Home (2015)

Directed by Tim Johnson
Written by Tom J. Astle and Matt Ember, based on the book "The True Meaning of Smekday" by Adam Rex
Starring Jim Parsons, Rhianna, Steve Martin, Jennifer Lopez and Matt Jones

When the Boove discover sanctuary on Earth from their enemy the Gorg, the abduct all humans and jam them into Australia, stealing everything else. But when an unpopular Boove named Oh jeopardizes his species' peace, he is hunted down. While on the run, he finds a lonely girl who escaped capture and helps her find her Mom.

In a time where many animation studios are staying a float by adding more things for the parents in their family movies, Dreamworks has stepped in and taken the reigns with the films directed towards younger audiences.

Unlike movies from Pixar and Disney Animation (two different entities that just happened to be owned by Disney), in which plots are often darker and have heavier content that is both kid friendly and holds the adults' attention, "Home" aims for an even younger audience and neglects to think about the parent's in attendance.

Their first mistake, in my mind, was casting both Rhianna and Jennifer Lopez. Perhaps it is the crowd I surround myself with, but I don't know many people over the age of 16 who listen to those artists religiously. Or at the very least, enough to be excited that they are in a movie. Not only was it meaningless from a marketing standpoint, but from the acting side, it just gave the movie lower quality voice performances.

With a soundtrack plagued by Rhianna  and Jennifer Lopez songs, the entire movie just felt like an advertisement for her. Sure, when a musician agrees to be in a movie, they usually lend a song for good measure. But the songs just did not fit the scenes they were in. The became a distraction rather than an enhancement.

The plot of the movie itself, although cliché, was an interesting enough start. They definitely had a foundation and enough jokes and gags to make a good movie. And the casting choices weren't an immediate deal breaker. I just can't pinpoint where the filmmakers went wrong. It's a decent movie, but I feel a lot of little mistakes cost them the quality of the movie after such a promising short film.

My Rating: 5/10

The War of the Worlds (1953)

Directed by Byron Haskin
Written by Barré Lyndon, based on the novel by H.G. Wells
Starring Gene Barry, Sylvia Van Buren, Sandro Giglio and Lewis Martin

After a suspicious object lands just outside of Los Angeles, all of the citizens of nearby towns flock to go see what they believe to be a meteorite. But they soon discover that the object that crash landed in the hills is intact an alien spaceship. One of many sent to destroy life on Earth.

Undeniably way ahead of it's time, the 1953 adaptation of the H.G. Wells classic is certainly not as intense as it's 2005 counterpart. But it is a brilliant example of the ingenuity and creativity of it's generations filmmakers. Back before computers became the answer to all film making problems, miniature sets, props and special effects had to be imagined using limited resources.

While the film itself is not terribly horrifying and the performances were given at a time when very few people knew the difference between stage acting and film acting, it is definitely one of those movies that are impressive merely for it's age. To see how things were done before the age of Hundreds of millions of dollar budgets.

"I got no strings on me… oh wait"

I doubt many other types of people would enjoy this film. This is a true film buffs movie. I personally didn't watch it for the story. I've read and seen that story in a version specifically made so that Tom Cruise could run. This was exclusively out of interest into how they would pull it off. And from that standpoint, it was quite impressive.

My Rating: 6/10