DVD Review: Predators

Rated R for language, strong violence, some gore

Starring Adrian Brody, Topher Grace, Alice Braga with appearances by Danny Trejo and Laurence Fishbourne

8 individuals - a former Black-Ops turned mercenary, an Israeli sniper and CIA Black-Ops assassin, a Spetsnaz, a Yakuza, a death row inmate, a Sierra Leone fighter, a drug cartel enforcer, and a doctor - come to consciousness while being parachuted into a strange, foreign jungle. They begin to wonder what they have been selected for, however none are exactly sure how a doctor fits in with the rest of the trained fighters.

As they wander around in the jungle, trying to figure where in the world they are, they come to realize that they are no longer on Earth but on some strange planet. They also come to the realization that they are being hunted by something much larger than human!

Stumbling across an alien camp, with one alien being tied to a pole, they run into Noland - a US Army solider who has been on the planet for many "seasons" and has learned how to survive the hunt. He shares with the new group that the planet serves as a game preserve and that every season humans and other alien creations are dropped onto the planet to be hunted by 3 bigger alien (Predator) creatures. Whenever one of the 3 is killed by the "game," the next season they come back stronger and more evolved, as if they are learning.

They also learn that there is a ship nearby that can get them off the planet, assuming they can get one of the smaller Predators to control it as the bigger Predators and the smaller ones have quite the blood feud going on.

Will they be able to make it off the planet or will the Predators hunt them and eliminate them one by one? And again, how does a doctor fit in with a group of trained fighters?

Written and produced by Robert Rodriguez, Predators is a straight up action flick with some mystery set in the Predator universe. It also makes mention to events in the original Predator film as well, tying this one to it. I must admit, while I wasn't a fan of the recent Alien Vs. Predator films, Predators was actually a pretty fun ride!

If you don't mind action flicks, be sure to check this one out!

Tron: Legacy

Rated PG

Starring Jeff Bridges, Garrett Hedlund, Olivia Wilde, Bruce Boxleitner

Picking up just a few years after the original Tron left off, in the mid-late 1980s Kevin Flynn runs his arcade by day and does secret computer programming in the cyber world by night, all while being in charge of the huge software empire ENCOM he built and taking care of his young son Sam after the death of his wife. Flynn often tells Sam stories of his times in the virtual world with his pals Tron and Clu (a digital copy of himself to run things when he's not around).

One day though, Flynn doesn't come home and it seems he's gone missing for good. ENCOM is left to young Sam, in which Flynn's good friend Alan is in charge until Sam is old enough and Alan also steps in as a surrogate father for young Sam. When Sam is of age though, he has no interest in his father's company, only visiting about once a year to stir things up and so the company is mainly run by the board of directors who don't have the same vision as Flynn did, only caring about making a profit.

Alan approaches Sam one night saying he got a page from the disconnected number at Flynn's old arcade and encourages Sam to go check it out. Refusing at first, Sam gives into curiosity at the idea that his father might still be alive and goes down to the arcade. There, he gets accidentally gets transported into the virtual world that his father used to tell him so much about when he was a kid.

Mistaken for a "program" at first, Sam has to compete in gladiator-esque games in order to survive. Upon learning he is a "user" named Sam Flynn, he is quickly summoned into a meeting with the man in charge, who at first glance, appears to be his father, having never aged. We soon learn though that it is Clu and not Flynn who runs things around here, however Flynn is still very much alive but in hiding and that it was Clu who paged Alan in an attempt that someone from outside would come in order to lure Flynn out one last time.

Sam eventually escapes from Clu, with the help of a young woman named Quorra who has been Flynn's companion and apprentice all these years. She takes him to his father, however they have a bigger problem on their hands - when Sam arrived in the virtual world, the portal to the outside world was opened. While the portal is only open for a short period of time, they believe that Clu is trying to crossover in order to perfect a new world as he sees fit. Together, the 3 must race Clu to the portal before it closes so that they can escape and close it before it's too late!

