Daybreakers

Vampire movies are a dime a dozen. With the sudden flood of vampire interest how can a new property make an impact? Daybreakers gambles with something a bit different with the genre. Can Daybreakers sink its teeth into the movie going public or does it come off dry.

Daybreakers is a vampire thriller written and directed by Michael and Peter Spierig. The Australian born brothers are known for a visceral and violent style of movie making, and Daybreakers does follow suit. Still relatively new to the movie world, Michael and Peter have two other films to their name, with one being thirteen minutes long.

Daybreakers brings in a few heavy hitters to fill its roles. Ethan Hawke plays Edward Dalton, a vampire hematologist who is working on a blood substitute for the pharmaceutical company Bromley Marks. Dalton is sympathetic to the human race and feels the need to save them. His boss Charles Bromley (Sam Neill) is less caring about humans, and runs Bromley Marks. Willem Dafoe plays Elvis, a human resistance fighter, and ex-vampire. The acting is a strong point in this film, and pulls you into the story fairly quickly.

The art direction is steady with a few shots that seem to be out of place, though this is a small complaint. The CGI is at times terrible, and really hinders the films pace. Luckily this only happens two or three times with the rest of the film looking rather good. I do feel that while the acting was good, a more experienced director could have gotten a bit more out of the actors. That being said I have no doubt that Michael and Peter will do better with each future film.

I liked this movie. While it did leave me wanting more, I still feel that this film is solid and should be seen. The acting is good. The feel is good. A film about a civilization of vampires could easily come off cheesy, and Daybreakers makes its mark.

Sorry about the vampire puns…I could not help myself.

Legion

If god loses faith in humanity, does it make a good show? Legion tackles this question head on and runs with it. Do angels fighting make lots of money? Read on and see if this movie flies or falls.

Legion is from director Scott Stewart who is best known as a senior staffer at the visual effects company The Orphanage, and has done a few small films. Legion is set in a small New Mexico diner, and centers on the archangel Michael’s (Paul Bettany) need to protect a pregnant woman from the wrath of god. While the cinematography is not terrible, it does show that this film is from an inexperienced director. The direction is another story. A lot of weight falls on the director’s shoulders be it good or bad, and in this case it is mostly bad.

The story has immense potential but sadly comes off as a subpar zombie survival flick with angels who act like demons who look like zombies. The story is paced about as poorly as one could get it. With 10 minute spots of no action, Legion’s story can not hold it’s self up. Stewart is no Tarantino. The characters are uninteresting for the most part, and not due to the acting. The cherry on top of Legion is the ending. Not only is the ending unbelievable, unlikeable, and uninteresting, it is also close to nonexistent.

Now the acting is where most of the light comes from in this film. Paul Bettany and Kevin Durand are the only ones who seem to care about this job. Dennis Quaid and Charles S. Dutton are great actors, yet sleep through their roles, and the rest of the cast is made up of mostly actors you have never heard of. Paul Bettany is really up and coming in America. He is solid in mostly every role he takes and Legion is no different. Kevin Durand has been acting for 10 years yet is just now starting to get leading roles. Look for him to be in many more if he keeps up the level he was on in Legion.

Legion is not a terrible movie, yet it should not be seen in theaters. Wait till it comes out on DVD and watch it. I did not hate nor love Legion. It is a middle ground film that will be easily forgotten in the coming weeks though.

The Blind Review's Top Ten of 2009

After much review and 2^nd, 3^rd, and even 4^th watching I have come to my top ten movies of 2009. This was rather difficult to be honest. I am not sure if it is this hard every year, due to my lack of experience with the matter, but it took me a few days to come to a decision. So with out further ado I give you "The Blind Review's Top Ten of 2009".

10. It might get loud

9. The brothers bloom

8. I love you, man

7. District 9

6. Zombieland

5. (500) Days of summer

4. Star trek

3. Up in the air

2. Avatar

1. Inglourious Basterds

AVATAR

What is Avatar? A movie with more hype than most movies combined this year, Avatar had more going for it than any movie this year prior to release. Was it all worth it? Did Avatar knock the socks off of this film reviewer?


The seeds of Avatar were planed years ago, near fifteen years to be exact. The brain child behind this monster is James Cameron. Cameron originally had an 80 page script back in 1994 that was set to be filmed soon after Titanic was finished. Cameron who is known for his “epic” movies sited the lack of technology as a main factor to as why Avatar took so long as it did. It was not until 2008 when Cameron saw the leaps in CGI, such as King Kong and Gollum that he felt confidant that the world of Pandora would turn out right.


Movies on such a grand scale, like Avatar, can leave the important things behind. Things like acting, story, cinematography, and direction can be overlooked, if not totally thrown to the waste side. While the story of Avatar is fairly simple and has been done many times before, it is still solid in the delivery with a few twists added in for flavor. The story is one of the few down sides of this film. It is extremely easy to follow. So much so that I know of several 10 year olds that understood what was going on throughout Avatar.


With only a handful of actors in the film physically, the burden of believability does weigh more on actors. Sam Worthington plays Jake Sully who is the main protagonist is the film, and delivers as well as anyone could want. Sigourney Weaver brings experience and a solid anchor to the cast as Dr. Grace Augustine as the head of the Avatar program. Michelle Rodriguez, Giovanni Ribisi, Joel David Moore also deliver rock solid roles in the film.


