CHRISTIAN MOVIE REVIEW: Monsters (2010)

GENRE: Sci-Fi Horror
ACTORS: Whitney Able, Scoot McNairy
RATING: R
PARENTAL NOTE: Not intended for children. Some bad language. Big bad monsters, of the type that might scare small children and timid adults. Moderate violence.
INTENDED AUDIENCE: This movie is intended for fans of the genre, and may not be appreciated by others.
GENERAL PLOT: (No spoilers) Simple plot. A Man and a woman must traverse a monster infested “infected zone” in northern Mexico to reach the presumably “uninfected” USA.
REVIEW: First of all, make sure you are watching the right movie. There are several movies with the same or similar title. When I started watching this film, I was looking forward to a cheesy fake monster movie on the order of vintage 1960’s Japanese cinema. I wasn’t disappointed in that regard. But this movie turned out to be a lot more. For example, the monsters. Generally, the less seen of monsters in a movie like this, the better. But we are shown a full view of the monster prototype in the opening scene. Does it look ridiculous? In a way, yes, it does look silly. Or maybe not. It is presented in a manner (often mostly off screen) that seems plausible. Then there is the monster graffiti on the walls in Mexico. If the monsters are depicted in graffiti, there must be something to them.
Surprisingly perhaps, there are some real redeeming points worth mentioning in MONSTERS. In many movies of this ilk, the characters are shown revelling in debauchery; and sex is shown as casual, expectable and without consequence. Not so in MONSTERS. In this movie we see very little of the actual debauchery. An arm and pair of feet projecting from under the sheets show us that a prostitue is in a bed–suggestive, but not explicit. And we are shown that sin has it’s consequences–a missed relationship with a son, and a missed opportunity to escape the monsters.
RECOMMENDATION:[2. If you wonder why horror films have space on a Christian website like K_Line Christian Online, please see my blog post on point] This is a horror movie. Many people will be highly offended by every movie in this genre because of the violence, language and other questionable elements. However, if you are a fan of this genre–I highly recommend MONSTERS. It has a simple, but compelling story to tell. The characters, though imperfect, are mostly likable and interesting. Good and evil are shown. We are shown the benefit of virtue and the consequences of sin.
RATING (out of 5 stars): ★★★★★

MOVIE RATING SYSTEM:

Start with zero (0) out of five (5) possible STARS

Add one STAR if it looks like the movie was made by professional film makers–not 4 or 5 guys with a camcorder.
Add one STAR if the film has a story, theme or plot (optional for horror and/or zombie movies); or if the movie makes any sense.
Add additional STARS for special effects, acting, good moral message(s), realistic zombies, scariness,
interesting theme or plot and the like.
Subtract STARS for extreme bad acting, COMPLETELY awful themes/messages, overall INCREDIBLE trashiness, graphic and persistent lewdness, and the like.

CHRISTIAN MOVIE REVIEW: Awake (2007)

GENRE: Thriller
ACTORS: Hayden Christensen, Lena Olin, Jessica Alba, Terrence Howard, Christopher McDonald, Thomas A. McMahon, Sam Robards, Poorna Jagannathan, Steven Hinkle, Charlie Hewson
RATING: R
PARENTAL NOTE: Not intended for children. Some bad language and questionable situations. Cutting of flesh in a hospital operating room setting.
INTENDED AUDIENCE: This movie is intended for fans of the genre, and may not be appreciated by others.
GENERAL PLOT: (No spoilers) A rich man goes into a heart transplant operation immediately after his late night wedding. You are supposed to be asleep during this type of surgery. See if you can guess from the title if this was the case in this movie.

REVIEW: The basic premise portrayed in the movie — being awake during surgery, despite anesthetic — is apparently accurate though rare. But not nearly rare enough if it is YOU under the knife. Actually, the statistics are pretty consistent with the 1 in 700 cases as quoted in the movie. As someone with absolutely no familiarity with hospital protocol, many of the other events portrayed in this movie seem hard to believe. Apparently, my suspicions are well founded. But aside from the inaccurate portrayal of hospital procedures in heart transplants, this was really a pretty good movie. Plus, I’ve been informed by people more knowledgeable than me that Jessica Alba is not too hard on the eyes, if need be. The plot swerved wildly from what I would have expected. HINT (but no spoiler): I expected a sappy romance.
RECOMMENDATION: This is a thriller movie. Many people will be highly offended by every movie in this genre because of the bad language and other questionable elements. However, if you are a fan of this genre–I think you will enjoy this somewhat sappy love story. But–unexpectedly, the two people REALLY in love are not the husband and wife.
RATING (out of 5 stars): ★★★★★

MOVIE RATING SYSTEM:

Start with zero (0) out of five (5) possible STARS

Add one STAR if it looks like the movie was made by professional film makers–not 4 or 5 guys with a camcorder.
Add one STAR if the film has a story, theme or plot (optional for horror and/or zombie movies); or if the movie makes any sense.
Add additional STARS for special effects, acting, good moral message(s), realistic zombies, scariness,
interesting theme or plot and the like.
Subtract STARS for extreme bad acting, COMPLETELY awful themes/messages, overall INCREDIBLE trashiness, graphic and persistent lewdness, and the like.

