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Awix (3310 KP) rated Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) in Movies

Jun 6, 2018 (Updated Jun 7, 2018)

Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)

1979 | Action, Mystery, Sci-Fi

6.4

(25 Ratings)

Movie Rating Watch

Star Trek: the Motion Picture - more gruelling to make, or to watch? We may never know the answer. Actually, viewed these days, it's not quite that bad - Enterprise crew reconvene after big cloud is sighted on a course for Earth. Many conversations ensue, intercut with stately special effects sequences which feel like they go on forever. Mainly because they do.

To be honest, if you stop thinking about TMP as a movie and view it instead as the most lavish TV pilot in history, many of its problems are a bit more understandable. It explains why the crew take ages getting back together, and why they don't really seem like their old selves until near the end. It explains why much time is devoted to introducing new characters (even if they don't, in the end, make it out of the movie alive - although Will and Ilia were sort of reincarnated as Will and Deanna some years later). It doesn't really explain why the plot is so derivative of TV Trek, but you can't have everything I suppose.

It is true you can get a very good sense of the history of Star Trek without ever watching this movie, and also that the first three minutes may actually be the most engaging bit of it. But if you're watching it at all, you'll most likely have enough affection for the original characters to overlook the numerous flaws in the film.

Kudos

Hazel (2934 KP) rated Zombies From The Deep in Books

Jan 12, 2018

Where do I start with this book?

To be honest, I nearly didnt make it to the end. It started off quite well but then quickly descended into something ridiculous which had me laughing at its absurdity - the nymphomaniac? Dont even go there!! However, I have been told off for reviewing a book I have not finished before so I persevered. I must admit to heaving a sigh of relief when I had finished and thought it was a pile of rubbish and I was going to write a review straight away but I didnt have time, so have left it a couple of days and I am glad I did because I have had time to digest and reflect on what I have read and have changed my mind.

I think this is a cleverly written book which appears one thing at the start but becomes something completely different by the end and all the bits that seemed preposterous suddenly made sense. I cant say too much as I dont want to give the game away but I will say that this book is not as it seems so I advise anyone who reads it to keep going to the end and then let it sink in for a while.

Thank you to the publisher, Hocus Pocus Publishing Inc and Netgalley for providing me with a copy in return for an honest and unbiased review.

Kudos

Awix (3310 KP) rated Pacific Rim (2013) in Movies

Feb 25, 2018

Pacific Rim (2013)

2013 | Action, Fantasy, Sci-Fi

7.3

(98 Ratings)

Movie Rating Watch

Brave and comparatively rare (these days) attempt to do a blockbuster that isn't a remake nor based on a novel, comic book, toy line, TV show or theme park attraction. Which is not to say this isn't a tremendously derivative movie; clearly inspired by tokosatsu movies, manga, and anime, just with most of the actual Japanese characters replaced by Americans and Australians. (Hmmm, isn't this cultural appropriation?)

Anyway: big monsters lumber out of the sea, get smacked in the mouth by giant robots. Story isn't really anything special, but the background details of this slightly cartoony world are engaging, as are some of the supporting performances. Film subscribes to the prevailing American dogma, which is that giant monster fights must take place at night and preferably in bad weather: apparently this makes them much more believable. The Hong Kong battle is terrific, the others not so much. In the end I think the premise of this movie is really much better than the way it is realised; maybe the sequel will address some of the shortcomings here.

Kudos

Awix (3310 KP) rated The Astronaut's Wife (1999) in Movies

Feb 26, 2018

The Astronaut's Wife (1999)

1999 | Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi

5.8

(10 Ratings)

Movie Rating

Turgid obstetric-horror SF movie from the days before Johnny Depp rode his Keith Richards impersonation to global superstardom. Depp goes off into space, comes back (maybe) possessed by aliens; on his return Theron is unsettled by his odd behaviour, especially when it turns out she has been impregnated by this guy.

Basically Quatermass meets Rosemary's Baby, only not as good as that sounds. Not very much happens for long periods of time, apart from regular close-ups of Theron's toes; vague atmosphere of stately menace doesn't make up for the lack of real scares, thrills, or ideas. Charlize Theron, at the age of 24, carries the movie as well as can be expected in the circumstances, Depp is all over the place. In the end the plot turns out to be a cigarette paper's width away from being total gibberish; the DVD has two alternate endings, neither of which is much cop. Gynaecologists with an interest in foot fetishism will probably love it - everyone else, not so much.