I am going to take a second to talk about Zoë Saldaña who plays Neytiri. While she is only in the movie by the way of performance capture, and is entirely computer generated, she gives one of the best performances I have seen all year. She captures the soul of the Na’vi with what seems like ease. If she is not at least nominated for an Academy Award then something is seriously amiss.


So that leaves cinematography left that could hold Avatar back. The camera work is sweepingly epic in the grandest sense. With a world solely from the mind of Cameron, he knows exactly what he wants and the camera delivers. From landscape shots to intense action scenes the camera seems to be everywhere you want to be. At times you feel fully emerged in the world, and James Cameron’s direction is fully to thank.


After hearing comic con attendee’s talk about how amazing and new the CGI was, I was skeptical. After seeing the trailers I was still skeptical. After seeing the film I can saw that I was impressed. It is the next step in Computer graphics. Think back to when you saw Jurassic Park for the first time. It is that big of a step. Now is it some amazing new CGI, sadly no. It is the best CGI I have ever seen, but still just CGI.


Is Avatar worth the estimated five hundred million that it took to make? Is it even worth the twelve bucks I paid to see it? YES YES AND YES. This film is mind blowing. The first hour or so I did have my doubts about it, with the introduction and set up, yet after that I rarely could close my jaw. During the last battle I found myself saying “wow” more than I ever thought I could. This is the epic that film needs at this moment. This is the film that film fans need at this time. This is a must see in theaters. Home DVD will do injustice to Avatar, which does sadden me. With two sequels still in the mind of James Cameron would I, given the chance, give him the green light to spend five hundred more million to spend? YES! Go see this movie now. It is truly one of the best films of the year.

Buy or Sell: Dexter

The second of my Buy or Sell series looks at the Showtime hit Dexter. Developed by James Manos, Jr., Dexter is about a serial killer that kills the evil that slips through the system of Miami. With three solid seasons under its belt could the forth season stand up?

The forth season of Dexter's main plot line involves Dexter’s hunt of the elusive “Trinity killer”. The serial killer “Trinity” is played by John Lithgow. He is so named by the pattern he leaves in his wake, a bath tub killing, a jumper/suicide, and a bludgeoning. Lithgow is amazing in this role. He surprised me every episode with how deep he was in the character. The rest of the cast, including Michael C. Hall, Julie Benz, Jennifer Carpenter, and James Remar, are all in true form this season as well.

In comparison with my last review of Glee, this show does it right where Glee falls short. Everything to do with this season of Dexter was well laid out and executed perfectly. Everything from the slow burn start of the season to the shocking ending is top notch. The story is compelling and driven with a purpose. The cinematography is amazingly “Dexter-like”, yet new and fresh. If I had to fault any one part of this season, it would be the slow burn start. Unlike myself I know not everyone likes that type of storytelling, and it could have gotten to the meat a bit faster.

I do feel the need to talk about the last episode a small bit. This will be spoiler free so fear not. The last 10 minutes of this season is the main reason to watch the first three seasons if you have not in my opinion. This is the type of ending you want as a storyteller. This is the type of ending you long for as an audience. You want an ending that leaves you speechless, questioning what you just saw, and wanting the next season to start tomorrow.

After the forth season finished I found myself torn between writing this while it was fresh in my mind or letting it fully set in. The latter seemed to be the best choice and gave me much to write about. Dexter is one of the few shows I will recommend to anyone without a second thought. This is TV done right. This is the bar that other shows with have to shoot for. As long as Dexter keeps up seasons like this, I will never stop watching.

VERDICT: BUY!

TV show buy or sell: Glee

With a few TV shows wrapping up their seasons, I figured I would throw my opinion into the hat. Glee is a show that most love or hate with very little middle ground. The show is from the mind of Ryan Murphy, who you may also know from his other shows Popular, and Nip/Tuck.

Glee starts off stronger than any show I had seen in a good while. The pilot was promising and I had high hopes. As the season went on it became a rollercoaster of emotions. My opinion varied from love to hate, and every point in between. At times it seemed like the music was the only thing holding me from never watching it again. Then at others times I found myself embracing the acting and story for that week’s show.

At the end of the day I know where the show is the weakest. The story on average is par at best. With story lines that emotionally upset me (False father Baby storyline and the fake pregnancy), I found myself not wanting to watch the next episode much less the rest of the one I was on. Yet something pulled me back in and I found myself watching it still.

With all things considered I found myself unsure about what I truly thought about Glee. The season finale started weak, yet finished extremely strong. After I watched the finale I had to seriously think about the whole picture the show gave me. For this show to survive the next season the writing will have to get much better. It would also not hurt for more emphasis to be placed on the students and the music they sing. I will say that I will watch the second season with little doubt and will do so because I want to see it, yet I will not recommend this show to many people.

Glee is neither bad nor great. It is an average show. I have hopes that the second season will be better, but I do not really care if it stays on TV or not as it stands.

VERDICT: SELL

Five word DVD Review : Gran Torino

Every so often I feel like I need to talk about a movie that is already in my collection. Movies that I felt were good enough for me to go out and spend money on(and some I wish I could get my money back). I also feel the need to break up the normal posting on my site. A bit of shake up every now and then. So I came up with "Five word DVD review"

Five Word DVD Review : Gran Torino

Clint Eastwood is a god.