Elise Bianchi, our site editor, reviews the most famous big monster film.

There are certain expectations when you watch a Godzilla movie. There must be giant monster battles that bring down the city around them. And that’s about it. In this latest instalment in the Western kaijuu canon, the king of all monsters steals the show, though he has a close contender in Ken Watanabe’s furrowed brow. He certainly isn’t shown up by the main character. What was his name again? I honestly can’t remember. I think he had a wife and child who I also didn’t care about.

There are two giant parasitic monsters threatening the earth and it’s up to the nondescript military-something protagonist to blow them up. Ken Watanabe plays a Godzilla scientist with a single facial expression and a big schoolgirl crush on the giant lizard creature. He also has a strong aversion to nuclear weapons. America wants to blow up the giant monsters with nuclear weapons, despite the fact that they feed on nuclear power. What is Ken’s complaint about the plan? His father died in Hiroshima. Does he give any alternate plans? No. But it doesn’t even matter because Godzilla arrives to take on the monsters in a city-smashing two-on-one battle.

This movie has been criticised for leaving the monster reveal for too late in the film. I would almost agree, as the human element is cripplingly dull, but the suspense builds in a joyous manner. We get to play an hour of ‘Where’s the monster? There’s the monster!’ with the U.S. military. You are the parent/monster covering your face, and the military is the burbling child, waving its arms excitedly and ineffectually in the air when you reveal that the monster was behind your hands, or the nuclear facility, or the giant submarine, the whole time!

After the embarrassment that was Pacific Rim, I’m glad to see some joy in a western kaijuu film. (Or was Pacific Rim actually a giant self-referential joke? Hard to tell.) There are some moments of real poignancy, such as when Breaking Bad’s Bryan Cranston watches his wife die. Actually heart-rending. And the moment when the two giant monsters reunite and get all puppy-dog affectionate? Deeply touching. Ken Watanabe finally smoothing his ever-furrowed brow once he discovers that Godzilla survived the battle? The greatest romance of modern cinema.

Don’t watch Godzilla for good acting and a thought-provoking plot. Watch it for the joy of seeing Godzilla rip the head off a giant monster and breathe atomic breath down its neck, before tossing it into the ocean. That’s just about as good as a kaijuu fight scene can get.

Belinda Hamilton reviews one of my favourite movies.

Veronica Mars the Movie (Kick started by the fans for the fans)

I think this would have to be the single most warm fuzzy moment of my weekend. I just finished watching the extra clip on the Veronica Mars movie DVD. (That is after watching the film itself, of course.)

If you hadn’t heard, after season three (2007) Veronica Mars was axed. (Bet those guys are kicking themselves now, huh?) Veronica still had more stories to tell, so Rob Thomas had an idea…

It began with a promo clip on YouTube…

Then when the project went live on the Kick Starter website on April 13 2013, these are just some of the records that were smashed to bits include:

• Fastest project to reach $1 million.
• Fastest project to reach $2 million.
• All-time highest-funded project in FILM category.
• Third highest-funded project in Kickstarter history.
• Most project backers of any project in Kickstarter history.

Filming began in Early June 2013 and on 14 of March 2014 the film was available to one and all worldwide.

So now, the big question is, were the 91,585 people who donated over 5.7 MILLION dollars wasting their time and well earned money?

Hell no!

Thank you to every one of you for getting it done. Thank you to Rob Thomas for not making Veronica suck in her long awaited return to our screens. And oh what a return it was.

Ten years after graduating Neptune High, Veronica is doing her best to avoid the class reunion. As with all her best laid plans, it all goes haywire when she gets the call from one Logan Echolls, who is, yet again, up to his neck in poop and sinking fast.

Almost all of the old gang were back: Weevil, Mac, Logan, Piz, Wallace, Keith, and a 20 something year old Veronica Mars doing what she does best, being the smartest person in the room

Everything is there: the grit, the tension, the smouldering looks between Veronica and Logan, even the old theme song gets a nod.  

