Blog Archives
Flash Movie Review: Last Breath
THE FIRST TIME I EVER STEPPED on a boat was when I was five or six years old. Well, not actually stepped on but carried on because I was kicking and crying. It was a ferry that went between two populated islands and the ride, though I did not know at the time, was only twenty-five minutes long. I had it in mind if I stepped on the boat, it would cause it to sink; I was a chunky kid at the time. My relatives kept telling me I would love the boat ride, and I kept saying to them I did not want to go. Finally, after I tried getting out of line for the second time, a relative lifted me up and held me until we were seated by a set of large picture windows in the covered area of the ship. Once the ropes were untied from the dock, the ferry’s engines gunned louder, churning the water up behind and we started moving towards open waters. I was still teary eyed and sniffling. When the ferry arrived in open waters, it picked up speed. The shore and skyline grabbed my attention. Seeing tall skyscrapers from a unique perspective sliding away from me grabbed my attention to the point where I stopped thinking about the boat sinking. Soon the shoreline curved away from us and we began to go even faster across the water. I did not realize this whole time a relative had stepped away to buy snacks at the concession stand set up at the back of the boat. With a cookie and carton of milk in hand, I started enjoying the ride. And by the time we arrived at our destination, I started crying again because I did not want to get off the boat. IT WAS NOT UNTIL YEARS LATER that I found myself stepping on board an ocean seafaring ship again. My childhood fears had been left behind many years ago. We were taking a cruise on a ship that held nearly three thousand passengers. Maybe because I was a decent swimmer my fears were negligible. Granted, I was a little agitated during the ship’s safety meeting we were required to attend, but nothing dramatic. Since we had a few hours before we were to set sail, we explored the ship. I quickly acclimated to the surroundings, learning where the fitness center, theater, restaurants, and snack shops were located. By the time we were ready to leave port, we went back to our room to get ready for dinner. I did not pay attention to the view out our balcony window, so I did not realize the water was choppy. As we left the cabin and started walking down the long hallway to the elevators, I realized I was not able to walk in a straight line; I had to place a hand on the walls to steady myself a couple of times. My stomach started to gurgle and moan. I made it to the restaurant but was not feeling good. We were seated and as each of us was looking over the menu, I realized I was getting seasick. Just seeing the printed descriptions of the entrees made my stomach churn. For the next 24 hours, I remained in bed until medication calmed my stomach and I was able to once again navigate around the ship. Even knowing the waters we had traveled were nowhere near as rough as the ones depicted in this dramatic adventure thriller, I still do not know how no one in this film appeared, even queasy for a moment. DESPITE HAVING ONE OF THE HARDEST jobs on the planet, a group of deep-sea divers encountered an even more challenging assignment when they had to dive in the middle of a violent storm to repair an underwater pipeline. With Woody Harrelson (Champions, Fly Me to the Moon) as Duncan Allock, Simu Liu (Arthur the King, Jackpot!) as Dave Yuasa, Finn Cole (Locked In, Animal Kingdom-TV) as Chris Lemons, Cliff Curtis (Risen, The Meg franchise) as Capt. Andre Jenson, and Mark Bonnar (The Kid Who Would be King, Catastrophe-TV) as Craig; this film based on a true story surprised me. Though the script was kept direct and simple, the story was still riveting. Even after a couple of days viewing this picture, I still could not stop thinking about this amazing story. With a steady hand directing, the tension was consistent throughout the picture. I would have appreciated more depth for the characters, and for the script to have taken more risks so as not to have been predictable, but I still was entertained throughout the story. I will say having seen this movie has given me a whole new appreciation of the sea and the people who work in and on it.
