DAMIEN RILEY, world musician and performer

Category: Uncategorized

  • The Cloverfield Paradox

    Orbiting a planet on the brink of war, scientists test a device to solve an energy crisis, and end up face-to-face with a dark alternate reality. An arm getting amputated futuristically with no blood is cool. Even making the setting of the third installment of the Cloverfield franchise in outer space is cool. BUT, If you haven’t got a great story and techniques that keep the viewer’s interest, that stuff is side-stuff. Also, ask yourself this: what is the continuity between these three films? Aliens? Cloverfield as a name? I would say nothing but marketing. Could it be they tried to dupe us?

    JJ Abrams has been around the block. Most stuff he directed I like but not “Super 8.” He’s in the the producer seat here and I would rather watch Super 8 than “The Cloverfield Paradox.” The Director is Julius Onah. I can tell you he’s directed at least 4 movies looking at his bio. The only one I have seen is this one.

    The Cloverfield Paradox (2018)
    TV-MA | 1h 42min | Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi | 4 February 2018 (USA)
    Orbiting a planet on the brink of war, scientists test a device to solve an energy crisis, and end up face-to-face with a dark alternate reality.
    Director: Julius Onah
    Writers: Oren Uziel (story by), Doug Jung (story by) | 1 more credit »
    Stars: Gugu Mbatha-Raw, David Oyelowo, Daniel Brühl

    Unfortunately, there is no special identity for these films, apart from having “Cloverfield” in their title. More time should have been spent figuring out that special sauce.

    Were there some cool effects? Yep. Did we see actresses cry on cue? Yep. Was it boring? Yep. Did it remind this author of the vanilla and blah film “Life” in almost every visual way? Yep yep. I gave you two yeps there, interpret amongst yourselves. RE: special effects, my favorite one was when the soldier lady broke through the shattering glass of the spaceship and was jettisoned into space. Pure awesomeness. I appreciate the racial leap of victory this director and cast represents. Nothing can take that away. Nonetheless, it’s a bad story here that made everyone look at their watches far too often. Will there be a Cloverfield 4? I sadly have to give this one a 5/10

  • Alien: Covenant (2017)

    This is a fun night out at the movies. It’s to be seen once for all fans of the genre. Once. Considering I’ve seen the original Alien from the 70’s probably well over 20 times, I must make the distinction between the two. The original you see 20 + times, this one once.

    Alien: Covenant

    Alien: Covenant

    “The crew of a colony ship, bound for a remote planet, discover an uncharted paradise with a threat beyond their imagination, and must attempt a harrowing escape.” -IMDB

    Cast

    Michael Fassbender David/Walter
    Katherine Waterston Daniels
    Billy Crudup Oram
    Danny McBride Tennessee

    Directed by

    Ridley Scott

    Written by

    Dan O’Bannon, Ronald Shusett

    Other Info

    Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
    R
    Fri 19 May 2017 UTC
    122min
    IMDB Rating: 7.0

    Ridley Scott invented the Alien film franchise. He only directed Alien 1 and Prometheus, which is meant to be a prequel to the original Alien. For that reason I was very excited to see what he brought to bear in Covenant. Unfortunately, there isn’t much for true enthusiasts.

    What you do get is an action film with some really fake looking creatures you will not think about any longer than the trip walking to your car from the theater.

    I don’t think Ridley Scott should have made an action film playing horror meets Spy Kids. That’s what this feels like. The lead role is played by a guy who blew stuff up in Tropic Thunder. Hasn’t Ridley seen that film? There is such a thing as typecasting. I had a hard time believing in the space age story with him at the help. He even plays with a naked girl fidget while deciding things on the ship. It’s lame man, really bad.

    The monsters are so poorly done I think film students in University today could have dome better as class projects.

    Finally: Hear this makers of Alien: We don’t care about David or the other one. Your storyline there sucks royally. Did you think this was blade Runner? About andriods becoming self-aware? It’s about aliens shitheads.

    Let’s try a little harder to be spooky and cgi artists next time guys and gals as I am sure there will be a next time. I recommend it once but if you miss it, you won’t miss anything much really. If anyone out there has comments PLEASE leave me some! I’m starving to death with no comments. Dissenting opinions welcome.

    5/10

  • The Green Inferno (2013)

    “I can smell it. My God, I can smell my friend being cooked.” -Lars

    Some cannibal footage is Nat Geo, other is embarrassingly faked, and yet other footage is so well done it’s scary. “The Green Inferno” is a cannibal movie done so well, Nat Geo may purchase clips for its nature show.

