CITY OF EMBER: A Film That Should Have Had the Lights Turned OFF On It

Fantasy films have been on the rise since the success of THE LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy and studios have been buying up popular fantasy novels left and right so there is little wonder the Jeanne Duprau’s novel “The City of Ember” would be next up in line. What is surprising is the film adaptation of the novel CITY OF EMBER is such an uninspired, paint-by-numbers drab film with little heart and even less imagination. This is surprising considering that the screenplay is by Caroline Thompson, who helped bring to life EDWARD SCISORHANDS (1990), THE ADDAMS FAMILY (1991), THE SECRET GARDEN (1993), and THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS (1993). Those films were fantastic fantasy films whereas this one is a muddled mess.

The film concerns the city of Ember, which was built underground 200 years prior in order to save humanity from the devastation from the world above. The original Builders of Ember set a timer on the city so that after 200 years the generations that knew nothing of the world above would have a blueprint on how to escape Ember when the time came, only the instructions which were passed down from mayor to mayor have been lost and the people of Ember know nothing of the world above.

Now the city of Ember is crumbling under old age and the fact that no one to fix anything that was built 200 years prior escapes them. As Ember falls apart under the threat of loosing the power that keeps the city’s light on draws near it is up to Doon and Lina (Harry Treadway and Saoirse Ronan, respectfully) to escape Ember using the instructions of the city’s original Builders in order to save the people they love.
At a production budget of approximately $38 million the film looks even cheaper then that with the bad CGI. The film has good production design as the city of Ember is crafted with great care and a distinctive look but besides the weak screenplay the great supporting cast is given little to nothing to do in the film, which includes Tim Robbins, Bill Murray, Toby Jones, and Martin Landau. The leads Treadway and Ronan actually do a good job in the mediocre film and will help younger audiences enjoy the film but this still won’t erase the fact that CITY OF EMBER just isn’t all that good of a film.

MAX PAYNE, A Forgetable Video Game Adaptation

Films based on video games are generally not very good and this is no exception with the new Mark Wahlberg film MAX PAYNE. The film is about a detective Max Payne (Wahlberg) who after witnessing his wife and child’s death buries himself in the cold case files where he becomes a pariah to all the other officers on the force. When the becomes dragged into the investigation of a death woman who stole his wallet he becomes entangled with gangsters and the existence of a drug that makes people invincible, while some suffer horrible delusions and visions of a world inhabited by demons.

If you think I’m giving something away by revealing any of this, trust me, the film is very transparent with its story and you’ll see everything coming long before they decide to reveal it. It’s sad that films based on video games have been so bad (i.e. DOOM, SUPER MARIO BROS., or STREETFIGHTER) through the years and even with a big name like Wahlberg attached this film couldn’t have been elevated other then mediocre film that it is. Also on hand is Beau Bridges, Chris O’Donnell, and Ludacris (who is the only one that you don’t laugh at during the entire film).

The action is fast & furious and the special visual effects are top notch (which are the only things saving this film from becoming complete trash). I do have to admit that the ending was very well done especially considering how much I hated the rest of the film and how long it took to a point in the film was wasn’t completely ludicrous (forgive the pun). As much hype as they gave to the film you’d think that something more interesting would have come out at the end but maybe we’ll just have to wait for the next video game adaptation.

QUARANTINE: One of the Scariest Films of the Year!

With only four major horror films being released this October (the others being SAW V, THE HAUNTING OF MOLLY HARTLEY, and SPLINTER), QUARANTINE, the America remake of the Spanish film REC, is one of the highlights of the Halloween season and one of the best remakes to come out in quite some time. Although the original REC has yet to be released here in the states (due to the fact that the studios don’t want people’s expectations of QUANTANTINE to be judged by the original film), QUARANTINE comes off as a suspenseful and altogether terrifying experience.

Angela Vidal and her cameraman Scott (Jennifer Carpenter and Steve Harris, respectfully) are doing an expose on firefighters particularly Jake and George (Jay Hernandez & Johnathon Schaech, respectfully), who reveal that most of the calls that they take are mostly as EMTs. As Jack and George reveal their seemingly uneventful lives on the job, a late night call comes in to the firehouse giving Angela and Scott the opportunity to catch the boys in action on the job. They soon arrive at an apartment complex in which several tenants have been hearing a woman screaming in her apartment. With the help of some police officers, Jack and George break in with Angela not far behind. When they try to help the screaming woman she attacks them injuring one of the cops. This attack leads to the revelation that something isn’t quite right and their fears are soon realized when they are unable to leave the building due to the fact that the police have the building quarantined off and they won’t tell the trapped inhabitants why.

