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Science Fiction: Films & TV

ramonmercado said:
Civil War: It's the near future, the USA is wracked by a Civil War. we're never given a full explanation of how it's come about, we get hints from throw away remarks, a president in his third term, FBI abolished, tryannical rule, who might this president be? As the film opens we see a president about to face the camera, he rehearses his boasts about how he has achieved the greatest military victory ever recorded in history and demands the immediate surrender of the rebel forces. In fact he is more like Hitler in Downfall, he controls a shrinking area around Washington DC as the Western Forces (California and Texas) and the Florida Alliance close in. This is a Civil War though and fighting continues in other parts of the country often between irregular units. The narrative unfolds around a group of journalists who travel from New York to Charlottesville where the Western Forces are assembling for their final push, and on to DC. Normally a distance of 226 miles, detours take it close to 1,000 miles. Veteran journalists Lee (Kirsten Dunst) and her colleague Joel intend to travel to Washington, D.C., their dream to interview and photograph the president before the city falls. An old reporter friend Sammy asks to come as far as Charlottesville, as does a young photographer, Jesse (Cailee Spaeny).

They traverse a devastated country, fighting still going on in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. The neophyte Jesse gradually becoming a better war photographer, Lee is less protective of her, The savagery of the war is plain to see with a mass grave of victims slaughtered by the presidents partisans but even the rebel irregulars are prepared to shoot surrendering enemy combatants. The action is convincing, especially when the photographers are in the thick of the combat, stills appearing mid action provide even greater verisimilitude. The US dollar isn't worth much outside of cities, it takes Canadian dollars to buy gas, looters are tortured, a suicide bomber waving the stars and stripes blows up police and thirsty civilians as they gather around a water truck in New York, the UN run refugee camps; remember this is in the US. This film is reminiscent of Under Fire, which also featured journalists in the last days of a civil war. Great performances from Kirsten Dunst and Cailee Spaeny. A cautionary dystopian tale perhaps rather than a prediction. Directed and written by Alex Garland. 8.5/10.

In cinemas.
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I read that you can tell its fiction because the journalists are intrepid and doing proper outdoors journalism instead of sitting in a Starbucks rehashing biased Twitter posts for column inches.
 
Parasyte: The Grey: South Korean Science Fiction / Horror series based on the manga series Parasyte by the Japanese artist Hitoshi Iwaaki . Sort of an Invasion of the Body Snatchers story but would more closely resemble Robert Heinlein's The Puppet Masters which was published in 1951 which preceded the 1954 story Invasion was based on. The Puppet Masters film (1994) is less well known though. Parasitical alien creatures rain down on South Korea (and presumably elsewhere) taking over human hosts by wriggling in through ears. mouths etc. Some overreact and start killing humans en mass. most successfully overcome their human hosts and live clandestine life. They dine on humans and keep meat lockers. One woman is altrady seriously injured when she encounters the parasite and forms a mutant with both personas surviving. There is a secret task force Parasyte Grey which hunts down the turned humans, led by a slightly unhinged woman who has a strange "tracker dog",. The parasites also make use of a cult/church to hide their activities. Pretty good special effects with some gory death scenes, the parasite humans can split their head into tentacles. The cynicism if political forces intent on saving face adds a satirical edge. All in all a good SF/Horror adventure. Directed and co-written by Yeon Sang-ho (Train to Busan). Six episodes in Netflix. 8/10.
 
ramonmercado said:
Parasyte: The Grey: South Korean Science Fiction / Horror series based on the manga series Parasyte by the Japanese artist Hitoshi Iwaaki . Sort of an Invasion of the Body Snatchers story but would more closely resemble Robert Heinlein's The Puppet Masters which was published in 1951 which preceded the 1954 story Invasion was based on. The Puppet Masters film (1994) is less well known though. Parasitical alien creatures rain down on South Korea (and presumably elsewhere) taking over human hosts by wriggling in through ears. mouths etc. Some overreact and start killing humans en mass. most successfully overcome their human hosts and live clandestine life. They dine on humans and keep meat lockers. One woman is altrady seriously injured when she encounters the parasite and forms a mutant with both personas surviving. There is a secret task force Parasyte Grey which hunts down the turned humans, led by a slightly unhinged woman who has a strange "tracker dog",. The parasites also make use of a cult/church to hide their activities. Pretty good special effects with some gory death scenes, the parasite humans can split their head into tentacles. The cynicism if political forces intent on saving face adds a satirical edge. All in all a good SF/Horror adventure. Directed and co-written by Yeon Sang-ho (Train to Busan). Six episodes in Netflix. 8/10.
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I do like the visual style of the parasytes.
 
Analogue Boy said:
Just finished Fallout tonight. I am a big fan of the games so, if recent TV experience is anything to go by, I should be at the epicentre of disappointment. But no - it’s great. Story, characterisation, class acting, effects and plot put this show streets ahead of anything else out there.

This is how you do adaptation.
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Watched ep. 6 last night.
That really plays up the comedy elements, with the goofy cyclops guy and the laugh-out-loud scene was when Lucy finds out about Maximus' lack of sex education! An effective mixture of black comedy and gross-out horror. Will watch the last two episodes tonight.
 
