Rabh17 Reviews

The Gentlemen (2024)

Not normally into dramedy-- but this one took me by surprise

[10/10 · 15 March 2024]

Never saw the movie-- but this one grabbed me.

The acting is spot on. Everyone is fully and totally into their roles turning the old Posh vs The Gutter narrative into a witty but dangerous dance. And bringing Giancarlo back to play yet again-- a dangerous dark player on the drug scene-- ups the tempo. Between the Meth Lord, the Authorities, the Crazed cocaine Preacher and keeping his wayward brother safe,Eddie has one heck of a dance keeping clear of everyone's guns.

And the murders... are to be savored as the characters all need to be 'Saved by Jesus' the deeper it gets.

But most of all, the dialogue is PRICELESS. Sharp & Biting.

Velvet Buzzsaw (2019)

Interestingly gruesome Horror...

[8/10 · 1 May 2023]

A dead Artist nobody heard of. An Art Scene with numerous, utterly ambitious players. Over the top characters and lots of greed.

Of course there would be dead bodies...

And there's John Malkovich...being John Malkovich.

Interesting. Gruesome. Colorful.

It was stormy, with lots of thunder and lightning and it was raining buckets--so I watched it...

Some posters here, low-balled it for various reasons, but I give it an '8'. Horror does not always need to be a splatterfest. Nor does Horror necessarily need to be LOGICAL or 'Make Sense'...

Good Horror can be like... 'It Just Is'

Perfect entertaining combo for a stormy Sunday night. Made me think of a two hour long Rod Serling's Night Gallery.

Dennou Coil (2007)

Quirky. Deep. Moving. And then it gets complex!

[10/10 · 22 February 2022]

It's so funny now-a-days how thanks to streaming, an old show from the past can plop into your lap and, despite it's age--- utterly astound.

Den Noh Coil is just like that. It's an Anime from 2008. A Story that seems to just be about Life for Children in a city that has adopted a city-wide virtual reality that can be accessed by 'Glasses'.

At first it tells the story of these children as they just go thru life, growing up... cute and endearing with stories and family friendly messages that many would recognize...

But then a mystery unfolds: The virtual reality may not be what they think it is. And something dark wants to remain hidden from forces that want to destroy it.

The story is great for children of all ages...and best of all, it's enjoyable even for adults. And that's before the story arc about the dark mystery starts to unfold in astounding complexity.

But, my god...The sophistication of the Den-Noh technology and how they imagine it being implemented is FANTASTIC. And though this was from 2008-- the show's creators were ahead of their time in their imagining of this futurity.

It was a Future that was at once mundane and believable...but the story told from the children's eyes is at the same rivetingly different: It's about Magic!

Watch this one!

Evil (2019–2024)

Intellectually incisive view of Demons & Religion...

[8/10 · 2 November 2020]

It's a series about Evil and the possibility that actual Demons are behind it, spreading and becoming more powerful...

Your main characters are a kind-of Mulder/Scully team employed by the Catholic Church to investigate 'Incidents' for authenticity.

Seminarian Acosta and Psychologist Bouchard grapple with situations that may or may NOT be incidents of supernatural occurrence and attempt to reach valid conclusions.

What makes this show different from other similar attempts in this genre is how the show puts aside the sensational supernatural screamfests and instead focuses the viewer on the intersection of Logic, Coincidence, Scientific Skepticism, Legality & the Law, Motives, Psychology & Psychosis, Lawsuits & Ecclesiastic Liability Issues...and just the plain conclusion that the source of the EVIL may just be simple Human Depravity.

Of course, there are always little dropped hints that step outside the bounds of 'coincidence' that will leave the viewer wondering how the show will wrap itself up to coring the actual Mystery...which may or may NOT be supernatural.

Aside from that, the lead characters are likeable...and the BAD GUY is really one hell of a cockroach, which makes me want to see what happens in the end.

Dark (2017–2020)

Incredible, complicated drama knotted by Time Travel...

[10/10 · 13 August 2020]

Gritty. Complicated. Emotionally bare knuckled.

That's just the drama involving several families in the ill-fated town of Winden as they deal with the strange disappearance of several children. You have the normally twisted mess of a small-town where everyone knows everyone else and how they all end up making bad choices and try and keep sordid secrets from one another...

...But then you add to the mix the fact that their squabbles span at more than one Time zone. And they don't even realize it!

As an American Viewer, I am awed at the performances of every actor. And I am in awe of the tenacity of the Writers and Producers for even attempting to tell a multi-phasic drama convoluted by Time Travel.

