Movie Review: "Moonfall" 02/02/22

This is a movie review for "Moonfall", released February 2, 2022. I saw a clip of this on the TV (a Sci-Fi channel) on March 14, 2024, which grabbed my attention so I decided to watch this. I finish watching this March 16, 2024.

I find it hilarious that this movie was released 02-02-22. Is this trying to make a statement about life by releasing it on such a symmetrical numbered day? Probably just coincidence.

My Storytime Brief Video on This Movie

Trailer

Genre

Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

Notable Cast

Halle Berry ... Jocinda Fowler

Patrick Wilson ... Brian Harper

John Bradley ... KC Houseman

Charlie Plummer ... Sonny Harper

Plot

Earth's Moon has had an incident where it is falling out of orbit. How can we stop it / fix the problem?Let's send acting NASA director Jocinda Fowler (Halle Berry), expert astronaut Brian Harper (Patrick Wilson), and genius nerd KC Houseman (John Bradley) in an attempt to save the Earth. It turns out that the Moon is a megastructure built by our far-past ancestors to help create/sustain an environment for raising organic life [humanity] and that the ancestors had a war with their AI which wants to take out all organic life. Their war has come to our planet and their AI wants to take out "two birds with one stone": take out the Moon which will take out the Earth and the chance for any other earth to be created.

Can Jo, Brian, and KC save the Moon and the Earth? Can their families survive the disaster from this whole thing?

Rating Criteria

0/5 – No value whatsoever. Absolute waste of time.

1/5 – Barely worth any time.

2/5 – Pathetic but has a bit of something to hold the attention a little.

3/5 – Somewhat kept the attention but could definitely have used more.

4/5 – Good, but not awe-strikingly amazing. Could have maybe used a bit more to the movie.

5/5 – Go see it! Wonderful movie all around. – characters, music, theme, story line, etc.

4/5 - *SPOILERS*

I must give credit to the idea of this movie - the Moon is a MEGA STRUCTURE!! With a white dwarf in the middle of it! And a gyroscopic ring system to keep it in orbit and to help create/sustain the earth for human life. Absolutely awesome.

Oh, and the creators of this megastructure? Our ancestors from long long ago (in a galaxy far far away.....). But why is their mega scientific creation here and not them? Well, because AI rose up [surprise?] and decided to take out organic life or at least humans. They don't say whether the AI goes after animals too but they definitely say that the swarm of technology is going after organic life with electronic technology near them, aka "humans".

I have to argue that all creatures have some sort of electrical current/influence in their biology so maybe they mean organic with the intelligence to have created electronic technology? That would make more sense because, as far as we know, humans are the only ones to make tools with electrical workings.

Anyways, there were definitely some potholes in this movie plot. First off, I get that Brian's son Sonny was disappointed that no one would stand by him (Brian) after he testified about the swarm back 10-12 years ago attacking a space mission that he, Jo, and a third astronaut had been on and that had resulted in the loss of the third astronaut. However, that doesn't mean that Sonny just automatically would go for the bad-boy image lashing out, stealing cars, etc. I don't understand why they made him like that.  Then the movie tries to talk about his relation with his stepfather and the fact that he had never gone up to his mom's/stepdad's Aspen retreat (at a guard gate, he says to a shooter, "I'm Brenda's son." She shoots at him saying "I've never seen him before."), which was awkwardly set up. Sonny eventually tells his stepdad that he doesn't hate him, which is good because his stepdad does a self-sacrifice for one of his daughters (gives his oxygen tank to his daughter so she can breathe and continue walking to safety). At least his stepdad tried to be a good person and had the closure that his stepson didn't hate him.

Sonny, however, was still a bit of a mess with the information around him. We see him trying to be good and taking care of Jo's son and her foreign exchange student, in the way a friend's family looks out for another friend's family. Yet Sonny is still a weird hodgepodge of everything. The biggest pro going for him in this movie is the fact that his dad is the main character. If Brian wasn't his father, there would be almost no point to this character. Because of Sonny, Brian is still wanting to protect the world. True, Brian has been acting as a fallen-from-grace character since he was silenced about the AI swarm back at the last space mission. He's been running from landlords and hiding away. He's bitter but not completely without merit. Was he around much for his son? I don't know, though some would say that the grand theft auto stunt by his son would be an indication that maybe Brian wasn't there, though he would do anything for his son.

Secondly, it almost seemed like the creator of this storyline was using the fact that the Moon's megastructure had its own gravity to influence action scenes. Obviously, you're going to have to deal with gravity changes when you have two bodies so close to each other, but the rules of the gravity didn't seem consistent.

There's a Three-Stooges group of bad guys that come after Sonny, his stepdad and his mom, his half sisters, the foreign exchange girl, and Jo's son. I say Three Stooges because there are three, they are dumb, and their persistence on being a nuisance is ridiculous. These three steal Jo's son's backpack and the vehicle that Sonny had driven away from the rocket launch site and you'd think that was the last of them. They came back a second time to take the oxygen tanks from them (in a building) and Sonny reverses the theft, getting out of there. They come back for the third time, all three of them getting into vehicles to chase after our group because of the oxygen tanks. Spoilers but none of the Three Stooges survive and our group gets away from them safe.

In "Armageddon" (released 1998), they had the jump over the "Grand Canyon of this asteroid" but they had to use thrusters to land on the other side instead of floating up into space.

In this movie, however, they sped up the car to get across a drop. They fly upwards, bouncing off of a floating 'island' of ground that was being drawn upwards, then somehow find themselves on the other side of this drop with all the wheels down on the ground safe and sound. I guess you could say "well, the moon isn't directly above so the influence on the area is reduced which is why they didn't get grabbed by the moon's gravity field and that's how they landed", but that still doesn't make full sense to me. If we just had parked cars being moved by the moon, why wouldn't that influence the car they were in? Oh, maybe because they were in motion? Maybe the gravity of the moon was enough to make a jumping semi truck's jump further, over our group's car and into one of the bad guys, but not enough to grab on to a car that is skidding on snow and ice? Right, because snow and ice totally gives great traction.... [Being very sarcastic.]

The death of the first Three Stooge was great because it reminded me of "Twister" (released 1996) with the twister throwing big things, especially Jonas' death. Sorry, Jonas, but you were an idiot that should have listened and therefore died. This stooge died similarly, which was somehow satisfying.

Anyways, there are a few nods in the movie to other sci-fi movies.

- stepdad Tom switches his vehicle from Eco to Sport mode as Sonny is driving and says "Switch to warp mode"(Star Trek).

- KC at one point comments on the fact that their shuttle has gotten a speed update by saying "Ludicrous speed" (Spaceballs).

....I have more to say but cannot find the words to say, so I will be stopping this movie review here. If i remember what I wanted to say, I'll add it later.

Thank you for reading! More reviews to come eventually.

 ~ R

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Movie Review: "Damsel" 03/08/24

This is a movie review for "Damsel", released online on March 8, 2024. I watched this via Netflix on March 12, 2024. I think this is the soonest I have watched a movie after a release!

Trailer

Genre

Action, Adventure, Fantasy

Notable Cast

Millie Bobby Brown ... Elodie

Ray Winstone ... Lord Bayford

Angela Bassett ... Lady Bayford

Brooke Carter ... Floria

Nick Robinson ... Prince Henry

Robin Wright ... Queen Isabelle

Shohreh Aghdashloo ... Dragon (voice)

Plot

When an arranged marriage option comes up to save their people, Lord Bayford agrees to let his eldest daughter Elodie marry Prince Henry. The family she is marrying into is wealthy and mysterious. The prince is handsome. What could go wrong?

