Tag: Sci-Fi

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Movie Review

Skyline (2010) Movie Review

Skyline – Brilliant Special Effects Sci-Fi Film

Director: Colin Strause, Greg Strause

Writer: Joshua Cordes, Liam O’Donnell (Screenplay)

Starring: Eric Balfour, Scottie Thompson, Brittany Daniel, Crystal Reed, Neil Hopkins, David Zayas, Donald Faison

Plot: Strange lights descend on the city of Los Angeles, drawing people outside like moths to a flame where an extraterrestrial force threatens to swallow the entire human population off the face of the Earth.


Tagline – Soon, our first encounter will become our last stand.

Runtime: 1 Hour 32 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Skyline starts when Jarrod (Balfour) and his girlfriend Elaine (Thompson) head to LA to celebrate with Jarrod’s buddy Terry (Faison). Jarrod learns that Elaine is pregnant and that Terry is planning on offering him a role in LA, leaving him with a big life choice.

That choice will be put on hold when an alien attack happens, one with beaming lights that start to take control of people, the group must think of a way to escape the aliens, with rising tensions as they looks to solve the problem.

Thoughts on Skyline

Characters & Performances – The characters in this film are pretty thin when we look at them. We have Jarrod who is a brilliant mind that is left in a position of learning he is about to become a father and might need to be moving to start a dream career, who was already facing a hard decision before the alien invasion. He might well be quick thinking in his approach, he seems to be the only character that gets a deeper storyline than, girlfriend. Eric Balfour does well with the role that could have seen him break out more in the action genre. Elaine is the newly pregnant girlfriend that hasn’t seen this side of his life before, she is just dealing with the news herself and what it might mean for her own future too. Scottie Thompson does the best she can in this role without having much to work with. The characters really do take second fiddle in this film, which shines on the special effects.

Story – The story here follows a group of friends in LA that find themselves in the middle of an alien invasion, one that will see the aliens dominate the major cities of the world, taking the humans, we only follow a few people as they look to survive. This does keep the story simple, with the fight to survive against technologically advanced aliens being all we need to follow. We go through the typical routine of thinking of ideas to survive without getting anything original, but again this is about the special effects.

Themes – Skyline is a sci-fi horror that involves an alien invasion, the strongest part as you might have read already, is the special effects, they look amazing with the unique for the time creations of what the aliens are looking like and attacking. The lighting gives us the blinding feeling of when they are around which elevates this above so many films trying to make an impact in this world.

Skyline is a film that is carried by the excellent special effects, which all look brilliant to witness the creation.

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Movie Review

Oxygen (2021) Movie Review

Oxygen – Claustrophobic Nightmare

 

Director: Alexandre Aja

Writer: Christie LeBlanc (Screenplay)

Starring: Melanie Laurent, Malik Zidi, Laura Boujenah, Eric Herson-Macarel, Anie Balestra, Marc Saez, Cathy Cerda

Plot: A woman wakes in a cryogenic chamber with no recollection of how she got there. As she’s running out of oxygen, she must rebuild her memory to find a way out of her nightmare.


Tagline – No escape. No memory. 90 minutes to live.

Runtime: 1 Hour 40 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Oxygen starts when a woman wakes up in a cryogenic chamber, she must figure out why nobody has opened the chamber and more importantly, who she is. The computer operations system M.I.L.O trying to keep her calm, the woman learns that she is Elizabeth Hansen, a woman who worked in the cryogenic fields.

Elizabeth has only 90 minutes of oxygen to try and figure out how to escape the chamber or why she is even in the chamber in the first place, trying to piece together her life to escape.

Thoughts on Oxygen

Characters & Performances – Elizabeth Hansen is the woman who wakes up in a cryogenic chamber, she learns she only has 90 minutes of oxygen and must figure out how to survive the situation before it is too late. She must remain calm and figure out how to make it out of this position, using her limited memories to figure out who she is and why she is in this position. Melanie Laurent is own leading lady here, being the main focus of the performance, with her abilities needed to make this story unfold, she is incredible in her role that takes us on the journey. Any other character we meet are usually only by voices or flashbacks, which help Liz try to figure out the problem she is facing.

