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[REVIEW] ‘Alita: Battle Angel’ Is A Cyberpunk Epic

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It’s a world of despair and lawlessness. A world of human-mechanical hybrids. A world where the elite live in the sky while the rest wither below. It is the world of Alita: Battle Angel.

Image via IMDB

Cyber-doctor Dyson Ido (Christoph Waltz) discovers the broken frame of an amnesiac cyborg girl he dubs Alita (Rosa Salazar) in the scrap heap of Iron City, below the floating utopia of Zalem that dumps its refuse on the peasantry below. Ido vows to care for Alita, but she is drawn to discovering her past, bits and pieces flashing to her in the heat of fighting and possibly rooted in the dystopic history of the sad state of the planet. She befriends a local scrapper named Hugo (Keean Johnson) and draws the attention of the corrupt factory boss, Vector (Mahershala Ali) and mysterious scientist Chiren (Jennifer Connelly) leading her into further conflict.

After years and years of false-starts, James Cameron has finally brought the big screen adaptation of Alita to life, bestowing directing duties to the ever talented and imaginative Robert Rodriguez. A perfect fit considering his adaptation of Frank Miller’s Sin City that felt like it brought the pages to life. As a fan of the original manga and anime by Yukito Kishiro, also known as Battle Angel Alita or Gunnm (Gun Dream), it is simply astounding seeing the characters and scenes realized.

While rooted in the first couple volumes, and heavily from the anime original video animation, it does a great job in blending elements together and even setting up arcs and characters from later volumes for potential sequels that I sincerely hope we get. While there will certainly be some controversies as other characters and elements were combined or left out in the process, it did well by distilling such an expansive story into just one film. A couple of plotlines get a little muddled, but considering the scale of such an adaptation, it is impressive to say the least.

Image via IMDB

As for the characters, Rosa Salazar truly becomes Alita on screen. She captures all the facet of the character, from an amnesiac girl trying to find her place in a harsh world, to an unforgiving warrior who will fight to the death to protect those around her. The decision to make her an entirely CG character is one with its share of controversy, but once you get past the large eyes it doesn’t diminish anything and only adds to her uncanny nature as a cyborg. An entirely artificial body with a human brain. The rest of the cast stand out, from Christoph Waltz as the father Ido to Mahershala Ali’s cool and cruel Vector. The ensemble cast from the original series is realized.

Image via IMDB

Of course, being a James Cameron produced film it is a visual feat for the eyes. Iron City representing a dystopic but diverse city with a melting pot of people, cyborgs, and cultures from an Earth that has since been mostly ruined. The fight choreography between cyborgs and martial artists are stunning to behold. This is a movie that must be seen in Imax, 3D, a combination thereof, or at least the largest and most impressive screen you can find. Imax allowing 26% more action to be shown in frame. This is especially cool during the scenes of the cyborg sport known as Motorball, a transhuman extension of deathsports like Rollerball.

Alita won’t be for everyone of course. But for what it does, it does amazingly. A story of what it truly means to be human and what our dreams mean in a society that seems built solely for crushing them. Alita is one for the dreamers, past, present, and future.

Alita: Battle Angel opens in theater Feburary 14th, 2019.

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Another Creepy Spider Movie Hits Shudder This Month

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Good spider films are a theme this year. First, we had Sting and then there was Infested. The former is still in theaters and the latter is coming to Shudder starting April 26.

Infested has been getting some good reviews. People are saying that it’s not only a great creature feature but also a social commentary on racism in France.

According to IMDb: Writer/director Sébastien Vanicek was looking for ideas around the discrimination faced by black and Arab-looking people in France, and that led him to spiders, which are rarely welcome in homes; whenever they’re spotted, they’re swatted. As everyone in the story (people and spiders) is treated like vermin by society, the title came to him naturally.

Shudder has become the gold standard for streaming horror content. Since 2016, the service has been offering fans an expansive library of genre movies. in 2017, they began to stream exclusive content.

Since then Shudder has become a powerhouse in the film festival circuit, buying distribution rights to movies, or just producing some of their own. Just like Netflix, they give a film a short theatrical run before adding it to their library exclusively for subscribers.

Late Night With the Devil is a great example. It was released theatrically on March 22 and will begin streaming on the platform starting April 19.

While not getting the same buzz as Late Night, Infested is a festival favorite and many have said if you suffer from arachnophobia, you might want to take heed before watching it.

Infested

According to the synopsis, our main character, Kalib is turning 30 and dealing with some family issues. “He’s fighting with his sister over an inheritance and has cut ties with his best friend. Fascinated by exotic animals, he finds a venomous spider in a shop and brings it back to his apartment. It only takes a moment for the spider to escape and reproduce, turning the whole building into a dreadful web trap. The only option for Kaleb and his friends is to find a way out and survive.”

The film will be available to watch on Shudder starting April 26.

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Part Concert, Part Horror Movie M. Night Shyamalan’s ‘Trap’ Trailer Released

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In true Shyamalan form, he sets his film Trap inside a social situation where we aren’t sure what is going on. Hopefully, there is a twist at the end. Furthermore, we hope it’s better than the one in his divisive 2021 movie Old.

The trailer seemingly gives away a lot, but, as in the past, you can’t rely on his trailers because they are often red herrings and you are being gaslit to think a certain way. For instance, his movie Knock at the Cabin was completely different than what the trailer implied and if you hadn’t read the book on which the film is based it was still like going in blind.

The plot for Trap is being dubbed an “experience” and we aren’t quite sure what that means. If we were to guess based on the trailer, it’s a concert movie wrapped around a horror mystery. There are original songs performed by Saleka, who plays Lady Raven, a kind of Taylor Swift/Lady Gaga hybrid. They have even set up a Lady Raven website to further the illusion.

Here is the fresh trailer:

According to the synopsis, a father takes his daughter to one of Lady Raven’s jam-packed concerts, “where they realize they’re at the center of a dark and sinister event.”

Written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, Trap stars Josh Hartnett, Ariel Donoghue, Saleka Shyamalan, Hayley Mills and Allison Pill. The film is produced by Ashwin Rajan, Marc Bienstock and M. Night Shyamalan. The executive producer is Steven Schneider.

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Woman Brings Corpse Into Bank To Sign Loan Papers

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Warning: This is a disturbing story.

You have to be pretty desperate for money to do what this Brazilian woman did at the bank to get a loan. She wheeled in a fresh corpse to endorse the contract and she seemingly thought the bank employees wouldn’t notice. They did.

This weird and disturbing story comes via ScreenGeek an entertainment digital publication. They write that a woman identified as Erika de Souza Vieira Nunes pushed a man she identified as her uncle into the bank pleading with him to sign loan papers for $3,400. 

If you’re squeamish or easily triggered, be aware that the video captured of the situation is disturbing. 

Latin America’s largest commercial network, TV Globo, reported on the crime, and according to ScreenGeek this is what Nunes says in Portuguese during the attempted transaction. 

“Uncle, are you paying attention? You must sign [the loan contract]. If you don’t sign, there’s no way, as I cannot sign on your behalf!”

She then adds: “Sign so you can spare me further headaches; I can’t bear it any longer.” 

At first we thought this might be a hoax, but according to Brazilian police, the uncle, 68-year-old Paulo Roberto Braga had passed away earlier that day.

 “She attempted to feign his signature for the loan. He entered the bank already deceased,” Police Chief Fábio Luiz said in an interview with TV Globo. “Our priority is to continue investigating to identify other family members and gather more information regarding this loan.”

If convicted Nunes could be facing jail time on charges of fraud, embezzlement, and desecration of a corpse.

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