Well, how about the prince voluntarily throwing her in to a cave to be a sacrifice for a dragon? Damsel in distress situation with no one coming to rescue her... Can Elodie make it out? Can she survive? Can she uncover the truth behind the royal family's mysterious history?

Rating Criteria

0/5 – No value whatsoever. Absolute waste of time.

1/5 – Barely worth any time.

2/5 – Pathetic but has a bit of something to hold the attention a little.

3/5 – Somewhat kept the attention but could definitely have used more.

4/5 – Good, but not awe-strikingly amazing. Could have maybe used a bit more to the movie.

5/5 – Go see it! Wonderful movie all around. – characters, music, theme, story line, etc.

4.5/5 - *SPOILERS* I know some have already said that this movie took a while to get to the point of the sacrifice and that it was already spoiled in the trailer but sometimes a slow start can be good. I enjoyed it. I liked watching the way that the Bayford family was enticed into the arrangement, but I did wonder what her father learned with the "we must talk about details" and he came storming out of a private meeting. Like, did he learn that she was going to be sacrificed? Or was it a "you will never see your daughter again and we don't want you here because you are a lower class of humans than we are", like Queen Isabelle was trying to tell stepmother Bayford? I have to knock it down a half star for that because he didn't feel right about this whole situation (how much did he know beforehand!?) but still let it pass. Her father, stepmother and sister see her marry Prince Henry in a reserved small ceremony and the newlywed couple is swept away in a fancy carriage up to the mountain. We're going to go "pay homage to my ancestors", which of course means 'let's get our scent and our blood on you so that the dragon doesn't know better, then toss you off into the cave to be a sacrifice'. This deserves all of the face-palm feels.

The way that Elodie comforted a burning bird in the cave, and apologized with the glow-worms when she realized they could heal, and the way that she dealt the final dealings with the dragon just made me so proud of Elodie. Like yes, this is how a good person should be! Even after all of the pain, struggling, and suffering, you can still have kindness, sympathy, and understanding. Stand up for what is right (showing the dragon that it was fooled and who did the fooling), not what seems right (taking the dragon down for causing pain on yourself).

In the end, her father tried to help her/ save her because she was worth more to him than the gold the royal family had paid him as "bride price", the royal family got what they deserved, Elodie acknowledged that her stepmother tried to warn her [called her "Mother" instead of "Stepmother"], and the hero rode off into the sunset with plans for the future.

Is this for everyone? No - fantasy violence, people/creatures burning alive painfully, sword-play, human sacrifice, lack of care for others' lives, etc.

For those that aren't put off by these things, I would recommend this movie if you like strong female characters and a twist on the typical "dragon with a damsel" theme.

I loved it! Would I watch it again? Yes. Have I already raved about it to a friend? Yes.

And I did a thing, for good or for bad.:

Anyways, that's my movie review. Thank you for reading! More movie reviews to come eventually.

Also, let me know what you thought about my "Story-Time" vid. Might have an OC of mine do more of these in the future.

 ~ R

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Movie Review: "The Addams Family" - 10/11/19

This is a movie review for "The Addams Family", released October 11, 2019. I watched this November 17, 2020 via Hulu. I was excited to watch this because I love the old school Addams Family show and the 1990s movies, so I had to watch this.

Trailer

Genre

Animation, Comedy, Family

Notable Cast

Oscar Isaac ... Gomez Addams (voice)

Charlize Theron ... Morticia Addams (voice)

Chloë Grace Moretz ... Wednesday Addams (voice)

Finn Wolfhard ... Pugsley Addams (voice)

Nick Kroll ... Uncle Fester (voice)

Snoop Dogg ... It (voice)

Bette Midler ... Grandma (voice)

Allison Janney ... Margaux Needler (voice)

Conrad Vernon ... Lurch / Priest / Spirit of the House / Dr. Flambe (voice)

Plot

Morticia and Gomez Addams have just recently been married but they don't want to have to deal with being ostracized in the old country, so they move to the United States. New Jersey, of all places. They set up in an old abandoned asylum and start building their family. Thirteen years later, the local town decides to drain a swamp which reveals the Addams house. Morticia, Gomez and their children Wednesday and Pugsley now have to figure out how to deal with the locals. Will it be another case of being run out of the area? Can Wednesday and Pugsley fit in with the other children?

Rating Criteria

0/5 – No value whatsoever. Absolute waste of time.

1/5 – Barely worth any time.

2/5 – Pathetic but has a bit of something to hold the attention a little.

3/5 – Somewhat kept the attention but could definitely have used more.

4/5 – Good, but not awe-strikingly amazing. Could have maybe used a bit more to the movie.

5/5 – Go see it! Wonderful movie all around. – characters, music, theme, story line, etc.

2.5/5  - *SPOILERS*

Not for those that know the old show: Pugsley's character was too upbeat, Lurch's appearance and voice was not right, IT had arms and was too short, and Gomez's face looked like he was a potato.

"I wish something would liven up this already tedious day" says Wednesday - that was not how she was supposed to be!! Wednesday of the old black-and-white show was a vibrant, energetic yet gothic girl. This Wednesday is just a questioning preteen that is going against what her parents had set up for her - going to public school, making friends, hanging out with other girls her age, wearing a pink unicorn hairpiece.

Most of the movie revolves around Wednesday and her new friend - how can these two girls from two different walks of life become friends and prove to both Wednesday's parents and Parker's mom that this is okay? Definitely something aimed towards kids/preteens, and not just for "introducing the next generation to the Addams Family" due to the storyline. What the movie tries to push is the idea of "be yourself, not the same as everyone else". Aside that, there was not much plotline at all.

I thought this movie was atrocious. I was so excited to watch this but, during and afterwards, felt disappointed. True that I was able to get through the movie but I partially wished I hadn't. I'd rather stick to the old movies and the old black-and-white show, thanks.

....and there's a movie sequel out now? *smh* I guess it was popular enough to merit a try at creating a sequel, but I am not currently interested enough to watch it.

Is this family friendly? Yes. Should you watch it? That's your call. Would those that love the older stuff like this? That's a hit or miss, honestly. Would I rewatch? I personally would not want to!!

That's my movie review. Thank you for reading! More reviews to come eventually.

 ~ R

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Movie Review: "Clemency" 01/27/19

This is a movie review for "Clemency", first released January 27, 2019 at the Sundance Festival. We watched this on November 17, 2020 via Hulu.

*WARNING* - This is not a movie for everyone due to the nature of the topic: death row inmates receiving the death penalty.

Trailer

Genre

Drama

Notable Cast

Alfre Woodard - Bernadine Williams

Aldis Hodge - Anthony Woods

Richard Schiff - Marty Lumetta

Wendell Pierce - Jonathan Williams

Plot

Some jobs are tough but none tougher than being a prison warden that executes death row inmates by order of the state. That is Bernadine Williams' job and it isn't easy - protestors, nasty letters, etc. just make it that much more difficult. On top of that is the question about what this work does to the warden's emotional state (or soul). As Bernadine detaches from things around her, the question becomes whether she can continue to do her job and still give the inmates respect.

Rating Criteria

0/5 – No value whatsoever. Absolute waste of time.