Story – The story follows a woman that wakes up in a cryogenic chamber and must race against time to figure out how to survive knowing she only has 90-minutes of oxygen and learn about who she is. This is a story that will see one person contained with little chance of escape in the similar style as Buried, only with the sci-fi twist to everything going on within the film. The memory loss side of the film does show how technology has created a chance for people to try and figure out what has happened too. The story does have the twists along the way, even if the final reveal does become clear early on in the film.

Themes – Oxygen is a sci-fi film that is filled with the horrors of being trapped in a cryogenic chamber, it gives us the race against time, with the real time feeling to everything going on, while using the technology that shows that certain factors could be taken away from the human factor. The special effects are amazing in the film, with the chamber having different reveals to what we get to see in the film.

 

Oxygen is a wonderful claustrophobic sci-fi horror, which is filled with tension throughout the film.

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Movie Review

After the Pandemic (2021) Movie Review

Director: Richard Lowry

Writer: Richard Lowry (Screenplay)

Starring: Eve James, Kannon Smith

Runtime: 1 Hour 20 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: After the Pandemic starts as we meet Ellie (James) a young girl roaming the streets alone in the aftermath of a global pandemic, a lone survivor that is learning about a new city when she starts to get followed by a group of masked men.

When Ellie narrowly escapes the men thanks to another woman Quinn (Smith) she gets to learn the lesson about what is going on in this city, with the dangers waiting her, as the pair start to work together to survive and escape the city and the threats.

Thoughts on After the Pandemic

Characters & Performances – Ellie is the young woman travelling around the city alone, needing to learn about a new threat, unaware of what they want, she craves friendship, which Quinn ends up bring her, Ellie is the pure and innocent figure in this world. Quinn has been surviving in this city for a while, she is tough, prepared and ready to make the difficult decisions in this world, she does prefer to be alone, but finds herself willing to let Ellie into her new world. The two stars of the movie Eve James and Kannon Smith are both great in their roles, showing the differences between the two characters in the film. Any of human characters we meet are only threats to the women, we learn about what we are likely to meet through the interactions between the two women.

Story – The story here follows the two young women that meet during the aftermath of a pandemic, scavenging to survive and learning about the threats the world now has to offer. This story does keep the idea of survival in the main focus, showing us the world that has changed, showing the threats in the world. The story is kept simple with how the friendship is bought together with the similar desire to survive and not be alone. We do have the threats we would expect, with the tracking figures bringing a new approach to hunting for survivors.

Themes – After the Pandemic is a sci-fi horror that puts the lonely ideas of travelling around the world where the population has been wiped out during a pandemic. The cities being empty look even more haunting, without it being a chaotic sequence leading up to the events. This is made with a micro budget, which is used to make the most of what little was available to give us the excellent cinematography being used in the film.

 

After the Pandemic is an excellent look at an open abandoned world filled with dangers through the eyes of two survivors.

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Movie Review

Undergods (2020) Movie Review

Director: Chino Moya

Writer: Chino Moya (Screenplay)

Starring: Johann Myers, Geza Rohrig, Michael Gould, Hayley Carmichael, Ned Dennehy, Tanya Reynolds

Plot: An otherworldly journey through a Europe in decline – a collection of darkly humorous, fantasy tales about ill-fated characters and doomed fortune.

Runtime: 1 Hour 31 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Undergods starts as we meet K (Myers) and Z (Rohrig) who collect dead bodies in an apocalypse filled world, here to pass the time, they look to tell each other stories of a life before the apocalypse, which will take us to three main stories.

The first follows a neighbour that turns up at door, which will see a life spiral out of control. The second is about an inventor that is desperately trying to get his inventions backing, while the third see Dominic (Rawlins) life turned upside down when his wife Rachel’s (Dickie) ex-husband reappear after 15-years.