3 stars
Flash Movie Review: Meg 2: The Trench
TO ME, ENTREES ARE SIMPLY THE vehicles that get me to desserts. I always like to say I want to have something sweet as the last thing I taste at a meal. I have always been like this, even when I was a small boy. In fact, there were many times I would avoid eating everything on my plate so I would have room to eat dessert. Gratefully for me, I made changes to my eating habits so I would not stuff myself with sweets after lunch or dinner and gain hundreds of pounds. It is funny, if it is homemade desserts, I can chow down on them. If they are store bought, I have better self-control. However, as I have gotten older that idiom, “too much of a good thing” has come into play. These days if I overeat too much sugar, I feel lethargic and heavy, not to mention feeling guilty. I do not know what it is about homemade sweets, but if I love them on first bite you can rest assured, I will go for more of it. There is a way that works for me on how to control my urge to overeat on desserts. If possible, I will freeze dessert items, then slowly dole them out to myself throughout the weeks. This way I won’t find myself getting ill from eating so much of a good thing. MY PHILOSOPHY OF TOO MUCH OF a good thing, is not good for you covers more than eating desserts. I recently discovered a supplement I was taking twice a day was the reason for my stomach issues. In my brain, I thought if I took more of the product, I would feel better faster; it turns out that was not the case. Since I stopped doubling the dose, I have been feeling much better. Another area I noticed where moderation could come in handy is the application of people’s makeup. I have seen individuals with so much makeup on their face that you can see where it cracks from their expressions. I know this is my personal taste, but I am also not a fan of houses that are decorated with an overabundance of holiday items. Do not get me wrong, I am on board when the decorations are within a theme; however, when there appears to be no rhyme or reason to how the decorations are placed on the lawn, the house, the surrounding trees/bushes and garages, it looks like a mess to me, and things just get loss in the mass of a glowing aura around the property. To sum up, all that I am saying is it is not necessarily a good thing to have so much more of something that it loses its distinctiveness. It certainly was the case in this action, adventure horror film. WHILE ON AN EXPEDITION AT THE bottom of the ocean, a research team discovers an unknown mining operation wreaking havoc with nature’s boundaries. What ensues could tip the balance of power in nature’s pecking order. With Jason Statham (Wrath of Man, Wild Card) as Jonas Taylor, Jing Wu (Wolf Warrior franchise, The Wandering Earth) as Jiuming Zhang, Shuya Sophia Cai (Somewhere Only We Know, The Meg) as Meiying, Cliff Curtis (Doctor Sleep, Risen) as Mac and Page Kennedy (Bad Roomies, The Upshaws-TV) as OJ; this film took what was in the original movie and supersized everything. I will say there were some exciting action sequences and a few thrills; but overall, I found the script a clumsy mess. The dialog was stunted, and it had a formulaic plot. For Jason, this picture was geared to him; it was loaded with a bunch of action scenes. For me, I would have preferred more depth and variation in the story and scenes. This is one fish fry that you might want to miss.
1 ¾ stars
Flash Movie Review: My Octopus Teacher
I CAN APPRECIATE AND RESPECT ALL animals, but the one I like the least is an octopus. Seriously, I do not know why I have had this attitude since I was a little boy. Whether an octopus or squid and I immediately get a feeling of disgust and dread. Whenever I had a school field trip to the aquarium, I would always quickly walk past the exhibit that had live octopi. Back then I would tell people the creatures were gross. I do not know, but there is something alien about them; as if they were dropped down from outer space to lurk down at the bottom of the seas, being sneaky and sinister. Even when they were depicted in movies in a friendly way, I did not care. There were enough films already where they were mean man eaters, like 20,000 Leagues Under the Seas and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. Though I loved the movie The Little Mermaid, I did not care for the character Ursula with her long tentacle legs. And do not get me started about calamari, UGH! I cannot sit with anyone who would order that dish; it just sounds and looks nauseating to me. My apologies to you foodies who love the “delicacy.” BY NOW YOU MUST BE WONDERING why, with my strong dislike of squids and octopi, would I ever sit and watch a film that has the word octopus right there in the title. It is a very good question; one I myself do not have a good answer for. I was between chores over the weekend and wanted to take a break. My time was limited, so I did not want to sit through a long movie. Going through the search function, the streaming service had a list of recommendations for me based on the things I had already seen with them. There was a sci-fi picture that looked okay, but it was over two hours long. When I moved the cursor off that selection, the next one was for this film. Before I realized