Terminator Genisys

***DISCLAIMER*** The following review is entirely my opinion. If you comment (which I encourage you to do) be respectful. If you don't agree with my opinion (or other commenters), that's fine. To each their own. These reviews are not meant to be statements of facts or endorsements, I am just sharing my opinions and my perspective when watching the film and is not meant to reflect how these films should be viewed. Finally, the reviews are given on a scale of 0-5. 0, of course, being unwatchable. 1, being terrible. 2, being not great. 3, being okay. 4, being great and 5, being epic! And if you enjoy these reviews feel free to share them and follow the blog or follow me on Twitter (@RevRonster) for links to my reviews and the occasional live-Tweet session of the movie I'm watching!  So, he really wasn't lying when he said he'd be back.

Terminator Genisys ? 3 out of 5

In a world where knee-jerk reactions of hatred and outrage are things that are considered normal behavior (but only for things like movies, reboots and casting non-white actors to play comic book characters that are usually depicted as Hitler?s wet dream?if you dare get pissed about things like sexism, racism or rape culture, you?re then assaulted by the people bitching about female Ghostbusters and guys who really hate women having opinions on video games and are told that you are just whiners and offended by everything), anyway, everyone was quick to start throwing hate at the new installment to the Terminator franchise when it was announced it was going to happen..  Meanwhile, I watched the trailer and said, ?Sure, I?ll watch it.?  I keep forgetting that I?m supposed to just instantly hate everything.  I?ll guess I?ll never truly belong on the internet because I tend to reserve extreme opinions until I actually witness the product.  Anyway, after days of judgment, machines doing their rising thing and some salvation given to us by Batman?s gravel voice, Arnie is back in Terminator Sega Genisys.

So...the machines just couldn't invent a self-driving truck?  Google did it.

The endless time loop war!

In 2029, the savior of the human race John ?When will this fucking machine war end? Connor (Jason Clarke) launches his major assault in the attempt to stop Skynet from ruling the planet.  Like we?ve seen, the machines sent back a T-800 series model to kill Sarah Conner in the past in order to stop the Resistance from being created since Sarah is John?s mother.  In an effort to protect both his mommy and his creation, John sends his father; Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney) back in time with the mission to stop the T-800 and to protect Sarah?and also to protect his privates because they have to do baby-making things.  However, things take quite a turn compared to the last time we saw Kyle?s journey through time and he witnesses a new machine attack John.  Now, somehow, the timeline has changed and Kyle?s mission isn?t what it was going to be.  He arrives and finds Sarah (Emilia Clarke) is already a badass and trying to stop Skynet from going live and nuking the world.  Now, together, Sarah and Kyle?alongside a T-800 that was send back to protect her when she was a child and she now lovingly refers to as Pops (Arnold Schwarzenegger)?use a cobbled together time machine to transport themselves to 2017 in order to stop Skynet?which is disguising itself as a worldwide operating system called ?Genisys.?  The mission seems straightforward enough until they run into John and learn he is no longer the hero he once was destined to be.

Holy shit!  That is cool.

I won?t say I walked into this one with high hopes.  The first film is awesome and created something completely unheard of in the world of sci-fi when it came out and the sequel was one of those few films that was, in my opinion, actually better than its predecessor and instantly became a classic action film that still holds up today.  The third film wasn?t the best thing I?ve seen, in my opinion, but there were some cool parts to it and, despite my really hoping for something dark, gritty and exciting with Salvation, I found the fourth one to be ?ber-disappointing.  So, naturally, I wasn?t foaming at the mouth for Genisys?buuuut, I will honestly say that seeing the first trailer had me interested at the idea of a new alternate timeline, some sweet looking action, a return of Arnold in his prime form and a plot twist that realistically shouldn?t have been in the trailer but really showed how this film can be different from the others and a possible game-changer.

The shot so cool, they have to put it in every freaking movie!

There?s a lot of flaws holding this addition to the franchise down and keeping it from being on the same level and becoming an instant classic like the first two films but the film does have enough working for it that it?s fairly decent.  The film?s opening feels like it is right out of the 2^nd film and manages to craft the same tone?something completely unseen in Salvation?a film that felt like all the Terminator elements were added on later in order to shoe-horn it into the franchise.  The computer effects are fantastically good and absolutely breathtaking at points.  The action has some really cool fight scenes between the machines and some killer big action pieces that are amazingly exciting and unique.  And, finally, the new time travel components may work against the film by making the timelines in this franchise very convoluted but it also sets this film apart from the rest of the films and doesn?t feel like just another ?let?s send another, different robot back in time to kill John? story.  