    The Green Inferno (2013)
    Cast
    Lorenza Izzo

    as Justine

    Ariel Levy

    as Alejandro

    Daryl Sabara

    as Lars

    Directed by
    Eli Roth
    Written by
    Guillermo Amoedo, Eli Roth
    Other Info

    Adventure, Horror
    Rated R
    1h 40min

    We are all such idealists after we graduate from high school. People often enlist in the Peace Corps when they want to make a difference. And there are those “groups” at colleges. Remember those how hand out leaflets and say things like “Don’t think, ACT?” This film starts out on a college campus where a group of activists are recruiting fresh meat.

    The leader is intense and so are his followers. They want to stop illegal cutting down of trees in the rainforest. Basically, a group of college kids end up getting on a plane to protest the illegal cutting down of trees. They have an impact but the true plot is what happens when they are captured by a tribe of cannibals.

    It’s amazing and scary to watch the scenes at this point. Much attention to detail has gone into making the viewer believe these people are being sauteed and eaten. Justine (Laura Izzo) does a great job as the protagonist. She learns some hard lessons as a result of going on the trip. There are others that didn’t make it who may or may not have learned lessons as well.

    This is a graphic, bloody, unapologetic film. There were times I got chills of fear but I never could turn my eyes away. This film took a lot of work to make happen. The cannibals seem like real cannibals. The director did a really good job assembling them and getting them to tell their part of the story through acting. It’s a truly great horror movie. I recommend it!

  • Days of Heaven (1978)

    Your eyes… Your ears… Your senses… will be overwhelmed. In 1910, a Chicago steel worker accidentally kills his supervisor and flees to the Texas panhandle with his girlfriend and little sister to work harvesting wheat in the fields of a stoic farmer. Listen to me act out my review below :) OR just continue reading below that.

    A love triangle, a swarm of locusts, a hellish fire—Malick captures it all with dreamlike authenticity, creating at once a timeless American idyll and a gritty evocation of turn-of-the-century labor.

    Days of Heaven (1978)
    PG | 1h 34min | Drama, Romance | 6 October 1978 (USA)

    A hot-tempered farm laborer convinces the woman he loves to marry their rich but dying boss so that they can have a claim to his fortune.
    Director: Terrence Malick
    Writer: Terrence Malick
    Stars: Richard Gere, Brooke Adams, Sam Shepard

    This is a nice little story with spectacular cinematography. It’s a piece of American art in cinema that stays with you after the closing credits have run. There is a little here about a lot of things: liberty, justice, wealth, poverty, and the American way to happiness. This has been called the best reviewed film in history. Will I be in that camp? Wait and see. Let me tell you a bit about this director: Terrence Malick. This director is one of the most interesting ones I’ve yet to learn about. He found his way after 18 by attending Harvard. That’s not your average college folks. To get his undergrad degree he must have shown discipline and fortitude. After that as time neared the 1970’s he decided to make short films and eventually graduated from a film school. Now, Harvard and film school don’r automatically make a great director but in this case, they did. He directed “Badlands” with Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek. Like “Days of Heaven” this film deals with the gatekeepers that prevent certain people from achieving the American Dream. It also deals with infatuation, evil, drive, manipulation, and murder. But we’ll save “Badlands” for another day.

    Now, let’s take a look at a few of the actors and the characters they play. Richard Gere plays Bill. He’s the one you have to hake up your mind whether he’s a criminal, evil, or just a desperate man trying to survive. Shoveling coal, he gets in an argument with his boss and accidentally kills him. After that he takes his girlfriend and girlfriend’s sister on the run for he knows he will be executed if caught.

    In the new town, we see more of Abby, played by Brooke Adams. Incidentally, it was really educational for me as a reviewer to see her in this film. I knew her face so well from many films but did not realize just HOW many. The long list includes Monk (tv), Man on Fire, and may more. She does a great job with a complex character. She has to fake love a landowner she knows is dying in order to get inheritance for her boyfriend (Gere), and sister. It’s a mess and it only gets worse. Still, it raises so many questions about what is fair when people are so low they can never be rich.

    Sam Shepard, may his poetic soul RIP, plays the landowner. I think you will agree that just these three actors with a good story and amazing cinematography will be worth the watching. It is. I thoroughly enjoyed this film and recommend it to you with a 9/10 score.

  • Sing

    Sing is animals, music, bright colors, a cute story, and … did I say animals? You can’t rate this one for anyone above 12 but it gets full stars for anyone below. I guess if you’re 13 or over and are still a child at heart, you’ll rate it highly too.

