where: CENTURY 14 VALLEJO in Vallejo, CA
when: Friday, June 4th, 2010
show: 10:35 p.m.
costs: $10.00 Ticket + $5.25 small Popcorn ( w/ Butter ) + $4.00 small Diet/Zero ( w/ Barq's & Cherry flavors ) Coke = $19.25
auditorium: 12
seat: 4th row, 7th column
synopsis: A genetic engineer couple, Clive and Elsa ( Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley ) crosses the boundaries of scientific ethics to create a new life form which is part human and part animal, in hopes of finding a cure for diseases that have plagued humanity for millenia. But Dren ( Delphine Chaneac ), the hybrid creature, develops at an accelerated rate and exhibits unanticipated "traits" that put the couple's work and lives at risk.
noteworthy scenes: 1.) Love at first sight; 2.) Phase two; 3.) Human/animal splice; 4.) Moral considerations; 5.) Cesarean; 6.) A mistake; 7.) It's empty; 8.) Aging fast; 9.) Air vent; 10.) High sucrose food stuffs; 11.) Picture; 12.) Develops live fetus outside the womb; 13.) Nerd/dren palindrome; 14.) Compiling developmental profile; 15.) We have to deal with this; 16.) Scientists risk boundaries; 17.) Talk with his brother; 18.) Cold bath; 19.) Doll; 20.) Curious Dren; 21.) The "Fred & Ginger" show; 22.) Setback; 23.) Old barn; 24.) Search; 25.) Your room; 26.) Cat; 27.) Tedious/outside anagram; 28.) Wings; 29.) Not so special case anymore; 30.) Make-up; 31.) Drawing; 32.) AMC Gremlin; 33.) Music; 34.) Your DNA; 35.) You're a part of me; 36.) Surgery; 37.) Solve this thing; 38.) Security cameras, 39.) Synthesized; 40.) Sex; 41.) Opps; 42.) We broke the rules; 43.) Sick Dren; 44.) More drawings; 45.) It's the only way; 46.) Snatched; 47.) Inside you; and 48.) What's the worse that could happen?
audience reaction: The audience seemed to enjoy this movie which, at times, has funny scenes.
recommendation: Even with its scientific jargon and fancy SFX, this movie comes across as something reminiscent of 50s-era Sci-Fi schlock. Watch it for the comedy, not for the ( faulty) science.
spoiler alert! Why do Fred and Ginger have a human-sounding heartbeat when they don't even have one iota of human DNA? A fetus cannot develop or live, for that matter, outside of its maternal host. Why does the newborn have an high sense of threat assessment and response? Fred and Ginger do not really have enough body heft to topple the display case in the first place. Although Dren was supposedly aging fast, her age-rate sure slowed down quite considerably in her "sexy" stage--talk about lasciviously pandering to the prurient interest of horndog movie-goers. Attention, horndogs: If this movie's nudity and sex scenes turn you on, you're just a litter-full of sick puppies! If Dren knows how to play crossword puzzles, surely she should know how to read and write--but this movie shows no indication of such a literacy skill. How does Dren go from eating "high fructose food stuffs" to hunting down and devouring a rabbit? If Dren has to go "potty", where does she go? I don't see any gills, do you? There ain't no way in the world that a cat would not freak out at being handled by a strange stranger! The wings are not suited for flight--the creature would free-fall faster than Icarus under a hot mid-day sun. Why does a hot-shot "splice-masters extraordinaire" couple go riding around in an old AMC Gremlin lemon? A Yugo would probably be a slightly better ride. The structure of Dren's feet is not sturdy enough for runs and high jumps, and she is missing cleat-like nails on her toes which are necessary for powerful, high-speed locomotion. Supposedly--based on certain scenes ( ahem! )--Dren suffers from Alopecia Universalis but she has eyebrows and eyelashes, go figure .... When Dren was in bed dying, her blanketed legs were oriented the wrong way: They looked human, not kangaroo-like. Because of her traumatic experience, why didn't Elsa just abort the fetus?
fyi: Based on what my Anatomy and Physiology professor once said to the class, technically/scientifically/medically speaking, a fetus is just a parasite--Yes! even a human fetus. ( Oh, boy ... I can just hear the "Pro-Life" crowd raising Hell over this remark. Don't kill the messenger, please! )
A human/sundry-animals hybrid cannot impregnate a human female for the simple reason of Chromosomal Count Incompatibility.
Scientifically speaking, the male of the human species is chromosomally inferior to the female of said species. Meaning, with her human DNA, Dren should have logically started out in life as a male and later on evolved into a female, and not the other way around; in much the same way that she later on sprouted arms, her Y chromosome would have sprouted an extra limb later on! So, again, this movie would have made more sense had Dren started out in life as a male.
Did you know that the Bible warns us not to mix-breed animals--or anything else for that matter? It's true, look it up in the Old Testament of the Bible's third book: Leviticus; chapter 19, verse 19. Mix-breeding produces an inferior breed in God's eyes. But on a more sinister note, this warning applies to genetically-bred/spliced organisms because it eventually leads to tampering with the very nature of Man. Understand this, a human brought into this world through conception, whether or not In Vivo or In Vitro, is a procreated being because a sperm and an egg were involved in the untampered DNA transfer process. But a human brought into this world through genetic engineering and splicing does not have a naturally-sequenced DNA and technically is not a human but a beast, instead, i.e. The Beast, a.k.a. 666 or b.k.a., The Anti-Christ, since there are only two kinds of creatures on earth: Humans and beasts! And by beast, I ain't talkin' 'bout Tarzan, the Ape Man!
word of advice: Don't fool with Mother Nature.
tidbits: After the movie, I went to get some gas at the Chevron gas station on the corner of Sonoma Boulevard and Mini Drive. I went up to the attendant's booth, intending to buy just $3.25 of regular gas at pump # 1. The guy in front of me, whose car was on the opposite side of my pump, went up to the attendant to buy the same amount of regular gas! When it was my turn, I told the attendant that the other driver probably read my mind. He just laughed.
word of advice: Don't fool with Mother Nature.
tidbits: After the movie, I went to get some gas at the Chevron gas station on the corner of Sonoma Boulevard and Mini Drive. I went up to the attendant's booth, intending to buy just $3.25 of regular gas at pump # 1. The guy in front of me, whose car was on the opposite side of my pump, went up to the attendant to buy the same amount of regular gas! When it was my turn, I told the attendant that the other driver probably read my mind. He just laughed.
