Opinion as a Movie-freak

Genre : Horror
Country:Canada/USA

Cast :
Chris Messina : Detective Bowden
Geoffrey Arend : Verkoper
Logan Marshall-Green : Mekanieker

Director :
John Erick Dowdle

Summary
Bowden, a police detective who is dealing with his drinking problem, investigates a strange suicide, when he's suddenly called for a seemingly innocuous event. Five people are stuck in the elevator of a huge skyscraper. But after a while some extraordinary things begin to happen and the people in the elevator inexplicably die one by one.
My opinion
 
If the Devil is real, then God must be real, too.

Sometimes you come across a movie that isn't that much of a deal, but still manages to captivate in some way. "Devil" is such a movie. A parable-like movie about the evil in mankind, and the fact that Evil sometimes manifests itself among us.
The complete movie is almost entirely set in an elevator that gets stuck with five people inside it. As the film progresses you learn that each of them isn't such an innocent soul and has something to answer for. While they are stuck there, after a while, it's clear that the devil is among them and starts a drop out race where one after the other is killed. Meanwhile Detective Bowden arrived to investigate a mysterious suicide and thus becomes involved in this sinister cat and mouse game. 
The fact that it's all happening on a few square meters, and every time somebody is about to become a victim this occurs in total darkness with only some noises in the background, makes sure that it wasn't an exciting or scary movie. You can imagine what's happening but the actual slaughter you won't see at all. Only the result. Bowden, who is fighting an alcohol addiction after he lost his family a few months earlier, witnesses a situation with an ordinary stuck elevator escalating into a seemingly clever set up murder plan. Because of a religious Mexican he starts to realize that it could well be something supernatural.
The one who excels the most in this movie is of course Chris Messina who plays a tormented personality in a beautiful way. You see him slowly grow as the film nears the end. The rest simply acts mediocre to extremely poor. The only one I would give some credit is Bokeem Woodbine who plays a neurotic guard who suffers from claustrophobia in a rather good way. Ultimately, it's still a surprising end and the moral of the story is that a person who shows repentance still can be saved.

A short and enjoyable movie that doesn't leave a lasting impression.
My rating 5 /10
Links : IMDB

Genre : Comedy/Crime
Country :Canada/USA

Cast :
Kurt Russell : Crunch Calhoun
Matt Dillon : Nicky Calhoun
Terence Stamp : Samuel Winter

Director :
Jonathan Sobol

Summary
Crunch Calhoun is a daredevil on a motorcycle and a part-time art thief. He even agrees to do a final job with his brother Nicky. He manages to get his old team back together to steal an invaluable historical book. However Nicky comes up with a much more risky plan. The two brothers don't realize that they each have a hidden agenda. 

Genre : SF
Country :USA

Cast :
Liev Schreiber : Vincent Campbel
Elias Koteas : Charles Brunel
Romola Garai : Rebecca Lane

Director :
Ruairi Robinson

Summary
On the last day of a mission to Mars, a crewmember thinks he has discovered something special namely bacterial life. Slowly they realize that the discovered life form is still alive and also dangerous.
My opinion

There are footprints here. There’s two pairs.

Without any prior knowledge I started watching this flick. It'll be definitely on Mars and it's about the last days there (in the end it's only about one day). To be honest it looked very promising at the start. The views of the Martian landscape, the desert-like environment and the upcoming sandstorm were stunning to look at. The simple looking electric vehicles were realistic enough and when the characters were presented there was without a doubt personal tensions between them. The only thing you don't know is what was going to happen. The first thing that's clear is the fact that this is the last day that this crew will spend on Mars before they are relieved by the next team. Is there a climatic disaster to come or are they going to be overpowered by Martians? 
As I said earlier, the visual looks are neat. Both the base station and the outdoor locations. I only found the steel doors inside the station rather look like those of a submarine. Unfortunately, the whole team consists again out of recurring archetypes. A commander who lacks command in a certain field, a psychiatrist who eventually turns out to be a coward and a scared nitwit, a female scientist who really is a bitch and takes no prisoners when it comes to achieving personal success, a technician who actually plays a brief role and ultimately only serves as a victim. And then obviously there is the protagonist Vincent, who suffers a trauma and who has a good relationship with Rebecca, another female team member. Of course, these two will stay together until the bitter end. And the end really tastes a bit bitter.
Unfortunately, eventually it turns out to be a kind of "World War Z" on Mars on a miniscule scale. There were after all not many people on the planet who could mutate into a zombie-like Martian creature that's looking for fluid. The discovery of a biological life form on this planet is the cause of this fact. The only thing you can do from then on is to start a guessing game : who's turn is it next and who'll be the only survivor. And that's not so hard to guess!
The only positive about this movie is the fact it only takes about 100 minutes and therefore feels like a juicy hamburger from the McDonalds: baked quickly, quickly picked up and fast digested. And an hour later you've already forgotten that you've eaten. So it's a movie as a snack.
The most impressive moment in the whole movie is when Vincent smashes the psychiatrists face with his space helmet after a few well-aimed headers. The blood drops which he removes with his hand, while floating around is superbly filmed.
PS. If you compare the budget ($ 7 Mil) with that of "Gravity" ($ 100 Mil) I surely admire the creditable attempt. "Gravity" off course has two top actors (and I mean that because they probably absorb a large part of the budget) and baffling graphic effects. But the story about "Gravity" is as simple and meaningless as this one.
My rating 4 /10
Links : IMDB

