Spoilers, etc.
The Beyond
Surprisingly competent hard sci-fi, with some unusual stylized visions of space—stylized probably because of the low budget. It got low ratings because there’s no gross alien reveal at the end and there’s little action, and some of the performances are wooden. Like every movie, there’s a great twist at the end, but it actually respects the viewer and doesn’t jerk the rug out.
Altered Carbon
A decent futuristic whodunnit, kinda mired down by superficial “what does it mean to be human?” philosophizing and violence. What is it with edgy modern 1 hour drama and their need to out-shock everyone else? Includes the cliches: Badass with a Katana, Horny Jerk Gets Killed Right Before Sex, The Religious Skeptic Wins the Argument.
Ghost in the Shell: Arise
Speaking of cyber-crime, you usually can’t get better than GitS, and the new rebooted series delivers, in four five episodes. The writing seems a bit rushed compared to the other two TV series; I wish the story had more time to breathe, like the Laughing Man plot line, which is, in my opinion, one of the greatest sci-fi crime storylines ever written. And finally, Major Kusanagi has a realistic outfit. I’m not a prude, but a vaguely undercover government investigator in stripper get-up in previous incarnations doesn’t make sense in any universe.
Revolt
An okay sci-fi/action movie, with a dude vs. mysterious alien robot things. He received some sort of power but there wasn’t much explanation around it, or it was explained and I didn’t care. Props to the writers for inserting broken stuff (the binoculars) into conflict scenario. Why does everything seem to “work” in a place where stuff gets blown up?
Ex Machina
Interesting exploration of AI and the Turing test. Features one of the best reaction lines in movie history (spoiler alert). Realism note: when people get stabbed, then don’t automatically fall down and die like in every video game created.
Beyond Skyline
A meh sequel to a bland initial offering that held promise. I like the idea of aliens luring humans instead of only outright attacking them. This one cashed in on the decent twist ending of the first one. Nothing too notable here.
Doom
They changed the original premise of the enemies being demons from hell/another dimension to gene experiments gone awry. Or something. And, it was bad. Just, no.
Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters and Godzilla: City on the Edge of Battle
The first two in an anime trilogy that takes place in the far future, where Godzilla was taken over earth with his nuclear farts and humanity’s remnants can’t put up with the smell. CGI posing as hand-drawn; it’s jarring at first, but you develop a tolerance. Some good technobabble on how Godzilla works and how the human remnants have to defeat them. I don’t know how the writers topped the “last ditch effort, let’s hope this works!” plot motif that the first two movies exhausted.
The Titan, Orbiter 9, Taking Earth, How It Ends
I didn’t finish these, or they were too bad. Or I just have no recollection of them at all, though my Netflix/Hulu viewing history doesn’t lie. Taking Earth was so uninteresting and the acting so bad that I abandoned after 15 minutes, and this means a lot since I have no idea how to spot good or bad acting.
I think How It Ends was okay. I can’t remember anything but the ending, maybe because the title nudged me. I remember the ending sucked.
Violet Evergarden
Excellent series about a Badass Adorable who deals with her PTSD by having no social skills and writing letters for people so that she forms some social skills. Interesting post-WW1 type alternate world, where Violet’s highly-articulate and durable replacement arm is the only advanced technology—why isn’t there similar tech anywhere else? Maybe that’s the point. If you’re the type to cry at things, a few episodes will surely deliver the goods.
2 Comments
I’ve seen Beyond Skyline; it’s pirated to Youtube. It was just worth watching. You’re right about stab wounds. Too much depends on what organs are hit and the power of the impact whether the victim passes out and appears dead. The other variable is the victim’s individual pain threshold; people vary widely. Typically, only heart strikes are fatal right away. Gut wounds tend to take a very long time to kill, and quite painfully so.
The movie did have its moments. I like the plot element of a dad trying to sorta cope with his son in an alien body.
I like the “luring” premise, because there’s a legitimate motive for the invasion. The idea that sentient beings with advanced tech would just go around invading planets for no reason just doesn’t make sense to me, yet writers rely on that often.
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