Critters 2 (1988)

Following on from the events of the first film, after a couple of years have passed, Critters 2 is a fun little film that does what a good sequel should, trying to recapture the entertainment factor of the original movie while making things a bit bigger. It turns out that I'm in the minority here, but I think this is a rare sequel on a par with the film that preceded it. Get yourself the Critters and Tremors movie sets and you have some of the best, and most fun, creature features from the past few decades (get yourself Grabbers as well, for extra fun)

Brad (Scott Grimes) is returning to his home town to visit his Nana (Herta Ware). His arrival sets some tongues wagging, with many people thinking of him as the boy who cried "alien porcupine" a couple of years ago. It's a good job that Brad is back though, because some eggs are about to hatch, meaning that the town is about to have quite a Krite problem once again. That means it's time for the return of Ug (Terrence Mann), Charlie (Don Opper), and Lee (taking the shape of a glamour model for a lot of the runtime, played by Roxanne Kernohan). There's a young woman named Megan (Liane Curtis) also ready to believe Brad, and help out. 

Directed by Mick Garris, who also co-wrote the screenplay with David Twohy, Critters 2 has lots to recommend it. You get the light sci-fi horror tone, you get more carnage this time around, and you get a brisk pace throughout. There's more great work from the Chiodo brothers, with more puppetry on display (including a wonderful "critterball"), and a whole lot of wonderful little details packed into every main critter-filled sequence. There's maybe not one single moment as unexpectedly funny as the "they have weapons" scene in the first film, but the sheer number of the visual gags will keep most viewers smiling, at the very least.

The cast are all good, and happy to play second fiddle to the puppets, and they work well together. Grimes remains the nominal lead (well, he shares that role with Opper), working well with Ware, Curtis, Mann, and everyone else around him. Curtis is a great female co-star, cute and plucky in the best b-movie character way. There are also small roles for Lin Shaye (again), Barry Corbin, and Eddie Deezen. Mann and Opper work well together, but neither are able to make as memorable an impression as Kernohan. 

It's probably not a film that many of those involved will put high up on their C.V. (and Twohy certainly hasn't been kind when briefly mentioning it), but I really cannot see how anyone who enjoyed Critters can fail to enjoy Critters 2. There are flaws - Garris has never been one to overdo the visual style in his films - but the emphasis throughout remains focused on the sense of fun. 

8/10

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Waterworld (1995)

If there was one movie that came to symbolise the excess, and potential waste, of blockbuster movie productions of the 1990s, it was Waterworld. Supplying cinema fans with plenty of gossip before we'd even seen one main scene, it was the film that caused more strife between star Kevin Costner and director Kevin Reynolds, the film that had the biggest budget of all time (until James Cameron gave us Titanic, which then opened the floodgates, no pun intended, for budgets to go up and up and up), and the film that allowed everyone to (unfairly, in my view) knock Costner down a peg or two.

The sad thing is that the film itself, without taking everything else into consideration, is actually pretty good. I'd go so far as to call it a great action adventure. But that's easy to forget when the final product has been long overshadowed by that troubled reputation.

The plot is pretty simple. Costner plays the Mariner, a lone traveller on an Earth that has long been covered in a deluge of water, so much so that any notion of dry land is nothing more than a legend. But one little girl (Enola, played by Tina Majorino) may have the location of dry land, in the form of a skin tattoo, and she ends up on the Mariner's boat, along with her guardian, Helen (Jeanne Tripplehorn). This makes them of interest to a marauding gang, the Smokers, and their leader, Deacon (Dennis Hopper).

I thought long and hard about this, I think long and hard about every statement I make in my reviews (even if it doesn't appear that way), and I stand by the fact that Waterworld MAY be a contender for the best physically-realised movie environment onscreen. A lot of the screentime is taken up by our leads floating on the water, true, but there's an astonishing atoll set that is the focus of the action in the opening third of the film, fantastic design work on the main vehicle that belongs to Costner's character, and a wonderful reappropriation of the Exxon Valdez as a main HQ for the villains. There's not one moment in this movie that takes you out of it, in terms of the look and the production design, no matter how silly some of the plotting may be.

The script, by Peter Rader and David Twohy, may be little more than Mad Max on water, but that's not a bad thing to aim for when you're out to deliver some post-apocalyptic, stunt-filled, action. And everything is directed well by whichever Kevin you want to give the most credit to. This may have been the most expensive movie of all time, for a while, but you have to admit that you can see pretty much every dollar onscreen (well . . . apart from the thousands of dollars that it cost for every night that Costner stayed in his villa, which also had a chef and butler, apparently). Every set-piece is grand and impressive, without tipping over into the overdone and tiresome style we so often see in modern movies that have no limits on the spectacles they can provide, thanks to the computer tools at their disposal.

