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Awix (3310 KP) rated The Darkest Hour (2011) in Movies
Jun 2, 2018 (Updated Jun 2, 2018)
Ferociously generic hot-young-things-are-chased-by-high-concept-monsters movie. (Winston Churchill does not appear, by the way.) Various American, Australian and Swedish characters bump into each other in a Moscow nightclub, hit it off (or not), then find the evening takes a bit of a turn when aliens made of invisible electricity arrive and start eating people. Lots of sneaking about and tension; it's not that difficult to guess who the aliens are going to chow down on before the end of the film, and in what order.
I suppose it looks okay, and many members of the cast have gone on to marginally better things (remakes of Judge Dredd and Robocop, plus TV work for Marvel), but the whole thing seems to be actively trying to be as forgettable as possible. The film's big innovation - the Moscow setting - ends up contributing nothing to the film, really; actual Russian characters are kept peripheral. Ultimately just a very, very bland film: Olivia Thirlby deserves some kind of mention for actually making you care slightly about her character. Apart from that this is the kind of SF film that brings science fiction into disrepute. And science. And quite probably fiction, come to that.
I suppose it looks okay, and many members of the cast have gone on to marginally better things (remakes of Judge Dredd and Robocop, plus TV work for Marvel), but the whole thing seems to be actively trying to be as forgettable as possible. The film's big innovation - the Moscow setting - ends up contributing nothing to the film, really; actual Russian characters are kept peripheral. Ultimately just a very, very bland film: Olivia Thirlby deserves some kind of mention for actually making you care slightly about her character. Apart from that this is the kind of SF film that brings science fiction into disrepute. And science. And quite probably fiction, come to that.
Sarah (7798 KP) rated Men in Black International (2019) in Movies
Jul 3, 2019
Disappointing
Like many films nowadays, this is yet another sequel that we didn't need. The first two MIB sequels were let's face it pretty poor, and I'm afraid to say this 4th installment is not much better.
It was nice to see MIB back on the big screen, however the problem with this film is that it doesn't have any of the magic of the original. It's lacking in humour, a decent plot and some funny and unique aliens. Instead we get a few odd jokes that raise a brief smile, a predictable and done to death plot and a lot of rather silly, pathetic and rather irritating aliens. They've tried to recapture the pairing of Thor and Valkyrie with the casting of Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson, but the issue is this film just doesn't have the scriptwriters that Marvel has to give such a great cast something good to work with. The cast in this is truly fantastic and they do the best they can, it's just a shame that they've been let down by a very poor script with some cliched and predictable character types.
This isnt terrible by any means and it is at least vaguely enjoyable, but altogether a rather disappointing return for MIB to the big screen.
It was nice to see MIB back on the big screen, however the problem with this film is that it doesn't have any of the magic of the original. It's lacking in humour, a decent plot and some funny and unique aliens. Instead we get a few odd jokes that raise a brief smile, a predictable and done to death plot and a lot of rather silly, pathetic and rather irritating aliens. They've tried to recapture the pairing of Thor and Valkyrie with the casting of Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson, but the issue is this film just doesn't have the scriptwriters that Marvel has to give such a great cast something good to work with. The cast in this is truly fantastic and they do the best they can, it's just a shame that they've been let down by a very poor script with some cliched and predictable character types.
This isnt terrible by any means and it is at least vaguely enjoyable, but altogether a rather disappointing return for MIB to the big screen.
Plancon: Space Conflict
Games and Entertainment
App
“Plancon: Space Conflict is a slick and surprisingly accessible space sim.” – 148apps.com...
LeftSideCut (3778 KP) rated Species II (1998) in Movies
Sep 21, 2020
Species II adds more of everything that made the first one such a success, but unfortunately with lesser results.
It obviously has a bigger budget this time around, the spaceships in the opening shots look pretty decent (even if they are plastered with product placement), it's has noticeably more gore, more nudity, more tentacles flying out of nipples, more Marg Helgenberger, more full body shots of the aliens, but have no doubt, this sequel is the epitome of guilty pleasure trash - it's obviously a bad film, but is so much goddam fun.
The bad CGI is a slight improvement on the first film, but I can respect the numerous practical effects in use, and the aliens seen near the end look both silly and quite horrific (good old H.R. Giger). The dialogue leaves a lot to be desired, but when you have lines like "They could fuck the human race into extinction" being thrown around, it hard to not ironically enjoy yourself.
