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Reviews
Resident Evil: Retribution (2012)
Poor Acting, Rips Off 'Aliens', and Time for a Series Reboot With A New Director
The first 4 films were actually an enjoyable ride given their limited budget. They all featured great production design, good scores, and Milla alone is a perfect reason to watch them. However, this latest instalment felt cheaply made, put together in a hurry, and stole it's plot from one of the premier action films. Where to start?
The Bad: Acting (other than Milla, the little girl, and 1 or 2 others), too much like a video game you couldn't play, The 3D didn't add much.
The Good: Production design, a cool intro, energetic Tokyo fight sequence, good use of spatial mapping as in the first film, Russian zombies (with an homage to 'Shock Waves' perhaps) and a fun score by Tomandandy.
Alice is a fun character, and echoes Milla's other strong female role models including Leeloo, Violet, and to some extent, Joan of Arc. It's one of the major reasons why she's appreciated by both men and women alike. Here she pulls off the mom role well, but it was just Ripley's role played by her. The writers could have given her more to work with than just stealing Aliens note-for-note. The parent/child storyline is nothing new in films, and Cameron definitely wasn't the first to use it effectively, but it's certainly stronger than the one used in 'Retribution'.
Everything purposely felt cheesy this time around. It'll prob do well overseas but it's time for Paul to hand over the series to a new director and writers.
The Mantis Parable (2005)
An Impressive Start to a Brilliant Animated Career!
Not only has Josh crafted a beautiful looking animated film, but also a fine piece of short form storytelling. Having seen quite a few animated short films, many of which fail to strike a balance between story and style, I was instantly fascinated by his approach using beings much smaller than us humans.
The Mantis Parable provides something for everyone: lessons in the treatment of others and forgiveness, as well as an appealing color palette, fluid animation, and simple, yet effective effects work. The film will no doubt rank highly with other animated insect fables including: 'A Bug's Life,' 'Antz,' and 'James and the Giant Peach.'
We can definitely expect more good tales (and hopefully longer ones too) from Mr. Staub!
Cadillacs and Dinosaurs (1993)
A classic creation.
Mark hasn't given up on Xenozoic Tales (the original name for Cadillacs and Dinosaurs) but is waiting for the right time to return to the characters.
This animated series was a fun realization of the black and white comics, now available from Dark Horse Comics as reprints, and features the world's most influential creatures, dinosaurs. Beneath it's action-adventure surface lies a message about the cataclysmic effects humans have on the Earth's environment and how future generations reform societies in the wake of the disaster.
Unlike the Dinosaurs, Mark Schultz and Xenozoic Tales aren't extinct.