Genre : SF/Action
Land :USA

Cast :
Liam Neeson : Admiraal Shane
Alexander Skarsgård : Stone Hopper
Taylor Kitsch : Alex Hopper

Director :
Peter Berg

Summary
In Battleship, we see how the fleet of the Navy has to compete against aliens who set foot on earth. Trapped in an alien force field of more than 480 kilometers, five ships and five alien ships have to battle each other without any form of communication.
My opinion

Let's drop some lead on those motherf...

I really didn't have high expectations when I started watching "Battleship", and yet I had a great time with this action packed SF. Ultimately, this movie shows what they initially made it ​​for: awful lot of action and stupid violence, heroism of the highest order and sometimes some humor. Despite the length of the movie , I didn't get bored and it wasn't as usual a battle against sleep. Granted, you should not expect too much of the storyline or look for any depth in the story. The story on its own isn't logical either. But that can't spoil the fun, and you can expect some blasting action scenes.
About the performances we can be brief : there weren't any because that was totally unnecessary and there was no need to bring up profound characters . It was a hodgepodge of cliché personalities as we have seen already in multiple movies. First you have the Hopper brothers. Stone is the caring and perfect soldier ( Alexander Skarsgard ) who has a neatly controlled life and knows his responsibilities and tries to explain that to the rebellious profligate brother Alex ( Taylor Kitch ). When they are celebrating Alex his birthday in a dark bar, purely by coincidence the Admiral his daughter Sam ( Brooklyn Decker ) walks in there for a "Chicken Buritto". Her well formed shapes make Alex his hormones go totally flabbergasted. The result is a ridiculous intrusion as we have already seen a lot on You Tube . Before you know it , he is also in the navy and promoted at a very short notice to Lieutenant.
The Admiral himself is played by Liam Neeson. He's just for a little time in the picture and probably has accepted this role for filling up a hole in his busy schedule. Rihanna played a female macho. To be honest, I didn't recognize her at all, and oddly enough she didn't bother me. A starring role for me was the interpretation by Gregory D. Dadson of the veteran Canales,  because it was so spontaneous and eventually was the funniest part. The moment when the alien stared at his two prosthetics was priceless. Most useless (but necessary) contribution was the gang of "Benidorm Bastards" that eventually took care of things.

About the images I was pretty satisfied. It had a "Pacific Rim" feeling. The special effects were sometimes hugely impressive. The alien spacecrafts were realistic and looked ominously threatening. Huge monstrous vehicles which moved with tremendous force on the ocean. The look of the naval fleet was sometimes really amateurish. The naval battles gave me a "Pearl Harbour" feeling. Only the latter movie was better in terms of effects. The moment the destroyer started to sink and Alex and the Japanese captain Nagata stood at the stern, the comparison with "Titanic" wasn't far off. Sometimes the shots seemed to be made ​​in a bathtub with Dinkey Toys toys. The aliens did their best to act aggressively. But it was nevertheless quite ridiculously when they were confronted with a human and turned into a friendly E.T.
The reason why those aliens came to earth is not entirely clear. To me it seemed like it was for them to test whether they could set up a communication line with their home planet. And every time I wonder why humanity always seeks contact with a life form that is light years from here. If they are out there, you can nevertheless assume that if this race can come over here, they have outclassed our technology in all areas. Well it's nice that Cal Zapata reminds us twice that when an alien race reacts to the signal and makes contact, this would be like when Columbus discovered the Indians. Except that we are now the Indians.
Oh well, the final result was something like "Top Gun". Again a demonstration of the American superiority in the Military field. And then we also get to see some retired sailors who manage to get a museum piece to work again. And luckily there's even ammunition on board to use. These triggerfinger-grandfathers shoot those aliens back into space so there is a peaceful ending and Alex can ask the Admiral for permission to marry his daughter. That this was going to happen was obvious. But it was still enjoyable to watch this entertaining spectacle (with an empty head). Sometimes it's just that plain simple.

