Movie Review - The Space Between Us

The Space Between Us

Starring: Asa Butterfield, Britt Robertson, Gary Oldman, Carla Gugino, BD Wong, Janet Montgomery, Peter Chelsom, and more.

Directed by: Peter Chelsom Screenplay by: Allan Loeb Story by: Stewart Schill, Richard Barton Lewis, and Allan Loeb Cinematography by: Barry Peterson Music by: Andrew Lockington

Premise: An accidental pregnancy discovered after the launch of a mission to Mars, becomes a secret to avoid scandal and the withdrawal of funding. Sixteen years later, Gardner's existence is still a secret. But when he finally gets a hold of his mother's belongings in storage, he longs to follow the clues she left and see his father, if only for a moment. So when he has the opportunity to go to Earth, he escapes the facility to meet his only friend on Earth and track down his missing parent. (Rated PG-13)

Review:

1) Acting - Total Thumbs Up: Asa Butterfield does a marvelous job as Gardner. His wonder at seeing what Earth has to offer is infectious. Britt Robertson as the thick skinned Tulsa was perfect. It was fun watching her well placed and shored up emotional walls slowly come tumbling down. Gary Oldman as Nathaniel Shepherd was poignant as a man who'd lost sight of what the dream was about. Carla Gugino gave depth to the awakening of Kendra Wyndham's feelings and realizations about her charge.

2) Special Effects - Total Thumbs Up: The film begins before Gardner is born, so we see the actual launch of the mission to Mars. The take off sequence looked great. The views of Mars and later Earth from orbit were fantastic. 

Since the story is set several years in our future, there were lots of little technical upgrades to everyday life. The crystal/glass computers looked super cool. Centaur, the robot on Mars, looked like something a kid would make. The kick me sign on the back of his head was hilarious and also reminiscent of the cool SF film called "Moon." 

The barn explosion was BIG! A little overdone, but they did do a great job with the wind and smoke to obscure the view from those spying from above. :P

3) Plot/Story - Neutral: This is one of those films where you don't want to look too closely at what is being told, or it starts falling apart. Overall, the concept is fun and entertaining, and it even has a couple of twists. The growing relationship between Gardner and Tulsa and their trials are what keeps us interested. Yet the film also took a few corners by omission and some of the science is ignored, so they don't have to figure out a way to work around it.

The primary driver of the film is how Gardner can't handle Earth gravity. And they did take the time to introduce a way to help his bones stand up to the higher gravity, which was great. What they ignored is the fact that going into orbit or into space, multiplies the gravity, which would, in turn, kill Gardner outright. They could have used a gel container or even a water tank to help offset some of the effects, but they didn't use anything at all. 

They also ignored some facts with Sarah getting pregnant in the first place. No woman who fought and clawed her way to being the leader of a four-year mission to Mars would then blow it all away by getting pregnant. Birth control would have been the first thing she would have taken care of. To spend so much time and effort to gain her position, she wouldn't have just thrown it away. (And they never have the decency to tell us what she died of! Argh!)

The same lapse in mentality shows up again when Gardner and Tulsa have a "night" together. As a child in foster care, she would be very aware of the type of situations which might have been the reason she got into the system. I doubt she'd be wanting to make the same error to another child. (And there's also the fact with Garnder's health problems, he would have probably died from the act due to the stress on his enlarged heart, but we won't go there...) :P

A couple of more nitpicks. 1 - Things Gardner found unfamiliar didn't quite work. Since he had access to entertainment on Mars, it's hard to believe he didn't know what streets were, or horses, even dogs. It would have been more fun for him to know what they were but touching them, smelling them, that part that would have been new and would surprise him. Much like the fun scene at the bus stop in the rain. He knew what it was, but actually experiencing it was something else altogether. We needed more of that! 2 - If Gardner had access to social media/chat rooms - why was Tulsa his only friend? 3 - Communications between Earth and Mars were pretty much instantaneous. Yet nothing was said about how this is possible. Especially since lag times currently run from four to twenty minutes each way!

4) Cinematography - Total Thumbs Up: The cinematography on this film was fantastic. The shots are themselves a love story of sorts. One to get the audience to see and fall in love with our planet as much as Gardner does. So many gorgeous shots! 

Conclusion: An adorable love story with bits of mystery carried forward by a great cast. As long as you don't look too closely at the details and science, you're in for a nice ride.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 (Hubby's Rating: Worth Full Price of Admission)

Movie Review - The Age of Adaline

The Age of Adaline

Starring: Blake Lively, Michiel Huisman, Harrison Ford, Ellen Burstyn, Kathy Baker, Amanda Crew, Hugh Ross, Hiro Kanagawa, Izabel Pearce, Cate Richardson, Anthony Ingruber, and more.

Directed by: Lee Toland Krieger Screenplay by: J. Mills Goodloe and Salvador Paskowitz Story by: J. Mills Goodloe and Salvador Paskowitz Cinematography by: David Lanzenberg Music by: Rob Simonsen

Premise: After an unusual series of events, Adaline Bowman no longer ages. Forced into a life where she must change who she is and where she lives every decade or take a chance at being grabbed and locked away to be experimented upon, Adaline has allowed very few people into her life, with only her daughter actually knowing the truth about her. On the cusp of once again changing locations and identities, she meets a forceful young man named Ellis. Will she give in to her growing feelings for him or run once more  to keep her secret. (Rated PG-13)

Review:

1) Acting - Total Thumbs Up: Blake Lively does a marvelous job as the emotionally starved and understandably paranoid Adaline Bowman. Her distress and feelings during the film are very easy to read.

Michiel Huisman as Ellis makes for some great eye candy for the ladies and made it a lot of fun to watch his character's pursuit of the mysterious librarian.

