Jul 11 2021

Plurality (2021) Movie Review

Plurality – Captivating

Director: Aozaru Shiao

Writer: Tzu-Yung Hung, Benjamin Lin, Aozaru Shiao (Screenplay)

Starring: Tony Yo-ning Yang, Sandrine Pinna, Yi-lan Chao, Yi-wen Chen, Lei Fu, Duncan Lai, Frederick Lee, Cheng-Chun Liang, J.C. Lin, Zaizai Lin

Plot: A man who wakes up from a coma to find himself uploaded with the minds of four dead serial-murder suspects. These hold the only clues for the police to track down the last surviving victim.

Runtime: 1 Hour 47 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Plurality starts when after a bus accident one of the men Chen Guang-Xuan wakes up learning his has had his mind uploaded with four dead people, with one of the four being a potential serial killer that the police have been trying to track down.

As the scientist and detectives start working together they start getting hints at different people being the suspects, with each mindset offering clues to who the true killer is, but can the killer be found before it is too late.

Thoughts on Plurality

Thoughts – Plurality is a sci-fi thriller that will take us into a world that matches ‘Cell’ and ‘Identity’ as we navigate a world where minds are put together to try and unlock the truth about a serial killer. It will bring us a new improved science behind it, one that will leave us in the middle of questioning nearly every moment we see in the film, trying to put our figure on just which one of the minds is in control at the time. This is what makes this one of the most captivating films of the year, constantly keeping us wanting more from each scene. The performances in the film are strong throughout, with the lead needing to pull off each mindset, while filming the sequences get to give us a flash of which character, he believes he is. The special effects are great, with the colour pallets being used to show the different environments we are going through. The one side of the film does feel weak and that is the length, as it does seem like we are about end, only for another sequences of events coming up.

Signature Entertainment presents Plurality on Digital Platforms from 19^th July

Final Thoughts – Plurality is a captivating thriller that will constantly keep you guessing.

Jun 30 2021

Lapsis (2020) Movie Review

Lapsis – Thoughtful Sci-fi Drama

Director: Noah Hutton

Writer: Noah Hutton (Screenplay)

Starring: Dean Imperial, Madeline Wise, Babe Howard, Ivory Aquino, Dora Madison

Plot: Struggling to support himself and his ailing younger brother, delivery man Ray takes a strange job in a strange new realm of the gig economy.

Runtime: 1 Hour 48 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Lapsis starts as Ray (Imperial) who has been working as a delivery man to help fund his younger brother’s treatment, he gets offered up a new job in gig economy, as a cabler, walking to lay cables around the woodland area.

As Ray starts to learn about this new job, he starts to meet the other cablers and starts to pick up the more difficult roles, ones which pay better to make sure he can support his brother, before learning the truth about the job he has taken.

Thoughts on Lapsis

Characters & Performances – Ray is a delivery man that has worked to help support his younger brother through his sickness, he takes a new job as a cabler, which will see him head out to the woodland to walk and lay cable, needing to stay ahead of a robotic cabler to earn his money. As he learns about the job, he will find out just how competitive this world is and how disgruntled the employees are towards a former cabler. Dean Imperial is great in this leading role showing us just how out of place he feels during the job, learning and feeling isolated from the rest of the team. Anna is one of the women that helps Ray on his first day with the role, she will guide him but push him to expose the truth, while showing him a few tricks of the trade. We do meet other cablers that are not as welcoming to the new guy with the code name he has been assigned.

Story – The story here follows a delivery man that takes a new role working as a cabler, a job which will have be rewards if the job is done correctly, but as he continues the job, he starts to learn about the reality of what is going on with this new role and just how much needs to change. This is a unique story that does show how big cooperate groups have started to push their employees too much, showing how they could look to replace them with robots if it will make them more money. It does feel like we could be walking into a bigger conspiracy like event going on too, which does play into the strange feeling about what we are going through. This is a completely engaging story that will make you want to see just what happens next.

Themes – Lapsis is a sci-fi thriller that will look at the changing technology coming into the world, showing the slow increase coming from just what is happening on the journey Ray is on, which will keep us through the woodland area looking to increase the computer technology needed in the open world.

Signature Entertainment presents Lapsis on Digital Platforms 5^th July

Final Thoughts – Lapsis is a fascinating movie that will keep us guessing to what will happen next, through the bigger expose of big companies looking to push their employees.

Jun 17 2021

Meteor Moon (2020) Movie Review

Director: Brian Nowak

Writer: Joe Roche (Screenplay)

Starring: Dominique Swain, Michael Broderick, Chris Boudreaux, Jeff Prater, Gary Private, Carol Kaufman, Anna Harr

Plot: When a meteor crashes into the moon and shifts its axis, Earth’s gravity pulls the moon into the path of the planet. Now, a group of scientists must figure out how to stop the moon from hitting the earth before it’s too late.