Thoughts on Undergods

Thoughts – Undergods takes us into the world of short stories, with each story having an interesting concept for sure, but sadly it does take us away from what is the most appealing part of the film, learning more about K and Z’s roles in the post-apocalyptic world. This world looks haunting and you just want to learn more about what is going on with their role, we only get the fleeting glances, which is a giant disappointment, as the three stories we learn about could easily have been extended versions along the lines of a Black Mirror for mystery. This is a movie that is filled with more potential that it gives us, which will only end up leaving us feeling flat by the end of the film, just wanting more from everything we see.

Undergods will be in UK Cinemas & on Digital Download from 17th May

Final Thoughts – Undergods is a film that is filled with so many interesting ideas that just don’t get explored enough.

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Movie Review

Stowaway (2021) Movie Review

Stowaway – What it Ended Like That?

 

Director: Joe Penna

Writer: Joe Penna, Ryan Morrison (Screenplay)

Starring: Anna Kendrick, Daniel Dae Kim, Shamier Anderson, Toni Collette

Plot: A three-person crew on a mission to Mars faces an impossible choice when an unplanned passenger jeopardizes the lives of everyone on board.

Runtime: 1 Hour 56 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Stowaway starts as Captain Marina Barnett (Collette), Dr Zoe Levenson (Kendrick) and David Kim (Kim) go on their mission to Mars, which seems to have started smoothly enough, until they discover Michael Adams (Anderson) hidden on the ship after getting trapped in the life support part of the ship.

As the crew access the damage, they make the discovery that with Michael on board, they don’t have enough oxygen to complete the mission, putting them into a position where they must discuss the impossible or risk losing everyone on board the ship.

Thoughts on Stowaway

Characters & Performances – Marina Barnett is the woman leading the mission, having to make the final big decisions for the crew, needing to take charge of a worsening situation. Zoe Levenson is the doctor on board that must make sure the crew remain healthy through the mission and puts up the biggest moral argument about not leaving someone behind. David Kim in the research expert that has spent his whole life creating the research for this mission, he finds himself giving that all up in hopes of finding a way to save Michael. Michael is one of the crews engineers that finds himself trapped before take-off, going on the mission a place he doesn’t want to be, a place he has no option but to take part in, however much of a problem him being there will be for the rest of the crew. The cast of actors in this film are all big names that are all good, but they do seem like they are miscast in many places, with Anna Kendrick never looking like she could be in this role and wasting what Toni Collette and Daniel Dae Kim could bring to a film.

Story – The story here follows three astronauts that learn another man has accidently found himself stuck on the ship during the mission, leading to the crew needing to make a difficult decision to make the mission a success. This story does have an interesting idea, which would easily have dived into the deeper moral discussion of what is going on, only it all seems to fizzle out and leave us with one of the emptiest endings I have ever seen. The story ends up feeling too flat to reach the full potential, like it was missing a scene or too.

Themes – Stowaway is a sci-fi movie that is based on a space craft, which for the set looks amazing which will give us the openness of space, being the best part of the film by a long way.

 

Stowaway is a film filled with potential, it looks amazing, only it falls completely flat.

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Movie Review

Cerebrum (2021) Movie Review

Director: Arvi

Writer: Arvi, Gary D Houk (Screenplay)

Starring: James Russo, Alexxis Lemire, Christina James, Anirudh Pisharody, John Ruby, Aly Trasher

Plot: To make ends meet, Tom signs on as a guinea pig at a home-based lab, but when he commits a crime he cannot remember, he must risk his own sanity to reveal the truth


Tagline – Have you backed up your brain?

Runtime: 2 Hours

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Cerebrum starts when Tom Davis (James) returns to his estranged father Kirk (Russo) who has been working on a research project that could look to solve Alzheimer’s after dedicating his life to creating a place where people can download their memories.