1/5 – Barely worth any time.

2/5 – Pathetic but has a bit of something to hold the attention a little.

3/5 – Somewhat kept the attention but could definitely have used more.

4/5 – Good, but not awe-strikingly amazing. Could have maybe used a bit more to the movie.

5/5 – Go see it! Wonderful movie all around. – characters, music, theme, story line, etc.

3.5/5 - Honestly, I had a hard time remembering about this movie so I had to go back and read others' reviews on IMDB. Even so, this wasn't a very rememberable movie. I had rated it 3.5/5 with the only notes saying "Terrible ending that doesn't give us any closure to what happens to Bernadine". Someone had said that you could see her emotional/mental state slipping especially at the end of the movie, but I do not recall that.

Would I rewatch this movie? Maybe, but it isn't high on the list of priorities. Do I recommend it? Not for everyone. It was decent enough to watch to get an insight on what life is like for the warden executing inmates (and the horrors that haunt them afterwards). It also proves the point that J.K. Rowling said in her Harry Potter series - murder tears the soul apart. You can see that it affects Warden Williams throughout her whole life [it is hard to kill someone and then go have a joyful tea party a few hours later]. It makes one think about whether or not death row inmates should actually be executed. True, there are a few cases where their crimes are heinous/atrocious crimes against humanity, but does it mean that we should take *their* lives for what they have done? And what happens if/when the person that is accused is innocent?

On a side note, I heard recently (2024) that some people are saying prisoners sentenced to life without parole cost the state {I don't know which state(s)} too much money and should be executed. Excuse me?! Seriously, what are you thinking? There are still innocent people that are sentenced for things they have not done. And now you're saying that the state/government doesn't want to pay the taxes to keep those inmates alive, so we might as well just off them? What is the world coming to?!

Don't tell me that we've made our justice system better and more efficient, being able to precisely prove who is guilty and who is innocent. It may be better than back in the 1990s, but we are still not all-mighty and all-knowing. There are still cases of innocent people being thrown into jail. There are still people being accused of things without evidence. But you want to go and execute them because we can't afford to keep them alive?! WTF.

This burns me up so I'm going to end the review without going deeper into this argument.

Thank you for reading. More reviews to come eventually!

 

 ~ R

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Movie Review: "London Has Fallen" 02/25/16 UAE

This is a movie review for "London Has Fallen", first released in the United Arab Emirates on February 25, 2016.

I was going to do the review for "Angel Has Fallen" (viewed back in 2020) but then realized that there was actually a 2nd movie between "Olympus Has Fallen" and "Angel Has Fallen". I then decided that I would watch this before doing the movie review for the third movie of the series. I rewatched "Olympus Has Fallen" on March 7, 2024 (with a friend), and we watched "London Has Fallen" on March 8, 2024, so here's the movie review!

Trailer

Genre

Action, Thriller

Notable Cast

Alon Aboutboul ... Aamir Barkawi (as Alon Moni Aboutboul)

Waleed Zuaiter ... Kamran Barkawi

Gerard Butler ... Mike Banning

Aaron Eckhart ... Benjamin Asher

Radha Mitchell ... Leah Banning

Morgan Freeman ... VP Allan Trumbull

Charlotte Riley ... MI6 Jacquelin Marshall

Bryan Larkin ... SAS Lieutenant

Plot

It has been years since the attack on the White House. The Prime Minister of the UK has passed away, within 24 hours since a major surgery. Leaders of the world have been called upon to come to his funeral, including USA President Asher (much to Secret Services agent Mike Banning's chagrin, especially with his first baby due shortly). President Asher says that he should go since England/UK has been one of their biggest allies over the years, so the Secret Services come up with a plan to get him there and back safely. This is the most "protected" event of the world: what could go wrong? 

Rating Criteria

0/5 – No value whatsoever. Absolute waste of time.

1/5 – Barely worth any time.

2/5 – Pathetic but has a bit of something to hold the attention a little.

3/5 – Somewhat kept the attention but could definitely have used more.

4/5 – Good, but not awe-strikingly amazing. Could have maybe used a bit more to the movie.

5/5 – Go see it! Wonderful movie all around. – characters, music, theme, story line, etc.

5/5 - *SPOILERS*
Honestly, this was just a great movie all around. The action, the music, the character development, etc - all superb. It was great to see Mike Banning (played by Gerard Butler) back in action again. He tells the President, at one point, that he hates funerals. Considering all that they had to go through because of a world leader's funeral, I don't blame him!

Banning goes above and beyond to protect and rescue the President, seeing through the fact that there is a mole in the MI6, using a drone (that is "always above the President") to relay messages to the USA when communications go down, and going almost kamikaze against multiple attackers to get to the President with minutes ticking down to his execution. The funniest thing is that the man made of "bourbon and bad choices" is the best choice to get the job done. Even when the MI6 [England/UK's version similar to the USA's CIA) say "hold on, we'll get the job done", Mike says no, it needs to be done now, no matter what. He's right - if he hadn't gone in right there and gotten the job done right, the President would have been executed on live stream on the Internet [we see screens in NYC, London, etc with his video showing]. When the President's time is almost up, he hears the captors say something about their power system and he knows that Mike is coming. {It is rather cute to see his reaction, knowing that Mike is on the way. Could be seen as a bromance, if you will. It isn't just the President and the bodyguard - it is friendship. It is also very tastefully done so I do not oppose it.} Mike shows up just in time, kicks a**, recovers the President, finds evidence to connect a bad guy (#6 on the top 10 most wanted list) to this situation, explodes the building, and still gets to walk out of there alive. Two weeks later, we see him cooing over his new baby [named after the late Lynne Jacobs, his old boss that was supposed to be the godmother but had been killed when their helicopter went down in the UK]. He debates on putting in his resignation but changes his mind when he hears Vice President Trumbull say that we need to continue on to protect our children. Of course, being the brand new daddy, Mike deletes his resignation letter and continues being in the Secret Services.

Oh, and to top it off, we find out that yes, the Prime Minister of UK was assassinated, so this whole thing was a trap to start off with to throw the world into chaos. Why they didn't wait to investigate after his death? I'm not sure but it definitely helped move the movie along - "short timing, let's get together to honor him!"

The mole in the MI6? Well, he did it because their security protocols were flawed and the world is in trouble, and lots of money. Was he justified in doing so? No, but it just goes to prove that criminal actions can be made by everyone, especially with the means and motivation to do so.

Anyways, that's my movie review! Thank you for reading. Do comment below.

More to come in the future (especially "Angel Has Fallen").

 ~ R

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Movie Review: "The Pod Generation" 01/19/23

This is a movie review for "The Pod Generation", released January 19, 2023 at the Sundance Festival in the USA. I watched this February 24, 2024 via Hulu.

Trailer

Genre

Comedy, Romance, Sci-Fi

Cast

Emilia Clarke - Rachel Novy

Chiwetel Ejiofor - Alvy Novy

Rosalie Craig - Womb Center Director

Plot

Women nowadays are becoming more career-focused and ambitious. Even though they want children, they don't want to have to deal with the "side effects" of pregnancy like nausea, stretch marks, weight they cannot drop, etc.

In the near future, there is a solution to this need: The Womb Center. Have your baby and keep your body too! The Pegazus company has created a system that allows children to be grown within an artificial womb [a pod / "egg"].