While nearly 30 years after the original was released, Tron: Legacy is a smart and fun sequel. I must say, I enjoyed this one much better than I had the original as it much easier to follow without nearly as much computer programming speak as the original had. The visuals are stunning and make the virtual world fun and thrilling. The plot, unlike the original, is simple enough for even kids to grasp and follow what is going on. The music - done solely by electronic/techno gurus Daft Punk - is brilliant and upbeat, really conveying the perfect emotions. Michael Sheen is also amusing in a small role stylized after the likes of Ziggy Stardust. And if you've never seen the original Tron or it's been years since, no worries - they nicely bring the viewer up to speed with a montage of newsreels and such describing the events at the end of the original and Flynn's bedtime stories to young Sam about the virtual world give you insight as to what happened as well.

This is a great, visual film that the whole family can watch together and enjoy!

DVD Review: The Time Traveler's Wife

Rated PG13 for adult themes, some sexuality, brief nudity

Starring Eric Bana, Rachel McAdams, Ron Livingston

Henry has a bit of a strange genetic disorder - he can come and go through time, popping into the past, present or the future. Unsure of what triggers it and unable to stop it from happening, Henry make his first "jump" when is just a young boy riding in a car with his mother - he jumps to 2 weeks prior and is confused at seeing events that already happened and then suddenly he's on the side of the road as his mother is killed in a car accident. Right then, an older version of himself shows up, assuring him that he'll be alright.

Flash forward to the mid-90s, Henry is grown and working a job in a library when a woman named Clare approaches him and says she knows him. Confused, he agrees to meet her for dinner later so that she can explain, as she says she's known him all her life. Turns out, an older version of Henry once "jumped" and showed up in the meadow where a young Clare was playing. Something drew him the young girl and he regularly started popping up in her life from time to time. Now, present day has caught up with both of them and Clare wants to try and make things work with them.

Albeit a strange and hard relationship, with Henry unable to control when he "jumps," they try to make it work and eventually get married. One day, in their new home together, they witness a later version of Henry, cold, naked and bleeding from a gunshot on the floor before he quickly disappears just as he came. Worried and scared that he dies young, Henry and Clare decide to seek out help from a genetics doctor for advice on how to control it. They also struggle trying to conceive a child, as Clare keeps miscarrying and Henry fears the baby has inherited his genetic disorder, causing it to time travel out of her womb.

This was an interesting take on a love story, as it has the sci-fi, time travel twist thrown in to complicate Clare and Henry's relationship. It is neat to see though how they keep to their vows, for better or for worse, as Clare is understanding that Henry can't control his time traveling despite how hard it is for her to deal with him randomly coming and going for periods of a time - at one point it seemed he had been gone for several weeks and possibly months before returning to the right time period.

If you're looking for a bit of a romantic tale with a sci-fi twist to it and are able to keep up with a non-linear storyline, be sure to check this one out - but make sure you keep a box of tissues nearby!

Inception

Rated PG13 for violence

Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page, Marion Cotillard, Cillian Murphy, Ken Watanabe, Tom Hardy

In our minds we can lock away anything - secrets, codes, plans, information and more. But what if it were possible for someone to break into your mind and steal all that? In Inception, Dom Cobb and his pointman Arthur have a top notch team that makes it possible for Cobb to go into people's dreams (which is when your mind is pretty unguarded) and do just that - steal information, secrets, codes and anything else someone could want, for a price.

At first, Cobb and Arthur try to extract information from a top businessman named Saito, but as the dream crumbles due to a massive mob riot happening in the real world, they wake up and take a more forceful approach with Saito... however, due to a glitch on the Architect's part, Saito realizes they're still in a dream world - a dream within a dream. With him about to wake up (for real) they use a "kick" to wake themselves up early and scram as they were unable to retrieve the information from Saito's mind - we see that all along they were sitting on a train, asleep in the same cabin.