When Kirk dies suddenly, Tom gets caught up in the middle of wanting to finish his work, what caused his father’s death and making money that will set him for life by selling the research, as he must decide what is best for his own future.

Thoughts on Cerebrum

Characters & Performances – Tom Davis has returned to see his estranged father, he has had plenty of problems with his father in the past and this is all about the money until he learns what the research is truly for. He agrees to have his own memory backed up only to find himself being caught up in the murder of this father, trying to learn about the truth. Christian James does a great job in this film, where at times, he must deal with playing more roles. Kirk is the father of Tom who has been working on creating a cure for Alzheimer’s that will give people the ability to download their memories, he is living in the life of regret for not being around for his son, with his new work being a chance to reconnect at last. James Russo brings us the great broken father here, one that will forever be looking for change. Chloe is the old high school friend that works with Kirk and offers up friendship with Tom during his time of need, while Bruno is the assistant that is thinking more for himself.

Story – The story here follows a young man that tries to rebuild the broken relationship he has with his father by helping him with his latest experiment, only to find himself in the middle of a bigger problem of dealing with the potential of being able to download memories into different minds. This is a fresh approach to dealing with the Alzheimer’s research, one that will use technology, we will get plenty of the moral dilemma about what is happening with it, mixing it with the greed people can show. This will end up getting slightly more complicated than it needs to, when we see how the reuploading of the memories in brains.

Themes – Cerebrum is a sci-fi movie that will look at transferring memories in an attempt to battles Alzheimer’s where we will get the tech talk, but we don’t get involved in the grander scheme of what is going on, as more of the film focuses on the criminal side to what is going on.

 

Cerebrum is a sci-fi film that will make you think, while there will be a mystery about the greater picture going on.

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Movie Review

Alien Conquest (2021) Movie Review

Director: Mario N Bonassin

Writer: Joe Roche (Screenplay)

Starring: Emily Killian, Anthony Jensen, Tom Sizemore, Michael DeVorzon, Emma Nasfell, DeAngelo Davis, Paulina Nguyen

Plot: Sibling astronomers discover Martians are threatening to attack Earth, but no one believes them-until Martians land and nearly destroy all of New York City.

Runtime: 1 Hour 27 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Alien Conquest starts when sibling astronomers Allison (Killian) and Henry (Jensen) discover a strange object in Earth atmosphere, before General Reed (Sizemore) arrives to use their observatory to see what is coming.

When the aliens arrive they start trying to eliminate the human population, with Allison and Henry on their own separate journeys looking to pass on the advice they need to defeat the alien invaders.

Thoughts on Alien Conquest

Thoughts – Alien Conquest is the latest Asylum movie which is using the big budget idea giving it the limited resources which will leave the film feeling completely short. This time an alien invasion along the line of War of the Worlds (Which is the UK title of the film) mixed with the modern technology ideas of being able to see the attack coming. It follows a pair of siblings that look to solve the problem, while the military just fight, this will lead them on their own journeys which will go to and from the same location, never really getting very far other than walking around the countryside. We don’t get much fresh to the approach or with how the destruction goes on, leading to this being more left to the imagination than the bigger action moments. The performances don’t help the film, where even the cameo like performance from Tom Sizemore doesn’t add anything to the overreacting going on through the film.

Final Thoughts – Alien Conquest is the typical low budget sci-fi movie that lacks the mega destruction you would imagine.

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Movie Review

Portal (2021) Movie Review

Portal – Great World Building

Director: Jeff Desom, Saman Kesh, Dugan O’Neal

Writer: Jeff Desom, Saman Kesh, Dugan O’Neal, Ed Hobbs, Chris White (Screenplay)

Starring: Lina Esco, Josh Peck, Wilson Bethal, Rory Anne Dahl, Julianna Collins, Jordan Rock

Plot: Without warning, millions of mysterious alien “doors” suddenly appear around the globe. In a rush to determine the reason for their arrival, mankind must work together to understand the purpose of these cosmic anomalies. Bizarre incidences occurring around the sentient doors leads humanity to question their own existence and an altered reality as they attempt to enter them.