What makes it work masterfully is NOT the Time Travel aspect... It's the wrenching personal dramas of ordinary folks who aren't even aware just how screwed up their world actually is because of interlocking causalities that keep folding back on themselves...

That's the amazing Puzzle for the Viewer. You will find yourself just PAUSING the show as you sit back and try and connect the dots: Who is with Who and WHEN?

Warning! You will Need to KEEP TRACK OF ALL THE CHARACTERS!

Ad Astra (2019)

Emotionless clone of 2001

[1/10 · 2 June 2020]

I won't give any spoilers...but this movie gave me the 'feel' of 2001: Space Odyssey...but with a fatal flaw.

The Main character is basically emotionless. Yes, Yes...I can understand, it's about his father, being abandoned and this is his coping method...except--He's EMOTIONLESS.

And so is everyone around him. So he moves thru the movie, stuff happens, people die around him...and he's utterly emotionless. Worse, Brad Pitt gives me the unchanging impression that he just 'damned tired' thru-out the entire movie.

So the average viewer STOPS CARING.

The Visuals are pretty good. The special effects are studied and consistent in giving me the same visual experience I remember when I first saw 2001 in the theatre all those years ago...and in many ways, Brad Pitt's character is very similar in temperament to David Bowman aboard the Discovery. And when I think about it-- that character was pretty emotionless, too.

But 2001 was the First of its kind all those years ago. And the STAR of the Movie was really HAL, Starry Vistas and the other the Special Effects of that time.

But 2001 was already Done. Ad Astra struck me as a thematic homage to that movie-- except nowadays, there needs to be some EMOTION...somewhere... for the current day viewers to side with and follow. Roy McBride needed to play his stoney stoic-ness off of someone else, side-kick, a fellow traveller, ANYONE...otherwise-- what's the point of watching?

Overall, compared to the Vision of an amazing Future that glowed from 2001, Ad Astra left me with the sense of a dry, colorless milieu where no-one really cared enough about anything even to smile.

The Scriptwriters could have done much better...

Westworld (2016–2022)

This pulls Science Fiction up onto the plateau of True Fiction

[10/10 · 22 March 2020]

I am still watching Season 2 at the moment...but to call this 'Science Fiction' belittles its power.

If you are even THINKING about watching the old Movie based on the Micheal Creighton book-- Don't Bother. This left that old clunker beyond lightyears ago.

For me as a deep Science Fiction Reader, although I've read through the Production credits and did not see the name-- the writing and the acting in this series thrums the influence of 'Robert Silverberg' to me.

What does it mean to be Human? What is your responsibility for having a Soul?

The exploration of the depths of human feelings, Good, Bad & Indifferent intensifies with every episode.

My most favorite episode: 'Kiksuya'

Now it's telling a heart-wrenching story WITHIN the Story from the side of the android host. And it does it with the soft syllables of the Native American tongue.

And I had to cry...

This is Acting, Writing and Story-Telling of unparalleled quality.

Alien Code (2018)

A Tale of the unpacking of an inexplicable menace

[9/10 · 16 February 2020]

What would it be like, if you were tasked with decoding a strange message?

What is you found out that decoding that message allowed for the building of a Dangerous Machine?

What if you found that that because you chose to decode the message, the Machine was already Built and was already Working?

The professional elegance of this Movie is that the the special effects were minimal, but precise. The script/plot is spare, but tense.

It's about Time, Perception and Choice.

Several other reviewers have mentioned these other shows and I agree: This is a a subtle melding of a bit of FRINGE, a bit of the old Outer Limits and the bit of the old Twilight Zone.

The acting is on target for all the characters. And while some may call this flick 'Low budget'-- I disagree: the Musical scoring alone is high standard studio professional. It wasn't just filler noise-- they matched and underscored the growing mood of uncertainty.

And the Menace is beautifully Inexplicable.

This is a Thinking Person's Sci-Fi story with a dark Twilight Zone Ending.

Lost in Space (2018–2021)

An interestingly serious Rebranding of an old campy throw-away show

[7/10 · 17 January 2020]

1-- Special effects: Really Good. And yeah, you have to ignore the hand-wavium of little details like Fuel and Do they or Don't they have Artificial Gravity.

2-- Story Line is basically a retread of the old 60's version. Earth is choking so these Space Pioneers are off to re-settle a new world...except now it's a whole FLEET of Jupiter's. (To be honest, sending ONE Nuclear Family off to colonize a planet was kinda dumb!)