Way, way, way better than CG Auhnold in Salvation.

Seriously, great CG but they can't get decent makeup
effects?  That looks like it was done from an off-the-shelf
makeup set from a Halloween Express.

Additionally, many members of the film?s cast really helped this film flow and be more entertaining than I thought it was going to end up.  Jason Clarke is pretty cool as John Connor?even though this is once again a new actor playing John and they are once again playing the character completely different than everyone else did (also, those facial scars they added to him looked super fake and were very distracting).  J.K. Simmons is here and playing a very fun character who recognizes Sarah and Kyle in 2017 from when he was a young officer being saved by Kyle when he traveled back to the 80s.  Emilia Clarke does a great job of filling Linda Hamilton?s boots as Sarah Connor and Arnold, as usual in this franchise, steals the show as the now older T-800 model Pops.

J.K. Simmons is awesome in everything he does.  Please, please, please, PLEASE have
him come back as J. Jonah in the MCU.

She does kinda look like Hamilton, I'll say that.

However, for all the good the film has, it still has a lot of flaws that hurt it and really stopped it from feeling like an adequate addition and something that belongs in the same league as the first and T2.  For example, the movie overdoes the nods and winks to the previous films and it quickly stops feeling like homages to what came before it and fun bits of nostalgia and quickly just feels like this franchise is just endlessly repeating itself and actively going against trying to pave new ground.  Some of the action scenes that are more bullets flying-based feel mediocre and pretty standard action movie stuff that doesn?t really stand out.  There?s some truly awful jokes?like one involving the Cops theme (but that one was at least saved by Arnie) and there is absolutely no chemistry between Jai Courtney and Emilia Clarke.  This part really hurts the film because the relationship that develops between Kyle and Sarah in the first film felt so natural and in this, due to the absence of chemistry and some bad writing (and a really bad performance), the relationship feels wholly unnatural and extremely forced.

Arnie just makes this stupid shit work.

Seriously, Smith brought nothing to this role that any
hungry actor with no career couldn't have done.

Finally, one of the worst parts about this film is the performance of Jai Courtney.  There were other members of the cast that had some issues like having an actor like Matt Smith, who just came off a very iconic role, play a character that, realistically, could have been played by anyone because Smith really didn?t bring anything of note to the part.  Additionally, Emilia Clarke?s delivery of lines occasionally is super cheesy and she never truly feels like the Sarah Connor we know (but a different timeline kinda explains that one away).  However, at the core, she still has a gooey, caramel center that is the Connor we?ve see.  Courtney, on the other hand, lacks this and never once feels like he is Kyle Reese.  It?s bad enough that his performance is very bland and flat but the fact he never, ever comes close to being the character that Michael Biehn made famous in the first film feels very tragic and a wasted opportunity from the production.  This very boring and uninteresting performance from Courtney only made the piss-poor developed and lazily forced relationship between Kyle and Sarah only look worse by the time the film was over.

I'd hate to post blame on a film on one person but, seriously, Courtney was just
that bland in this film.

I won?t go as far as to say that Terminator Genisys is bad or a waste of time.  It?s definitely more entertaining than Salvation but I think I would say it?s about equal to the third film?it?s not great but it has its moments (amusingly enough that this film actually retcons the existence of those two films).  The film definitely had some potential it was striving for and, even though it suffers from a moment or two of really lazy writing, the film was pretty ambitious.  Heck, even James Cameron gave the film his approval and has labeled it his ?official? third film in the franchise?he basically told Rise of the Machines and Salvation to go fuck themselves.  Genisys is, without a doubt, serviceable in its entertainment and Arnold is all kinds of fun in his role but, at the end of it all, it?s still another just functioning sequel added to this franchise?s already growing list of only functioning sequels.

Fun Fact:  That's the original T-1000 Robert Patrick on the left there making a quick
cameo.

 

TERMINATOR GENISYS (2015) REVIEW : They Are (Better) Not Totally Back

Di tahun 2015 ini, banyak sekali para sineas yang kembali menghadirkan film-film lama untuk mengusik memori penontonnya untuk sekedar bernostalgia. Pun, juga menjadi ajang mengenalkan kembali beberapa film yang pernah mashyur di zamannya kepada penonton-penonton baru. Film-film legendaris kembali hadir dengan beberapa upgrade agar bisa bersaing mengikuti perkembangan zaman yang sudah moderen ini.

