Monster Movie of the Week: Skyline (2010)

SKYLINE
Genre: Sci-fi/Survival
Directed by: The Brothers Strause


THE MOVIE

We are experiencing a mini-boom of alien invader stories: Battle Los Angeles, Cowboys & Aliens and Falling Skies and V on TV. We have yet to get a great one in this wave but Skyline is an interesting take on the genre from The Brothers Strause, who are best known for directing Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem. Like the great Signs from M. Night Shyamalan, Skyline aims for a smaller scope than your average over-baked invasion movie. The movie limits the action to a small group of survivors in a residential high-rise in L.A and the immediate area.

Maybe the most remarkable thing about Skyline is the fact that it was produced for around ten million dollars, which is amazingly cheap considering the amount of high-quality effects work in the movie. Skyline went on to make about $80 million world-wide, so this is the kind of story that movie studios like to see and no doubt The Brothers Strause will get lots of work if only for their ability to bring in a good looking movie for very little cost.

The human story is more of an afterthought as they often are in these movies. I wish all of these James Cameron-wannabe filmmakers would go back and watch Terminator and Aliens. One thing Cameron did beautifully in those movies was make the relationships the backbone of his action/sci-fi movies and give us compelling characters that we care about. This is pretty much a lost art today. Skyline features a forgettable plot about a guy, Jared, and his wife visiting his friend who is a hotshot effects artist in L.A. (Donald Faison, who manages to be both douchey and nerdy). The invasion happens after they have a big party and there are several other ancillary characters who are pretty much interchangeable. In fact, most of the female characters were such ciphers that I had trouble telling them apart.

This all adds up to a movie that-while severely lacking in drama and characterization-has the loose feeling of a scrappy small production that is being produced out of love for the genre. There is something fun and pure about two brothers making a sci-fi movie on the cheap out of their condo. While not great or groudbreaking, Skyline delivers lots of action and thrills.

THE MONSTERS/EFFECTS

Skyline is one of those movies in which the line between creature and vehicle is hard to discern. We first witness the aliens in the forms of their great and spindly ships. The technology of the aliens is very complex and spiky and lit by eerie blue lights. It's an aesthetic not unlike the Transformers movies.

We also see a lot of drones floating around and it is not clear whether these are purely mechanical or partly organic. They are a bit reminiscent of the Sentinels from the Matrix movies. More monstrous are the large, ogre-like creatures which prevent our protagonists from escaping the building. Like the other creatures, these guys feature a slimy, bio-mechanical look.

The last scene of the movie is an interesting coda that actually sets up a cooler story than anything before it. Throughout the movie, the aliens had been abducting people and in the final scene we see then ripping out brains and placing them into brutish bio-mechanical bodies, presumably to serve as their army. These guys are big and almost gorilla-like, with huge deadly claws.


MOST MEMORABLE MOMENT/MINORITY REPORT

Sadly, not a good one. Latino actor David Zayas, in addition to having to awkwardly mouth the word-salad that is the script, is not only given a cliche action movie line, but one that suddenly and unnecessarily calls ridiculous attention to his ethnicity, in the way that screenwriters like to call out their Hispanic characters by throwing a lil Spanish 101 into their English dialogue.



HOME VIDEO AVAILABILITY

Widely available on DVD and Bluray.


TRAILER






Patrick Garone
Follow Me On Twitter
Author of City of the Gods: The Return of Quetzalcoatl

Monster Movie of the Week: The Wolf Man (2010)

THE WOLF MAN
Directed by Joe Johnston
Genre: Gothic Horror

THE MOVIE

The Wolf Man doesn't know quite what it wants to be. At it's heart, it longs to be a faithful re-invention of the classic Universal movie starring Lon Cheney,Jr. or possibly an elegant neo-Gothic period film a la Bram Stoker's Dracula, or maybe a Hammer-style horror movie, but in a world of Twilight, Underworld, and meddling studio executives there was probably intense pressure to make it, if not hip, than at least intense and violent enough to be able to appeal to a good chunk of youngsters. It was a troubled production with too many cooks in the kitchen and when the always-reliable Joe Johnston came on to direct, the movie had already picked up its own clunky momentum.

The movie stars Oscar winner Benicio Del Toro as the cursed Lawrence Talbot, in a bit of casting that is interesting but not quite right. In some ways Del Toro has the same kind of world-weary, hang-dog quality that Lon Cheney, Jr brought to the role, but he seems uncomfortable with the language and out-of-place in the Victorian period. Whether this is due to his acting or simply a badly-written script, I'm not sure, but I never quite bought him as the famous Shakespearean actor who returns home from America to his English country manor after his brother is violently killed.

