Tag: Jeffrey Dean Morgan

Fall

Rated: MFall

Directed by: Scott Mann

Written by: Scott Mann, Jonathan Frank

Produced by: Christian Mercuri, James Harris, Mark Lane, Scott Mann, David Haring

Cinematography: Miguel ‘MacGregor’ Olaso

Starring: Grace Caroline Currey, Virginia Gardner, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Mason Gooding.

‘No trespassing.  Danger of death.’

Let me start by saying, I’m scared of heights.

So from the opening scene of vertical views down onto rock-climbers hanging onto cliffs and leaping for another hold.  My heart was pumping from the get-go.

And it didn’t stop.

Fall is relentless in ratcheting up the tension, truly, edge-of-seat viewing.

But there’s cheese.

Adrenaline junkies, Becky (Grace Caroline Currey), hubby, Dan (Mason Gooding) and best buddy, Hunter (Virginia Gardner) push their limits together.

Seemingly unstoppable, until the worst happens, leaving Bec devastated.  And her dad (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) concerned she’ll never snap out of her deepening grief.

It’s when Bec looks like she can’t go on, best buddy, she’s-my-cherry-pie, Hunter has the cure: climbing an abandoned radio tower via a rusty ladder, 2000ft into the air.

Time to tame fear, ‘And kick it’s arse.’

Cue the strings in the soundtrack.  Cringe.

Up to this point, I wasn’t convinced I was going to get into this movie, I’d just be on edge because of that insane height, standing on a pancake platform, Bec and Hunter about to fall any second.

Then those rusty bolts started rattling.

The camera work here pushes that feeling of vertigo and the thought of falling is always there as the girls hang off the edge of the tower to take selfies.

There’s a lot from Hunter’s online persona, Danger D and #LifeOverDeath moments.

But this, ‘kick fear in the dick,’ mentality gradually won me over – you get the vibe though, a bit twee.

Then the shots widen, pushing the sky into the background of these crazy climbers as the bolts start to fall and I’m gripping the arms of the chair.

It just keeps pushing that tension to the point I was thankful for some of the cheesy drama of the story.

It’s not ALL tension; there’s some room to breathe.

But wow not much.

Be prepared for a bracing thrill and some unexpected moments in this intense survival film: worth seeing on the big screen.

 

Rampage

Rated: MRampage

Directed by: Brad Peyton

Screenplay by: Ryan Engle and Carlton Cuse & Ryan J. Condal and Adam Sztykiel

Story by: Ryan Engle, based on the video game Rampage

Produced by: Beau Flynn, John Rickard, Brad Peyton and Hiram Garcia

Director of Photography: Jaron Presant

Music is Composed by: Andrew Lockington

VFX Supervisor: Colin Strause

Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Naomie Harris, Malin Akerman, Jake Lacy, Joe Manganiello and Jeffrey Dean Morgan.

After an experiment in space goes wrong with the Subject destroying the spaceship and allowing canisters containing a genetically mixed pathogen to fall to the Earth – all hell breaks loose as animals’ breath-in the pathogen to exponentially grow into giant mutant monsters.

The focus of the story revolves around Primatologist Davis Okoy (Dwayne Johnson) who has a close relationship with an albino silverback gorilla named George.

So when George inhales the pathogen, it’s up to Okoy and genetic engineer, Dr. Kate Caldwell (Naomie Harris) to save the once docile primate and find an antidote.

It’s a solid storyline written by Ryan Engle and based on the video game Rampage – with many of the crew from San Andreas (2015) collaborating again to create Rampage: the third film from Johnson, director Peyton and producer Flynn.

The music is also once again composed by Andrew Lockington, giving the same feel as San Andreas but instead of a disaster film we have a monster film with VFX supervisor Colin Strause returning to create the realistic monsters.

I have to say, as with all the action/adventure films, there’s always that added humour – the quips here a bit weak.

And alligators (one of the monsters) and crocodiles have two eyelids, not one as shown here.  I don’t know why I was particularly distracted by this oversight, probably because the effects were otherwise so realistic.

Seeing giant mutants tearing up a city is always fun to watch on the big screen – and the effects here were outstanding (except for that missing eyelid!).

And I couldn’t help but warm to George, the not-so-gentle giant.  A little like Primatologist Davis Okoy as the seeming gentle animal lover – who doesn’t get along with humans but loves animals because you always know where you stand and like George, he’s not always so gentle.

So, there were some good parts and some not-so-good making the film a little trashy, but good-trash.

As a side note, the humour in an action movie can make all the difference for me.  If there’s some surprising dark humour or a loveable funny character (George, here, I guess), it raises the film-going experience.

The action and effects were high quality here, I just felt the humour was a bit lazy.

Over-all, good fun on the big screen with Johnson firmly at the helm, this time his massive arms over-shadowed by his monster-friend George.

So you get the feel with muscled action, big crashes with explosions mixed with a bit of warmth and humanity: classic Johnson, but better than San Andreas because I like seeing giant mutant monsters tearing up a city.

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