I am putting Clockwork Orange on a hiatus for the moment. I have watched the movie recently, but I have to read the book again to refresh my memory, something that I'll do around Christmas-time.
The movie that I'm going to review today is 2012, and yes, I know, there are probably alot of reviews out there. Just for you, I'm going to try to make a review better than "It was good".
First off, some information about the location where the movie was watched:
A big cinema, with large salons, newest technology regarding sound and picture. My seat was on the tenth row of 14 total. The view was perfect, with no neck pain or neck stiffness.
I have to stress that I had seen no trailers nor read any reviews prior to watching this movie. My thoughts were that just one or two lines were enough to ruin the movie for me. The only information I had was knowledge that I had collected prior in my life about this dreaded year "2012", about the Mayans ect.
Some info that I have found about the year 2012: December 21 – The Mesoamerican Long Count calendar, notably used by the pre-Columbian Maya civilization among others, completes a "great cycle" of thirteen b'ak'tuns (periods of 144,000 days each) since the mythical creation date of the calendar's current era. On this day the Long Count date at creation—written 13.0.0.0.0 in modern notation, equivalent to August 11, 3114 BC in the proleptic Gregorian calendar—is repeated for the first time in a span of a little over 5,125 solar years. The completion of this cycle and the repetition of the previous Creation's Long Count ending date have been central to the 2012 phenomenon. Academic researchers have not concluded that the ancient Maya themselves attached similar significance to this point in time. Source: Wikipedia.com
In fictional movies, the "apocalyptic" idea has been used, especially with the year 2012. The following movies that I'm going to mention are made in the 21st century, not very surprising as it was at this time the 2012 hype started to spread to the average Joe.
2012 Doomsday is a 2008 direct-to-DVD doomsday film produced by The Asylum. The film is an imagining of the events predicted to occur in 2012.
I am Legend is not really not related with the "2012-Mayan calendar-bye bye Earth" idea, but it's plot relates to a post-apocalyptic Earth year 2012. The movie is adapted from the novel I Am Legend, written by Richard Matheson. Altough the novel was written in 1954, I think that the movie adaptation's dates were influenced a bit by the 2012 hype.
Now to the movie!
We start with Adrian Helmsley, further in my review known as Adrian, a young geologist that during a visit to India gets to know that massive solar flares release neutrinos, acting like micro-waves who heat up the core of Earth, making the crust unstable. He somehow gets this information to the government, and starts to work with some of the highest scientists to discuss the matter and to reveal more information about whether these changes are going to affect the whole Earth and whether they are going to lead to mass-death among the Earth's population.
Almost at once, the government starts a huge project in China, building three arcs made to hold 400,000 people. Because of the project being expensive, rich people can buy tickets one billion Euros a piece.
The main character in this movie is Jackson Curtis, a writer. During a hike with his children, he meets Charlie, a crazy guy living in a trailer, broadcasting news about the 2012 doomsday, believing that it's an act of God. He has had a relationship with one of Jackson Curtis' friends who had sent him some information. Charlie reveals that people who knew about the project were all killed to prevent information to spread to the average Joe, and to prevent mass panic and riots.
Anywho, Jackson does not believe Charlie at first, but as he is a Limo driver, he drives two children of a businessman, Yuri Karpov, to the airport, the children reveal that they have tickets to a ship that will make them survive, leaving Jackson and other normal people to an inevitable death.
Jackson doesn't really believe that at first, but when a huge crack on the ground underneath him opens up, he rushes to pick up his children and ex-wife, along with her new husband Gordon.
Gordon is a really cool man, he is a plastic surgeon and a pilot. Sweet.
Anywho, Jackson picks up his family to take them to the airport to leave for meeting Charlie to get a map that reveals the position of the ships.
Here starts one of the most awesome scenes in cinematic history. As they ride in the limo, the Earth behind them starts to rise, and they have to step on the gas not to be crushed. The crust of the Earth have started to give up to the pressure.
As they are followed with the disastrous amount of ground, we see other people getting crushed like ants, and they barely get to the airport where Jackson had arranged to hire an airplane to take them to Charlie, but the pilot is dead.
Don't show any fear for the end that is near, Gordon is here!
Gordon takes them up in the air, even though he has a limited amount of lessons in the air, and swiftly flies them to Charlie.
They land near the Yellowstone park, and while they fuel up the plane, Jackson and his daugter search for Charlie. They find him on the top of a mountain, broadcasting live the happenings. They have to leave him there, because of that Charlie rather would witness the explosions and share them with people, that crazy bum.
Jackson takes the trailer and rushes back to the plane, all whilst the crust is giving up and a mountain erupts like a volcano. They get to the plane, but wait!
The map! Jackson rushes to the trailer, takes the map as Gordon starts the engines on the plane.
The whole scene is really tense, as Jackson falls into a crate with the van. The others start to fly away, filled with sorrow and despair, as Jackson climbs up, something that I actually expected.
He runs against the plane, and eventually gets on the plane.
They arrive to another airport, as they run out of fuel, where they meet Yuri and his posse. Both groups need a plane, one that they find (a huge one, Russian as Yuri proudly claims). But it needs two pilots, and Yuri has only one. What should they do?