what the title was, my eye was attracted to the blues in the trailer. The narrator was calm as he spoke with the slightest of accents. I saw that this picture was just shy of an hour and a half which was a plus; maybe, most of the story was done on land, I hoped. Another plus was the fact it was a documentary, set in a different part of the world. I hit play on the remote and settled into what would become a revelation for me. WHILE SWIMMING IN THE WATERS OFF the coast of South Africa, cinematographer and director Craig Foster (My Hunter’s Heart, Into the Dragon’s Lair), discovered the oddest thing sitting at the bottom of a kelp forest. It looked like a ball of seashells until it moved. Written and directed by James Reed (Rise of the Warrior Apes, Jago: A Life Underwater) and newcomer Pippa Ehrlich, this film festival winning documentary provided me with the biggest surprise this past year. Here I was ambivalent towards this picture and after several early scenes I was pulled into another world beneath the ocean. Because Craig came across as vulnerable and looked like just an average guy, he was perfect to spearhead this production. The cinematography was gorgeous, both in vast wide angle shots as well as the intimate ones. There was very little dialogue that could be considered cutesy or pandering to the viewer; the entire time I felt I was privileged for being allowed to watch Craig’s life as he encountered this amazing creature. Yes, I said amazing because I now have such a new appreciation for an octopus. I can go on and on praising this unbelievable, wonderful movie; however, all that needs to be said is the number of stars I am giving it. When was the last time you saw me give this rating to a film; it has been such a long time, but with this documentary it has been worth the wait, in my opinion.
4 stars
Flash Movie Review: Underwater
IT ONLY TOOK ME 4 MUSICAL NOTES and I knew what song was playing. I was sitting in the lobby of the hotel and above the din of people coming and going around me, I heard those notes that were barely audible. Getting up from my rather comfortable chair, I followed the sound of music to see where it was coming from. As I made my way through the massive passageway, I found a lounge/bar off to the side. There were small tables for 2 to 4 people everywhere I looked; it was a large space. Up on the stage, I could not believe what I was seeing, it appeared as if it was one of my favorite Motown acts performing. The singers were all dressed in matching blue suits as they took turns singing parts of the song, when they were not harmonizing. As I went to an empty table, I got closer to the stage. It was obvious to me none of the performers were original members of the group. Heck, I knew that as soon as I came up to the entrance because they were all way too young looking. How many decades had passed already? Their voices were good and did sound like the original guys from the group. As for their dance moves, let me say it would have been better if they just stood behind their mic stands and step side to side. AS I SAT AND LISTENED TO THEM, memories came back that were attached to some of the songs they sang. I remember with one song I was dancing at a relative’s wedding; another song, the first time I played it in class I saw the members start to bop their heads to the rhythm of the music. It was an amusing site as we were all working out. My memories were playing the original music, but what the men on stage were singing sounded more like an imitation. Not that it was bad, it just wasn’t the same. If any of the men were displaying some serious musical capabilities, matching or being better than the originals artists, the show would have been amazing. However, their vocal range was limited; some of the high notes were a strain for them or they simply lowered the octave. I gave them credit for being able to get the gig and perform at one of the hotel’s lounge areas. Though they were not the original group it was still enjoyable for me to sit and listen to them. That is more than what I can say about this action, dramatic horror wannabe. AFTER WHAT APPEARED TO BE AN EARTHQUAKE damaged their drilling station, the crew would have to find a way to make it up to the surface of the ocean they were under. However, something did not want them to leave. With Kristen Stewart (Charlie’s Angels, Personal Shopper) as Norah, Jessica Henwick (Dragonfly, Game of Thrones-TV) as Emily, Vincent Cassel (Black Swan, Eastern Promises) as Captain, TJ Miller (Deadpool franchise, Cloverfield) as Paul Abel and John Gallagher Jr (Short Term 12, Jonah Hex) as Liam; this movie felt like it was trying to be the film Alien, except instead of space it was taking place underwater. I give Kristen credit for trying her best at being an action figure, but the script was incapable of providing any thrills or excitement. The dialog was written in a generic way, using typical exclamations. I thought the filming was dull for the most part, which being underwater I understood. However, the constant dark murkiness did nothing for me. If you have not seen Alien or its sequels, you might find this picture of interest. For the rest of us, I suggest you do not take the bait and find yourself sinking into an abyss.
1 ¾ stars
moviejoltz 