Pacific Rim Review

After a few weeks of complaining about not seeing Pacific Rim, I finally went to see it last night. I thought it was going to be amazing. The special effects looked awesome, I have a slight crush on Charlie Hunnam, Idris Alba is a fantastic actor, and I love Guillermo del Toro. How could this movie not be amazing? This should've been a recipe for awesome, but instead all I got was pretty good.

 Rating: 7/10 lightsabers

THINGS I LIKED:

• The special effects were phenomenal. I was drooling the entire time. Everything looked so good and amazing. Especially the bots.  I mean, loot at that! So cool.
  

• The fight scenes. This goes back to the special effects, but the fight scenes were really cool. I will buy this movie on dvd just to rewatch the fight scenes.
  
  
   
• Idris Alba. That man can act. He helped save this movie for me. He out acted everyone. I didn't even mind his "independence day speech" because it wasn't too long and the phrase "canceling the apocalypse" is a pretty good one.
  
   
   

Things I didn't like

• Charlie Hunnam. I'm sorry, I have nothing personal against this guy.  He just brought the whole movie down and I feel bad for saying it. There were a few scenes where he gives a mean/angry look and it was bad. I wasn't the only one who laughed in the theater every time he made that face. Sorry, Charlie.

•  The category 5 Kaiju. This was supposed to be the big boss, but it only got a few minutes of screen time. What's the point of having a badass boss if you don't have a proper final battle?! 

That's all that I can think of that I didn't like at the moment. My only real complaint is Charlie Hunnam's acting. It took me out of the movie quite a few times. I'm sure I can think of more to complain about.  Overall I enjoyed the movie, just not as much as I thought I would. If you like amazing special effects and don't mind a iffy storyline with mediocre acting then I would suggest seeing this movie.

Blastr.com posted a bunch of beautiful fan art posters. I would love to have any of these posters hanging in my room. Here are some of my favorites:

Beyond the Black Rainbow- What did I just watch?!

Title: Beyond the Black Rainbow

Written: Panos Cosmatos 

Directed by: Panos Cosmatos

Released: December 2010

Rated R

My Rating: 6.5/10 lightsabers

 

I was browsing through Netflix a few weeks ago and saw a movie called Beyond the Black Rainbow. I watched the trailer and I knew I had to watch this movie. A trippy, science fiction movie? A telepathic girl escaping from some weird institute? Sold.

Beyond the Black Rainbow is a Canadian science fiction movie written and directed by Panos Cosmatos (what an awesome name).

Set in the 1980's, Dr. Barry Nyle is the scientist in charge of this strange, futuristic commune called The Arboria Institue. The Arboria Institute, a place where science, spirituality, and a lot of hallucinogens converge, was founded in the 1960's by Dr. Arboria. Dr. Barry Nyle has taken over the institute and is keeping a psychic girl named Elena hostage by using a giant prism to suppress her abilities. She never speaks throughout the entire movie. Just does a lot of eye fluttering. Dr. Nyle is easily one of the creepiest characters I've ever seen. Everything about him spells "psycho". Sound strange enough yet?

 The first half of the movie is dedicated to Dr. Nyle being creepy to Elena and trying to illicit some kind of emotional response from her. There is a flashback where we see him take some kind of hallucenogen and enter a pool of black ink then reemerge and his skin begins to melt. I'm not sure if I can accurately describe that scene because everything about it is just crazy weird.

My favorite scene in the movie is when we first encounter the sentionaut. A Sentionaut is, I'm assuming, a robot that is activated if Elena escapes from her room. I just love them. I thought they looked super cool and they have really weird heads, as you can see below.

 Towards the end of the movie, Elena has to find her way out of the Arboria institute. Unfortunately, she has a tracking device so Dr. Nyle is on her trail. I won't tell you the ending, but I will say I'm up in the air about it. I don't hate the ending, but I'm not sure if I like it. One thing I LOVE about this movie is the pacing and the soundtrack. I enjoy slow paced movies if the pacing is done right and I think Mr. Cosmatos has doe it right. The soundtrack is full of sythesizers and is very...sedating? I can imagine a college kid in the 80's lighting a bowl and listening to this soundtrack.

Beyond the Black Rainbow is a unique film, but will not be for everyone. The film is deliberately slow and not to mention weird. I love weird movies and slow paces, but not everyone does. I applaud Mr. Cosmatos for making this movie. I have a feeling it will become a cult favorite. Also, make sure you watch through the credits. There is an extra scene once the credits end that leave you even more confused!

Have you seen Beyond the Black Rainbow? If so, what did you think?