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Mission: Impossible 2 (2000)
Mission: Impossible 2 (2000)
2000 | Action, Mystery
6
5.6 (19 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Short of Average
When you spend two hours on a movie like Mission: Impossible 2, you can’t help but wonder, “Did they make this just to piss me off?” I knew the answer was no, but I was pissed nonetheless. In the franchise’s first sequel, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is back at it trying to recover a deadly virus from a rogue agent.

Acting: 8

Beginning: 9

Characters: 8

Cinematography/Visuals: 3
I wish I could have been in the editing room when they were working on this movie. Everytime director John Woo would mention anything about slow mo, I would send an electric shock down his spine. Enough already. You can slow the camera down, great! It doesn’t add to the value of the action. The John Wick movies are a perfect example of that. He cuts through guys with efficiency and speed. And you know what else? He does it without the damn doves! M:I 2 is a visual mess.

Conflict: 8

Genre: 3
When I think of great actions movies, this ain’t it. Not even close. It had flashes, but falls well short of being even average.

Memorability: 5

Pace: 6

Plot: 5
This movie breaks two major rules of filmmaking by having: 1. A love relationship that develops way too quickly and 2. A plot that advances based on sheer coincidence. You can’t be clever with screenwriting and take shortcuts at the same time, good writing just doesn’t work that way. At best, the story is mediocre.

Resolution: 7

Overall: 62
Mission: Impossible 2 reminds me of those cheesy action movies of old that you knew would be bad, but you suffered through it because you just wanted to see stuff blow up. Actually, it’s worse than that because it actually attempts to be a good movie and, in the process, takes itself way too seriously. Flashes of greatness, but moreso just a flash in the pan.
  
Rec 3: Genesis (2012)
Rec 3: Genesis (2012)
2012 | Horror, Thriller
6
6.4 (7 Ratings)
Movie Rating
If you enjoyed the success of the first two [Rec] films in which a reporter and camera crew where stuck in a apartment block over run with flesh eating tenants as a result of a strange virus then you’ll probably still enjoy this. The sequel followed on after the events of the first film and for this the location has changed from apartment block to a glamorous Spanish wedding.

The opening twenty minutes are shot from the viewpoint of a handheld camera by one of the guests as well as the occasional cut shot to the official wedding videographer. For Clara (Leticia Dolera) and Koldo (Diego Martín) this is the happiest day of their lives and we witness everything from the arrival of the guests, service and the wedding breakfast. The film then suddenly turns on its head when one of the guests starts showing the signs of a strange illness, then the shit hits the fan.

The handheld camera shot is abruptly dropped in a neat edit that adds in the title sequence, although we still get glimpses of flesh eating carnage from security cameras scattered around the venue. Clara and Koldo the pair are separated amidst all the mayhem and they have to fight their way back together, how romantic.

The first film’s apartment block location had the effectiveness of delivering high tension in a relatively enclosed and tight space, with Génesis the location is more vast and so at times it doesn’t feel as gripping, given also that some of the occurances happen in broad daylight.

Once the film gets going the gore is ramped up a few more levels, and when Clara turns into some sort of bridezilla complete with ripped wedding dress and chainsaw any more scares are lost in the comedy of death scenes for the unlucky few who choose to get in her way. It is certainly not the best of the three but it offers enough to keep the connections of the story-line going, perhaps even for one more film?
  
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Cate Le Bon recommended Selda by Selda in Music (curated)

 
Selda by Selda
Selda by Selda
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"She is a Turkish goddess. It is folk [music] in its essence, I suppose, but this record is fierce. She is angry and compelling and this record fires me up. It was when I was on tour with Gruff [Rhys] – maybe about eight years ago – and Andy Votel was with us and doing DJ sets and he was playing 'Ince Ince' from this record. I had become a bit lazy about discovering music and had become a bit fatigued at listening to new things. Suddenly Andy is playing music like Selda and it was so exciting. He opened a world of new music to me. I started listening to things by Iranian female musicians like Googoosh and also to Susan Christie's Paint A Lady album. It was all incredibly exciting music that I hadn't known about it. It was like opening Pandora's Box to me. I would play it to everyone I possibly could. I would constantly be saying, ""Have you heard this record by Selda? It's one of the best records I have ever heard"" and I would get it out and play it to anyone. It would always get the same reaction. I remember playing it to St Vincent when I was touring with her and she lost her shit when she heard it. I think she subsequently went on to cover one of the songs. Last year I was playing a show in Switzerland in this old cinema which was absolutely incredible. It had a huge disco ball and we were having a bit of a lock-in. We were having our own private disco in this cinema and I put a Selda track on and everybody just went absolutely apeshit. It is just a record that you cannot get fatigued by – I was listening to it this morning and got excited all over again. The synths and the electric sitars on it are so infectious – the album is like a musical virus. I recommend everyone listens to it."

