May 6 2021

First Signal (2021) Movie Review

Director: Mark Lund

Writer: Mark Lund (Screenplay)

Starring: Paul Noonan, Conor Timmis, Wendy Hartman, Patience McStravick, Stephanie Eaton

Plot: When Air Force Space Command receives a signal from an alien satellite in Earth orbit an emergency meeting with the President reveals a government conspiracy.

Tagline – An Alien Satellite. A Government Conspiracy.

Runtime: 1 Hour 42 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: First Signal starts when the powers that be in the world must come together after receiving a signal from an alien satellite, President Helen Colton (Hartman) is joined by General John Reager (Noonan), Major Ellen Sampson (McStravick) and stranger Cedric Yonah (Timmis) as they look to come together in search for the answers on how to deal with this.

As the hearing comes to a close, President Colton must meet with other world leaders, General Reager is planning the defence and Ceric Yonah looks to use his knowledge of history to make it clear about what could be happening.

Thoughts on First Signal

Thoughts – First Signal brings us the discussion-based idea behind finding a signal not from our world, showing how the world leaders could come together to bring their own ideas on how to deal with the signal. The clear message going into this one, is that we don’t end up seeing any type of action, this is purely a discussion-based film, which could easily be a turn off for some people. This offers up the ideas of what could happen, but the low to micro budget holds back most of this film from reaching the full potential, it does however have a satisfying conclusion behind the story.

Final Thoughts – First Signal is an interesting discussion about what could happen with an unknown signal coming to Earth.

May 6 2021

ABC Film Challenge – World Cinema – F- Furious (2017) Movie Review

Director: Dzhanik Fayziev, Ivan Shurkhovetskiy

Writer: Dmitriy Paltsev, Dmitiry Raevskiy, Evgeniy Raevskiy, Sergey Yuakov (Screenplay)

Starring: Ilya Malakov, Aleksey Serebryakov, Aleksanr Ilin, Timofey Tribuntsev, Yuliya Khlynina, Andrey Burkovskiy

Plot: In the 13th century, an amnesiac soldier vows to get his revenge on the Mongol army that ransacked his village.

Runtime: 1 Hour 47 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Furious starts as we head to the Russian city that is home to Evpatii Kolovrat (Malakov) a warrior that is haunted by his memories, needing to remember his life everyday, where he fights in the Prince’s guard. When the Mongol horde led by Khan Batiy (Tsoy) arrives outside the city, Evpatii is part of the party that looks to learn about what they have arrived.

When the city is destroyed, Evpatii looks to lead the fight back against the horde, to end the war and lead his people to freedom with the skills that will finally get unleashed on an enemy.

Thoughts on Furious

Thoughts – Furious takes us back in time to a moment in history where the Russians went to war with the Mongol horde that come into their land, we see a warrior known as Evpatii the Furious lead a small band of men in battle against the horde, using tactical strategy unlike anything people had seen before. The battles sequences are what we are waiting to see unleashed, which will be the true highlight within the film and once the bear gets involved it is unlike anything we would see in a more normal based large scale battle film. The performances are strong throughout with Ilya Malakov in the leading role, showing us the reluctant leader well. The film does have one problem, which comes from the factor we have narration in Russian, when we are hearing another language and reading the English, it feels like it could have been taken out of the film for the English audience. It might not end up being the most historically correct movie, but most of these giant battles rarely follow the truth about what happened, but it sure as hell is an entertaining experience.

Final Thoughts – Furious is big, loud and action packed historical drama, with one of the best bear attack scenes put to film.

May 6 2021

State (Remix) (2021) Movie Review

Director: Alain Nouvel

Writer: Alain Nouvel (Screenplay)

Starring: Patrick Thomas Cragin, Myles MacVane, Courtney Sturm

Plot: A young veteran, suffering from PTSD, is on the edge. He is caught between his memory and reality. On the day he is returning home, his grandfather, alone and abandoned, recalls his role in altering the trajectory of American history as he prepares to commit suicide. A young woman, the veteran’s girlfriend, did her best to keep an eye on this irascible old man, but what she doesn’t know is that the young man has been back for months, and is on his way home that very day.

Runtime: 1 Hour 3 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: State (Remix) starts when a young man (Cragin) returns from war suffering PTSD he looks to reconnect with his girlfriend (Sturm) who discovers the truth about his time away, which will see the young man return to his Grandfather (MacVane) who has his own story about his time in war, showing how both men have been affected by their time in war.

Thoughts on State (Remix)

Thoughts – State (Remix) is a look at the effects coming back from war has had on a young man, avoiding his loved ones leaving him feeling isolated, not knowing who he can turn to for help in his time of need. This small cast does help contain the story, with the man who knows the suffering the young man has been through, with the young woman who doesn’t want to listen to the truth about what has changed in his life. The big message is strong here, the acting is strong here and the pain being experienced in something nobody should have to go through. This is great storytelling that you can’t help but feel greedy by wanting more from as we see just how one side of the story goes in a direction we wouldn’t have expected and could easily have been explored even more. The film does show us the balance that could happen between reality and what is in someone’s heading doing a great job balancing the ideas of what could be going through the young man’s head, which will create a mystery about what might be real or not.