NOVA Episode review

NOVA: HUNTING THE EDGE OF SPACE:

IT’S LIKE GRAVITY AND INTERSTELLAR, EXCEPT IT’S REALLY HAPPENING AND LACKS THE IMAX EXPERIENCE!

By Nico Beland

Documentary review: B+ (3 stars)

PBS

            So far, 2014 has been my year of experimenting with media reviews, I reviewed documentaries, posted recaps of the Emerald City and Rose City Comic Con, and I reviewed a couple TV shows, and now my first and probably only review of a PBS documentary, a NOVA episode titled, Hunting the Edge of Space. Now don’t get me wrong, I like space documentaries, especially IMAX ones like Space Station 3D and more recently, Hubble 3D, but I usually don’t tackle them with a review, but today I am going to make a special exception.

            The documentary has some breathtaking shots of how a galaxy is formed, an interesting story about the invention of the telescope, and lots of interviews. The best part of the documentary is watching the galaxies form because I have never seen anything like that before and it really caught my intention and almost looked like something out of a science-fiction movie, I actually almost forgot I was watching a PBS space documentary, it almost felt like I was watching Interstellar again, except more realistic.

            The special explained in great detail how a simple instrument like the telescope has changed our understanding of our place in the universe, now we have the massive Hubble space telescope and satellites orbiting through space and providing us a glimpse of what is going on beyond our planet. I felt this documentary doesn’t belong as a NOVA episode on PBS, but rather a documentary on an IMAX screen, but that’s just me.

            I haven’t watched a whole lot of NOVA, but perhaps after watching this 2-part documentary about space and the telescope, it might encourage me to check more of it out. Plus, this is my time to experiment with my reviews and don’t rely completely on traditional movies but all kinds of things in the media, whether it’s a TV show, independent film, or a documentary like this one.

            It certainly was quite a journey to the edge of space that any fans of NOVA or space documentaries should enjoy, but for me, I’ll probably just give Gravity and Interstellar more viewings.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes review

RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES:

A REBOOT THAT’S JUST AS SOLID AS ITS ORIGINAL FRANCHISE!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: A (3 ½ stars)

20^TH CENTURY FOX

Digital ape Caesar in battle against humans in Rise of the Planet of the Apes

            Who would have thought a reboot of the successful Planet of the Apes franchise would be possible, even after the poor reception of Tim Burton’s 2001 Planet of the Apes remake. In comes director, Rupert Wyatt (The Escapist) and the charming James Franco (Spider-Man trilogy, Milk, 127 Hours) who stars as Dr. Will Rodman, a scientist who created a drug that is claimed to cure his father’s Alzheimer’s disease, known as ALZ-112.

            The ALZ-112 has been tested on laboratory apes and after the death of a mother ape, Will ends up adopting a young chimp named Caesar (Andy Serkis-The Lord of the Rings trilogy) and during the time spam of raising him, Caesar has gained high intelligence, due to the genes from the ALZ-112 from his mother.

            Everything seems to be going great with Will and Caesar, until Caesar notices a conflict between Will’s father, Charles (John Lithgow-Shrek) and a neighbor and goes amuck. Shortly afterwards he is taken to an animal shelter being run by the ruthless John Landon (Brian Cox-Super Troopers, X2: X-Men United, Braveheart) and his ape-abusive son (Tom Felton-Harry Potter franchise).

            Meanwhile Will is still experimenting with the ALZ-112 so it can perfectly cure the disease, completely unaware of the torment Caesar is going through. Soon enough Caesar befriends the other apes in the animal shelter, breaks free, and acquires containers of the ALZ-112 drug and uses them on the apes.

            The genetically altered apes break out of the animal shelter and plunges San Francisco into a war zone between humans and apes. So it’s up to Will and his girlfriend, Caroline Aranha (Freida Pinto-Slumdog Millionaire) to find Caesar and put an end to this “Ape-ocalypse”.

            Overall, Rise of the Planet of the Apes is an incredibly strong re-imaging of the iconic franchise. With its complex but entertaining premise, strong acting, and breathtaking CG special effects and motion capture, all done by the brilliant CG designers who worked on James Cameron’s Avatar and being brought to life by Gollum himself, Andy Serkis as Caesar.

            It’s a shame the film wasn’t released in 3D or IMAX, then I would have felt like I was actually swinging around with these digital apes (Luckily, we got the sequel for that). But even without the 3D, the effects and scope of the film look spectacular, you can see all the hairs and facial details on the apes and some of them actually look like real apes.

            I’m not sure how it holds up compared to the 1968 Planet of the Apes, which starred Charlton Heston and Roddy McDowall. Both films looked spectacular with its effects, plot structure, and character development, and while I do praise the CG effects of Rise of the Planet of the Apes, I would have to say I still prefer the original effects from the 1968 film, because the apes were actually there with the humans.

            I do know, it’s a major improvement over Tim Burton’s 2001 re-imaging, pretty much the only thing he captured well was the look of the movie and it’s a shame because he’s usually very brilliant when it comes to making movies like this.

            But oh well, Rise of the Planet of the Apes made up for it, with its adrenaline pumped final battle and a solid ending that’s still open for a sequel. Not only is this a brilliant Planet of the Apes re-imaging, but it’s a brilliant film altogether.

Whale Rider review

WHALE RIDER:

WHILE THE FILM DRAGS IN THE BEGINNING, OVERALL IT’S AN UPLIFTING AND IMPRESSIVE JOURNEY!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: B (3 stars)

NEW MARKET FILMS

Keisha Castle-Hughes in Whale Rider

            Here we go again, another story about a kid and an animal, and to think we had plenty of those back in the 90s, this time it’s a movie about a whale (Now that sounds familiar), only in this film it takes place in New Zealand. The film I am talking about is Whale Rider, directed by Niki Caro and starring Keisha Castle-Hughes (Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, The Nativity Story) as a little girl named Pai, living on the eastern coast of New Zealand. 