24 Hours with Gaspar: Indonesian dystopian thriller set in about 2050, Gaspar is a PI investigating mass graves. He seems to have links with one section of State Security but another wing kills his informant and tries to assassinate him. He's also investigating organ leggers, their past and current crimes, his childhood friend Kirana disappeared 23 years ago and he is obsessed with solving the mystery. Flashbacks to that period illustrate how important she was to Gaspar. The narrative is opaque at times and you will have to pay close attention. It's all set to the background of a decaying society where health care is non existent. Locals, including Gaepar, depend on a medic from a fight Club. Due to the malfunction of the implant managing Gaspar's dextrocardia, he has only 24 hours to live. He assembles a motley crew in a last attempt to solve all of the mysteries. Good action scenes with choreographed fighting, an area that stinks of desperation, exploitation of the poor, an epidemic which took place in 2025. There's a lot going on here. It has some flaws but is well worth watching. Directed by Yosep Anggi Noen, Screenplay by M. Irfan Ramli based on the 2017 novel of the same name by Sabda Armandio. On Netflix. 7/10.
 
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I.S.S.: In space aboard the International Space Station while a nuclear war rages below on Earth. The film opens with 2 US astronauts arriving at the ISS, one of them is a rookie astronaut, Kira . We see her adjusting to life onboard, dealing with liquids, free fall, dealing with her experimental mice. Six crew in total, three US, three Russian. Kira is in the cupola when she sees flashes on Earth, thinking at first they are volcanic eruptions but another astronaut realises what is happening and seals off the cupola to prevent Electromagnetic Pulse damage. The ISS had dipped to a lower orbit to receive a supply rocket and now cannot re-boost to higher orbit putting it at risk of burning up on re-entry in 24 hours. Before all communications with Earth is lost both the Russians and Americans are ordered to seize control of the ISS. Co-operation rather than conflict is the norm aboard the ISS but this fragile peace starts to break down. Close quarters combat in zero gravity is not easy even for Military veterans especially when you're all struggling to stay alive. The dangers of spacewalks, surprising collaborations, there are more than two sides in the antagonism in this tin can in the sky. A satellite whose corridors are roomy enough for pursuit and hiding. A tense drama with more than a few surprises and convincing effects. Directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite, written by Nick Shafir. 8/10.

In cinemas.
 
Who has the “ Gollum “ from Lord of the Rings.

Peter Jackson filming “The Search for Gollum” for 2026, but not happy because Amazon is racing to film almost the same story for steaming.

Peter Jackson Lord of the Rings trilogy of 3 movies made about 3 billion dollars.
 
Rewind.
An indie 2017 movie from Switzerland, which has just made it onto Prime Video.

Toby is keen on filming things and the whole weird story kicks off with his interview with the withdrawn, geeky and strangely other-worldly Eduard.
Toby's foul-mouthed and belligerent friend Roberto turns up and is immediately antagonistic to Eduard, who he refers to as "Spaz". They head out for a night on the town and, to everyone's surprise, Eduard has a girlfriend - albeit a weirdly gothic and moody one. At a nightclub a couple of girls tag along but, as the 5 of them are about to head home, what appears to be an earthquake occurs, releasing some strange leech-like creatures. Back at Toby's parents mansion, an evening of wanton hedonism occurs with drink, drugs and sex. The next morning though, when Toby wakes up, everything is a blank and he realises he has far more to worry about than a hangover. Two members of the party are missing and the only way to piece together what happened is to view all the video files that Toby took on the night before.
Can't say any more without giving spoilers, except to say that gore and body-horror features in the latter stages.
At only 79 minutes, Rewind crams a lot into its run-time and, despite being an independent and obviously low-budget movie, is fairly successful in stoking a creepy and paranoid atmosphere. The rather enigmatic ending (including an extra scene after the titles) may leave you feeling a bit short-changed though.
Overall I'd rate it 7.5/10.

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Atlas: Not a bad film but nor a great one either. Similar in some aspects to The Creator in so far as it deals with an AI uprising and the search for the leader of the revolt. The AI supremo Harlan (Simu Liu) manages to control most AIs and starts a war to destroy humanity. Three million people are killed before Special forces overwhelm the androids. Harlan along with some sidekicks escapes off planet. At;as (Jennifer Lopez) was raised with Harlan as her "brother", her mother being the cyberneticist who developed him She now works as an analyst for the International Coalition of Nations (ICN) military. When they capture a stay behind droid she manages to extract Harlan's location from his CPU. Atlas fears and hates AIs, she's a;so a misanthrope and has difficulty getting on the mission to capture Harlan. Soon things start to go awry. Some good action sequences depicting the AI revolt in a summarised manner, also great fighting suits with autonomous capabilities. The attack on the spaceship is also impressive as are the hand to hand battles between the androids and special forces. Atlas' fears of AI impedes her ability to fully use her suit. There are a few plot twists which I can't reveal but some important flashbacks to Atlas;s childhood helps to explain a few things. Acting is OK but there are a couple of plot holes plus the laws of physics being breached without proper explanation. Still. it's worth watching. Directed by Brad Peyton, written by Leo Sardarian and Aron Eli Coleite. On Netflix. 6.5/10.
 
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