Power Rangers [2017]Stars Darce Montgomery, Naomi Scott, RJ Cyler, Ludi Lin, Becky G with Bill Vader, Elizabeth Banks and Bryan Cranston Directed by Dean Isrealite Somewhere in all this is a decent teen drama with the kids trying to figure out who they are while discovering some artefact from space. At least, for almost two-thirds of the movie, and it felt like a nice throwback to the teen movies of the 80s with a sci-fi twist. However, to access the dull power available to them, they need to, in some way, to find their true selves. Easier said than done, and in that, we find five strangers coming together to (sort of) discover themselves. And then the jump-suits come out, and we have giant dino robots and the whole thing just falls apart. Then again, I wasn’t really that into Power Rangers. I wanted to watch Life, but the ‘film’ hadn’t arrived on time and I had a couple of hours to kill. Got it another day, so the review is below this one. So anyway, this one is not really my thing. The young stars do okay while Bryan Cranston gets to phone in his performance (literally? he a hologram on the wall!) Elizabeth Banks is almost unrecognisable and appears to be having a ball as the villainous Rita Repulsa who has an unhealthy need for gold. She actually adds an element of campy fun to the whole thing. Fans of the original series may enjoy this, the action is decent enough and far better than what I can recall from the TV show, and… yeh it’s a decent two thirds that seemed to try to take things a little seriously. I just couldn’t find anything beyond that. Rating: **1/2 /5 Find the best online deals here. | Barnes and Noble | Google Play Store | Book Depository Discover more about the books here. Life [2017]Stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Rebecca Ferguson, Hiroyuki Sanada, Ryan Reynolds, Arlyon Bakare, Olga Dihovichnaya Directed by Daniel Espinosa Semi-spoilers… … but really, given the nature of the movie with the trailer, if you don’t see things coming, you’re a movie-newbie. This was almost cool although the conceit itself was slightly different from most that have come before. For a while, I figured it was going to be The Thing on a space station, because it was a single cell that grows into a threat. Instead, we got more of Alien with the rapid growth cycle just so we have a legitimate visual threat going after our hapless scientists. And one groan-worthy moment was the terminal cliche, where one of the scientist showed off his sweet wife and new-born baby. Dude, you are SO dead. It almost felt by the numbers, and we just need to guess who was going to be next. For that, you can depend on hubris. Still, the design of the alien creature was unique and the growth cycle allowed the designers to evolve and advance the designs, which suggests the creature may be more at home in a liquid environment than on land (so, suggesting Mars had vast bodies of water?) The cast do well enough, with Jake Gyllenhaal and Rebecca Ferguson leading the way most of the time. Ryan Reynolds fills the token nice guy, the one that everyone likes but gets killed off early just so you know how dangerous the situation is. Director Daniel Espinosa does what he can with the almost rote story, managing a few really good set-pieces. Taking a cue from Gravity, we have a nice single-take like shot to get the lay of the space-station setting, meet the characters and kick off the story. the low-gravity setting allows for a very loose free-float form of filming, although the implied claustrophobia doesn’t quite register at times. In all, it’s a decent effort that is a slight cut above the norm with few jump-scares but some genuine terror built into the idea, story and plot. Or maybe I’m just too jaded and was expecting something more. Then again… we’re still in in the Q1 (Jan-Mar) movie cycle, so we can’t expect much even if we can get the occasional surprise. Rating ***/5
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