Outcast: Second Contact
6.0
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Outcast – Second Contact is an open world action-adventure game taking the player to an...
The Mighty Captain Marvel Vol. 2: Band of Sisters
5.3
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As Secret Empire begins, Captain Marvel faces the Chitauri! The savage alien fleet has nearly...
Smoke and Mirrors
8.0
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The invasion within Telepath, mother, industrial spy, prostitute, Smokey's uncanny ability to sense...
Dragon Soul (Dragon Clan #3)
8.0
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Valla, a powerful dragon-shifter warrior, has never been lucky in love. Returning home after a...
Fantasy Romance
David McK (3425 KP) rated The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008) in Movies
Jan 27, 2023
Unfortunately, the majority of the film is slow and plodding, with no real connection between Reeves and Jennifer Connelly, with a (very young) Jaden Smith playing a kid who just deserves a good slapping, and with the anti-war stance of the original replaced with an environmental message instead (that's neither good nor bad, just an observation).
One that I may watch on TV if nothing else on, but not one I would be going out of my way to look for or even make time to sit down and view.
David McK (3425 KP) rated Doctor Who: Once Upon a Timelord in Books
Nov 24, 2023
Yes, you read that right: 60.
Albeit with a hiatus in the 1980s/1990s, until it's triumphant return in 2005.
And it's that later incarnation that is the main lead in this graphic novel, with perhaps-the-most-popular-modern-incarnation (Dr #10, David Tennant, soon also to be Dr #14) taking the lead here alongside his just-after-Rose-Tyler companion Martha. This is then a whistle-stop tour of the Doctor's various enemies, with the story itself being told as a story within a story by Martha to a group of alien monsters who feed off the pyschic energy released by storytellers.
BankofMarquis (1832 KP) rated The Tomorrow War (2021) in Movies
Jul 16, 2021
I couldn’t disagree more. The Tomorrow War is a safe and confined film for the first hour and a half and only becomes interesting when they take off all constraints and “goes for it” in the last 1/2 hour.
Directed by Chris McKay (THE LEGO MOVIE), THE TOMORROW WAR follows a working class guy (Chris Pratt) who is recruited to head into the future to help fight alien invaders. He teams up with one of the leaders of the “Tomorrow War” (Yvonne Strahovski) for whom he has a special bond with to recapture Earth for the humans.
The premise is solid enough, but the Direction by McKay keeps the film in the “safe zone”, never veering away into anything interesting and original, almost like McKay wanted to keep the events of the future “believable”. This is a miscalculation by McKay (and Pratt) and makes the film “fine”, but not much more than that.
Pratt’s performance is also in the “safe zone” and tones down his usual daffy charm and charisma - rarely a good idea with a Movie Star who relies on these qualities. Strahovski is solid and believable (enough) as the tough-as-nails scientist as one of the leaders of the future humans. She and Pratt worked well off each other and this helped get me through the middle of this film (where it sags under the weight of it’s own pretentions).
Also along for the ride is Sam Richardson (VEEP) as a fellow Tomorrow War draftee who provides much needed comic relief in the first part of the film. But he does veer into the “over-acting/caricature” territory that these types of parts can lead to. It was also good to see Mary Lynn Rajskub (Chloe in the TV Series 24) up on the screen again. I was rooting for her throughout the film.
But it is the work of the always great J.K. Simmons that salvages the film. He only appears in 1 scene in the first 3/4 of this movie - he is the estranged father of Pratt’s character - but when these 2 join forces for the last 1/2 hour, the film takes a dramatic turn to the Summer Blockbuster over-the-top action hero fun flick that it probably needed to be from the beginning. Simmons looks like he is having a blast taking out Alien after Alien and Pratt suddenly looks interested and his natural charm and charisma comes out.
Watch the first hour and a half as a setup for the last 1/2 hour. If you are looking for mindless Summer entertainment, the final part of this film will fit the bill, indeed.
Letter Grade: B- (the first hour and a half takes some initiative to get through)
6 stars (out of 10) and you can take that to the Bank(ofMarquis)
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