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Thursday, 7 July 2005
Bac Reviews Batman Begins
Starring: Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Liam Neeson, Katie Holmes, Gary Oldman, Cillian Murphy and Morgan Freeman
Written By: Christopher Nolan
Directed By: Christopher Nolan
How does one man change the world? It's a question that haunts Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) like the specter of his parents, gunned down before his eyes in the streets of Gotham on a night that changed his life forever.
Tormented by guilt and anger, battling the demons that feed his desire for revenge and his need to honor his parents' altruistic legacy, the disillusioned industrial heir vanished from Gotham and secretly travels the world, seeking the means to fight injustice and turn fear against those who prey on the fearful. In his quest to elucidate himself in the ways of the criminal mind, Bruce is mentored by a mysterious man called Ducard (Liam Nesson) in the mastery of the physical and mental disciplines that will empower him to fight the evil he has vowed to destroy. He soon finds himself the target of recruiting efforts by the League of Shadows, a powerful, subversive vigilante group headed by enigmatic leader Ra's al Ghul. Bruce destroys the facility and saves Ducard’s life.
Bruce returns to Gotham to find the city devoured by rampant crime and corruption. Wayne Enterprises, his family's former bastion of philanthropic business ideals, now rests in the hands of CEO Richard Earle, a man more concerned with taking the company public than serving the public good.
Meanwhile, Bruce's close childhood friend Rachel Dawes (Katie Holmes), now an Assistant District Attorney, can't secure a conviction of the city's most notorious criminals because the justice system has been so deeply polluted by scum like crime boss Carmine Falcone. It doesn't help that prominent Gotham psychiatrist Dr. Jonathan Crane (Cillian Murphy) bolsters insanity defenses for Falcone's thugs in exchange for nefarious favors that serve his own devious agenda.
With the help of his trusted butler Alfred (Michael Caine), detective Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman)--one of the few good cops on the Gotham police force--and Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman), his ally at the Wayne Enterprises' Applied Sciences division, Bruce Wayne unleashes his awe-inspiring alter-ego: Batman, a masked crusader who uses strength, intellect and an array of high tech weaponry to fight the sinister forces that threaten to destroy the city.
Ducard returns and destroys Wayne Manor, and then unleashes the plot to destroy Gotham and it’s people once and for all. But, Batman and his friends save the day and Ducard is killed (maybe).
This was an exceptional film, much different and much better than the first four Batman films. ‘Begins’ makes a point to steer away from the storyline of the others, most notable change being that the man who murdered the Wayne’s is killed when ‘Batman’, staring Michael Keaton as the Dark Knight, tells us that the Joker killed his parents.
The acting, effects and cinematography were all top notch. I give this a BAC RATING of 9/10. It receives a 9 because the end feels a bit rushed.
Until next time,
Jedimasterbac
Posted by jedimasterbac
at 10:50 PM EDT
Wednesday, 6 July 2005
Bac Reviews War of the Worlds
Starring: Tom Cruise, Morgan Freeman(Voice-Over), Dakota Fanning, Miranda Otto, Justin Chatwin, Tim Robbins
Produced By: Colin Wilson and Kathleen Kennedy
Written By: Josh Friedman and David Koepp
Based On: War of the Worlds Written By H.G. Wells
Music Composed and Conducted By: John Williams
Directed By: Steven Spielberg
Well, what can I say about Steven Spielberg’s latest film War of the Worlds? The first thought I had going into the theater was “Well, Mr. Cruise must feel quite at home with this film.” For those who do not know, Scientologists (most notable scientologists being Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes who has recently converted from Christianity, John Travolta and Kirsti Alley) believe in Xenu, the galactic tyrant who stacked hundreds of billions of his frozen victims around Earth's volcanoes 75 million years ago before blowing them up with hydrogen bombs and brainwashing them with a "three-D, super colossal motion picture for 36 days. The traumatised thetans subsequently clustered around human bodies, in effect acting as invisible spiritual parasites that can only be removed using advanced Scientology techniques. But, I will save my thoughts on Tom Cruise and his philosophy for a later date....(or, you could just ask Matt Lauer)*
*I take this time to note that I have nothing against any religion, including Scientologoy, only that I mention this because I am not a big Tom Cruise fan**
**I take this time to mention that I once was a Tom Cruise fan with films such as Top Gun, Days of Thunder and Jerry McGuire.
Now, War of the Worlds is packed with incredibly realistic special effects, but not such a realistic story. Here are a few questions I had at the end of the film:
1. Who were the aliens and where did they come from? Why did they “envy” humans for having Earth?
(Darth Silence believes that it is because we have clothes and they did not)
2. If the aliens were unable to build up an immunity to the diseases that we were immune to, then how were they able to stay here and build the machines underground?