Rachel, a worker for Pegazus, has been offered (as part of a promotion) help with the down payment for a child grown through the Womb Center. She is the main income for her and her husband, but that isn't the biggest barrier. Her husband is in a rare vocation in the day of 3D printed food, paying to being able to breathe pure air from a plant, and having AI everywhere helping with calendars/clothing/work. Alvy is a biologist and doesn't like the idea of an "egg baby". Why not stick to something more natural, like a real pregnancy?

Are they able to have a baby? Will they go with the Womb Center? How will this affect their relationship? Will they be able to bond with the baby in a pod?

Rating Criteria

0/5 – No value whatsoever. Absolute waste of time.

1/5 – Barely worth any time.

2/5 – Pathetic but has a bit of something to hold the attention a little.

3/5 – Somewhat kept the attention but could definitely have used more.

4/5 – Good, but not awe-strikingly amazing. Could have maybe used a bit more to the movie.

5/5 – Go see it! Wonderful movie all around. – characters, music, theme, story line, etc.

4/5 - *SPOILERS*

I watched this because I saw it pop up on my Hulu. I brought it to the attention of a coworker/friend of mine and we had a discussion, considering I just posted the review about "Splice" this week and he had things to say about it. I said that Splice brought up the question about whether or not artificial wombs would be a thing in the future, not just for experimentations or for animals but for humans. Then I saw this on Hulu and I told him about it. We chatted a bit about this, whether it would be ethical or just to do this. I brought up the question about the connection between mother and child, considering the mother's immune system gives the child a protective shield for a little while after birth. This movie slightly touched on the connection issue but they never got into the medical side of things, which is one of the reasons why I knocked down the rating from 5 stars.

The first annoyance was the fact that it took over 2 minutes to get to the opening of the movie due to all of the brand names and company names that they were showing. The ending also ended over 7 minutes to the end of the film, according to Hulu. So that means that over 9 minutes were dedicated to credits etcetera. Annoying. Not a star reducer but definitely annoying.

Anyways, this was a good movie. For the first third of the movie, I was smacking my head going "wtf is this woman doing!" because she decided to sign up for a position at the Womb Center, visits them, and drops a $8,700 deposit on this Womb Center thing without consulting her husband. When she tells him, she nearly bulldozes him on the decision by showing off a friend of hers that has a pod. The friend is all like "this is the best decision ever. Society expects women to be all that but then, when she wants to make a stand and say that she doesn't want to deal with pregnancy yet have kids, she's considered a bitch". Super mega feminist vibes, let me tell you! Let's have a choice about whether or not we want pregnancy to mess up what we have. [Sounds familiar?]

So Alvy finally agrees to go with the decision to have the pod baby. Rachel is surprised but enthusiastic. They go to the Womb Center, sign the contract, and have an egg of Rachel's fertilized by Alvy's sperm. Voila, life! But it isn't very large, because zygotes are small.

Rachel starts pulling away from Alvy and her personality starts changing towards depression or some sort of "blah". Alvy, however, is slowly starting to become more accustomed to the idea of the baby inside the pod being able to hear/experience while in the pod. Mostly stay-at-home dad starts bonding with the baby, whereas working mom starts seeing declines in her work production levels. She gets frustrated and tries to take the pod to work, but a coworker says something to the effect of "you need to put your pod in a closet while you're at work or else you'll be seen as the 'distracted mom'".

Meanwhile, we are viewing a constant conversation in the movie about AI and virtual assistants (like Siri, but worse). The constant bombardment of technology clashes severely with Alvy's career of choice. He even, at one point, is told at the college campus that his greenhouse is costing the college too much so why don't we phase out the plants and put in holograms?

Between all of the little drops of hints and worries that Rachel feels, we start wondering if the technological approach to having a baby is even right. She sees a woman pregnant and she starts wanting to have that over having her baby in a pod. She feels that she can't connect with it and is very frustrated because she is the mother whereas Alvy is calling it baby instead of pod/egg. It is a strong shift from what the movie started off at and it is very interesting.

Rachel finally takes a turn towards wanting something more natural for the baby. She decides to go rogue, with Alvy agreeing but still wanting things to go right for the child. Rachel convinces him that they need to take the baby to their island house [that her dad had said "why don't you sell it since you have a child on the way" and Alvy had said, "I want our child to know nature".]. Alvy goes over to the Womb Center to prove that they want a 'home birth' and the Womb Center director says that it is not permitted because they need to make sure that the pod is safe [per the contract]. Alvy and Rachel take the pod, and an olive tree that he had given to the baby when it came home the first time, and head out to the island home. She reconnects with what he was saying about nature and survival and finally seems to come to herself. This is a huge thing because that says that technology isn't always the best thing for us and that we may need to be a bit more natural just for our own preservation.

Anyways, they finally get the sound from the pod that the baby is ready to come out but the Womb Center won't give up the birth code to open it up, so Alvy just takes a screwdriver and gently pries it open to take the child out. After a tense moment, they pull the child out and it cries. They are happy and have their child, thank goodness.

Rachel returns the pod via the mail to the Womb Center, returns to her little family and cuddles with her baby, content, and the movie ends. We are not told about if it is a boy or a girl, which I was curious about since the Womb Center director was shocked to hear that they didn't want to choose the gender of the child before conception. We are not told about the repercussions about the fact that they pried open the pod, nor if she lost her job because of this whole situation. I would have loved an epilogue but they just leave us flat with the fact that "yes, they had their kid, isn't that nice".

Personally, I felt like there would have been more dirt on the Womb Center. Like they insisted that the pod be at the Womb Center for a lot of the time. Are they programming the children or tampering with them while no one is there to take care of them? What kind of special procedures are they doing to deliver the children out of the pod? What other nefarious schemes are they working on?

They also promoted "indirect parenting", so parents don't need to connect with the pod/child. Pegazus also promoted children at school to have "art time" where the computers were doing the art and the children were only giving feedback. How is this childhood?! Yes, it is a statement about how technology might hurt our children/future, but how many people would go along with this without batting an eyelash?

I think that, in general, the villain was Pegazus and the Womb Center, but it could be said that they were just trying to help and improve the world. [The path to Hell is paved with good intentions?] We also see, within the ending credits, the CEO of Pegazus saying that they hope, in the future, that children can choose their own parents. Ummmm, really? I don't know what to say aside I did not like Pegazus, especially with the fact that they pushed Rachel to think about having a child but then made her put the pod in the closet!

I'm going to end this ranting because that is more than enough typing for me, lol. That's my movie review! Thanks for reading. I'd love comments. More reviews to come eventually.

 ~ R

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Movie Review: "Suddenly" 09/17/54

This is a movie review for "Suddenly", released on September 17, 1954 in the United States and in London, England (UK). We watched this November 14, 2020.

Trailer

Cast

Frank Sinatra - John Baron

Sterling Hayden - Sheriff Tod Shaw

James Gleason - Pop Benson

Nancy Gates - Ellen Benson

Kim Charney - Peter Benson III "Pidge"

Plot

When the President of the United States comes to town, the area must be secured for the safety of the President. In the quiet town of Suddenly, the President is due to get off of his train and make an appearance. One of the unsuspecting families finds a few people appearing to FBI come over to their house, as it is the most likely location of a sniper shooting the President as he gets off of the train - on a hill with a clear view. When it is revealed that they are not FBI but are in fact there to assassinate the President, the family (widow, her father, and her son) have to figure out what to do. The widow is anti-violence and does not like that the Sheriff of town [Sheriff Tod Shaw, who is also trying to court her] gave her son a toy gun previously. How is she going to react to having blood-thirsty assassins in her house trying to kill the President of the United States? Can they survive this ordeal? Will they save the President, and how?

