Review – Page 5 – Reel Film Chronicles

Resident Evil: Apocalypse

With just a brief two years between the first and this sequel, Apocalypse picks up where the cliffhanger ending of Resident Evil left off – for the most part: we’re treated to a recap of the first films events before the action gets started. The story follows a couple of groups of STARS soldiers (Special Tactics and Rescue Service) as they find themselves trapped in virus and zombie infected Raccoon city. Umbrella Corporation has also sealed the cities borders and unleashed another genetic experiment in the form of Nemesis upon any survivors, for no other reason than to see how it performs before wiping the city off the map with an atom bomb. It seemed a bit crazy to me that the city could suffer as much as it did within the thirteen hour time jump we got at the beginning of the film, but I’ll look past that as I suspect this evil corporation to be taking advantage of the situation and artificially spreading the virus just for the sake of being evil. It seems a bit ludicrous that one…

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance

After a week of allowing Nicolas Cage’s maniacal performance as Johnny Blaze/Ghost Rider Spirit of Vengeance, I still find myself struggling to decide if this “sequel” is actually better or worse than the original film (also starring Cage) from 2007. There are certain elements to the film, including Idris Elba, a straightforward story and the grittier look of the Rider himself that push me in one direction, but then I think about the first film and how this followup really failed to grab me. It’s like this film is just a bit too generic, including that straightforward story – everything feels like it’s been done before. Most perplexing though, is trying to determine if Spirit of Vengeance is an actual sequel or not; would they reboot Ghost Rider after four short years? It seems they did. Sprit of Vengeance establishes Johnny Blaze as continuing to struggle with his alter ego, Ghost Rider. He has very little control over the soul-searching supernatural skeleton, which I would have thought would be a little more within reach after the events of the first…

Palm Springs

For someone who grew up idolizing Groundhog Day, I had a hefty built-in nostalgia-fueled skepticism of a modern time loop film that could do anything truly innovative or unique with the genre. Palm Springs upends my pessimistic attitude and blew me away: from the moment I saw the trailer a few weeks ago, through watching the film to the mid-credits stinger, I was completely hooked on this time defying romantic comedy. With a stellar script by Andy Siara, Palm Springs follows Nyles (Andy Samberg) and Sarah (Cristin Milioti) as they are seemingly stuck reliving the same day over, and over, and over again. While that seems like familiar territory, the film elevates itself above being a simple clone or rip-off with some fantastic characters and gigantic heart, as well as an acute self-awareness. Indeed, I felt like the film was speaking directly to me – a viewer who is well familiar with the Groundhog Day time loop trope – and indulging in all the meta-topics that friends would discuss about various ramifications of the time-loop mechanic that was established nearly…

Everest

Everest wound up being an incredibly refreshing breath of cinematic fresh air I didn’t know I needed. After recently watching some pretty heavy films like Hereditary and Midsommar, Everest was exactly what I needed to clear my palate. It didn’t necessarily rise to the top of my all-time favourite movies, but there was something refreshingly earnest about its approach to the disaster movie genre. There were no explosions, natural disasters, evil corporations, or any human antagonists of any variety. Everest simply tells (or tells simply) the story of a disastrous expedition to the summit of the most famous mountain in the world, the highest point on earth at the top of Mount Everest. Up until things go completely sideways – which because this is based on a true story, the audience is expecting the other shoe to drop at some point – proceedings seem to be going quite swimmingly. Which tends to be the way things seem until they don’t, I suppose, and the movie does an excellent job at conveying this sense of normalcy. I hesitate to say Everest fosters a sense of complacency, because a huge part of conflict…

Thor

With some in-movie references to Agent Coulson needing to go to New Mexico to investigate a new phenomenon paired with a stinger at the end of Iron Man 2, Thor would become one of the mostly hotly anticipated superhero films as we dove head first into a new decade. Although only three movies deep, Marvel was quickly adept at picking up a pace and showing us that these movies weren’t going to be standalone outings; I would say (without fact checking) that Iron Man 2 introduced the “next event/movie” stinger, which would pave the way for a formula of mid and end credits scenes that ensured everyone was glued to their seats for as long as possible. I remember some early screen tests showing up as well highlighting some of the costumes from the film and everyone looking suspiciously at one another with the fear that these were a tad bit ridiculous. All fears were quickly put aside as the comic book demigods appeared on screen in colourful grandeur and spectacle. We were in for a ride and would not be disappointed. In revisiting Thor, I was shocked…