3-- John Robinson is now the bumbler but stalwart when needed. Maureen is the no-nonsense cracker-jack smarts of the Family. Penny is now a regular pre/post-teen figuring her place in the world. Judy is the capable, skilled young adult.... and Will Robinson is now just an incredibly ANNOYING KID.

4-- But Dr SMITH is the Diamond of the bunch. In actuality Parker Posey is playing Dr Smith the way the ORIGINAL Series had THOUGHT the character was to be played...except back then Dr Smith was coming from the angle of being a subversive spy/collaborator from a Soviet-like power. Ms Posey's Smith is a sociopathic conniving survivor. She's utterly Believable. You DO NOT LIKE HER. But just like in the old 60's series-- Half of my watching the show is to see WHAT IS DR SMITH DOING NOW?

And unlike the 60's series that went camp-idiculous... this series stays on the edgy side of drama.

A number of people are ragging this show for various reasons...but principally, I see a show that has been calibrated to remain 'Family-Friendly'. Thus there's a lot more 'Talking Thru' and 'Threshing out of feelings' than Sci-Fi viewers want to be sitting thru. And I do agree, I think the show dials the Robinsons Interconnectedness stuff up to 11 too many times.

Okay. We get it. They're a Family. They Love each Other. Nobody else comes between them. Robinsons Together. Forever. And Will Robinson is Button Cute. And everyone worries about him. Especially the Robot/Creature. Oh...Gag!

Thus, everything centering around Will Robinson and the Robot/Creature, instead of the expected non-stop ZAP-BREEEP-Sha-BOOOOM lightshow some folks may have been pining for.

All that said-- This Will Robinson Annoys the heck out of me. Thankfully, I can just Fast-Forward thru the drecky, Touchy-Feely-The Robinson-Family-Is-All dialogue

The Rizen (2017)

Slow and confused for a long while...but THEN...!??!!

[6/10 · 25 October 2018]

I rented this one off iTunes. It was Horror and something else...and it's October/Halloween. And I'm tired of Vampires, Zombie Apocalypsi and Evil Nuns.

And this one smelled...different.

Now a couple of the other reviewers have touched on the almost cheesy set-up and cheesier dialogue. Plus when you see the zombie creatures in the movie preview it's not like it's gonna be a surprise. And the zombie things appear pretty soon, so you might sit back and say "Oh Please! what's the point of watching the next Hour and fifteen minutes?"

To that I would say...The movie is Not really about the zombie things. They are just a symptom. You have to connect the dots...

But first you have to be willing to sit thru this Movie to be bothered to connect the dots. That's it's First Flaw. And it's a Bad one, which is why I gave it a 6/10.

It will drive away the casual Horror/Splatter fan just because it will bore them. It's repetitive.

It will drive away the curious viewer because they won't see any way to make sense of anything of Who the characters are or Why they are there in the first place. And again, the beginning will bore them. It's repetitive.

I stopped watching halfway through because of the monotony and went to sleep...but I didn't delete it. Something...missing...drew me back to it the next night and I resumed watching.

In the end, what pulled me in was the underlying Lovecraftian feel. And because I've read Lovecraftian horror, I was pulled into pulling the clues together: the flashbacks, the time shifts and the disconnected dialogue pieces make sense if you've read Lovecraftian Horror. Even the repetitive parts had minuscule clues in the dialogue that I started catching. But if you never have read any Lovecraft...it's all disconnected nonsense.

That's this movie's second deep flaw. I suspect the other reviewers who gave it somewhat positive reviews have basically READ Lovecraft or similar writers. Because this movie only worked for me because I was filling in the details and images mentally as if I was reading a book.

And then the Ending drove it home.

If you've never read Lovecraftian Horror...it will just be a cheesy, repetitive mishmash that's not even all that great in the cinematography category.

But if you've read Lovecraft...give this one a try. You will likely find it...interesting. But it's definitely NOT a Saturday Night Main event.

Last-- some reviewers have opined at a possible, though highly unlikely, sequel. Here, I completely disagree.

There is NO good ending, No rescue, and No Second Chances in Lovecraft's Universe. The Ending will fit.

The Terror (2018–2025)

Good Solid Period Drama - but they to emphasize that IT'S COLD!

[8/10 · 3 July 2018]

I'm not one for Historical dramas usually...but I like the stolid, emotionally gritty realistic re-imagining of what happened to a British expedition attempting to cross the Arctic. The portrayal of the Captains and the slow emotional degradation of the crewmen was riveting viewing

I only have One Quibble: They Aren't Cold.