Rating Criteria

0/5 – No value whatsoever. Absolute waste of time.

1/5 – Barely worth any time.

2/5 – Pathetic but has a bit of something to hold the attention a little.

3/5 – Somewhat kept the attention but could definitely have used more.

4/5 – Good, but not awe-strikingly amazing. Could have maybe used a bit more to the movie.

5/5 – Go see it! Wonderful movie all around. – characters, music, theme, story line, etc.

4/5 - *SPOILERS*

I completely forgot that I watched this movie until it came up on the list. I had to do some digging, reading, and watching of the last 10 minutes of the film to remember about it.

First off, it is interesting to find Frank Sinatra as an actor. I am not familiar with him being an actor so this was a new world for me.

Anyways, this was a good movie. It isn't boring though it came out in 1954. Of course, it was slow in our modern standards but it was easy on the eyes.

The question about whether violence is always bad is brought up. The anti-violence widow has to come to terms that she is one of the very last person that can stop the assassins from killing the President. She has also seen the main assassin (Baron, played by Sinatra) shoot the guy that was fixing the TV as well as shooting the Sheriff. What would stop him from shooting herself, her father or her son? So she has to take up the gun [literally and figuratively] to protect her household too.

I wasn't around during the time of this release, obviously, but I think it is a good movie for what it is. There maybe could have been more "character development" but it keeps the focus on what is happening in the moment, instead of deviating to back story shots etcetera. In that kind of scenario, focusing on the situation is good to make the tension felt.

Could it have used more to make it more realistic/relatable? Yes. Don't go sending a guy out of the house when you have it under control, especially as the bad guy. Also, why didn't the folks nearby respond to the sounds of gunfire in the house? For a small town, you'd think they would respond more....

You're going to ask so I will put the spoiler out there: the assassins were averted (killed), the widow shot Baron to stop him from shooting from the window at the President, the Sheriff was injured but took up the gun after the widow and shot the last shot killing Baron, the family survived, and the widow and the Sheriff seemed to be starting to head for a date the next day.

I know this is short but that's the mystique of this movie review.

Is it for everyone? No, especially if you don't like old-old movies or have an issue with violence or need modern CGI effects / action.

Recommended? Sure. Go check it out on YouTube.

That's my movie review! Thank you for reading. More to come eventually.

 ~ R

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Movie Review: "Splice" 10/06/09 SPAIN

This is a movie review for "Splice", released October 06, 2009 in Spain at the Sitges International Festival of Fantastic and Horror Cinema. I watched this with a friend on October 27, 2020.

Trailer

Genre

Horror, Sci-Fi

Cast

Adrien Brody - Clive Nicoli

Sarah Polley - Elsa Kast

Delphine Chaneac - Dren

David Hewlett - William Barlow

Abigail Chu - Child Dren

Plot

Genetic engineering is always looking at what can be done. Two genetic scientists are looking to make creatures that have never existed before but, after one experiment catastrophically failed in front of a live audience, their funding was cut. They continued onwards with their experiments, secretly, splicing human DNA in with one of the experiments. Right when they thought it would be a waste, a creature survived. How is the human DNA going to affect the creature? Will it be intelligent? Can it understand things or thoughts or feelings? How is it going to grow? How human will it be? Where is the boundary to what it is and what it can do?

Rating Criteria

0/5 – No value whatsoever. Absolute waste of time.

1/5 – Barely worth any time.

2/5 – Pathetic but has a bit of something to hold the attention a little.

3/5 – Somewhat kept the attention but could definitely have used more.

4/5 – Good, but not awe-strikingly amazing. Could have maybe used a bit more to the movie.

5/5 – Go see it! Wonderful movie all around. – characters, music, theme, story line, etc.

2/5 - *SPOILERS*

I thought this would be an interesting movie, hence choosing to watch this. The science behind creating these creatures was definitely intriguing but the ethical questioning (about whether or not we should do this) was barely touched. True, this is just a movie but movies have to ask hard questions that are sometimes near impossible to bring up in the real life: What is possible? How far can we go? Where is the boundary? How much of playing "like God" is allowable? What are the consequences?

The movie went away from these questions and decided to go another route. Sex sells so let's make the creature (named Dren) sexual. We don't know how DNA can change anatomy (like "Jurassic Park"'s dinosaurs changing genders due to frog DNA because of the need to procreate), but this movie decided to watch the creature growing up and becoming sexual.

The creatures that caused scientists Elsa and Clive to lose their funding had originally been one female and one male. One of the creatures had lost estrogen and had changed genders, but no one noticed until the two were literally fighting each other with their fangs to kill each other in a bloody disaster. Despite this, Elsa and Clive continued with their experiments, added human DNA, and *DIDN'T* watch out for indications of the gender change issue happening again! I am frustrated at this. Scientists should be watching out for flaws they had seen in previous test subjects / experiments, but these guys were just all gung ho for the newest experiment that they forgot to watch out for this. So of course, Dren grows up as a female creature and starts taking a sexual interest in Clive. That, combined with the fact that Elsa was just so obsessed with learning about and raising Dren that she didn't pay attention to her boyfriend/partner Clive, made Clive more inclined to get freaky with the alien-human hybrid. There is talk that they may have used Elsa's DNA for the splicing so that might be another reason why he was okay to get some freak on, but wtf.

But it doesn't stop there!!

Dren changed genders, becoming more male, then wanted to take Elsa. As if one human partner wasn't enough! So male Dren kills Clive, Clive's brother, and their boss. This is probably because of two reasons: to be able to copulate with Elsa, the other males needed to be taken out of the picture, and for self-preservation.

Anyways, as male Dren gets to copulate with Elsa, Clive tries to save her, gets killed by Dren, and then Elsa kills Dren. We then, at the very end, see Elsa pregnant (supposedly with Dren's child?). How is that supposed to make one feel? Is this right, to continue a hybrid's bloodline? Would it be better to kill it off, ethically? Or would the "sacrifice" of all the deaths be "wasted" if you aborted that creature-child?

This is something to think on:

I agree with what this Director has to say about movie bringing things to light to question, but does that make this a good film? Maybe, maybe not. That is speculative.

Is this a movie for everyone? No. Is it watchable? Yes. Should you watch it? That's up to you. I do not regret watching this though it won't be high on the re-watch list. I am glad that I got another view into this topic but there's much more to watch other than this.

That's my movie review. Thank you for reading! More reviews will come eventually.

 ~ R

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Show Review: "Good Omens 2" 2019-2023, Amazon Prime

This is a show review for "Good Omens 2" (second season of "Good Omens" 2019), released 2023. I watched this on Amazon Prime in February 2024.

Trailer

Cast

David Tennant - Crowley

Michael Sheen - Aziraphale

Miranda Richardson - Shax 

Jon Hamm - Gabriel / Archangel Gabriel

Shelley Conn - Beelzebub

Plot

Crowley and Aziraphale have tried settling into life after saving the world from the Apocalypse and everything seemed normal until a naked man shows up at the door to Aziraphale's book shop. It is none other than the Archangel Gabriel without his memory. What happened? What's heading our way? Can we solve the mystery of Gabriel's memory being lost before the world (or at least the bookshop) is destroyed?

