Check This One Out! - The Act of Killing

Check This One Out! - The Act of Killing

 

Anwar Congo: "It's a good family movie; plenty of humor; a great story; beautiful scenery. It really shows what's special about our country even though it's a film about death."

 

      The Act of Killing is a documentary directed by Joshua Oppenheimer (The Look of Silence) and stars a bunch of bad people.

Lights, camera, kill!

      In 1965 and 1966, Indonesia went through a genocide led by Suharto, who overthrew President Sukarno. A couple of gangsters, Anwar Congo and Adi Zulkadry, were promoted from being black market theater ticket sellers to heads of the most powerful death squad in North Sumatra. Today, Anwar is considered the most "right wing" of the paramilitary group known as Pemuda Pancasila Youth. They have killed almost a million of their own people in brutal fashion. This documentary follows the leader Anwar and his group of killers in the process of making a movie that acts out their personal killings and recounts their feelings about them. They do all this in the form of their favorite types of films: gangster, western, and musical.

These people get makeup, but their victims got the real deal. Terrible.

 

      There are times where I talk about fun movies and action packed movies, but for this week's Check This One Out! I'd like to talk about one of my favorite, if not my actual favorite, documentary that I've seen called The Act of Killing. Like many significant events that has caused controversy in the past century, this genocide has two sides. The Act of Killing is one of those films that recounts the horrid and cringe worthy side by the actual killers themselves. That really doesn't happen often and that's why I urge you to see this documentary to appreciate how the filmmakers have the ability to get up close and personal with the people who have caused misery to many in their country. What I find fascinating is that the killings that Anwar and his paramilitary group commits are never shown, but instead either told in graphic detail or acted out by them in dramatic and theatrical form. There are many people who are reading this that might not like the "viewer discretion" that I give, but I can assure you that The Act of Killing is actually told by these killers and sometimes depicts threatening material to the native people in the slums of Indonesia.

Like I said, the darker side of the same coin up close and personal.

 

      The Act of Killing is an educational experience that gives a viewer the perspective from the darker side of life and it isn't pretty. However, it is an important topic because this was just recently made in 2012. These people are still in power and still haunt the residents of the communist community in Indonesia. I'm sorry that this isn't one of those reviews or suggestions that is more upbeat like how I usually write, but I would just like people to understand that with everything that's going on in the world right now with certain types of terrorism or hatred of certain people that it's important to know the other side and to stay good and optimistic. It's hard, I know. Please stay positive, everybody!

I agree! Stop the madness now!

 

The Act of Killing is not rated

Click here to watch the trailer

The Act of Killing is available on digital download, Blu-ray, and streaming services

      Thanks for reading, everybody! I really appreciate it. Please subscribe to my blog and follow me on Facebook here and Twitter here to get updates on new reviews and trailer drops. Also, if you've already seen The Act of Killing, comment and let me know what you think of it. Thanks again!

The Shallows Review

The Shallows

 Shark (fake quote): "Hi. My name's Rodney. I want you in my belly."

Nancy (real quote): "Shaaaarrrk!!!"

      The Shallows is directed by Jaume Collet-Serra (Unknown, Non-Stop, Orphan) and stars Blake Lively as Nancy, Oscar Jaenada as Carlos, and an angry, big ass, CGI shark.

Ha! Never going back into the ocean again.

 

      Nancy just went through a traumatic event, the event being her mother's death, that made her realize that life is too short and she should just go for it. She goes to a secluded beach, somewhere in a Spanish speaking country, where her mother used to surf. Nancy had only heard stories of her mother being very happy here. Nancy, also a surfer, heads out to surf on a bright and sunny day...but then a humongous great white shark feels threatened of Nancy being in the shark's feeding territory. It then attacks her and she swims to a small rocky island only big enough to fit her and another human the size of her. Relying on her background training as a medical student, Nancy does the only two things she can do: trying to contact others for help and survive. Danny Boyle presents 127 Hours: The Nautical Chronicles (by the way I just made that up, but it sounds like something James Franco would be willing to do, wouldn't it?).

James Franco: Do you even lift, bro?

Shark: Nah. I eat constantly, bro.