About to go their separate ways, Cobb and Arthur are taken by Saito and his men and informed that he was testing them. He then presents them with a new job, different from any they've done - instead of extracting information from someone's dream, why not implant an idea in the person's dream? Inception.

Saito wants them to enter the mind of his dying business rival's heir and implant the idea that he should disassemble his father's empire, citing that if he doesn't do so, it will create a monopoly in their business and that it's important the heir do this for the good of the world. Arthur claims it can't be done, however Cobb states he's done it before. Having been framed for his wife's death, Cobb can no longer return to his home and children in the US without being arrested the moment he sets foot on ground - Saito knows of this and tells Cobb that if he does this job, with one phonecall he can give him his life back and he'll get to go home and see his children, all charges dropped.

While Arthur is hesitant, Cobb is tempted and the 2 set out to assemble a team in France, including a new architect - a young grad student who is studying under Cobb's father-in-law and mentor. Cobb trains her quickly in the ways of the dream world, explaining to her how if you manipulate the laws of physics too much, bad things will happen (she gets a little too excited experimenting in the dream world). She also grows close to Cobb, having shared dreams with him now, and soon learns that instead of holding dear to the memories he has of his deceased wife Mal, he instead is haunted by her Shade in the dream world and it only begins to get worse. For this reason, he cannot design the dream worlds anymore, as when he does know them, she tends to pop up and mess things up for the team.

With arrangements made and things ready to go, the team sets into The Mark's dream world (in which they try something new - a dream within a dream within a dream and eventually even into a 4th level!). Things seem smooth at first, however they quickly learn that The Mark has been taught how to guard his mind against extraction in the dream world and his mind's guards are quickly in pursuit of the team, trying to stop them at all costs!

With only 10 hours in the real world to get the job done and The Mark's mind guards causing more problems for them than they anticipated, will the team be able to implant the idea and make it stick? Will they all make it out of the dream world alive? (in most cased, if you die in the dream world, you just wake up, however if you get killed by one of the guard's, then you get stuck in limbo where you can get stuck for years and years, never realizing it's still just a dream world) Will Cobb be able to fight off the Shade of Mal or will she once again interfere?

Inception was a very interesting movie.

Director Christopher Nolan (Memento, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight) had the idea of this movie and wrote out an 80 page script nearly 10 years ago for it, but wanted to wait until he had more experience with big budget movies and it really shows! While the new Batman films are dark, Inception is more along the lines of his earlier hit film, Memento, as it's important to actually watch the movie and pay attention to what is happening. Like Memento, it's pretty easy to follow, but if you weren't paying attention, you'll miss things (not to mention, why are you spending money on a movie that you're not actually watching?). Like Memento, he also leaves the film open ended and hanging for you the viewer to decide and debate what's really real (I don't want to give it away).

It's one of those films where visually it's really neat, as several scenes in the dream world seem to defy the laws of physics and gravity, it's also very thought-provoking and makes you think the entire movie about what is happening. He also explains the dream world pretty well - in one scene, when at least 1 person is awake in a different dream level, we see that seconds in the first level translates into about 3 minutes in the second level, and about 20 minutes in the third level; what feels like an hour in the dream world is really about 5 minutes in the real world.

Leonardo DiCaprio has really come into his own this past decade from being the cute Romeo all the girls gushed over in the mid-90s to a pretty good serious drama/suspense actor and Joseph Gordon-Levitt has really grown up from the goofy awkward kid he played on 3rd Rock for the Sun - he too has really become a good, solid serious actor in the past few years.

If you like movies that make you think with a bit of a sci-fi/action take to it, don't miss Inception! It really is a great movie and despite being nearly 2 and a half hours long, it definitely doesn't feel like it, as the last 2/3rds of the film really draw you into it.

