Mark Halpern (153 KP) rated Battle: Los Angeles (2011) in Movies
Feb 12, 2018
Not Eckhart's finest movie but it just was a bad story. I am surprised that Michelle Rodriguez even got involved in this film
Origami Jewelry Motifs: Fold and Wear Your Own Earrings, Bracelets, Necklaces and More!
Book
Very few books unite jewelry making and origami, thus Fashioning Origami will be unique among books...
SOS First Aid
Medical and Health & Fitness
App
SOS First Aid is a very easy first aid manual with some basics concepts and steps of what to do in...
Ciclis 3D - The Cycling Simulator
Games and Entertainment
App
Ciclis 3D is a game of total action in cycling: You never thought that cycling could be so fun! ...
Blackmailed By The Spaniard
6.0
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Book
He’s out for revenge, and he’ll take it at any cost… When beautiful Adeline Scott turns to...
Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2200 KP) rated Cat Killer (Mirage Mysteries #1) in Books
Mar 9, 2018
I first read this mystery 20 plus years ago, and it was fun to revisit these characters. I did remember the killer, but reading it now, the villain’s identity does seem a little obvious early on. The characters are strong, and I enjoyed getting to meet them again. By the end, I was easily able to remember who they all were, even given the large number we meet early on. This is a Christian mystery, which adds to the book.
Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2017/02/book-review-cat-killer-by-sandy-dengler.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
Until Forever Comes (Mates #2)
8.0
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Book
Ethan Abbatt is a wolf shifter who can't shift. Plagued by pain and weakness all his life, he hopes...
M_M Paranormal Romance
Wicked & Wise
8.0
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Tabletop Game
Dragons compete in a variety of ways, but one of their favorite ways is playing by playing trick...
Kirk Bage (1775 KP) rated Alita: Battle Angel (2019) in Movies
Jan 22, 2021
Alita: Battle Angel is a similar deal. This time Yukito Kishiro’s early 90s manga creation is the inspiration. With James Cameron as producer, and the considerable talents of Christoph Waltz, Jennifer Connelly and Mahershala Ali onboard, it would have been pretty hard for even Rodriguez to mess this up entirely. Although at times he does seem to try, mostly by doing too much and making certain sections too busy and too confusingly cross-genre, like he is frantically trying to colour within the lines whilst using every felt-tip in the pack. A habit that means every now and again something great happens, but you may have missed it in all the background noise.
Compare this film, that just falls short of qualifying for my Bad Movie Triple Bill list, to Spielberg’s superior yet similarly busy Ready Player One. Both involve high concept future realities that are very tech and AI driven. Both make extensive use of CGI and vivid colour palettes. Both are frenetic and demand an audience pays attention in order to fully appreciate the storyline. The difference is that one zig-zags back and forth in tone and momentum, and one is razor sharp in moving us from one idea to the next on a perfect learning curve towards a satisfying climax and conclusion. Guess which one is which? This is why Spielberg is Spielberg and Rodriguez is… a hack.
That said, Alita as a character and concept is charming, and you do therefore find yourself at least wanting to discover her story. The action scenes are also quite electric, and the visuals are often breath-taking. But the whole is less than the sum of the parts here, and we are left with something that can only really exist in the same box as dozens of admirable sci-fi B-movies aimed at teenagers, such as The Maze Runner, Mortal Engines and The City of Ember. It also continues to prove the point alongside Ghost in the Shell and Speed Racer that Anime / Manga into live action is a very tricky business.
There is definitely an audience out there for this movie, and I dare say at some point I will be tempted to give it another watch. What is definitely worth watching however, is how James Cameron uses this as a stepping stone to perfecting virtual humans on the big screen. I am sure everyone involved learned a lot in that respect, so all is far from lost.