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Stay Alive, a review by Rich

Stay Alive



Mind-bending thriller about a killer video game. The real world and the game world gruesomely collide when a group of friends play 'Stay Alive', a mysterious underground videogame that kills the gamer whose character dies in play. In a death-defying race against time, the survivors must solve the mystery of the game while desperately trying to stay alive.

Teen horror in the vein of Final Destination, and although not amazing viewing it is not the worst I've seen. The idea of a group of pc gamers drawn into a deadly computer game which starts acting itself out in real life was good, although the movie relied too much on sudden noises and 'jumps' to provide the scary moments.  A lot of the scenes are seriously dis-jointed and the cinematography is haphazard. The pace keeps you interested, and the storyline and acting are of an average quality.
Because of an immensely poor ending you are left feeling a little disappointed and cheated, and thus it has to be marked down as below average.
 

(From Riches Random Reviews on April 27th, 2009)

127 Hours, a review by Danae Cassandra

127 Hours
Year of Release: 2010
Directed By: Danny Boyle
Starring: James Franco
Genre: Drama, Adventure

Overview:Slumdog MillionaireMy Thoughts:
This is a great film - and made so by the extraordinary performance by James Franco.  It's his film; no other character is anything other than minor.  He must carry the whole film on his shoulders and he does so easily.  He truly portrays the intensity of the situation, the increasing desperation, thirst, exhaustion, despair - and ultimately determination and hope.  You really must see the film, if for no other reason than Franco's performance. 

The rest of the film is very well done.  There is a meticulous interest in the small details of Ralson's claustrophobic situation, beautiful cinematography of the countryside he takes his fateful hike in, creative use of the camera that both gives the film movement and emphasizes the immobility.  Just about perfect in every way, a great adventure film, a triumph of the spirit.  Highly recommended.

Bechdel Test: Fail

Overall: 4.75/5

(From 127 Hours on February 20th, 2014)

24: Season 7, a review by DJ Doena

Last weekend I watched the extended version of 24: Redemption and then the seventh season of 24.

The movie while still in "real time" was a nice change of pace with that african location and not having to save the world but just a group of orphans. That was a good idea and well done if you ask me.

The seventh season is a different matter. Don't get me wrong, I did really like it. It was way better than the fourth and fifth season and I'd say the show has turned upwards again since the beginning of the sixth season.

Let me first describe what I didn't like and then go to the good parts.

The season had many elements every previous season also had and that makes it somewhat predictable.
First and foremost, nobody trusts Jack and they only get in his way - everybody should know by now that Jack is always right.
Then there's this huge threat by "the man" that is resolved precisely after 12 hours and is replaced by the threat of "the man behind the man". So once the big bad is identified you know that he will be dead by half-time and the true evil will appear.
Then there's Jack's superior who makes always the wrong or the slow decision and is either killed this season or the next. The only exception to this rule was James Morrison's character Bill Buchanan who was introduced in the fourth season as Jack's new boss.
And then there are two conspiracies within the government, one on a political level and one on the personal level in close proximity to the president.

All the above applies also to the seventh season.

But they also made some changes. The two most important are the decommissioning of CTU and to give Jack a new (female) partner.
No one really knows why they did it - after all, CTU saved the day at least six times before, but they did. Bill was retired, Chloe a stay-at-home mom and Jack was on the run. Now he's back and he has to testify about his actions in front of a Senate hearing - which of course lasts only until the next crisis arises.
Jack only works in an advising capacity with FBI agent Renee Walker who is totally against methods such as torturing that have been used by the CTU and Jack. But this wouldn't be 24 if that resolution would survive the first contact with the enemy. Still she tries to restrain Jack and is actually getting through to him.
And we have a new president, a woman this time. And I really like her. She reminds me a lot of the late President David Palmer and that's a good thing in my book.
I also think that this was the first time I liked Kim Bauer and her behaviour. She's certainly grown as a person.
Another moment that I thought was impressive was when Jack changed his shirt and Renee could see all the scars that he has "collected" over the years and when it dawned to her what he himself endured (the scars the Chinese gave to his hands at the beginning of the sixth season were gone though - I assume it was a make-up decision to "forget" them or he would have to wear them all the time).
And the last thing I'd like to add is the topic of this year's longest day: That they questioned the reasonability of private army companies like BlackStarckwater and pointed out the danger that they represent.

The seventh season had an end that could have served as series finale but since there will be an eighth sure I am sure that I will tune in.

(From 24: Season 7 on September 16th, 2009)