Source
  
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Heather Cranmer (2721 KP) created a post

Feb 6, 2021 (Updated Feb 6, 2021)  
Sneak a peek at the science fiction medical thriller FACTOR-7 by J.D. May, and check out the awesome author interview video on my blog. Enter the giveaway to win a signed paperback of the book, a travel mug, a coffee mug, coaster, pen, tote bag, and a bookmark - 5 winners total.

https://alltheupsandowns.blogspot.com/2021/02/book-blog-tour-and-giveaway-factor-7-by.html

**BOOK SYNOPSIS**
Dr. Sam Hawkins’s friend and mentor, Dr. William Roberts, has been struck down by an unknown and hideous disease. Roberts’s dying words are cryptic, and Sam is soon confronted by a massive cover up of his friend’s death. He reluctantly partners with Dr. Rainee Arienzo, an Italian infectious disease specialist, and together they uncover the terrifying truth about Factor-7, a bio-weapon with a 98 percent mortality rate.

Roberts’s journal tips them off that a clandestine plot for using the virus is about to be unleashed by a secret society, the Keepers Collegium. The Collegium, an international group of rogue intelligence agents, ex-military, and government officials, has a demonic plan to use the pathogen to destroy anyone who threatens their twisted ideology. Sam and Rainee soon realize that public exposure of the evil plot would be as dangerous to the world’s security as the bio-weapon itself—the fallout could lead to World War III. Therefore, they must not only shut down the plans of the Collegium, but also keep the top- secret information away from the media.

But as they work to stop the plot, Sam and Rainee are kidnapped by the drug cartel. The kingpin, who financed much of the Collegium’s plot, wants them to hand over Roberts’s journal because it lists the names of the major players in the Collegium who had double-crossed him. He plans to carry out his own revenge. In order to survive, Sam and Rainee have no choice—they must play with one of two devils or be burned by both.
     
#Alive (2020)
#Alive (2020)
2020 | Action, Drama, Horror
10
8.0 (9 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Contains spoilers, click to show
#Alive is a Korean zombie movie that focuses on the survival of Oh Joon-woo, a young man who is stranded in his family's apartment at the outbreak of the zombie virus and follows him as he tries to work out what is happening, how he can survive and how he can cope with the fact that his family is probably dead.
#Alive is defiantly a film of 3 parts, the first part focuses solely on Oh Joon-woo and his attempts at survival alone in his apartment as he struggles to cope with the zombies, running out of food and the lose of his family. The portrayal of Isolation and loneliness is very well done, leading up to what could almost be a very short film.
Then Oh Joon-woo meets Kim Yoo-bin, another survivor who lives in the apartments across the street from him. The isolation continues as the two find ways to communicate and survive but now there is hope.
The two are eventually forced from their apartments and have to meet up and move up as they try to find somewhere safe to survive.
#Alive is a film without a big main cast and this helps the sense of isolation and loneliness which is only increased by the fact that they spend most of the film separated by a street full of the undead.
Surprisingly #Alive manages to avoid becoming a love story. Normally when you have two survivors who meet in films like this they fall for each other and, at least part of the film is taken up by their relationship. However #Alive doesn't do this, Oh Joon-woo and Kim Yoo-bin obviously become friends but they are too busy surviving but their relationship doesn't overtake the main point of the film, survival.
There are moments of tension and relief in the film and they work well making #Alive a different type of film than a lot of other zombie films, including the other Korean zombie blockbuster, Train to Busan.
  
Pestilence (The Four Horsemen #1)
Pestilence (The Four Horsemen #1)
T.A. Chase | 2011 | LGBTQ+, Paranormal, Romance
8
7.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
This book starts with Aldo 'waking up' after a successful attempt at killing himself, so to say he was a bit confused should be taken as given. He finds out that he is now Pestilence, the White Horseman. It is his job to go where he is sent and spread epidemics in order to keep the balance between Heaven and Hell. He was a doctor in his life, so it is both ironic and heartbreaking for him to now be spreading disease. In an effort to distance himself from the human population, he lives in the middle of the Amazon jungle. So you can imagine his surprise when he sees a man stumble into his clearing, full of fever and virus.

Bart was left in the middle of the jungle by his lover and the rest of the research team. He doesn't know how he has made it to the clearing, but he is glad that he did when Pestilence looks after him and helps him to make a long and slow recovery. Pestilence is riddled with guilt over the deaths of his wife and son due to the Bubonic Plague, and his 'job'. Bart comes into his life like a dervish and Pestilence starts to question if he can actually have a relationship.

