martes, 1 de enero de 2013

E --- City Of Ember


Calificación : 6.4/10
Clasificación : Aventura | Familia | Fantasia
Duración : 90 Min

Director : Gil Kenan
Escritor : Jeanne Duprau (Novela) | Caroline Thompson (Guión)

Actores Principales : Saoirse Ronan, Toby Jones y Bill Murray
IMDB : City of Ember (2008)

In the midst of a nuclear war, the Builders of the underground "City of Ember" place secret instructions to future generations in a small box, timed to open in 200 years. The box is thrust into the hands of the mayor of the underground complex. Each mayor, in turn, passes the box onto his or her successor. When the box has 47 more years left on the time-lock, the mayor holding the box dies suddenly. The significance of the box had not been explained to anyone else, and the mayor's family places it in junk-filled closet. When it finally reaches year 200, the time-lock clicks open, but the event goes unnoticed.

For generations, the people of Ember have lived in a huge underground complex built as a refuge for humanity. It is built into a vast cavern so high that it is filled with regular-sized buildings. Far above the tops of the buildings are banks of floodlights that light the city during the day and provide light for the greenhouses. The lights are powered by a massive generator. Now it is year 247 and Ember threatens to fall into darkness as the generator begins to fail. Blackouts are occurring with increasing frequency and last longer each time. There's also a major shortage of canned goods and light bulbs.

At a rite of passage for all graduating students called Assignment Day, the mayor (Bill Murray) stands before the graduating students as they choose, by lottery, what their occupations will be. Lina (Saoirse Ronan), a young girl dreaming to be a messenger, is assigned "Pipeworks Laborer" and Doon (Harry Treadaway) is assigned "Messenger". The two swap occupations. Lina goes home to find her grandmother searching for something in the closet, which turns out to be the lost metal box. Unable to piece the torn papers inside the box together, Lina nevertheless resolves to decipher their meaning and enlists Doon's help. As blackouts become more frequent, Lina and Doon realize that the information inside the box could lead to the salvation of Ember. Racing against time, the two follow the clues, cleverly maneuvering around corrupt politicians.

During their flight, it turns out that their parents had once joined in an attempt to make their way beyond Ember - an attempt which ended when Lina's father drowned after their tunneler hit an underground river. The pair realizes the document is a set of instructions on how to escape the city, and they search for the hidden exit. They also discover that the mayor has been hoarding canned food in a secret room. When they report the theft, they are declared traitors. Now on the run from the mayor's police, the pair puts their escape plan into action. They fetch Poppy, Lina's younger sister, and follow the instructions, which leads them to the surface where they see and feel the natural air and sky for the first time. At first, they despair, because it is dark and they assume that they haven't escaped, but they do not realize it is nighttime. In the morning, as the sun rises, they gaze in amazement at the glowing sun and blue sky. They then tie a message of their discovery to a rock and drop it back down to the city, where it is found by Doon's father (Tim Robbins).

E --- Doomsday


Calificación : 6.0/10
Clasificación : Accion | Sci-Fi
Duración : 105 Min

Director : Neil Marshall
Escritor : Neil Marshall

Actores Principales : Rhona Mitra, Bob Hoskins y Alexander Siddig
IMDB : Doomsday(2008)

In 2008, the Reaper virus infects Scotland, so the country is walled off by the British government. A Scottish woman begs retreating soldiers to take her injured little girl with them. Her daughter has an eye injury but is healthy otherwise. The mother (Emma Cleasby) gives her daughter (Christine Tomlinson) an envelope just as the soldiers' helicopter lifts off.

The quarantine is deemed a success, with the remaining Scottish population and the virus apparently dying off, and the British Government is considering taking off the wall, but still, they reschedule it until the last infected person is dead.

In 2035, the virus now reappears in London, killing several people across town. Prime Minister Hatcher (Alexander Siddig) and his righthand man Canaris (David O'Hara) share with domestic security chief Bill Nelson (Bob Hoskins) news of survivors in Scotland, and they believe a cure may exist. They order him to send a team into Scotland to find medical researcher Dr. Kane (Malcolm McDowell), who was working on a cure when Scotland was quarantined. Nelson chooses Major Eden Sinclair (Rhona Mitra), the little girl from Scotland now grown up, to lead the team. She has a cybernetic eye that can be removed and used remotely for weapon aiming and video playback.

North of the wall, while searching for any survivors, Sinclair and her team are ambushed by a cannibalistic punk gang. Some team members are killed, while Sinclair and Dr Talbot (Sean Pertwee) are captured. Sergeant Norton (Adrian Lester) and Dr Stirling (Darren Morfitt) manage to escape the attack. Sinclair is interrogated and tortured by the gang's leader, Sol (Craig Conway). Dr Talbot is barbecued alive and eaten by the cannibalistic gang. During the "feast", Sinclair escapes from her cell and discovers Kane's daughter, Cally (MyAnna Buring), in the next cell. Freed by Sinclair, Cally leads her to a waiting train manned by her friend Joshua (Martin Compston), while Norton and Stirling meet up with them while they escape.

They take the train into the mountains and take a shortcut through a hidden underground military facility, to the castle where Kane and his followers live. They are surrounded by Kane's medieval soldiers, Joshua is killed, and everyone else surrenders. Kane tells Sinclair that the survivors are naturally immune and that he has been warring with Sol, who is actually his son. There is no cure. Sinclair defeats Kane's executioner, Telamon (Henie Bosman), in an open arena and her teammates help her escape. They retreat to the underground facility and find a Bentley in storage to drive back to the quarantine wall and home, although Norton is killed covering their escape.

In London, political leaders plan to seal off the "hot spot" where the virus is spreading. Canaris convinces Hatcher to let the infected die off before sharing any cure found by Sinclair's team. That way the population would be controllable if there is a future infection. Although the government leaders are isolated, an infected man gets past security and infects Hatcher. Knowing that he has no future, Hatcher commits suicide and Canaris takes over as Acting Prime Minister.

In Scotland, Sinclair, Cally, and Stirling are in a high speed car chase with Sol's gang. Sol attempts to hijack the Bentley, but while he is clinging to the roof Sinclair ploughs the car through a bus, decapitating him. Using a satellite phone, Sinclair calls in a government gunship and hands over the cure: Cally, whose immune blood can be replicated into a vaccine. Canaris, who came with the gunship, shares his plan to withhold the cure for political reasons and invites Sinclair back to London.

She chooses to stay and goes to find her old home, using the address on the old envelope her mother had left her. Nelson meets her there since she gave him the envelope before she left. Sinclair shows Nelson the video of her conversation with Canaris, recorded with her cybernetic eye. Nelson takes it back to London and has it aired, exposing Canaris' plan to hold back the cure. Sinclair returns to the location where she and her team were first attacked by Sol's gang and holds up Sol's severed head. She is cheered as their new leader.