 

      Great for Blake Lively; trying to take on a film that focuses on one character in a survival situation. While, Blake Lively is the star of The Shallows, and did a good job as her character, I couldn't really get onto an emotional connection for her actual character. The reason being that she is very sexualized. I'm going into some territory here where I think different kinds of sharks would eat me up, but for a film that does focus on a survival situation, there are way too many slow motion scenes that hint at Nancy's bodily features. It is almost jarring how many moments there are in The Shallows that include Blake Lively moving her body in such a way that it makes preteens turn into teenagers within a blink of an eye. I can also understand the takeaway message that a woman can be sexy and strong as hell, but seriously, just count how many slow motion scenes there are and it seems like just a straight up slap in the face to wake you up. The lack of emotions really only happened to me. It could affect you too, but it's not something that I want to generalize. Unfortunately, The Shallows, for the first thirty minutes looks almost like a well produced music video with out of place music that takes you out of the buildup of seeing a giant shark. These two problems really are mostly present during the beginning scenes of the film. That's a good thing considering that when the shark is seen swimming around and hunting for Blake Lively's character, it's pretty damn entertaining for the most part.

Even bloodied up, Blake Lively is still bad ass and attractive!

 

      In comes the great white shark with hunger so powerful, it literally eats three adult sized humans in a little less than a day. Like it should be, the majority of The Shallows is Nancy on a small rock island figuring out how to get help and how to heal her deep wounds. I really enjoyed these scenes because, in retrospect, it could teach people a little bit more on how to keep calm and survive a horrid accident. It's not by any means a medical how-to video, but it gives a person an idea of how to stay alive. In this case, Nancy is really a lucky person to have the background of being a medical student, but without the actual supplies and tools she would have in a hospital setting, all she has is her clothing she used when surfing, part of her surfboard, and her jewelry. She basically is an average Joe in an extreme environment. That type of character is always a plus for me because I can't get invested in a survival movie if a person is given everything. I understand that the medical background is given to this character, but I think the procedures that Nancy does on herself isn't a huge step off of what a person outside of the medical field should know. I'm sorry if you don't agree, but keeping the blood flow in your leg without actually cutting circulation off is something you should know in case of an emergency. In any case, Nancy is a relatable character, in that you can understand what her human goal is and how to accomplish it, but emotions come second and I feel she just doesn't have the chops for that, at least for the first 30 minutes.

I'd rather not put up a bloody image, but rather I'll just put a cute picture of a kitten and puppy instead. Aww!!

      I would honestly consider the shark as a main character in The Shallows, even though it's only a CGI fish with teeth the size of your index finger. Applause to the special effects team who made this shark look really good and scary as hell. I can only suspect that fear of open water is a common one,  but even if it's not, I think The Shallows worsened my fear. This isn't even in open water! It's like a couple hundred meters off of shore! So close, yet so far away from being safe from a shark. The Shallows is first and foremost a horror/thriller and I completely got what I went in for. I just can't help but think that this movie is in a sphere or bubble of some sort: the inside has potential and a scary premise, but the outer substance holding it in is not attractive looking, in terms of execution.

To see this coming at you, is to automatically die without even being touched from the shark.

 

      The Shallows did its job by scaring the crap out of me, but even if I was scared, I still have to analyze the surrounding scares. The choices for tone are never cohesive enough to where you can enjoy the entire movie. At first, The Shallows feels like an expensive early 00's music video and then as the shark appeared, the tone got more interesting, then by the end, it kind of actually falls apart on how the resolution is portrayed. Shark are so much smarter! On the other hand, Blake Lively did as much with her character as she could and I commend her for that. Plus actually bled for the movie: when she hits an object with her face, her nose bleeds and it makes it to the final cut. Anyways, I was entertained by the movie as a whole, but you can definitely just catch it on a streaming service or Blu-ray with a bunch of friends.

3.2/5

PRO

• Fear of the shark hits well with the thriller/horror element of the movie
• Survivor scenes of the movie are well executed
• Blake Lively does well with her character

CON

• Too many slow motion shots!
• Odd choices for tone throughout the movie

The Shallows is rated PG-13 for bloody images, intense sequences of peril, and brief strong language

Click here to watch trailer

The Shallows is in theaters everywhere now

      Thanks for reading, everybody! I really appreciate it! Please subscribe to my blog and follow me on Facebook here and Twitter here to get updates on new reviews and trailer drops. Also, if you've already seen The Shallows, comment and let me know what you think of it. Thanks again!

Independence Day: Resurgence Review

Independence Day: Resurgence

David Levinson: "I've had years to get us ready. We never had a chance."

President Whitmore: "We didn't last time either."

      Independence Day: Resurgence is directed by Roland Emmerich (Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow, The Patriot, 1998's Godzilla) and stars Jeff Goldblum as David Levinson, Bill Pullman as President Whitmore, Liam Hemsworth as Jake Morrison, Jessie T. Usher as Dylan Hiller, William Fichtner as General Adams, Maika Monroe as Patricia Whitmore, Sela Ward as President Lanford, Judd Hirsch as Julius Levinson, Brent Spiner as Dr. Brakish Okun, Charlotte Gainsbourg as Catherine Marceuax, Angelababy as Rain Lao, Vivica A. Fox as Jasmine Hiller, Deobia Oparei as Dikembe Umbutu, and Nicholas Wright as Floyd Rosenberg.

