Lockout
Year: 2012
Genre: Action/Thriller/Sci-Fi
Runtime: 95mins
Rating: PG-13
IMDB Score: 6.1/10 (22,800+ votes)
Director(s): James Mather and Stephen St. Leger
Writer(s): James Mather, Stephen St. Leger, and Luc Besson
Plot/Synopsis:
A man wrongly convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage against the U.S. is offered his freedom if he can rescue the president’s daughter from an outer space prison taken over by violent inmates.
Forethought(s):
Looks like a nice action sci-fi film. Kinda reminds me of late night action/sci-fi flicks from the 90s.
Fun Fact/Trivia:
There is a Wilhelm scream in this movie.
Stars of the movie: Guy Pearce,Maggie Grace and Peter Stormare.
The Breakdown:
The year is 2079,the president’s daughter has been taken hostage and it’s up to Snow to get her back. Sound like the plot to a crony NES game or maybe an action movie from the early 90′s that was made in a week? If you answered yes to those,you win!
The protagonist is a man named Snow. He is a wise cracking,cigarette smoking ass kicker. Who needs more info? You do? Leave now.
If that doesn’t sound good enough how about I tell you that there is some super poor CG affects in the movie that actually works? The reason for me that the crappy CG work is that the movie is set 67 years in the feature and really who knows what cars and cityscapes will look like at that point? Maybe they will in fact look like crappy CG. Don’t worry all the crappy CG happens in the first ten minutes of the flick. Later CG is quite nice.
Still need more info? The movie is really action filled. Right from the started we get some light action then with in a minute or two later we get some fist to face and bullets to head type of action which last for about five minutes and involves a one wheeled motor cycle chase scene. Then there’s a lull in which the story starts to unfold. Shortly after the action picks up but it’s not the high octane that is the first 10 minutes or so,however,that does not mean there isn’t punching,stabbing and spacing going on.
This is going to sound odd but the writing in this movie is good. I mean real good. I’m not talking about the type of writing that’s going to win an Oscar but it’s the type that makes you feel like this shit somehow could happen. Also this is the type of writing that asks the questions that we the viewers ask ourselves when we watch a film. The main character (Snow) will see something he doesn’t understand and will just be like “Hmm, how’d you know the lock combo?” Simple things like that are scattered throughout the movie. One final thing is that they totally got me on who the bad guy was. Good one you writers of LOCKOUT,good one you.
The acting is a real shock for me. I was expecting a lot of over acting and poorly timed punches but no,in the few cases where there is overacting it’s a creative decision based on how the story goes. Guy Pearce channels Stallone from the 80s for action and tosses in some Rob Schneider for the wise cracking. Maggie Grace was the weakest for half the movie and become solid near the end. I can’t say I’ve seen her in a lot of things but I would like to. There’s something about her voice that just makes me want to listen to her all day and all night,of course the night listening would be for he sex sounds. Peter Stormare,really,do I need to say anything about him?
Best line/exchange in the movie:
There are a shit ton of great on liners in this. One of my favs is this one.
Snow:I’m being beaten up by a guy called Rupert?
The Verdict:
If you’ve had an itch for late 80′s or early 90′s style action movie that are just pure awesome due to them not caring if you like them or not and doing what they feel is badass then you will want to see this.
I give this movie 4 evac pods out of 5.
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Green Lantern:Emerald Knights
Year: 2011
Genre: Action/Adventure/Animation/Sci-Fi
Runtime: 84mins
Rating: PG-13
IMDB Score: 7.2/10 (40 Votes)
Director(s): Chris Berkeley,Lauren Montgomery & Jay Oliva
Writer(s): Eddie Berganza,Alan Burnett,Todd Casey,Dave Gibbons,Michael Green,Marc Guggenheim,Geoff Johns & Peter Tomasi
Plot/Synopsis:
As the home planet of the Green Lantern Corps faces a battle with an ancient enemy, Hal Jordan prepares new recruit Arisia for the coming conflict by relating stories of the first Green Lantern and several of Hal’s comrades.
Forethought(s):
A Green Lantern take on Batman:Gotham Knight ? Yes please.
Fun Fact/Trivia:
Green Lantern the comics are based off of E.E Smiths book series Lensman.
The Breakdown:
Well, the only things this had in common with Batman:Gotham Knight was the fact that it told different stories (hell all the stories were being told via flashbacks by Jordan. Gotham Knight was a bunch of stories being told by mostly street level folk in the here and now) plus all the different writers telling different stories.
The animation was very smooth and all the same through out the movie so I do not know if they picked different artist,like Gotham Knight did, to do the animation or just one. I would have to guess just one. And you know what? It really worked unlike Gotham Knight where every story had a different artist.This way you felt like you were watching one movie as opposed to six different shorts.
I’ve said it with the last few animation flicks I’ve watched and I will continue to say it, I hate talking about the acting in the movie. Acting is more than just voices;it’s about body language and how you say things. In an animated movie you don’t get the body language and it does take a bit away from the experience. There is none thing worse than watching any type of media that has bad voice work in it and I’m glad to say there was none in this movie at all. There were some characters that you’d like to sound different but for the most part they all work. Now I’m sure bunch of you Brown Coats will bitch at me but over all I did not like Fillion as Hal. He was able to pull off the smug and dryness that Hal is known for but a lot of time I was asking myself if Caleb from BtVS was Hal. Yes people I know he played Caleb but the way he talked from time to time reminded me to much of Caleb. Then you have Elisabeth Moss who most of you may know from Mad Men (I don’t since I’ve never seen the show) and she is spot on for the character she plays. I mean it’s creepy how much I can see her character Arisia sounding like that. Good on the casting director. Finally we have veteran voice actor Steve Blum who has over 400 credits to his name. If you’ve watch any cartoons or played the more popular video games from the last 20+ years then I’m sure you know who this man is. Just look at his imdb page http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0089710/ Isn’t that crazy? I have seen/heard a lot of his stuff and I still have a hard time picking him out. He does a lot of different types of voices. A real talent.
The stories are engaging to the point that even non-comic book fans would like this movie. Fear my fellow comic dork/geeks/nerds there is plenty in there for those that know more about GLs than the normal person. In fact they even put in some red rage for us. The one is question was not yet raging but it was fun to see that character interact with others while without the red ring. On the other hand they were missing some key and cult GLs like: all the humans (my fav Gardner) other than Hal and G’nort. We did get a story about Mogo and lets be honest no GL history telling would be complete without Mogo. So they made it watchable for non GL fan and more watchable for the GL fans.
The Verdict:
Over all a good movie that is worth your time. It’s not worth a buy so just rent it or wait for it to hit Netflix.
I give this movie 3 power batteries out of 5.
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