Rating Criteria

0/5 – No value whatsoever. Absolute waste of time.

1/5 – Barely worth any time.

2/5 – Pathetic but has a bit of something to hold the attention a little.

3/5 – Somewhat kept the attention but could definitely have used more.

4/5 – Good, but not awe-strikingly amazing. Could have maybe used a bit more to the show.

5/5 – Go see it! Wonderful show all around. – characters, music, theme, story line, etc.

3/5 - *SPOILERS!*

I was so excited to see the second season but it was disappointing. Seriously, wtf was this about! Let me just smack my head against a wall......

Long story short, Gabriel fell in love (is that what it was?) with Beelzebub because they got to know each other after the avoided Apocalypse. Gabriel ended up not approving of a reset of the Apocalypse, so he was demoted from the supreme Archangel status.

Okay, so Archangel Gabriel is demoted. So what? Well, he manages to seal away his memory before Heaven wipes his memory from him. So a brain-wiped ex-Archangel is walking around naked on Earth, in London, to angel Aziraphale's bookshop..... Seriously. And Heaven and Hell are both on a rampage trying to find / find out what happened to Gabriel, so Crowley and Aziraphale do a combination miracle to hide him from both sides. A "small" miracle which turns out to be a major beacon to Heaven that says that there was a massive energy miracle performed at Aziraphale's shop. Aziraphale, upon being questioned by some other angels, plays it off as him trying to make two local shop keepers fall in love (since the record selling gal has a thing for the coffee shop gal). [I'm not even joking..... This is how it went.]

So the episodes have Aziraphale running around trying to solve Gabriel's memory mystery, Aziraphale and Crowley trying to help the record lady and the coffee shop lady fall in love, and then we have to talk about the bromance between Crowley and Aziraphale. Once it is revealed that Gabriel hid his own memory and that he fell for Beelzebub, and the romance between the record lady and coffee shop lady has started off, the attention is turned to the relationship between Crowley and Aziraphale.

I admit, I thought that the bromance between the two (especially in the first season) was freaking adorable but to make it more into a romance thing.... -sigh- Well, anyways, Aziraphale is offered the supreme Archangel position in Heaven right before Crowley confronts him saying "if they can get away from all of this madness, why can't we?". Aziraphale is like "come to Heaven, be reinstated, and be my right-hand angel so we can work together" whereas Crowley kiss him ("there could have been an "us" ").

End of episode really just cuts off there, leaving an awkward and painful gap between the two as Crowley drives off (hurt) and Aziraphale takes an elevator to Heaven, being told about "we call it the Second Coming".

-sigh- I liked season one a lot and was soooo excited to see season two being announced but I was disappointed by this season and how everything went. I loved the bromance between Crowley and Aziraphale but trying to push the homosexual theme [between the record lady and the coffee shop lady, and between Crowley and Aziraphale] was tough to take. Live and let live, in my opinion, but this was way more than that. Like, why couldn't they promote love without promoting homosexuality? I mean, like "Frozen" was supposed to show that true love can be for one sibling to another without being about sex and incest and whatnot, this could have been really good. Why did they have to take it to the next level? Sure, the two shop keepers could have their thing but why did they have to make Crowley and Aziraphale go to the next level? Maybe that's why Aziraphale was like "ummm... we work together?". I don't know. The ending left a bitter taste in my mouth, metaphorically speaking, especially after the wait for the release of the second season.

Am I put off for watching the third season if they ever make it? No. I am interested and I hope that they redeem the series/characters.

Anyways, that's my show review/rant. Thanks for reading! Feel free to leave a comment.

More reviews to come eventually.

 ~ R

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Show Review: "Hazbin Hotel" 2019-2024, Amazon Prime

This is a show review for "Hazbin Hotel", released on Amazon Prime 2024. The original Pilot episode was released in 2019. I watched this season on Amazon Prime in February 2024.

WARNING: NOT for everyone!

Trailer

Cast

Erika Henningsen - Charlie Morningstar

Stephanie Beatriz - Vaggie

Blake Roman - Angel Dust

Alex Brightman - Sir Pentious

Keith David - Husk

Kimiko Glenn - Niffty

Amir Talai - Alastor

Plot

Hell isn't the most fun place to be, considering Heaven sends angels down to kill the demons/lost souls to make sure that they will not become overpopulated in Hell. Charlie Morningstar, daughter of Lucifer Morningstar (fallen angel and ruler of Hell) and Lilith (wife to Lucifer), wants to find a way to look at the world with positivity and hope. Is there a way to redeem the demons and lost souls of hell? Charlie hopes so and wishes to aid them in their quest to redemption through her hotel "Hazbin Hotel". With the assistance of her girlfriend/bodyguard Vaggie, the radio demon Alastor, the cleaner Niffy, the drunkard bar tender Husk, Charlie hopes to save her people. Of course, it doesn't come that easily since this is residents of Hell we're talking about.

Rating Criteria

0/5 – No value whatsoever. Absolute waste of time.

1/5 – Barely worth any time.

2/5 – Pathetic but has a bit of something to hold the attention a little.

3/5 – Somewhat kept the attention but could definitely have used more.

4/5 – Good, but not awe-strikingly amazing. Could have maybe used a bit more to the show.

5/5 – Go see it! Wonderful show all around. – characters, music, theme, story line, etc.

4/5 - *SPOILERS*

I thought this show was very cute but very naive, for the being the princess of Hell. I mean, do you see what everyone's doing?! You are exposed to watching BDSM, cannibalism, senseless shootings and killings and violence, etc. And you think that you can save these people? *facepalm*  I like that she is so optimistic but it just seems like a pointless endeavor.

I did find it interesting that she exposed (in Heaven) that they were doing the exterminations and that folks in Heaven were appalled by it, but they still didn't approve of Charlie's redemption plan.

The reveal that Vaggie is actually an ex-exterminator angel was a little baffling but at the same time wasn't too earth-shattering.

I liked how they stood up against Heaven for their own survival and bonded together.

The ending of the season was good but also lackluster. I would be interested in watching the next season whenever it comes out but hopefully we don't have to wait for 5 years for it to come out.

The thing I liked the most about this show was Alastor, honestly - doing everything for his own entertainment. :-) There were some good songs, but Alastor glowed brightest in this season with "Stayed Gone". Husk and Angel Dust also were amazing in "Loser, Baby".

Is this for everyone? NO!!! Keep sensitive people (and younger children) away from this! I warned you.

Anyways, that's my review. I look forward to the second season, but will miss Sir Pentious as a resident of Hell. [I totally want to see what happens to him being in Heaven.]

Thank you for reading! More reviews to come eventually!

 ~ R

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Anime Show Review: "Good Night World" 10/12/23

This is an anime show review for "Good Night World". This show was released October 12, 2023 on the Internet. I watched this in January 2024 on Netflix with Japanese audio, English subtitles.

Trailer

Cast

Unsure of which were the Japanese voice actors/actresses.

Plot

A game developer name Hojiro Arima created the world of PLANET. He also created his own character and joins the game, forming a party of four with none other than his IRL family - his two sons, himself and his wife. They have issues (emotional, grieving, trust issues, etc) in the real world but enjoy playing the game with each other in PLANET. The one rule that they have is to never ask each other about real life, so no one knows that they are an actual family IRL as well as in the game.