I thoroughly enjoyed the world-building and characters in this book. It is the first of a new series, and I am looking forward to reading the others. Although I really liked Pestilence and Bart, I personally loved the scenes with Death, as I really enjoyed his dry wit and personality.

With a relationship that grows and develops, as well as forgiveness, guilt, love, and disease, this book is certainly worth the read. Definitely recommended.

* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book, and the comments here are my honest opinion. *
 
Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
Nov 10, 2015
  
Bakjwi (Thirst) (2009)
Bakjwi (Thirst) (2009)
2009 | Drama, Horror, International
Unique take on vampires. (1 more)
Beautiful cinematography.
Father Sang-hyeon is a priest with a bleeding heart. He cares for his patients and does what's in his power to do whatever they ask. EV, the Emmanuel Virus, covers its victims from the waist up with blisters, causes ulcers and hemorrhages in muscle tissue, and even causes victims to vomit blood and die from excessive bleeding if the virus spreads to the internal organs. Sang-hyeon volunteers at the Emmanuel Lab in hopes of finding a treatment for the disease, but winds up contracting the disease himself and dying in the process. The blood he receives during the transfusion, however, miraculously brings him back from the edge of death. While being the lone survivor of the ordeal, the story detailing Sang-hyeon's journey gets more and more spectacular. He comes to the realization that drinking blood makes the blisters that cover his body disappear and that he has superhuman abilities. The transfusion has made Sang-hyeon a vampire. He stays with a childhood friend while struggling with finding ways to quench his hunger for blood in addition to falling in love with Tae-Joo, his best friend's wife.

If anyone sits down with me and has a conversation with me about movies, it's only a matter of time before I reveal that Oldboy is quite possibly my favorite film of all time. So it should be no surprise that I'm willing to see anything the director, Chan-wook Park, or lead actors, Choi Min-sik and Ji-Tae Yu, are involved with. Mainly because of my love for Oldboy, but also because I'm rarely disappointed with anything they are a part of. So when I heard Chan-wook Park was tackling a vampire film, I was thrilled and even more thrilled that he managed to deliver another solid film to his already impressive filmography.

The cinematography is the film's shining feature. Park really knows his stuff when it comes to shooting memorable scenes from behind a camera. Every shot is filled with vibrant colors that leap off of the screen. Every frame of the film seems to tell a story all on its own. I hope there's a Blu-ray release of this film because it will look fantastic. It's rather intriguing to see which elements of the vampire mythology Park used for his vision. Sang-hyeon has to drink blood to survive and to stay looking flawless, has incredible strength, and is vulnerable to sunlight. He doesn't, however, have fangs and also has a reflection in the mirror.

Although I've never seen the film, I couldn't help but feel like this was Chan-wook Park's version of Twilight. The entire middle portion of the film is devoted to Sang-hyeon's and Tae-Joo's love for one another. It felt like the adult version of Twilight, really. There's a lot of blood, nudity, sex, and even a few obscenities thrown in for good measure. Maybe it's the Chan-Wook Park fanboy in me, but I honestly feel like I can guarantee that this is the better film of the two. The psychological aspect that I love about Park's previous films is in Thirst, as well. That's a major factor for me as any film that causes me to think or is unusual in any way winds up becoming a fan favorite. The soundtracks to Park's films always seem to fit its respective film like a glove. Thirst is no exception. While the soundtrack is a bit more subtle this time around, it fit the overall atmosphere of the film rather effortlessly.

The middle portion of the film did seem to drag on longer than everything else in the film. It's weird though as the scenes during that time are crucial to the storyline of the film and it's hard to imagine Thirst being the same film if any of those scenes were cut. Nevertheless, it is my one nitpick of the film.

Chan-wook Park bites into the vampire mythology with Thirst and puts his own dark, psychological twist on it. Park's films always seem to have a specific formula or include most of the following: great writing, beautiful cinematography, a solid cast, some sort of psychological twist that'll mess with your head, and a memorable ending.
  
The Maze Runner: The Death Cure (2018)
The Maze Runner: The Death Cure (2018)
2018 | Action, Sci-Fi
6
7.7 (33 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Originally slated to appear in Feb. 2017, but delayed due to the onset
injury of Dylan O”Brien; the final part of the “Maze Runner” trilogy has
arrived with the release of “Maze Runner: The Death Cure”. The film picks
up shortly after the events of the previous film where the heroes are
trying to rescue their friend MinHo from the forces of WCKD who are
looking to find a cure for a devastating virus in his blood. Since Minho
and his fellow “Gladers” are immune, the hope is that they hold the key to
the future of humanity, so WCKD is willing to do whatever it takes to find
the cure even if it means torture and killing individuals and other
captives I n their lab.