Runtime: 1 Hour 21 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Portal starts when the world has been overcome by over a million of his objects known as doors, with the world looking to learn about them after loved ones start going missing. Becky (Esco) and Vince (Peck) are leading the investigation into one of these doors.

Once inside the door they discover a world that can’t be explained, one that transforms through each doorway, that is looking to consume them as they search for an answer.

Thoughts on Portal

Thoughts – Portal is a film broken up into three chapters, with three different sets of characters, at different stages of the appearances of the doors. First, we get the first appearance, without knowing much the students try to figure out what is happening, while this is a nice introduction to what could happen if this appears suddenly. Second, we follow the government trying to learn more about what could be inside the doors, seeing a couple of scientists enter a world they can’t explain. Third, we find a researcher that kept the door a secret, so he could study it. All three stories give us a unique way of approaching it, but it would be fair to say, we would have liked to see more about what is happening in each of the chapters, they could have all been expanded to develop more about the characters involved, as well as the work they are looking to explore. We could have plenty more to work with, as this world is only just touch upon, which could see plenty more going on, with more mysteries we don’t learn more about.

 

Signature Entertainment presents Portal on Digital Platforms and DVD 19th April

Portal is an interesting idea that feels like we could have had even more from the world created.

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Movie Review

The Tangle (2019) Movie Review

The Tangle – Complex

Director: Christopher Soren Kelly

Writer: Christopher Soren Kelly (Screenplay)

Starring: Christopher Soren Kelly, Joshua Bitton, Jessica Graham, Nicole da Silva, Anil Kumar, Mary Jane Wells, Bel Delia

Plot: A secret government agency watches over the Tangle from within technology safe rooms, locations impermeable to the nanobots that make up the Tangle. Swarms of microdrones fill the air, the water, our very blood. In this world, it is impossible to keep a secret anywhere but in your S.O.L. (Secure OnTangle Line), a quantum encrypted hard drive implanted in your brain.

Runtime: 1 Hour 39 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: The Tangle starts as Carter (Bitton) is being questioned by Edward (Kelly) and Laurel (Graham) about an incident which took place in a location known as the Tangle, a safe place or so people thought.

As the questioning intensifies, Carter must try to convince the agents that he isn’t involved in the murder and even after Francesca (Silva) arrives to make the investigation even more intense, the clues point towards something else, an outcome which would show Carter as innocent.

Thoughts on The Tangle

Characters & Performances – When it comes to the characters, we are mostly dealing with the conversations, describing their actions, with Carter being questioned about an incident, he truly believes he has nothing to do with it and must prove he is innocent of any wrongdoing. Edward and Laurel are playing good cop, bad cop on Carter, looking to learn the truth, they will go to the extremes to make it happen. They have plenty to go through, with their own secrets that will only offer up more questions. Francesca is the higher up that has come to take control of the situation, pushing Carter to new levels for answers, desperate to solve the murder. The four main actors do a great job to keep us engaged through the film, with nearly all the film being dialogue based, which will drive the film even further along.

Story – The story here follows a mystery murder in a new technology based world known as the Tangle, a place where there shouldn’t have been one, with us getting give the many different potential outcomes to the truth. This is a story that is dialogue heavy, which will keep us engaged as we look to learn about the truth. The story commits to taking us into a new world, one that could give us an endless look at possibilities as to what we could have gone through. This story might well come off like we have too much waiting to happen, but much like Memento we are left to keep guessing.

Themes – The Tangle is a sci-fi film that creates us world where we end up learning about a new technology that could move communication to a new level. We get to stay in one main location, which is used for the interrogation going on.

 

The Tangle is a complex sci-fi movie that will leave you with plenty of questions, even after a solid murder mystery through the film.