Movietime: Prometheus

A lot of people seem to be hung up on or disappointed in this movie, I don't really get it. I mean yes, it would have been far better if I had just walked out for the last 10 minutes and missed the grating sequel setup, not to mention the annoying "getting crushed by a giant spaceship because you're dumb" scene, and yes, forget about the aliens having inscrutable motivations, half the time I didn't even know why the humans (and robot) did what they did but after all that and a huge run-on sentence I really did enjoy watching it. Especially on IMAX, it was huge and impressive and Ridley knows how to get that shot across. The whole story wasn't as grand as I had hoped or as deep as I had liked, and perhaps this is what disappointed some. It was sort of implied to be both by all the trailers and interviews etc. leading up to it. Still, well worth giving it a go.

Rating: *****
Comment: pretty solid SF flick with some beautiful shots and a few nods to Alien

Movietime: Iron Sky

Space Nazis - who fled to the dark side of the moon after 1945 - build a space fleet and come back to conquer the earth with giant space zeppelins towing meteors to throw on cities. There is nothing about that sentence I don't like. Sadly, the movie doesn't execute this bizarre yet humorous premise very well. The jokes fall flat, the story wanders all over the place, and the pacing is off. The CGI is pretty well done though, especially for what is essentially a very low-budget movie. All in all it's a shame, I feel there is a better movie hiding in there somewhere.

Rating: *****
Comment: I had such high hopes when I heard "space Nazis"

Movietime: Project X

The synopsis of this movie is "3 high school seniors throw a birthday party to make a name for themselves. As the night progresses, things spiral out of control as word of the party spreads.".

And that's pretty much it. Three social outcasts throw a party, post it on Craigslist and other places, and about 1500 people show up and a midget gets stuffed in the oven, everyone gets wasted beyond belief, and a guy with a flamethrower shows up and torches the neighborhood.

There's really not much of a story, and it's all shot in that annoying "found footage" style. And yet, and yet, I had fun watching it. The whole thing reminded me of the current generation's take on "National Lampoon's Animal House", but with far less narrative and way more excess. And it really does spiral out of control beyond all belief. I went in without expectations and came out grinning.

Rating: *****
Comment: Mindless fun riot

Movietime: Chronos, Baraka, and Samsara

Baraka and Chronos are both non-narrative/abstract films by Ron Fricke, and both are a treat for the eye. Vast landscapes, time lapse shots, stunning architecture, people of various cultures doing their thing. Chronos was originally an IMAX feature, it's a shame I didn't get to see it in that format. That said, I was glad to have found a copy at all, and watching it on a huge screen in HD was still pretty damn impressive.

Neither movie is new by any means, Chronos is from 1985 and Baraka from 1992. I only found out about them through Samsara, a 2011 sequel of sorts to Baraka, which I've read about but haven't seen. It piqued my interest, I found and watched the other ones, and now I'm looking forward to seeing it immensely.

Rating: *****
Comment: Breathtaking imagery

Movietime: Battleship

Hasbro, the games company which brought you Transformers, has now made an entire feature-length movie about the game "battleship", you know, where you take turns guessing where the other player's ships are on a grid. They added aliens to make it more interesting.

Can I get off this planet now?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1440129/ 

Rating: *****
Comment: I can't believe I watched this garbage