Tag: Dakota Goyo

Dark Skies might have one of the worst trailers I have ever seen, this year and every year. Besides giving away far too much, it looks like a parody of itself. We have a kid who talks funny doing a growl about a sandman, some events that are set up to show potential child abuse, and the “oh face”. Oh my goodness that oh face. Not to mention the look of shock that follows the “oh face.” It has to be a joke, right?

I mean…right?

He has to be faking this whole thing. Come on guys. Right? Come on! Lacy (Keri Russell) and Daniel (Josh Hamilton) are a married couple on the top of the world! Or the opposite of that. Daniel lost his job (that darn economy and all!), and Lacy isn’t doing that great as a real estate agent. The bills are piling up, and now someone keeps breaking into their house and messing up their kitchen. For example, they are stacking all their boxes in elaborate shapes and taking all the pictures from their frames. Alright, I guess that is kind of weird.

If you saw the trailer, how many children do you think they have? I know I just thought it was one, but there is an older son as well! Jesse (Dakota Goyo) is the kid you just found out about, and Sam (Kadan Rockett) is the little brother growling in the trailer. They, too, are experiencing weird things. Strange dreams/drawlings, having street lights go out on them, or even seizures. This all can’t just be a coincidence!

No coincidience, just aliens fucking with them. That definitely explains it better. Heck, they even found a paranormal expert (J.K. Simmons) who knows all about these aliens, who confirms their suspicions. They found him on the internet too, so he must be legitimate.  But can the family still escape this long abduction/testing plan, or is it too late for any of them?

“Watch out bitch! It’s right behind you! Turn around!” – Me in the theaterWell, the initial thought I had after the fact is that the trailer is a bad representation of the movie. Every single ridiculous scene is way better in the actual movie, meaning the trailer just spliced them badly. For shame trailer, for shame.

Dark Skies takes its time to set up the events, perhaps a bit too slow. The beginning of the movie dragged on at a crawl, and I wanted to leave because of that. The youngest kid actor was bad as well, but I guess because he is a kid that is okay?

Despite this, the film did eventually get better. The aliens showed up on actual camera a lot earlier in the film than I would have guessed. The ending is what really sold the film. Instead of the horror feel, it turned into a last stand type situation as the family prepped for the aliens to come and get their abducting on. The last 10 minutes involved scenes that can only be described as some sort of acid trip, and hey, they were a bit scary as well!

Overall the “horror” of the movie was really light, mostly some jump scares and kids doing weird things. Nothing to write home about. The actual last 30 seconds of the film are a bit disappointing, but I do think overall Dark Skies has something to offer to the film watcher, especially if you look at is as a thriller. You just have to wade through a lot of crap to get there.

2 out of 4.

ROBOTS FIGHTING GUYS!

This is not training. This is about to be a bloody brawl.

Seriously Robot Fighting. Review done.

Real Steel is the name of a robot fighting championship. Robots are boxers now because actual boxing is dangerous. Concussions and shit. This is also in the future. Movie begins with Hugh Jackman waking up in his own sad life. He has his own robot fighter (And used to be a boxer before it stopped) and does okay. But he is in debt, especially to Kevin Durand, and needs a get rich quick scheme.

Enter the ex-wife. But not really. She is dead. Giving him custody of his son, Dakota Goyo (Thor as a kid!). But he doesn’t want the son. Who does? The wealthy aunt and uncle, who offer Hugh 100k (half now, half after the summer) if he gives up custody and watches him during their second honeymoon. Done deal. (You can see where this is going).

He gets a new sexy robot from Japan! Voice activated! And wastes all his money again. But when they boy finds an old robot in the dump that is functional, he cleans it up and demands a fight. A smaller robot, one of the originals that was more human like. Meant for sparring and taking a lot, not fighting itself.

You see where that is going too. Can they go all the way, and be the Real Steel champions? Or will other plot lines, like Hugh owing money, or the aunt/uncle wanting the boy get in the way?

FACE!

Oh yeah. Evangeline Lilly (giving this movie at least two Lost alum) is in the movie as gym owner / helpful robot trainer / has a dad who used to train Hugh / might kiss Hugh by the end of the movie / bow chicka bow wow.

If I had to change anything, it’d probably be just the first fight scene. Robot goes head to head with a bull. I felt weird watching it, even though I know its fake. Poor bull.

I enjoyed a lot of the fights. I think they could have spent more time explaining how these controls work. They go from remote control, to voice controls, to imitation, and everything in between. Just how this stuff works would have been nice.

The ending was great, and I would watch the sequel. Overall, I’d have to say Real Steel was a very solid movie.

3 out of 4.