Life(2017)

Director: Daniel Espinosa

Cast:

Jake Gyllenhaal – David Jordan

Rebecca Ferguson – Miranda North

Ryan Reynolds – Rory Adams

Hiroyuki Sanada – Sho Murakami

Olga Dihovichnaya – Ekaterina Golovkina

Ariyon Bakare – Hugh Derry

Verdict:

“Life” is directed by Daniel Espinosa and asks the question. What would you do when you discover life from a different planet? This movie is headlined by a terrific cast; Jake Gyllenhaal, Ryan Reynolds, Rebecca Ferguson and Hiroyuki Sanada. The movie takes place entirely in space, within the confines of the International Space Station. This in turn pleased me that the crew is varied from its nationality to the ethnicity. After the crew discovers a life form from another planet, one of the crew members becomes obsessed with the biological structure of the organism. They then discover something terrifying within the life form. This film is heavily influenced on the classic film “Alien” and I found this to be disappointing because the film is beat for beat “Alien.” The performances from the entire crew were great. Ryan Reynolds really set the tone with the screen time he had. His skepticism of the life form made the film more grounded. Gyllenhaal’s character was interesting because of the ideology he has towards Earth and human life. This never goes anywhere but that is besides the point. The character that had the biggest arc and most life  was Rebecca Ferguson’s character. She loves her crew but will do whatever it takes to keep the mission secure. Now, let’s talk about the life form itself. The look of the creature was interesting because it appears like a flimsy condom that invades the most private areas of your body. This made for some disturbing and gory scenes that pay off in the film. Also, the evolution of the creature was interesting because it feeds on what we need most. One of the things that made this film not seem isolated was the fact that there is a PR call between the crew and Earth involving school kids naming the life form Calvin. I will add that Reynolds’ character addresses this mistake by saying “Stop calling that thing Calvin, we don’t even know what this is yet.” This cynicism made his character more appealing to me. What took me over the edge on this film was that it sets itself up for one thing and then decides to say f*ck you to the audience by switching up last minute. It didn’t surprise me because I expected it and it didn’t conclude the film well enough for me. “Life” is a 2017 re-imagining of a classic film that can’t break new ground in its genre but nonetheless showcases great performances from its cast with an interesting creature design.

Grade: B-

Kong: Skull Island(2017)

Director: Jordan Vogt-Roberts

Cast:

Tom Hiddleston – James Conrad

Samuel L. Jackson – Preston Packard

Brie Larson – Mason Weaver

John C. Reilly – Hank Marlow

John Goodman – Bill Randa

Toby Kebbell – Jack Chapman

Verdict:

“Kong: Skull Island” is the second feature in Legendary’s MonsterVerse and this film focuses on King Kong, set during the Vietnam era. The cast includes the list above as well as Jason Mitchell, Corey Hawkins, Shea Wigham and John Ortiz. Sounds like a stellar cast right. So, does the movie live up to the hype, let’s dive into it. ‘Skull Island’ starts off with Bill Randa (Goodman) pitching an idea to search a mysterious island that he claims can be resourceful to the US. After he is given the go ahead we are then taken to a military base where Preston Packard (Jackson) is getting ready to go home when he receives a call asking if he will go on this expedition and he willingly agrees to it. From there we are introduced to the rest of Randa’s crew. James Conrad (Hiddleston) is ex Special Forces and he is recruited for his tracking skills which may come in handy. Mason Weaver (Larson) is an anti-war photographer who lands the job of shooting this expedition and from there we begin the journey. This movie is filled to the brim with classic rock from this era and it became repetitive to the point that it reminded me of the way “Suicide Squad” utilized its poppy music. The first encounter of Kong is incredible as you’ve seen in the trailer, a palm tree is thrown towards a helicopter which takes it down and then that’s when we see Kong, standing at a whopping 100 feet. Due to their encounter with Kong, the team becomes split and this in turn makes for an interesting watch. I just wished the characters were fleshed out and likeable. These actors have nothing to do except run away from Kong and the endless creatures that inhabit Skull Island. This is one of the things I found to be unique, giant spiders that are as tall as trees and log sized walking sticks. The main threat to the island are what Hank Marlow (Reilly) calls skull crawlers which come from the ground and there is an incredible action scene with one of these in a graveyard. Vogt-Roberts did an adequate job of shooting the action but he over-stayed his welcome with the first person Go Pro shots of aiming down the sights. Another thing that irritated me was when a character died or an action scene ended, the movie jumped forward to another scene which didn’t give me or the audience enough time to sympathize with the fallen characters. Also, there is not enough Kong in this film. I noticed that this movie followed the steps of “Godzilla” but in that movie it was executed with better care. The movie ends with an awesome fight between Kong and a skull crawler but it just wasn’t enough to satisfy me. Had the movie spent more time developing the characters I might have enjoyed this movie more. In the end, “Kong: Skull Island” is a beautifully shot film with terrific creature effects and an amazing Kong but suffers from lackluster characters and a shortage of Kong’s appearance. P.S., stay after the credits for an extra scene.

Grade: C+

Logan(2017)

Director: James Mangold

Cast:

Hugh Jackman – Logan

Patrick Stewart – Charles

Dafne Keen – Laura

Boyd Holbrook – Donald Pierce

Stephen Merchant – Caliban

Richard E. Grant – Dr. Rice

Verdict:

“Logan” is the newest film to come from the

X-Men universe and showcases the final

performances of Hugh Jackman as Wolverine and

Sir Patrick Stewart as Charles Xavier. Due to the

success of “Deadpool”, Fox greenlit a R-rated

Wolverine film and boy was it long overdue. This

movie is filled to the brim with blood and

decapitated limbs. Dafne Keen plays Laura, a girl

with a mysterious power that gets involved with

Logan and wow was this kid a find. She doesn’t

speak for 2/3 of the film and when she does it’s in

Spanish and then English. This girl was a badass

and got down and dirty with Logan. Patrick

Stewart as Charles Xavier was phenomenal. He’s

cracking jokes and is extremely ill. Charles is

suffering from a brain disease and he is being

cared for by Logan. Stewart’s final scene in the

film was tragic and emotional. Hugh Jackman

turned in an emotional performance as Logan. He

is an ailing old man who is stuck in isolation while

he takes care of Charles. The opening scene of this

film shows you what the movie is about in terms

of violence and action. When Jackman goes

berserk, that’s when the claws really come out.

There is a scene involving a family and when the

violence occurred, it turned the film into a horror

movie. Jackman’s final scene was emotional and

well executed. As for flaws, The movie starts off at

a fast and interesting pace until the second act

arrives which was the slowest and least intriguing

part of the film. James Mangold shot the action

really well. They felt gritty and realistic. The

villain wasn’t really there in this film. I will say

however that Boyd Holbrook played a ruthless

villain who was effective for the most part and

Richard E. Grant as Dr. Rice was nefarious and

creepy. “ Logan “ is an incredible independent

drama centered around a comic book character

that knows exactly what this character is. There is

no post-credit scene, but there is that amazing

“Deadpool 2” tease that plays right before the

film starts so enjoy.

Grade: A