Lana Lorenzen

This is a good film and fun to watch. I'm not really a Marvel Universe person (though I really enjoyed Captain Marvel); and, I'm not into superheros and never was. However, this was an interesting film, not only for the performances of Paul Rudd and Michael Douglas, but because of the depiction of the ants. However, knowing this is a piece of fiction--I hasten to add--I suppose the film makers could make a winged male ant the center piece of the colonly. In reality, males mate and then die (they don't know how to feed themselves). It would have been nice to see the ant colonies, which are female, represented more accurately. It would have just been a nice touch.

It's hard to accurately rate this film (but I would hardly call it the SciFi hit of this generation). The cinematography was superb, deserving of a theatre screen. The action scenes with the Predator and animals/humans was vividly filmed. So for filming: five stars. The acting was, generally, mediocre. The male Natives were fairly convincing, but Amber Midthunder was miscast as the lead. This woman has no "acting chops," and, obviously she's untrained and inexperienced. The Comanche certainly had female fighters who fought along side their husbands or led war parties for revenge, and a few became full-time warriors. Unfortunately, Midthunder just didn't inspire that extraordinary ability and strength of spirit that a female Comanche warrior would have had--Midthunder is a very light weight performer. Michelle Thrush was first-rate and my favorite character. Dakota Beavers as the brother was adequate--two stars for acting. The dog they brought in was excellent. I've had the sense, over the past ten years, that so many movies are (1) made on a shoe string, even with big names like Nicholas Cage--and it shows; or, (2) they're crafted by the dozen as filler for the streaming networks--and it shows. I eventually turned the movie off about 3/4 of the way through (Hulu) because I lost interest.

I really like this film just as I do the series. I purchased the entire series as well as the two movies. However, there are a few things that mystify me. For starters, the hunters who stumble into the Texas cave to explore it are Neanderthals?! I think not. They should have appeared as Asiatics (or possibly European as some archaeologists believe) with black hair drawn back and fixed with strips of hide, looking more like Native Americans, and dressed in clothing appropriate for western Asia 35,000 years ago; secondly, why blow up a building to get rid of the bodies and extraneous evidence? Why not just incinerate everything out in the middle of some desert occupied by a military base? Thirdly, why was the FBI blamed for anything? Mulder and Scully actually saved dozens of lives. There's not much logic in the first 25 minutes or so but I still enjoyed it (I've watched it several times.)

I always have a difficult time watching foreign films using subtitles because the translations always seem so inadequate. This movie, however, is so dramatic, with such riveting cinematography and themes that the subtitles never get in the way. It speaks in a universal language to any human being who spiritually feels the connection between the animal world, the human world, the planet, and the omnipresent powers of nature and the creator. The lead actor, Agnieszka Mandat is absolutely wonderful to watch. Wish I could see her in English-speaking roles. (I'm sorry but as a vegetarian I couldn't help but cheer the animals on--what kind of a human beast would skin an animal alive simply to make it suffer?!)

I would hardly call it "absolutely amazing." It's television, people. The show seems to be aimed at adolescent children. The writing was lackluster and uninspired. I could have written more imaginative plots--the writers had countless scenerios from which to choose using numerous "monsters." Buffy the Vampire Slayer did a much better job with the same material. It doesn't appear as if the writers put in real effort to create a believable world--with the exception of the locations shots in Portland. Most of the actors were adequate for the roles but certainly not memorable. However, five stars for the veteran actors Silas Mitchell and Kate Burton. I've watched both actors in other productions. These two individuals are absolutely first-rate.

The opening scene of the space craft is interesting but when the action shifts to the planet Mul, the special effects are superb. It's an exquisite planet with exquisite people--until it's pulverized a few minutes later by crashing space ships. If the movie had concentrated on this planet, and included it, intact, within the storyline it would have been a much more interesting movie. Another, more serious failing, is the casting of Cara Delevingne as Sergeant Laureline and Dane DeHaan as Major Valerian. These two people are far too lightweight for the roles. The lead male should be someone who looks older than fifteen and the female figure should also be older as well. They can't act, either. It's impossible to believe that they're actually military personnel. I envision a Harrison Ford character for Valerian and a young Sigourney Weaver as the Sergeant. The market scene is filled with foolish characters and silly activities that simply divert from the theme of the film. Sadly, Clive Owen, a passable actor, speaking in an accent that's completely out-of-place, and Ethan Hawke, an excellent actor, are trapped in a chaotic, mindless plot. This is one film that should have stayed within the pages of the comic book. However, like numerous science fiction films that generally stink, the special effects are excellent.

This was a well-written comedy with an ensemble of characters who were excellent in their roles. To say it was the best comedy ever on TV would be an exaggeration. MASH was very well acted and the jokes were sharper and refined. However, the platinum test for any comedy is Frasier. The lines written for that comedy were exquisite: sharp, witty, unexpected and delivered with impeccible timing.

This storyline of this film is unbelievable. The entire film is disjointed, incoherent, and chaotic. It completely squanders the talents of actor Joe Pesci and very obviously is not written by Shane Black. The opening scene ends with a city building pancaking to the ground due to an explosive denotating. The collapse occurs because Riggs refuses to wait for the bomb squad and tries to disarm the bomb himself. My thoughts were: Who is going to pay for all that damage that, most likely, occurred because of police negligence? The two cops involved are only busted down and not fired? Come on! I can just imagine the lawsuits if an event like that happened in reality. In the previous two movies, the charater of Riggs at least made sense. In this film, the character doesn't make much sense at all--he's gone off the tracks. Unfortunately, I bought the film on Amazon and I should have rented it--less loss of money.

This was not a major studio feature but I enjoyed it. The actors were excellent. Quite often in these smaller feature films, the actors are really incompetent as is the direction, writing, and production. I watched this film through to the end and it held my attention. I've been a fan of Nick Chinlund since he portrayed Donny Faster on one of the X-File episodes. He gave an excellent performance then just as he does with the character of Jake. (Don S. Davis, of course, was also an X-Files alum.) Good job all around: very good direction, excellent dialog, very nice cinematography, very believable acting, and the special effects were first-rate. The Wyvern re-creation was very convincing.

This movie is too poorly written to be satire. The opening scenes were clumsy and mystifying. They didn't make much sense though I knew what the writer and director were attempting to set up. The story proceeds with a group of men and women who awaken to find themselves in metal gags. They eventually find the keys to the gags and a store of weapons that the Elites have left them (these are not the actions of liberal Elites; that's ludicrous. They would be stupid, fascist Elites who have the maturity of eight-year-olds). I gave the film four stars because of the performance of Betty Gilpin. She is first-rate in this movie. When she walks into the "country store" in "Arkansas" she takes over the screen and the movie. Much of the rest of the cast is superfluous. Three-quarters of the way through the audience learns why she's so capable with firearms and self-defense. The ending of the film is a little odd-ball but fun. I actually wish that all concerned had made it into a serious horror film.