 

Film legendaris milik Steven Spielberg,  lewat Jurassic World contohnya, film ini pun kembali menjadi sebuah film musim panas yang sensasional untuk pendapatannya. Star Wars yang juga mendapatkan episode terbaru untuk serinya yang akan rilis pada akhir tahun ini. Juga yang paling baru ini adalah seri dari film science fiction milik James Cameron, Terminator, yang mendapatkan babak baru. Meski James Cameron sudah absen semenjak seri ketiganya, Terminator tetap mendapat treatment dari sineas-sineas yang ingin mengolahnya kembali.

Semenjak episodenya di Rise of The Machine, seri Terminator ini sedikit mengalami penurunan respon positif dari para penontonnya dan kritikus. Hal itu semakin diperparah lewat episode Salvation yang disutradarai oleh McG. Setelah mendapat cercaan, Terminator tiba-tiba kembali hadir di seri kelimanya dengan Alan Taylor sebagai sutradaranya. Genisys, adalah judul dari seri kelima film Terminator yang ternyata tak memiliki i?tikad baik untuk mengembalikan lagi pamor dari dwilogi Terminator milik James Cameron ini. 

Terminator Genisys ini bukan lagi fokus ke karakter Sarah Connor, tetapi Kyle Russell (Jai Courtney) lah yang menjadi poin utama dari Terminator Genisys ini. Formula yang dilakukan oleh Terminator Genisys tetap sama, yaitu perjalanan lintas waktu yang dilakukan oleh Kyle Russell untuk mengubah masa lalu dari Sarah Connor (Emilia Clarke) yang ternyata berpengaruh terhadap masa depan. Misi tersebut sebenarnya adalah perintah dari John Connor (Jason Clarke), pemimpin perlawanan yang juga anak dari Sarah Connor.

Ketika Kyle Russell kembali di tahun di mana Sarah Connor masih hidup, Sarah Connor tahu apa yang sedang terjadi. Sarah ditemani oleh Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) yang juga dikirim dari masa depan kepadanya yang diutus untuk melindunginya. Kyle yang baru saja tiba di tahun tersebut merasa bingung dengan keadaan Sarah yang sudah tahu akan hal tersebut. Maka, Kyle, Sarah, dan sang Terminator berusaha untuk menyelamatkan masa depan dengan menyerang Skynet yang ada di masa lalu agar tak berpengaruh terhadap kehidupan masa depan. 

Ketika sudah terjatuh lewat Salvation, adalah sesuatu yang mengejutkan ketika Terminator masih harus kembali bangkit untuk mendapatkan perhatian penontonnya. Sayangnya, Terminator Genisys memiliki kesalahan yang fatal dalam membangun sebuah film legendaris milik James Cameron. Terminator Genisys memiliki kesalahan dalam membangun karakter-karakternya yang sudah menjadi identitas dari seri-seri Terminator sebelumnya.

Terminator Genisys jelas-jelas merusak segala linimasa cerita yang sudah dibangun susah payah oleh James Cameron. Skrip yang ditulis oleh Laeta Karogridis dan Patrick Lussier, Termiator Genisys sangat tertatih menjelaskan ulang linimasa Terminator yang diporak porandakan olehnya. Potensi ingin mengubah citra film-film Terminator sebelumnya pun diubahnya menjadi sebuah bencana besar yang tentu saja akan menjadi bumerang terhadap performa Genisys di sekian banyak seri dari Terminator.

Terlihat benar, bagaimana Terminator Genisys ini memedulikan benar apa arti kata Blockbuster di dalam filmnya. Dengan budget yang besar, Terminator Genisys memang akan memesona penontonnya dengan berbagai sekuens aksi dengan visual yang besar. Tetapi, Alan Taylor melupakan bagaimana dia harus menyampaikan setiap cerita tentang paradoks lintas waktu yang seharusnya membutuhkan penjelasan dan jawaban yang lebih. Tetapi, hal tersebut benar-benar hilang dari 126 menit milik Terminator Genisys. 

Alih-alih menjadi sebuah sajian film blockbuster yang menyenangkan lewat sekuens aksinya yang besar, Terminator Genisys tak ubah adalah sebuah film dengan visual hebat yang melelahkan. Terlebih, karakterisasi yang terlihat benar-benar salah untuk film yang sudah menjadi salah satu film legendaris dan klasik. Bagaimana karakter John, Sarah, dan Kyle yang menjadi poin utama di seri-seri Terminator benar-benar menjadi sebuah karakter baru yang tak pernah penonton lihat sebelumnya.

