Ender's Game (2013) review

When it was released in 1985, ‘Ender’s Game’ was a huge success, so much so that the United States Marine Corps, along with many other military organizations, have it listed on their recommended reading lists. But as far as getting a film adaptation for the story off the ground, that took a while because author Orson Scott Card believed that it was ‘unfilmable’. Something must have changed his mind over the last few years because now, in 2013, nearly 3 decades since the book was released, the film adaptation has finally hit theaters under the direction of Gavin Hood. I will admit that I went into this movie flying rather blind because I had not read the book. Also, I guess you can say I was rather nervous seeing how Hood’s last film was the god awful ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’. But as a whole, the film turned out quite good. Not only does Hood manage to redeem himself from his previous film, but it’s well-acted and while I can’t officially say whether it did a good job at representing its source material, the themes explored in the story are pretty thought-provoking.

In the year 2086, an alien race known as the Formics attempt to invade Earth. It was only through the efforts of commander Mazer Rackham (Ben Kingsley) that the invasion was thwarted, preventing the invaders from taking over the planet. But, with another invasion likely, the International Fleet begins to train young children in the hopes of finding the next candidate to lead the Fleet against the Formics. Andrew ‘Ender’ Wiggin (Asa Butterfield), the youngest of three children in his family, is chosen by Colonel Graff (Harrison Ford) and Major Anderson (Viola Davis) to join the cadets who are currently training at the elite ‘Battle School’. There, he is put to the test in a series of war-games and begins to not only gain the respect of his peers but prove to his superiors that he is the perfect candidate to lead the fight to save humanity.

From the perspective of someone who hasn’t read the book, it seems like this movie did a solid-enough job of staying faithful to the book. According to Scott Card, the main reason why he thought the book was ‘unfilmable’ was because ‘everything takes place in Ender’s head’. In that regard, some emotional resonance might be lost, but as a whole, the key themes of the book are still pretty relevant. The ideas that Card explores in this story are very interesting, like the effects of war not just on a whole society, but certain individuals as well. The ending in particular puts the main character of Ender in a situation that he doesn’t want to be in. For the sake of spoilers, I won’t give it away but it raises the question of whether or not one may view their actions as being the right thing to do. It’s quite a bold route that Card took and this translates well on the big screen.

As far as the film goes, Hood manages to move away from some of the problems that plagued his last film ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’. For the record, that film wasn’t entirely his fault (the material was sort of uninspired in the first place) but that film lacked proper direction. With this film, it has much better direction and the action scenes/visual effects are much better. The film also benefits from solid performances by the entire cast. In the lead role of Ender, Asa Butterfield carries the whole movie on his back and he does a great job at conveying Ender’s emotions. This kid is certainly up there amongst the better child actors working in Hollywood today. Harrison Ford is equally terrific in the role of Colonel Graff, giving a far more subdued performance than expected. As for the rest of the cast, they are excellent as well, but most of them (Viola Davis, Abigail Breslin, etc.) don’t exactly play big roles in the film.

I went into this film having not read the book, but now I’m very much intrigued to do so. Was this story ‘unfilmable’ like Orson Scott Card said? Well, that depends on how you look at it. Card mentioned that the main reason why the story would be hard to adapt because it mainly took place inside Ender’s head, so the writing may have lost some emotional resonance in the transition to film. But, compared to a film like ‘Cloud Atlas’, which went all over the place because of its multiple storylines, it seems like this story was rather easier to adapt to the big screen. The key ideas that are explored in this story are still there, and the ending in particular will leave you thinking. Casting is also quite excellent, with terrific performances all around, especially from Asa Butterfield and Harrison Ford. I’m not certain if this will lead the way for a new film series, mainly because the next entry in the series, ‘Speaker of the Dead’, takes place 3000 years after the events of ‘Ender’s Game’ with Ender being about 35 years old at that point. Will they try and do it right away and change it so that Butterfield can still play the role? We’ll just have to wait and see.

Rating: 4/5

2013 Preview: November

We are now two months away from the end of 2013 and the start of a new year of movies. Welcome back to Rhode Island Movie Corner’s year-long preview of the films set to come out during 2013. This is Part 11 and today we’ll be looking at the lineup for the month of November 2013. There are quite a lot of films to talk about this month, including some blockbuster sequels, a couple of animated films (including Disney’s latest), and much more.