The great Anthony Hopkins plays his father, the lord of the estate, who knows more than he is letting on about the attacks. Talbot has an uneasy relationship with his father, who he remembers standing over the body of his Gypsy mother when he was a boy. In The Wolfman and Thor, it seems Hopkins is making a career out of playing fathers with violent or stormy relationships with their sons.

When Talbot goes to visit the local Gypsies, he is cryptically told that his brother had been possessed by a "great evil." He then witnesses another attack on the camp by a wolf-like creature. Lawrence is bitten in the attack and, as anyone who has ever seen a werewolf movie before knows, he gets the werewolf's curse.

Lawrence eventually ends up in an asylum in London, in a sequence that really showcases the brutality visited upon mental patients during that period. To cure him of his werewolf delusions, he is strapped down during the full moon in full view of a group of doctors and students, where he transforms into a werewolf and escapes to the country for a final confrontation with his father.

The Wolf Man won an Academy Award for its make-up effects by Rick Baker, who is no stranger to werewolf effects, having done the great An American Werewolf in London many years before. Where the movie really shines is its really beautiful cinematography and art direction, which capture a perfect mood of Gothic horror. From the dilapidated country estate house on the foggy moor, to gas-lit nights of Industrial Age London, The Wolf Man is appropriately dark and moody.




THE MONSTER/EFFECTS

While I am not anti-CGI at all, I feel like werewolf movies are less fun in the era of digital effects. With movies like An American Werewolf in London, or The Howling, there was a real sense of ingenuity to the special effects. Effects artist were using all of the tools at their disposal to try and deliver amazing and ground breaking transformation sequences and creatures. Nowadays, effects artists are limited only by their imaginations and budgets and that often makes for uninspired creature designs.

In its werewolf design The Wolf Man seems to be trying to have it both ways. It seems to want to have an old-school Universal Wolf Man but, it also knows we expect a little more from our werewolves than a very hairy guy with fangs. I have a feeling this was one of the difficulties of getting this movie made, trying to create a design that is recognizably Wolf Man but still up to modern standards of design and special effects. The result, for me, is not that satisfying, but then I like my werewolves more wolf than man.



HOME VIDEO AVAILABILITY

Widely available on DVD and Bluray with lots of special features that document the production and the make-up. Baker and the other filmmakers seem to take pleasure in pointing out how happy they were when Del Toro was cast in the role because they were "already half way there," and how it wouldn't take that much make-up to transform him into the Wolf Man. Ouch.



MOST MEMORABLE SEQUENCE

The whole sequence in the asylum really stands out as a graphic example of the barbaric treatment of the mentally ill during the time period. Lawrence is subject to electrotherapy and basically being water boarded as part of his "treatment." This might be the only time in the movie that it achieves anything like real horror.


TRAILER








Patrick Garone
Follow Me On Twitter
Author of City of the Gods: The Return of Quetzalcoatl

Monster Movie of the Week: Sharktopus (2011)

SHARKTOPUS (2011)
Directed by Declan O'Brien
Genre: Sharktopus


THE MOVIE

Okay, so I have judiciously avoided doing SyFy Original Movies on Monster Movie of the Week because, well, even I have standards. SyFy movies are usually cheapo B monster movies made with an eye towards camp. Movies like Mega Shark Vs. Giant Octopus and Chupacabra: Dark Skies are the monster movie equivalent of cheap porn (and likely use many of the same actors).

In the last few years, SyFy has been experimenting with splicing different deadly animals together to make the most dangerous, yet ridiculous monsters ever seen. Movies like Dinocroc and Dinoshark show the dangers of scientists and network executives toying with the natural order of things. And, while I could ignore the above movies, the monstrous combination of a shark and octopus was simply too alluring to miss. Sharktopus features the most absurd, yet compelling movie monster I have seen in a very long time.

An offer I can't refuse.

The Sharktopus monster is a product of a Navy experiment to create a combat organism...For Some Reason. When Shartopus' control collar is dislodged during it's first mission its handlers loose control of the beast, and it begins terrorizing the Mexican coast around Puerto Vallarta. Soon, there is a race to stop it between an American ex-pat and his crew and the monster's creators who want to capture it alive because, well, sharktopi ain't free. The head evil scientist is played by Eric Roberts, who's career made a loud whistling noise when he went from The Dark Knight to this movie.

