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Alien Invasion

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The Faculty

The Faculty

List Price: $14.98
Your Price: $13.48
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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: The teachers are strangely dehydrated !
Review: A pleasantly enjoyable alien invasion movie which pits the wits of a rapidly-shrinking group of high schoolers against a rapidly-growing group of water-loving alien monsters.
Plot-wise, there's not much new: 'Something's not quite right at school' is the theme that takes up most of the film, with the usual disbelieved teenagers trying to warn their parents of the danger amongst them.
Certain parts of the film are full of holes; the courageous tactic used by the kids to dispose of the aliens seems slightly ridiculous and the usual character mold of the over-sexed, dentally perfect, highschool students being pursued by something evil, puts the film in Cliché Land.
However, 'The Faculty' works well through convincing special effects, one or two surprises and the intrigue of not knowing who is human and who is alien. Reminiscent of several better films, such as 'The Thing', it fails in atmospherics but makes up its losses with a very impressive twist near the end.
Look out for a young Josh Hartnett who went on to star in 'Pearl Harbor' and an even younger Elijah Wood, who was to become internationally famous as Frodo Baggins in 'The Lord of The Rings'.
Overall, 'The Faculty' is very watchable; not destined for the Horror Hall of Fame but something which could easily make it to your video shelf, to be watched again and again.
This is a movie for fans of furtive alien takeovers of the 'Body Snatchers' kind.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A surprise
Review: I was really surprised by this movie. I was expecting your typical teen slash flick, but was treated to a humorous, nerve wracking mystery that was similar to the old monster movies of the 50's. The cast was stellar, the dialogue crisp and on target and had a decent stoy line. This is one movie I can watch over and over again and not get bored.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Uh...
Review: Look at all these stereotypical characters. Casey is the "Stephen King" nerd that gets bullied everyday. Stan is the jock with a heart. Zeke is the "contradiction". Stokely is the loner/goth/super smart "lesbian". Delilah is the ditzy balloon-head that spends an hour applying lipstick. And of course, the new kid that acts like she's never seen anything outside of a cornfield (there's a reason for that though).

So, all these hellions and misfits unite in a common cause to fight aliens that are taking over their school. Original? No. Interesting? Maybe to some. Smart? Hardly. Maybe the "wonderdust" weapon was a stroke of genius... nah, not quite. Maybe the cast is talented... nah, only some. Maybe the script took 2 hours to write... bingo!

Some talent shines. Overall, waste of film. Decent soundtrack tho...

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Why your teachers being alien monsters is a bad thing...
Review: "The Faculty" is one of those movies where you want to reduce it to simple cinematic equation history, such as "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" meets "Fast Times at Ridgemont High." But that is really too simplistic an approach. Not since "The Rock" have I seen a film that references as many other films as "The Faculty" (comedy homages in the tradition of "Airplane" do not count). When you watch this film see how many times you suddenly say to yourself, "Oh, yeah, just like in 'The Thing.'" Clearly, screenwriter Kevin Williamson ("Scream") is back to his old tricks, this time in the field of science fiction rather than teenage splatter flicks, aided and abetted by director Robert Rodriuez ("From Dusk Till Dawn").

The premise of the film is that the old school kid fantasy about teachers being alien monsters comes true at Herrington High in Ohio. The faculty are only first on the alien agenda for possession. Next are the police, the students, their parents, the folks in town, the visiting football team, and, by the end of the month, the entire world. All that stand in the way are the fellowship of the high school student stereotypes: there is Casey Connor (Elijah Wood), the Stephen King nerd; Delilah Profitt (Jordana Brewster), the campus queen; Stokely Mitchell (Clea DuVall), the goth girl with the encyclopedic knowledge of science fiction films whom everyone thinks is a lesbian; Stan Rosado (Shawn Hatosy), the sensitive jock who wants to be more than a quarterback; Marybeth Louise Hutchinson (Laura Harris), the new girl in school; and Zeke Wells (Josh Hartnett), the big man on campus when it comes to drugs.

Actually, "The Faculty" ends ups being one of the most subversive films in history because the big lesson here is that mind altering drugs can save the world (that can't be right). But it is hard to focus on a "message" in a film like this where the only real question is how are these kids going to save the world and which on the infected people is hosting the queen? That last one is where Williamson proves he was paying attention to story construction because there are plenty of clues that set up the big payoff, which is usually a sign of competency when considering a film like this. Otherwise the big joke in the film is that the adults are having a lot more fun being monsters than the kids are trying to save the earth. Robert Patrick plays Coach Willis with maniacal glee while Piper Laurie goes for underplayed creepiness. Famke Janssen goes from mouse to lioness, Bebe Neuwirth gets to work on her chilling smile, and even Jon Stewart has his eye-popping moment. Only Salma Hayek is really wasted, given nothing more to do than blow her nose.

