Tag: 2006

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Movie Review

Tiki (2006) Movie Review

Tiki – Movie Review

Tiki does everything a low-budget horror movie.

First Reaction – Tiki does everything a low-budget horror movie.

Director: Ron Ford

Writer: Ron Ford (Screenplay)

Cast

  • Joelene Smith (Deadly Takes II)
  • Maria Caprile
  • Tanya Morton
  • Wes Deitrick (Home of the Brave)

Plot: When Amy moves from her beloved Hawaiian Islands to study drama on the mainland, she has little cause to rejoice as a gang of vicious co-eds plots to make her life a living hell. With the aid of their boyfriends, the girls set Amy up as the target of a horrendous prank that results in the young girl falling victim to a brain seizure from which she may never recover. Seeking answers, her aunt Maelea arrives with a special Tiki doll — specially designed to kill!

Runtime: 1 Hour 21 Minutes 

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Tiki starts when Amy (Smith) begins her dream study at drama school. However, the other students, including Julie (Morton) decide to make her life difficult. Her estranged Aunt Maylea (Caprile) has set her a strange little doll to keep her company.

When one of the pranks goes wrong, Aunt Maylea heads to the local area to extract her revenge on the students. The small Tiki doll comes to life, and the group of students begin getting butchered for their behaviour.

Verdict on Tiki

Recap

The movie follows a group of students terrorised by a doll after one of their pranks goes horribly wrong. It follows the victim’s family using magic to bring a doll to life to get revenge on anyone involved.

Best Parts

The idea of the small doll getting revenge on bullying students who left their victim in a coma is interesting. It begins with the more traditional idea of revenge.

Worst Parts

This is a very low-budget movie, and it shows in the special effects and performances. Nothing feels great, and by the end, certain moments end up feeling more out of place. Elsewhere, having someone tell the story doesn’t click either, as they are not involved in every scene of the movie.

Final Thoughts –Tiki is a typical low-budget horror movie.

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Movie Review

Scorpius Gigantus (2006) Movie Review

Scorpius Gigantus – Movie Review

Scorpius Gigantus is a low-budget creature feature about a military unit containing a genetically modified, oversized bug posing a growing threat.

First Reaction – Scorpius Gigantus is a late-night creature feature.

Watch Scorpius Gigantus on Tubi

ABC Film Challenge – Sci-Fi – G (Gigantus)

Director: Tommy Withrow

Writer: Raly Radouloff, Terence H Winkless (Screenplay)

Cast

Plot: Geneticist seeks to make a name for herself by saving the planet from disease by using eons-old antibodies, harvested from enlarged six legged creatures. The creatures don’t like being big and escape. Send for help.

Runtime: 1 Hour 31 Minutes 

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Scorpius Gigantus starts when a secret government experiment run by Dr Jane Preston (Bourne-Taylor) escapes. Major Nick Reynolds (Fahey) is assigned to contain the specimen before it gets out of hand. However, they aren’t prepared for the six legged creatures crossed between different bugs.

The team must work with enemies to locate the specimens before they can cause any more destruction or grow out of hand. However, the creatures have been adapting and becoming a bigger threat than first expected.

Verdict on Scorpius Gigantus

Recap

The movie follows a military unit who are recruited to capture an escaped military project. A scientist has created a massive bug which grows and adapts to different environments. They must put their differences aside to overcome the threat.

Best Parts

The battle against a bigger threat and an oversized bug is a simple idea and works well enough for the story. However, that is the only positive from the story concept.

Worst Parts

The military operation feels too wooden and despite being a threat, the bugs don’t cause enough problems. We also don’t get the best effects, which you can understand for a lower budgeted movie, grabbing the quick creature feature idea.

Final Thoughts –Scorpius Gigantus is the typical late-night low-budget creature feature.

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Movie Review

Miss Potter (2006) Movie Review

Miss Potter – ABC Film Challenge – Set in England – M – Miss Potter – Movie Review 

Miss Potter

Director: Chris Noonan

Writer: Richard Maltby Jr (Screenplay)

Cast

 Plot: The story of Beatrix Potter, the author of the beloved and best-selling children’s book, “The Tale of Peter Rabbit”, and her struggle for love, happiness, and success.  

Runtime: 1 Hour 28 Minutes  

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review 

Story: Miss Potter starts as we meet Beatrix Potter (Zellweger) trying to sell her stories. A publicist decides to take a chance but wants things changed, with rookie family member Norman Warne (McGregor) leading the publication.

Once the books start becoming a success, Beatrix and Norman start getting closer. However, this shows the troubles that Beatrix struggles with finding happiness and enjoyment in her own success.  

Verdict on Miss Potter

Miss Potter is a drama following the life of Beatrix Potter, the talented children’s author and illustrator. This sees her coming to understand the workings of getting something published and learning about love. However, her personality went against the traditional expectation for women of her time.

