DECENT CLONE

Ridley Scott's „Alien” inspired entire generations of movie creators and it continues to do so 'till this very day. „Life” is one of the exact replicas of the 1979 masterpiece of SF horror and it does its ripping off relentlessly. There is no proper introduction, just plain old action and horror. The concept of the dormant alien creature (aka Calvin) that does its growing by devouring the crew of the Interantional Space Station is something we already saw more than once. All that follows represent one great mashup of deja vus that stretches out to the ending credits.

The A-list cast will do their parts without mistakes (especially Gyllenhaal), while the CGI and camera will be heavily influenced by the makers of „Gravity”.

Script will wander off pretty early in the movie, so expect no serious and scientifically justifiable plots.

„Life” will not surprise you, but will succeed in amusing you, especially if you were raised on the trash SF horror of the '80s.

LIFE – 5/10

FOTO: newyorker.com

GENRE MAINSTREAM

Family drama is one of those genres that are almost but extinct in these modern Hollywood times, since it has been completely overwhelmed with the heavy drama style of narrating real life stories. And it wasn't always like that.

Jake Gyllenhaal gets one of his first major opportunities on the big screen with a every kid's dream of flying to outer space from a God forsaken small mining town story called „October sky”. There will be no surprises here, since the script follows all the well known cornerstones of similar long features, the mistrust and judgement of the boys fellow citizens, the awe of the authorities when faced upon their achievements and the dream come true outcome at the end.

„October sky” won't disappoint you, but it won't enthuse you either.

OCTOBER SKY – 5/10

FOTO: cdn4.thr.com

NOTHING NEW

Mountaineering movies haven’t come a long way since genre’s first box-office smasher, „Cliffhanger”. If we exclude several European tryouts („Nordwand”), everything else coming from Hollywood was mediocre. „Everest” doesn’t represent an exception from that rule.

Story based on true events takes us on a final civil excursion on the highest peak in the world which several climbers won’t finish among the living. Besides the highly speculative script, the main roles fail significantly (Josh Brolin, Keira Knightley), while the better part of the casting remain unused (Jake Gyllenhaal, Sam Worthington). On the bright side, there are some merciless scenes and realistic portrays of climber’s final moments.

„Everest” offers nothing new to the subgenre and therefore should not be the subject of such a hype that followed it.

EVEREST - 4/10

FOTO: monkeygoosemag.com