The 5th Wave

"The 5th Wave" (2016, J. Blakeson, GK Films, Material Pictures, Columbia Pictures) is an alien invasion movie.

Cassie (Chloë Grace Moretz) is an everyday teen girl growing up in America with a loving mother, father and little brother, Sammy (Zackary Arthur) but her life is turned upside down, along with everyone else's, when aliens known only as "The Others" invade Earth. Separated in the chaos, Cassie teams up with a stranger called Evan (Alex Roe) to try to reunite with her baby brother and save her crush from the alien invaders.

There's a lot more to it than that, but I don't want to give away any more plot points. I'm not a huge alien-invasion-movie kind of person. I enjoy an alien spoof and an old classic now and again and I of course enjoy Alien, Aliens, Predator, The Thing, et al.... I'm just not super into the whole post-apocalyptic alien invasion epic that seems to be the main stay these days. So perhaps I'm too biased against this sort of film to have enjoyed it. But, I didn't hate it. 

While Moretz provides a sympathetic, realistic and somewhat kickass lead character, the film itself somewhat falls flat with slow disinteresting scenes and some clunky reveals. The military action scenes felt a little too like watching someone play an Xbox first person shooter and the banter was a little bit forced. On the other hand, I haven't read the teen novel it's based off of and perhaps it's true to plot. 

Regardless, even when I was a teen I probably would have been a bit bored with this film by the end.

[image: GK films, et al]

Hani

Class of 1999

"Class of 1999" (1990, Mark L. Lester, Lightning Pictures) is a low budget science fiction set in a violent, dystopian world. I've just learned that this is a sequel to another movie by Lester called "Class of 1984", so I'll have to go hunt that one down and see if it promises to be as much fun as this one was.

The world has become a chaotic and violent place with youth gang activity and drugs making whole areas no-go-zones for the police. Teens still seem to turn up to school though, although mainly only as a kind of social meeting place.

Dr. Miles Langford (Malcolm McDowell), principal of the local high school, has had enough and has brought in external help from a weird, mullet-sporting robotics specialist, Dr. Robert Forrest (Stacy Keach). Forrest has supplied the school with new android teachers who will delve out punishment to unruly students.

But when the punishments turn into death sentences followed by all out war, the students have to team together to stay alive!

A hammy effort with lots of hokey, wannabe-terminator special effects, I can't fault this flick for an excellent 'bad movie' night.

The street gangs look a lot like the New Romantics and Peter Pan's Lost Boys got into a fight and both lost. Between the terrible one liners, hilarious outfits and Pam Grier's robotic boobs, I'd say this film is going to be a new favourite for me and my friends for bad movie night! How could I not have heard of this cheesy badness before?

[Image: Lightning Pictures]

 

Hani

Hell

"Hell" (2011, Tim Fehlbaum, Oliver Kahl) is a German-language film about a dystopian future where the sun has become too hot to stand and the world has become a post-apocalyptic nightmare.

Surviving in a small group, Marie (Hannah Herzsprung), her little sister Leonie (Lisa Vicari) and Phillip (Lars Eidinger) are foraging the barren wasteland for water and fuel, now uncommon commodities.

They happen across another survivor, Tom (Stipe Erceg) on their travels as they head towards the Alps, where they hope there is more to live off of. Unfortunately for them they aren't the only ones still alive, and not everyone is surviving in such friendly ways.

Since I was in Germany visiting friends, I thought it would be cool to give this film a try. It's title works out rather nicely in both German and English. In German it means 'light', which is apt considering the main theme of the film, and then 'hell' also has obvious connotations in English which fit well with the post-apocalyptic scenery.

The film seems to be in two halves; the first of which is a believable and very organic feeling film about survival and human emotions; And then the second half which seems to jump into a more chaotic movie with a bit of "House of 1000 Corpses" thrown in for good measure (but admittedly much, much less crazy and a bit more realistic).

That's not to say that this film is gory. It actually does quite well to be a nail-biter without much blood actually being spilled on screen and is more an intense thriller than a 'horror'.

Nicely realistic, shot with some interesting camera work and with a hue to the screen that captures how bright and fatal the sun has become. Everything feels suitably dusty and dry.

I wouldn't say it was my new favourite, but I watched it thoroughly rapt to the screen for the full run time.

Not for those who don't like to read subtitles or don't happen to speak German, but it's an interesting concept and a film I'd recommend giving a try!

Hani