This is an interesting look at one of the most famous authors’ life and work. It shows how she was different and didn’t just follow the normal of the era. However, despite her genius work, her life doesn’t feel as exciting as it could have been. This isn’t a question on her life’s choices, it just doesn’t feel like it is full-blown feature film material. We have great performances from the whole cast and end up with a sweet little movie. 

Final Thoughts –Miss Potter is a sweet little movie.

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Movie Review

Paprika (2006) Movie Review

Paprika – ABC Film Challenge – World Cinema – P – Paprika – Movie Review 

Paprika – ABC Film Challenge – World Cinema – P – Paprika - Movie Review 

Director: Satoshi Kon

Writer: Yasutaka Tsutsui, Seishi Minakami, Satoshi Kon (Screenplay)

Cast (Voice Talents)

 

Plot: When a machine that allows therapists to enter their patients’ dreams is stolen, all hell breaks loose. Only a young female therapist, Paprika, can stop it.  

Runtime: 1 Hour 30 Minutes  

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review 

Story: Paprika starts as we see how Chiba and her team treat helping their patients. They use a machine that takes them into their dreams to help record them and understand them. One of the newest clients is Detective Toshimi needs assistance with his own dreams.

However, when the machine is stolen, Chiba, Shima and Tokita must team up with the detective to find out who the thief is. This takes them on a dangerous journey through dreams to unlock the truth.  

Verdict on Paprika

Paprika is a fantasy sci-fi movie following scientists using a machine to help uncover dreams. However, when things spiral out of control, they get caught between worlds as they search for a thief stealing the dreams of their clients.

This is a massively ambitious movie taking us into a world where dreams can be recorded. It shows the immense fantasies people can put together to show their feelings, both happy and twisted. The movie creates chaos that makes everything feel bigger and well built in and unpredictable throughout. It is a massive trip that you only want to see more from. 

Final Thoughts –Paprika is a beautiful chaotic journey.

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Movie Review

The Any Bully (2006) Movie Review

The Ant Bully – ABC Film Challenge – Action – Q (Queen) – The Ant Bully – Movie Review 

The Ant Bully – ABC Film Challenge – Action – Q (Queen) – The Ant Bully - Movie Review 

Director: John A Davis

Writer: John A Davis, John Nickle (Screenplay)

Cast (Voice Talents)

 

Plot: After Lucas Nickle floods an ant colony with his water gun, he’s magically shrunken down to insect size and sentenced to hard labour in the ruins.  

Runtime: 1 Hour 28 Minutes  

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review 

Story: The Ant Bully starts when bullied young boy Lucas turns to torment an ant colony in his back garden. Meanwhile, ant Zoc has been trying to help the colony in his own way, despite causing trouble. However, his latest idea ends up shrinking Lucas to ant size.

The Queen demands that Lucas must learn how to work as a team with the other ants to earn his freedom. Hova decides to take him under his wing and Lucas ends up becoming a welcome member of the colony. He helps them with their latest battle against a human threat.  

Verdict on The Ant Bully

The Ant Bully is an animated adventure following a lonely young boy that gets shrunk to ant size. Here, he must learn a valuable life lesson if he is ever going to be returned to his normal size. Along the way, he learns the different responsibilities ants have to work for as a team in life.

This is a fun family movie that is filled with laughs from the range of ant characters. It has a big message about treating other animals equally in life, while understanding how they operate. We go down a typical path and the laughs help the adventure feel bigger. The voice talents also shine, with Bruce Campbell stealing every single scene. 

Final Thoughts – The Ant Bully is an enjoyable family adventure.

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Movie Review

The Omen (2006) Movie Review

The Omen – ABC Film Challenge – Horror – O – The Omen – Movie Review

Omen

Director: John Moore

Writer: David Seltzer (Screenplay)

Cast

  • Liev Schreiber (Scream)
  • Julia Stiles (Orphan First Kill)
  • Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick (Pawn Sacrifice)
  • David Thewlis (The Theory of Everything)
  • Michael Gambon (Harry Potter Franchise)

Plot: An American official realizes that his young son may literally be the Devil incarnate.

Runtime: 1 Hour 50 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: The Omen starts when an American family, Robert (Schreiber) and Katherine (Stiles) are expecting their first child. After complications, they lose the baby, but Robert agrees to adopt a motherless baby born at the same time. Robert continues to move forward with her career, seeing him relocate to England.

Once the family has set up in England, they find strange things happening around the home. This starts with a disturbing suicide before we learn the truth about Damien. Robert must figure out what is real or not before it is too late.

Verdict on The Omen

The Omen is a remake of the original using clever marketing on the 6th of June 2006. It follows the same story of a father learning his adopted son is the Antichrist. He needs to decide what is the best option when people around him start getting killed.

While this does continue to follow the original story, it does bring a fresh spin to the deaths. This sees the movie utilising aerial camera shots for the death sequence. They become effective for shock value over anything else. However, this does make us feel like we are watching Final Destination movies for how they unfold. If you have seen the original, you will be better off sticking to it though.

Final Thoughts – The Omen is a standard modern remake, lacking the tension but still entertaining.

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Movie Review

Final Destination 3 (2006) Movie Review

Final Destination 3 – ABC Film Challenge – Sequels/Remakes – Y (Yan-Kay Crystal Lowe) – Movie Review

Final Destination 3

Director: James Wong

Writer: Glen Morgan, James Wong, Jeffrey Reddick (Screenplay)

Cast

Plot: Six years after students cheated death, another teen has a premonition that she and her friends will be involved in an accident. When the vision comes true, the student and survivors deal with the repercussions of cheating the Grim Reaper.

Runtime: 1 Hour 33 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Final Destination 3 starts when a group of high school students are spending their time at the local funfair. One of the students Wendy (Winstead) has a premonition that the roller coaster will crash. She along with other students Kevin (Merriman), Ian (Lemche), Erin (Johnson), Lewis (Battle), Ashley (Simmons), Ashlyn (Lowe) and Frankie (Easton) leave the ride, while the rest perished in the tragedy.

In the aftermath, Wendy is filled with guilt as her boyfriend is killed in the incident. Kevin discovers another incident in the past and believes they might all still be in danger. However, the others have just moved on with their lives, it doesn’t take long before death starts coming back to haunt them.

Verdict on Final Destination 3

Final Destination 3 is the third chapter in the horror movie series. We follow the next group of survivors as they deal with the consequences of surviving. However, death is waiting to catch them in a strange series of accidents picking the survivors off.

This movie decides to only reference the events of the previous movies. It has the wildly over-the-top idea behind the first accident, which is often seen as the highlight of the sequel movies. All this before we run into a series of weird accidents along the way. The movie is filled with crazy ideas behind the accidents that are all created to make you paranoid about the simplest locations. This one focuses on a series of silly mistakes from fellow survivors instead of the uncertainty about life which made the original such an interesting horror.

Final Thoughts – Final Destination 3 is a fun horror sequel with a host of wacky deaths.

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Movie Review

The Butterfly Effect 2 (2006) Movie Review

The Butterfly Effect 2 – ABC Film Challenge – Sequels/Remakes – E – Butterfly Effect 2 – Movie Review

Butterfly Effect 2

Director: John R Leonetti

Writer: Michael D Weiss (Screenplay)

Cast

  • Eric Lively
  • Erica Durance (House of the Dead)
  • Dustin Milligan
  • Gina Holden
  • David James Lewis

Plot: Nick Larson discovers a supernatural way to alter his life and travel back in time to key moments in his life by looking at photographs.

Runtime: 1 Hour 32 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: The Butterfly Effect 2 starts when Nick Larson (Lively) finds himself as the lone survivor of a car crash with his girlfriend Julie (Durance) and friends Trevor (Milligan) and Amanda (Holden). One year later Nick is still seeing the side effects of the accident until he learns he can change the past.

Once Nick learns how to control the situation, he starts trying to change his past. It starts by preventing the accident, but as he gets greedy, he only makes his life more compilated.

Verdict on The Butterfly Effect 2

The Butterfly Effect 2 is a sequel with no connection to the original movie. It follows a man that goes through the same problems in life that decide to use an unusual power to travel back in time to fix things. This only makes things worse in his life, causing the butterfly effect.

Where the first movie created a unique premise, the sequel fails to capture the shocking moments in the changes. It doesn’t seem to get the cause-and-effect aspects of the movie down, because it only seems to follow Nick fixing his own life, rather than trying to fix the ones around him. When it comes to the effects involved, they are similar and work for the distorted mindset Nick suffers through.

Final Thoughts –The Butterfly Effect 2 is a restrained sequel in name and concept, not in characters.

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Movie Review

Inland Empire (2006) Movie Review

Inland Empire – ABC Film Challenge – Mystery – I – Inland Empire – Movie Review

Inland Empire

Director: David Lynch

Writer: David Lynch (Screenplay)

Cast

  • Laura Dern (Jurassic Park)
  • Jeremy Irons (Die Hard with a Vengeance)
  • Justin Theroux (Mulholland Drive)
  • Harry Dean Stanton (Alien)

Plot: As an actress begins to adopt the persona of her character in a film, her world becomes nightmarish and surreal.

Runtime: 3 Hours

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Inland Empire starts as Nikki Grace (Dern) gets a starring role in Kingsley Stewart’s (Irons) latest movie. Nikki is starring opposite Devon Berk (Theroux) an actor she starts to fall in love with. As the production continues, Nikki sees her life reflect the script.

This leads her to question her own reality and look into the history of the original movie. One that was never completed in Poland.

Verdict on Inland Empire

Inland Empire is a fantasy mystery that comes off very confusing. It starts out simple enough with an audition and preparation before a movie is made. However, it takes a strange turn that is difficult to explain at the best of times.

David Lynch has always been a director that likes to test his audience and make them go through the strangest experiences. This is no different, in fact, this may well be his strangest of all. It becomes very difficult to follow and the 3-hour runtime doesn’t help this at all.

Final Thoughts – Inland Empire is too long, too complicated and not as smart as most of Lynch’s movies.