CHRISTIAN MOVIE REVIEW: The Road (2009)

The Road

GENRE: Horror / Adventure
ACTORS: Viggo Mortensen, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Charlize Theron, Robert Duvall, Guy Pearce, Garret Dillahunt, Michael K. Williams, Molly Parker, Bob Jennings, Agnes Herrmann
RATING: R
PARENTAL NOTE: Not intended for children. Violence. Cannibalism. Bad language and questionable situations. Nudity.
INTENDED AUDIENCE: This movie features cannibalism as a prominent theme. Needless to say, this film is not for everyone. Completely inappropriate for children, most teenagers and many adults.
GENERAL PLOT: (No spoilers) The end of the world is a filthy place. No one has enough to eat. Some choose to eat what others would starve before eating. A man and his son prove that evil is never far from home. And by the way, they don’t have a home, either.

REVIEW: A while back, when I reviewed another film, I remarked,

if I had to sum up the mood of [SHERLOCK HOLMES] in one word, that word would be “filth.”

Actually, I stand corrected. I had no idea what real filth was before I saw THE ROAD. “Dark theme” doesn’t begin to describe the world in which this film takes place. It literally looks like no one has taken a bath, or cleaned anything in the world in the 10 years since a bad case of armageddon broke out. A lot of things are left unexplained in this movie[1. Though events may be explained in the book.] For example, what happened, and what in the world is going on??? How and why did the human race get mostly exterminated? I mention these points in passing, though they really don’t detract from the story. The story itself is mostly plausible, given the underlying premise that most plant and animal life is gone. Whether human beings would sink to the decree of depravity shown in the film is a legitimate point for discussion. This film is at it’s essence the story of the relationship of a father and his son. It shows how they react to the extreme violence and evil on “the road,” and how they deal with their own evil. Though I would hope for better from human nature, I’d be hard pressed to prove that the outcome of the world would be otherwise, given the circumstances presented. Only a speck of hope is allowed to penetrate the dark world on the road. That speck of hope never grows. From a Christian point of view, I wouldn’t argue that this movie presents a Biblical view of the end of the world, or even of the last days. If you are intent on proving THE ROAD has some relationship to the end times as described in the Bible, you could probably find support for your point of view. I think the safer premise is to view THE ROAD strictly as a work of fiction.
RECOMMENDATION:[2. If you wonder why zombie themes and horror films have space on a Christian website like K_Line Christian Online, please see my blog post on point] This is a horror movie. Many people will be highly offended by every movie in this genre because of the graphic violence, gore, language and other questionable elements. That being said, many horror movies present these elements in a gratuitous, non-essential manner, purely for shock value and depravity. THE ROAD certainly has graphic violence, gore, language and other questionable elements. There’s even a bit of nudity.[3. The presentation of nudity is not sexual] Yet I wouldn’t call these elements completely gratuitous or non-essential. For the most part, these elements are important in advancing the story, though they did carry shock value and depravity. I liked the movie for it’s strong moral message. That moral message is mostly presented in the father’s increasingly and shockingly BAD behavior. The father faces a situation not unlike that of Job, in the Old Testament. That is, when the the world falls into a complete state of ruin, can a man remain good? And Godly? In the case of Job, we know the answer is “Yes.” Of course, the film makers don’t tell us if the father in this movie was ever a Godly man. Though we do see a reference to prayer presented in the film. You’ll have to wade though the violence in “The Road” to see if the anyone retains their virtues when this world falls apart.
RATING (out of 5 stars): ★★★★★

MOVIE RATING SYSTEM:

Start with zero (0) out of five (5) possible STARS

Add one STAR if it looks like the movie was made by professional film makers–not 4 or 5 guys with a camcorder.
Add one STAR if the film has a story, theme or plot (optional for horror and/or zombie movies); or if the movie makes any sense.
Add additional STARS for special effects, acting, good moral message(s), realistic zombies, scariness,
interesting theme or plot and the like.
Subtract STARS for extreme bad acting, COMPLETELY awful themes/messages, overall INCREDIBLE trashiness, graphic and persistent lewdness, and the like.