Rev Stan's film blog: Sci fi

21 posts categorized "Sci fi"

02/08/2015

Review: Jupiter Ascending (into the heaven of duff films)

Synopsis: Jupiter (Mila Kunis) has a mundane life cleaning houses unaware that she is genetically linked to a powerful family intent on getting their hands on her and her rightful inheritance.

Stan's thoughts: Was really looking forward to this. Needed some good sci-fi/fantasy action fun after all the intense, thought-provoking Oscar films I've been devouring recently. It has the Wachowski's writing and directing and a superb cast of British thesps supporting Kunis and Channing Tatum in the leads. What could go wrong?

Well the script mainly. The film was just a few minutes in when I was wincing with embarrassment for the actors having to deliver such trite nonsense. The amount of what critic Mark Kermode calls 'Basil exposition' should have set alarm bells ringing - if you need that much explanation of the world you've created and plot set up then something is wrong. Another warning bell is that it felt long and it was only 2 hours 8 minutes long.

While I was watching I couldn't help thinking that all the energy and imagination had gone into creating the fantasy world and the special effects. Well I say imagination there are plenty of Cloud Atlas reference points to spot (and I loved that film). It all felt a bit too much. If they'd stuck with the super humans and splicers - humans spliced with animal and presumably alien DNA then it might have worked better.

The pleasure in watching this was spotting the British thesps - Eddie Redmayne giving a scenery chewing performance as one of the baddies, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Tuppence Middleton, Douglas Booth, Vanessa Kirby, Sam Barnett...I just hope they took home a good pay packet.

Jupiter Ascending feels like the Wachowski's have vomited up 10-course banquet of ideas and as a result you can't see the amuse-bouche for the fish course.

Ratings

Stan’s 35%
IMDB 60%
Metascore 40%
Rotten Tomatoes 22%
RT Audience Rating* 52%

* Number of people rating 3.5/5 or higher

Posted at 11:13 AM in American films, Fantasy, Sci fi | Permalink | Comments (0)

01/25/2015

Review: Alex Garland examines AI in thriller Ex Machina

Synopsis: A computer programmer wins a competition to spend a week participating in a breakthrough AI experiment at a remote research facility.

Stan's thoughts: Just the subject matter, artificial intelligence, generates an environment of suspicion, add in a lone scientist in a remote location and you have all the ingredients for a good thriller. What makes this a great psychological thriller is that Garland constantly wrong foots you and at its heart it is about very basic human emotions.

Domhnall Gleeson who plays Caleb the computer programmer said in an interview that when he was reading the script for the first time he was convinced several times that he knew where the story was going. And that really is why this works so well.

When Caleb steps off the helicopter that has transported him to the research facility he is stepping into an alien environment in so many different ways. His task is to interact with Ava (Alicia Vikander), an AI robot who is the invention of Nathan (Oscar Isaac). It is not just a case of what is real and what is AI but what is experiment and what isn't and Garland and his characters keep you guessing right to the very end.

All three leads give performances that beautifully add to the mystery but to say any more might spoil it.

Ex Machina, like many AI films before it, raises questions about God and creation and the morals and responsibilities surrounding that. What the film has to say about that is something that film school students will no doubt discuss at length. I've also seen online discussions about whether it is misogynistic or feminist in its outlook. I do have my own thoughts and theories but that would involve a lot of spoilers.

Ratings

Stan’s 80%
IMDB 81%
Metascore 80%
Rotten Tomatoes 93%
RT Audience Rating* 86%

* Number of people rating 3.5/5 or higher

Posted at 11:10 AM in British films, Sci fi | Permalink | Comments (0)

11/22/2014

Review: The IMAX movie - Interstellar

Synopsis: Earth is dying and an ex-astronaut is brought in to fly a mission through a wormhole to find a new planet for the human race.

Stan's thoughts: This is film definitely worthy of a trip to an IMAX screen. The volume when the space craft takes off is such that it vibrates the whole cinema. I felt like I was on the spaceship with Matthew McConaughey and his crew.

There is a lot of science in this - worm holes, black holes, time and relativity and some have said you need a degree in physics to understand it. I don't have a degree in physics but understood enough to get the gist. Besides, this is a human story, the technicalities of space travel are background context and it is that which helps make this a great movie.

It is too long with the first and last act dragging their heels a bit but the central third is cracking. Christopher Nolan's skill is in drawing out the real emotion of the situation, despite how absurd but also in creating drama and tension from fairly ordinary situations. There is a scene where two bits of space rocket are trying to connect and I was on the edge of my seat.

A great ensemble of actors work brilliantly with sometimes clunky script but this remains an aural, visual and emotional feast and certain scenes and tones haunted me afterwards.

