Showing posts with label Oscar. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Oscar. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

50x3: Lost Boys (O-2)

A lot of the reason I tossed out this list to a few people was to get a handful of movies from each person that helps me branch out a little more. Even though some of the films might be films I wouldn't even think to watch for various reasons.

Lost Boys was one of those films. I have seen the cover of the movie and scenes from the film multiple times, but I have never wanted to watch it. But, I was told to and so I did - and it wasn't all that bad. In fact, I found myself enjoying it.

The Emerson family, Lucy (Dianne Wiest) and her sons Michael (Jason Patric) and Sam (Corey Haim), move to Santa Carla, California after her divorce. She moves into Lucy's father's (Barnard Hughes) house.

As both Lucy and Michael head out on the town looking for jobs, Sam walks into a comic store where Edgar (Corey Feldman) and Alan (Jamison Newlander) Frog both work. They show Sam some new comics to read - and explain it will help him in his new town.

Michael, meanwhile, locks eyes with a girl named Star (Jami Gertz) who is part of a gang and in a relationship with David (Kiefer Sutherland). Despite lusting after his girlfriend, David takes a liking to Michael and initiates him into their group by drinking some sort of liquid.

The next day, Michael wakes up and has a hankering for human blood - and attacks his brother. Not knowing what is going on he begins to realize that what he drank the night before was blood and he is turning into a vampire.

Using his new comic-book knowledge Sam tells Michael that since he has never killed anyone he is only a half vampire - and if they kill the head vampire everything will be reversed. This would also allow Star and a younger child, Laddie, to be returned to human as well because they have also not killed anyone.

I actually really enjoyed this film. Some things bothered me - mainly the soundtrack - especially that one that constantly seems to play. It is so slow and so '80s.

I liked Patric in this film, but I just couldn't help thinking Rob Lowe would have been better. And how can you go wrong with the Coreys in the '80s? Also, great seeing Keanu's buddy Alex Winter - where has he been?

Grade:

Monday, October 29, 2012

50x3: Moon (O-1)

For the first film on Oscar's list I watch one that I was not too familiar with. I had heard about it and had seen the odd poster for it, but really had no idea what it was about.

I will say this before I start, there is really no way to talk about this film without spoilers - so if you have not seen it and plan to do not read anymore.

Moon is a film in the same vein as Cast Away or Buried in that for pretty much the entire film we are with just one human character. Sam Rockwell stars as Sam Bell, who is on a 3-year mission on the moon to oversee harvesting that is done there for a gas called helium-3 that is sent to Earth.

Bell has a wife, Tess (Dominique McElligott) and a young daughter Eve (Kaya Scoderlario), which are the only things really keeping him going while spending his days alone. Them and his only other 'friend' a robot named GERTY (Kevin Spacey).

With only two weeks remaining on his mission, Bell gets in an accident while out on the moon surface trying to recover a helium-3 canister. He awakens in the infirmary by GERTY with no memory of the accident. He overhears GERTY speaking with the Lunar Industries, who is in charge, despite the fact that communications have been knocked out for years.

GERTY is to keep Bell in the space station and not let him out as a rescue team comes to get him. Believing something is not right, Bell creates a fake issue to get out of the station and finds an unconscious person inside a crashed rover - which turns out to be himself.

As it turns out there is no 3-year mission. Long ago a man named Sam Bell volunteered to have himself cloned so that these clones could harvest on the moon risk free. Of course, all of Bell's memories and thoughts were left inside his clones - so they longed to get home and see their wife and new child.

But, there was no return home for these clones. Their 3-year mission was (and this is just what I gathered) actually their life expectancy. Once their 3-year mission was over - GERTY would 'awaken' another clone and the cycle would begin all over again.

In Moon Rockwell did have a few more things to interact with than Hanks did in Cast Away. Hanks' lone companion was a volleyball that couldn't speak, while Rockwell had a robot that could interact and eventually another clone to speak with.

But, Rockwell still did an amazing job in the role. Plus the difference between the two clones was night and day. Despite not having much color in the film, the views were outstanding - especially when they journeyed out onto the surface of the moon.

Grade: