Tag: 2009

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Movie Review

Crawler (2009) Movie Review

Crawler – Movie Review

Crawler is a silly but entertaining horror.

First Reaction – Crawler is a silly but entertaining horror.

Director: Sv Bell

Writer: Sv Bell, Robbie Ribspreader (Screenplay)

Cast

Plot: A crew on a remote construction site are plagued by a series of bizarre mishaps. As the incidents turn more and more savage, it becomes clear that the sole link to the deadly events – is a 50-ton bulldozer.

Runtime: 1 Hour 44 Minutes 

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Crawler starts when a construction crew hire a strange bulldozer. Jimmy (Richards) is planning the operation, and his team of ragtag builders is looking to get the job done. However, the bulldozer has a mind of its own and begins attacking and killing the builders.

Jimmy must investigate the machine’s history before it is too late. However, the machine has been planning, and its path of destruction is leaving its crew empty.

Verdict on Crawler

Recap

The movie follows a construction team that unwittingly hire an evil bulldozer. It has a mind of its own and begins picking off the crew one by one. The foreman must race against time to stop it before he runs out of crew to complete the job.

Best Parts

The wacky idea of a killer bulldozer makes for a fun, crazy and entertaining late-night horror. Meanwhile, it does create an interesting mystery behind the bigger motivation and powers the have.

Worst Parts

Some of the attacks are basic moments; they don’t do enough to evoke the fear factor they aim for either. There are also some strange shots which try to make it look like the bulldozer is using its own eyes from a driving point of view. It would be fair to say different angles on the bulldozer would have been even more terrifying.

Final Thoughts – Crawler is a fun late-night horror movie.

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Movie Review

Wyvern (2009) Movie Review

Wyvern – Movie Review

Get ready for a thrilling ride with 'Wyvern'. Read our movie review to learn about the terrifying predator that brings panic to a small Alaskan town.

ABC Film Challenge – Horror – W

Director: Steven R Monroe

Writer: Jason Bourque (Screenplay)

Cast

Plot: They Find a Live Wyvern in small town Alaska.

Runtime: 1 Hour 29 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Wyvern starts when a small Alaskan town suffers unusual attacks. Chief Dawson (Shaw) must bring the town together to focus on the predator. Local hunter Hass (Corbin) is the only one who sees the creature and panic starts taking over.

Drifter Jake (Chinlund) has been recovering in the town and works with the residents to defend themselves. However, the town is preparing for a festival and not wanting to cancel the show as it is the only thing that keeps the town sane. Now, they face a race against time to save the residents and defeat the monster.

Verdict on Wyvern

Wyvern is an action horror following a small town that comes under attack from a mysterious creature. The survivors must work together to defeat the creature before it spreads around the country and kills the residents. However, the battle is harder than they could ever imagine as the creature has powers, unlike anything they have fought before.

This movie is a fun creature feature, which plays into local legends of a creature. It comes to life causing mass destruction and leads to the survivors needing to fight back. While it focuses on a dragon attacking people, it puts the humans in a position where they are outnumbered and outgunned. They have to find a solution from outside the box to solve the problem they face. It does rely on the low-budget aspect, which holds back the pure horror can could unfold.

Where to Watch

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JustWatch

Final Thoughts –Wyvern is a fun late-night creature feature.

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Movie Review

Race to Witch Mountain (2009) Movie Review

Race to Witch Mountain – Movie Review

Experience the excitement of Race to Witch Mountain, a gripping movie filled with action and adventure. Join the journey of a cabbie and two extraordinary siblings.

ABC Film Challenge – Action – R

Director: Andy Fickman (One True Loves)

Writer: Matt Lopez, Mark Bomback (Screenplay)

Writer: Alexander Key (Book)

Cast

Plot: A Las Vegas cabbie enlists the help of a U.F.O. expert to protect two siblings with paranormal powers from the clutches of an organization that wants to use the kids for their nefarious plans.

Runtime: 1 Hour 38 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Race to Witch Mountain starts when Las Vegas cabbie Jack Bruno (Johnson) gets to unlikely passengers. Two teenagers Sara (Robb) and Seth (Ludwig) request to go to a remote location. However, Jack soon learns they are wanted by the government with Burke (Hinds) hunting them down.

Jack reluctantly agrees to help them and help return them to their ship. They must convince him, that they are here for a good reason and that their alien connection could save the world.

Verdict on Race to Witch Mountain

Race to Witch Mountain is an action-adventure following a cabbie who reluctantly agrees to help a couple of teenagers. However, he learns that they are aliens trying to get home and the government won’t let them go without a fight.

This entertaining adventure movie gets straight into the action even if it follows the basics most of the way through. It is a nice early vehicle for Dwayne Johnson to get his hands on, with moments of comedy and action unfolding. We get to see the fast-paced movie which keeps us entertained and we could return to the characters in the future. Unfortunately, we never did.

Where to Watch

JustWatch

Final Thoughts – Race to Witch Mountain is an entertaining adventure movie.

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Movie Review

Paintball (2009) Movie Review

Paintball – Movie Review

Immerse yourself in the intense world of 'Paintball' - a gripping movie where a paintball challenge turns into a fight for survival.

ABC Film Challenge – Action – P

Director: Daniel Benmayor (Tracers)

Writer: Mario Schoendorff (Screenplay)

Cast

Plot: A group of strangers in a remote paintball facility realize their game has turned deadly as they are hunted by a masked assailant. Survival is their only goal.

Runtime: 1 Hour 26 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Paintball starts when a group of people take up a paintball challenge pitting a group of strangers in a team. However, once they arrive at the location, they find themselves in a battle of life and death.

The group must put their differences aside and figure out the best way to fight back or simply survive. It tests their teamwork, as they learn the darker of what they find themselves involved in.

Verdict on Paintball

Paintball is an action thriller following a group of strangers who join a paintball event. However, they discover they end up facing off against a group of people who are looking to kill them. They must work together to try and survive, but end up facing bigger problems along the way.

This movie uses the concept of humans being hunted and twists it from a playful event to the extreme. It works for the basic concept, despite the more general idea of moving toward focusing on the psychos who run the events. The film uses night vision when it comes to most of the deaths, which is a unique choice and adds to the ruthless nature of the killers. However, in the end, this doesn’t offer too much that we haven’t seen before or seen done better.

Where to Watch

JustWatch

Final Thoughts – Paintball is a typical late-night action movie.

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Movie Review

Pandorum (2009) Movie Review

Pandorum – Movie Review

First Reaction – Pandorum is a great sci-fi movie in a chaotic environment.

Watch Pandorum here.

a
JustWatch

ABC Film Challenge – Favourites – Q (Dennis Quaid)

Director: Christian Alvart

Writer: Travis Milloy (Screenplay)

Cast

Plot: Two crew members of a spaceship wake up from hypersleep to discover that all their colleagues are missing. Despite this, it appears that they are not alone.

Runtime: 1 Hour 48 Minutes 

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Pandorum starts when the world’s resources have run out and survivors are flown across the galaxy. Bower (Foster) awakes from hypersleep only to discover the ship in distress. He wakes Payton (Quaid) and the two investigate the ship and try to figure out what happened.

Bower discovers other survivors who have been fighting a bigger threat. Meanwhile, Payton learns what happened to his predecessors and learns the disturbing truth. It becomes a race to find a way out before they become the latest victims.

Verdict on Pandorum

Recap

The movie follows the survivors of a space redeployment that has had an incident. They investigate the ship to discover savage creatures roaming the hallways and other survivors fighting to survive.

Best Parts

The movie uses the contained environment of the spaceship to show the impossible situation the survivors are in. It keeps things tight and mostly in darkness creating the horror involved. We get the chaotic nature of chasing around the ship. Along with the bigger story going on with Payton. Everything here leads to a terrifying story. The performances are great and keep us wondering what will happen next.

Final Thoughts –Pandorum is a chaotic contained horror.

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Movie Review

Law Abiding Citizen (2009) Movie Review

Law Abiding Citizen – Movie Review

First Reaction – Law Abiding Citizen is one of the best thrillers with a massive moral question.

Watch Law Abiding Citizen Here.

a
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ABC Film Challenge – Favourites – L

Director: F. Gary Gray

Writer: Kurt Wimmer (Screenplay)

Cast

Plot: A frustrated man decides to take justice into his own hands after a plea bargain sets one of his family’s killers free.

Runtime: 1 Hour 49 Minutes 

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Law Abiding Citizen starts when Clyde Shelton’s (Butler) family is brutally attacked and murdered by home invaders. Clyde survives the attack, but ambitious lawyer Nick Rice (Foxx) decides to take a plea agreement, letting one of the killers off lightly.

10-years-later one of the killer’s execution goes wrong and Clyde butchers the one who walked out of prison. He even sends the video to Nick as he starts his catalyst for revenge on the system that did his family wrong.

Verdict on Law Abiding Citizen

Recap

The movie follows a husband and father whose wife and children are murdered. He isn’t happy a lawyer takes a plea bargain and decides to tackle the whole system to prove his point.

Best Parts

This movie shines by having a conversation about who is in the right. We have a man who doesn’t get a choice in a court case and a lawyer who only cares about his conviction rates. When the clash, we see people involved picked off and Clyde doing everything he learnt from Nick to stay ahead of the game. It keeps you on edge as you wonder how the plan has been put together and what you would do in the same situation if someone did that to your loved ones. I believe this is one of Gerard Butler’s best performances and alongside Jamie Foxx we get an excellent battle.

Worst Parts

I don’t like the ending of the movie, but we won’t get into that.

Final Thoughts –Law Abiding Citizen is a fantastic thriller that never relents.

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Discussion Piece

Triangle: 15 Years Later, A Modern Cult Classic?

Triangle: 15 Years Later, A Modern Cult Classic?

15 Years Later: Triangle - A Modern Cult Classic?

On the 16th of October 2009, Triangle was released. Christopher Smith’s Triangle mystery fantasy sci-fi movie shocked the world, with its web of conspiracy which truly keeps us guessing. The movie follows six friends whose yacht overturns and they find rescue on a cruise liner. However, not everything is what it seems and they could never have imagined what happens next.

Today, I am going to look back and see where this movie achieved its cult status all these years later.

Triangle: 15 Years Later, A Modern Cult Classic

Box Office Disappointment

Triangle was produced on a $12 million budget but only went on to make $1.6 Million in the International Box Office. However, it never got an US release. It was one of the movies that got an early showing at the traditional London Frightfest. There is no real story behind why it never got the US release, but in the world of mystery horror, it could have easily made a profit with a couple of weeks release.

Critical Response

The critic rating for Triangle is Certified Fresh at 79%. It gets praised for the performances and mysterious storyline unfolding throughout.

Positive

Anthony Quinn for the Independent quotes ‘This seaborne psycho-thriller has an unusual creepiness about it.’

Peter Bradshaw for the Guardian quotes ‘A rather smart, interestingly constructed scary movie from British director Christopher Smith.’

Negative

Robbie Collin for the News of the World quotes ‘Leakier than a hedgehog’s cagoule, and you’ll be picking holes in the plot long before the end.’

Larushka Ivan-Zadeh for Metro Newspaper quotes ‘The dj vu plot loop-the-loops back on itself till it sends you right round the twist.’

The Hemsworth Boom

Melissa George might well be the lead in this movie. She had previously been involved in box office successes including ‘The Amityville Horror’ and ’30 Days of Night’. However, one of the supporting cast happens to be Liam Hemsworth.

15 Years Later: Triangle - A Modern Cult Classic?

Liam Hemsworth had only appeared in one movie before this, which also came out this year, ‘Knowing’. A couple of years later, he went on to be one of the main characters in the hugely popular ‘The Hunger Games’. Meanwhile, his big brother Chris got his first movie role in ‘Star Trek’ and equality mysterious ‘A Perfect Getaway’. Before landing his big breakout role as Thor. 2009 was a big year for the Hemsworth brothers, and their first roles in supporting mystery thrillers easily helped jump-start their move to Hollywood.