One by one each of the inhabitants of the apartment complex become infected with what appears to be some sort of fast acting killer virus and emotions become even more escalated when they can’t leave and the building becomes infested with more of the infected. As time runs out and hope is no-existent, Angela and Scott must find a way to survive until help comes…if it ever does.

Like THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, CLOVERFIELD, and DIARY OF THE DEAD, this film is told completely from the perspective of Scott’s camera, which at times is very impressive considering how much the camera is always on the move. These types of films have been on the rise as of late and don’t seem to be waning in the slightest. Written by John and Drew Dowdle (based on the REC screenplay by Jaume Balaguero, Luis Bardejo, and Paco Plaza) and directed by John Erick Dowdle QUARANTINE is one of the best remakes in quite some time and one of the best genre films of the year mainly because it never forgets to create suspense and terror while also telling a compelling story. With so many genre films seemly going for the shock-gore moment it’s great to see a film that actually is suspenseful and terrifying. Definitely, one not to be missed.

Graphic Novel Review: MARVEL ZOMBIES 2

I’m not one for reading anything that the comic book company Marvel has put out in almost a little over a decade but when I heard that writer Robert Kirkman had his hands in the original graphic novel I couldn’t help myself. This was the man who brought horror back to comics with his phenomenal ongoing series THE WALKING DEAD, so, if he was behind the series it couldn’t be all that bad. Point of fact is that the first MARVEL ZOMBIES series was an unquestionable success, so, who am I to be the one to say that there was no need for a second series.

MARVEL ZOMBIES 2 opens years after the first series ended in which all the superheroes of the Marvel universe became infected with a zombie plague turning them all into flesh eating zombies who practically devoured everything on Earth. After eating the Silver Surfer and Galactus, the surviving zombie-superheroes flee Earth in search of more food. In this new series the zombie-superheroes have eaten everything that they can and now set their sights on returning to Earth in order to find Reed Richards dimensional machine that will allow them passage to another world so that they can find a new world to feast upon.

When the zombie-superheroes return to Earth they have a surprise in store for them as an aged Black Panther and Forge had assembled the last of humanity in a settlement that they refuse to let go to the menace of the zombies. Things get even more complicated as a zombie-Wasp has taken up refuge with the survivors and has learned how to live in peace without letting the “hunger” of being a zombie get to her. Now it’s a fight for survival as humans battle zombies, zombies battle zombies, and everything is fair game.

Kirkman presents a compelling story where there are no easy answers or solutions to what lies next for humanity. This is a theme he’s put to great use in his THE WALKING DEAD series and works on a much bigger canvas then that series. Sean Phillips’ artwork compliments Kirkman’s story perfectly. The story is filled with great references from Marvel’s history and will be a favorite with comic book fans.

Like the first series this series steps far beyond anything that most readers of Marvel’s comics is accustomed to which makes the series that much better and now that the creators realize that they have a hit on their hands this series is left open for the impending third story in the series. I recommend this to both fans of Marvel comics and those readers who just want to read a very good story. I may not read anything else that Marvel puts out but I’ll continue to read this series as long as they continue putting them out.

Larry Fessenden's Exceptional THE LAST WINTER!

Writer/director Larry Fessenden surprised audiences with his two previous films HABIT (1997) and WENDIGO (2001), yet he has truly outdone himself with his recent film THE LAST WINTER, which like this year’s earlier film THE HAPPENING, was a cautionary tale about global warming and nature striking back against the inhumane ways in which humans have treated the Earth.

In this film the KIC Corporation is trying to build an ice route in the northern reaches of the world only the ice is not freezing hard enough due to impending climate changes or that is what environmentalist James Hoffman (James LeGros) believes. In returns Ed Pollack (Ron Perlman) whose job it is, is to get the ice route built at whatever the cost or it will be all the people’s jobs that work for the corporation. When the body of one of the members of the team in found out in the open coldness of death in the nude, Hoffman begins to believe that the environmental changes in the Earth have opened up a hole from which dangerous and possibly hallucinogenic dangers have made themselves known. When more of the team disappear in the same manner the team finds themselves isolated and trapped as the dangers escalate and Hoffman believes that something more supernatural may be a work.