The Set is perfect. I see master craftsmanship both on the ship and on the surrounding 'ice'.... but the Men Aren't COLD.

Oh yes, they've got the coats on and they act miserable...but to me there's something missing. There's a certain hunching of the shoulders, the barely suppressed shivering, the involuntary twitching that comes from never actually being WARM.

These guys are in the Arctic...in WINTER...but their Breath almost never fogs when they're outside. The Ship is LOCKED in ICE. These are Wooden Hulls from two centuries ago...but everyone is cozy comfy inside when ICE should be threading it's way inward.

When they're outside, the hats and mufflers come off and the officers engage in long conversations as if it's Mid-October in a park. The Arctic is a place where men start losing fingers, toes and entire Limbs from prolonged exposure...but these guys AREN'T COLD!

Other'n that...it's great drama.

The Cloverfield Paradox (2018)

Good Acting, Beautiful sets...but sloppy Sci-Fi

[5/10 · 19 February 2018]

The acting was good. The characters were believable and the tension was very good.The Special Effects were understated and powerfully done. I was even able to forgive the few Physics boo-boos that stood out for me...

The problem for me was in all the deux ex machina coincidences that had no real plausible explanations other than 'dimensional shift' and the need for the script to kill off a character on schedule. It was like the plot couldn't make up it's mind if it was Sci-Fi Horror or Sci-Fi Thriller.

I loved that Space Station, but in the end, the plot sloppiness killed the story.

The Ritual (I) (2017)

A Nice Genre Horror that's good on tension

[8/10 · 18 February 2018]

The other reviews are kind of on both sides of the map...but I gave it a middling high score because the Horror is really an aside to the mounting tension between the erstwhile friends after a tragic death during a robbery. This is really a story about a group of friends going thru a horror gauntlet that sorely tests the bonds of their friendship.

1-- Young guys will talk about 'What they would do if they suddenly found themselves in a dangerous situation...' But as an adult, you realize that such talk is just immature testosterone...because in truth, you really NEVER want such a situation to ever arise. Because what you may see in your friend's choice of action will never be erased from your mind's eye.

2-- The setting is simple. The Forest is the first and primal abode of 'Dangerous Things' from the elder days when Men huddled around a fire. This movie very nicely plays on that shifting sense of being stalked. And thru it all, the guys were portrayed as believable buddy blokes...so yeah, the dialogue can seem a bit short.

3-- I've read other reviews that panned the creature...but seriously, in today's age, we've pretty much seen every imaginable monster that can be put on the screen. In good Horror, the Monster doesn't have to 'Make Sense'... They are really just 'Forces of Nature'. The story is in how the characters react to its power.

A Blockbuster? Not Really. But good choice for a quiet, late Friday night.

Noein: To Your Other Self (2005–2006)

Melds Teen/Kid feature, Adult Drama and Nerd Sci-Fi Adventure

[9/10 · 31 December 2017]

I found this while searching Anime features on Crunchyroll for a long Holiday Weekend...and the short synopsis about a girl, her friends and Quantum Dimension travelers was so off the beaten track I had to give the first episode a try.

It blew me away. Other posters have noted the series delve into Quantum Theory and such, and while there is usually a bit of Handwavium science in most Sci-Fi anime, Noein differs from the usual in that it 'lightly' swings the viewer thru actual light Quantum Theory.

As for the Story itself, it's a Sci-Fi adventure that is one part young adult/Pre-teen coming of age that doesn't dive into the usual anime school age 'soap-opera' formulas. Light hearted and funny at times, and yet it can go into some of the dark raw issues of Growing-up. This part makes it very watchable for kids.

But what makes this story a masterpiece in my eyes, is how the story can appeal to adults. An Adult can watch this story and root for the kid characters while trying to understand where the other adult characters are coming from and why they are the way they are: Yuu's Mother is one poignant case in point. And last, there is the question of the Dimension Travelers themselves.

As for the rest of it, what makes this series work for me is the fact that I could NOT figure out what was going on. WHO were the Dimension Travelers? WHERE or WHEN do they come from? WHO or WHY are they fighting? And WHO is actually on WHOSE side? There is no Prologue explanatory of everything. The Viewer is given bits and glimpses of Who, Why and What as the story progresses, and the Viewer is tasked with putting the puzzle together as things move along. Because this story doesn't follow the usual anime tropes, even a jaded anime watcher can't run thru half an episode and say to themselves: "Okay, I already know what Happens from this point on..."