None of the cast members are doing their best work, but neither are they doing any of their worst. Costner does the strong and silent type well, Tripplehorn does as much as she can while not being given a lot to do, and Hopper is just about as fun a villain as you could wish for in this kind of fare (a scene with him trying out a replacement eye still makes me laugh harder than many big gags in comedy films). Majorino acts well opposite the adults, Michael Jeter is fun in a small role, and Gerard Murphy is another crafty villain in league with Hopper and co. The list of people in much smaller roles also includes a number of familiar faces: Leonardo Cimino, Robert Joy, Jack Black, Kim Coates, and one or two others.

Does it have flaws? It sure does. It's overlong, even in the shortest version available, it often misses the mark when it comes to the moments that aren't full of action, the computer effects, when on display, are mid-90s computer effects, and the ending is, well, it's a bit anti-climactic. But none of that is enough to spoil a movie that aims to provide viewers with a thrilling cinematic adventure. If you haven't seen it, or haven't seen it in years, then do check it out.  Maybe you'll agree with my opinion of it. Maybe enough time has passed, and the tide has turned for Waterworld.

8/10

You can buy this fantastic set here.

Sci-Fi September: Riddick (2013)

Mixing the expanded ideas of the second movie with the smaller focus of the first movie, Riddick is a bit of a muddle film that doesn't seem to know exactly what it wants, leaving it as the weakest of the Riddick films so far.

Vin Diesel returns to play the main character, this time left for dead on a hostile planet after a series of events that are eventually explained in flashback. He needs to shake off the cloak of civility that he allowed himself to wear for too long, he needs to heal, and he needs to figure out a way off the planet. Inviting some bounty hunters along seems like a good idea. They'll want the price still on his head, affording him the opportunity to steal a ship and make good his escape.

Written and directed by David Twohy, who has worked closely with Diesel to keep this franchise on the right track from the very beginning, there are a lot of moments here that are fun for fans of the character. Seeing him wait for the bounty hunters to arrive, and watching his plan unfold, provides plenty of potential, but it's a shame that the movie then starts to seemingly wind down when it should be building towards some kind of impressive finale.

Diesel is great, once again, in the lead role. He loves the character, and always does well by him. Matt Nable does well with the most interesting supporting character, Jordi Molla is stuck with one cliche piled on top of another, Katee Sackhoff is in the mix to please her fans, Dave Bautista and Bokeem Woodbine both do solid work, and Karl Urban returns in a cameo role that allows the series to maintain a nice line of continuity.

The main problem lies with the script, which is repetitive, unmemorable, and overlong. It takes almost half an hour just to get to the more entertaining aspect of the plot, with the first quarter of the movie proving to be quite a chore to get through.

Then there are the special effects, which are a step down from the second movie. In fact, they also feel like a step down from the first movie. That's due to the fact that some of the insert shots are as unnecessary as they are unrealistic. It feels like a child showing off his new toy while everyone around him realises that Santa gave him the cheap, knock-off version of a popular brand.

Last, but not least, is the general issue with the pacing. I mentioned the first quarter being a chore, but the rest of the film also feels less entertaining than it could be, simply because so many moments are dragged out, or wedged in between other scenes that feel as if they should have been edited out completely.

We'll have to wait and see what lies in store next for Riddick, but I'll be very surprised if the next movie (if there IS a next movie) isn't an improvement on this one.

5/10

http://www.amazon.com/Riddick-Complete-Collection-Blu-ray-UltraViolet/dp/B00GHP8T1Y/ref=sr_1_5?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1410721344&sr=1-5&keywords=riddick

Sci-Fi September: The Chronicles Of Riddick (2004)

After the small acorn that was Pitch Black, this sequel, in what would become the Riddick franchise, quickly lets viewers see that they're being given a mighty oak this time around. The first few scenes are grandiose, in terms of both visual style and the setting up of a premise that will allow people to learn more about the universe that vicious anti-hero Riddick (Vin Diesel) inhabits, and writer-director David Twohy clearly wants to go in a different direction from the enjoyably down 'n' dirty first film.

Starting off with narration that explains the Necromongers, a ruthless race who have been moving throughout the universe, killing or converting everyone on the planets that they conquer. We then move on to a man being chased by bounty hunters. That man is Riddick, and the bounty has been placed on his head to get him back to Helion Prime, the world next to be targeted by the Necromongers. It's not Riddick's fight, so he wants no part of the whole thing, but details eventually surface that make him reconsider. Details that also reveal more about his background and his feral nature.