NOVEMBER 1- A trio of films open up the month, along with the nationwide expansion of a major awards contender.

*The first animated film of the month, ‘Free Birds’, is directed by Jimmy Hayward (director of 2009’s ‘Horton Hears a Who!’). The film focuses on two turkeys (voiced by Owen Wilson and Woody Harrelson) that team up and steal a time machine to travel back in time in order to change history so that the turkey is no longer a staple of the Thanksgiving menu.

*Author Orson Scott Card’s 1985 best-selling novel ‘Ender’s Game’ gets its big-screen adaptation directed by Gavin Hood (‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’). After an alien race known as the Formics attack Earth, a group of young children are trained in order to find the next leader of the ‘International Fleet’. Hugo’s Asa Butterfield stars at the titular Ender alongside Harrison Ford, Ben Kingsley, Hailee Steinfeld, Abigail Breslin, and Viola Davis.

*A group of Hollywood legends headline ‘Last Vegas’, a comedy directed by Jon Turteltaub (‘National Treasure’). Michael Douglas, Robert De Niro, Kevin Kline, and Morgan Freeman star as a group of friends who head to Vegas for a bachelor party when Douglas’ character gets married.

*It seems like this year’s Oscar race will come down to two films; Alfonso Cuaron’s ‘Gravity’ and ’12 Years a Slave’, directed by Steve McQueen (‘Shame’). Based on the book of the same name by Solomon Northup, the latter film tells the tale of Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a violinist living with his family as a free man in New York in the year 1841. However, he is then forced into slavery in the South. The cast includes Michael Fassbender as Northup’s vicious slave owner, Benedict Cumberbatch, Brad Pitt, Paul Giamatti, and more.

NOVEMBER 8- Only one film is set to open this week but hey, when that film’s a Marvel film, you can see why no one else wants to compete with it.

*The next film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, ‘Thor: The Dark World’, the sequel to 2011’s ‘Thor’, hits theaters as the second film in Marvel’s ‘Phase Two’. Chris Hemsworth reprises his role as the titular Asgardian God of Thunder, as he fights to save the Nine Realms from a new threat; the Dark Elves led by Malekith the Accursed (Christopher Eccleston). The majority of the main cast from the first film, including Natalie Portman as Thor’s love interest Jane Foster, Tom Hiddleston as Thor’s brother/nemesis Loki, and Anthony Hopkins as their father Odin, return to reprise their roles from the previous film and are joined in this film by Eccleston, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, and Zachary Levi (Levi replacing Joshua Dallas in the role of Fandral).

NOVEMBER 15- Again, only one film this time; this one being a sequel to a film that came out 14 years ago.

*Malcolm D. Lee, cousin of Spike Lee, directed a romantic dramedy in 1999 called ‘The Best Man’. Now, 14 years after that film was released, Lee and the main cast of the original film (Taye Diggs, Morris Chestnut, and Regina Hall among others) return for ‘The Best Man Holiday’.

NOVEMBER 22- The next entry in the Hunger Games franchise goes up against a Vince Vaughn comedy.

*Vince Vaughn stars in ‘Delivery Man’, a remake of director Ken Scott’s 2011 film ‘Starbuck’. Vaughn plays a man who learns that, through being a sperm donor, he has fathered over 500 children. When most of them try to sue the sperm bank in order to reveal this information, he must decide whether or not he should come forward about it. Chris Pratt and Cobie Smulders co-star.

*The first film adaptation of Suzanne Collins’ best-selling book series, ‘The Hunger Games’, opened to very positive reviews and almost 700 million at the box office when it opened back in March 2012. Its first sequel, ‘Catching Fire’, will hit theaters this weekend. Francis Lawrence (‘I Am Legend’, who will also helm the final two films, ‘Mockingjay Parts 1 and 2’) takes over directing duties from Gary Ross for the film, which finds Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) and Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) caught in a rebellion that is brewing in the districts of Panem following their victory in the 74^th annual Hunger Games. Woody Harrelson, Liam Hemsworth, Elizabeth Banks, and Lenny Kravitz return with most of the original cast and are joined by Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Jeffrey Wright, Sam Claflin, and Jena Malone.