3. How the hell did Robbie survive that giant explosion in the cornfield? I thought for sure that the kid was a goner.
4. How did Ray kill Oglby? He makes a point to say to his daughter “Ignore anything you hear” and then all you hear is a moaning sound. So, after that build up why not shoot him?
5. What the hell did they spend $250,000,000 on? Porn during production? Seriously, the film has to make $500,000,000 just to break even
Well, the story revolves around a man named Ray Ferier (Cruise) and his two kids Robbie (Justin Chatwin) and Rachel (Dakota Fanning). Ray’s pregnant* ex-wife Maryann (Miranda Otto) and her husband Tim drop the kids off at their father’s house and then head off to Boston to Maryann’s parents house.
*I make a point to mention that she is pregnant because it shows that she has to live. Why? Because, it is politically incorrect to kill pregnant women in films.
Not long after the kids are dropped up, a severe lightning storm starts: twenty-six bolts of lightning hit over and over again in the same spot. Ray goes to check it out and realizes that no car in the entire city works. He suggests to the mechanic switching a part in the engine, and that gets the car working. Soon after, giant alien tripods emerge from underground and start to vaporize hundreds of people in an astonishing scene of visual effects. Ray runs back to his house and, along with his children, steals the car that mechanic fixed. They go to the children’s house and hide there for the night.
Late at night, the family is woken up by the sound of the alien tripods. Then, there is a sound that no one has heard before and then an explosion that destroys part of the house. The family manages to hide in another part of the basement in a scene reminiscent of The Day After Tomorrow (the scene I refer to is when they are in the New York Public Library and the ice is gaining on them and miraculously the ice stops when they close the door. This is again shown in War of the Worlds when they close the door and the fire doesn’t come through to them). The family wakes up in the morning and Ray finds a crashed airplane that has destroyed the neighborhood. A nearby news van that came to inspect the scene sits next to the plane. The reporter shows Ray the tape and she points to the lightning strike. The aliens were in pods and they rode the lightning into the ground and got into the tripods. The family gets into the car (which miraculously was unharmed by the plane that crashed right next to it) and heads for Boston.
When they get to the Hudson River, the surrounding people attack them and try to take the car. Ray uses his gun to shoot into the air to scare people back, but another man puts a gun to Ray’s head and steals the car. Soon after, that man is shot to death by someone else and all hell breaks loose. They head for the Hudson ferry and manage to make it on when three tripods show up. The ferry takes off, but a tripod comes up from under water and starts vaporizing the people. Ray and his kids swim to shore (miraculously, they were the only ones to make it to the shore...go figure).
They head towards Boston once more and they come to a field where the United States Army and the United States Air Force are attacking the tripods. Robbie begs Ray to let him see it, but Ray refuses. Robbie tells Ray that he has to let him go and he does. Soon after, a large and devastating explosion engulfs the field. A man named Oglby (Tim Robbins) in a nearby house brings Ray and Rachel into his basement.
They hide there until Oglby goes crazy. An alien scanner and the aliens themselves come into the basement (instead of just as easily blowing up the house) to look for survives but the group manages to evade them. Oglby goes crazy and tries to dig an underground tunnel towards New York City. Fearing for Rachel’s life, Ray kills Oglby who will not shut up. The two go to sleep, only to be woken up by an alien scanner. Ray attacks it with an axe while Rachel runs away. Ray tries desperately to find her, only to see that she has been taken by a tripod. Ray picks up a belt of grenades and throws it at the tripod.
Ray is taken into the cell on the exterior of the tripod where other people are being held as well. He sits with Rachel until he is being sucked into the tripod so they can drink his blood as well. A military officer who is also there grabs on to Ray, as does everyone else. When Ray falls out, he is holding the grenade keys in his hand. The machine is destroyed and the people are safe.
They all head for Boston which is in ruins. When they arrive, they see that the tripods have been falling over by themselves. One starts to walk around and Ray notices the birds sitting on top of this. Ray yells to a soldier that because the birds are on it the shields must be down. The take out missile launchers and destroy it. Ray and Rachel head for Maryann’s parents house where they find her, Tim, her parents and Robbie alive.
It is then explained that it was the diseases that we were immune to that killed the aliens, because they could not build up immunities to it.
As corny as the movie seemed in some parts, it was actually fairly good for the most part. The acting was great, as were the visual effects. I would give this a Bac Rating of 8/10 for acting, visual effects and a good story (although the ending did kind of fall apart). So, I have said most of what I have to say so I will take my leave of you now.
Jedimasterbac
Posted by jedimasterbac
at 11:26 AM EDT
Hey
Well, look at that! First entry into this blog. So, what am I doing this for? Well, so you all can see what I want to talk about wether it be Star Wars, Alternative Star Wars Saga or other stuff. So, look out Sequel-Trilogy! Bac is in the house!
Jedimasterbac
Posted by jedimasterbac
at 11:20 AM EDT
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