Saturday, July 27, 2013

Super Cyclone (2012)

http://astore.amazon.com/scifi821-20
 "Super Cyclone" is another Sci-Fi disaster flick that I recently watched on Netflix streaming. It is about an oil rig that digs deep down into the Earth's crust. They stumble upon lava, which bubbles up, warming the Pacific Ocean, rapidly. The warming of the ocean makes the atmosphere unstable. The instability creates a super cyclone. the super cyclone does massive damage to the oil rig, and also threatens a vessel nearby. When the wind and waves become too much for the vessel to handle, men fall into the boiling ocean.

Meanwhile, researchers from NOAA, and Meteorologists continue to monitor the situation. They notice that the super cyclone is headed straight toward the coast of southern California. The leading edge of the storm rolls on shore, creating tornadoes, hail, heavy rain, and fire hail. Researchers race against time, figuring out a way to weaken this cyclone. With a few detours along the way, can these researchers save the west coast in time, before the storm destroys it completely?

My Two Cents:
I had seen this movie a few months ago, but, it was one of those viewings where I was not paying attention, and eventually fell asleep. Today, I decided to take a closer look at the film, so I could review it for you all. 
First off, the acting was much better than in "Age of Dinosaurs." However, when it came to a dramatic scene, the acting was a little over the top. The special effects were satisfactory. You could tell that this was a low-budget B movie. The camera movements bothered me, especially towards the end of the movie. The way the camera was moving made me a little dizzy.

The story was a bit far fetched, but, what Sci-Fi disaster flick isn't? While the main characters did an okay job acting, the secondary characters were awful. At times, certain scenes were just long and draining. 

The word that comes to mind, when I think about this film, is, "blah." You could watch it, and not completely hate yourself for wasting 90 minutes of your time. I can't completely recommend it. If there is nothing on TV and you're looking to put a quick movie on, you could watch this. Depending on your taste in disaster flicks, you could completely hate this movie, or just think of it as satisfactory. 

To purchase Super Cyclone, click on the above picture.

photo credit: http://static.cinemagia.ro/img/db/movie/57/83/77/super-cyclone-230378l.jpg

Age of Dinosaurs (2013)

http://astore.amazon.com/scifi821-20My favorite movies are Sci-Fi disaster flicks, so I keep my eye out for the newest films. I recently stumbled upon "Age of Dinosaurs."
The movie is about a biotech firm creating dinosaurs from dinosaur DNA. A man creates a dinosaur museum to showcase this work. However, something goes wrong. During an experiment, one of the dinosaurs gets out of control, and attacks the scientists. The man in charge decides to gas the room in order to kill the dinosaur. People were still in the room. Everyone in that room died.

The next day, the man in charge decides to open the doors to the dinosaur museum. A former firefighter, played by Treat Williams, accompanies his teenage daughter to the museum. As the man in charge is showcasing the live dinosaurs, something goes wrong, and 16 dinosaurs escape their cages. They begin attacking and killing those in the room.

The firefighter gets separated from his daughter, and goes through great lengths to find her. Even though the museum went into immediate lock down, after the dinosaurs were released, the dinosaurs make their way out of the museum, and begin terrorizing Los Angeles, California. The police and SWAT teams think they have the situation under control. However, back at the museum, the Biotech lab had created more dinosaurs, and they, too, escape.
Will man prevail over the dinosaurs? Only one way to find out: Check out Netflix streaming.

My Two Cents
This movie left me with a lot of mixed feelings. First off, it was a cheap "Jurassic Park" knockoff. With the popularity of "Jurassic Park," I believe the director thought he could get a piece of the money pie, by building off the premise of the popular franchise. Sadly, he failed miserably.
Treat Williams was the only well-known actor in the movie. The rest of the cast couldn't act their way out of a paper bag. It was awful. The dinosaurs did a better job acting. "Age of Dinosaurs" is a tad more graphic than "Jurassic Park," so if you're into gore, and bodies being ripped apart, you may enjoy this film. That is, if you can deal with the terrible acting.

To purchase Age of Dinosaurs, click on the above picture.

photo credit: http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMTY3NzY3MTU3N15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwNDc2NDk3OQ@@._V1_SY317_CR6,0,214,317_.jpg

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

CAT.8 (2013)

http://astore.amazon.com/scifi821-20
Those that know me, will tell you that I have a love for sci-fi natural disaster movies. When I heard about CAT.8, I was excited that another disaster flick was going to be on. I quickly DVR'd the movie, and watched it the next day.
Here is my review for this latest disaster flick:

Using a satellite dish, scientists, possibly the government, attempt to use the power of the sun to deflect NEO's from harming Earth, and also control global warming. However, something goes terribly wrong when the dish triggers a massive solar flare. The solar flare disintegrates the dish, causing it to enter the earth's atmosphere, along with the solar flare. The solar flare, causes massive earthquakes around the world. Fireballs burn towns and city landmarks, and planes begin to fall from the sky.

The solar flare causes disruptions in communication across the globe. As the solar flares continue, it also destroys a space station, which enters the earth's atmosphere, impacting Chicago, Illnois. a civilian, played by Matthew Modine, realizes that the government is hiding something, and races against time to solve the problem, and save the planet.

Scientists have a measurement scale to measure disasters. The scale numbers increase throughout the movie. Going from category 5 to category 8.

Things go from bad to worse, when the sun develops a sunspot, and sends radiation toward earth.
Can earth be saved?

Despite the fact that the movie had an interesting story concept, viewers may be distracted by occasionally shoddy camera techniques. The camera becomes a bit shaky. However, I found that the actors did a satisfactory job in this movie.
As a viewer, I give this TV movie a 6/10.

To purchase this movie, click on the photo and shop in my sci-fi store. DVD and Blu-ray are available!