NOVEMBER 27 (Wednesday):  The biggest week of the month starts early with 4 major releases, including Disney’s newest film and an American remake of a Japanese classic.

*Director Spike Lee’s newest film, ‘Oldboy’, is a remake of the 2003 South Korean film of the same name. Josh Brolin stars as a man who is imprisoned for years, eventually seeking revenge against those responsible once he gets out. The film also stars Sharlto Copley, Elizabeth Olsen, and Samuel L. Jackson.

*The latest Disney film, ‘Frozen’, is based off of the fairy tale ‘The Snow Queen’ by Hans Christian Andersen, author of ‘The Little Mermaid’. The film is co-directed by Chris Buck (co-director of Tarzan) and Jennifer Lee (screenwriter for ‘Wreck-it Ralph’). The film follows Anna (Kristen Bell), a princess of the land of Arendelle, who has to team up with a mountain man named Kristoff (Jonathan Groff) and a snowman named Olaf (Josh Gad) to find her sister Elsa (Idina Menzel), the other princess of Arendelle who has the ability to create snow and ice who, after having gone into hiding, caused an eternal winter across the land. The film will feature songs written by Robert and Kristen Anderson-Lopez (‘Avenue Q’).

*While not starring in it, Sylvester Stallone produced and wrote the screenplay for ‘Homefront’, an action-thriller starring Jason Statham as a DEA agent who comes into contact with a group of drug traffickers led by a meth kingpin named Gator (James Franco). The film also stars Winona Ryder and Kate Bosworth.

*Finally, there’s ‘Black Nativity’, which is an adaptation of a retelling of the Nativity story with a black cast originally written by Langston Hughes. The cast includes Forest Whitaker, Angela Bassett, and Jennifer Hudson.

And that’s the film lineup for November 2013. Come back next month for the final part of this year-long preview where we’ll take a look at December’s lineup of movies.

Evil Dead series retrospective

With Halloween coming up in the next few weeks, I decided that it would be a good idea to do a retrospective on a horror franchise. However, I’ll admit that I’m not particularly a fan of horror films. Sure, I’ve seen some of these films, but not many and in that regard I haven’t really watched many horror franchises. In the end, it came down to doing one of two series; at first, I was considering doing a retrospective on the ‘Scream’ franchise, which was one of the few horror franchises where I actually did see every film in the series. But since the last ‘Scream’ film hit theaters two years ago, I decided to look at a franchise that had a more ‘recent’ film release; the ‘Evil Dead’ franchise. After all, its remake was released back in April and is now on Blu-Ray/DVD. Also, there are plans for a sequel to both the remake and the last ‘Evil Dead’ film, ‘Army of Darkness’, with further plans for a  crossover film after that. So, without further ado, it’s time to look back at the ‘Evil Dead’ franchise from the original trilogy to its recent remake.



THE EVIL DEAD (1981)

‘The Evil Dead’ served as the feature-length debut of director Sam Raimi (who has since gone on to direct the original ‘Spider-Man’ trilogy and ‘Oz the Great and Powerful’) and was made after Raimi attracted the interest of investors with a 1978 short film he made, ‘Within the Woods’. Filmed on a budget of around $400,000, the film was released in 1981 (the film was shot in 1979) and helped launched the careers of both Raimi and star Bruce Campbell. It has been more than 30 years since this film came out, and it still stands as one of the best horror films ever made. Sure, it was made on a low budget and to some extent some aspects of the film are pretty dated. Still, the movie is an effective horror film; it’s very suspenseful and utilizes its chilling atmosphere to the full effect. Bruce Campbell does a great job in the lead role of Ash and while the other characters are sort of more in line with the traditional characters we see in plenty of slasher films (though for the record, this is not a slasher film); the other four leads are good as well. While the following two films began to move away from horror, this one stands as a true horror film and as such, it’s a must-see in the horror genre.

