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Reviews
Straight Into Darkness (2004)
An Excellent, well made film
This is an excellent film. As promised, I won't include spoilers. It has the feel of "Johnny Get Your Gun," and is a little like Stanley Kubrick's "Full Metal Jacket." It shows two human's experiences in a very, very dangerous place and time. The two characters have almost contrasting personalities, yet stranded alone must depend on each other. Deming, a nasty and frightening character, is played by Scott MacDonald. He is a fantastic actor, who simply becomes the roles he takes on. Losey, played by Ryan Francis, is more thoughtful. He has more heart, and a conscience.
This film did very well, with good reason, at the film festivals that have shown it. Though it has a low budget, this for the most part does not detract from the film. The movie does have it's light moments, but for the most part, is for the brave hearted. Jeff Burr and Mark Hannah, the director and producer, made excellent choices when they picked the spots for shooting the film. They perfectly reflect the tones of the scenes, be they sad, frightening, or, once in a while, light and hopeful.
All in all, this film is very well made, and well worth your while, with a new take on the horrors of war.
AVP: Alien vs. Predator (2004)
In answer to the haters
First I would like to address some of the illegitimate faults people have with this film. It had some really neat fight scenes, but they shoulda gotten rid of more Aliens. One of the Preds seemed to be far more prepared. I think people would have enjoyed this movie more if not from the 'holes' that weren't really there. The official site that the chestbusters grew fast because they are given a drug that makes them grow faster. As one guy put it, the preds didn't wanna have to sit around playing cards waiting for the prey to grow up. The faces didn't look like plastic-they were good. They weren't the best fighters-they were kids trying to prove themselves-how smart do normal teens act???
The critics definitely went a little nuts. I emailed one and corrected him-and he wrote back and agreed. The men had weapons because most groups out to investigate might have sent mercenaries after treasure, they were prepared! Given what happens to most of the humans, it's know wonder that we didn't learn a lot about them. Alexa didn't want to take a team down to no-where without training. She refused to help them hoping that they would change their minds and go through the training. But then when she realized the person they choose had little training-she wanted them to benefit from her experience-to give them a chance.
Oh yeah the predalien--Alien 3--there was a pred-dog, so why not??
I forgot--this was good because it was mostly actors in suits doing the stunts. The lead predator was a 7'1 ex-football player. (!!!) A couple of scenes were robots, even fewer were computer generated. It's kinda refreshing to see a depart from that.
The acting was good, both the humans and aliens. You have to be good to make your character shine without saying anything. Well done. 8/10