Manio's Viewing Of: Prometheus (2012)

 Welcome to one of the films I've been most excited about, and that film is Prometheus the sort of "Alien" prequel kind of deal, that isn't a prequel. Confused? I'll do my best at explaining the film, and how it's presented. Note, my review may be a little skewed since I saw the film in 3D and just got back from the theater. 3D films hurt my head a tad, so I'll try to pump this out while dealing with my cranial aches.

Fast-forward to the year 2089. Two scientists (Noomi Rapace, and Logan Marshall Green) discover a cave in Scotland with cave-paintings on the inside which show a man pointing at four spheres in the sky. This is soon revealed to be a star map that is identical the paintings found in other places around the world, and in other cultures. Then, the film hops into the year 2093 with a team of people traveling to a distant moon called LV-223 (which bears the same name layout etc as the planet in Alien called LV-426). Eventually, the team begins their investigation and soon begins finding evidence of another race called the "Engineers" or as we've come to call them through-out the years in the Alien franchise as Space Jockeys.

As you could probably guess the film takes a turn, and things begin to become violent, gory and people begin dying. Now, a question people are wondering is "are there Xenomorphs" in this film, and my response if...maybe. Maybe not. The film is more focused on this crew trying to discover the origins of humanity, and find out what these Engineers are all about, while all the time dealing with a weird black ooze. The film is also populated by a very strong cast, with David (Michael Fassbender) an android who's motives are unclear, and the actor does a fantastic job at portraying the android. Charlize Theron does an amazing job as well as Meredith Vickers who seems like some sort of a bitch, but honestly would do anything to keep everyone else safe (or keep herself safe) as we seen in the film during a few select moments. Another solid actor in the film is Idris Elba (Janek) the captain of the ship "Prometheus" who's a bad-ass, and seems like the comic relief of the film and he does a stellar job.

My recommendation: I had a better time with this film than I did Avengers. Mainly because I'm more of a fan, and more interested in the universe of Aliens than I am about The Avengers. People have criticized this film for having some plot-holes which it does, and constantly makes you curious as into how these things are happening, and why. However, I see it as a major boost in the film's over-all impression as it makes you curious, and constantly thinking "why". Horror films need to do that, because in my opinion I love being confused, and trying to piece things together and see if my speculations are correct. The film's ending also seems to be open for a sequel, but then the sequel could even be the film Alien. Who knows? All in all, I found this film to be a blast and that everyone should go check it out. Even if you're not into the Alien franchise, you should still check this out.

It's a solid film, and you'll have a great time. This is my film of 2012 so far. THUMBS UP for Prometheus. Go check it out.

Manio's Viewing Of: The Woman In Black (2012)

I haven't done one of these in a long time, so bear with me. I've got a Wizard to help me along with this one today. The Woman In Black is a horror film based around the novel by Susan Hill, and revolves around this woman dressed in black who's killing children when she is seen by adults, by making the children commit suicide. Kind of lame, and they don't really explain why she's doing this exactly.

The film starts Arthur Kipps (Daniel Radcliffe) who's a young solictor who's trying to sell the house of Alice Drablow. Kipps ends up befriending a man called Sam Daily (Ciaran Hinds) whom's a wealthy landowner, who allows Arthur to spend time at his house while he isn't working at the Eel Marsh Manor. The movie takes a long time to explain what's happening, and is only an hour and a half but seems to drag on more, and more with multiple scenes of Arthur walking around the manor, and getting plagued by a ton of jump scares (a few which really made me jump). The film employs a really heavy creepy feeling, and don't hesitate on making these kids die rather violently, but I only remember only seeing two deaths. The one girl downs a bottle of a lye, and dies in Arthur's arms where as the other one lights herself on fire.

Like I mentioned, we soon get an explanation that the children commit suicide when the Woman In Black has been sighted, but like I mentioned before as well we don't get a solid explanation as to why, and we're forced to come up with our own theories. Honestly, it's really hard to write a review for this film just because of how cliched, plot-less and typical this film is. The two positives I have to give this film are how much little dialogue the film has, which really seems to focus on Arthur's movements, and the happenings in the house which are a fantastic take on this film, but sadly this starts to get stale, and we start thinking Arthur is mute and can't talk. Also, the house feels creepy and they really nailed the design for making it a creepy film, and a creepy house that you wouldn't want to enter.

All in all Woman In Black is a nice take on the horror genre, but seemingly falls flat with the plot, characters, and the whole point of the Woman In Black. It really feels like it missed out on making a great film, and sadly it's one you can watch alone and not really remember it the next day, or not even got scared. Watched this with a friend, and we seemed to have more fun making Harry Potter jokes about what happens in the film. Another saving grace for the film is Daniel Radcliffe is possibly the only good actor in the film, other than Ciaran Hinds. Both of them are really solid, but everyone else feels tacked on, and pointless.

My verdict? Thumbs down. Avoid this film, unless you're curious about horror films set in Victorian times, and if you want to see little children get killed.

Manio's Viewing Of: Cursed (2005)

Werewolves, and scantily clad women. What more could you want? Oh yeah, a good film by Wes Craven. Cursed is a 2005 horror film directed by Wes Craven and written by screenwriter Kevin Williamson. Craven and Williamson are the creators of Scream.

Cursed is about a brother and sister, Jimmy Myers (Jesse Eisenberg) and Ellie Myers (Christina Ricci) whom are driving down a road late at night in which they hit an unknown animal, and then end up hitting another car sending it rolling down into a gully. Jimmy, and Ellie scared of what happened go and check out the person they had an accident with Becky Morton (Shannon Elizabeth) whom in the beginning of the film was given a prediction that there would be lots of blood in her life, and to watch out for the beast. As Jimmy and Ellie attempt to rescue Becky she is dragged off, and torn to pieces by an unknown creature which in turn bites Jimmy and Ellie.

Eventually, shit starts getting weird with Jimmy and Ellie eventually developing odd traits so to speak. Like eating bacon raw, having sex appeal, and loving the smell of blood. Things get weirder, when people start dying and the only trace of evidence is body parts, blood, and an animal which looks like a wolf. We eventually find out that the creature is a werewolf, and it's planning on killing everyone in town including Jimmy and Ellie which in turn are becoming werewolves themselves. The film is alright, but it's really slow and is full of horrible cliches, and predictable outcomes. So, when watching this film I could predict everything that was about to happen, which you shouldn't be able to do with a good horror film. Either way, it's got werewolves but not a lot of gore even thought it received an R rating in some places which is kind of confusing.

However, if you're into werewolves and scantily clad women you may want to take a look at this film but my recommendation is stay far away. Thumbs down. Come on Wes Craven you've made some good films before. What happened?

Notable People
Christina Ricci - (The Addams Family, Addams Family Values)
Jesse Eisenberg - (Zombieland, The Social Network)
Joshua Jackson - (Dawson's Creek, Fringe)