Ratings

Stan’s 70%
IMDB 90%
Metascore 74%
Rotten Tomatoes 73%
RT Audience Rating* 87%

Recently seen

Nightcrawler

Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby

The Hundred Foot Journey

* Based on number of people who rated the film 3.5/5 and higher

Posted at 09:53 AM in Action/Adventure, American films, Sci fi | Permalink | Comments (0)

08/25/2014

Review: Scarlett Johansson puts a smile on the face in Lucy

Synopsis: Lucy is forced into acting as a drugs mule for a violent Taiwanese drugs baron but when the bag bursts in her stomach the drug has an unusual effect, increasing her brain capacity far beyond what normal humans use.

Stan's thoughts: Lucy is a wonderfully bonkers mix of sci-fi, violent gangster thriller and girl power. It is short and imperfectly formed - ironically, given the context, some of the science is best not thought about too much - but it somehow works.

Scarlett Johansson has really turned around my opinion of her as an actress since Under The Skin and it's great to see her in a film like this where she gets to explore two very different characters: the Lucy before and after the drugs.

The way Lucy's increasing brain capacity manifests itself and is depicted is imaginatively done with echo's of The Matrix.

I walked out of the empty cinema - love being the only person in the screen - with a big smile on my face.

Ratings

Stan’s 78%
IMDB 66%
Metascore 61%
Rotten Tomatoes 65%
RT Audience Rating* 48%

Recently seen

The Rover

Guardians of the Gallaxy

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

The Young and Prodigeous TS Spivet

Belle

* Based on number of people who rated the film 3.5/5 and higher

Posted at 09:52 AM in Action/Adventure, Sci fi | Permalink | Comments (0)

02/23/2014

Review: The surprisingly good Her

Synopsis: Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix) is a lonely divorcee who develops a relationship with an intelligent operating system, Samantha (Scarlett Johansson), which is designed to organise his life.

Stan's thoughts: Written and directed by Spike Jonze, Her certainly has his idiosyncrasies. On paper its an odd and not wholly promising premise: A man falls in love with a computer.

However, what you get is something that is an intelligent and, ironically, very human look at relationships. The expectations, disappointments, joy and pain is all played out. The fact that one half of the relationship is an operating system throws up its own set of ironies.

Samantha is not some electronic sounding automaton but sounds and thinks like a human and is therefore subject to similar feelings of love and hurt albeit with a heightened ability to rationalise them. How the relationship pans out raises questions about artificial intelligence and the drive for something that is close to human.

The futuristic world that Jonze has created is not that far removed from our own; telecommunications and virtual technology has advanced a bit but in some ways humans have become lazy about their relationships. Theodore works for a company that writes personal letters for people. While he is very good at his job, has an amazing way with words, he is essentially manipulating other people's relationships when they are too lazy to do so themselves.

There is also irony in the fact that he knows what to say when he is writing as someone else but in his own life never has quite the same eloquence and struggles with the same emotional engagement.

I confess that the trailer for this didn't really pique my interest too much but I'm so glad I gave it a go. It's an odd idea but well executed, interesting and entertaining so go with it.

Ratings

Stan's: 75%
IMDB: 83%
Metascore: 90%
Rotten Tomatoes: 94%
RT audience rating: 85%

Recently seen

The Invisible Woman

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Jack Ryan - Shadow Recruit

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Posted at 07:41 AM in American films, Quirky films, Rom-coms, Sci fi | Permalink | Comments (0)

12/01/2013

Review: Did Gravity live up to the hype?

Synopsis: Two astronauts fight for survival after being left stranded in space after an accident.

Stan's thoughts: The trailer for this one blew me away and the hype built in the run up to its release date. So, expectations were high and I think ultimately the film was a victim of that.

Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy Gravity for many reasons. It is refreshing to see a film that is solely about two characters, something of a rarity and usually the preserve of theatre. Director Alfonso Cuaron has also done an amazing job giving a real sense of what it must feel like both to be in space but also be stranded in the vastness.

Gravity certainly oozes atmosphere but after you've seen the clip of Sandra Bullock spinning through space saying "Ahh! Ahh! Ahh! Ahh!" with each rotation her character, dare I say it, gets a little bit irritating. You'd think she'd get used to it after a while or was it a case that with little dialogue and a space helmet obscuring the face for chunks of the film its the best she could do acting-wise.

I don't think the character arcs were quiet enough to sustain the human plot thread or rather they were drowned out by the a to b to c survival story and the amazing visual effects. Yes I was on the edge of my seat at times and I did feel invested in the characters and their survival to a point but I did find my mind wandering to how particular bits were shot. *plot spoiler* And, I didn't get any great sense of "phew" at the end.

I'm nit-picking a little and I think that's entirely due to the fact that I had such high expectations. Gravity was really good but I didn't walk out thinking 'wow' as I had done when I saw the trailer.

