembering that.

At the end of the day, I liked this sequel a hundred times more than the first film and I was actually a little disappointed when the movie ended (with a huge cliffhanger, no less). I can only hope that the second sequel and final chapter in the film, There and Back Again, improves on this film as well.

3.5 Out Of 5 Stars