Oh...and just one artistic shout: The Theme Song/Sequence is simply Beautiful to watch.

The Mist (2017)

Cable TV Horror done by Hack Committee

[2/10 · 25 October 2017]

I remember the Mist (2007)...it was TERRIFYING. I had to watch an hour of stupidly silly cartoons just to erase the possibility of nightmares. To this day, I never even Touched that Movie again because of the tension and horror it evoked. Shudders! The Series, on the other hand, takes the same story concept and injects, oh my god, NO...they slap in every-single-stupid-Hollywood-victim-trope in the freaking Book.

It's already Episode 3 and I don't care anymore. Teen break-up? Mother reconnecting with Daughter? Father looking for his Family? Old Lady who wants to die? Stupid Woman who panics and rushes for the front Door? It's all "Wah-Wah-Wah-So-what-who-cares" why doesn't the Monster-whatever-it-is just KILL THEM?!?!?

Oh wait.. They missed one trope: 'The Little girl who lost her dolly even though she's being chased by Monsters...'

And then after a while, it just got ridiculously funny. Like: Girl from the Police Precinct is obviously twitchy-twitchy from drug withdrawal...and the male lead LETS HER DRIVE?

Like: After parading dead bodies in shopping carts past frightened people in the Mall, then Manager decides to get everyone occupied with BOARD GAMES? It's FREAKIN' 2017! What Store Has BOARD GAMES anymore?

Like: They all start pulling out warehouse Pallets and tarps to bed down for the night? It's a FREAKIN' MALL. There's GOT to be a SLEEPY's there fully stocked with Sealy Posturepedic comfort!!

SO I'm sorry...if you're a serious Horror aficionado...this production is a FAIL. Watch the Movie Instead.

American Gods (2017–2021)

Surreal fantasy that will NOT follow the usual TV Tropes

[9/10 · 7 October 2017]

I see the reviews are asymptotic on both ends of the spectrum and most of all I got the notion that a lot of the bad reviewers tend to be people who don't read for pleasure. Or more fairly, I'm guessing they've NEVER read Gaiman.

American Gods is an Adaptation of Neil Gaiman's novel of the same name. BEFORE American Gods, Neil Gaiman was best known for the Graphic Novel/Comic series 'Sandman'. I won't TRY to describe Sandman here. And that should tell you something.

Gaiman takes mythology, Current Events, Actual History and Pop Culture and puts it into a blender on HIGH.

He does not write for Kids... He does not write boilerplate Super Hero stuff... He does not write Harry Potter Coming of age stuff... He does not write Disney/Pixar saccharine stuff...

He takes Myth, Magic and Gods and stitches their vicissitudes into the nasty everyday business of Life on this Planet Earth and wends the reader thru multiple simultaneous plot threads.

Not all the Plot Thread involve Hollywood style Action...

He follows NO Hollywood Tropes...

Historical Notes bear paying attention to... Seemingly innocuous dialogues bear paying attention to... Portentous sequences bear paying attention to...

I will say with certainty...if you NEVER read ANY of Mr Gaiman's work or LIKED his work, this show will be as a lot of posters have stated: Confused & Boring. And so simply put, this show is NOT for you. It's just a matter of taste, with no aspersions otherwise.

But if you DO like Neil Gaiman's Sandman or his Books-- this is, to my experience, a rather close adaptation. I never had any clear mental idea exactly WHAT or WHO Mr Wednesday would look like from the book when I read it...but when I listen and watch Mr McShane's fusion of endearing prattle and knowingly shady conman's effusive wisdom...he's got the spirit of an Old-God-on-the-Make down to a 'T'. And I'm willing to sit back for the ride thru the surreal.

ISRA 88 (2016)

A Theoretical Sci-Fi Thought Experiment

[7/10 · 1 October 2017]

I checked this review off as a possible 'spoiler' simply because this movie has a major unintended detraction going against it: It's called Sci-Fi.

To the Average Audience Viewer, Sci-Fi means Robots, Monsters, Aliens, Space Battles, Super Action, and Special Effects guaranteed to render you epileptic.

And Worse-- Something with the Title: "Beyond the Edge"...of the ENTIRE Universe, no less, garners vague intimations so grandiose that anything less than Meeting God Himself would be an insulting letdown.

