Movie Review Double Feature

First up in this double feature will be the marvelous Milla Jovovich in The newest entry in the Resident Evil universe; Retribution.  This series has always been a guilty pleasure for me, both the video games and the movies.  I have to say that this was the best entry into the franchise since the second movie.  The movie itself is beautiful and the plot felt like a video game.  For those that don't know, the Resident Evil games usually have an overall objective with a lot of mini objectives as you go on your way.  Escaping the simulation center is the main objective with mini missions of fight through NYC, find the child (boss battle against jill), find the rescue team, car chase (boss battle with the licker), rescue the child (second boss battle against licker), and the escape (final boss battle against Jill and Michelle Rodriguez). 

The important thing about this movie is that it is fun and this one was a lot of fun. 

Second on the list but not in the standings is Dredd, the newest cinamatic take on the iconic 2000 AD comic.  Staring Karl Urban as Dredd himself this movie more than makes up for the Stallone and Rob Schneider mess that made a mockery of the hero so many years ago.  This movie felt more than a little like Raid: Redemption.  This one comes highly suggested.  Karl Urban projects the quiet confidence and rage that is Dredd.  Lena Headey is also in this movie as the big bad and she rocks it.  Olivia Thirlby plays a rookie and if she ever reads this she needs to know that she is much better looking with the blonde hair she wore in the film.

Overall this movie was a whole lot of fun and didn't get the acclaim that it deserved in theaters.  I hope it was successful enough that it gets some sequels.  This movie has been Judged!

Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010)

I am an unashamed fan of the first two resident evil movies.  Even the third one was pretty cool.  They all deliver on zombies and crazy mutations.  They are a lot of fun.  So, of course, I was going to check out Afterlife.  I was a bit disappointed right from the start.  The actor that played Wesker was wooden and had some horrible lines.  Also this movie had zombies in it, but they were not really the focus.  The humans were mostly isolated from them and really only had to fight of the mutations. 

Plot-  The movie picks up right where it left off.  Alice is out for revenge against Umbrella.  This really wouldn't work as a stand alone movie as you need to have watched most of the previous movies to understand what was going on.  I think you can get by with just the recaps in the other movies.  So, Alice defeats Umbrella and now fears that she is the last living person.  She finds some people holed up in a prison and can't help but stop to help them.  Of course, her timing is impecable as all hell is about to break loose. 

Characters-  Paul Anderson wasn't really on his A-game here.  He wasn't getting the best performances from his actors.  Milla is Alice, you can't go wrong there, but the other actors just weren't cutting it, especially but not limited to the guy that played Weskers.  It was probably a bad script and bad lines, but I really didn't care about anyone in the movie.  Of course all the characters went completely undeveloped, so why should I care about them. 

Prettyness-  The movie is shot almost too polished.  Resident Evil is about monsters and zombies at its core.  This movie is just too bright and too pretty looking for most of the film.  It fails to set a mood and creep you out.  This was also a problem with the third movie. 

Time-  97 minutes.  Really. . .Really. . . Really. . .  The movie was practically over once it got started.  Hey Paul W. S. Anderson.  How about 15 minutes of character development or maybe 10 minutes of fighting zombies.

Overall-It was just okay.  It wasn't a zombie movie or a horror movie, it was an action movie.  I don't agree with that direction for this franchise.  They even forgot that you can't kill zombies by shooting them in the body.  Yes, many zombies were taken down with body shots.  What are people learning from watching this sloppiness.  Anderson could be costing folks their lives with his laziness.  I am not going to tell you to not watch the lovely Milla, but I can't really recommend the movie either.  Just know that it is an action movie you are watching. 

Resident Evil 4 Wii

Image via Wikipedia

I finally played through Resident Evil 4 on the Wii.  I have to say that this is a great game.  I have liked all of the movies for what they were, but this is the first Resident Evil game that I have played.  I think I may have played RE2 once way back in the day but I wasn't hooked immediately.  I knew people who were though. 

I picked this game up used for fairly cheap as I was looking to buy a game that was for me on the Wii and not for the kids.  I like zombies and thought that a game where you shoot them would be a blast.  To my disappointment there are no zombies to be found in this game but I pretended those infected with Las Plagas were zombies and for all intensive purposes they are. 

The game immediately struck me with how scarry it is.  The music is creapy.  The maps are set up so that you don't always see the bad guys before they are on top of you.  You get just enough ammo in this game to get you through.  I learned to conserve by attacking single enemies with my knife.  I liked to turn the lights out while I played to make it extra creepy. 

The controls are what make this game.  The wii mote is an awesome controller for this.  It takes a little time to get used to them but once you do they are a lot of fun. 

The game takes about 20hrs on your first play through, but after you play through it, you unlock weapons and minigames that increase replayability.  This game is highly recommended and a lot of fun.  You can pick it up cheap too. 

Right of Passage-Aliens (1986)

As a parent, it is hard to know when to introduce certian things to your child.  You don't want to do things too soon but you don't want to baby them too much either.  As with solid foods, training wheels, and swimming, the movie Aliens needs to be perfectly timed.  Too early and you may tramuatize a vulnerable mind into having nightmares, too late and you can't really introduce them to it at all because they have heard about it from friends or seen it at a sleep over or they just aren't interested. 

Resident Evil Cufflinks

I was checking out Girls are Geeks when I saw some WiiMote earings and clicked the DeadlyPretty link to Etsy.com.  DeadlyPretty does videogame inspired jewelry and plushies.  While looking around, I came across these awesome cufflinks. 

Now you too can be a member of the Umbrella Corporation with these stylish cufflinks.  The great thing is that no one will even look twice at them unless they get it.  Instant conversation starter.