Movies that are hard to define:

Maggie, 2015 – rated PG-13, 95 mins

Check it out in our online card catalog!

Summary: By the time a necrotic viral pandemic spread cross-country to small town America and infected the film’s titular character, 16-year-old MAGGIE, authorities had established a protocol for patients infected with the deadly virus: the afflicted are removed from society and taken to special isolation wards to complete the agonizing and dangerous transformation into one of the walking dead. The authorities do not speak about what happens after that. Maggie was bit two weeks ago and ran away from home to keep her family members safe. Dad is even more stubborn. After weeks of searching for Maggie when she runs away following her diagnosis, Wade brings his daughter back to her home and family – stepmother, Caroline, and her two children–for whatever time may be left as the teenager begins an excruciatingly painful metamorphosis.

Recommendation: Having lost Maggie’s mother years earlier, Wade is determined to hold on to his precious daughter as long as he can, refusing to surrender her to the local police who show up with orders to take her. This storyline tears into you from all directions – loss of a family member, loss of agency as someone lies dying, a race against time, a race against pain, the fear of spreading infection, the fear of exposure to the authorities, it goes on. I’m usually sitting quietly for a while during the credits, absorbing everything I’ve just experienced.

---

Edge of Tomorrow, 2014 – rated PG-13, 113 mins

Check it out in our online card catalog!

Summary: When Earth falls under attack from invincible aliens, no military unit in the world is able to beat them. Maj. William Cage (Tom Cruise), an officer who has never seen combat, is assigned to a suicide mission. Killed within moments, Cage finds himself thrown into a time loop, in which he relives the same brutal fight — and his death — over and over again. However, Cage’s fighting skills improve with each encore, bringing him and a comrade (Emily Blunt) ever closer to defeating the aliens.

Recommendation: I have so much fun with this premise. It’s a vicious version of Groundhog Day with sci fi added. I love getting to know the characters over and over, better each time. Scallywags and charmers all, the team/unit is lead by Bill Paxton’s MSgt Farrell, aping the Apone enthusiasm from Aliens. Emily Blunt is splendid and made me assume she’s stronger than she looks. The questions that arise from knowing what’s happening could render one psychotic after a bit too much thinking, but the exercise of mental gymnastics is worth it.

---

Cube, 1998 – rated R, 90 mins

Check it out in our online card catalog!

Summary: Without remembering how they got there, several strangers awaken in a prison of cubic cells, some of them booby-trapped. There’s onetime cop Quentin, scientist Holloway, young math genius Leaven, master of escapes Rennes, autistic savant Kazan and architect Worth, who might have more information on the maze than he lets on. The prisoners must use their combined skills if they are to escape. It’s nearly the same description for Cube from 2021 except with an Asian cast.

Recommendation: Cube is a movie that explores our human instinctive urges for survival and pits them against our humanity. The plot is very simple; trap individuals in a rat’s maze and see what they do. The physical construct within the movie is genius. The whole story is disturbing, not just due to its content, but rather the loss of control anyone inside faces. It could be argued that the individuals who are desperate to keep some amount of authority or control are the least pliable in such a situation.

---