Splice

Director:: Vincenzo Natali


Rated: R


Dark Castle Entertainment: June 4, 2010


104 minutes

From IMDb: Genetic engineers Clive Nicoli(Adrien Brody) and Elsa Kast (Sarah Polley) hope to achieve fame by successfully splicing together the DNA of different animals to create new hybrid animals for medical use. Dren (Delphine Chaneac).


This was a movie, I always wanted to see in the theatres, however, never made it to see it. So, last night, while flipping through countless satellite channels, I just happened to come across this, starting in ten minutes on the Space channel. I've been a fan of Adrien Brody's work, and when I remembered he was in this, I decided to grab some chips and settle down to watch it. 


The lowdown of the movie, begins with two genetic engineers splicing animal DNA to create new animals, just like the above description says. The action started pretty quick in the beginning with Elsa, having a soft spot for this new hybrid animal. She becomes a surrogate mother for it, trying to teach it, and help it develop. 


When the main action of the movie took off, it was quite good. They run away with Dren, who incidentally got her that name, while playing with scrabble tiles with Elsa, forming the word nerd, and Elsa looking at it backwards. The development of the "animal" is very quick and the once tiny little spliced animal, is now becoming a grown woman. Who has eyes for Clive.


Without too many spoilers, the viewer finds out that not only was animal DNA spliced into Dren, but human DNA as well, which explains her appearance and ability to love and want to be loved.


Close to the end of the movie, the action is much greater, some key characters do get killed and of course, what is a movie like this, without a twist at the end that could possibly hint of a sequel. 


It wasn't filled with gore, however, I did find it had a good storyline, and the acting was quite well. I would recommend watching this, therefore I will give Splice a 4/5.

Bidding you bloody nightmares,

Nyx

[Rec 2]

Director: Jaume Balaguero and Paco Plaza

Rated: R

Magnolia Pictures: July 12, 2011

85 Minutes

From Amazon:
The highly anticipated sequel to one of the scariest films of all time, [REC] 2 picks up 15 minutes from where we left off, taking us back into the quarantined apartment building where a terrifying virus runs rampant. What they find inside lies beyond the scope of medical science - a demonic nightmare more terrifying than they could possibly imagine.

I wasn't exactly the biggest fan of the first [Rec] but I checked out the second one anyways. Partially because I bought it the same time I bought the first one. The second one seems like a better movie although I still don't think it was great. I'd say it wasn't really my type of movie but I love "found footage" films. I'm not sure what it was or why I didn't like them so much, I just didn't. The acting was fairly well done, the story line's mesh together good...I think it just wasn't a Ginger type of movie.

This movie takes place shortly after the end of the first [Rec] but involves a crew of special forces who take a doctor/priest into the quarantined building. The thing that I liked more about [Rec 2] then the first one was that the second had way more explanation. It was almost like they took questions people had about the first one and found a way to answer them in part 2. I'm sure this was a huge plus for all the fans of both [Rec] films.

I think I'm kind of neutral towards this movie. I didn't like it but I didn't hate it either. It had it's moments (even if there was only a few), it had a few creepy parts, and a twist at the end which is always a plus! If you haven't had the chance to check them out yet you might want to. As long as you don't start either movie with high expectations I think you'll find both movies to be quite enjoyable!

My Rating: 3/5
Ginger