“Sunshine”

Rose Byrne
Cliff Curtis
Chris Evans
Troy Garity
Cilian Murphy
Hiroyuki Sanada
Benedict Wong
Michelle Yeoh

R           107min           2007

It is the year 2057, the sun is dying and mankind faces extinction. Earth’s last hope rests with a courageous crew of eight men and women on a mission to ignite the fading star with a massive nuclear weapon. Deep into their voyage, out of radio contact with Earth, their mission begins to unravel and they find themselves fighting not only for their lives, but for the future fo us all. With twists and turns you won’t see coming, this pulse-pounding journey to the sun is a nonstop thrill ride.

“Sunshine” turned out not to be what I thought it was. This is not a science fiction movies, its more of a horror film with a science fiction premise. The reason I say this is that very quickly it kills the crew very quickly I in “Event Horizon”.

The film just never gave me the suspense that most horror film gives. It did not give me the adrenaline rush that most action film gives. That one of the reasons I was disappointed with this film. Although it was not what I expected it was still an OK film.

Others that have seen said that they like “Sunshine” much more than I did. For all the known named actors in this film it did not feel like an ensemble. They could have put a bunch of unknown actors in the film and got the same results. The way this film fell flat was a waste of much of the acting talent in this film.

There are several special featurettes. There are deleted and alternate scenes. There are two short film with intros by Danny Boyd. It features two audio commentaries on with the director Danny Boyd and the other with Dr. Brian Cox, University of Manchester. There also web production diaries. The movie previews for this film are “Wrong Turn 2: Dead End”, “The Hills Have Eyes 2”, and “28 Days Later”.

I give it 2/5.

“Death Sentence”

Kevin Bacon
Garrett Hedlund
Kelly Preston
Aisha Tyler
John Goodman
Jordan Garrett
Stuart Lafferty
Edi Gathegi
Matthew O’Leary
Leigh Whamnell
Hector Atreyu Ruiz

Unrated           111min           2007

Nick Hume (Kevin Bacon) is a mild-mannered executive with a loving family and a perfect life, until one gruesome night when his teenage son is senselessly murdered during a gas station holdup. Transformed by grief and not satisfied with courtroom justice, Nick takes the law into his own hands – and wages an all-out war against a gang of vicious street thugs. Directed by James Wan (Saw), Death Sentence is a gripping revenge thriller loaded with in-your-face action, bone-snapping violence and nail-biting suspense! – from back cover

“Death Sentence” is a startling reminder of why Kevin Bacon is a culture icon. It has a plot similar to another film called “The Brave One”. James Wan does a great job of balancing the story with the action of the film.

Kevin Bacon is awesome in this film. He places a man that is changed by the choices of his action and is nearly destroyed because of them. This is another film where he gives 110 percent to his craft. He becomes Nick Hume and makes you believe in the character and his choices.

Having a similar plot to another film that came out recently, James Wan makes“Death Sentence” distinctive with his camera cuts and longs shots. There a featurette talking about the scene in the parking garage. I the filmmakers said it this shot did not work the film would not have worked. In this scene the terror, pain, and survival instincts of this everyday man comes through. Showing the audience that he is just truly human.

There are two Fox Movie Channel featurettes one is ‘Making a Scene’ and the other is ‘Life after Film School with Kevin Bacon’. There are also behind the scene webisodes. The movie previews are “Hitman”, “Lake Placid 2”, “The Comebacks”, “Live Free or Die Hard”, “Sunshine”, “Joshua”, and “Cover”.

I give it 4/5.

“3:10 to Yuma”

Russell Crowe
Christian Bale
Peter Fonda
Gretchen Mol
Ben Foster
Dallas Roberts
Alan Tudyk
Vinessa Shaw
Logan Lerman

R           122min           2007

Infamous outlaw Ben Wade (Crowe) and his vicious gang of thieves and murders have plagued the Southern Railroad. When Wade is captured, Civil War veteran Dan Evans (Bale) volunteers to deliver him alive to the “3:10 to Yuma”, a train that will take the killer to trial. But with Wade’s outfit on their trail – and dangers at every turn – the mission soon becomes a violent, impossible journey toward each man’s destiny.

To say that “3:10 to Yuma” the best western I’ve seen is no stretch of the imagination. Takes the character development of “Unforgiven” and the action from “Tombstone” and perfectly melds them together. Christian Bale and Russell Crowe are the tough guys of the Wild West.

From the open shot to the end, it holds your attention. This is the Wild West and you never know what is going to happen next. Much of the movie plays like latter level from the video game ‘Gun’. While you are on the ride, you do not feel the two hours passing. Only once the adrenaline falls down do, you realize it that much time has passed.

If you know nothing about “3:10 to Yuma” watch just to see how quick Russell Crowe is on the draw. If he were in the real Wild West, he would have lived a long time. It is truly impressive how quick he was on the draw. It could have been camera cuts; I just do not know, he pulls one hell of a draw.

There is an audio commentary with James Manigold. There is a making of featurette and a featurette on epic explorers. There are also deleted scenes. There are movie previews for “Lord of War”, “WAR”, “Trade”, “Away from Her”, and “Good Luck Chuck”.

I give it 5/5.