With everything being so much bigger this time around, it was almost inevitable that The Chronicles Of Riddick would disappoint many people. It didn't set alight the box office, and it probably knocked a few people sideways who hoped for something more in line with the first film. Thankfully, people eventually warmed to the film, and the whole franchise idea, when they had the luxury of viewing the movie in their own home, and with a better idea of what they were getting into.

Diesel is, once again, the rock at the centre of the whole thing. He's effortlessly cool and intimidating as Riddick, embodying one of the great anti-heroes in modern cinema and loving every minute of it. Keith David reprises his role from Pitch Black, while Alexa Davalos takes over the role of another survivor from the first film, now going by the name Kyra. David is okay, mainly used for exposition and to set wheels in motion, but Davalos has the better role, and does well with it. Dame Judi Dench is an unexpected, though pleasing, addition to the cast, playing an ethereal character named Aereon, and the main villains are portrayed by Colm Feore, Karl Urban, Linus Roache and Thandie Newton. Urban and Roache both do good work, with the former being an actor who I've never seen give a bad performance, but Newton is sadly flat in a role that many actresses would have really had fun with. Feore, however, proves even more disappointing. He's the Lord Marshal, the big bad, and should be able to emanate power and menace whenever he's onscreen. He doesn't, which affects the film on a number of different occasions.

The script and direction from Twohy is solid, if sprinkled liberally with minor failings, such as the relatively weak villains. The special effects and visual design elements are impressive, despite a few key creations already showing their age compared to what can be done now, one decade on. The action set-pieces are sometimes fumbled, with some unfortunate over-editing making it hard to keep track of who is where onscreen, but the film continues to impress whenever the camera moves back, taking in grand landscapes, star systems, and giant spaceships. The fact that the focus remains on the expansive, as opposed to intimate, moments is what saves the film and makes it such an enjoyable sci-fi viewing.

The director and leading man may make mistakes on the way to getting their movie finished, but they always do right by Riddick and his universe. And that, for me, makes up for a hell of a lot.

7/10

http://www.amazon.com/Riddick-Complete-Collection-Blu-ray-UltraViolet/dp/B00GHP8T1Y/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1410092573&sr=1-1&keywords=riddick+box+set

Sci-Fi September: Pitch Black (2000)

Derivative of a whole heap of sci-fi movies, Pitch Black takes all of its separate parts and mixes them together into something cool and highly entertaining. The casting of Vin Diesel in the central role of anti-hero Riddick is vital to that, but let's not take anything away from the script or direction.

A spaceship crash lands on a planet that seems permanently hot and sunny. Thankfully, it's due to have a major eclipse. Not so thankfully, it also happens to be inhabited by some dangerous creatures that can only come out in the dark. The passengers will all have to work together to stay alive, which may be a bit of a problem when one of them is a psychotic killer, Riddick, who probably cares for his freedom more than the safety of anyone around him.

Directed by David Twohy, who had already been brought to the attention of some movie fans with two previous sci-fi movies (Timescape AKA Disaster In Time AKA Grand Tour: Disaster In Time and The Arrival), this is a film that makes the most of budget, cast and premise to create a real treat for movie fans. The myriad of influences are nice to spot, the script - by Jim and Ken Wheat, as well as Twohy - is spot on, with almost every line of dialogue, or action, revealing something about the characters struggling to survive until the end of the movie.

Vin Diesel is the rock at the centre of the film. He's cool, likable, and also believably dangerous. Riddick is a great anti-hero, one that both Twohy and Diesel care a hell of a lot for, as evidenced by the work that has subsequently gone in to creating a full background and mythos for the character. Radha Mitchell does well enough as someone who tries to take charge of the situation, and she's someone I always enjoy seeing appear in movies anyway. As is Mr. Cole Hauser, here having fun once again as a man who wants nothing more than a way off the planet with Riddick still in his custody. Elsewhere, the cast is fleshed out by Claudia Black, Keith David, Rhiana Griffith, and one or two others. Nobody does a bad job, with everyone feeling like a real person instead of just a cardboard cut-out awaiting possible death from the impressive, vicious creatures.

The special effects are pretty solid throughout, with the practical work holding up better than some of the CGI, and everything onscreen is for the benefit of the story, from each piece of extra characterisation, to the lighting (of course), to the sound design, to the dry, rocky terrain, full of holes, that makes up the landscape of the planet.

Everyone pitches in (no pun intended), but I think it's fair to say that the majority of the praise can be heaped upon Twohy and Diesel for their efforts to give audiences such a memorable sci-fi character, dropped into such an entertaining first adventure.

8/10

http://www.amazon.com/Riddick-Complete-Collection-Blu-ray-UltraViolet/dp/B00GHP8T1Y/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1409556532&sr=1-1&keywords=riddick+complete+collection