Am I leaving anyone out? Oh well. It's probably just about 30 more people.

      Aliens are back, with an even bigger ship, after 20 years of the events of 1996's Independence Day when humans beat the crap out of the hostile aliens. Explosions happen and the end of the world is on the line. Luckily we have also had 20 years to advance our technology using alien technology. With these huge jumps in military and social aspects of the human species, the only logical conclusion to defeat the returning aliens is to bring back Jeff Goldblum and a bunch of other side characters. Woo! Dr. Malcolm!

I can't not have a Dr. Malcolm meme.

       

      I am a fan of the cheesy, but fun Independence Day that came out in 1996. It's a crazy ride with aliens and humanity standing as one race (along with some destruction going on in the background). Due to this, I can't say I was excited or even asking for a sequel. Independence Day: Resurgence is, once again, a crazy stupid fun experience, but with one huge downside: Most of the time, it isn't fun. Independence Day: Resurgence tries too hard to be campy, which I didn't think people tried to do. Grant it, the predecessor is campy and cheesy, but it at least had fun and charismatic characters that gave importance to the film. Unfortunately, the majority of the cast in this sequel didn't even look like they were having fun. All of their lines were just said without any substance. Liam Hemsworth is the clichéd badass that saves the day in the end with help from his flight crew, Jessie T. Usher is the workaholic flight captian who cares about his job and by the end enjoys the company of his friends, Brent Spiner is the crazy doctor who no one pays attention to and then by the end people listen to him because he isn't so crazy after all. It's totally a paint by numbers film. It was almost if they played really dumb Sci-Fy channel movie characters. Even those movies are self aware enough that they know the plot and the characters are stupid. Resurgence is just the same thing as its original. That's not the point I'm making though. The point I'm making is that even though it is the same movie as the original, it isn't as fun as the original. The lack of energy is totally detectable. I'm sorry Jeff, you actually looked like you were having fun and the entire cast basically mailed in their performance and didn't give a s**t.

I can see why Will Smith turned down his reprising role of Captain Steven Hiller. 

       I will give Independence Day: Resurgence the benefit of the doubt and say that there are some cool action moments throughout the movie. For example, Some of destruction scenes involving falling buildings is catastrophically cool looking, if that's a thing that could be considered cool. Most of the special effects with the aliens is eye catching, but with these end-of-the-world movies, there are lots of opportunities for mistakes to arise. The special effects team pretty much bit off more than they could chew (they basically went overboard with special effects). This is pretty typical for a film with a budget of $200 million US dollars! The sky battles between the humans and aliens were filled with these overabundance of special effects. The problem with having this is that it doesn't allow the viewer to appreciate the actual effects, instead a barrage of lasers, flying ships, and explosions hit the screen (not to mention cheesy one liners like "Thank me later!" "Nah. I'll thank you now!").

A warning if I'm with you in the car and we see this from a distance, I will soil my pants and the car. I'm sorry.

       A film can be filled with clichés and still be entertaining. However, there is only so much one can bear with face palming one liners, predictable deaths/victories, and crazy quirky characters that bring the comedy relief. I can say that Independence Day: Resurgence is one of those unbearable action films that thinks it has the charming and riveting factors that Independence Day did, but it sadly doesn't at all. Annoying characters with no depth played by actors who were there just to get a check made this possibly one of the worst movies this year. Yay. I honestly saw a lot of potential in Resurgence, but nobody cared to make an effort to bring a great science fiction action movie to life. It is a film no one really asked for and it was dead on arrival. The sucky thing is that there is a set up in Resurgence for another (possibly more than one) sequel. Dear god, please help us.

1.9/5

PRO

• Some cool action scenes

CON

• Unfortunately, the other action scenes are overpopulated with too many special effects
• Cast seems to not care about putting an effort
• Overused clichés are found everywhere
• Basically the same plot as previous film, but a little bit bigger and not as fun

 

 

Independence Day: Resurgence is rated PG-13 for sci-fi action, and for some language 

 

Click here to watch the trailer

 

Independence Day: Resurgence is in theaters everywhere now

 

 

      Thanks for reading, everybody! I really appreciate it. Please subscribe to my blog and follow me on Facebook here and Twitter here to get updates on new reviews and trailer drops. Also, if you've already seen Independence Day: Resurgence, comment and let me know what you  think of it. Thanks again!