Bisa jadi, karakterisasi yang berubah dalam Terminator Genisys ini adalah sebuah strategi bagi Alan Taylor agar bisa menjangkau penonton baru yang tak pernah mengikuti seri ini. Sayangnya, strategi Alan Taylor itu benar-benar gagal karena bagaimana sang sutradara tak benar-benar mampu menyampaikan skrip milik Laeta Kalogridis dan Patrick Lussier yang berusaha untuk tampil pintar. Sayangnya, Terminator Genisys malah terpuruk karena skrip garapan mereka yang terlihat merumitkan diri tanpa tahu bagaimana menyelesaikan kerumitan itu.

Bukan hanya gagal menyampaikan alur cerita paradoks-paradoks lintas waktu dengan baik, tetapi Alan Taylor pun gagal menyelipkan emosi ke dalam Terminator Genisys. Tak ubahnya, Genisys menjadi sangat dingin layaknya robot-robot yang ada di dalam film ini. Bahkan, adegan aksinya yang sangat besar itu pun tak bisa memiliki tensi yang kuat dan malah berubah menjadi sebuah parade visual yang menjemukan. Begitu pula para departemen akting, Jai Courtney dan Emilia Clarke tak bisa tampil maksimal. Meski Arnold Schwarzenegger tetap berusaha untuk membuat Genisys tak kehilangan nyawa. 

Dan para penonton hanya akan berharap dari paruh pertama yang menyelipkan adegan-adegan identitas milik dwilogi Terminator. Alan Taylor mengadegankan lagi beberapa adegan ikonik yang akan dengan mudah menghadirkan nuansa nostalagia bagi penonton yang telah mengikuti seri terminator sebelumnya. Tetapi, tak serta merta adegan-adegan itu bisa menjadi penawar dari berbagai kekacauan yang telah dihadirkan oleh Alan Taylor di dalam Terminator Genisys ini.

Lain hal dengan Jurassic World yang mampu me-reka ulang kemagisan Jurassic Park milik Steven Spielberg. Terminator Genisys arahan dari Alan Taylor malah dengan gampangnya merusak segala linimasa dari dwilogi Terminator milik James Cameron dan menjadikannya sebagai sebuah film sekuel yang sia-sia. Meski dibalut dengan visual megah dalam adegan aksinya, tetapi ada kesalahan dalam karakter di dalam Terminator yang sudah melegenda dan skrip yang berusaha rumit tetapi malah salah interpretasi. Terminator Genisys tak memperbaiki apa jejak rekam buruknya sejak Salvation.

 

A Bunch Of Blu Rays & DVDs That Have Been Stacking Up

I haven?t posted as much as I would?ve liked this summer because of two big distracting factors: #1. My wife and I moved from our house in Raleigh to Clayton (roughly 20 minutes outside of Raleigh), and that was really exhausting. #2. I?ve had a few health issues over the last few months including an inflammation and a blood clot ? and that?s been pretty painful.

While I?ve been recovering I?ve been making my way through a bunch of Blu rays and DVDs that have stacked up in my office over the last few months. Most of them are from the world of VOD (Video On Demand), and had either limited or no theatrical release, so you may not have heard of them. Most of them aren?t very good either, but there were a few halfway watchable ones. Let's take a look at a handful of 'em, shall we?

First up, there?s Philip Martin?s THE FORGER, starring John Travolta as, yes, a master art forger who makes a shady deal to get an early release from prison, but in return he must pull off ?one last job.? So it?s a heist movie, and with Christopher Plummer as Travolta?s father, and Tye Sheridan as Travolta?s dying son both in on the caper, it highly resembles FAMILY BUSINESS, a less than stellar ?80s comic thriller that starred Sean Connery, Dustin Hoffman, and Matthew Broderick in the grandfather-father-son roles. 

Set in Boston with bad accents to boot, THE FORGER is a competently dull collection of clich?s that?s a good example of how much Travolta?s been treading water in his film career since, well, probably HAIRSPRAY (his hair was more realistic in that too). It also resembles FAMILY BUSINESS in that it deserves to be forgotten.

Another fail of a thriller follows - this one coming from Canada - Atom Egoyan?s THE CAPTIVE starring Ryan Reynolds, Scott Speedman, Rosario Dawson, and Mireille Enos. Reynolds and Enos play a couple whose daughter is kidnapped by a pedophile trafficking ring. Dawson and Speedman play a pair of detectives that are on the case that lasts over 8 years. The more than capable cast try their darnedest, but the material is crazy convoluted, and the score by Mychael Danna overreaches as it annoyingly builds suspenseful strain on top of suspenseful strain only calling attention to how unsuspenseful the whole thing is. The fractured narrative that skips back and forth in time just makes it confusing too. A murky misfire on every level. Next!

