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Fury From the Tomb (The Institute for Singular Antiquities, #1)

S.A. Sidor

7.0 (1 Ratings) Rate It

Book

Mummies, grave-robbing ghouls, hopping vampires, and evil monks beset a young archaeologist, in this...

BankofMarquis (1832 KP) rated Alita: Battle Angel (2019) in Movies

Feb 20, 2019

Alita: Battle Angel (2019)

2019 | Action, Fantasy, Sci-Fi

7.4

(95 Ratings)

Movie Rating Watch

Good visuals, not much else to recommend it

A few of my loyal readers recommended that I check out ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL in the biggest screen I could find, and in 3D. And...I'm glad I did for this film is a visual feast for the eyes, filled with eye-popping CGI and an interesting futuristic world on which the events of the film take place.

Unfortunately...that is all that there is to this film, for the rest of the movie does not live up to the fantastical elements laid forth visually.

Adapted to the screen from filmmakers James Cameron and Robert Rodriguez, ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL is a combination of the first 4 of Yukito Kishiro's series of 9 manga books, and (hopefully) the first in a trilogy of films that follows a robot, Alita, who is put back together by the mysterious Dr. Ido. When she awakens, she does not know what her past was, but as events transpire, it soon becomes apparent that Alita is much more than the sweet, young girl robot that her outward appearance would suggest.

Rosa Salazar is winning enough as the completely CGI creation of Alita, but no so charismatic that she can carry the film on her own, she will need help - and that's where this film falls down. Christoph Waltz is mediocre in the underwritten part of Dr. Ido. Instead of being interesting and mysterious, he is bland and boring. I'm beginning to think that Waltz needs the words of Quentin Tarantino to shine (because he does shine in Tarantino films) but is just so-so when speaking someone else's lines. Jennifer Connelly is wasted as Ido's ex-wife, somehow connected to the power elite of the Universe and Marashala Ali (who will soon win his 2nd Oscar) is completely shutdown and "one-note" as the big bad guy. Ed Skrein, Jackie Earle Haley (completely unrecognizable in voice or character as the CGI bad guy Grewishka) and Keean Johnson are all very forgettable as others in this world. Only Jeff Fahey (as a robot-Cowboy bounty hunter) is able to jump off the screen with what is the beginnings of an interesting character.

The battles, races, action and plot twists and turns are all "standard issue", pretty predictable and unsurprising. It is clear that Cameron and Rodriguez were so focused on the CGI and world building that they did not spend enough time on the plot, dialogue or pacing. And that's too bad, for besides the impressive visuals and graphics (and they are impressive), there is not much else to recommend from this film.

Letter Grade: B- (for the visuals)

6 (out of 10) stars and you can take that to the Bank(ofMarquis)

Kudos

Rickey A. Mossow Jr. (689 KP) rated Bumblebee (2018) in Movies

May 21, 2019

Bumblebee (2018)

2018 | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

7.8

(80 Ratings)

Movie Rating Watch

This was a good film (except for the scenes I couldn't see that included a certain wrestler.)

The Transformer movies have steadily slid into convoluted messes of CGI and plot holes. So, heading into this one I didn't know what to expect. This still had the robot fighting action you expect but seemed to take a step back from the other films and focus on a well-written story. Hailee Steinfeld is good in her role. She along with the ET-esque Bumblebee carry the heart of the film and force the audience to care about the "Robots in Disguise," something earlier films in the series seemed to have forgotten about. John Cena is also decent in his role. Overall, it's a cute and fun story of loss and rising from the ashes of that loss to return to life again. In my opinion the best one in the series.

Kudos

Wrong About Japan

Peter Carey

7.0 (2 Ratings) Rate It

Book

In a stunning memoir-cum-travelogue Peter Carey charts this journey, inspired by Charley's passion...

Japan Travel Culture Anime

Ripley's Believe it or Not! 2017

Ripley's

(0 Ratings) Rate It

Book

The Ripley's Believe It or Not! annual has now firmly established itself as a Christmas must-have,...

The Door into Summer

Robert A. Heinlein

4.0 (1 Ratings) Rate It

Book

A popular and enduring time travel tale by one of science fiction's all-time greats When Dan Davis...

David McK (3361 KP) rated Foxtrot Hotel (Harriet Walsh #4) in Books

May 23, 2021

Entry #4 in Simon Haynes's 'Harriet Walsh' series; a series which I actually started reading after picking up Hal Spacejock (sometimes also known as A Robot Named Clunk) and was completely unaware that the two characters would cross-over in later books (I haven't reached that point yet in either series).

Unlike the previous entry in the series - Sierra Bravo - (which is pretty much a siege story), this is back to being more of a whodunnit, with Harriett and the Peace Force (what there is of them ... ) investigating when a dead body turns up at her favourite beauty spot, which just so happens to be about to face an important governmental vote on whether it can have an apartment complex built on it ...

Competent? Yes.
Enjoyable enough? Yes.
A few unforeseen twists and turns? Hmmm ... that depends upon how familiar with the genre you are!

Kudos

Matthew Krueger (10051 KP) rated The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) in Movies

Oct 3, 2019

Oringal Sci-Fi Classic

The Day the Earth Stood Still- is anethor classic sci-fi movie that came out in the early 1950's. With this film, the thing from anethor world and the war of the worlds. The early 50's was on fire with sci-fi movies.

The Plot: When a UFO lands in Washington, D.C., bearing a message for Earth's leaders, all of humanity stands still. Klaatu (Michael Rennie) has come on behalf of alien life who have been watching Cold War-era nuclear proliferation on Earth. But it is Klaatu's soft-spoken robot Gort that presents a more immediate threat to onlookers. A single mother (Patricia Neal) and her son teach the world about peace and tolerance in this moral fable, ousting the tanks and soldiers that greet the alien's arrival.

This film and the other that i mention are must watch.