My rating 5 /10
Links : IMDB

Genre : Crime/Drama
Country :USA

Cast :
Michael Fassbender : Counselor
Brad Pitt : Westray
Cameron Diaz : Malkina

Director :
Ridley Scott

Summary
A rich and successful lawyer, the Counselor, is about to get married to his fiance but soon becomes entangled in a complex drug plot with a middle-man known as Westray. The plan ends up taking a horrible twist and he must protect himself and his soon to be bride as the truth of the drug business is uncovered and targets are eliminated.

Genre : Horror
Country :USA

Cast :
Sheri Moon Zombie : Heidi Hawthorne
Bruce Davison : Francis Matthias
Jeff Daniel Phillips : Herman 'Whitey' Salvador

Director :
Rob Zombie

Summary
Heidi, a blond rock chick, DJs at a local radio station, and together with the two Hermans forms part of the "Big H Radio Team." A mysterious wooden box containing a vinyl record arrives for Heidi, a gift of the Lords. She assumes it's a rock band on a mission to spread their word. As Heidi and Whitey play the Lords' record, it starts to play backwards, and Heidi experiences a flashback to a past trauma. Later, Whitey plays the Lords' record, dubbing them the Lords of Salem, and to his surprise, the record plays normally and is a massive hit with his listeners. The arrival of another wooden box from the Lords presents the Big H team with free tickets, posters and records to host a gig in Salem. Soon, Heidi and her cohorts are far from the rock spectacle they're expecting. The original Lords of Salem are returning and they're out for blood.

Genre : Comedy
Country :USA

Cast :
Diane Keaton : Ellie
Robert De Niro : Don
Susan Sarandon : Bebe

Director :
Justin Zackham

Summary
Don and Ellie were once married and have two children, Lyla and Jared. They adopted a boy from Colombia, Alejandro. Eventually they divorce, Ellie moves away and Don hooks up with Bebe, Ellie's best friend. When Alejandro is about to get married, he informs Don And Ellie that he never told his natural mother that they got divorced. And she is coming for the wedding so he asks them if they could pretend to be still married. Don and Ellie reluctantly agree to it and Bebe moves out who is also upset that Don for some reason doesn't want to commit.

Genre : Drama
Country :USA

Cast :
Robert Redford : Our man

Director :
J.C. Chandor

Summary
Deep into a solo voyage in the Indian Ocean, an unnamed man (Redford) wakes to find his 39-foot yacht taking on water after a collision with a shipping container left floating on the high seas. With his navigation equipment and radio disabled, the man sails unknowingly into the path of a violent storm. Despite his success in patching the breached hull, his mariner's intuition and a strength that belies his age, the man barely survives the tempest. Using only a sextant and nautical maps to chart his progress, he is forced to rely on ocean currents to carry him into a shipping lane in hopes of hailing a passing vessel. But with the sun unrelenting, sharks circling and his meager supplies dwindling, the ever-resourceful sailor soon finds himself staring his mortality in the face.
My opinion
Normally I start a review with a quote from the film in question. That's a bit difficult in this case since "All is lost" lacks any conversation. The only thing that would qualify is a frustrated cry of the famous F-word. For the rest it is just sloshing water, creaking wood, noise of hitting ropes and lots of rain and falling water, you hear throughout the film. I can understand his frustration, because how the hell is it possible to have a collision between your pleasure boat and a container on that immeasurable ocean while doing an afternoon nap ?
It's difficult to call this movie unnerving exciting. I dare to say that it was dead boring after a certain time. The only decision I took after watching this film is that I'll never set foot on such a boat and float around on the ocean with nothing but water around you as far as you can look. And in the worst case, not only around you, but also down at you.
Robert Redford, the icon of the white screen, had to carry the complete movie. He was, after all, the only living figure in this wet movie. Besides an unidentified hand at the last moment. No idea what RR 's name was. Besides, there is a total lack of background information about his character. Except that we know where exactly he is sailing. I can't complain about his acting performance because this was sometimes astounding. The only thing that really amazed me was how stoically calm he was the whole time. A damn container makes a leak, no electricity or radio, a storm that shows up, the whole boat turns upside down, he hits his head against an iron pole, the boat is sinking, the lifeboat ends up in a storm, also turns upside down and then it catches fire ... but does he keep a straight face ? Yes sir ! He's a paragon of utmost restraint. I found this a bit exaggerated because I certainly would need a spare box of diapers in those circumstances !
The explanation might be that he's an experienced sailor. Yet this experienced sailor had to read a  handbook on how to determine his position using the stars. And apparently he never used a sextant before. There were times when it was so predictable. I said at one time it wouldn't surprise me if "Jaws" would suddenly show up. Afterwards they wandered around his dinghy. And that his boat could sink at any moment, could not stop him to crawl aboard a second time. And off course the second time it went down.
The movie itself wasn't that bad, but it wasn't very entertaining either. And sailing seems to be a dull affair after all. The end was cheesy and followed the well known Hollywood guidelines. For me, the end would have gained enormously in strength, if at that ultimate moment RR wants to grasp the saving hand, he'd be dragged down by a great white shark. But that is too exaggerated and would be enormously ironic.
My rating 3 /10
Links : IMDB