Ratings

Stan's: 75%
IMDB: 85%
Metascore: 96%
Rotten Tomatoes: 97%
RT audience rating: 86%

Recently seen

Posted at 10:25 AM in American films, Sci fi, Thriller | Permalink | Comments (0)

11/03/2013

Ender's Game Film Review: Asa Butterfield is great, shame about the sluggish plot

Synopsis: After seeing off an alien invasion an elite force of kids is being trained up to fend off the next attack

Stan's thoughts: This film is a visual and SFX feast following Ender (a brilliant Asa Butterfield) as he is trained up to lead into battle but I'm afraid I found it a little bit dull at times.

The extended training sequences started to feel like I was watching someone else playing a computer game, which is never fun. In fact you know there is going to be a big battle and the rest of the storyline (trials and tribulations of Ender becoming a leader) isn't always engaging enough to sustain the build up.

That said there are one or two nice little plot treatments that do lift it - one of which isn't Ben Kingsley's wandering 'Maori' accent.

Didn't quite live up to expectations but will give the next one a go as this is based on a series of books and might be a victim of having to set up subsequent plot lines.

Ratings

Stan's: 59%
IMDB: 72%
Metascore: 50%
Rotten Tomatoes: 62%
RT audience rating: 78%

Recently seen

Posted at 10:36 AM in Action/Adventure, American films, Sci fi | Permalink | Comments (0)

08/31/2013

Review: Elysium

Synopsis: Earth has become polluted and the rich have decamped to a space station where they enjoy a nice, long, illness free life. There are those on earth who want to bring about a bit of equality.

Stan's thoughts: Director Neill Blomkamp burst on the film scene with his low-budget, gritty and atmospheric sci-fi film District 9 and Elysium is what he does when he is given a wedge of cash. This does have the Hollywood gloss with headliners like Matt Damon and Jodie Foster taking the lead but there is still a distinctive grittiness and other than the Hollywood celebs there is a great international cast including the terrifying Sharlto Copley.

This is a solid and entertaining enough film but suffers because I just find Matt Damon a bit cold and emotionless to watch and it only really works if you care about him. All the more interesting characters are on the periphery and while I love watching Jodie Foster play a hard-faced bitch, can't help thinking I've seen it before.

Ratings

Stan's: 59%
IMDB: 70%
Metascore: 61%
Rotten Tomatoes: 68%
RT audience rating: 66%

Recently seen

Posted at 09:14 AM in American films, Sci fi | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

07/20/2013

Review: World War Z (that's zed not zee, I'm English)

Synopsis: Zombie virus becomes so virulent that it is in danger of wiping out the human race but don't worry Brad Pitt in his sexy army fatigues will save the day.

Stan's thoughts: If a film is good enough you can gloss over a lot of the Hollywood-ising and plot holes but if it isn't they are a distraction. And the latter is true for Brad Pitt's pet project World War Z. Once I noticed one thing I started noticing a whole heap of stuff and I just couldn't take it as seriously as it needed to be taken in order to fully enjoy.

The seeds were planted when Brad and his family were one minute stuck in four lanes of nose to tail traffic jam as everyone was trying to escape the zombie only to see him the next minute driving like a banshee down a near deserted road. I'm a celebrity, I can get out of here.

Then the pinnacle was when the very clever people of Jerusalem, anticipating the virus, had built a humongus wall around the city with helicopters keeping surveillance only to not notice the swarm of zombies approaching and then scrambling up said wall until they were at the very top. Duh. I'd say the zombies were doing their bit to increase the intelligence of the gene pool there.

There are some nice tense moments particularly what everyone is calling the 'lab' scene at the end but as a whole it just didn't quite work for me. Sorry Brad, I know you put your heart and soul into this film.

Ratings

Stan's: 45%
IMDB: 73%
Metascore: 63%
Rotten Tomatoes: 72%

Recently seen

Behind the Candelabra

Byzantium

Posted at 10:49 AM in American films, Fantasy, Sci fi | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Review: Pacific 'Yawn' Rim

Synopsis: Dinosaur-esque monsters are mutating in the earth's core, breaking out and rising to the surface attacking humans and wreaking terrible damage. Humans develop huge robots to fight them but due to their size their have to be piloted by two humans whose brains are synched.

Stan's thoughts: Against my better judgement I went to see this drawn by Guillermo del Toro's name at the helm and a good excuse to escape to a cold cinema on a very hot day. And while it has the visual flourishes I associate with del Torro it has none of the heart, darkness or cleverness.

A visual feast it is style over substance: predictable plot, cliched characters and script. There is nothing new, surprising or unexpected. If you want two hours of monsters and robots bashing each other you'll love it and a lot of people seem to so just ignore me, I'm off to watch Pan's Labyrinth.

Ratings