Something happens that changes the PLANET world: the end-game boss "Black Bird" shows up at their house in PLANET. The prize to defeat the Black Bird is 300 million yen. So all guilds and players want to go after it, but there is a trick to this ultimate boss: it is a virus that can kill you.

Can they survive? Where is the edge of reality? Can they figure out how to be a family in real life? What does it mean to "be human" or "alive"?

Rating Criteria

0/5 – No value whatsoever. Absolute waste of time.

1/5 – Barely worth any time.

2/5 – Pathetic but has a bit of something to hold the attention a little.

3/5 – Somewhat kept the attention but could definitely have used more.

4/5 – Good, but not awe-strikingly amazing. Could have maybe used a bit more to the show.

5/5 – Go see it! Wonderful show all around. – characters, music, theme, story line, etc.

4/5 - *SPOILERS*

This was an interesting show. It kept me on the edge and was very intriguing. However, I was wondering why they put the game developer into the game. Except for in Sword Art Online, I have not seen another game developer actually want to play in his/her own game. That seemed different and strange to me. Also, how did his assistant know that his real family was part of his in-game family but he didn't know?

The ending of the show was a bit vague because, like Taichiro said, "isn't is strange that we never found the bodies of dad and Kamuro?". He also saw the Red Dragon briefly at the end and paused for a minute. He said "sh*t" then walked away, with what looked like a glitch in the system at his back. Does this mean that the PLANET/Earth fusion didn't go away? Dad had said that both Asuma and Taichiro would be okay living in the fused world but he couldn't. Did dad only take himself out of it? There is a suggestion that this could be the case, since the fusion happened without putting on gear and therefore would not need the gear to be removed. Either way, the ending is not definite [kind of like the movie "Inception" playing with your mind wondering whether the main character actually got back or not because the top didn't fall over].

Anyways, I enjoyed this show. It is graphic - a character's head gets squished to her death, dad's legs get sliced off, etc. (When the character got her head squished, I was thinking "ELFEN LIED!!!!!!".) But it makes you think about what AI can actually do, what technology might accomplish/destroy in the future, and what creates humans [memories/feelings/thoughts are just electrical processes in the brain].

If there is a second season eventually, I would be interested in it. Would I be up for the manga? Maybe, but not right now.

Is it for everyone? No, definitely not. If you're squeamish, stay away. If you don't like sci fi, stay away.

That's my show review. Thank you for reading! More reviews to come eventually.

 ~ R

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Movie Review: "Event Horizon" 08/15/97

This is a movie review for "Event Horizon", released August 15, 1997.

I know I am not caught up to my movie reviews but a friend of mine wanted me to watch this ASAP so I could watch something he was doing with the content of this movie. So I watched this January 16, 2024 and am writing the review now (ahead of all of the ones I haven't written yet over the last 3-4 years....). It doesn't mean you won't get those reviews, so don't worry!

Let's get at it!

Trailer

Genre

Space Sci-Fi, Sci-Fi, Horror, Thriller

Cast

Laurence Fishburne - Miller

Sam Neill - Weir

Kathleen Quinlan - Peters

Joely Richardson - Starck

Richard T. Jones - Cooper

Jack Noseworthy - Justin

Jason Isaacs - D.J.

Sean Pertwee - Smith

Plot

Humans like to explore and expand as far as they can by any means possible. Exploring space is no different. Why not find a way to go faster than light? When humankind's first faster-than-light spaceship (the "Event Horizon") disappears out of radio range and comes back seven years later, humankind wonders what happened. Is the ship functional? Did the crew survive? Why haven't we gotten any feedback from the experiment? Did they actually travel to a place beyond our galaxy? Is travel-faster-than-light sustainable?

To answer all of the questions, Dr. Weir (creator of the faster-than-light hyperdrive) teams up with a search and rescue team [the crew of the "Lewis and Clark"] to go to the orbit of Neptune and to see what information they can get from the "Event Horizon".

Rating Criteria

0/5 – No value whatsoever. Absolute waste of time.

1/5 – Barely worth any time.

2/5 – Pathetic but has a bit of something to hold the attention a little.

3/5 – Somewhat kept the attention but could definitely have used more.

4/5 – Good, but not awe-strikingly amazing. Could have maybe used a bit more to the movie.

5/5 – Go see it! Wonderful movie all around. – characters, music, theme, story line, etc.

4/5 - *SPOILERS*

This movie is not for the faint of heart.

I thoroughly enjoyed this movie but there were things that bothered me significantly, which dropped the rating down from 5/5 to a 4/5. (It dropped from 4.5 to 4 as I wrote the review because of all that bothered me...)

Let's talk about the bad.

First off, we are never told much about Dr. Weir. He tells us that he created the hyperdrive of the Event Horizon but no science mumbo jumbo explaining how he did so or how he got the technology to do so. Pretty much said "I'm going with you because she's my baby". Generically speaking, if someone creates something, that person puts his/her intentions into it and it affects how something works. Like if you had good intent, it most likely will be well intended. But considering how the ship turns out, did Dr. Weir really have good intents?

You can argue that it is "just a ship" and intentions do not matter but we have seen many science fiction vehicles with sentience: the TARDIS from Doctor Who, Moira and Talon from Farscape, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang from the movie of the same name, etc. True, not all of these can talk or communicate or express themselves like humanoids can but they change to deal with situations, get themselves out of dangerous situations, etc. So was the Event Horizon sentient before the 7-year disappearance? They never gave us an indication about it but I doubt it, since there was no mention.

The reason I bring up the sentience of the ship is because of one point where Starck said that the ship was trying to get rid of them like parasites and when Miller said that he was going to blow the ship up, the ship routed power away to find a way to deter him from doing just that. Sentience? Possibly. From a hellscape? Unsure how these two work with each other.

Secondly, whatever was on the other side of the gateway was never explained. Justin got a look into it when he stupidly got pulled through the gateway. [He totally pulled a Dr. Daniel Jackson move from "Stargate" the movie by touching the event horizon of the gateway. Yes, Stargate called the surface of the gateway the "event horizon" so is that how the ship got its name in this (Event Horizon) movie?]

"Event Horizon" : Justin and the Core

"Stargate" : Dr Daniel Jackson goes through the Stargate for the first time

Anyways, we get small glimpses at what might be on the other side of the gateway but there is no definite answer. Something caused and is causing the humans on board to want to be violent, self mutilate (claw/pop their eyes out?!), rape, murder, etc. It has something to do with the other side of the gateway, supposedly, but there is no definite answer. Again, the question of the ship being sentient comes up regarding whether the ship is causing this chaos or if something from the other side is causing this? There is no answer. We just have to take it as is.

I personally find this hard to accept because I want to know the reason behind it. If everyone's acting like reavers from the sci-fi western show "Firefly" (kill, rape, skin, and eat and lucky if in that order), then just say something like the Firefly show says "they got out to the edge of the universe, saw the black nothingness, and went bibledy over it". I can accept the madness from the darkness, or actually going mad because there is nothing past Neptune except rock/space, but essentially saying "we broke the rules of science, bent space, went somewhere we shouldn't have gone (which was a bad place?), and lost our minds" just isn't enough for me. Show me the other side and not just in hints and glimpses!

Thirdly, Dr. Weir is a dick. Why didn't he give them a "here's the layout of the ship" explanation before they got to the blasted ship! Or did he want this to go badly? A simple "this is what the ship does, how it works, don't put your hand into the gateway" would have gone a long way.