Daredevil

February 14, 2003: what better day to release a superhero film about a blind, masked vigilante upon the masses, and indeed, what better day for myself and two friends to line up an hour before the box office opens to secure our tickets? I swear, I didn’t have to blackmail them or anything, they just played along! While I’m sure there was some coercion involved, the fact of that matter is that there would be no pity party involved on this Valentine’s Day, and all that would remain is unabashed excitement for the latest Marvel superhero film. Well, from myself at least, probably not so much the other guys. Following hot on the heels of Spider-Man in 2002 and X-Men the year before, it’s easy to see how anyone with a familiarity with these characters would be excited for any of the Marvel films at this time: around the corner we were getting X2 and Hulk, all in one year! Unfortunately, that excitement was quickly dashed, as the three of us walked out of the theatre quietly, at which point a wall of…

Iron Man

What better way to start a new series of posts about Marvel movies than the film that launched an entire cinematic universe and arguably changed the landscape of the modern blockbuster. That film is 2008’s Iron Man, starring a pretty stellar cast led by Robert Downey Jr, Jeff Bridges, Gwyneth Paltrow and Terrance Howard all directed by Jon Favreau in one of the best superhero origin films we’ve ever seen. While you can credit the film for launching the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the film doesn’t focus on that future groundwork and is stronger for it. I can’t imagine that idea being anything but a dream at that point with just a tiny sprinkling of this universe building present in the movie (and of course the juicy post-credits scene). Instead, the film excels because it’s so tightly focused on giving us a grounded origin of an iconic, interesting character and utilizing the talented crew and actors to provide a film with broad appeal that executes blending together an incredible concoction of action, humour and drama. It’s impossible to revisit Iron Man twelve years…

Iron Man 2

Iron Man 2 has never really stood up as a particularly great film for me, so I approach revisiting the sequel with some trepidation, but also a glimmer of hope that I missed something in the theatrical run, or maybe going in with the knowledge of the entire Infinity Saga would somehow unlock some clever quality of the movie that I had missed before. That’s not the case here, unfortunately. Tony Stark’s second standalone film is somehow worse when I revisit it this time – and I’m guessing this is the third or fourth time I’ve seen the film. Mickey Rourke’s Whiplash certainly has some potential to be an interesting villain, but is absolutely squandered: after his flashy introduction, he’s relegated to spending the entire film hidden in a lab, squabbling with Justin Hammer (played by Sam Rockwell) and doesn’t even make his appearance known to the hero of the film until the very final moments. Hammer is an interesting adversary for Tony Stark, but not necessarily Iron Man, and I do wish that they would utilize the character more so. Rockwell…

Resident Evil

I was roughly fifteen years old when the first Resident Evil game appeared on the Playstation and feeding off the hype of a heavy diet of gaming magazines, I was quick to run out and rent the title to see what the fuss was all about. This wasn’t my introduction to survival horror – that had come in Alone in the Dark on the PC – but it was a giant leap forward and ultimately, not a game that I could really get into. I ignored the first three games but absolutely fell in love with the fourth title, which served as a retooling of the series with the advent of an entirely new gameplay structure and embracing more of the shooter aspect of survival horror. With that being said, I can’t pretend to know anything about the series, including any of the characters or the lore of the world that’s been built up for so long. I approach these films as a bit of an outsider, but my gamer roots and knowledge are not entirely forgotten. Resident Evil has…

Battle Royale

Battle Royale is perhaps the best film about teenagers killing each other for sport ever made. Granted, that’s a pretty small pool of movies. Or at least, I hope it is. Normally, I would do a Google search for this kind of thing, but with my browser history the way it is, searching for “movies about children killing each other” might just be the straw that breaks the proverbial camel’s back and earns me an impromptu visit from the FBI in the middle of the night. Originally released in 2000, it would take another twelve years for Battle Royale to be released in North America, likely owing more to discussions over film rights than the more romantic notion of the film being banned because it was so provocative and powerful. Battle Royale is both provocative and powerful, but it definitely did not unite world governments to spend any amount of time and effort to actively ban its distribution en masse. This decision is much to their own detriment, however, as Battle Royale is also a truly subversive film, calling into question the shifting nature of the relationship societies have with…