“Skyline” …. A whole new meaning to the term “Man Power

Warning: Major spoilers within. If you don’t want to know what happens, do not read!



So, when I sat down to watch Skyline, I was pretty sure I had it pegged as another Cloverfield flop that would leave me nauseous with a migraine and vertigo. But, actually, it was more Independence Day meets War of the Worlds via Tom Cruise (which I must confess, I enjoyed). Skyline, for the most part, was actually pretty good, and unlike Cloverfield, it didn’t get me motion sick and it vividly showed me the aliens. I’m not going to say that every minute of it was brilliant, but it proved to be entertaining enough to see in the theaters.

For those of you not familiar with the 2010 flick, here's the blip written by our friends at Universal Pictures. "Strange lights descend on the city of Los Angeles, drawing people outside like moths to a flame where an extraterrestrial force threatens to swallow the entire human population off the face of the Earth." Sounds a little familiar, doesn't it?

                                               Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Alright, now with that aside, let me start with the bad news. I'm all for the use of flash backs. I think they're very powerful things. Heck, the entire show of Lost was based on the concept. But, the way in which a flash back was used basically five minutes into the movie really pissed me off. What was the point? They didn’t need it. Usually those sort of flashbacks are used to explain to the viewer how the characters got to this climactic intro to the story, but this movie didn't open at the climax, nor was it the most exciting part in the film, so it just really made no sense to me. The movie really should have started from the beginning of flash back. I just don’t see the point, really.

My other gripe is the end, which I can appreciate the concept, but I’m so very annoyed at the same time. I’ll get to that later, though. First, I’m like to beg the question, why are the aliens in this movie attacking earth and sucking all the little people up into their mother ships? I mean, it’s in my nature to want things to have a purpose beyond mind-numbingly killer special effects, which they were!

Well, Independence Day says that their aliens go from planet to planet burning up all of its natural resources and sucking it dry, and then they move on. War of the Worlds says that our planet is full of yummy human fodder upon whose blood the aliens like to feed. Mmmm. Men in Black: aliens are trying to escape interstellar oppression, and let’s face it, Earth is like the universe’ American… everybody wants to go there to live the dream. And then in Signs, well… really, I think the purpose there was just to torment Mel Gibson.  But Skyline really doesn’t have any reason why the aliens come rudely and blindingly crashing to Earth to kill off mankind. But here’s what I kinda get from it. In Skyline, humans are basically like little disposable batteries to aliens. Our bodies are that annoying plastic wrapping that we just throw away and our brains are like long-lasting lithium batteries. I mean, spoiler alert, look at the alien that got clobbered by a car in the parking garage. All it had to do was pop the head off it’s nearest victim like a Pez dispenser and insert the guy’s brain into itself, and voilà! It’s alive!!!

And what was that with the creepy skin issue that started coming back on Jarrod even without the light? The dude was starting to turn into Michael Corvin (Scott Speedman) from Underworld. It’s like he gets all angry and super-human, and yet somehow he manages to lose to the aliens?! Holy, wow, big spoiler alert. Sorry. But I did put a warning at the beginning of this. Yes, while Elaine manages to wake up and move about freely in the mess of bodies on the ship, Jarrod, who exhibited inhuman abilities mere moments prior in the film, lays there like a limp noodle and lets his head get popped of and his brain hijacked. Seriously? You have to be kidding me. This is supposed to be the part where he and the girl try to escape, get horribly cornered and then the credits role leaving us wondering. To their credit, they sort of did that, but Jarrod comes back in the body of one of the creatures and protects his girlfriend and blah blah, yeah, they messed up the ending.

Alright, so anyways, let me touch on the good things about the movie. Like I said before, killer special effects. It was a rather realistic picture of the inevitable destruction of mankind by technology. Wow, was that subtext or what? The writers really blended the use of futuristic technology of an advanced race with the emotions and will to survive of human kind. It was stunning in the regard. You’re rooting all the time for the survival of the characters. Oh, and another plus? It starred Eric Balfour, which is a check mark in my book, because I really liked him in Six Feet Under.

What else can be said about Skyline? I had my issues with it, but I would probably still see it again. It was, on the whole, very entertaining, and you have to be your own judge on how it ends. I took it for what it was and I can appreciate it. Now it’s your turn.

Krista ♥

127 Hours

(Warning: spoiler... but if you watch the news, talk shows, or read the book Between a Rock and a Hard Place, then I'm really not spoiling anything for you.)

Alright, well, I just watched "127 Hours". If you're not familiar, it's the true story of Aron Ralston, a mountaineer and extreme hiker, who spent 5 days trapped in a remote desert canyon in Utah after a boulder crushed and trapped his hand. On the fifth day, after two failed attempts at amputating his arm, he finally succeeded, escaped, repelled down a sheer cliff, and was later recovered by a helicopter.

Now I can see why two men fainted while viewing it last November in San Francisco's Embarcadero Cinemas. Some say "it's the horror" that makes people feel faint, but in my opinion, it's the reality of it. You truly couldn't find a better film interpretation of a book. Danny Boyle and James Franco did the survival story of Aron Ralston justice; vivid, graphic, tear-jerking, gut-wrenching justice.

There were many moments in which I really felt the emotions with Franco. When he's screaming for help, I was waiting with bated breath for someone to hear his pleas, even though I knew they wouldn't. In the moments where he's taking stock, making plans, building make-shift pulley systems to try and hoist the boulder, I got that rush of "yes, he can do this. He's going to do this!"  I was holding out for hope the same at him, and then I embraced the hopelessness and defeat whenever he did. I could feel it. I was as disappointed as he was. And when Ralston thinks about his family, it made me think about mine. What would I want to say to them or leave behind for them if you I in this man's position? What would I do to free myself and get back to them? It's all very easy to relate to, and that's why it's so intense. I was able to put myself there with him, because the film invites you in.

But let's face it, we all go into this movie knowing that Ralston will inevitably amputate his forearm. That's where the fainting begins. It's the most stomach-churning, uncomfortable, torturous scene I've ever had to endure. And I do mean endure. If you want to experience the relief of victory and rescue with him, you need to suffer through the carnage with him first. I keep telling myself, "if it was that hard to watch it without closing my eyes, it must have been a million times worse to be the one spending an hour cutting his own arm off with a tiny, dull blade." I think, in parts, I was able to pull back and say "it's not real. It's a reenactment." But at other moments, I was grimacing. I almost saw black when he cut the nerve. Now, think about it. When you pinch a nerve for a tiny moment in your wrist or your elbow, it HURTS. Now imagine completely and viciously severing it with a dull knife. Do you feel it? If you just shuddered, you get it. Yeah, that's the sign of good film making and good acting.

But I have to say, the end, after he freed himself and repelled down a cliff and wandered exhausted through the desert, when he finally caught a glimpse of hope in the form of three people and screamed out for help, from that point on I cried like a baby. I kept saying to myself, "He made it." Something about seeing complete strangers come running to a person in need, coming to help them, makes me really appreciate humanity. I think that's why survival stories touch us all somewhere very deep inside, because it always involves other people, whether it's just the thought of others that keeps us going or others physically coming to our aid. It's that ray of hope in the world.

I have no bad things to say about this movie. Ralston's story is an incredible testament to the Human will to live and how having people we love in our lives is a driving force behind that will. Ralston said in an interview recently that it was his mother, his sister, the people he loves, the prospect of a wife and a child, that got him out of that situation, that gave him that will to live. It's impressive.

Bottom line. Don't just go see this movie; experience it.

                                                    (Aron Ralston with James Franco)