Average People who pulled this movie on the basis of The Name & The Genre cannot be blamed for thumbing-down this movie as a boring and confusing waste of an hour and a half.

I didn't know exactly what to expect either when I popped it in late last night. I was expecting a quickie end of the universe space adventure before I went to bed...and I ended up scratching my head as I realized it was a fictional thought experiment posing the question: What would the actual EDGE of the Universe actually be Like? What would happen to Physics? What would happen to Time? What would happen to the men who entered such as Region? When you realize those are the actual questions being talked about by Dr Withersford (Adrienne Barbeau)...then the weird backward moving, out of sequence, time sequences and multiplicity playing themselves by the two space travelers is the whole point of the movie...

Also-- further suspension of belief than is usual for Sci-Fi is required herein...simply, the anachronistic technology of the ship itself is seemingly the product of an alternate Earth/Universe that somehow manages to reach the END of the Universe even within the relativistic lifespans of its pilots...

I'll grant you...I DID Fast Forward thru a goodly portion of the scenes just to get to the next scenes...but when the movie ended and I sat there scratching my head...I found myself intrigued by the questions posed.

I give the Movie 7 out of 10 for a Brave Effort. You Have to be 'In the Mood' for this movie. Definitely NOT a Main event for a Saturday Night, but an interesting Thought Provoker...

Passengers (I) (2016)

It's a play about Loneliness, Actions and Choices

[8/10 · 4 September 2017]

I waited for this one a for a while. I had to be in the right frame of mind. And then I watched this one on a quiet evening and found myself enjoying it.

Wake a Man up on a vast spaceship ahead of schedule, with no way of going back into Hibernation, knowing that he will never live to see the end of the journey. He's Alone, but he's surrounded by sleeping people...What would you do?

For a Science Fiction movie, it moved at a leisurely pace...Sans Space Battles, Sans slavering Aliens, Sans Homicidal Central Computers, Sans crawling outer-space monsters...It's an accidental relationship movie on a ship light-years in the middle of nowhere...

The Premise was believable.

The Characters were likable.

Their Actions ... 'Stood to Reason'

The Moral Question was commendable.

The Spaceship was AWESOME.

The Ending could have used a better formulation, but it was nicely poetic just the same...

Star Wars or Star Trek this isn't. But it's certainly not Grade B Late night CableTV dreck. Rent this one on a cool Saturday night.

OH...Totally Girlfriend Approved!!

Black Mountain Side (2014)

Not a blockbuster or main event movie, but Moody and Atmospheric

[6/10 · 28 May 2017]

I read the other reviews before I decided to download it from iTunes and watch.

Some reviewers referenced Carpenter's 'Thing' and others referenced Lovecraft. I would step back from either. It takes place in an arctic setting, but that alone does not make it a Carpenter clone or even a bad one.

A bunch of guys at an isolated northern archaeologic site dig-up/uncover something older than known recorded history...then strange behaviors and strange things start plaguing them.

That's the beginning nut...and anyone who's an aficionado of Horror can guess the likely paths the story plot will take...The question becomes: What do you expect of the movie?

I like this effort because it was about Dread and Uncertainty, Fear and Insanity. It's not a splatter or scream fest. Nor is it an out-and-out Monster flick, but there's 'SOMETHING' there. Something creepy that's given a nice, though albeit, slow, buildup.

Some reviewers called the acting 'wooden' and worse...but the same could have been said about the character set in the 'Thing'. These are a Bunch of Guys, voluntarily stuck up in the middle of No-Where in the Canadian Winter. Only Certain kinds of people volunteer for for these kinds of stints. They tend NOT to be emotional Divas or unstable psychopaths as Hollywood scripts like to set them out.

What this story is about is what happens when a group of very stolid, work-focused guys are faced with something inexplicable and there's no outside help. And then things and psyches begin to unravel.

What also made this story work from the Lovecraftian angle were the hints, facts and thoughts that were explicated in the dialogue...if you're willing to pay attention. But that said, do NOT expect a cinematic Lovecraftian Horror experience.

And yes...to a degree, this was a Horror movie with a slight Lovecraftian tinge. And thus, the ending DID actually Fit. Because in Lovecraft's Universe...there are NO Good Endings. Man does NOT escape.

I would not make this Movie a Saturday Night MAIN Event. But it's a good fit for a late, late Friday Night chiller before you go to bed.

The Void (I) (2016)

This is GOOD Midnight Horror

[9/10 · 9 April 2017]

The premise is simple: People isolated out in the middle of nowhere. Strange figures in the darkness. Something monstrous stalking everyone.