There are quite a few shows I have been really upset to see go, Moonlight, Firefly, Dark Angel and the list goes on. I doubt, besides Firefly, that the fan bases of any of those shows would move mountains to get just one last hurrah from their favourite characters.

If you have any love for the TV series, I urge you to get the DVD and watch it.

This is certainly a master class in having the last word… and making it count. 

Chris Kneipp reviews SF TV series–Continuum.

Continuum is a TV series which has continued to improve, and its third season is turning out to be the best yet.

The story follows Kiera Cameron, played by Rachel Nichols, a cop from 2077 Vancouver, Canada. Caught up in a plot by a terrorist group called Liberate, she is dragged back to our time, along with the anti corporate terrorists, leaving her family behind. In the future, corporations are the government, and the world is a scary place for anyone who doesn’t conform to their control. In a high tech, high surveillance future, it’s dangerous to be different.

In the present, Liber8 attempt to change their history by influencing the present. Kiera joins forces with the Vancouver police to stop Liber8 from destroying her future, which would take away her husband and son. Partnering with detective Carlos Fonnegra, Victor Webster, she fights to thwart Liber8’s plans, while hiding her time-travelling secret from the world. She also enlists the help of a computer genius teen named Alex Sadler (Eric Knudsen). In Kiera’s future, Alex is the creator of most of her neat gadgets, including the bio chip implant and her police uniform that doubles as a computer. (Not to mention it can render her invisible.)

Kiera’s loyalties are torn as she learns about the totalitarian rule of the Corporate Congress from its origins in the present. As the first two seasons progress we learn a lot about Kiera and the terrorists’ backstory, revealed through flash-forwards. The scenes set in 2077 are really well done and force the viewer to question their assumptions. Are Liber8 really the bad guys?

Now, I should point out that I wasn’t overly impressed with the first season, but as the series progressed, everyone seemed to find their groove. The third season is off to a cracking start and for the sake of those who haven’t seen it, I won’t give any spoilers.

There’s a lot to like about Continuum. The plot is well thought out, and the time travel paradoxes are handled well without bogging the show down in the geek speak. The tech effects are cool, especially her gun, which assembles itself when needed and stuns its target.

One thing I will bring up is the opening credits. The first two seasons had Kiera doing a voiceover, and I have to say that this is one of my bugbears. Buffy the Vampire Slayer did it for its first couple of seasons and, speaking to TV show creators here, DON’T DO IT. With few exceptions (it works with Person of Interest), it’s a bad idea. The third season of Continuum has a slick new opening, and it is a huge improvement. The original opening monologue attempted to sound serious but came out kind of cheesy. When I watched the first episode, I nearly didn’t make it past the credits, which would have been a shame.

This show has a lot going for it. It has a great premise and characters who become more three dimensional with every scene. It has a real world female lead who does well portraying a woman with shifting beliefs and a future to fight for. And of course, it has some neat gadgets and FX.

No-one is quite who you expect them to be, and by this new season you are asking yourself who the bad guys really are? The new season is off to a great start, and if you haven’t caught up with this show, go and get a copy of the first two seasons. If you make it past the credits, you’ll be glad you did. 

Joelene Pynnonen reviews The Family.

The Manzoni family is moving. Having compromised their cover in the witness protection program yet again, they’re running out of second chances. This time they’re headed to a small town in the French countryside for the fresh start that they need but don’t necessarily want. Despite having betrayed the Mafia kingpin they once called a friend, the Manzoni’s can’t let go of their previous life.

Giovanni (Robert De Niro) initially takes up writing as a way to relive his glory days, but soon gets caught up in trying to sort out the town’s problem with brown water. His daughter, Belle (Dianna Agron), spends her time brutally beating the people who cross her and trying to seduce the substitute math teacher. His son, Warren (John D’Leo), introduces the principles of mob life to the school; launching a coup against the kids in charge whilst lying, stealing and defrauding his way to the top. The family matriarch, Maggie (Michelle Pfeiffer), spends her time covering up her husband’s crimes when she’s not too busy blowing up local grocery stores.