Like WENDIGO, you’re never quite sure whether there really is a supernatural threat or that the characters have just simply gone insane due to the circumstances that have driven them into their situation. It’s masterfully suspenseful with an even more capable cast then he had in WENDIGO (which is no small feat considering how great that film turned out).
THE LAST WINTER is a much more subtle film then THE HAPPENING which is one of the beauties of the film. It’s a slow burning horror film as only a few directors are capable of. The film’s themes hit home more so then THE HAPPENING making it one of the truly interesting films to come along in quite some time.

Retrospect: Jacob's Ladder

I was 14 years old when I first saw the film JACOB’S LADDER on the weekend that it was released to the box office. I was a huge horror film fan even at that age and the trailers for the film made it appear like a film I definitely couldn’t miss. Well, at 14 years of age I had no clue of what the hell was going on in the film and walked out at the end completely enraged. I remember this well as this was the first time me and my family (I had parents that supported my love of horror films) ever walked out of a film wanting our money back. None of us knew just what we were watching and what a gem this film truly was.

As I grew older I actually learned what the Vietnam war was as well as how it affected our nation. I didn’t watch the film until years later after hearing great praise for the film and I wanted to know what the fuss was about considering it was a film up until then that I had thought was horrible.

Boy, I’m glad I changed my mind about this film as it has truly become one of my favorites over the years. Written by Bruce Joel Rubin JACOB’S LADDER is a drug infused trip down horror lane as Jacob Singer (Tim Robbins) is a Vietnam vet suffering from visions of demons everywhere. It seems that the government were doing experiments during the war and the after effects are just now starting to kick into over drive which means bad things for Jacob and the remaining soldiers of his unit. The film is about Jacob’s inability to move on from both the events that were the war and from the death of his son and how the guilt can eat away at a person’s psyche.

The film has strong performances from Robbins as well and Elizabeth Pena (as his girlfriend) and Danny Aiello as his physical therapist and “angel” (who steels every scene he is in). Director Adrian Lyne crafted another great psychological drama like his other films NINE ½ WEEKS, FATAL ATTRACTION, and UNFAITHFUL.

Retrospect: MANIAC (1980)

Having missed director William Lustig’s now cult classic MANIAC upon its original release in 1980 it’s been one of a few oddities of cult horror cinema that I’ve actually avoided until now. Due to the video box cover art of the lower half of a man holding a knife in one hand and a woman’s scalp in the other I was always too afraid to rent this movie when I had no problem watching FRIDAY THE 13th or THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE, among others.

For the longest time this film was just a blip on my radar until I became familiar with Lustig’s other films such as the MANIAC COP trilogy, RELENTLESS (1989), and UNCLE SAM (1997), which were all relentless horror films now cult classics in their own way. I return my attention now back to MANIAC, which I’ve finally been able to acquire courtesy of Blue Underground’s superb digital transfer.

The film is a relentless portrait of a serial killer Frank Zito (Joe Spinell) who kills innocent woman and collects their scalps in order to give his at home mannequins a bizarre sense of life. As his psyche crumbles and reality merges with fantasy Frank’s life spirals out of control and things get more complicated when he finds himself developing a relationship with his next potential victim, a photographer (played by Caroline Munro) that he becomes smitten with.

I must admit that I enjoyed the film more then I thought I would since much of what came out of the ‘80s was mindless slasher drival. This film is like an early version of HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER (1986), in which both films focus on the serial killer rather than the victims creating a psychological profile unlike anything else. The shock value of the film is also present courtesy of special make up effects artist Tom Savini who outdoes himself whenever he gets the chance. His work still outshines many of his contemporaries.

Great praise goes to Spinell who not only stars in the film but also wrote the screenplay as well (this being his only one) and it shows that he has a great connection with the material. Being a gore-drenched ‘80s film, MANIAC is definitely not for everyone but it is one of the best the ‘80s had to offer and still holds up well today.