Harrison Ford was a great choice for William Jones - his reactions when he first sees Jenny and during his recollections of Adaline, were wonderful to watch. Ellen Burstyn as Adaline's daughter in 2015 added great little touches by her presence. A similar approach used by Judd Hirsch's character Abe in "Forever".

2) Special Effects - Total Thumbs Up:  Believe it or not, there were several big special effect gags in the film. Cars tumbling down hillsides and the audience seeing the chaos from inside the car. The rather spectacular lightning bolt that gets frozen in time. And wait until you see the asteroid hitting the moon and the cool Earth shots! The ceiling of the movie theater was quite awesome. Really nice work.

3) Plot/Story - Thumbs Up: The tale is told by a narrator played by Hugh Ross. No explanation is ever given of who he is or how he knows the story he's telling - so the audience just has to go with it. While the info he gives is definitely interesting, the fact they felt they had to explain the different phenomena that made two separate events possible felt rather odd.

The methodology for taking the audience back in time and showing them pieces of Adaline's life, however, worked rather well.

On the weird side, they telegraph several pivotal points of the film before they happen. Back around 2002 to 2005, the gimmick of having people in a car having a conversation then having them get slammed by another car was fresh and innovative. But in 2015, the move has become cliched. They've been done so often and it's so easy to tell when they're coming - they don't hold much of a surprise factor anymore. (At least not to me.) This makes the story come across as pretty straightforward with minimal surprises for the audience. The one surprise that would have made everyone lean forward with interest had already been disclosed in the previews, so wasn't a surprise at all.

Still, the tale is told well and we learn enough about her to empathize and care about her and those around her. So it was entertaining.

5) Locations/Cinematography - Total Thumbs Up: The film had many wonderful cinematographic moments. The San Francisco bridge is used to full advantage with lovely day shots, but even more impressive night shots. The time lapse segments were lovely as well.

6) Costuming/Makeup - Total Thumbs Up: Great work by the costuming and makeup departments. Just by looking at Adaline's clothes and hair, you could easily identify the time frame being portrayed. The 1963 segment when she's in the taxi was especially well done by showing us one of the rarer fads of the time. Nicely done! (And Blake Lively looked good in everything! lol)

Conclusion: "The Age of Adaline" is a cute little love story with a supernatural slant for added flavor. No real surprises, but the film still moved along well and entertained.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 (Hubby's Rating: Worth Full Price of Admission)

Movie Review - Warm Bodies

Warm Bodies

Starring: Nicholas Hoult, Teresa Palmer, Analeigh Tipton, Rob Corddry, Dave Franco, John Malkovich, Cory Hardrict, and more.

Directed by: Jonathan Levine Screenplay by: Jonathan Levine Novel by: Isaac Marion Cinematography by: Javier Aguirresarobe Original Music by: Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders

Premise: A teenage zombie questions his lack of life and odd thoughts and habits as he moves through the confines of his existence now that he is no longer human. But his spark of oddity flares when, on a normal zombie raid for human flesh, he falls in love at first sight. Thus unknowingly setting off a slow chain reaction that might save him as well as others. (Rated PG-13)

Review:

1) Acting - Total Thumbs Up: Nicholas Hoult made for a truly adorable zombie. His facial expressions and long dead stares were great. His body movements were a little more limber here and there than one would expect from zombies, but this is a minor 'nit-pick'. Teresa Palmer as Juliet was incredibly believable in both her fear and lack of excitement for the emotionally barren area of what her father called 'home'. Rob Corddry added a lot to the film as R's best zombie friend M. The scene where he stares at the picture of the couple holding hands was very poignant.

2) Special Effects - Total Thumbs Up: The creatures that zombies turned into once they despaired of their unlife had great detail and were very creepy. The scene where the bonies land on top of the glass canopy and start pounding on it really brought home how far removed from the others they were. The scenes showing the zombiefied hearts coming back to life looked great.

3) Plot/Story - Thumbs Up: "Warm Bodies" is a darling idea, especially with the undertones of Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet." Zombies in most stories and films just 'are', with no real science to support their existence, so taking the extra step to believe they're not truly dead at that stage, won't be much of a mental reach for most viewers. Half the fun is watching the zombies evolving back to what they used to be.

Several themes run throughout the film -- that not all (emotional) zombies are undead, and that people need to connect with others to feel alive. I loved the use of eating brains as a means for the undead to steal memories and feelings from their victims so that they could feel momentarily alive themselves, and how it was used in the telling of the story.

The film felt a little slow in spots, but only a few, and not for long. There were plenty of fun, amusing moments throughout.

4) Stunts - Thumbs Up: There was gun play in several sections of the film. Juliet's side slide and shotgun use, won't be forgotten by the guys anytime soon. "Warm Bodies" also had some decent hand to zombie combat. The zombies versus bonies scene, where the zombies are played by people and the bonies by CGI, probably took a lot of work to synchronize.

5) Locations/Cinematography - Thumbs Up: There were several skyline shots, a few made more impressive by the addition of the wall the humans erected over a large part of the city to keep the zombies and bonies out. The use of the airport as a main zombie hangout was very apt, for incorporating a few of the themes and the wide variety of locations all in one place.

6) Costuming/Makeup - Total Thumbs Up: The department did some really nice work on the zombies. Between the changes to the skin, virus made tracks on the body, and the eyes, they made for a huge contrast as R changed over time. The changes were even more telling on M and a few of the others. The scene where we see R's scars from previous human encounters looked great.

Conclusion: Zombies, tragedy, and romance - an odd mix, but one that was surprisingly cute and satisfying. As hubby pointed out, "Warm Bodies" is the perfect date movie - a mixture of genres that will give both guys and gals something to enjoy.

Rating: 4 out of 5 (Hubby's Rating: Worth Full Price of Admission)