Genre : SF/Adventure
Country :USA

Cast :
Asa Butterfield : Ender Wiggin
Harrison Ford : Kolonel Graff
Hailee Steinfeld : Petra Arkanian

Director :
Gavin Hood

Summary
The Earth was ravaged by the Formics, an alien race seemingly determined to destroy humanity. Seventy years later, the people of Earth remain banded together to prevent their own annihilation from this technologically superior alien species. Ender Wiggin, a quiet but brilliant boy, may become the savior of the human race. He is separated from his beloved sister and his terrifying brother and brought to battle school in orbit around earth. He will be tested and honed into an empathetic killer who begins to despise what he does as he learns to fight in hopes of saving Earth and his family.
My opinion

There's only one kid on this launch with any brains at all so far, and that's Ender Wiggin.

Brace yourself for again a graphically stunning looking SF, with a strong beginning, a story that will make you frown your eyebrows and a fairly disappointing end. It's again based on a book I haven't read. The good news is, it's not a very complicated story. It's not that you'll be completely lost after a while because you didn't read the book in which the details are usually described. You'll notice as the movie progresses that it's a youth book. I couldn't get rid of the impression that this was a sort of "Harry Potter in Space". A magic boy possesses certain qualities that adults have been looking for since a long time. He's repeatedly called "The One" (an echoing reverberating sound effect wouldn't be out of place here) and he's apparently a wet dream of the leader of the cadet school (Harrison Ford). Of course, this little boy is looked at as an emerging hero and hailed for his intelligence that others apparently do not possess cause of a momentary brain disorder. Strange, because after all they also belong to the select group of highly intellectual kids. Well anyway, it leads to resentment, jealousy and hate. But our friend Ender eventually turns the tide and gathers together a fan base to protect the earth's population against the oncoming swarm of Formics.
As I said already, this SF is an eye catcher. I bet the "Special Effects" department has spent a lot of money on this one. It looks nice, crispy and flashy. As a SF fan you'll start to drool for sure. The comparison with recent works such as "Oblivion", "Elysium" and "Prometheus" is obvious. Even "Gravity" is included when it's about the images from space with a beautiful planet at the background. I even got flashbacks from earlier films like "Battlestar Galactica," "Independence Day" and "The Black Hole". Generally you can say that it looked fine and worked out into perfection. The space battles in both the simulator and the real one, looked pretty impressive. The alien spacecrafts that moved like a flock of starlings was magnificent to see. And indeed, the heroic deed by Mazer Rackham looked like a duplicate of scenes out of "Independence Day".
The performances were usually excellent. No Oscar material, but nothing that really annoyed me. Asa Butterfield was a convincing Ender. Harrison Ford was a confident Colonel who has no problem with the fact that they actually are training kid soldiers. Viola Davis, the psychologist on board, was a convincing motherly military. And the rest of the little ones did what they had to do: or they were from the beginning an adoring friend of Ender (Petra and Co) or buggers who immediately began to tease him. Moisos Arias was the best example. In Ender's place, I would have kicked this South American annoying brat into space.
The thing that started to annoy me was the content of the story. Indeed it's kept simple and rather childish. Initially I don't have a problem with that. The run-up to the training was fascinating to watch and kept my attention. I just started to question myself about the usefulness of the whole training since later on, they didn't make much use of it anyway. It looked like a sort of "Quidditch" but then in space suits. And you could also win the game by getting someone of your own team through the opponents gate, instead of throwing a ball through it! It was a pleasure to see the various team members floating around in those glass balls. But that was it. Only some floating around! The idea of those little guys learning a kind of Lasergun teen game and afterwards using real war material to teach those aliens a lesson, kind of felt unreal and surrealistic. The lack of explanation about the relationship between Ender and his brother Peter and sister Valentine was kind of a disappointment. I wanted to know more about that. It would have been interesting material. And as a grand finale Ender suddenly transformed into a Good Samaritan and was outraged about the fact they have lied to him. I thought they were preparing him for this task anyway and that he fully understood that. But no, the little fellow got extremely mad and suddenly he unravels the complete mystery and goes on his last mission as Admiral to accomplish a promise he made. Deep disappointment !
I can only conclude that it's a visually delightful film. The story is of a childish level, but is actually still a bridge too far for the youngest. But I found the end a huge letdown that screwed up the rest of the movie.
My rating 6 /10
Links : IMDB