Tag: Sci-Fi

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Movie Review

Warning (2021) Movie Review ‘Great Concepts’

Warning – Great Concepts

 

Director: Agata Alexander

Writer: Agata Alexander, Jason Kaye, Rob Michaelson (Screenplay)

Starring: Annabelle Wallis, Alice Eve, Kylie Bunbury, Thomas Janes, Alex Pettyfer, Garanace Marillier, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Rupert Everett

Plot: The meaning of life explored through multiple interconnected lives set in the near future.

Runtime: 1 Hour 25 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Warning starts after an incident in space, which will change the lives of people on Earth, with a robot engineer needing to make a difficult decision about an older robot, Claire (Eve) who has lived through her ‘God’ system until it stops working and Anna (Bunbury) who finds herself being stalked by a figure in her everyday life.

We see how Nina (Wallis) gets to meet her boyfriend Liam (Pettyfer) family, which will see the series of small sci-fi stories that will put the bigger question about faith and science.

Thoughts on Warning

Thoughts – Warning is a series of interconnected sci-fi stories connected by an incident in space, each stories will get its own moment in the spotlight, with the full-blown science religion discussion in one where Alice Eve shines in. the creepy electronic stalker figure in another, which is the closest the film goes into full horror, with Kylie Bunbury) giving us an excellent performance. Annabelle Wallis and Alex Pettyfer are involved in a story that will ask a bigger life expectation question, one that will put love into the discussion when it comes to what the wealthy could do in the future. Thomas Jane gets the most isolated story, alone, dealing with his character getting a chance to look back at his own life, while facing his own mortality. There is one problem with the stories and that comes from how certain stories will be spliced together with others, jumping into another one, but when we get all the focus on one, which will do, we get the most interesting story, despite the fact we have a series of stories that offer up plenty of bigger questions about faith and science, which will the be closest to a Black Mirror idea we have seen in a while, they could have all been longer though, which will leave some of them not getting enough time to flush out the bigger picture being told.

Signature Entertainment presents Warning on Digital Platforms 25th October

Final Thoughts – Warning is a film with a series of short sci-fi stories that leave you wanting more.

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Movie Review

White Sky (2021) Movie Review ‘Sci-Fi 101’

White Sky – Sci-Fi 101

Director: Adam Wilson

Writer: Philip Daay (Screenplay)

Starring: Ade Dimberline, Natalie Martins, Jordan McFarlane, Makenna Guyler, Malcolm Winter, Danielle Shurey

Plot: A strange alien invasion strands a trio of campers in a distant forest where they attempt to survive and hide

Runtime: 1 Hour 44 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: White Sky starts when three friends, Hailey (Martins), Sienna (Guyler) and Josh (McFarlane) head off for a camping trip in the forest, their weekend of peace is shattered when an UFO visits overhead, causing them to lose all signals and find themselves coming under attack by an unknown alien invasion.

The three find themselves roaming the forest, following instructions from Liam (Dimberline) who is willing to offer them safety if they follow his stricter rules, can they four survive from the threat.

Thoughts on White Sky

Characters & Performances – Hailey is the one that has been helping Sienna on her road to recovery from her addiction and joined by her boyfriend on the camping trip, she has military training, which will see her making the smart decisions when it comes to finding a way to survive this world, being the one that would most like to keep peace between the four characters. Sienna is the recovering addict that is in the middle of her withdrawal thanks to Hailey’s support, she isn’t interested in going on the camping trip, but goes along, knowing it could help her recovery. Josh is the boyfriend of Hailey’s, he supports them both with what they are doing, when the invasion happens, he looks to do what would be considered the logical thing when trying to survive. Liam is the lone traveller the three find, a man that offers them a place to stay, with his stricter rules about what is happening, not willing to let the people take advantage of him or even find him, getting edgier about letting the three in as the days pass. The four lead performances are strong, with each actor bringing the main part of what makes them unique to the story to the forefront, with Natalie Martins being the leader, Ade Dimberline being the unsettled paranoid figure, Makenna Guyler being the one that can be led astray and finally Jordan McFarlane being the reluctant fighter.

Story – The story here follows three campers that find themselves needing to join forces with a stranger in the forest after an alien invasion comes to the area, with them needing to figure out how to survive. This is an interesting look at an alien invasion, one that we might well have seen before, with people using the isolation location of a forest to escape the bigger attack location. This is a story that is diving into a bigger idea behind the invasion, which is interesting, one that will make us want to see more from this world created, looking to go in a direction that will make us think more than anything else. How the human figures start to fall apart, will show us just how the difficult getting along can become affected with tensions rising.

Themes – White Sky is a sci-fi thriller that will take us into a world where an alien invasion has happened, transforming humans into deadly altered figures, which will give the zombie feel to everything. The location in the forest, will give us a chance to see what would be considered a smarter starting location during an attack. The effects are used for the extra part of the film, the highlight as to what might be happening if a character gets too close to an altered figure.

Final Thoughts – White Sky is a sci-fi film that is offering something fresh in what might be happening in an alien invasion.

White Sky is available on October 19 on VOD – all streaming & cable platforms in the US & Canada

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Movie Review

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 19th July

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

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Movie Review

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 5th 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.

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Movie Review

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.

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Movie Review

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.

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Movie Review

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

 

Flashback is an overly confusing sci-fi film that jumps way too much.