DVD Review: Tron

Rated PG for adult themes, tense moments

Starring Jeff Bridges, Bruce Boxleitner, Cindy Morgan, Dan Shor, David Warner

Video arcade owner Kevin Flynn is a former ENCOM software engineer who has created several video games that became popular after another ENCOM employee, Ed Dillinger, stole them from him. Knowing the files have his name on it, Flynn continues to hack into the ENCOM system and find them to prove he is the rightful creator of the games. After Flynn's most recent hack attempt, Dillinger and his Master Control Program (which has a mind of its own) decide to shut down access to the level group Flynn had access to, thus locking out fellow software engineer Alan Bradley who was working on a program called Tron which would serve as a watchdog program and keep even the Master Control Program in check.

Frustrated, Alan and Flynn come together, with the help of ENCOM employee Laura. They sneak Flynn into the building so he can distract the MCP and hack in long enough to grant them all level 6 access so Alan can get his Tron program up and running, which would help find the files proof that Flynn created the games and not Dillinger.

MCP does not like though and decides to physically trap Flynn into the the world of Bytes and Bits. Having to band together with other "user controlled" programs, including Tron, Flynn must fight for his survival and work with Tron to defeat the MCP from the inside in order to escape back to his world.

Released in 1982, I'm sure this sci-fi action adventure film was groundbreaking and in a lot of ways it reminded me of Bladerunner or The Running Man. Viewing it almost 20 years later though, it's extremely dated and the graphics and special effects are just laughable. We can only hope that the upcoming Tron: Legacy film has much better, updated graphics than the original.

I have to admit, while this is a Disney film and was marketed towards families, if I had watched this in the 80s as a little kid, I would have been extremely bored and confused as to what was going on. This is definitely not a movie meant for kids, as they most likely won't understand much of what's going on.

If you like classic sci-fi films from the 80s, this is one you might be interested in.

DVD Review: Terminator Salvation

Rated PG13 for action violence, language

Starring Christian Bale, Sam Worthington, Anton Yelchin

Set in 2018, the war between Skynet and humanity is in full force. The world has become nothing more but a wasteland and those that have survived thus far are constantly on the defense against the machine, banding together to find a way to put an end to them. Leading the Resistance from an army-like submarine is John Connor and General Ashdown. After developing a device that seems to shut down the machines, they stage a worldwide Resistance attack on Skynet Headquarters. Only as the day to strike approaches, John is informed by a strange man named Marcus Wright that a young Kyle Reese - that's right, John Connor's eventual father - has been taken captive by Skynet. If they strike before rescuing him odds are, John Connor will cease to exist, as the time to send Reese back in time has not yet happened. The General doesn't seem to care though - he's afraid that if they don't strike when they have the opportunity, they may never get another chance to destroy Skynet's Headquarters.

Can John get the Resistance to hold off firing long enough for him to save his future father and his existence? And can he really trust this strange mysterious Marcus Wright?

Unless you're a die hard Terminator fan, feel free to skip this installment. The first movie was a groundbreaking sci-fi action film and the sequel was just as good. The third installment showed how the machine takeover began. All this one does is introduce John's father as a teenager and explains the origins of the T-800. Unless the next installment actually shows us John sending Reese back in time and brings the franchise full-circle I most likely will be skipping out on it.

Avatar

Rated PG13 for brief language, violence

Starring Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Giovanni Ribisi, Joel David Moore, Michelle Rodriguez, CCH Pounder

The year is 2154 and we send troops and scientists to Pandora - a moon of the planet Polyphemus - to study and hope to capture the rare substance Unobtainum which lies underneath the inhabitants home base. In order to walk on the planet and interact with the Na'vi inhabitants, we have developed avatars, that are tailored to it's crew member who plugs into it via brainwaves. After getting lost and separated from his team on the planet, paraplegic former Marine Jake Sully is taken in by the Na'vi and told that he will learn their ways. The administrator of the crew tells Jake that he has 3 months to learn and gain the Na'vi's trust, as bulldozers will be coming to mine the Unobtainum and the Na'vi will need to peacefully leave or face war.