If you’re in the mood for something serious, Luc Besson’s The Family is definitely not it. If you’re trying to find an offbeat comedy to watch with a group of friends however, don’t go past this one. I’m not someone who follows directors, but Luc Besson has not failed me yet. There’s something about the way he mixes humour into the violence in The Family that makes it surprisingly fun to watch.

Now, I’m not pro-violence, but every character in the film manages to pull off their own brand of destruction, which is what sells it. The actors are thoroughly in tune with their characters and whole-heartedly embrace all of their criminal tendencies. Belle takes after her father, delivering swift and brutal punishment to those who oppose her. Warren is more like his mother, analysing the situation and choosing indirect means to achieve his goals. If the family members were all brutal in the same way it would become farcical. Personalizing those traits lends plausibility.

Despite the film’s casual brutality, the Manzoni family are devoted when it comes to each other. Belle and Warren take time out of their day to catch up on what their sibling is up to. Giovanni helps Maggie out when she’s not making progress with an uncooperative plumber, while Maggie keeps the authorities from finding out about said help. The disparity of the family together to the family in society is both disturbing and hilarious.

Overtly and gleefully violent, this isn’t a film for younger viewers. The actors’ performances are focussed and wonderful across the board. Generally it’s a silly, fun and messy film; but the character interactions and cheerfulness of it make it work.

Chris Kneipp reviews the 2013 TV series, Sleepy Hollow.

Something dark is rising in Sleepy Hollow and it’s going to keep you glued to your TV screen. This paranormal/police series from the Fox network has just finished its first season run and the second season is slated for release later this year. While perhaps not for everyone, I thought it was a wonderful retelling of the old story, though it has more in common with a series like Supernatural than it does with the original tale by Washington Irvine.

The show tells the tale of Ichabod Crane (played by Tom Mison), a soldier in the American Civil War. The first episode opens on the battlefield, where Ichabod shoots an axe-wielding mercenary who shakes off the bullet and keeps coming. Our hero is mortally wounded, but manages to behead his killer before dying. Now that could have been the shortest TV series of all time, but for the intervention of his wife Katrina (Katia Winter), a witch. Fast forward a few centuries and Ichabod awakens in a cave on the outskirts of the town Sleepy Hollow, New York, very much alive. As you can imagine, claiming you are from the 1700s is going to get you committed, but when a string of people are beheaded with an axe, one person believes him: Abbie Mills (Nicole Beharie), a police lieutenant haunted by her own childhood supernatural experience. Together, Crane and Mills uncover a terrifying plot to bring about the end of the world.

The show’s creators do a great job mixing the drama with occasional light comedy, and the cast of characters, both good and evil, do a great job bringing the story to life. I haven’t seen Tom Mison or Nicole Beharie in anything before, and if this is any indication of their talent then I’m looking forward to seeing them in other roles in the future. Mison plays the stiff but likable hero convincingly, though I do find myself wondering why he is always in the same clothes he was wearing when he crawled out of the cave (Eww!). Nicole Beharie also lends much to the success of the show and it’s nice to see a female lead who doesn’t need to dress in black leather and high heels to kick ass.

The supporting characters in Sleepy Hollow are well-played and it was interesting to see Orlando Jones (Mad TV) and John Cho (Harold and Kumar) step away from comedy and into dramatic roles. Lyndie Greenwood plays Abbie’s troubled sister Jenny and brings another great tough-girl character to life.

As all good series do, Sleepy Hollow’s season finale frustratingly ends with a killer cliff-hanger (no spoilers) and the show’s ratings suggest that there’ll be plenty of people glued to their TVs when season two comes out later this year. No release date has been announced, though Fox has confirmed they are shooting it now.

Guess we’ll all just have to be patient until then.