THE MONSTER

So, it's a big-ass shark, but where the tail would be, are tentacles. That's Sharktopus in a nutshell. (Warning: If you encounter a Sharktopus hiding in a nutshell, run and get help.) In addition to the ridiculous/awesome creature design, Sharktopus is also able to use its tentacles to climb and grab and do all kinds of cool stuff, like come on land and mess up your day. The only thing that would have made him cooler, would be if he had little shark faces on the ends of his tentacles with which to bite people, instead of stabbing instruments. I guess someone at SyFy decided to show some restraint fairly late in the game.

Sharktopus, attempting to jump itself.

As you would expect if you have seen any of the other SyFy monster movies, the effects are not Hollywood feature quality and as you can see, Sharktopus does look a little like CGI plastic. Some people have said that the Sharktopus looks fake. Those people are missing the point. Where the effects are actually quite good is in the creatures animation. Sharktopus casts a unique and cool silhouette and its way of propelling itself forward in the water by whipping its tentacles behind it is strange and elegant. What makes this such a great movie monster is Sharktopus is literally like nothing you've ever seen.

Sharktopus came here to chew people and kick ass. And he's all out of people.

HOME VIDEO AVAILABILITY

Sharktopus is available on DVD and Bluray.

MOST MEMORABLE SEQUENCE

Anything involving said Sharktopus.

TRAILER




Patrick Garone
www.patrickgarone.com
twitter.com/patrickgarone
facebook.com/cityofthegodsnovel

Monster Movie of the Week: Monsters (2010)

MONSTERS (2010)
Director: Gareth Edwards
Genre: Sci-Fi, Drama


With recent movies like Children of Men, District 9 and Moon, we seem to be having something of a renaissance in thoughtful social problem sci-fi . Now we have director Gareth Edwards' Monsters, which, while not as good as those movies, offers up a Mexican-set giant monster story which has roots in the current political situation between the US and its southern neighbor. While a lot of the political commentary is in the background of the movie, it is clearly extrapolated from real world current events and the (US-caused) alien monster outbreak in Mexico is cleverly layered over existing issues like illegal immigration and the War on Drugs. With a huge chunk of Mexico considered an "Infected Zone" in the movie, American conservatives finally got to build a massive militarized wall along the border, and, ironically, two Americans have to be smuggled to it.


The focus of Monsters is heavily on the relationship between the two lead characters: the daughter of a wealthy family who is stranded in Mexico and a photojournalist who is tasked with bringing her back to the US. It is really more of a quiet character-driven indie road movie than the orgy of action and special effects you might expect from the title . I've grown fond of calling it Lost in Monstration for its foreign setting and the weird quasi-romantic relationship at its core.

Monsters is a gorgeous-looking movie and it captures the particular beauty of Mexico, here often in ruins. The vivid Latin American color palette is muted with smoke and rubble. The movie presents us with a haunting apocalyptic vision contrasting ruined urban landscapes filled with architectural skeletons and jungles dotted with Mayan ruins and abandoned military hardware.

For a movie that gets a lot of mileage out its Mexican setting, Monsters makes some inexplicable mistakes about the country's basic geography. When the characters finally reach the US border near the end of the movie, they find the terrain covered in jungle and peppered with Mayan pyramids, which would more accurately be Mexico's border with Guatemala to the south. Anyone who has ever been to the arid American southwest will have a good idea what the US border would look like. C'mon, guys, look that shit up.

THE MONSTER/EFFECTS

The movie handles its creatures in an interesting way. For most of movie, the monsters are either referred to, glimpsed in Cloverfield-like video clips, or seen in illustrations and photos, which is in keeping with the movie's emphasis on its human protagonists. The monsters are handled in a way that is refreshingly casual, instead of reverential. The movie is not trying to knock you over the head with CGI. As in Cloverfield, the creatures are kept mysterious, except for the fact that they crashed to Mexico on some sort of NASA sample return mission which immediately overran a large chunk of Mexico, the "Infected Zone."

Once we finally see them, they are somewhat of a letdown, though. While an octopus is a great starting point for an alien creature-the tentacles, the slimness, the soft boneless body-the aliens of Monster look a little too much like octopi. Other than their size, bio-luminescence, and their ability to walk on their tentacles, they are pretty much Space Octopi. Maybe they are from the Mon Calamari system. It is unimaginative creature design and somewhat of a letdown after being teased for the whole movie. But again, Monsters is not really about monsters.




HOME VIDEO AVAILABILITY

Currently in select theaters and available On Demand.