Matt Shakman?s CUT BANK is a more inspired thriller than THE CAPTIVE, but it?s no great shakes either. The directorial debut of Shakman, who has directed episodes of scores of notable TV shows including Six Feet Under, The Good Wife, Weeds, House M.D., and It?s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, it stars Liam Hemsworth as a small town dreamer ? dreaming of getting out of the small town naturally ? who accidently captures the murder of the local mailman (Bruce Dern) on videotape. Hemsworth hopes to use the reward money offered by the U.S. Postal Service to finally escape with his girlfriend (Teresa Palmer) from their dead end existence there in Cut Bank, Montana, but, of course, things aren?t that simple. 

John Malkovich as the town?s sheriff, and Billy Bob Thornton as Palmer?s father have their suspicions, and a creepy taxidermist who everybody thought was dead (Michael Stuhlbarg) starts looking into the matter as well. It twists and turns through a mess of schemes and scams in the tradition of both the movie and TV show versions of FARGO (Shakman directed two eps of that too), but it never twists and turns itself into anything but a watchable throwaway. Shakman should stick to TV.

Henry Hobson?s MAGGIE, another directorial debut, is one of the few here that got more of a theatrical release (it actually came to my area), and it?s obviously because of its star, Arnold Schwarzenegger. It?s another zombie apocalypse scenario, with Schwarzenegger as a farmer in the Midwest taking care of his daughter (Abigail Breslin) who?s been bitten. 

The father struggles with how to handle the situation as the country doctor (Jodie Moore) tells him he has three options: take her to quarantine; give her a drug cocktail that leads to a slow, painful death; or ?make it quick.? It largely feels like a stand-alone episode of The Walking Dead - one of the uneventful ones on the season set on the farm maybe - but it has a nicely restrained performance by Schwarzenegger in his uncharacteristic role, there?s a lot of genuine effort by Breslin in embodying her infected character, and the eerie grey tone is effective. I got fairly bored in the last half hour, but fans of the genre and of Ahnold will probably be more into it.

At the beginning of this just under feature length (68 minuntes) documentary a scroll tells us that HATING OBAMA is an attempt to document the pure hate towards President Barack Obama while asking the central question: Is Obama hated more for his policies or because he?s black?? It?s a fair question, and there?s some interesting chitchat from a bunch of articulate talking heads here, but Marquis Smalls? doc doesn?t elaborate on anything we didn?t know already. It mainly plays like a greatest hits of the times Obama has been disrespected, touching on such incidents as when Republican House member Joe Wilson yelled ?you lie? during the President?s Healthcare speech, with interspersed commentary mostly from supporters who do indeed think there?s racism at play. 

There is significant time given to some anti-Obama voices, such as conservative political activist Derrick Grayson and Reverend Jesse Lee Peterson, but it?s telling that at the end writer/director Smalls shares with us his poll of all his interviewees and 82% of them approve of Obama. A doc like this can?t help but be biased, but the thesis needs more work. HATING OBAMA is a watchable, well constructed conversation of a video essay, but it has no real conclusion - it just throws the question back at us at the end.

Finally, there?s Michael Almereyda?s CYMBELINE, which is another one of those gritty modern adaptations of Shakespeare much like Baz Luhrmann?s ROMEO + JULIET, Ralph Fiennes? CORIOLANUS, and Almereyda?s own HAMLET, as this re-unites the director with that film?s star, Ethan Hawke. The setting is again New York, but this time in the world of urban gang warfare with the ever crusty Ed Harris in the title role of the king of the Briton Motorcycle Club, who are battling the corrupt cops of the Roman Police Department. Hawke plays the villainous, agitating Iachimo, Milla Jovovich plays Harris?s queen, Anton Yelchin is her son, and, of course, there?s a pair of star-crossed lovers - Dakota Johnson (FIFTY SHADES OF GREY) as Harris?s princess daughter and Penn Badgley (Gossip Girl) as her secret commoner husband. 

All the film's dialogue comes from the original text, albeit trimmed down to the essentials, and it?s fun to see folks like John Leguizamo (as Badgley?s servant) put such effort into their recitations. The old school manner of speaking is an amusing anachronism in this Brooklyn crime-lord context, but you really have to pay attention to follow it or it can get pretty confusing - especially with all the bloody, layered plotting. I appreciated several of CYMBELINE?s set pieces, particularly one in which Jovovich sings Dylan?s ?Dark Eyes? (much in the manner of Patti Smith?s version), but it?s far from an easy, entertaining viewing. Like his HAMLET, Almereyda?s take on the Bard here is initially an interesting experiment but one that?s hardly essential.

More later...