Cult Following

Triangle has become one of the most talked about movies from the 2009 releases. The story kept people loving the original concept and you feel if it had been given a stronger marketing campaign, we could have had a major success story. If we look at Letterboxd, the movie ranked number 9 for the 2009 horror movies released. I know this is based on the number of people who check off seeing the movie, rather than rating.

Director

Director Christopher Smith had a promising early career with the subway horror thriller ‘Creep’. He followed that up with the hilarious horror comedy ‘Severance’ before landing on Triangle. After Triangle, movies including ‘Black Death’, ‘Get Santa’, ‘Detour’ and ‘The Banishing’ followed. While he still has several credits to his name, he hasn’t managed to have that hit which people constantly still talk about.

What do you think of Triangle?

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ABC Film Challenge

Motherhood (2009) Movie Review

Motherhood – Movie Rob‘s Movie Review

ABC Film Challenge – Female Directors – M

“[reading from her 500-word motherhood-themed article for submission to a magazine prize contest] Motherhood is about accepting the limitations of time and energy which stretch beyond you, even though sometimes it feels they can consume you. Search for and hold on to your own true self. If you lose that, what kind of mother can you be? Things are always changing no matter how much we might want things to stay the same. You could take a picture of your kids every single day and every single day they’d just be getting older. That’s a fact, a heartbreaking fact, but still a fact. / So, seize your days and dwell in them fully. Look to your children because they know how to inhabit brief periods of time with extreme passion. And for nothing more, really, than the sake of those moments. They can help you remember that, if you only slow down and let them. Feel fortunate because chances are good you actually might be.” – Eliza

Number of Times Seen – 1 (12 Jul 2024)

Brief Synopsis – A mother of two living in New York needs to try and deal with her hectic life on the day of her daughter’s sixth birthday.

My Take on it – Really underwhelming film that doesn’t work in any way, shape or form.  Uma Thurman is a great actress but she and Anthony Edwards have absolutely no chemistry with one another which hurts things too much. The story itself is far too generic and fails to bring anything unique or inspirational to this kind of genre. The characters aren’t developed well enough and most of what happens here is quiet boring and banal. The best part of this movie is a three second cameo by Jodie Foster that tries to show how personable people can be in New York. The way that the film deals with the issues of how a mother is able to mutitask is nice to see even if it also doesn’t help make things more enjoyable.  The scene dealing with the way that movie shoots take over streets randomly in New York was done in a very strange way and also doesn’t add to things here at all.

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – Grossed $100,000 in the USA in 2009 and, in its UK opening weekend, took a total of £88 – equating to about 11 tickets sold, allegedly making this the lowest grossing film ever released in the UK. From IMDB

Rating – Razzie Worthy (2/10)

Categories
Movie Review

State of Play (2009) Movie Review

State of Play – Movie Review

Read our in-depth review of 'State of Play', a gripping political thriller starring Russell Crowe and Ben Affleck.

Director: Kevin Macdonald (How I Live Now)

Writer: Matthew Michael Carnahan, Tony Gilroy, Billy Ray (Screenplay)

Writer: Paul Abbott (TV Series)

Cast

Plot: When a congressional aide is killed, a Washington, D.C. journalist starts investigating the case involving the Representative, his old college friend.

Runtime: 2 Hours 7 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: State of Play starts when a murder case being investigated by reporter Cal McAffrey (Crowe) takes an unusual turn. His old college roommate and congressman Stephen Collins (Affleck) gets his name dragged through the mud when his affair is exposed. The woman dies in an accident which looks like suicide.

Cal gets approached by Stephen to investigate, teaming up with rookie journalist Della Frye (McAdams). The pair put their differences aside as they look to discover the truth. However, it ends up putting their lives at risk to expose a bigger cover-up.

Verdict on State of Play

State of Play is a mystery thriller following a journalist trying to help his political friend deal with his life getting exposed. It follows a death which exposes his affair, but it is only the beginning of the much bigger story.

This movie is a thriller that shows corruption within a political system. It highlights the dangers of connections and favours, which proves people will do what they want to get power. The story is filled with twists and turns which keep things on edge. We get a strong cast, who all give great performances throughout the movie.

Where to Watch

JustWatch

Final Thoughts – State of Play is a tense political thriller.