Rating: 4/5



EVIL DEAD II: DEAD BY DAWN (1987)

After the success of the first Evil Dead, Raimi then began working on his next film, ‘Crimewave’. The film… didn’t turn out so well, but that was mainly due to studio interference, with Raimi being unable to cast Bruce Campbell in the lead role or even edit the film in post-production. So, in response to that and with their careers on the line, Raimi, Campbell, and producer Robert Tapert returned to the franchise that jumpstarted their careers with ‘Evil Dead II: Dead by Dawn’, one of the rare sequels that not only manages to be as good as its predecessor, but even better. That’s even more impressive when considering that the intro to this film pretty much redoes the whole first film again. The only difference here is that only two of the first film’s five characters return for this film and yet this film is not a remake of the original film.

So why is this film better than the first? For one thing, I actually consider this film to be scarier than the first film. The atmosphere and suspense is just as effective, but there’s just something about this film that makes it scarier, and I can’t explain why. But another thing that this film does very well is blending horror with comedy. My favorite moment is when Ash is forced to cut off his hand after it becomes possessed and the hand starts acting on its own, resulting in Ash trying to shoot it with a shotgun. Bruce Campbell goes through quite a lot in this movie (figuratively in the movie and also literally while filming it apparently) and once again, he and the supporting cast members are all great. You also have to appreciate the creativity present in this film, from the creature/set designs to the camera shots. That is why Evil Dead II is not just one of the best sequels ever, but one of the best horror movies ever made.

Rating: 5/5!



ARMY OF DARKNESS (1992)

When looking at the series as a whole, something that is clearly evident is a change in tone over the course of the original three films; we went from a straight-up horror film to a horror-comedy and then with the third film, it’s a whole different genre. ‘Army of Darkness’ is a mix of fantasy, adventure, and comedy with really little to no horror in the film at all. Because of this, some might consider this as ‘the black sheep’ of the franchise for not being an Evil Dead movie… but not me. In fact, this is my personal favorite film in the series. I guess that’s because I’m not really a big horror fan, meaning that this film appealed to me more. It’s incredibly entertaining, funny, and highly quotable. And now, here are some my favorite lines from the film:

“Well hello Mister Fancypants. Well, I've got news for you pal, you ain't leadin' but two things, right now: Jack and shit... and Jack left town.”

“Woah… Wrong book”

And of course, who can forget this classic…

“All right you primitive screwheads, listen up. You see this? This… is my BOOMSTICK!!!”

Those quotes come from good old Bruce Campbell, and really he’s the best part of this whole movie. The character of Ash has gone through quite a change over the course of these three films. In this film, he’s got an arrogant swagger that he didn’t really have in the last two films but yet he’s a doofus, forgetting the words (‘klaatu barada nikto’) that will help keep the dead from taking over. Sure, in the end, ‘Army of Darkness’ may not really be an ‘Evil Dead’ movie, but it’s still a great movie nevertheless and my personal favorite of the series.

Rating: 5/5!



EVIL DEAD (2013)

(For my original review of the film: http://www.rimoviecorner.blogspot.com/2013/07/evil-dead-2013-review.html)

As far as horror remakes go, this new Evil Dead is one of the better remakes in recent years, but it still has some flaws. First off, the good; the writers actually give a legit reason as to why the main characters are going to an abandoned cabin in the woods, because the main character Mia is going through recovery from a drug addiction. Also, in this current age of horror remakes that utilize a lot of CGI, this film relies on practical effects, which look far better. But this new film suffers from a problem that a lot of current horror films have; it tries way too hard to ‘one-up’ its competition in terms of its violence to the point where it’s not scary anymore. Believe me, this film does succeed at doing that, but it lacks the humor and charm that Raimi’s films had, particularly the former. This is just a bleak film, not just because of the tone and atmosphere but because of the grisly violence which, like I said, is not really scary; it’s just disturbing. Also, character development is really lacking, aside from a pretty decent brother-sister relationship between the main two leads. The character of Natalie, David’s girlfriend, is completely unnecessary and could have been written out of the film altogether without having any real effect on the story. Jane Levy does a fantastic job in the lead role of Mia who, spoilers, basically serves as the ‘Ash’ of this ‘series’ (we’ll consider the Raimi trilogy and this new film as separate storylines for the moment). The rest of the cast is fine as well, but she is really the standout of the film and her performance is perhaps the best part of the whole thing. In the end, the new Evil Dead is not a bad film but it’s a flawed film. Still, to its credit, it does do some things right.