Well, our gang has their own pilot aswell, and here comes Gordon again to save the day once again! What a no. 1 guy!
They take off just as all the other people on the airport die a horrible death.
They arrive Early to China, as the continental plates have shifted due to the changes in the crust of the Earth. Their engines give up and they have to crash land. Sasha (Yuri's pilot) tells everyone to sit in one car (the plane shipped luxury cars), and whilst the cargo lid opens, they ride away, leaving Sasha trying to save himself in the plane. What a hero.
Just as the plane stops at the end of a cliff, we think that Sasha is saved, but the cliff gives up, leading to a dead Sasha.
Damn, I hated that part. Sasha was almost as awesome as Gordon.
Anywho, Chinese troops arrive, and only Yuri and his kids get picked up due to their tickets, the others have to find another way in.
Now, this part of the movie and onwards dissappointed me. The movie seemed more like a regular action movie from now on.
They get to the ships, find a way in, cause an almost disastrous jam to the doors of one of the ships, leading to almost deadly results to the whole ship.
Did I mention that Gordon got crushed in the cog-wheels operating the doors? That sucked really much.
They get on the ship after all, and everyone is fine. We get a speech about the future and about how people should be kind, yadda yadda yadda.
I would say that the beginning of the movie was the best, and that I almost expected Jackson to return from fixing the jammed cog-wheels, as it would otherwise be a plagiarism of Poseidon, where the father dies in the end. Jup. I was having that thought during the movie.
Going by the special effects, they were awesome. Of course there were instances where you could tell that the effects were artificial, and that bothered me. An example is the crash landing in China, where the cars were crashing out of the plane.
The music was the generic action-movie kind, not much to say about it, but it was sufficient and well-placed.
The actors were good, and they did a great job, especially during those emotional scenes. I wasn't dissappointed with John Cusack's work, especially since he had shown his talent in "1408".
Wow, he has been in two movies whose titles were only consisting of numbers.
But you could almost expect the young black ambitious geologist hooks up with the President's daughter, who also was black.
Were I the only one that thought of the President as Barack Obama? I don't think so, and I think that it was intentional placing a black president in this movie.
Overall the movie was entertaining and gave me alot of goosebumps, even though I was dissappointed in the latter part of the movie about the change, leading to a depression of the "apocalyptic" feeling.
I would give it a 9/10, there was something missing after all.
The movie that I'm going to review today is 2012, and yes, I know, there are probably alot of reviews out there. Just for you, I'm going to try to make a review better than "It was good".
First off, some information about the location where the movie was watched:
A big cinema, with large salons, newest technology regarding sound and picture. My seat was on the tenth row of 14 total. The view was perfect, with no neck pain or neck stiffness.
I have to stress that I had seen no trailers nor read any reviews prior to watching this movie. My thoughts were that just one or two lines were enough to ruin the movie for me. The only information I had was knowledge that I had collected prior in my life about this dreaded year "2012", about the Mayans ect.
Some info that I have found about the year 2012: December 21 – The Mesoamerican Long Count calendar, notably used by the pre-Columbian Maya civilization among others, completes a "great cycle" of thirteen b'ak'tuns (periods of 144,000 days each) since the mythical creation date of the calendar's current era. On this day the Long Count date at creation—written 13.0.0.0.0 in modern notation, equivalent to August 11, 3114 BC in the proleptic Gregorian calendar—is repeated for the first time in a span of a little over 5,125 solar years. The completion of this cycle and the repetition of the previous Creation's Long Count ending date have been central to the 2012 phenomenon. Academic researchers have not concluded that the ancient Maya themselves attached similar significance to this point in time. Source: Wikipedia.com
In fictional movies, the "apocalyptic" idea has been used, especially with the year 2012. The following movies that I'm going to mention are made in the 21st century, not very surprising as it was at this time the 2012 hype started to spread to the average Joe.
2012 Doomsday is a 2008 direct-to-DVD doomsday film produced by The Asylum. The film is an imagining of the events predicted to occur in 2012.
I am Legend is not really not related with the "2012-Mayan calendar-bye bye Earth" idea, but it's plot relates to a post-apocalyptic Earth year 2012. The movie is adapted from the novel I Am Legend, written by Richard Matheson. Altough the novel was written in 1954, I think that the movie adaptation's dates were influenced a bit by the 2012 hype.
Now to the movie!
We start with Adrian Helmsley, further in my review known as Adrian, a young geologist that during a visit to India gets to know that massive solar flares release neutrinos, acting like micro-waves who heat up the core of Earth, making the crust unstable. He somehow gets this information to the government, and starts to work with some of the highest scientists to discuss the matter and to reveal more information about whether these changes are going to affect the whole Earth and whether they are going to lead to mass-death among the Earth's population.
Almost at once, the government starts a huge project in China, building three arcs made to hold 400,000 people. Because of the project being expensive, rich people can buy tickets one billion Euros a piece.