A Bunch Of Blu Rays & DVDs That Have Been Stacking Up

I haven?t posted as much as I would?ve liked this summer because of two big distracting factors: #1. My wife and I moved from our house in Raleigh to Clayton (roughly 20 minutes outside of Raleigh), and that was really exhausting. #2. I?ve had a few health issues over the last few months including an inflammation and a blood clot ? and that?s been pretty painful.

While I?ve been recovering I?ve been making my way through a bunch of Blu rays and DVDs that have stacked up in my office over the last few months. Most of them are from the world of VOD (Video On Demand), and had either limited or no theatrical release, so you may not have heard of them. Most of them aren?t very good either, but there were a few halfway watchable ones. Let's take a look at a handful of 'em, shall we?

First up, there?s Philip Martin?s THE FORGER, starring John Travolta as, yes, a master art forger who makes a shady deal to get an early release from prison, but in return he must pull off ?one last job.? So it?s a heist movie, and with Christopher Plummer as Travolta?s father, and Tye Sheridan as Travolta?s dying son both in on the caper, it highly resembles FAMILY BUSINESS, a less than stellar ?80s comic thriller that starred Sean Connery, Dustin Hoffman, and Matthew Broderick in the grandfather-father-son roles. 

Set in Boston with bad accents to boot, THE FORGER is a competently dull collection of clich?s that?s a good example of how much Travolta?s been treading water in his film career since, well, probably HAIRSPRAY (his hair was more realistic in that too). It also resembles FAMILY BUSINESS in that it deserves to be forgotten.

Another fail of a thriller follows - this one coming from Canada - Atom Egoyan?s THE CAPTIVE starring Ryan Reynolds, Scott Speedman, Rosario Dawson, and Mireille Enos. Reynolds and Enos play a couple whose daughter is kidnapped by a pedophile trafficking ring. Dawson and Speedman play a pair of detectives that are on the case that lasts over 8 years. The more than capable cast try their darnedest, but the material is crazy convoluted, and the score by Mychael Danna overreaches as it annoyingly builds suspenseful strain on top of suspenseful strain only calling attention to how unsuspenseful the whole thing is. The fractured narrative that skips back and forth in time just makes it confusing too. A murky misfire on every level. Next!

Matt Shakman?s CUT BANK is a more inspired thriller than THE CAPTIVE, but it?s no great shakes either. The directorial debut of Shakman, who has directed episodes of scores of notable TV shows including Six Feet Under, The Good Wife, Weeds, House M.D., and It?s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, it stars Liam Hemsworth as a small town dreamer ? dreaming of getting out of the small town naturally ? who accidently captures the murder of the local mailman (Bruce Dern) on videotape. Hemsworth hopes to use the reward money offered by the U.S. Postal Service to finally escape with his girlfriend (Teresa Palmer) from their dead end existence there in Cut Bank, Montana, but, of course, things aren?t that simple. 

John Malkovich as the town?s sheriff, and Billy Bob Thornton as Palmer?s father have their suspicions, and a creepy taxidermist who everybody thought was dead (Michael Stuhlbarg) starts looking into the matter as well. It twists and turns through a mess of schemes and scams in the tradition of both the movie and TV show versions of FARGO (Shakman directed two eps of that too), but it never twists and turns itself into anything but a watchable throwaway. Shakman should stick to TV.

Henry Hobson?s MAGGIE, another directorial debut, is one of the few here that got more of a theatrical release (it actually came to my area), and it?s obviously because of its star, Arnold Schwarzenegger. It?s another zombie apocalypse scenario, with Schwarzenegger as a farmer in the Midwest taking care of his daughter (Abigail Breslin) who?s been bitten. 

The father struggles with how to handle the situation as the country doctor (Jodie Moore) tells him he has three options: take her to quarantine; give her a drug cocktail that leads to a slow, painful death; or ?make it quick.? It largely feels like a stand-alone episode of The Walking Dead - one of the uneventful ones on the season set on the farm maybe - but it has a nicely restrained performance by Schwarzenegger in his uncharacteristic role, there?s a lot of genuine effort by Breslin in embodying her infected character, and the eerie grey tone is effective. I got fairly bored in the last half hour, but fans of the genre and of Ahnold will probably be more into it.

At the beginning of this just under feature length (68 minuntes) documentary a scroll tells us that HATING OBAMA is an attempt to document the pure hate towards President Barack Obama while asking the central question: Is Obama hated more for his policies or because he?s black?? It?s a fair question, and there?s some interesting chitchat from a bunch of articulate talking heads here, but Marquis Smalls? doc doesn?t elaborate on anything we didn?t know already. It mainly plays like a greatest hits of the times Obama has been disrespected, touching on such incidents as when Republican House member Joe Wilson yelled ?you lie? during the President?s Healthcare speech, with interspersed commentary mostly from supporters who do indeed think there?s racism at play. 

