# 6 - Underworld Awakening

Year of Release: 2012
Director: Mans Marlind, Bjorn Stein
Starring: Kate Beckinsale. Sandrine Holt, Theo James, Michael Ealy, India Eisley, Stephen Rea

"I heal instantly."

I am a huge fan of the Underworld franchise. Give me a movie with a butt-kicking female lead [Aeon Flux, Resident Evil, Buffy the Vampire Slayer] and I will be there. It helps, of course, that Kate Beckinsale is gorgeous and a fantastic actress.

I know that a lot of people would watch this movie and not like it. They would say that is is too contrived and does not have enough plot. Other people might say that there is not enough Action [and they would be very, very wrong about that]. It is true that the plot is not super strong and some of the dialogue leaves a bad taste in your mouth, but this is supposed to be an action movie, and the actual plot of the movie is different enough to make up for all of the flaws.

The story I Am Legend has been made into a movie one 3 separate occasions, and from what I can tell, not one of those adaptations got the story right. The true story is that of the infected who survive and are seeing fighting our hero [Will Smith in the most recent version] are actually terrified of the Human Hero. He is the monster of their legends [I Am Legend] and from their side of the story, he is the bad guy. Besides District 9, we don't really see the "Mass Cleansing" stories from the side of the people being "Cleansed". Even in the Escape from [City] movies and Doomsday, we see our hero's view of the people, not their view. That's what makes this movie so different.

At the beginning of the movie, we find out that the Humans had discovered the existence of the Lycan and Vampyre clans and they set out to exterminate them. I understand why the Humans would do that ... we have all seen Zombie movies, Vampire movies, Werewolf movies ... you either fall in love with them or you start killing them en masse before they kill you. That's the point here. In the other movies we see that occasionally a human will get caught in the crossfire between the Lycans and the Vampyres, but not very often. The Vampyres exist on cloned blood and they do not hunt Humans for food. The Lycans ... well ... especially the ones hanging out in the sewer might occasionally snack on a homeless person, but again, probably not very often. That is what was key to their species existing along with the Humans. Discretion.

If you have seen the other Underworld movies and are familiar with the mythology, you know these characters, understand them, and feel for them. When we see Selene being chased by the Human Police and taking them down, we are cheering for her. She is not the bad guy by any stretch of the imagination, which make the totalitarianism of the Humans absolutely ridiculous.

Okay, enough ranting.

To Sum Up: Fantastic Action Movie with lots of blood and guts and crazy killings. There is also a political message that maybe is only apparent to me, but it makes me feel better if such an Action-packed delight also has some poignancy.

# 5 - The Artist

Year of Release: 2012
Director: Michel Hazanavicius
Starring: Jean Dujardin, Berenice Bejo, Uggie

"Farewell, Nora. I never loved you ..."

This movie was like a big piece of candy that I got to eat. I will say that most people [people with no tolerance for subtitles/inter titles or Black and White Films] might not like this movie at all. It was a little dry and somewhat dated [because of it being an homage to silent films], but that is what made it so wonderful.

I saw two movies the week that I watched The Artist. The other movie that I saw was Underworld:Awakening. The two movies were very different and it was a nice surprise to watch a movie that was not trying to dazzle me with special effects or to get me to buy the trendy songs on their soundtrack. When my friend Laura and I walked into the theater, we were the youngest people there by at least ten years. The majority of the audience may have enjoyed silent films in their childhood, from what I could see. They had one leg up on us in that regard: not only did they know what they were in for, they were excited about it.

There is music for a good portion of the film, but there are still times when everything is silent. You could have heard a pin drop in that theater [or a gentleman behind us snoring. I think that the afternoon showing was just too much for him].

Jean Dujardin was incredibly charming. Even though his character's wife liked to deface the pictures of her husband, I could not see how anyone would dislike such a man. Berenice Bejo was lovely and spunky as "Peppy Miller", the aspiring actress. And the dog ... that scene stealing dog! Laura would have gladly taken him home if he had been in the theater.

I love old movies and would gladly go see pretty much any homage to the films of the early 1900's, but of course not everyone is as nostalgic for the times before they were born. This movie was still funny, even by today's standards [Laura and I laughed. I hope that counts].

The story may be as old as the film industry itself [see A Star is Born with Janet Gaynor ... beautiful film], with the fading actor meeting the bright new ingenue, but it still felt fresh.

Bonus: There are a ridiculous amount of well-known actors in cameos [coughMalcolmMcDowellcough] and in supporting roles [Missi Pyle, John Goodman, "That Guy" James Cromwell].

To Sum Up: If you are older or just love older movies [like me] check it out, for real. If you don't like older movies, you should still give it a shot. That dog is really funny.