P.S. This film also has one of the worst post-credits scenes ever, which is even more disappointing when considering that Bruce Campbell returns as Ash for the scene.

Rating: 3.5/5

Gravity (2013) review

James Cameron recently called this film ‘the best space film ever done’, which is quite a statement coming from the director of a film like ‘Aliens’, and a lot of critics are sharing the same sentiment. This film’s current rating on Rotten Tomatoes is 97%, which is one of the best RT scores that any film this year has gotten. While I never really find myself agreeing with the RT scores, there’s no arguing against these ratings. ‘Gravity’ is an experience that must be seen on the big screen, preferably in 3-D. Sure, it’s not the best written film out there, but from a technical standpoint, this film is pretty much perfect, with some of the best visuals in recent years. Aside from that, the film is very suspenseful and will have you on the edge of your seat throughout the course of the film.

Medical Engineer Dr. Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) is on her first space shuttle mission, accompanied by veteran astronaut Matt Kowalski (George Clooney), who is on his final mission with NASA. All seems to go well until one day, while Stone and Kowalski are working on repairs to the shuttle, debris from a Russian anti-satellite weapon, which has also hit other satellites, damages their ship, killing the rest of the crew and leaving Stone and Kowalski stranded in space. As their air supply continues to be depleted, the two attempt to reach the International Space Station so that they can hopefully get back home. They don’t have much time, though, as the satellite debris is now in orbit around Earth, meaning that it is sure to come back very soon.

‘Gravity’ is a technical masterpiece in almost every aspect of filmmaking. Cuaron always has a habit of having striking visuals in his films, and this film is no exception. With both the incredible visuals and some beautiful cinematography, this is one of the best-looking films of the year. Sure, the majority of the film obviously must have been shot in front of a green screen, but it’s pretty convincing nevertheless. This is also a must-see in 3-D. In fact, I’d say this is probably the best utilization of the 3-D format to date in a theatrical release. There’s just something about it that works so well; it helps to tell the story instead of being something that distracts the audience. That story also happens to make the movie a very suspenseful thriller. I guarantee that you will be on the edge of your seat throughout the whole movie. The movie may be only 90 minutes, but trust me, it doesn’t feel like it (and that’s a good thing).

It’s quite an achievement that this film works as well as it does considering that, if one were to really look at the script of this film, the story is actually quite simple. Not only that, but the characters are more like archetypes of characters we have seen before, like the untested rookie or the laid-back veteran. But this is not a film that needs great writing to be good. It’s more about the adventure. Even if the characters aren’t that well-developed, the acting from the two leads is still very strong. Bullock in particular really shines here, especially considering that, without giving much away, she’s usually the only one on screen. She does a great job of conveying the emotions her character is going through; fear, anxiety, etc. In regards to Clooney, he’s also great as well, as his character is the one that helps Bullock’s character calm down, despite the odds, because he’s the laid-back veteran who is one hell of an optimist.

Sure, from a writing standpoint, ‘Gravity’ is not exactly a masterpiece but I don’t think that was what Alfonso Cuaron was going for when he was making this film. He was more focused on making the film a great-looking and suspenseful thrill ride and in that regard, he certainly succeeded. Aside from the writing, ‘Gravity’ is pretty much a masterpiece in every sense of the word. The visuals are outstanding, it’s an emotionally gripping thrill ride from beginning to end, and it’s one of the few films that utilize the 3-D format to great effect. I hear that this film is a must-see in IMAX 3-D, but unfortunately I did not see it in IMAX 3-D but after seeing this film, I’m certainly considering seeing it in that format. It’s that good.

Rating: 5/5!

2013 Preview: October

Welcome back to Rhode Island Movie Corner’s year-long preview of the films that are set to come out during 2013. This is Part 10 of 12 and today we’ll be looking at the lineup of films that will be released during the month of October. Thankfully, this month is a little easier than previous months because there is not a single week this month where more than two movies hit theaters during the same weekend. This, of course, comes after months of seeing weekends where at least four new movies come out in one single weekend.