There is significant time given to some anti-Obama voices, such as conservative political activist Derrick Grayson and Reverend Jesse Lee Peterson, but it?s telling that at the end writer/director Smalls shares with us his poll of all his interviewees and 82% of them approve of Obama. A doc like this can?t help but be biased, but the thesis needs more work. HATING OBAMA is a watchable, well constructed conversation of a video essay, but it has no real conclusion - it just throws the question back at us at the end.

Finally, there?s Michael Almereyda?s CYMBELINE, which is another one of those gritty modern adaptations of Shakespeare much like Baz Luhrmann?s ROMEO + JULIET, Ralph Fiennes? CORIOLANUS, and Almereyda?s own HAMLET, as this re-unites the director with that film?s star, Ethan Hawke. The setting is again New York, but this time in the world of urban gang warfare with the ever crusty Ed Harris in the title role of the king of the Briton Motorcycle Club, who are battling the corrupt cops of the Roman Police Department. Hawke plays the villainous, agitating Iachimo, Milla Jovovich plays Harris?s queen, Anton Yelchin is her son, and, of course, there?s a pair of star-crossed lovers - Dakota Johnson (FIFTY SHADES OF GREY) as Harris?s princess daughter and Penn Badgley (Gossip Girl) as her secret commoner husband. 

All the film's dialogue comes from the original text, albeit trimmed down to the essentials, and it?s fun to see folks like John Leguizamo (as Badgley?s servant) put such effort into their recitations. The old school manner of speaking is an amusing anachronism in this Brooklyn crime-lord context, but you really have to pay attention to follow it or it can get pretty confusing - especially with all the bloody, layered plotting. I appreciated several of CYMBELINE?s set pieces, particularly one in which Jovovich sings Dylan?s ?Dark Eyes? (much in the manner of Patti Smith?s version), but it?s far from an easy, entertaining viewing. Like his HAMLET, Almereyda?s take on the Bard here is initially an interesting experiment but one that?s hardly essential.

More later...

Maggie

***DISCLAIMER*** The following review is entirely my opinion. If you comment (which I encourage you to do) be respectful. If you don't agree with my opinion (or other commenters), that's fine. To each their own. These reviews are not meant to be statements of facts or endorsements, I am just sharing my opinions and my perspective when watching the film and is not meant to reflect how these films should be viewed. Finally, the reviews are given on a scale of 0-5. 0, of course, being unwatchable. 1, being terrible. 2, being not great. 3, being okay. 4, being great and 5, being epic! And if you enjoy these reviews feel free to share them and follow the blog or follow me on Twitter (@RevRonster) for links to my reviews and the occasional live-Tweet session of the movie I'm watching!  The Governor could have learned a thing or two on what to do with your zombie daughter if he had watched this film. 

Maggie ? 3 out of 5

Okay, so if you told me 20 years ago that the Terminator would one day be in a zombie movie I would have immediately called you a witch because you are having visions of the future and then would go to the heads of the town folks and see that you and your black magic loving ass was burned at the stake. However, in all seriousness, I never expected to see Arnold in a zombie film (and the Expendables films don?t count?sorry, that was an easy joke and I shouldn?t have gone for it?but I did, so let?s move on). Hell, if it was going to happen?and with how hot zombies are now in our pop culture?it would have been an action-packed extravaganza with Arnie blowing zombie brains away and delivering horrible one-liners like no tomorrow. I sure as spit didn?t expect a drama and I really, REALLY didn?t expect it to be one of the films where you see the most humanistic acting from a man that can play a killer robot really well.

He's pondering if he's ever truly been back.

After a zombie virus called the Necroambulist virus hits the globe, the world attempts to operate as normal but as normal as a world can be with zombies shuffling around. Curfews are put into place to protect the citizens and the infected?after they reach a certain stage and all bits of their humanity are gone?are thrown into quarantine zones where they are put down. Maggie Vogel (Abigail Breslin) finds herself trapped in the city after curfew and ends up being bit. Her father; Wade Vogel (Arnold Schwarzenegger), comes and collects her from the hospital and decides to do everything he can to protect her or, at the very least, allow her to live out her days in relative comfort and ease her passing when the unfortunate day comes that her transformation is complete and she becomes a decaying shadow of her former self. But until that day comes, Maggie is forced to come to grips with her life being taken away from her and the reality that she will become a member of the undead. Meanwhile, Wade must wrestle with the reality that this is the one thing he might not be able to protect his daughter from.

