SKYLINE (2010)

Science Fiction: Alien Invasion

Source: Theatrical Release


Grade: B+


OK by no means is SKYLINE a horrible movie, So please everybody stop trashing it only because the mass "Populous" is hating on it. Just because a couple people go all cynical about the film, then all there followers starting Internet Trolling about it, just because your total idiot and have your friends make your decisions for you doesn't mean you can go on IMDB.com and starting ranting. I mean just reading some peoples comments made me incredibly irritated such stupid  and idiotic statements like "this movies a rip-off of a Roland Emmerich movie"what?! Just because the only movie about alien invasion you have ever seen is "Independence Day" does`t mean its a rip off of it, come on do you guys have any idea how many Alien Invasion movies have come out before Independence Day?well the answers countless! Plus this movie is in no way even remotely similar to Independence Day in any way other then it has Aliens killing everyone. And too all those idiots who think there smart because they bitch about the ending, I would really, really like to hear you come up with a better ending.

       OK, now that I finished my irritation provoked ranting I`ll carry on with the films story. OK its not a Golden story but its unique in its point of view for a Science Fiction Movie. In the way that its resemblance in story telling was more of NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD style story were these people are stuck within a building and are just simply trying to survive. Rather then a global point of view like in "Independence Day" or "War of the Worlds "which I'm really actually rather glad they decided to do because it made the story much more interesting.
 The cast was so-so no that amazing and the only guy I recognized was Latin guy who was the Manger of the apartments in this movie was also the one evil Latin general from "The Expendables". So no superb acting but nothing bad, well according to my standards nothing bad. One thing I did like was the Alien beam that carried people into the sky, that was cool. But the Alien beam also signified a strong 50s Science Fiction movie influence that I actually picked up on at the beginning of the movie. There is even this brief shot in the background of the poster of a 50s style artwork poster of a science fiction movie that has unfortunately slipped my mind, so now you have to watch the movie to see what it was.
    The Special Effects were really awesome, the aliens,their spaceship, the battles all looked really authentic and just plain awesome. The Aliens had an almost Cthulhu look to them, so they were pretty darn scary looking. The space ship was very cool looking and rather then having a metallic looking ship like you would normally see they have an organic look, which basically means the space ships looked like they were alive! The battles were super epic I'm so glad the aliens didn't have like a stupid force field or shield that aliens in "War of The Worlds" and "Independence Day "did the battles were actually cool to watch rather then just plain pathetic to watch. If you like Sci-Fi action you will enjoy a lot of good Action sequences in this movie. Which I'm not going to spoil them for you so don`t worry.

OK so "SKYLINE" is no "District 9" by any means at all, but neither is it a bad movie. it`s a very entertaining movie that won`t cause you to get bored. The Special Effects are ultra awesome, those alone are worth seeing,trust me. And the apparent indistinct 50s Sci-Fi influence just makes it even more cool. Alright so please by all means go watch this and make your own judgement don`t let your self get swayed by all the idiotic ranting`s you read online, most of those losers have no appreciation for Sci-Fi and the only movie abut alien invasion they have ever seen is "Independence Day" and that's only because they jizz over will smith. So please be open minded and not swayed by others on your opinion of the movie.

The Mad Magician (1954)

Genre: Horror, Revenge

Source: TV (Channel TCM)

Grade: A

Well first off i`d like to apologize for my long absence in postings, the reason being was I was in Washington DC for the past week were I neither had the time nor ability to write reviews. But i`m back and this month my reviews should be a lot more frequent, now that i`m not busy out of my mind training for that Marine Core Marathon that I did on Halloween, being a captain of my schools Cross Country team, as well as juggling in all the other things we all have to do.

So anyways to the movie, this was one of Vincent Prices first Horror movies, it was a direct follow up to his 1953 masterpiece "House Of Wax" and well the similarities in this movies story to "House of Wax" are bit more then coincidental. "The Mad Magician" borrows rather heavily from "House of Wax" in story style in particular. Like this movies plot is about a really sympathetic magician character who's played by Price of course who's pushed over the edge when evil big show business guys strip him of literally everything and expect him in return to continue inventing tricks foe other magicians. They were really able to make Prices character quite sympathetic I felt much more sorry for him then any of the people he took revenge on. But when all is said  and done I feel the main reason "The Mad Magician" was made was so it could cash off the huge success of "House of Wax", the plot similarities are just too frequent to be unnoticed.
Though on a brighter note, Vincent Price once again put on a splendid performance making the character he portrayed even better. Which is another thing his character was pretty cool, the way he would kill people would be through his magic tricks like for example the table saw trick in these he actually cut someone up. Then he was also a master of disguise he would make costumes to replicate other people so well no one would know the difference. Other then Prices main character the rest are a bit same ole -same ole  characters you would expect to find in a 50s Horror movie, but i`m not saying that's bad.

The direction style was pretty good, black and white style was pretty fitting considering I was expecting it to be in color like "House of Wax". The setting was a good choice it was a 1880s America setting, so you got some unique point of views from that setting. But overall 1954s "The Mad Magician" was a nice early 50s Price film, though sadly I defiantly would not rank it up as one of Prices all time best movies. But by all means check it out its not a bad movie at all.