Genre: Horror, TV Movie

Year: 2013

Country: USA

Rating:

Starring: Ian Ziering, Tara Reid, John Heard, Cassie Scerbo, Jaason Simmons

Director: Anthony C. Ferrante

My Review: Sharknado - I watched this on a dare… The title says it all. A tornado made out of sharks! Made for TV satirical disaster movie. Commissioned for/by SyFy, the movie was produced and first aired on the SyFy channel. Since then it’s aired multiple times, been promoted on twitter, seen increasing numbers, enjoyed theatrical release and received an award or two! Get out - How does a brain dead film like this achieve any fame whatsoever? It’s just stupid enough to churn the numbers by word of mouth and enthusiastic supporters. The plot? A hurricane savages Los Angeles, and thousands of sharks are swept up in a water spout that devastates the city. A tornado of swirling maniacal sharks attack the helpless residents of L.A.! No - Stop! Don’t even try to understand it or make sense of the plot. Just go with the flow! Grab a bar stool and defend yourself because there’s a sharknado headed your way. I can’t really say this was a good movie - It wasn’t. It was stupid funny. The production was pretty good. The cgi and effects were no better and no worse than your average ‘b’ movie. The acting? Marginal. Overall, I give this movie a 2 out of 5. Worth watching once, for the laughs, not worth a repeat viewing.

Summary: When a freak hurricane swamps Los Angeles, nature's deadliest killer rules sea, land, and air as thousands of sharks terrorize the waterlogged populace.

Genre: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi, Thriller

Year: 1984

Country: USA

Rating:

Starring: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan, Walter Koenig

Director: Leonard Nimoy

My Review: Star Trek III: The search for Spock - An underrated Star Trek movie. Starring the usual cast of characters (William Shatner - Kirk, Leonard Nimoy - Spock, DeForest Kelley - McCoy, James Doohan - Scotty, Walter Koenig - Chekov, George Takei - Sulu, Nichelle Nichols - Uhura), this movie adds Christopher Lloyd (Dr. Emmet Brown / Back to the Future) as Commander Kruge (Klingon Adversary) and Dame Judith Anderson as a Vulcan high priestess and many others. This particular movie is one of two (‘Star Trek IV: The voyage home’ being the other) directed by Leonard Nimoy. The cast and the writing are the strongest parts of this movie. Written by Harve Bennett (Credited with story/screenplay/writing on three Star Trek movies (STII, III, IV, V). While Nimoy may know the cast and characters quite well, the direction in this movie left no room for guessing. Motivations and loyalties were clearly telegraphed and tattooed on all the characters. The story follows the themes of loyalty, friendship, and survival. In this movie, the crew departs from orders and protocol in order to locate Spock’s body. An odd start to a movie, following the death of Spock in the ‘Wrath of Khan’, we’re presented with a shaken crew and an ‘insane’ McCoy. As they trek across the universe in order to restore some balance to their world, they’re confronted with the typical evil Klingons. The movie affords the cast and characters with ample opportunity to charm the audience, reveling in their fan-cherished roles. The character play is enjoyable, but a bit too predictable. I give this one a 3 out of 5.

Summary: Following Kirk's encounter with Khan that left the Enterprise severely damaged and Spock dead, they return to Starfleet so that Enterprise could be repaired. Kirk's hoping to go back to the newly-created Genesis planet where he laid Spock to rest. But upon arriving, he is told that the Enterprise will not be repaired and that Genesis has become a delicate matter and until it is resolved, no one is allowed to go there or talk about it. McCoy is also acting strangely and is later detained when he starts talking about Genesis. Kirk is visited by Spock's father Sarek, who tells him that he betrayed Spock because being placed on Genesis was not what he would have wanted. He tells Kirk he is supposed to bring Spock's body along with his soul or katra as the Vulcans call it which he passes onto someone, and bring it to Vulcan for the final rites. Sarek assumes Kirk would have it but he does not. Kirk then thinks that Spock may have passed it someone else and realizes McCoy is the one who has...

Genre: Western

Year: 1968

Country: USA

Rating:

Starring: Clint Eastwood, Inger Stevens, Ed Begley, Pat Hingle, Ben Johnson

Director: Ted Post

My Review: A Clint Eastwood western in the tradition of the Sergio Leone. While this western wasn't directed by Sergio Leonne (directed by Ted Post (The Rifleman, Gunsmoke, Colombo), it certainly seemed like it was written for him. Apparently, he was busy working on 'Once upon a time in the west'. The lead character is the classic western loner. Trying to survive on his wits and his guns. This man is a law abidding citizen, he's laid down his guns and taken to the saddle to raise cattle. On one unlucky day, he runs into a lynch mob who thinks he's a cattle rustler and a murderer - A fatally tragic case of mistaken identities. This time around, I watched my DVD copy. Last time I watched, I saw the 'made for TV' version, and several scenes were missing from that version. My DVD copy runs 114 minutes. Obviously, the TV edit had to be shortened to accommodate commercials. The missing footage moves the story forward too quickly and we lose some essential character development when those extra scenes are dumped on the cutting room floor. Back to the story. In this tale of western justice, the judge is a hanging judge, and the protagonist (played in the style of 'the Man with no name' by Clint Eastwood) uses the law to exact vengeance on those who wronged him. The west was a harsh place. Nowhere near as clean and clear cut as the Lone Ranger would have you believe. The directing was pretty good, and the soundtrack was well done. I really liked the signature staccato sound effects that punctuated the movie (the direction and music were both crafted to emulate the pairing of Leone and Morricone).

Summary: When an innocent man barely survives a lynching, he returns as a lawman determined to bring the vigilantes to justice.

Genre: Comedy, Drama

Year: 2013

Country: USA

Rating:

Starring: Nick Robinson, Gabriel Basso, Moises Arias, Nick Offerman, Erin Moriarty

Director: Jordan Vogt-Roberts

My Review: The Kings of Summer - A charming, remarkable, coming of age drama with offbeat characters and an unpretentious vibe. The movie starts with an act of defiance as Joe Toy (played by Nick Robinson) defies his recently widowed father and decides to ‘be a man’ by building his own house in the nearby woods. Running away from the horrors of suburban malaise and utter servitude of after dinner chores, He invites a couple of friends (Patrick, played by Gabrieal Basso and Biaggio, played by Moises Arias). The three boys build their house, and think themselves men… All goes well until a girl enters the picture. The truth of the matter; that they’re still boys, becomes painfully obvious as the film moves forward. It’s a coming of age film with characters who are just as flawed as we’d expect in real life. The main character is vain and selfish. He thinks only of himself. The acting was quite good and the characters enjoyable. Living off the land is a joke for these three, but there act of defiance goes only as deep as their pretending to be ‘men’. Being in charge, being men, is much more difficult than these three imagined. Despite the grown-up themes of this movie, the humor and quirky characters (especially Biaggio) keeps it somewhat light and utterly enjoyable. I give it a 4 out of 5.

Summary: Joe Toy, on the verge of adolescence, finds himself increasingly frustrated by his single father, Frank's attempts to manage his life. Declaring his freedom once and for all, he escapes to a clearing in the woods with his best friend, Patrick, and a strange kid named Biaggio. He announces that they are going to build a house there, free from responsibility and parents. Once their makeshift abode is finished, the three young men find themselves masters of their own destiny, alone in the woods.