Sunday 21 August 2016

10 Cloverfield Lane





This is a science fiction movie starring John Goodman as Howard, Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Michelle and John Gallaher as Emmett.
A great part of the movie takes place in an underground bunker with only three characters.  The bunker is built by Howard for protection. 
Michelle is driving on a lonely road and is involved in an accident when he is knocked by another vehicle.  She wakes up and finds herself in bandages in a bunker.  Howards nurses her till she’s strong enough but there’s more to his kindness.  He begins to act unnecessarily possessive.  He warns her not to leave his bunker because the air outside is polluted.
She doesn’t believe him.  She seeks a way of escape.  She’s has a good rapport with Emmett, a fellow inmate in the bunker.  Unlike her, Emmett is laid back and doesn’t sense any danger.  He accepts whatever he is told by Howard and is completely submissive to him.  Howard on the other hand doesn’t like the closeness between his two captives.  An occasion when they were all in dining, Michelle openly flirts with Emmett.  Howard is enraged and yells at them to stop.
It was Michelle’s plan to upset.  She has a plan to escape and seeks an opportunity to run.  She steals his key when he isn’t watching.  When Howards isn’t looking, Michelle flings an object to his head.  She runs towards the door with the key.  When she gets to the door, she is horrified.  She sees through the glass a woman with skin melting as if with acid.  The desperate woman knocks hard on the door and asks Michelle to open it.
Howards shouted at her not to open the door.  Michelle backs away and watches the woman slumps and dies.  She resigns her fate to the bunk and her domineering guest.  Things appear to get better but only for a moment.  Howard begins displaying his psychopathic behavior.
 At the dining
At the dining

 Michelle notches a plan with Emmett to escape.  They know it’s deadly outside and that they will need a form of protection.  They begin with getting a pair of scissors, a cello tape and plastic cover.  They start cutting the cover with the scissors to make a fire suite. 
Howard is suspicious but they hide every single clue from him.  When he pays an unexpected visit to Michelle’s room she hides her suite under the mattress and folds her arms.  Howard senses something unusual and lingers on for a while.  As he is about to leave, a bolt falls on the group.  He looks up and finds out that the hatch to the vent on the wall has been opened.  He opens the hatch but it is dark.  He uses his hand to search for anything he could find. 
If he had searched deeper, he would have found a pair of scissors and a tape Michelle hid.  He leaves the room under controlled rage.  His suspicion led him to dig further.  Unfortunately, he comes across a poor disposed tape.  He calls Michelle and Emmett to disposal unit and begins to question them.  They don’t know what to say.   
He brings out a gun and shoots Emmett.  When Michelle sees this, she runs for safety.  There’s a gallon of toxic chemical nearby which she pushes to the ground.  Howard is corroded by the chemical.  Michelle finally escapes and the sky is clear unlike what Howard told her.  She begins to hear a strange sound and realizes there was an alien.
After escaping Howard, she never expected to encounter any more trouble.  But this isn’t the case.  She ran away from a six legged alien and hides from it.  When the alien searched for her and doesn’t find her, it leaves her.  Michelle runs for her car.  But as she’s about to turn on the ignition, she sees a flying monster spewing out toxic fumes from its nostril.  She covers her face with a makeshift mask and survives the onslaught.





Concussion




This is a movie based on true life event.  Will Smith stars as a Doctor/forensic pathologist, Nigerian born Dr. Bennet Omalu .  While carrying out an autopsy on an ex NFL footballer, Dr. Bennet discovers neurological damage similar to Alzheimer disease as the cause of death.  He seeks to publish his findings but he’s met with stiff opposition from his colleagues and superiors.  They try to explain his findings away but after another NFL player is found dead in his vehicle, they decide to give him audience.
 An ex NFL player,  Andre Waters suffered severe depression which caused him his career.  He seeks assistance from a former football colleague, Dave Duerson (Adewale Akinnoye) but the latter does not want to be seen with him.  Andre Waters commits suicide by shooting his chest.  After taking permission from his family members,  Dr. Omalu examines his brain tissues.  His discovery confirms his initial findings.  Water’s brain tissue had degenerated into that of a 90 year old man suffering from Alzheimers, chronic encephalopathy (CTE).


Adewale Akinnoye. Played the role of David Duerson
 
The real David Duerson



When Dr. Omlau was about to have a medical conference, he’s confronted by Dave Duerson.  Duerson calls him a quack and tells him to go to Africa instead of bringing disrepute to the beautiful game.  Dr. Omalu looks horrified and withdraws before things become physical.  It wasn’t long when Duerson begins developing brain problems similar to what Andre suffered.  He brings out a gun and shoots himself in the chest.   
True life movies are usually my favourite.  The casts did really well but I wonder what accent Will Smith was trying to imitate.  It doesn’t sound Nigerian to me.  I’ll give him a 6 for the accent.  In terms of appearance, Will Smith looks nothing close to the real Dr. Omalu.  I thought the director could have come up with someone with similar features.  When I watch the movie Ali, played by Will Smith, I see a lot resemblance between Will Smith and the real Mohammed Ali.   
When you watch the movie, you might develop hatred for NFL because of their conspiracy.  NFL is the biggest villain here.  Many more people died from football related injury.  The movie is quite emotional.  And of course like a typical Hollywood script, it must have a happy end.  Dr. Omalu gets married to a lady he met at his church, a fellow immigrant, Prema Mutiso.
If you love drama and a bit some of suspense, this movie is right for you.  It’s not all that academic which is good for lover of romance.  I’ll score it 7.5 out of 10.   


The real doctor Omalu with Will Smith