The Lawnmower Man (1992) - Movie Review

[caption id="attachment_325" align="alignright" width="263"] Official Score = 3 Devils[/caption]

Jeff Fahey (Psycho 3), what can I say about this man, he is an amazing actor, having done such awesome films as, Psycho 3 (1986), Darkman 3: Die Darkman Die (1996), and even Planet Terror (2007)!

Why is this guy so great you might be asking, well in just about everything I have seen him in (at least in his earlier work anyway, and to some degree in his later work), he gives off this sort of grifter/sarcastic attitude that just works perfectly in just about everything I have seen him in, except believe it or not, the first movie that I ever saw him in, and that of course being, The Lawnmower Man (1992)!

Written & Directed by: Brett Leonard (Virtuousity). Starring: Jeff Fahey, Pierce Brosnan (Golden Eye), Jenny Wright (Near Dark), Geoffrey Lewis (The Devil's Rejects) & Dean Norris (Breaking Bad).

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="480"] This Lawnmower man is soon going to become so much more![/caption]

This movie is sort of an awesome melding of Science Fiction and horror, in that this movie tells the story of, Doctor Lawrence Angelo (Brosnan) who is an expert scientist that is working on virtual reality and sets his sights on the mild mannered slightly retarded guy that works in his neighborhood by the name of, 'Jobe Smith' (Fahey) to help him...

You see Angelo has figured out a way using his virtual reality techniques to make Jobe smarter... And after the initial sessions, he starts showing some amazing progress... to the point where this formerly retarded young man eventually becomes so smart that he figures out how to actually make his lawnmower go by itself!

In the end, something goes haywire with the whole experiment, you see Jobe starts getting smarter and smarter, to the point where he gets to smart for his own good, and ends becoming dangerous!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Jobe 2.0 literally![/caption]

Now if Angelo can't fix this before the now out of control genius, 'Jobe', gets to far out of control, then ultimately he may not only loose his experiment, but his experiment might end up causing problems in such a way that people may not be prepared for!

As a side note, and a little bit of interesting trivia... It turns out that both Jeff Fahey and Dean Norris would end up working again in another Stephen King production, when they would star in last years masterpiece mini-series based on the Stephen King novel of the same name, 'Under The Dome' together!

In the end, this movie is a total blast, with great talent, a great story, and amazing special effects, and if you check it out, you might come to the same conclusions as well!

http://youtu.be/YCxFGxqLsHE

Event Horizon (1997) - Movie Review

[caption id="attachment_330" align="alignright" width="220"] Official Score = 2 1/2 Devils[/caption]

I was a teenager and was just getting in to horror and Science Fiction movies and TV series one of my favorite TV series that I really enjoyed was the TV series, Space Above And Beyond (A TV show that I am pretty certain was at least partly the inspiration for, Starship Troopers (1997))!

One of the reasons that I really liked this series is that this series takes place roughly about 100 years in the future, when the United States and other countries have finally made it in outer space and have begun to colonize the rest of the universe!

The reason that I mention this is that there is another movie that although it takes place in outer space and humanity is beginning to colonize outer space, it is still close enough to the present to give at least one interpretation of what it would be like when mankind starts making its first serious inroads in to outer space would be like! That movie of course being, Event Horizon (1997)!

Written by: Philip Eisner (Firestarter 2: Rekindled) & Directed By: Paul W.S. Anderson (Resident Evil: Retribution). Starring: Sam Neill (Omen 3: Final Conflict), Laurence Fishburne (The Matrix), Kathleen Quinlan (The Hills Have Eyes), Joely Richardson (The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo), Richard T. Jones (Phone Booth), Jack Noseworthy (Surrogates), Jason Isaacs (Dawn), and Shawn Pertwee (Soldier).

This movie tells the story of the, ‘Event Horizon’, an experimental spaceship that is meant to test the bounds of human exploration with an experimental engine that would allow for mankind to seriously begin to explore outer space! The problem though is that after engaging the new drive, the Event Horizon ends up disappearing without a trace!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="600"] The Event Horizon before she becomes, 'The Ship Of The Damned'![/caption]

That is until years later when the Event Horizon pops back up on Earth’s radar, and they decide to send a rescue craft to rescue anyone who may still be alive on the ship, and also to investigate what happened to the ship itself!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="522"] The crew of the rescue ship as they begin to piece together what happened to the, 'Event Horizon'![/caption]

The only problem though is that when the crew arrive along with a specialist who helped design the ship by the name of Doctor William Weir (Neill), weird things begin to happen, including seeing horrific images of loved ones, or past mistakes, etc…

Now with this hellish ship playing tricks on the crew, and slowly driving the already slightly unbalanced Dr. Weir insane, it will be up to Captain Miller (Fishburne) and the rest of his crew to work to get off the ship before the ship along with the help of good ole Doctor Weir end up destroying the ship and crew that had been sent out to rescue them!

Now on the plus side:

1. This movie has literally something for the fans of both Science Fiction and Horror Movies!

2. Event Horizon also has a great cast to it, that would go on to do to do other great Science Fiction and or Horror movies!

3. The next thing that I thought that I would mention is that the special effects were so well done, that there is a point on the ship where between the experimental drive and the rest of the ship that, looks like a grinder of sorts and was so well made that the first time I saw this scene I got a little dizzy!

4. I also wanted to say that I do believe that this movie is I believe an homage to the classic Science Fiction movies of the 50s, 60s and 70s that had to do with people heading out in to space to rescue other crews or to find out something that went wrong!

The only problem that I had with the movie is that, even though the concepts that hell is essentially another dimension, is an interesting

, is an interesting take on that old concept, the scenes having to do with people being tortured can be a little hard on the eyes, what I mean this is that they can hurt the eyes.

All in all it is a fun one, and it is definitely worth the time and trouble of watching it, and if you are like me, it will definitely become a treasured classic!

http://youtu.be/OVlnER8SxfQ