SEE ALSO

Cloverfield 2008, District 9 2009

TRAILER







Patrick Garone
www.patrickgarone.com
twitter.com/patrickgarone
facebook.com/cityofthegodsnovel

Monster Movie of the Week: Clash of the Titans (2010)

CLASH OF THE TITANS (2010)

Director: Louis Leterrier

Genre: Mythological Adventure

THE MOVIE

Y’all remember the magic early summer of 2010? It was a time of classic movies like Prince of Persia: Sands of Time and Shrek Forever After. One of those great summer of ’10 movies was Clash of the Titans, a Greek mythological opus starring Sam Worthington, who is quickly becoming the go-to guy for action genre movies. In all fairness, Clash is kind of a mess. Rumor has it, that the movie was severely meddled-with in post production and that there is a longer, better cut of the movie out there somewhere. This seems to be an ongoing problem for French director Louis LeTerrier, who's pretty-good Incredible Hulk suffered from a troubled production as well.

One thing is for sure, mythology is the new vampires! Movies like Clash of the Titans, Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, and the upcoming movies Thor, God of War, and The Immortals show that Hollywood is once again turning to the classic stories of gods and heroes in search of the next big hit. Mythology hasn’t been this hot for millennia.

Clash of the Titans is also a loose remake of a cheesy ‘80’s movie of the same name, although here re-imagined as a summer CGI bonanza with a cast of heavyweight actors in supporting roles. Interestingly, the movie reunites Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes, who last memorably starred opposite each other in Schindler’s List and here play the divine siblings Zeus and Hades. Pete Postlethwaite and Danny Huston also have smaller parts in the movie.

Clash is loosely based on the story of Perseus, the Greek hero tasked with defeating Medusa and saving the maiden Andromeda from Poseidon’s sea monster. Like many Hollywood movies based on Greek mythology, the story takes a lot of liberties with characters and story points. Like most of these movies, Hades is made into the story’s villain and his realm is depicted as fiery and Hellish, where as it was usually depicted in mythology as sort of dark, dull and dreary.

Another annoying convention of movies set in antiquity is to cast British actors, as though people speaking ancient Greek are best represented by crisp English accents. It’s even more illogical and inconsistent in this movie because of Liam Neeson’s Irish brogue and the distractingly Australian Sam Worthington, aka Krakendile Dundee. Seriously dude, learn some more accents. Russell Crowe can do it, so can you.

This movie is also notable for two other reasons: It introduced a hilarious new catchphrase into the public lexicon, “Release the Kraken!” which is applicable for lots of different situations involving sex or pooping. Secondly, Clash of the Titans illustrated the limits of using 3D conversions as a quick cash grab to charge more for tickets. While Clash was not filmed or conceived for 3D, it was apparently given a fast and cheap conversion to the format and the movie’s 3D was widely panned. Clash of the Titans helped usher in a backlash against 3D movies that snowballed over the summer of 2010 and has gone a long way towards undoing Avatar’s hard work in showcasing the power of 3D. Ironically, Worthington starred in both movies. No doubt, James Cameron will give him a good kick in the ass when they start filming Avatar 2.

Haven't I seen you somewhere before? Was it Return of the King? Pan's Labyrinth?

THE MONSTER/EFFECTS

The Greek myths were filled with cool creatures and Clash of the Titans does not stint on monsters. There are some very cool giant scorpions that grow out of the blood of a cursed warrior. There is the Medusa, which is well designed and has a unique and interesting way of moving, but suffers from very subpar CGI. There’s even a Pegasus for the ladies. The real star of the show, is the Kracken which looks a bit like a cross between the Rancor from Return of the Jedi, Orga from Godzilla 2000, and an octopus. The Kraken is a colossal kaiju-sized monster with a toothy, gaping maw and lots of horrible tentacles. This is one of the great movie monsters but sadly is not around very long before being dispatched. Every once in a while I see a monster in a movie and I’m like “That needs to fight Godzilla!” That’s how I felt when I saw the Kraken. It’s a great improvement over the silly looking monster from the original Clash of the Titans which looked like a four armed version of the creature from 20,000,000 Miles to Earth.

Speaking of movie trends, I think Krakens are coming back in. After all, we just had a Kraken not too long ago in the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy. Prior to that, I don’t remember seeing a lot of Krakens, except maybe the tentacle monster in Deep Rising. I would keep my eye on Krakens. I think they are going to be big.

MOST MEMORABLE SEQUENCE

“Release the Kraken!!”

G'day! Name's Peh-seus.

SEQUELS

Surprisingly, considering the largely negative reactions to the movie, a sequel is planned.

HOVE VIDEO AVAILABILITY

Available on DVD and Bluray.