Nope.  None of this.  Absolutely none.  I would run and never stop if I saw this thing.

I had heard some bad things about Maggie before I got around to seeing it and went in with some low expectations but found the film better than I was ready for. I?ll admit that the movie is bogged down by a slow moving story that doesn?t have a lot of meat to it, it puts in a lot of filler in the form of moody imagery and the film could have used a few more light-hearted moments between the two main characters to show that Maggie?s journey wasn?t all depressing but, overall, the film has some merit. The biggest draw this film has going for it was the performances from Breslin and Schwarzenegger.

The virus causes Arnold to burn his crops.  What you can't hear is him yelling,
"I'm here!  Do it!  Kill me now!"

Abigail Breslin really nails the difficult performance of showing a young girl about to see her entire life slip away and become a member of the walking dead and she does it in a way that we don?t usually see in zombie fiction. Maggie isn?t ripped open by the dead and left to quickly change when she dies but rather we get to see her gradually change.  Even though she gets bitten, her transformation isn't the same we've seen in a thousand other zombie films.  Along the way we see her interact with the friends she has the horror of not being able to see again soon, she spends some time with her family and, because life loves irony, gets to connect with a young boy who is also infected. While most of Breslin?s performance is reserved and quiet, her transformation feels a lot more realistic (as realistic as someone becoming a zombie can be) than what we?ve seen in previous zombie films and it makes for the more intense moments?like watching her body fall apart and seeing how those like her are treated by the general populace?become that much more important and attention-grabbing.

Let's hope that no one in Abigail's life have seen her other zombie movie; Zombieland.
She wouldn't have lived as long in this one if they did.

As good as Breslin was as Maggie, I was absolutely floored by Arnold?s performance. I found it amazing that it?s in a zombie film that we see Schwarzenegger at his most human. Never in my life have I seen the man who is best known for telling us he?ll be back and to get to the choppa be so real. This was honestly the best acting I?ve ever seen from the man and it was unbelievable to see how real he made Wade feel.  In every scene you feel Wade?s love for Maggie and his instinct to protect her. In the more intimate moments when Wade is alone, you see the pent up sadness boiling over and you feel that he is out of his element and is nearly lost at how he can help his daughter. It was incredible and it made the film something to watch. Arnold?s performance allowed this movie to be something that everyone can relate to and, even if you?re not a zombie fan, you can find yourself sympathizing with his journey and his fatherly instincts.

Arnold's crying...let's see if any internet chauvinists have the balls to say he's
being a pussy.

Finally, I also really enjoyed the fictional realty that is established in Maggie. The movie isn?t like a lot of zombie fiction features that show a world that is completely devastated by the outbreak and man is left to fight the dead and somehow survive on a landscape that is as dead and as decaying as the enemy. While this reality isn?t quite the same as our everyday life, the production did a great job of making it believable that the world is somehow trying to cope with this virus. There are still hardships but people are still trying to live their lives like this virus isn?t going to completely obliterate the mundane and routine. It was a refreshing take and a new way to set the stage for zombie fiction and something I would be very interested to see other zombie features try.  For example, I would love to see a short film that centers on fast food worker trying to live his life in this type of reality...and then seeing the people who still think he doesn't deserve a living wage even though he has to risk being killed by zombies so he can get your tubby butt your double cheeseburger with super size fries and large diet coke.

Sure, their world is still bleak but it's not the usual zombie outbreak bleak.

Overall, Maggie is worth a chance but the film is bogged down by a slow moving story. The plot could have been assisted by some additional happier moments between Wade and Maggie?if would have helped shown their father/daughter relationship on a level that isn?t just a father protecting his zombifying little girl. Getting into more depth with the characters might have also helped the film decrease its overused go-to move of intercutting B-role imagery to help establish mood. While this tactic isn?t necessarily a bad thing, it did often make the film feel like it was padding itself out in order to get to feature length.

I'm not a father but I'm sure there would be limits to my fatherly love...especially when
my zombified daughter is giving me a kiss goodnight. 

Maggie isn?t a terrible film and contains some great performances and offers up a fresh new look at the post-apocalypse landscape of the overly familiar zombie fic. The film does stumble greatly due to a very narrow plot that doesn?t venture out far enough or develop what it has deep enough and it makes for a story that has a tendency to drag very often. However, it?s definitely worth a shot for Arnold?s performance alone and it definitely seems like a great jumping point to make more poignant and emotional zombie films in the future.