Fourthly, who was this chick Dr. Weir was seeing? I think it was supposed to be his wife, but they never give a good clarification on her. She pops up randomly and for nearly no reason, except him seeing her committing suicide in the bathroom and her (though dead and maybe a hallucination?) saying "it's okay, you're with me now". He then gouges his eyes out. Like wtf is with you, dude?! ...serious plot issues if Dr. Weir was supposed to be a level-headed scientist.  🤦‍♀️ Again, if we had known more about him prior.....

I guess the biggest issue to understand this movie is Dr. Weir. If we had known more about him, how he created the ship/hyperdrive, who that chick was, and if he had warned the crew about the dangers, then this movie would have been much easier to understand or to flow. But I guess one could argue that is the genius of this movie - the unknown isn't just on the other side of a gateway but can be right next to you.

Let's talk about the good.

- This movie pops up after the Alien franchise had already released their third movie, but this movie had more special effects than Alien, Aliens, or Alien³. The technology behind this movie is amazing. It was spectacular for a late 1990s film: CGI for fire, floating fluids, etc.

- It keeps you interested, and on the edge some. Watch out for the jump scares!

- The design of the gateway / hyperdrive was beautiful. Unfortunately we didn't get to see it actually working, but the spinning discs and the core had so much intricate details that it was mesmerizing to look at.

- The design of the Event Horizon ship gave me Klingon vibes but meh. I guess it was slightly necessary for the middle bridge thing to explode later.

There's not much more I can say about this movie. I personally am shocked that I had never watched this before now. I rank it high on the sci-fi scale, but still am disappointed by lack of some information. (At least Ripley told the soldiers in Aliens what they were going against, unlike Dr. Weir about this ship in this movie!)

It was interesting watching Dr. Grant from "Jurassic Park", Morpheus from "The Matrix", and Lucius Malfoy from "Harry Potter" work together in this movie. 😆

Do I recommend? Yes. It is definitely not for everyone, considering the gore, suicides, and brutality, but could be a decent watch for those brave enough.

That's my movie review! Thank you for reading. More reviews to come soon.

~ R

Contact me? 

Twitter X @gracie_delunac

Email graciemaedelunac@yahoo.com

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Movie Review: "A Civil Action" 12/25/98

This is a movie review for "A Civil Action", released December 25, 1998. We watched this October 20, 2020.

Trailer

Genre

Drama

Cast

John Travolta - Jan Schlichtmann

Robert Duvall - Jerome Facher

Tony Shalhoub - Kevin Conway

William H. Macy - James Gordon

Zeljko Ivanek - Bill Crowley

Bruce Norris - William Cheeseman

John Lithgow - Judge Walter J. Skinner

Plot

When children start developing childhood leukemia in a local town, the town starts to ask questions and demand a fix to the problem. Eight families ban together to file a civil lawsuit against a factory nearby that is making their water contaminated and unusable. Can they get justice? Can they fix their water?

Rating Criteria

0/5 – No value whatsoever. Absolute waste of time.

1/5 – Barely worth any time.

2/5 – Pathetic but has a bit of something to hold the attention a little.

3/5 – Somewhat kept the attention but could definitely have used more.

4/5 – Good, but not awe-strikingly amazing. Could have maybe used a bit more to the movie.

5/5 – Go see it! Wonderful movie all around. – characters, music, theme, story line, etc.

4/5 - *SPOILERS*

This is based on a true story about a water aquifer being contaminated in Woburn, Massachusetts in the late 1970s. The case (from what I can see) lasted into 1990 after everything was dealt with, including appeals.

"1982 lawsuit accusing corporate giants W.R. Grace and Beatrice Foods of contaminating the waters of Woburn, Mass."¹ with "the issue of trichloroethylene, an industrial solvent, and its contamination of a local aquifer"².

Anyways, this is a long drawn out battle of a few families with a few lawyers going against a corporation with a plethora of lawyers. The partners fighting for the families start going broke because they aren't paid through the lengthy process and it causes tensions between the partners.

I had the biggest issue with the ending. It wrapped up fairly well, especially for being a "based on a true story" tale. The issue I had was the fact that they didn't really tell what happened between the main lawyer and his ex-partners, but it did tell the verdict that the case eventually came to.

The ending (don't watch if you don't want a spoiler):

Aside this one point, it was a good movie. It has been over 3 years since I watched it, and honestly I have forgotten about it by now so it took me a while to research to recollect, but it was good. Not super noteworthy or one to really remember, but decent. Worth it? Go for it. It isn't as action packed as a Mission Impossible movie, obviously, but not a waste of time (especially if you like case solving things and court hearing stuff, and justice, etc).

That's it! Thank you for reading. More to come in the future. Still about a dozen left to write for movies watched in 2020. ^.^'

~ R

Twitter X @gracie_delunac

Email graciemaedelunac@yahoo.com

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¹ https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.niehs.nih.gov/health/assets/docs_f_o/lesson_plan_case_study_a_civil_action_508.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwiLq7iezdaDAxVkjIkEHSWECLgQFnoECBEQBQ&usg=AOvVaw3C07yBgZr6Mc50wYfRCybP

² https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Civil_Action_(film)#:~:text=Based%20on%20the%201995%20book,contamination%20of%20a%20local%20aquifer.

Movie Review: "Borat Subsequent Moviefilm" 10/23/20

This is a movie review for "Borat Subsequent Moviefilm" (aka "Borat 2"), released October 23, 2020. We watched this on the release date of October 23, 2020.

Trailer

Genre

Comedy

Cast

Sacha Baron Cohen - Borat Sagdiyev

Maria Bakalova - Tutar Sagdiyev

Plot

Borat, after finishing his first film about America, returned home to Kazakhstan. He was judged for his film about America and somewhat shamed. After a while, the President of Kazakhstan gave Borat a new mission: go back to America and bring a gift for someone of high importance. The catch is that the monkey they were going to bring didn't make the trip so his daughter (stowaway) will have to be the substitute for the gift. Considering Borat's background and Kazakhstan's ways, can he manage to get through the USA with his daughter? Can the gift be given safely? What could possibly go wrong?

Rating Criteria

0/5 – No value whatsoever. Absolute waste of time.

1/5 – Barely worth any time.

2/5 – Pathetic but has a bit of something to hold the attention a little.

3/5 – Somewhat kept the attention but could definitely have used more.

4/5 – Good, but not awe-strikingly amazing. Could have maybe used a bit more to the movie.

5/5 – Go see it! Wonderful movie all around. – characters, music, theme, story line, etc.

4/5 - For the year 2020, this was the funniest movie I had seen up to the end of October. The year had been rough and this was a mockumentary about life and COVID-19, not just about the United States. Would it be suggested to watch now that COVID-19 is mostly in the rear view mirror? I'm unsure about that but it is a cheesy/funny/stupid movie that was perfect for the time that it was released.

For a stand-alone movie, I would say that the first Borat movie was better than this one. This one did give a flashback/update at the beginning so all could (somewhat) understand the character's background but watching the first one would make it easier to understand. That being said, it was okay as it's own movie (as a second).

Watch at your own risk, especially if you get offended way easily.

Thanks for reading!

More reviews to come eventually.

~ R

Twitter @gracie_delunac

Email graciemaedelunac@yahoo.com

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