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Reviews
The First (2018)
Surprisingly good for a drama-sci-fi hybrid
I'm mainly interested in hard sci fi, then realized this film is primarily a drama . . . But it was actually a really good drama, and there were just enough hard sci fi elements that I really enjoyed it. Yes, it was tedious to have to see the reactions of the family members for each crew member, but the central family drama was well done. I liked how the whole story unfolded as time went on. And I liked how the woman CEO was a sort of female Elon Musk, right down to the allusions to being an alien. I really like that actress also, so that helped. I don't particularly like Sean Penn, but his part fit him as an actor. Overall, very enjoyable and worthwhile!
Outer Range (2022)
Dystopian magical realism with pop song opera
That should have been the title of it.
Started off interesting but odd, improved with more of a plot in the middle with the relationships and the fights, but then rapidly degenerated into mostly nonsensical stuff.
Because of how well done the acting and scenery were, and the unanswered questions, I got lured into literally having to fast forward through most of it just to get to the end and get it over with. I gave it a 4.
It was so negative and awful throughout, also, where the main character talks about the good and the bad, this movie is only about the bad, all "good" is in the past and we never experience that. Dystopian and naturally, had to include the BIPOC Lesbian couple that naturally no Native Americans reject, only the white people in their church reject. Another anti-white film.
The Patient (2022)
Compulsive
I ended up feeling compelled to watch this, just to find out what happens, but it got so tedious that I was literally just fast forwarding by the end. I felt disappointed at the end. The characters were good but it became more and more implausible as time went on. I kept thinking how the psychiatrist was literally getting zero exercise and eating take-out every single night - he would be in terrible shape in about a week, but that was never addressed, the reality of things like taking a dump in that room somehow, etc. The last scene was also implausible. The guy would last a couple of days that way and then would go back to his normal life. This should not have been a TV series. There were not meaningful revelations except tragic life events happen and relationships are imperfect.
Only (2019)
So predictable, not worth watching
It was so predictable that I couldn't bring myself to fully engage, but watched the beginning and the end and a few parts in between. I couldn't bear to just go through an obvious and slow tragedy for the length of the film, knowing how it would end within the first few minutes, without any real unknowns except the way it originally happened, which was inevitable, and without anything to learn from it, given the situation, no solution in sight.
Ghost in the Shell (2017)
Too bad all the slamming in the reviews - the film is good!
Clearly most of the people on here slamming the film and calling it racist or fake or white, are blinded by their own biases - the film is very engaging, has a good story and is visually well done. Many of the critics on here act like the 1995 original is perfect and god-like compared to this version, but just watching that one, I was surprised at how unrealistic the dialog is in that one, like a political propaganda film.
Interestingly, people are criticizing the 2017 version for being too sexual, but the original makes her body almost indistinguishable from a human's body, whereas the 2017 version makes it fairly obvious that the body is not human.
The 2017 film is not perfect, of course - the story lacks the depth of sci fi films that are more cerebral and drama based, rather than action based, but the story is nicely complex and the ending is not predictable. It is not the original, but there's no law that says it has to be.
3022 (2019)
Missed opportunity
It had a lot of potential but was wasted on stupid plot decisions.
The premise was great, the actors were great, the potential was there, and they basically blew it. They tried to recoup it by making it mainly about the man and the woman getting back together after all that time, that really it is about relationships, but it was ultimately a big let down. On the most simplistic level, we did not even get to see them hug or cry together or anything, just the looks of shock, apparently to be artsy. Come on!
Instead of making the situation with the additional 3 crew into the usual story of the battle to decide who will die - so predictable - they could have made the rest of the film about the journey to Europa and getting there and finding out that other crew had survived from other places, etc.
I think there was a major flaw in the plot and that it must have been changed midway through, since the story starts with the idea of the creation of a habitable world on Europa and then retracts to just Pangea Station and no one ever even sees Europa. It sounds like they felt they couldn't manage the story of going to Europa, somehow, and cut it off - I suppose its cheaper set wise to never leave the station. But they sacrificed the film ultimately then, for the small amount of creativity to have had the characters move past just the two people and their own relationship, which was never fathomable anyway.
Finally, I have more faith in humanity that if faced with an inevitable end of the human race, not everyone will melt down into a monster except for 2 people. The stupid predictable ploy of the haunted house space station where everyone has to kill everyone else really tanks films at this point. We've seen that so many times and it's so 2nd grade to just retreat to that. I'd rather they never had the other 3 appear if they have to turn it into that.
Radioflash (2019)
Better than I thought it would be
I thought it would be crap based on the comments here, but I actually liked it. I stopped for a while and got up to cook dinner but pretty soon I wanted to finish watching it, -- that hasn't been the case for a lot of movies I see recently on amazon or netflix. The majority of the movies on those are duds. I watched it for free on putlocker. It kept me interested. I did fast forward through some of the more predictable parts, and the last quarter of the movie was sort of stupid with the hillbilly family, but the ending wasn't predictable, and I thought overall it was an interesting foray into the potential events after a EMP.
In the Shadow of the Moon (2019)
Too bad about the ending
It was watchable and interesting until the end, which seemed really bogus and transparently stupid to me -- the majority of films looking at time travel have complex and interesting takes on the outcome, not just a black-and-white, good vs bad, cookie cutter "solution" for a preschoolers type ending. It was so transparent and superficial. Really disappointing when the actors were good and the plot was interesting. What a waste.
Nightflyers (2018)
Viewed in the full season context, it's actually pretty cool . . .
I don't particularly like horror films, and so, watching episode by episode was frustrating to get through, even as the whole premise and the acting and the sences were well done. But the last episode finally broke away from that and delved into a lot of complex and fascinating and awe inspiring events that I wish could have been much more prevalent in the whole season. That final episode really made it for the series.
Good sci fi has depth to it, not just running from one crazy murderous scene to another, and although a lot of the relationships and exploration of the characters was done well, they were all just rushing from bloody scene to bloody scene, and we are stuck with a really likeable character choosing to slice open her own neck over our heads for the whole season.
BUT, ultimately, if a second season could build off of the nice complexity of the final episode, okay. Except, it seems like a done deal that no one is going to invest in another season when the reviews are as bad as they are. Too bad - excellent characters, premise, acting and visuals were wasted by rushing around with Amityville Horror for some reason -- it wasn't necessary and probably tanked what could have been an excellent series.