Jake grows fond of the Na'vi though and feels more at home among their world.

This film by James Cameron took 15 years to make and visually it is amazing, as Pandora is a CGI world, yet seems real. While the story isn't the absolute greatest ever, the characters are likable and despite its run time of nearly 3 hours, it doesn't feel long at all. While it does have a message built into it, it doesn't come off as preachy - basically it comes down to good guys vs greedy guys.

If you're looking for a good sci-fi action film that the whole family can enjoy look plug into Avatar this holiday season.

DVD Review: Sunshine

Rated R for brief language, violence

Starring Cillian Murphy, Chris Evans

In 2057, the Icarus II is sent into space with a stellar bomb to detonate into the sun and reignite it, as the sun is slowly dying and will be no more in 50 years otherwise, leaving Earth in an unlivable solar winter. In 2050, the Icarus I was sent, but never returned. When the crew of the Icarus II gets just beyond Mercury, they no longer can have communication with Earth and receive a distress single from Icarus I. Torn to delay the mission and check help Icarus I, the crew has a decision to make. Deciding to help Icarus I and find out what happened, they change their course, but with disasterous effects that make it near impossible for the entire crew to make it to the sun and leaving them with no resources to get home if they do make it. What's the crew to do? Will they be able to make it into the sun now to carry out their intial mission? And who is slowly killing off the rest of the crew of Icarus II?

What started out as an interesting sci-fi filmed, turned into Event Horizon by films end. It's worth a rent if you enjoy sci-fi films that take place in space, however if you've seen Event Horizon you can pretty much predict the end result.

District 9

Rated R for language, violence, gore

Starring Sharlto Copley

Set in 1982, an alien spaceship comes to Earth and hovers directly above Johannesburg, South Africa. Supposidly part of the ship broke off and dropped to Earth, but was unable to be found, leaving this ship stranded on our planet. After no activity from the ship for some team, an exploratory team flies up to the ship and opens it up to find a million starved and dying creatures that look like giant arthropods. In an attempt to help the creatures surivive, they brought down to Earth and placed in a slum community, named District 9, under the watch of MNU, Multinational United, who polices the district, as the inhabits, referred to derogatorily as "Prawns" are becoming more and more destructive.

It is decided that District 9 is running out of space and the Prawns will need to be relocated to the newly formed District 10. Heading up the operation is Wikus van de Merwe, who is forced to serve the Prawns with eviction notices, informing of them of the move. However, one alien, known to us as Christopher Johnson, and his young son, resist Wikus and the MNU, as Christopher seems to have a higher intellect that the others and understand his rights. While raiding Christopher's shack, Wikus discovers a strange container and takes it with him, however, not knowing what it is, Wikus tampers with it, causing it to spray him in the face.

Within the next 12 hours, Wikus falls ill and starts to change, physically, developing an arm like the aliens. After being taken into MNU custody, they begin to test Wikus' new arm, and discover that he can operate the alien's weaponry, as it is only responsive to their DNA. MNU then decides to cut open Wikus and vivisect him, however he freaks out and runs to District 9 for refuge, where he again encounters Christopher and his son. Christopher tells Wikus he can change him back eventually, but first they need to break into MNU and retrieve the canister Wikus took earlier from Christopher, as it contained just enough fuel to get the alien ship started up again and take them back to their home planet.

While a bit graphic and violent for some, District 9 deals a lot with the theme of racism. Wikus treats the Prawns poorly as he is evicting them, but then begins to see things from the other side once he begins to turn into one of them.

If you like sci-fi adventures and don't mind a bit of graphic violence, be sure to visit District 9.

DVD Review: Paycheck

Rated PG13 for action violence, brief language

Starring Ben Affleck, Uma Thurman, Aaron Eckhart, Paul Giamatti

Michael Jennings is a reverse engineer, who for a large amount of money will analyze a client's competitor's products and come up with new, better designs on the original. After each job, he has his memory erased to protect the clients intellectual property. Usually, a typical job for Michael lasts about 2 months, however he is offered a job from former college friend and now CEO of Allcom James Rethrick to work on a project that could take 3 years, but with a huge paycheck. Michael agrees and takes up residence in Allcom.