OCTOBER 4- September’s ‘Metallica: Through the Never’ expands nationwide after its initial release in IMAX. Meanwhile, a pair of new movies will hit theaters this weekend.

*Alfonso Cuaron’s (‘Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban’, ‘Children of Men’) newest film, ‘Gravity’, will hit theaters after making its North American debut at TIFF last month. Sandra Bullock stars as medical engineer Dr. Ryan Stone, who is on her first Space Shuttle mission with retiring vet astronaut Matt Kowalski (George Clooney). Things start to go haywire when their shuttle is hit by debris, leaving the two stranded in space.

*Ben Affleck recently made headlines when Warner Bros announced that he would be taking over the role of Batman for the 2015 Man of Steel sequel. While we’re still two years away from that film, Affleck takes on his first villain role with ‘Runner, Runner’, directed by Brad Furman (2011’s surprise critical hit ‘The Lincoln Lawyer’). Justin Timberlake stars as a Princeton student who travels to a remote island when he loses his tuition money through online poker to confront the owner of the poker site (Affleck), but he ends up becoming his protégé in the process. While this is going on, an FBI agent tries to use him in order to take his new boss down. Gemma Arterton and Anthony Mackie co-star.

OCTOBER 11- Another pair of films will be released; the latest films from the director of ‘The Bourne Ultimatum’ and the director of ‘Machete’.

*’Captain Phillips’, directed by Paul Greengrass (‘The Bourne Supremacy/Ultimatum’, ‘United 93’) is the true story of the Maersk Alabama hijacking which happened in April 2009, when Somali pirates seized control of a cargo ship near the coast of Somalia and took the ship’s crew hostage. Tom Hanks stars as the ship’s captain, Richard Phillips.

*The second film in director Robert Rodriguez’s planned ‘Machete’ trilogy, Machete Kills, will hit theaters, originally set for a release last month but is now pushed back to this month. Danny Trejo reprises his role as Machete, an ex-Federale who is recruited by the President (played by Charlie Sheen, credited here as Carlos Estevez) to take down an arms dealer (Mel Gibson). Jessica Alba and Michelle Rodriguez reprise their roles from the previous film, joined by Sofia Vergara, Lady Gaga, Antonio Banderas, and Cuba Gooding Jr.

OCTOBER 18- A remake of a classic Stephen King story and a team-up between two of the 80’s most famous action stars.

*Following Brian De Palma’s 1976 horror classic and a 2002 made for TV film, both of the same name, the third film adaptation of Stephen King’s ‘Carrie’ will be released. According to distributors MGM and Screen Gems, the film will be closer to King’s original novel. Chloe Grace Moretz stars as Carrie White, a young, shy outcast who develops telekinesis powers, which she soon unleashes on her peers when she is pushed too far. The film also stars Julianne Moore as Carrie’s mom and Judy Greer as Carrie’s sympathetic gym teacher, Miss Desjardin. The film is directed by Kimberly Pierce (‘Boys Don’t Cry’).

*Two of Hollywood’s most famous action stars, Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger team up again (following the first two ‘Expendables’ films (not counting the third currently in production) for ‘Escape Plan’ (previously titled ‘The Tomb’). Stallone plays a structural engineer who is wrongly convicted for a crime and sentenced to a maximum security prison. Schwarzenegger co-stars as a fellow inmate who helps Stallone’s character in his attempt to escape the prison (one that he designed himself). The film also stars Jim Caviziel as the prison warden and 50 Cent as the assistant of Stallone’s character.

OCTOBER 25- Ridley Scott’s latest film and a ‘Jackass’ spinoff will close out the month.

*Ridley Scott’s latest film, ‘The Counselor’ is based on a script written by Cormac McCarthy (author of ‘No Country for Old Men’ and ‘The Road’). The film follows a lawyer (played by Michael Fassbender) who ventures into the world of drug trafficking. The film also stars Penelope Cruz, Javier Bardem, Cameron Diaz, and Brad Pitt.

*The final release of the month is a spinoff of the popular ‘Jackass’ franchise, ‘Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa’, based around the character of Irving Zisman, played by Johnny Knoxville, an 86-year old man who travels the country with his grandson as hijinks ensue.