The Void takes this simple horror formula and lays it down RIGHT. And even Better, they get straight to the Meat of the Movie: Darkness Tension, Desperation, Madness, ACTION.

I won't say anything more because it would be a disservice to the Movie. Just WATCH it...

Everyone else is bringing in 'The Thing', but I go a different tack: I saw an hair-raising melding of Hellraiser & Lovecraft.

This one will be an underground cult classic!

Dark Matter (2015–2017)

A Quality Series on par with Firefly

[9/10 · 18 January 2017]

The first season was interesting because the characters were all ciphers...and the FX was very good. Then came the Corporate War story arc that continues in Season 2.

With Season 2, I keep seeing overtones of Firefly. To Me, Dark Matter is like the Firefly world that broke out of 'The System' and spread throughout the Galaxy. And giving the Android a storyline clinches it.

And Best of all, all the Characters surprise you as they move along and change. My Best Line-- when sweet little 5 says: "Kill Them All"...

It was totally against her character. But She Meant it. I was floored.

I'm working hard to FORCE myself Not to Binge Watch this one: One Episode Per Week until further notice.

The Stone Tape (1972 TV Movie)

Old style, TV-Movie spook tale

[7/10 · 1 January 2017]

One-- It's from 1972-ish. So that means, hey, it's the 70's! Expect the Acting of that era, and the FX-- which is Bare Minimum.

Two-- It's British. Which means there a lot more Talking (Or in this case SHOUTING!!!) than Spooking than you would be used to seeing from a movie done today.

The angle of this spook movie...once you accept the 'Hand-wavium pseudo-science'...is the notion that 'Ghosts' aren't actually Spirits...but energy recordings. And in this case, the recording is captured in Stone and gets replayed again and again and again. (Hence, explaining why CASTLES are the source of Ghost stories) Enter in a corporate inventor and his team of scientists who set out to quantify a 'Ghost' they find in a castle room.

Sort of a Para-normal GhostHunters done in the early Seventies...but without the camp.

All in all, what struck me about this old flick was that it had the suspenseful flavor of another British flick 'Quatermass and the Pit' AKA '5 Million Years to Earth'.

If you're willing to patiently ride with it, it's a pleasant little horror trip from an era that had to rely on suspense, hints and dialogue in the absence of modern CGI FX. And if you really let the concept run its course, the 'Deeper' story about what the 'Stone Recording' can actually be a little chilling at the end.

This movie isn't a 'Main Event' by any means. But it's an entertaining spooky-touch for a cold Sunday Afternoon Viewing.

The Color Out of Space (2010)

A nice slow interpretation of a classic Lovecraft tale

[8/10 · 4 September 2016]

This one should be on the list of anyone who loves Lovecraft. While this one doesn't have any of the more well known Mythos in it...it's a measured telling of what is actually a Tale of the Unknown more than it is a Horror Story.

The use of Black & White may look cheap, but it fits with the tone and tenor of the era that it was set in. Color TV did not exist then. The CGI may look simple...but the focus of the story is the people and the 'Colour'. Sometimes when the FX is stunning...you only see the FX and not the story. And Good Horror is more than simply good CGI.

The Telling of the story as a mix of English and German with Subtitles was a different experience, but it didn't subtract from the tale, because the story moves slowly enough that the subtitles are there long enough to be read and become pseudo-invisible. Besides, a hallmark of Lovecraft is that most of the stories are a RE-TELLING of past events thru the witness's eyes and memory Again-- this one is a slower, langourous story. Told through the eyes of the German farmboy who grew up when the meteor came down. And I dare say, the film makers polished and filled in some of the blanks of the original short story. There is no scientific explication by any of the characters here, but you will see that what happened was the intersection of the Earthly with the UN-Earthly...and unfortunately and tragically for the people in the valley...the presence of the Unearthly is just simply inimical to earthbound Life.

This one is good for a Late, after midnight viewing on Saturday night.

Cosmic Contact (2015)

Not blockbuster material, but it's a decent old-school sci-fi thriller

[8/10 · 12 June 2016]

The problem for a lot of us is that the label 'Full Length Sci-Fi Movie' implies the whole panoply of FX and Sets and lots of explosions and zaps.

When sometimes, it's just the Idea and the People caught up in it.

This movie takes an old school idea from the 50's & 60's: The Obsessed Inventor who discovers Something Incredible.