3 years comes and goes, Jenning's memory is reset and goes to collect to his paycheck, only to learn that he signed off on it earlier, and instead of his personal possessions he was forced to leave in an envelope when he enter Allcom, he receives an envelope with an assortment of random items. Trying to figure out what is going on, he is aprehended by the FBI, which he manges to escape. Turning to an old friend as well as a biologist he fell in love with during his time at Allcom, he tries to piece together what it was he worked on during his time at Allcom and why people are after him.

Paycheck is an action adventure sci-fi film directed by John Woo. While a bit of a roller coaster ride, Paycheck delivers when it comes to fun entertainment at the movies.

DVD Review: Fanboys

Rated PG13 for language, drug content, sexuality

Starring Jay Baruchel, Dan Fogler, Sam Huntington, Chris Marquette, Kristen Bell, Seth Rogen

On Halloween 1998, Eric reunites with his high school buddies Linus, Hutch, Windows and Zoe, however tension runs deeps, as Eric is the only one of the group who has moved on past high school, while the rest haven't changed one bit, however they still all share a love for Star Wars. After learning that Linus has cancer and is only given 4 months to live, while Star Wars: Episode 1 doesn't come out for another 6 months, the gang decides to drive out to Skywalker Ranch and steal a rough cut of the film, so Linus can see the next Star Wars installment before he dies.

Their trek takes them to various stops on their road trip and rekindles the friendship they once had.

If you're a geek and/or enjoy sci-fi films and Star Wars and Star Trek you'll enjoy this fun geeky adventure. While the focus of the film is Star Wars episode one, we do get to witness a bit of the Star Wars vs Star Trek rivalry among fans. This is one sci-fi comedy that you don't want to miss!

Star Trek

Rated PG13 for sci-fi action and violence, mild language

Starring Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Leonard Nimoy, Eric Bana, John Cho, Karl Urban, Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg, Anton Yelchin

In the year 2387, the galaxy is threatened by an unusually volatile supernova. Ambassador Spock (Nimoy) pilots a ship carrying "red matter", which will create an artificial black hole to consume the supernova. Before not before it destroys the planet Romulus. Captain Nero (Bana) blames Spock for the destruction of his planet and chases him through a black hole's event horizon, putting them both in the past.

Nero's ship arrives first, 154 years earlier, and since his arrival appears in the form of a space lightning storm, the Federation sends out the ship Kelvin to investigate, which ends up getting attacked by Nero. Acting Captain George Kirk orders an evacuation, which includes his wife and unborn son, saving over 800 lives in a matter of minutes while he stays behind on the ship and acts as a cover for the departing shuttlecraft. Spock arrives 25 years later, where he is captured by Nero and marooned on the planet Delta Vega so that he can witness the destruction of Vulcan, as retribution for Spock's failure to save Romulus.

James T. Kirk (Pine), now born without a father, grows up to be an intelligent young man, despite his reckless rebel behavior. After an encounter with some Starfleet Academy students, Captain Pike realizes who Kirk is and encourages him to enlist in Starfleet and do better than his father did, in order to get Kirk to realize his full potential. We also see a younger Spock, mocked by the other kids because of his half human, half Vulcan heritage.

The rest of the film takes place during Kirk's third year at Starfleet, and follows how Kirk became Captain of the USS Enterprise and together with Spock (Quinto) and the rest of the crew, they overcame Nero and the Romulans.

Personally, I've never really been into Star Trek, but I did find myself enjoying this movie. The characters were likeable and had depth to them, and the plot was easy enough to follow for a non-Trekkie with little to no previous knowledge of Star Trek. This was a good film to kick off the summer season.