Zero Hour (TV-14)

       If you are a fan of treasure maps and conspiracy theories, then Zero Hour is the show for you. In my book, Zero Hour is a show with an interesting concept and plot line. However, there is one aspect of the show thus far that I have an issue with. Overall, though, I have enjoyed watching Zero Hour.
       Zero Hour centers around magazine editor Hank Galliston (played by Anthony Edwards). Galliston is happily married to his wife, Laila (Jacinda Barrett), until a mercenary by the name of White Vincent (played by Michael Nyqvist) kidnaps her. Desparate to get his wife back, Galliston sets off on hunt to find Vincent.  Galliston and his employees and friends Arron and Rachel (Scott Michael Foster and Addison Timlin) uncover that in 1938, the Catholic Church appointed twelve new apostles in order to keep their greatest secret from the Nazi Party, a secret that could bring about the distruction of not only the world as we know it but of God himself. Each of the new apostles was given a clock that would lead to the next apostle's clock thus creating a trail to the Church's secret. Galliston discovers that Laila was captured so that Vincent would be able to fix any clocks that he found and were broken.

Hank Galliston, Arron, and Rachel receive news from the FBI

        I really enjoy the plot of Zero Hour. The creativity behind the idea of the show is excellent and very involved. Writer Paul Scheuring did an excellent job with the plot line. I enjoy how the show centers around a decades-old conspiracy theory involving such organizations such the Catholic Church and historic figures such as Albert Einstein and Adolf Hitler. It makes the show a lot more accessible for the average person. Also the fact that the characters travel the world make the show very exciting and interesting.
        My main problem with Zero Hour is the character of White Vincent. I enjoy a good villian. So much so that they are often my favorite character in a film or TV show. However, I find that White Vincent is an irregular character. I don't mean irregular in the way that he is insane and therefor unpredictable. I mean that the character is sometimes confusing to watch. In the first two episodes, Vincent is introduced as a calm, unflappable mercenary. However, in the show's third episode Vincent suddenly explodes in rage when Galliston spoke about the love he can see in his wife's eyes. Now I understand Vincent getting angry because Galliston hit a nerve, but this was a bit too far. The random explosion of emotion was in stark contrast to his normal attitude. The scene could be done better if Vincent's anger was more of a calm icey rage. That way, the point about Vincent's insecurities could be made without sacrificing the character of White Vincent. Too me, Zero Hour scores a 3 out of 5 stars. As always, thank you for reading!    


Picture Courtesy of: http://www.beyondhollywood.com/tv/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Anthony-Edwards-Addison-Timlin-and-Scott-Michael-Foster-in-ZERO-HOUR-Episode-1.01-Pilot-2.jpg

           

Dark Skies (PG-13)

      Aliens? Check. Middle class American family drama? Check. Mind-numbing terror? Double check. As far as horror movies go, Dark Skies had it all. But the real question is: was it done well? There were some aspects of Dark Skies that I enjoyed but others that I felt were not as well done as they could have been.
      Obviously, the aim of this movie was to scare the audience. Writer and director Scott Stewart certainly succeeded in that area. After seeing Dark Skies, I was terrified for the rest of the day. I enjoyed how the horror in the movie was handled. I find that in many horror movies, writers simply resort to blood-splattering gore and violence and disturbing exorcisms to scare the viewer. Stewart's brand of horror in Dark Skies was much more clever and often made the audience scare themselves. The way that Stewart scared viewers was by playing with their perception, a method that I greatly enjoy. The fact that the main characters, Lacy and Daniel Barrett (played by Keri Russel and Josh Hamilton), had children made the story all the more scary.

A Grey stalks Sammy Barrett as he sleeps

       Another part of Dark Skies that I enjoyed was the part played by J.K. Simmons. You may know Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson from the Spiderman trilogy or Will Pope from TNT's show the Closer and its spin-off series: Major Crimes. In Dark Skies Simmons played Edwin Polland, an eccentric alien hunter to whom Lacy and Daniel Barrett turned to when their issues with "the Greys" were becoming beyond explanation. Simmons did an excellent job of convincing the audience not only of the dangers the Greys posed, but also of the hopelessness of the Barretts' situation. Even though Edwin Polland was in only a scene or two, he really installed a sense of dread in the audience. Thus making him a character, and an actor, who shouldn't be ignored.
       My main issue with Dark Skies was the aliens themselves. The Greys (as they were called) would watch a particular family for years until finally swooping in and taking the family member with which they had the earliest contact with. I found that the image of the Greys was basic and therefor, a bit underwhelming. The Greys were your quintessential alien: tall, gangly, long-fingered, bulbous head, and large black eyes. The only difference between the Greys and the classic space alien was that the Greys weren't green they were, well, grey. As a science fiction fan, I found this to be a bit disappointing. I understand the need to keep the aliens simple but they would have a better effect on the audience if they looked a little more unexpected.
       Lastly, another complaint I have about Dark Skies is how it ended. More specifically, the fact that it set itself up for a sequel. To me, Dark Skies was a fairly successful movie as far as the horror genre goes. If there was a second movie, it would simply be a grab for more money and the movie would end up being lousy. The fact of the matter is that Dark Skies just wasn't a good enough movie to warrant a sequel. In my opinion Dark Skies scores a 3 out of 5. As always, thank you for reading.