Ultimately, Species II is a worse film than it's predecessor (which is hardly a masterpiece in the first place) but it's loud, dumb, gory, sci-fi action that equates to that age old saying - it's so bad, it's kind of good.
It obviously has a bigger budget this time around, the spaceships in the opening shots look pretty decent (even if they are plastered with product placement), it's has noticeably more gore, more nudity, more tentacles flying out of nipples, more Marg Helgenberger, more full body shots of the aliens, but have no doubt, this sequel is the epitome of guilty pleasure trash - it's obviously a bad film, but is so much goddam fun.
The bad CGI is a slight improvement on the first film, but I can respect the numerous practical effects in use, and the aliens seen near the end look both silly and quite horrific (good old H.R. Giger). The dialogue leaves a lot to be desired, but when you have lines like "They could fuck the human race into extinction" being thrown around, it hard to not ironically enjoy yourself.
Ultimately, Species II is a worse film than it's predecessor (which is hardly a masterpiece in the first place) but it's loud, dumb, gory, sci-fi action that equates to that age old saying - it's so bad, it's kind of good.
Love You To Bits
Games
App
“Love You to Bits” is a crazy cute, purely visual, puzzle-filled, point-and-click, sci-fi...
Shaun Collins (3 KP) rated Doctor Who: In the Blood in Books
Jan 12, 2018
Meh. Overlong, unneeded travelogue with the Doctor and Donna globetrotting all over the Earth... WITHOUT the TARDIS. Flying commercial airliners, just to have a plane crash scene, commuting by rail just to have a train crash scene. The main plot about evil aliens hiding within social media and feeding off negative emotions of posters (i.e. Nerd Rage) is topical, but doesn't fit Doctor Who. Not a particularly well told tale either, when I finally got to the climax it was more of a relief than a satisfactory ending. Was not impressed with this one at all.
Jcadden76 (64 KP) rated Beyond the Darkness in Podcasts
Jun 10, 2018
Dave and Tim - the hosts (2 more)
The content
the guests
Thought provoking and sometimes scary as hell!
I love this podcast. Paranormal investigators, Dave and Tim talk over all topics from ghost to aliens, cryptids and everything in between. Weekly they do a Supernatural News and Parashare episode that is one of the highlights of my podcast feed. Other episodes are very topic driven and guest driven. Make sure you give it at least 3 episodes to decide if you like it or not.
Limited, personalized commercials keep them on the air. Or you can join with Patreon.
Limited, personalized commercials keep them on the air. Or you can join with Patreon.
AT (1676 KP) rated Last Pick Book 1 in Books
Jan 5, 2019 (Updated Jan 5, 2019)
I don't even remember where I ran across a synopsis of this graphic novel, but I'm glad I did! It's written for a young adult audience, but for me, I connected with it even more because there's a special needs character in the story, and I've got a child with special needs. It's refreshing to see a story give a character with differences strength and hope. The aliens in the story deal with weaknesses being perceived as bad, unwanted things. However, the differences that the character has may just prove to be an asset to his survival.
David McK (3372 KP) rated It Came From On High in Books
Jan 30, 2019
Merging sci-fi with religion might seem an odd combination, but this novel takes the approach what would happen if the Vatican had proof of extraterrestrial life, with that proof coming in the shape of two eloping aliens who have crash-landed in a small island of the coast of Ireland, just in time for the new Pope's Easter address when he is stumped for ideas.
While it raised a few smiles, it also unfortunately never really raised a chuckle or any deep profound thoughts: this, I found, to be the type of book to read, enjoy, and move on.
While it raised a few smiles, it also unfortunately never really raised a chuckle or any deep profound thoughts: this, I found, to be the type of book to read, enjoy, and move on.
David McK (3372 KP) rated Invincible (The Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier, #2) in Books
Jan 30, 2019
The second book in 'The Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier' spin-off from 'The Lost Fleet' series, with most of the same characters (so, in a way, the 7th book in the series).
Whereas the previous book primarily concerned the outbound portion of their mission (to investigate the extent of enigma - aliens discovered in the 'original' series - space), in this the fleet starts its journey home with the novel picking up almost directly from the end of that previous story.
They also don't (yet) make it all the way home - have to leave room for the next entry in the series, after all!
Whereas the previous book primarily concerned the outbound portion of their mission (to investigate the extent of enigma - aliens discovered in the 'original' series - space), in this the fleet starts its journey home with the novel picking up almost directly from the end of that previous story.
They also don't (yet) make it all the way home - have to leave room for the next entry in the series, after all!