New Trailer for GEOSTORM Starring Gerard Butler

Geostorm looks terrible. I don't think anyone is going to necessarily debate that, but it's also good to know that with the newest trailer for the film the film itself also seems to know exactly what it is. After seeing the debut teaser it was pretty obvious this thing was going to be as close to actual dog shit as a movie could be, but upon further inspection i.e. this second official trailer for the film, it would seem the studio and creative team behind this offering are comfortable with basing their legacy on pure schlock so it could be more fun than initially expected. Coming to us via Warner Bros. and Skydance Productions as written by Dean Devlin (Independence Day, Stargate) and TV Writer Paul Guyot and as directed by Devlin as well as Danny Cannon (largely a TV director as well, but who is also responsible for 1995's Judge Dredd and 1998's I Still Know What You Did Last Summer) Geostorm will mark the first feature of Devlin's that will seemingly get a theatrical release despite the fact he also directed another feature intended to be released this year. With this disaster flick it seems the writer/director is working in his comfort zone though as not only has he penned both Independence Day screenplays (and apparently working on a third?), but also served as a producer on other Roland Emmerich productions including 1998's Godzilla. What it is about this genre that keeps him coming back is a mystery to someone such as myself that never got off on seeing cities wiped out or antagonists interacting on such broad scales, but here we are with Devlin seemingly taking notes from Emmerich's 2004 hit The Day After Tomorrow, but upping the ante by adding in the more ridiculous aspect of the world's governments coming together to create a network of satellites that surround the planet and are armed with geoengineering technologies designed to stave off the natural disasters. Of course, after successfully protecting earth for two years, something begins to go wrong and two estranged brothers are tasked with solving the program's malfunction before a world wide Geostorm engulfs the planet. Want to know the only thing that makes this synopsis better or worse depending on how you look at it? The couldn't be more different Gerard Butler and Jim Sturgess are the actors portraying those estranged brother. Geostorm also, somehow, stars the likes of Abbie Cornish, Ed Harris, Andy Garcia, and will likely be a solid hit when it opens on October 20th, 2017.

TIFF 2015: LONDON FIELDS Review

Amber Heard certainly seems to have an affinity for playing the film noir types who elicit little more reaction than the understanding that she is little more than a pure representation of the male fantasy. Heard has done this for years whether it be in Drive Angry or Machete Kills, but in London Fields we are operating in a film that is actively trying to become a member of the noir genre rather than riffing on it. In London Fields, Heard plays a character who is clairvoyant and a total femme fatale named Nicola Six. Seriously. All of that is true. Nicola is a seductress by way of having lost her parents at a young age and making up imaginary friends that automatically tells us she is tormented and taking it out on every man she encounters with her natural gifts from God. She enjoys playing this role to large effect with her many worshipers. Nicola's exploits are made all the more heightened by the arrival of Billy Bob Thornton's writer in a London that is on the brink of nuclear war. Thornton's Samson Young is looking to write a new novel when he stumbles upon Heard's Nicola who just so happens to live in the same building he's staying in. It always feels like a risk including a writer in your film as it easily sets one up for more direct criticism than the film might receive otherwise, but while London Fields recognizes this possibility and even addresses it to a certain extent the somewhat interesting ideas at play here are still not able to convey themselves as a good movie. At all. In fact, this is pretty terrible all-around.

CLOUD ATLAS Home Video Review

While I would certainly classify myself as a sci-fi nerd I don't think I would place Cloud Atlas fully in that category. It is one of those movies that is hard to describe. I can't imagine the pitch for it (which I guess is one reason it had to be financed by foreign investors) and to have such a grand idea condensed into a single cinema-going experience all seems to be a bit too much to feed in one serving. It is something that might have worked better, and would have likely benefited, from being a mini-series on HBO or something of that nature rather than having an audience sit through six elaborately detailed stories pushed together and feeling forced to connect what it attempts to deliver in theme. That being said, the themes this film does concern itself with mixed with several of the individual stories that are ambitious in their own way and are then layered with others combine to create an impact that will leaving you feeling as if you truly have witnessed something special, if not at least very stimulating. I cannot say that Cloud Atlas will be for everyone, in fact, I can certainly understand where many people would have issues with the film. Whether it be that it is simply too confusing without being compelling enough to hold their attention or that for all its big ideas, in the end, it feels rather simplistic. I would understand and to a certain degree, I would concur with those points. Still, this movie is far too ambitious and far too unique to be dismissed for not being exactly what you expected or wanted it to be. Cloud Atlas is a sprawling epic that not only delves into several subjects but wants to make us think and speculate as much as it wants to entertain. It is a rarity and for that, I appreciate every minute it gave me.

UPSIDE DOWN Review

The concept of Upside Down is enough to intrigue anyone, but what that concept ultimately becomes is a bit of a let down in terms of what the synopsis and trailers seemingly promise. That isn't to say this is a bad film or that I'd accuse it of false advertising, but it is more The Notebook than Inception. When a film promises it will take place in a different solar system where two twin planets each with their own and opposite gravity causing a disruption between societies there is reason for a sci-fi fan to be excited and optimistic. More than simply societal differences, these two worlds are better compared to the Capulets and Montagues. It is an interesting thought, to take the star crossed lovers story and apply it to an original idea that might allow the functions and rules of a new universe to give bigger and fresh obstacles to our two protagonists, but the entire time I was watching this film it felt more like the makers had become so entranced and swept up in making sure the logistics of this world worked properly that they forgot how well (or not so well) they were developing their characters and the story they were trying to tell. It is easy to see how Upside Down might have been a roller coaster adventure as a novel or seemed absolutely engaging as a script (the thoughts of how this might all look being too ambitious an undertaking for the actors to turn down), but as it is delivered in a brief hour and forty-seven minutes the film never seems to find its footing and dig into where it could have gone until way too late. The narration from Jim Sturgess' Adam hints at the idea that writer and director Juan Solanas would like to make a few more films set in this universe, and I wouldn't mind venturing back, but before he does so he would need to make sure the story will be just as involving as the visuals.

CLOUD ATLAS Review

While I would certainly classify myself as a sci-fi nerd I don't think I would place Cloud Atlas fully in that category. It is one of those movies that is hard to describe. I can't imagine the pitch for it (which I guess is one reason it had to be financed by foreign investors) and to have such a grand idea condensed into a single cinema-going experience all seems to be a bit too much to feed in one serving. It is something that might have worked better, and would have likely benefited, from being a mini-series on HBO or something like that rather than having an audience sit through six elaborately detailed stories pushed together and feeling forced to connect what it attempts to deliver in theme. That being said, the themes this film does concern itself with mixed with several of the individual stories that are ambitious in their own way and are then layered with others combine to create an impact that will leaving you feeling as if you truly have witnessed something special, if not at least very stimulating. I cannot say that Cloud Atlas will be for everyone, in fact, I can certainly understand where many people would have issues with the film. Whether it be that it is simply too confusing without being compelling enough to hold their attention or that for all its big ideas, in the end, it feels rather simplistic. I would understand and to a certain degree, I would concur with those points. Still, this movie is far too ambitious, far too unique to be dismissed for not being exactly what you expected or wanted it to be. Cloud Atlas is a sprawling epic that not only delves into several subjects but wants to make us think and speculate as much as it wants to entertain. It is a rarity and for that, I appreciate every minute it gave me.