The end result is a decent science fiction horror film, which is a pretty good deal. We are clearly in a world where a competent film in this genre qualifies as an above average effort. But "The Faculty" embraces both the history of the genre and the stereotypical characters running around in it trying to save the world. The idea of an unpretentious exploitation film just sounds strange. For me, the two scenes that capture the essence of this film are the suspenseful sequence where the gang tries to figure out who amongst them cannot be trusted and the bit where the new and improved football team gleefully beats up on their out of town opponents at the big game on Friday night. "The Faculty" plays well in both ballparks. The only serious complaint is that this film was apparently so well crafted by Williamson and Rodriguez that there are no deleted scenes; all this DVD offers in the way of extras is the trailer. That is a downer.

Bonus Question: Since this film is scripted by Kevin Williamson can it be read as an allegorical twist on "Dawson's Creek"? Sure, why not? It just gets a bit complicated, because if Casey is Dawson and Zeke is Pacey, then Stan has to be Jack (the football part, but not the gay part, unless you want to go back to the very beginning in which case he can be Cliff). That means Delilah is Joey (but with Abby's attitude), but then we have to decide if Marybeth the new girl in town or Stokely the girl with a bad reputation is Jen. Since that can work out either way your decision can be based on whether you are trying to work this out in terms of the high school years on "Dawson's Creek" with Andie or the college years with Audrey.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great Sci-Fi / Horror Movie!
Review: I love this movie, I could watch it over and over.

It has a great plot and the way the movie unfolds is great! It takes the body snatcher theme and uses it wonderfully. I would deffinally recomend this movie to any one who likes Sci-Fi, Horror, and a little bit of mystery. Overall Great movie!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Moral of the Story: Never Add Water to Anything
Review: During a time when the cinematic bowels of horror ruptured and teen movies seemed to flood the market and become a dime a dozen, I opted to skip this film because of some very bad experiences that still didn't set very well with me. Like many of the people I knew, there were lingering doubts plaguing me as to whether a mainstreamed cast of this nature could actually approach the terrible in a convincing way and if a theme that echoed "aliens kidnapped my baby while at high school" could actually find a way to be new and diverse. After a time, however, I opted to buy it on an impulse, liking something I had seen about the making of the beast that all the trouble stems from in this tale. After countless rewatches, I have to say that this isn't what I first stereotyped it to be and, although it isn't original, is very appealing.

We begin in the confines of our little Ohio-based school system, introduced to the living representations of all our modern stereotypes of what students can be. From there we see the basic interactions and the bullying - the drug-use and subsequent salesmanship, and the athletics - as our gaze is focused through one "geek" (Elijah Woods). Thinking his life is difficult enough already, he finds himself shocked when, looking around on the football field, he discovers the dehydrated remains of what appears to be a new species. Odder still, is its ability to come to life when introduced to water. This leads down even more bizarre pathways for him, and he finds himself and this band of miscreants we spent time watching early becoming stars when thrust into the gears of what seems to be an alien invasion.

While the script was nothing new, the actors more made up for this by providing seamless performances that were sometimes dry and sometimes surprisingly funny. On top of this, the effects on this were, in a word, delightful, giving the watcher something to keep an eye out for. From the beast with rows of teeth that would make any dentist smile and sing songs of happiness to the aquarium-based lifeforms, the DVD version of this had a quality that was simply superb. Add all of this together and you get one thing; a movie that is enjoyably delectable.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Spot the Microphone game.
Review: This movie is a sad joke. The boom microphone droops into the view of the camera constantly. What weak wimp did they have holding it up there? At least trying to spot this constant error gives you something to watch for. The story certainly does NOT.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: This one is just plain fun!
Review: Yes, it's "another pod-people, puppet-master, monster-takes-over-the-town movie", but it's leading stars are excellent in their roles, and it's infused with humor and some real startling moments which make the whole thing fun to watch. It's not for tots: there is a lot of violence in first fifteen minutes of the film, and the kids "test" one another (to make sure they're not aliens) by snorting home-made powder. But it's all done with tongue-in-cheek. I was especially pleased with the performance of Elijah Wood as the school "target", Casey, who spends the first half of the movie getting beat up, and the second half of the movie kicking alien butt. "Casey, when did you become Sigourney Weaver," one of his classmates asks... Hah! It's fun.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Faculty!!
Review: It is the best Sci Fi Horror movie I have ever seen I was very pleased with the picture and sound and Elijah Woods acting
was outstanding I would give the movie 20 stars if I could:):):):)

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Smarter than your average 'teen' movie!
Review: When i initially went to view this movie i wasn't expecting much as my experience with so called 'teen' movies has been uniformly grim up to now. However this has to rank as the best ive seen in this genre by some distance. Of course it suffers somewhat from the usual clichés but despite that succeeds in displaying a remarkable amount of emotional depth. Though the characters would seem to be mere stereotypes representitive of the usual high-school cliques- nerds, jocks, popular-people and loners- the talented cast succeeds in imbueing them with more than average complexity. Particularly notable in this regard is Elijah Wood, whose understated yet decidedly powerful performance stands out from the rest. He lends an startling element of humanity and depth to what might have been a very restricting role, as well as neatly landing some potentially awful lines. Among the rest Clea Duvall stands out as do the various members of the titular 'faculty'. Marred somewhat by excessive and pointless swearing (...) this is nonetheless an intelligent effort that imroves decidedly on repeated viewing.


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