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The Phoenix Rises

USA 2012
produced by
D. Scott Lumpkin, Denny Wilkins (executive) for Frame 29 Films, MudBrick Media
directed by Drew Hall
starring James Black, Adam Cardon, Catalina Soto-Aguilar, Christine Kozlowski, John DeLong, Casey Myers, Carlos E. Lopez, Susan LeCourt-Barbe, Philip Fornah, Brent Nevison, Allison Smith, Robert Lynn Penny, Anil Bajaj, Tim Kirby, Brad Fauchex
written by Denny Wilkins, music by Page Hamilton, Patrick Kirst, visual effects by Scoundrel VFX

review by
Mike Haberfelner

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The wars of the near future are not fought by boots on the ground anymore, not even by a massive air force or drone strikes, but by pure science. And recently, the CIA has found out that a terrorist organisation has found a way to control the weather and earthquakes via manipulating the magnetism of the atmosphere. And now these terrorists want to use this knowledge to destroy California. This in turn leaves the CIA with little choice but to pretty much force a team of crack scientists into their employ, scientists who can create a counter-measure - but who also know this way they would just leave the most powerful weapon on earth (controlling the weather and creating natural disasters) in the hands of someone else - it's a no-win situation, so the scientists agree.

Among the scientists there is one problem child though, Jan (Catalina Soto-Aguilar) - sure, she's brilliant and nowadays she's as honest, as dedicated to the group and even to her country as everybody else, and her love to her fellow brilliant scientist Jack (John DeLong), but in the past she hasn't always played by the rules and has stolen some magnets essential to their work now from some shady sources ... and by now these "shady sources" are apparently in league with the terrorists, and they want their magnets back to prevent a counter attack - and thus they send their most sadistic henchmen Jamal (Philip Fornah) and Maxine (Allison Smith) out to retrieve them at any cost ... and soon enough, Jan and her best friend/fellow scientist Maryanne (Christine Kozlowski) are kidnapped and stashed away in an abandoned mine wearing nothing but their pjs until Jan's ready to cooperate.

The CIA sends their top man, Tom Jones (Adam Cardon), after Jamal and Maxine to free the woman, but he has fallen in love with Jan, which might cloud his judgment, while back in the lab, Jack is driven crazy with worry about Jan, but in order to save California and maybe the country as a whole, he's forced to focus on his work exclusively. What's worse is of course, our scientist heroes are unable to counter the terrorist's weather-weapon without Jan's input ... so is there any chance at all California will survive to see another day?

 

There are no two ways about it, The Phoenix Rises is an exciting and intelligent sci-fi thriller, it's well-paced, well-executed, its scientific basis might be little more than gobbledegook but it's at least sold in a way that makes it believable for the duration of the movie, and what the movie lacks in actual action and special effects it makes up in interesting editing, well executed flashbacks and the like.

That said, The Phoenix Rises is not the perfect sci-fi thriller, it's budget is just a tad too low to tackle a story of the movie's magnitude, some of the effects that are used are a bit on the cheesy side, and some of the subplots in the movie just seem to lead to nowhere.

That's not to say the film's a failure, not even close, it's a valid attempt to make something big with little in terms of funds, and while it doesn't succeed 100%, it's still a very watchable film.

 

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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In times of uncertainty of a possible zombie outbreak, a woman has to decide between two men - only one of them's one of the undead.

 

There's No Such Thing as Zombies
starring
Luana Ribeira, Rudy Barrow and Rami Hilmi
special appearances by
Debra Lamb and Lynn Lowry

 

directed by
Eddie Bammeke

written by
Michael Haberfelner

produced by
Michael Haberfelner, Luana Ribeira and Eddie Bammeke

 

now streaming at

Amazon

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Vimeo

 

 

 

Robots and rats,
demons and potholes,
cuddly toys and
shopping mall Santas,
love and death and everything in between,
Tales to Chill
Your Bones to

is all of that.

 

Tales to Chill
Your Bones to
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a collection of short stories and mini-plays
ranging from the horrific to the darkly humourous,
from the post-apocalyptic
to the weirdly romantic,
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the twisted mind of
screenwriter and film reviewer
Michael Haberfelner.

 

Tales to Chill
Your Bones to

the new anthology by
Michael Haberfelner

 

Out now from
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