Resident Evil: Apocalypse and Extinction

            Friday I notice that the second and third “Resident Evil” movies were coming on TV back to back and since I watched the first one Thursday night I was ready to see these. The second movie “Resident Evil: Apocalypse” is about the T-virus spreading into a city. The Umbrella company solution to this is to quarantine the city and drop a nuclear bomb on it in the morning to whip away the virus, the survivors, and any evidence that could be traced back to their company. Umbrella also uses this opportunity to test project Alice and project Nemesis. Project Alice is the same Alice from the first movie but with the T-virus mixed with her DNA. Project Nemesis is Max form the first movie but mutated to the point where he is unrecognizable. Umbrella plans to put them against one another to see which is better. Alice is looking for a way out of the city while Nemesis hunts her down. In this movie the zombie fights where somewhat better because Alice became something more than human which made her fight better. The whole character of Alice changed when it came to the way she fights and her new shoot first attitude.

*I would also have to give “Resident Evil: Apocalypse” a 8 out of 10*

                   Alice

          Nemesis

            The third movie “Resident Evil: Extinction” is about the T-virus spreading across the whole world. In this movie the virus spread to all parts of the world and most of the world is know a barren wasteland. This movie also follows Alice and a few friends she made in the previous movie. The plot of this movie is about Umbrella trying to control the zombies as well as capture Alice to use her in their experiments for a cure to the T-virus. The movie also follows a group of survivors trying to make it to Alaska. The character of Alice has evolved again with the emergence of new abilities that looks similar to telekinesis. Alice has also become somewhat more of a loner. In this movies Alice’s main opposition is the lead scientist for Umbrella who after being infected by the T-virus mutates himself into a zombie human hybrid creature. This movie is slightly less eventful compared to the other movies but it is still just as good. The way this movie ends is with Alice treating the leaders of Umbrella by telling them that she will hunt them all down. Unfortunately the fourth movie was not on TV so I will have to wait to see what happened next. Since I saw the movies so close together I have seen how the main character Alice has evolved for this scared woman with no memory to this invincible killer. In my personal opinion the problem with most movies that have multiple installments is that the characters are stagnant and become predictable and boring to watch. I believe the best characters slowly change as the story is told to show different levels of their personality.

*I would have to give “Resident Evil: Extinction” an 8 out of 10 as well”

Even though I gave them all the same rating I would have to say the first movie Resident Evil is my favorite. I feel that they all are good an each one is different in its own way but I gave them all the same rating because each story builds on the last so I feel it is kind of hard to single one movie out as being the overall best.

Resident Evil

Last night I watched “Resident Evil” before going to sleep. Personally I try not to watch movies like this before I go to sleep because I start hearing random noises. “Resident Evil” is zombies are taking over the world kind of movie. The movie takes place in this underground lab called the Hive. Secret experiments on genetic mutation are being done until a vial of a virus called the T-virus is released. The T-virus brings the dead back to life with only the urge to feed. The Hive is run by a company called Umbrella an when the Hive shuts down they send in a squad of commandos to go down and find out why the facility shut down. They end up fighting for their lives to escape the zombies. Out of the 8 people who went in only one makes it out unaffected by the virus. The one who makes it out name is Alice (played by Milla Jovovich) and through the movie she slowly regains her memories about what Umbrella was doing. In the end Alice along with a man named Max make out but as soon as they do Max begins to mutate. The movie ends with Alice and Max being forcefully separated and taken for experimentation that will not be fully seen until the next movie “Resident Evil: Apocalypse.” The movie was actually better than I thought. The main character Alice started out as this fragile woman then transforms into a zombie killing machine in a dress as she regains more pieces of her memory. One of the only draw backs was that from the beginning I figured that she was going to be most likely the only one to survive. In that aspect it reminded me of how many horror movies always have a girl survive at the end and all of her friends are dead.

*I give “Resident Evil” a 8 out of 10*

The Box

            Today I watched a very interesting movie called “The Box.” The story revolved around a decision to press a button in a box by a married couple (played by James Marsden and Cameron Diaz). If they press the button they get one million dollars and someone they do not know will die. If they do not press the button the box is given to another couple they do not know and the same deal is made. At this point in the movie I began to wonder would I press the button. Could I put a price on another human’s life even one I do not know? If someone offered me a million or even a billion dollars and all I had to do is press a button would I do it? It would be easy to say I would not do it, but do any of us really know what we would do or are capable of when the situation is real? Well I am sure you could have predicted they pressed the button and by doing so changed their lives forever. Interestingly enough the movie ends with two ironic choices. The first being the husband must choose between his son having to go through life without being able to hear and see anymore or shooting his wife so his son’s senses will return. The other choice was that another couple had to deciding if they should press the button or not. The movie was very complicated and when it was over made me wonder what just happened. The movies theme would have to be about the different choices we make in life and how they affect us.