Picture Courtesy of: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDIEKVsRiPLZeVMME47fGGRYgg9ug2BUYHkB8p2bB3Xp3CwAbCmpjnjKwlGvZhJOsSAfoNt2T0xu-Ag5fUt9E3P_Lu5bQIQaZMH-gesMiF5M4WxjHqr2ezsNu6OA9VUxFv_IDz2ndvDn4/s1600/DS+alien.jpg
     

The Following (TV-14)

      Disclaimer: the Following is a television show that may cause you to awake screaming in the middle of the night. All jokes aside, the Following is, in my book, a new favorite. This television show stars Kevin Bacon as the unflappable Ryan Hardy. Hardy is an ex-FBI agent who left the Bureau after being critically wounded while investigating the murders of young women. Hardy discovers that a professor named Joe Caroll (played by James Purefoy) has committed the murders believing, due to reading of Edgar Allen Poe, that murder is the true way to live. Years after his arrest, followers of Caroll's continue his maniacal ways. When Hardy is called back to help the FBI, he discovers that Caroll is masterminding all the murders from his jail cell.

One of Caroll's followers reciting Edgar Allen Poe

       Although graphic and terrifying, the Following is certainly a show you shouldn't pass up watching. The show's writers will keep you on the edge of your seat as the plot takes twists and unexpected turns. Kevin Bacon's acting is truly excellent. However my favorite character in the Following is Joe Caroll, mastermind murderer. James Purefoy gives us the stunning performance of a murderer who is not only twisted, but clever and witty. As strange as it sounds, it is refreshing to have a criminal in a television series who is not just a punk or a rich man who is tired of his wife.
      The Following is certainly a show that will make you jump but it is also one with substance. If you are ever in a mood for a unpredictable thriller, I highly recommend this show to you. In my opinion the Following scores a 3 out of 4 stars. Thanks for reading!


Image courtesy of: http://blog.zap2it.com/frominsidethebox/the-following-poe-mask.jpg

Premium Rush (PG-13)

      I enjoy action movies. After all, who doesn't? However, action movies are, sometimes, violent for the sake of violence. However, Premium Rush was not one of those films. Premium Rush centers around a young and daring bicycle messenger (played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt) in New York City. This messenger, named Wilee, is considered the best at what he does. After being in an accident while on a delivery, Wilee has removed the gears and brakes from his bike saying: "brakes are death." The young protagonist races through the clogged New York streets, sometimes just barely avoiding cabs and trucks. At the start of the film, Wilee picks up a envelope from a college student named Nima with the instructions to deliver it to China Town by 7:00 p.m. Little does Wilee know the danger of the mission he has just undertaken. As soon as Wilee picks up the envelope, a dirty cop named Bobby Monday (played by Michael Shannon) pursues him throughout the city in search of the envelope. As the movie progresses we find that the ticket inside the envelope represents an exorbitant amount of money that Nima plans to use in order to smuggle her son out of China. Monday, on the other hand, wants the money to pay off a lone shark he owes money to.

Wilee races through the New York streets

      Allow me to digress for a moment here. I am extremely impressed with Joseph Gordon-Levitt's body of work recently. He has played leading characters in four highly successful movies just last year (Lincoln, Premium Rush, the Dark Night Rises, and Looper). Not only that but he has displayed skillful acting capabilities in all four movies. In this film, Premium Rush, Gordon-Levitt did a great job playing the daring Wilee. Another character I really enjoyed in Premium Rush was Manny (played by Wole Parks). Manny is, to use the words of Wilee himself, "a 'roided-up freak". Manny is another bike messenger who is not as daring as Wilee but faster. Manny's arrogance brought some comic relief to an otherwise suspenseful movie.

      Perhaps my favorite thing about Premium Rush was the editing done to show you Wilee's position in the Big Apple or even whats going on in his mind. On occasion, the camera would zoom out to show an aerial view of New York with a yellow line tracing Wilee's route. This was interesting to see because it shows the audience how brutally long some of these bike routes really are. Even cooler than this was what happened whenever Wilee was in a particularly sticky situation. Time would freeze and Wilee would give thought to alternate routes. For example, at one point, Wilee stops to consider where to go at an intersection and sees that if he went one way he would take out a baby stroller, while if he went another, he would push a pedestrian into the path of an oncoming bus.

     My only complaint about Premium Rush would be that at times, the number of flash-backs made the story somewhat hard to follow. However, all in all, I found this film to be an edge-of-your-seat thriller that is definitely worth watching. That's all for me and as always, thanks for reading!

Picture courtesy of: http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/08/24/arts/24PREMIUM_SPAN/24PREMIUM_SPAN-articleLarge.jpg 

      

Lincoln (PG-13)

Day-Lewis as Abraham Lincoln

      Considering today is Oscar Sunday, I figured a logical review would be that of Steven Spielberg's Lincoln. I enjoyed this film a great deal. Although it is nominated for 12 Academy Awards, I went into this movie thinking that it would be a film only for the history buff. Clearly, I was incorrect. Lincoln is based off the book, Team of Rivals: the Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin. It centers around Abraham Lincoln's struggle to pass the 15th Amendment to the Constitution during the twilight of the American Civil War. If you don't know, the 15th Amendment outlaws slavery and gives African Americans the right to vote.
      I was very impressed by the performance given by Daniel Day-Lewis as our 16th president. At times, I forgot that I was watching a film but rather footage of Abraham Lincoln himself. As ridiculous as this sounds, Day-Lewis looked exactly like the man himself.
      Of course, Day-Lewis wasn't the only extraordinary actor in this movie. Sally Field and Tommy Lee Jones graced us with their performances as well. Sally Field portrayed Mary-Todd Lincoln who had lost her son to tuberculosis only a month before his fourth birthday. Field gave a stunning performance as the grief-stricken First Lady. Tommy Lee Jones played Pennsylvania senator Thaddeus Stevens, a member of the Republican party who hated slavery. During the movie, Stevens fought tirelessly alongside Lincoln to pass the    15th Amendment.
      Although there were some historical inaccuracies in Lincoln, I thoroughly enjoyed it. It is nominated for 12 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor. I suggest seeing it if you have not yet. Thank you for reading my review and feel free to subscribe!