The main character in this movie is Jackson Curtis, a writer. During a hike with his children, he meets Charlie, a crazy guy living in a trailer, broadcasting news about the 2012 doomsday, believing that it's an act of God. He has had a relationship with one of Jackson Curtis' friends who had sent him some information. Charlie reveals that people who knew about the project were all killed to prevent information to spread to the average Joe, and to prevent mass panic and riots.
Anywho, Jackson does not believe Charlie at first, but as he is a Limo driver, he drives two children of a businessman, Yuri Karpov, to the airport, the children reveal that they have tickets to a ship that will make them survive, leaving Jackson and other normal people to an inevitable death.
Jackson doesn't really believe that at first, but when a huge crack on the ground underneath him opens up, he rushes to pick up his children and ex-wife, along with her new husband Gordon.
Gordon is a really cool man, he is a plastic surgeon and a pilot. Sweet.
Anywho, Jackson picks up his family to take them to the airport to leave for meeting Charlie to get a map that reveals the position of the ships.
Here starts one of the most awesome scenes in cinematic history. As they ride in the limo, the Earth behind them starts to rise, and they have to step on the gas not to be crushed. The crust of the Earth have started to give up to the pressure.
As they are followed with the disastrous amount of ground, we see other people getting crushed like ants, and they barely get to the airport where Jackson had arranged to hire an airplane to take them to Charlie, but the pilot is dead.
Don't show any fear for the end that is near, Gordon is here!
Gordon takes them up in the air, even though he has a limited amount of lessons in the air, and swiftly flies them to Charlie.
They land near the Yellowstone park, and while they fuel up the plane, Jackson and his daugter search for Charlie. They find him on the top of a mountain, broadcasting live the happenings. They have to leave him there, because of that Charlie rather would witness the explosions and share them with people, that crazy bum.
Jackson takes the trailer and rushes back to the plane, all whilst the crust is giving up and a mountain erupts like a volcano. They get to the plane, but wait!
The map! Jackson rushes to the trailer, takes the map as Gordon starts the engines on the plane.
The whole scene is really tense, as Jackson falls into a crate with the van. The others start to fly away, filled with sorrow and despair, as Jackson climbs up, something that I actually expected.
He runs against the plane, and eventually gets on the plane.
They arrive to another airport, as they run out of fuel, where they meet Yuri and his posse. Both groups need a plane, one that they find (a huge one, Russian as Yuri proudly claims). But it needs two pilots, and Yuri has only one. What should they do?
Well, our gang has their own pilot aswell, and here comes Gordon again to save the day once again! What a no. 1 guy!
They take off just as all the other people on the airport die a horrible death.
They arrive Early to China, as the continental plates have shifted due to the changes in the crust of the Earth. Their engines give up and they have to crash land. Sasha (Yuri's pilot) tells everyone to sit in one car (the plane shipped luxury cars), and whilst the cargo lid opens, they ride away, leaving Sasha trying to save himself in the plane. What a hero.
Just as the plane stops at the end of a cliff, we think that Sasha is saved, but the cliff gives up, leading to a dead Sasha.
Damn, I hated that part. Sasha was almost as awesome as Gordon.
Anywho, Chinese troops arrive, and only Yuri and his kids get picked up due to their tickets, the others have to find another way in.
Now, this part of the movie and onwards dissappointed me. The movie seemed more like a regular action movie from now on.
They get to the ships, find a way in, cause an almost disastrous jam to the doors of one of the ships, leading to almost deadly results to the whole ship.
Did I mention that Gordon got crushed in the cog-wheels operating the doors? That sucked really much.
They get on the ship after all, and everyone is fine. We get a speech about the future and about how people should be kind, yadda yadda yadda.
I would say that the beginning of the movie was the best, and that I almost expected Jackson to return from fixing the jammed cog-wheels, as it would otherwise be a plagiarism of Poseidon, where the father dies in the end. Jup. I was having that thought during the movie.
Going by the special effects, they were awesome. Of course there were instances where you could tell that the effects were artificial, and that bothered me. An example is the crash landing in China, where the cars were crashing out of the plane.
The music was the generic action-movie kind, not much to say about it, but it was sufficient and well-placed.
The actors were good, and they did a great job, especially during those emotional scenes. I wasn't dissappointed with John Cusack's work, especially since he had shown his talent in "1408".
Wow, he has been in two movies whose titles were only consisting of numbers.
But you could almost expect the young black ambitious geologist hooks up with the President's daughter, who also was black.
Were I the only one that thought of the President as Barack Obama? I don't think so, and I think that it was intentional placing a black president in this movie.
Overall the movie was entertaining and gave me alot of goosebumps, even though I was dissappointed in the latter part of the movie about the change, leading to a depression of the "apocalyptic" feeling.
I would give it a 9/10, there was something missing after all.
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Picture source: http://www.inquisitr.com/wp-content/2012.jpg
I liked the movie very much too, and Sasha and Gordon were my favourite awesome characters of the movie as well. I felt OK about the ending though.
SvaraRaderaSasha and Gordon may well have been brothers, without knowing it.
SvaraRaderaAlso, don't forget your moderating position at Toriyama's World! We have to discuss in the Staff room.