    Sing

    Sing

    “A koala named Buster Moon has one final chance to restore his theater to its former glory by producing the world’s greatest singing competition.” -IMDB

    Cast

    Matthew McConaughey Buster Moon (voice)
    Reese Witherspoon Rosita (voice)
    Seth MacFarlane Mike (voice)
    Scarlett Johansson Ash (voice)

    Directed by

    Garth Jennings, Christophe Lourdelet

    Written by

    Garth Jennings

    Other Info

    Animation, Comedy, Drama, Family, Music
    PG
    Wed 21 Dec 2016 UTC
    108min
    IMDB Rating: 7.3

    “The Koala takes the cheese … Hi hoe the merry-O …” Anyway, the Koala is the ringleader of this movie. He is starting a variety show with all the unknown talent in the city. His mother once performed in a local theater that she owned but now he is trying to do it on his own to impress her.

    Koalas are cute in the wild but I wouldn’t have picked this one to be the centerpiece of this movie. The other animated creatures are much more pleasing to the eye than he is. Still, he does a good job putting everything together in his quest to make everything work.

    Unfortunately, I feel this is another “bait and switch” ad campaign. We have been seeing the ads for this film mysteriously simply titled Sing. We saw the pig swooning and dancing with maracas in the grocery story for months. The fact of the matter is, most of the whopping 65 musical routines are very short and they don’t ring many bells. I say that as compared to the stellar Trolls that came out this year where the song number is less but the music is more well-known. I think hiring Justin Timberlake to direct the music on that one paid off.

    As I was arguing some of my criticism to my 11-year-old daughter, she reminded me, “It’s a kid’s movie Dad.” I will leave that magnanimous wisdom with you. Does it matter the story is thin and the characters underdeveloped? I say no and the sound of kids laughing and clapping at the closing credits drove that home with me. I recommend this only after you have seen Trolls, a much better animated music based film. But after that, it’s definitely a thumbs up with me.

  • Deadpool

    Title: Deadpool
    Genre: Action, Adventure, Comedy
    MPAA Rating: R
    Year: 2016
    Director: Tim Miller, known for “Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.”
    Top Billed Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Morena Baccarin, T.J. Miller
    Brief Synopsis: A former military dynamo turned reckless mercenary is transformed into having a superpower.
    My Word to the Wise: Add another film to the Marvel superhero franchise. It mocks formulas but is formulaic to a fault. As far as Marvel films go, this is more fun than they are usually allowed to be. It’s definitely fun but not what I had imagined. The reviews made it seem like something apart from Marvel, it’s not.

    Spoilers may follow in the rest of this review.

    Ryan Reynolds does a good enough job in this Marvel film that sets out to be more gritty than the rest. He’s delivering jokes almost from credits to credits. It’s funny, for a while. I don’t mean to judge like a puritan, because I ‘aint one fo sho, but it seems like the producers wanted nudity, excessive blood, and reckless profanity throughout this movie, that appeals mostly to teenage boys. It’s so obvious they’re doing it you almost expect Deadpool to address the age group in one of his asides. By the way, there are many asides which is new for these movies.

    I would like to see Deadpool take on Iron Man. This is partially because I never liked the Iron Man’s false bravado. I know the audience would root for Deadpool because, quite frankly, he way more crazy. I went into this movie not knowing how locked in to Stan Lee and the gang it was. The reviews I read seemed to hint at a superhero outside of the commercial loop. I saw that in about the first 1/3 of the movie. After they explain how Deadpool came to be, it because just another Marvel/X-Men/Avengers for me. They act like they are making fun of the genre with clever writing but Deadpool is just a slightly different incarnation. I hope I’m not bumming anyone out who wants to see it. It is certainly a lot of fun as any Marvel film is. Many buckets of fake blood gave their lives for this film and there’s a lot of nude scenes. I don’t recall seeing those in a Marvel film before. Trust me, I’m not complaining, just being real.

    The teenage boys, ages 11-19 will love this film. The older ones will be mildly entertained. Based on the ratings out there in the strongholds: Rotten Tomatoes and IMDB, it’s a “great film.” I suppose I agree with them. There’s a lot more on my mind bout this film but I’ll let it come out in comments on other people’s reviews. I really wanted to love this movie but after all the hoopla and watching it, I just like it. I have a platonic relationship with it. Will I see it again? Probably not. It has nothing on an intellectual level I’m afraid. Because it tried too hard to make fun of a genre that it was itself (it didn’t seem to know that) it lost a star. I have movies that “try.” Because I felt the R rating was sought out of indifference for the ten boys who make up the main audience, it lost another star. It’s definitely worth seeing though and damn funny at times. In closing though, I do not feel it lives up to the hype it’s receiving as “something different” in a superhero movie.

    A lot of my friends loved this movie. Whether you agree or disagree with my appraisal, please let me know in the comments.