If you remind yourself that the PC originated on a workbench in someone's garage from tinkered circuit boards...then Palmer is a believable character: The super Nerd with a healthy side of Asperger. These people have always been around...we just have a Medical Term for it now.

The interplay off his brother Chase and his tutor/helper Mathematician Alice is actually realistic for a couple of College Teens...as opposed to 30+ Actors playing a cool suave rendition of what they think they remembered Teenage-hood to be like.

The Machine is extensive and engrossing just in its messy expanse. And NO-- there are no wowzy FX when it turns on....Have you ever watched electronics? When the electricity is on: transistors just...sit there. Heck--Even the Super Collider just Hums when they flip the switch. So I applaud the camera work for trying to add expectant intensity...you know SOMETHING is going to happen as the inventors keep arguing and worrying as they reach further outwards.

When the Something Happens...if you're old enough, it should remind you of the old Outer Limits. The Inventor's Machine knocked on a Door...and SOMETHING is Knocking Back.

...And they can't turn it off.

The rest of the movie gave me a few well crafted chills as the inventors realized they were in the middle of something incredible, something they no longer controlled...something dangerous. And they didn't know what to do.

...And now they're scared.

I am fairly certain that the Director of this movie KNEW and had Watched the old Out-Limits. He studied an old formula that chilled millions and recreated it. My only regret is that the director wasn't able to throw in an Old Outer-limits spook background theme when things started opening up for some authentic audio chills. Otherwise, I find that these guys pulled off a Very Very good Movie on a Budget of Next to Nothing.

This isn't a Main-event type movie...but it needs to be watched at night with nachos and pop. A Friday Night after a grueling week when you just want to wind down would be best. And it needs to be COLD when you watch it, so turn up the AC if it's summer.

I say rent this one. Suspend your Belief...and wonder: What could POSSIBLY be LISTENING Beyond the Edge of the Universe?

Voyage to the End of the Universe (1963)

Serious Space Age Sci-Fi from Czechoslovakia!

[7/10 · 31 January 2016]

To watch this movie today, you have to be serious aficionado of Science Fiction from the Space Age of the 1960's.

If you're old enough and you were LUCKY, you might have caught it maybe once in your entire Lifetime on the Late-Late-Late Saturday Night Movie...and it was the bastardized, Americanized 'Voyage to the End Of the Universe' And from what I could discern, it was rebroadcast less than 3 times and then disappeared from American ken. I remembered the ship with the three flying saucers flying Swooooosh! through Interstellar space. It had Robots. It had flying saucers. It had Spacesuits. It had a scary derelict rocketship with dead bodies in it. And it had one explosion. Then My mother told me to go to Bed. Aaaaargh!

Literally close to 40 years later, the memory dogged me to get a DVD of the full IKARIE XB1. And it was worth it.

Remember: if you saw it as a Kid, you saw it chopped to fit on the square TV screen. This is a Full widescreen Movie Production. And it's Long.

Caveats: No Monsters...other than the dead Capitalist kind (chuckle!). No Space Battles. No Alien Invasions. No Mad Scientists. And it's B&W.

As other reviewers note-- there are segments where they go to explore a derelict ship, and an incapacitating flyby a 'Dark Star' and cope with temporary madness from Radiation. Kind of a prelude to the old Star Trek.

The rest of the Movie is Life aboard the first Interstellar ship, everything from matchmaking, to a dance party (Which I thought to be endearingly comical, both the music and the dance steps!!!) to the birth of a baby.

There was even a pet Dog onboard! The Departure from the usual run of American Space Movies also included female crew members who clearly had important roles on the ship, and were treated with unfeigned respect by the men when they were consulted for opinions and input.

All in all, the movie spoke to me like an early version of '2001: A space Odyssey'. And even though it was made in Communist Czechoslovakia, beyond the rather pointed social hints in the derelict 'Tornado', there was no heavy handed proletariat propaganda.

On the FX front, for 1963, the sets and setup were very high quality. The Spacesuits and the extra-vehicular saucers wowed me.

Warning: There are probably several versions of this movie out there. One English dubbed version is actually partial. There are sections of the movie where English Subtitles appear and you hear Czech, then in the next scene, they flip back to English. And lastly, by today's hi-octane Hollywood standards, this movie is languid. But by today's standards, hallowed '2001: a Space Odyssey' would be called Boring.

A Different milieu and a Different Cultural perspective. So have a little patience. This one is best for a Sunday Afternoon. Give it a try if you can find it....and yes, it's girlfriend friendly.