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Movie Review

Skylines (2020) Movie Review

Skylines – Bigger & More Open

Director: Liam O’Donnell

Writer: Matthew E Chausse, Liam O’Donnell (Screenplay)

Starring: Lindsey Morgan, Jonathan Howard, Daniel Bernhardt, Rhona Mitra, James Cosmo, Yahan Ruhian, Alexander Siddig

Plot: When a virus threatens to turn the now earth-dwelling friendly alien hybrids against humans, Captain Rose Corley must lead a team of elite mercenaries on a mission to the alien world in order to save what’s left of humanity.


Tagline – To save our world she must invade theirs

Runtime: 1 Hour 53 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Skylines starts in the aftermath of Rose (Morgan) leading the fight back against the aliens, winning the war but at a cost, one she must live with. Rose has gone into hiding, until Radford (Siddig) sends out for searching party for her, looking for her to go on a final mission.

Rose must lead a group on a mission to the alien world this time, one that will stop their next invasion and offer up the cure to the alien bodies that have been living on Earth, hand in hand with the humans, that have become infected with an unknown virus.

Thoughts on Skylines

Characters & Performances – Rose is the leader of the fight back against the aliens, her abilities discovered in the previous film are what makes her the deadliest weapon against the aliens. She does live in regret about what happened in the war, which led to millions dying, she is forced out of hiding to come back on a new mission to fight for humanity on the alien world. Lindsey Morgan takes over the leading role in this film, where she is strong with what she needs to do, being the most interesting of all the mission based characters, with her performance. When it comes to the other soldiers on the mission, they are mostly forgettable, seeming to be easy to mix up and with the random invasion angle on Earth, the characters we meet just don’t get much screen time.

Story – The story picks up in the aftermath of the last movie, showing us how the world has changed since the war was one, but now a new threat is coming, with the soldier that led the fight back, needing to step up and finish it all off. This is a bigger story that anything we have seen before, with the battle being more in the opening, with little going on, turning into the aftermath and potential next invasion. It shows that even in the aftermath of a war, the two sides will still see tension between them, which can cause problems. We do get a side story on Earth, which can feel like filler. The most amazing part of the story comes from the fact we could still see more in the future.

Themes – Skylines has gone big with everything this time, bringing a new level to the sci-fi action we are witnesses, using the new environment of the home world of the aliens and new version of them on the planet. The world does give us the true experience that we are no longer on Earth, bringing a level of horror back to the proceedings.

Skylines is a bigger more ambitious world creator that is always looking to continue the bigger battle between the species.

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Movie Review

Beyond Skyline (2017) Movie Review

Beyond Skyline – Bigger and More Ambitious

Director: Liam O’Donnell

Writer: Liam O’Donnell (Screenplay)

Starring: Frank Grillo, Bojana Novakovic, Jonny Weston, Callan Mulvey, Antonio Fargas, Pamelyn Chee, Yayan Ruhian, Jacob Vargas, Iko Uwais

Plot: A tough-as-nails detective embarks on a relentless pursuit to free his son from a nightmarish alien warship.

Runtime: 1 Hour 46 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Beyond Skyline starts when tough detective Mark (Grillo) needs to bail his son Trent (Weston) out of jail, using his position of power, the journey home on the subway takes a turn though. The aliens attack, leaving them trapped beneath the action, looking for a way to the surface.

When Mark is sucked up into the ship with the other survivors, he will look to try and find a way to escape, before finding himself in a battle with a known enemy to defeat the aliens once and for all.

Thoughts on Beyond Skyline

Characters & Performances – Mark is a tough alcoholic detective that is bailing his son out once again, he is trying to rebuild their relationship after the death of his wife. When the aliens invade, he must look to put up a fight against them to try and save his son and humanity. Frank Grillo has made his name in this action style movies and here he is everything you want him to be through the film. Audrey is one of the other survivors that joins Mark, she does have the protection job of the baby he rescues, never letting anyone or anything get near them. Bojana Novakovic gives us the strong fighting in this role, while letting the action stars take centre stage. Sua is a fighter in Laos that the survivors meet, he doesn’t like Americans, but when it comes to fighting back, he will not stop fighting to save his people. Iko Uwais is one of the best modern day action stars, here he shows us just why he is so popular. We do get to meet other survivors along the way, each person will have their part to play in the fight for survival, giving this film a more flushed out cast of characters to support.

Story – The story here follows a different group of survivors who are looking to fight back against the alien invasion, this time diving more into what we learnt from the first film, leading to a bigger battle against the alien invaders. This might well start in the same manner, with the idea of an everyday problem being discussed before the alien invasion, but the fighting back feels bigger, we learn more about what is going on within the alien world too. While the world created does feel bigger, it does however fall into nearly everything we have seen before when it comes to fighting off an alien invasion, with one big mystery which is the most focal point of the film, the baby’s growth.

Themes – Beyond Skyline still maintains the brilliant special effects created to make each attack look the way it does, keeping up the blinding light to strike fear into people too. For the horror, it does seem to drop more into the pure sci-fi action, with big fights, futuristic weapons and big monsters, everything you could see coming if you want a movie to move on a build on its universe. The change of setting is interesting too, with the idea that an ancient temple will be based against the futuristic aliens.

Beyond Skyline does develop the characters a lot better, continues to have strong special effects, but loses some of the unique aspects of the story.