            In New Zealand, the Whangara people believed that their ancestor, Paikea was saved from drowning by a whale. Since then, the tribal group has granted leadership positions for first-born males, believing they are descendants of Paikea.

            The tradition is tested when a young mother dies during childbirth along with her newborn son. His twin sister manages to survive and the father runs off with grief.

            The little girl, now going under the name, Pai (Keisha Castle-Hughes) is brought up by her stubborn grandfather and caring grandmother.

            Koro, the leader of the tribe is upset because Pai’s twin brother was supposed to be the new leader. Soon Pai joins the tribe and discovers a secret that she may be a descendant of Paikea.

            Honestly, I couldn’t completely get into this movie, it’s not terrible and I could tell a lot of effort was put into it, but I found it to be rather overrated and could have used more whale scenes.

            Once the whale showed up, it became more interesting and the scenes of the whale swimming in the water are absolutely beautiful.

            Besides the whale scenes, I also have to give Keisha Castle-Hughes credit for her performance as Pai, she portrays the character very well and you want to know what happens to her.

            If the film had more scenes involving the whale and a more interesting plot, I probably would have had more positive things to say about it. But for what it is, it’s a decent flick, not really my type but I’m glad I checked it out.

Mere Dad Ki Maruti review

MERE DAD KI MARUTI:

THOUGH IT MAY NOT APPEAL TO PEOPLE WHO AREN’T BOLLYWOOD FANS, IT HAS ITS SHARE OF HUMOR AND HEART TO BOOT!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: B- (3 stars)

Sameer, Tej, and Jasleen in Mere Dad Ki Maruti

            My first review of a Bollywood movie; I really should have seen this coming. For those of you who don’t know, Bollywood movies are Hindi films made outside of the Hollywood system, and are usually made in India.

            They mostly consist of characters singing, dancing, and having a great time, there’s often comedy put in and some heart behind it.

            This being one of them, Mere Dad Ki Maruti, set in Chandigarh, where a wedding is about to take place. Father, Tej Khullar bought a new Maruti car for his daughter and soon-to-be son in law.

            Unfortunately things get out of hand when his college going son, Sameer secretly takes the car for a little joy ride, to impress the hottest girl in school, Jasleen. It soon becomes chaos when the car gets stolen, trouble with the law, and a disappointed father.

            While Bollywood films aren’t really my style, I thought Mere Dad Ki Maruti overall was decent. The characters are funny and amusing to watch and there’s plenty of gags and humor to boot.

            I guess my only issue is the plot, it’s pretty much a Hindi knockoff of Dude Where’s My Car, but that’s not really a major problem with the movie nor does it distract from everything else.

            It was an interesting experience during my time of being a “Moviewatchin’ Psychopath!” to watch a Bollywood film, aside from the traditional Hollywood made movies that I usually see in the cinema.

            This may lead to me trying out more Bollywood movies on Netflix or Xfinity On Demand, perhaps if I watched more of them, I would have the right mind set to discuss these types of movies.

            If you’re a fan of Bollywood films or foreign language movies, you’ll probably like it okay, but people who focus mainly on the Hollywood system may not be that engaged, but it’s worth a shot.

The Sorcerer and the White Snake review

THE SORCERER AND THE WHITE SNAKE:

IT’S PAN’S LABYRINTH MEETS CROUCHING TIGER HIDDEN DRAGON, MINUS THE FUN! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: F (1 ½ stars)  

MAGNOLIA PICTURES

Jet Li and Raymond Lam Fung battling in The Sorcerer and the White Snake

            Let me make this perfectly clear, I don’t hate foreign Martial Arts movies from China, on the contrary, I love them, films like Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, House of Flying Daggers, and Kung Fu Hustle. They are filled with exciting action, strong plot structure, and decent character development.

            Then, there’s The Sorcerer and the White Snake and while the special effects look impressive at times (and I do mean “at times”) and some of the action is fun, the film’s plot is incredibly confusing and hard to follow, the acting is a bit hokey, and a lot of the characters are bland.

            I’m not against movies with confusing and complex plots, I enjoyed films like Memento and Inception, the plots are very complex but they also had strong writing, acting, and visuals. The writing in this movie on the other hand is mediocre and often laughable, which can make it very hard to follow what is going on.

            The film is about an herbalist who falls in love with a thousand year old White Snake, disguised as a woman (Eva Huang), I know weird right? Jet Li stars as a sorcerer named Abott Fahai, who discovers the woman’s identity and battles to save the herbalist’s soul.

            Overall, The Sorcerer and the White Snake didn’t really do it for me, it’s not the worst film I’ve ever seen, believe me I’ve seen worse, but it was very underwhelming. While some of the special effects and action scenes look impressive, other times it looks like crappy CG effects, especially on the snakes, they look like something out of a Stephen King mini-series or Mortal Kombat: Annihilation.

            I know what you’re probably asking, are there any things about the film that I like? Well, aside from most of the cast, Jet Li does a decent job portraying the sorcerer and the music score is nice, however there is one scene in particular that has a song playing that seems completely out of place.

            I want to like this movie, I really do, it has some impressive effects and interesting concepts that remind me of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and Pan’s Labyrinth, but it can’t save the film’s mediocre writing, acting, and poor CG animation effects on the creatures. If you’re interested in watching it, give it a rent and share your own opinion, though I would prefer watching Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon instead.