Tagline – Survival is a long shot

Runtime: 1 Hour 20 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Meteor Moon starts when a meteor hits the moon, pushing towards Earth for a global impact, now Jim Lawson (Broderick) is recruited by his brother Paul (Boudreaux) to go on a mission of his own creation in an attempt to save the world from the impact that will destroy everything.

The brothers need to get to the lift off despite the earthquakes causing damages between them, as General Hauser (Swain) is doing everything she can to stop a nuclear detonation happening to prevent this.

Thoughts on Meteor Moon

Thoughts – Meteor Moon is another one of these Asylum disaster movies with a huge concept that is more focused on some of the scientific ‘ideas’ behind the need to save the Earth from the Moon, over giving us the big disaster moments. The story is thin and doesn’t really get going in anyway, we have certain side stories which look completely used for filler rather than any point in the story. The performances are not good, the special effects we know aren’t going to be the strongest, but certain scenes involving the car are just terrible. This is a film that seems to have the biggest name standing on the same mark the whole film, just talking with plenty of big words.

Final Thoughts – Meteor Moon is another disappointing sci-fi disaster movie that could have used bigger moments of destruction.

Jun 6 2021

Alien Parasite (2019) Movie Review

Director: Sandra Sciberras

Writer: Sandra Sciberras (Screenplay)

Starring: Jolene Anderson, Stef Dawson, Richard Davies, Cassandra Magrath, Talina Naviede, Harry Greenwood

Plot: One by one the residents of a small, isolated town become infected by an insidious bug that turns them into violent, indiscriminate killing machines.

Runtime: 1 Hour 35 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Alien Parasite starts when a small, isolated town sees the satellite broken suddenly overnight, Sheriff Joanne Sharp (Anderson) is looking for the reason behind what happened, which starts leading her down the path of a string of unusual events.

The residents of the town have become infected by an alien bug, which will turn them into a blood hunger parasite, which Joanne will need to solve to save the residents, including her sister Samantha (Dawson) and nephew.

Thoughts on Alien Parasite

Characters & Performances – Joanne is the sheriff of a small-town in the middle of nowhere, she is looking for a simple day before she is leaving to start a new life. This final day takes a twist when an alien species ends up invading the area, feeding on the residents, leaving her to lead the fight back to save the resident. Jolene Anderson is strong in the leading role, showing us a character that is looking to make the change to save the day. Samantha is the sister of Joanne who is remaining in the town, a teacher that must look protect the children during the attack. Luke is the man that will help Joanne in the fight back against the new invasion. We do meet plenty of other members of the town that have their own theories of what is happening, which will see the soldi enough performance throughout the film.

Story – The story here follows a group of people that see their small town infected by an alien parasite, which infects the locals turning them dangerous as they look to hunt down the living members of the town. This does give us a mix of ‘The Crazies’ and the slowly building tension behind the invasion happening, as not everyone is targeted, with the infected mostly stalking around the town. We get to look at the mystery around what is happening, along with the residence to kill friends and family that have become infected. We could have had more answers to what is behind the invasion and the sudden impact.

Themes – Alien Parasite is a sci-fi horror that involves an alien infection that will leave the isolated town needing to fight to survive, the remote town shows us just how united the people are in their fight to save each other, but the aliens don’t look as smooth as they should, looking like the CGI creations they are.

Alien Parasite is an easy to watch sci-fi horror movie that will have plenty of tension to cover up the lack of horror involved.

May 31 2021

Flashback (2020) Movie Review

Flashback – Overly Confusing

Director: Christopher MacBride

Writer: Christopher MacBride (Screenplay)

Starring: Dylan O’Brien, Maika Monroe, Amanda Brugel, Hannah Gross, Keir Gilchrist, Emory Cohen, Sima Fisher

Plot: After a chance encounter with a man forgotten from his youth, Fred literally and metaphorically journeys into his past.

Runtime: 1 Hour 37 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Flashback starts when Fredrick (O’Brien) has a chance encounter with a stranger from his past, one he can’t remember, which will send him on a journey through his past to try and figure out who the man is and what happened in his past.

Here Fred remembers his high school life with Cindy (Monroe) and how he was pushed into trying a new drug doing the rounds, Mercury. With this his starts to remember the terrifying past he left behind.

Thoughts on Flashback

Thoughts – Flashback is a sci-fi film that shows a young man that starts to look back on his life, only to learn not everything has gone in the plan or order he remembers, leading him down a path of uncertainty. This story is very confusing, the story has loads of time jumps, which is part of the mindset Fred is going through, but it makes things even more confusing for the audience. It does becomes too much to try and keep up with, leading to a film that will leave you scratching your head and looking to try and cure the headache it has given you. The acting isn’t bad though, Dlyan O’Brien once again takes a role which is maturing him as an actor, only he does look too old for the high school moments. This is an attempt to make an edgier sci-fi film that does look to have a deeper message about everything going on in life, which must be praised, it just doesn’t get executed to the heights we would imagine.

Vertigo Releasing presents Flashback on digital platforms 4 June 2021