Here at The Nerds Templar, we get a lot of movies sent our way to watch. Some are new, some are older. We get Blu-rays, DVDs, online screeners and everything in between. Sometimes we just don’t have time to write a 1000 words about every movie. Sometimes the movie doesn’t deserve a 1000 words. We do like to discuss the movie though and in those situations we do articles like this, Review Round-up.
Up first we have Ozland. I don’t know what to make of this. Part of me liked it, part of me didn’t understand the Leif character. Leif and Emri are two wanderers in a post-apocalyptic world trying to find water, food and survivors. That I got and that I liked. I liked the look of the film. I thought the locations worked and it had good production value for a lower budget film. What I don’t get is The Wizard of Oz part. Leif finds a copy of The Wizard of Oz in book form and reads it. He starts believing the Wicked Witch of the West is behind the drought and hardship and starts connecting things happening to him to characters in the book. Leif looks to be about 25 so I don’t understand the fantasy and not understanding real life situations. If he was 12 or Autistic or something it might make sense. I understand he grew up in a post-apocalyptic world so he doesn’t get ideas that happened beforehand, but at 25, you wouldn’t think a witch is controlling the world or that a dead person nailed to a cross was a scarecrow. It’s a shame too because I liked everything else about the film. Total head scratcher for the Oz stuff though.
Next we have Batman: The Killing Joke. This is available digitally with a Blu-ray/DVD release August 2nd. It also played two nights at the theater through Fathom Events. I saw it at the theater and I wish I hadn’t. I wish I saw it at home on my TV. Overall I did like the film, but it has a lot of negatives. I didn’t like the animation. It’s an homage to Batman: The Animated Series of the 1990’s, but this looks cheap and rushed. Cars and background images look bad and super flawed. They announced it at last year’s Comic Con and premiered it at this year’s Comic Con and it looks rushed because of that. They also spend way too much time on Barbara Gordon/Batgirl in the beginning. They added a lot of story that’s not in the original source material. The source material is a classic story and by adding the new material, the film feels stretched out and unnecessary at times. A solid 60 minute video would have been better. Once The Joker story kicks in it is pretty good though. Mark Hamill does the best Joker voice of all time and it’s great to hear him do it again especially the laugh. The open ending is straight out of the source material and I really liked that. The graphic novel is so iconic that this was never going to live up to expectations, but this should be better. I’ll rewatch it at home to see if the animation looks less limited on a smaller screen.
Third we have Consumption. At first you think this is going to be your standard kids away in a cabin/lodge type movie and then it gets weird. It’s one of those movies where you aren’t quite sure if you like it or don’t get it. Overall I tend to like movies where someone or something goes around killing friends on a trip, but I guess I missed the reasoning here. It was an ancient being? The people who ran the place worshipped it? I think. There is some good kills and some gore and I liked that, but the dead mother part went over my head. And the boyfriend being abusive seemed unnecessary. Some decent effects and it’s at least watchable even if I didn’t quite get it.
Fourth we have Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Beyond the Known Universe. I’ve liked TMNT since the early days and although I don’t love the new look of them in these Nickelodeon videos, I kinda liked this one. The Nick show and videos seem to be an homage to earlier Turtles at the same time giving today’s kids what they want. It’s a good mix. It’s not exactly MY Turtles, but that’s ok. This one finds them in space which I don’t remember ever seeing before. It’s more childish and campy and a lot less gritty than what I grew up with, but families can watch it together and have fun. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t laugh a few times at this. Watch it with your kids and enjoy.
Next we have Young Ones. This has been out for a while, but I just recently watched it for the first time. I love Michael Shannon and he’s great in this. He’s not in it much, but he still dominates every scene he’s in. Another post-apocalyptic film, Shannon plays the father of Elle Fanning and Kodi Smit-McPhee who struggles to find water. He had a well that others want and he can’t grow crops. Nicholas Hoult plays Fanning’s love interest who eventually takes over the family’s land. Smit-McPhee learns the truth of his father’s death and seeks his revenge. It’s a bit slow, but the performances are fantastic. Shannon is great, but it’s the young cast who surprised me. Hoult continues to be a fantastic young actor who does all kinds of films. Fanning is now the best actress in her family (especially after Neon Demon) and Smit-McPhee will be the next Daniel Radcliffe, a child star who grew into a good actor. It’s well directed and looks great I just wish it wasn’t quite as slow. Overall recommended though.
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