Kraken: Released.

TRIVIA

The movie carries the misnomer from the original. There are actually no Titans in this movie, as the term “Titan” refers to the generation of gods before Zeus and his siblings. A more accurate title would be “Clash of the Olympians.”

Class dismissed.

TRAILER

MONSTER MOVIE OF THE WEEK: HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON (2010)

HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON (2010)

Genre: Family/Animation/Comedy
Directors: Chris Sanders, Dean DeBlois

THE MOVIE

When it comes to quality animated features, Dreamworks doesn't have the track record of Pixar, and for every Shrek and Kung Fu Panda, there are a bunch of snarky kiddie movies filled with smirking, pop-culture referencing characters. How to Train Your Dragon is a big step above the usual Dreamworks fare and better than some of the lesser Pixar movies. It was released as part of the post-Avatar 3D boom and actually takes advantage of format very well for some very thrilling sequences.

How to Train Your Dragon is the story of a Viking tween named Hiccup (who seems to be physically modeled on Jon Krasinski, although voiced by Jay Baruschel), who is the son of the chieftain of a remote village which is at war with bands of dragons which frequently attack. The whole culture of the village is based on fighting with dragons, and it is considered a coming-of-age ritual to kill one. Hiccup is smarter than he is tough, and spends most of his time sketching and inventing contraptions. As the son of the leader, he is at once sheltered and under pressure to prove himself. During a particular nasty dragon attack on the village, Hiccup sneaks off with his new invention, a kind of net catapult which manages to actually down a dragon somewhere outside the village.

The next day, Hiccup ventures off to find the beast to finish it off and discovers a rare black dragon, the Night Fury, bound and injured by his net. As much as he wants to prove himself to his father and his peers, Hiccup cannot bring himself to kill the wounded animal , and releases it into the large sinkhole in which it has crashed but from which it cannot escape due to its injured tail fin. Hiccup and the the dragon, Toothless, gradually build up trust and a touching friendship a la Elliot and E.T, Hogar and the Iron Giant, etc. Meanwhile, Hiccup is being forced by his father into training to be a dragon slayer. Of course, things come to a head, and Hiccup must make a choice about what he is to be and he discovers the secret behind the source of the dragon attacks on the island.

I really like this movie a lot. Hiccup actually becomes a very appealing character by the end of the movie. It is always interesting to watch a character forced to choose between the fate that has been assigned to him and the fate that he knows is right. Over the course of the movie, Hiccup follows his instincts and becomes a kind of naturalist and he has a transformational effect on the other villagers his age. For kids, it teaches a great lesson about the value of patience and observation over knee-jerk violence.



THE MONSTER/EFFECTS

How To Train Your Dragon features quite a few dragon designs and most of them are very whimsical. All of the different dragon species have their own distinctive abilities which have all been compiled by the movie's resident dragon expert into a book which is reminiscent of the Dragonology books that have become popular with kids. How To Train Your Dragon itself is very loosely based on a series of kids books.

The only two non-cartoony creatures are Toothless and the giant Godzilla-sized alpha dragon at the end of the movie. Toothless is wonderfully designed and animated and is probably the best and most original dragon character ever put to film. With his big yellow eyes and pointy "ears, " and slinky feline movements he manages to evoke a giant cranky black cat. I'd be shocked if he wasn't directly based off of one of the animator's pet cat. Toothless is the epitome of the giant powerful creature that all little boys fantasize about befriending. As his species distinctive "power," Toothless is able to produce a kind of weird purple plasma shockwave bolt from his mouth. The directing team for How To Train Your Dragon was also in charge of Disney's Lilo & Stitch and there is a lot in common in how they handle both central creatures. They have a great way of bringing out personality and character in these animated creatures.


DVD AVAILABILITY

Still in theaters as of this writing.

MOST MEMORABLE MOMENT

The first scene between Hiccup and Toothless really clues you in to the fact that you are into something special. You can see a bit of it in the trailer, as Hiccup approaches the bound dragon and you can see the look of suspicion and then resignation on Toothless' face. This is a really well-animated, silent scene which is a rare thing in the very high energy world of Dreamworks animated movies where characters are always working non-stop to entertain you. This scene really gets me.

SEQUELS

This movie has been doing quite well at the box office and Dreamworks has just greenlit a sequel, setting this up to be their new animated franchise with the retirement of Shrek.

SEE ALSO
E.T. 1982 The Iron Giant 1999 The Water Horse 2007 King Kong 2005 Gamera The Brave 2004

THE TRAILER