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Men in Black International (2019)
Men in Black International (2019)
2019 | Action, Sci-Fi
A complete waste of time
Aside from Avengers Endgame, 2019 is shaping up to be pretty disappointing when it comes to blockbuster movies. Godzilla received a bit of a panning from the critics (although I personally quite liked it), then Dark Phoenix took an even bigger hit in the reviews, which I completely agree with. And now we have a sequel that nobody asked for, to a movie which has already had a couple of fairly average sequels, which has also received a wave of early bad reviews this week. To be honest, the trailer for Men In Black International certainly looked a bit....meh. A bunch of random stuff happening, no real indication of any plot, some annoying looking CGI aliens and an attempt to just coast off the back of having Thor and Valkyrie reunited on screen. I still remember how memorable the original trailer for the 1997 MIB movie was when it featured in cinemas - the shades, the guns, the aliens, the massive flying saucer crash landing in front of a cool looking Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones. This trailer had none of that wow factor, but I went in, hopeful as always that the reviews were wrong.

The movie begins in 2016, with Agent H (Chris Hemsworth) and High T (Liam Neeson) as they ascend the Eiffel Tower, interrupting a man who is about to propose to his partner, before saving the world from an incoming alien race called The Hive. Then we jump back 20 years into the past to a family who are disturbed one night by a cute little alien in their back garden. As the young daughter, Molly, hides the alien in her bedroom, she looks out of her window to see her parents as they are neuralysed by a couple of Men in Black.

Back in present day, Molly (Tessa Thompson) is now all grown up, but hasn't forgotten that eventful night. While working in a call centre, she uses her computer to connect to satellite equipment in order to track alien landings and therefore try and gain access to the Men in Black, and hopefully get a job with them. Eventually finding her way into their headquarters, she is recruited by Agent O (Emma Thompson) and sent on her first mission, where she partners up with Agent H. The pair get caught up in a mission involving an assassinated alien VIP and some kind of super weapon. And, as the title of the movie suggests, plenty of international travel, as we switch between New York, London, Paris and Marrakesh.

The problem is, whereas the original Men in Black boasted a lot of humour, along with some great visual gags and action and a great double act, in the form of Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, this movie does nothing to successfully recapture any of that. As much as I love Chris Hemsworth, I felt that he was the worst thing about this movie. Somebody simply thought they'd take the character of Thor and try to have that for the entire movie, but without making him funny, heroic or even that likeable in the process. As with Dark Phoenix recently, a great cast is let down by an awful script, with any attempts at humour or entertainment falling completely flat.

Elsewhere, the fun and wacky inventiveness behind the different alien species in the original movie is completely absent here. Apart from some interesting and formidable twin villains, there's a fairly wasted role for Rebecca Ferguson as a three armed ex lover of Agent H. Otherwise, the main alien throughout the movie is just an annoying little CGI character.

To be fair, there are a couple of fun action sequences and some nice visuals, but overall this is just a completely forgettable and unnecessary movie. Here's hoping that Toy Story 4 will finally bring us a worthy blockbuster when it opens later this week.
  
Stranger Things  - Season 1
Stranger Things - Season 1
2016 | Horror, Sci-Fi
Acting all-round was great (0 more)
Plot is a little ridiculous (0 more)
A little silly but mystifyingly engaging
I wasn't sure what to expect with this series after it was described as a retro sci-fi. But actually it was a lot better than expected. It was all your childhood movies - The Goonies, Alien, Ghostbusters - rolled into one. The acting is fabulous and while the story plot is a bit ridiculous, it's rather a fun treat to watch.
  
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)
2017 | Action, Comedy, Sci-Fi
Humour (0 more)
Predictable (1 more)
Unoriginal
By The Numbers
Contains spoilers, click to show
So Quill discovers his Father is in gfact this alien being called Ego...quite appropriate. Its all part of a plan to remake the universe in his own image.

While the film has a few good moments (baby Groot, Yandu, Rocket all have stand out scenes) it's ultimately a run of the mill, by the numbers comic book movie. Yes it's pretty, yes it's got a big budget, no I didn't enjoy it.
  
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Erika (17789 KP) rated Armada in Books

May 27, 2018  
Armada
Armada
Ernest Cline | 2016 | Fiction & Poetry
8
7.6 (16 Ratings)
Book Rating
This was a solid second novel from Ernie Cline. Of course, the concept was not new, it definitely took from Ender's Game, Flight of the Navigator, etc, but the book wasn't pretending to be an original concept. A video game training the mass population in case of an alien invasion was the storyline.
The only thing I didn't like was the ending... regarding the 'aliens' reasoning for attacking. It was a nice, easy, and quick read.
  
District 9 (2009)
District 9 (2009)
2009 | Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Sharlto Copley (0 more)
I really liked the story line of this film, it felt a little different than anything else that was released around this time. It was a little slow moving, and took a bit to get going for me.
Shortly after I watched this film, I broke my arm and it had to have a cast put on. I'm not going to lie, I had a few alien-arm nightmares as a result of this movie.
  
Doctor Who: The Web of Fear
Doctor Who: The Web of Fear
1968 | Sci-Fi
8
7.6 (20 Ratings)
TV Show Rating
Patrick troughton (1 more)
Yeti
Still missing episode 3 (0 more)
Probably my favourite of the second doctor era at one point I never thought I would see it as was lost from the archives till it was discovered in Nigeria it has all the ingredients for a classic base under siege alien threat namely the yeti and Patrick troughton at his best this story Introduces Lethbridge Stewart who would be part of the show in the 70s with unit overall good story