*I give “The Box” a 7.5 out of 10*

The Stepfather

            The movie I watched today was “The Stepfather.” The movie is basically about a man named David Harris (played by Dylan Walsh) who jumps from family to family by seducing divorced women into thinking he is perfect. If the family he is in does not measure up to his standards he kills them and moves on to another family. I thought the way the movie started with him changing his appearance after he murdered his previous family was good at getting my attention. After that I slowly started to lose interest. The son of the new family Harris has sunken his hooks into, starts to figure out what Harris is hiding. In the end, after this fight between Harris and the son, Harris gets away and eludes the police. The movie overall was not that great. The story seems to have everything it needs to be one of those thrillers that leaves you speechless but it fell short in the end. It is a movie that I would watch on a rainy day when there is nothing to do. I have notice that this movie is a remake of a 1987 movie and I hope that one is better than this one was.

*I give “The Stepfather” a 5.5 out of 10*

The World’s Greatest Detective

            Earlier today I was reminded that there is another Sherlock Holmes movie coming out at the end of this year currently titled “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows.” I am looking forward to this movie because the first movie that came out in 2009 was really good. The first movie “Sherlock Holmes” was fantastic. I personally love detective like movies because I always try my hardest to figure things out before the movie gets to the climax. In the Movie Sherlock is trying to solve the murders being performed by a man named Lord Henry Blackwood who was thought to be dead. After much detective work Holmes finds out that the real culprit, who is pulling the strings behind Blackwood, is Professor Moriarty. Moriarty got Blackwood to try and kill the members of parliament with a machine that will release cyanide gas. In the end it turned out that Blackwood and his goal to kill the members of parliament was just a very elaborate distraction. Moriarty’s true goal was to steal a piece of the machine being used to pump cyanide gas into the parliament building. The movie end with no one knowing what Moriarty is going to do with the piece he stole but hopefully we will find out in the next movie. Robert Downey Jr. played a very good Sherlock Holmes. I would have to say his performance was crazy, insane, and genius.

*I give “Sherlock Holmes” a 9 out of 10*

The Lightning Theif

As I was doing a little spring cleaning I came across a book called “The Lightning Thief” by Rick Riordan. It reminded me of when I went a saw the movie version and was majorly disappointed. The book and the movie are about children of the gods and their adventures. This book is about the son of Poseidon who is thought to have stolen Zeus’s lightning bolt. The whole story is about how Poseidon’s son Percy trying to clear his name, save his mother, and stop a war among the gods. While I loved the book, the movie completely butchered the whole story. The movie added characters, subtracted characters, and even added scenes that never happened in the book. The movie changed the story almost completely. I felt as if the movie writers never even read the book or just some notes on it and came up with their own story. If I was the author I would be furious at how my story was distorted into something almost completely unrecognizable. There are 5 books in the series and I hope if they decide to do another movie it will be closer to the books.

*I give the Book an 8 out of 10*

*I give the movie a 6 out of 10*

The Fantastic 4

I have a thing for superhero movies. This past week both Fantastic Four movies were playing on TV, “Fantastic Four” and “Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer.” The first movie “Fantastic Four” is a great movie. It is the basic origin storyline of how the Fantastic 4 got their powers. Also it is the story of how their greatest enemy Victor von Doom (played by Julian McMahon), or better known as Dr. Doom, got his powers as well. The movie shows how each member of the Fantastic 4 dealt with their new powers in the beginning. The one who has to adjust the most to his powers is Ben Grimm (play by Michael Chiklis), better known as The Thing, to his new monster like looks and tremendous strength. Johnny Strom (play by Chris Evans) , better known as The Human Touch, is the first of the group to embrace his powers because he has a more care free or even reckless attitude than the others. The last two members of the group the Invisible Woman Susan Storm (played by Jessica Alba) and Mr. Fantastic Reed Richards (played by Ioan Gruffudd) also did well dealing with their new powers. The whole movie comes to an end when the four unite to defeat Doom and become known as the Fantastic 4.

*I give “Fantastic Four” a 8.5 out of 10*

 The second movie “Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer” was more action based. The whole movie is centered around the Silver Surfer (played by Doug Jones but Voiced by Laurence Fishburne) and the impending destruction of the earth. Doom is even called in to help stop the Silver Surfer from bringing his master the devourer of worlds Galactus. Doom then double crosses everyone and takes the Silver Surfer’s powers for himself. The Fantastic 4 along with the Silver Surfer confront Doom in Japan and stop him while Galactus gets closer to earth. In the end the Surfer risk his life to save the earth from Galactus. I have no idea which movie I like more because they both are great movies and they both have different things that I think make superhero movies great. The first movie has the whole background story of how they got their powers and how they became the fantastic 4. The second movie had more of a plot with the Silver Surfer trying to destroy the world then helping to save it from Doom and Galactus.Both movies are great on their own but I recommend that everyone see both of them.

*I give “Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer” a 8.5 out of 10*