Against the wishes of his newly found comrades, Thomas, Newt, and their
friends set off to the last city to rescue their friend even though they
know they will face legions of troops and fortified defenses as well as
swarms of infected individuals along the way.

At the same time, Teresa is busy working with WCKD on a cure and seems to
have had little lasting effecting from betraying Thomas and his friends.
Ava and Rat Man seem to be in a perpetual state of conflict over their
next course of action and with time to find a cure growing shorter and
shorter, desperation begins to grow.

The arrival of Thomas only worsens the situation as the characters find
themselves in a very complicated situation fighting not only for their own
survival but for that of their friends and society as a whole.

The film is over two hours long and at times drags, but does have some
good action sequences and does up the action compared to prior films in
the series.

While it remains to be seen if either of the two prequel books that
followed the trilogy will be adapted, the final film in the trilogy does
offer a satisfying and at times exciting conclusion to the series, as long
as you are willing to be patient with the long run time and slower
portions of the story.

http://sknr.net/2018/01/24/maze-runner-death-cure/
  
Escape From L.A. (1996)
Escape From L.A. (1996)
1996 | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
2
6.5 (24 Ratings)
Movie Rating
John Carpenter’s offering into the world of sequels couldn’t have been worse. Kurt Russell said he had a desire to play Snake Plissken once again and to be honest I wished he hadn’t bothered.

I had a hard enough time to muster the energy to watch this, and even more to award it a one star rating. I have made my way through bad films over the years but this one really takes the title. After Carpenter’s engrossing and dark Escape from New York hit screens in 1981 a sequel was always going to be on the cards, but maybe they waited too long for it.

The plot is similar to the first, Plissken is yet again asked to save the day despite being injected with a virus that will kill him in within nine hours, although giving him ample time to save the day. This time he has to enter L.A. now separated from America after an earthquake and where the worst of the worst are sent, there he must retrieve a black box containing controls to a super weapon.

I had a hard enough time to muster the energy to watch this, and even more to award it a one star rating

What really wound me up about this film were the most shoddy special effects ever! When you take into consideration that this came out at a similar time to the very excellent Independence Day whose CGI effects were second to none for the time, there was no comparison.

You have to wonder what Carpenter’s budget of $50,000,0000 went towards, Plissken’s underwater entry into L.A. is hilarious and is even worth the watch just for that alone.

The addition of a few more well known characters do manage to brighten the proceedings, such as Steve Buscemi as Map to the Stars Eddie and Bruce Campbell as Surgeon General of Beverly Hills, but they do very little to save this from being a complete disaster.

Russell allegedly wrote the ending to this, and to be honest it shows. If you were a fan of the first then I would leave this one well alone!
  
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LeftSideCut (3778 KP) rated Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (2017) in Movies

Jan 6, 2021 (Updated Jan 6, 2021)  
Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (2017)
Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (2017)
2017 | Action, Horror, Sci-Fi
Contains spoilers, click to show
Well here we have it - a messy and underwhelming finale, to a messy and underwhelming franchise.

Where to begin with this - even though it was silly and impractical, the previous film in the series ends on a cliffhanger (?), setting up a big ass battle between an army of undead, and a line up of heroes mainly made up of characters from the games (stood on top of the white house of course because Paul W.S. Anderson). This film opens in the aftermath, meaning that we don't even see the ensuing battle, but all these characters are un-ceremoniously killed off screen between movies. Alice is alive though....yaaay.

You know what comes next by now, an opening Milla Jovovich speech about who she is, edgy soldier characters saying edgy shit all the damn time (with added Ruby Rose for a little extra edginess), wire frame blue print segments of whatever facility they're in this time. Anderson mercifully cuts out all the gratuitous slow motion for his final bow, but unfortunately replaces it with seizure inducing quick edits. Like, it's fucking ludicrous how many edits there are whenever a fight starts and it just sucks. It's unexciting and difficult to sit through at times.
Then there's the ret-conning. Jesus Christ, Iain Glen is back for no reason other than the fact he became more of a household name thanks to Game of Thrones, plot be damned. Wesker is a villain again and the Red Queen is now a good guy, the origins of the T-Virus is different, and Milla Jovovich is actually an old woman (complete with Jackass quality aesthetics). These movies stopped making sense a while back but they just went full ham on this one. You know when you're on your last day of work before leaving a job and you just don't really give a fuck about your final shift? Yeah it's that, but a multi million dollar film.

I'm extremely happy that Resident Evil is finally being rebooted, into hopefully something that resembles the source material a bit more, and is actually scary. And good. Maybe. This franchise has given me trust issues.