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Isle of Dogs: Cat lovers may be rendered catatonic by this film, it portrays them as fiendish feline fanciers who will go to any lengths to to crush canines. 1,000 years ago the evil Baron Kobayashi (a capricious cat cuddler) sets out to exterminate the free living dogs. A boy Samurai appears and beheads the Baron and dogs are domesticated rather than destroyed.

Forward to 2038, the malevolent Mayor of Megasaki City, Kobayashi signs a decree deporting dogs to Trash Island due to an outbreak of Dog Flu which results in Snout Fever. Professor Watanabe show's he is close to a cure for this virus but is ignored. The Mayor's 12 year old nephew Atari flies to the island in search of his beloved guard dog spots. He joins up with a pack of smart dogs who join him in his quest.

Back in Megasaki City pupils involved in a school magazine investigate the whole affair including an ace hacker and a foreign exchange student from the US suspect a conspiracy is afoot regarding the whole affair. THis belief is strengthened when the Mayor claims his nephew has been kidnapped by the dogs.

Good fun even if the school students get a bit too cutesie at times. The dogs are well imagined, most with back stories. Trash Island has been devastated by earthquakes, tsunami, volcanic explosions and power plant failures. It has deserted fun parks, factories, waste disposal plants and a dog experimental laboratory.It is rumoured that cannibalistic aboriginal dogs roam part of the island. This is the devastated landscape which Atari must traverse with his canine companions.

An all star cast provides the voices for the dogs and humans. A stop-motion animated film by Wes Anderson for dogfans of all ages. Also contains some social satire and draws a disturbing analogy between the the dogs suffering and a major historical event. 7.5/10
 
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Anyone else catch the pilot episode of The Crossing?

Quite Zeitgeisty in reflecting the growing number of people claiming to be from the future and it held my interest for 45 minutes. I have an awful feeling it could turn into the next Lost though.

https://m.imdb.com/title/tt6461824/
 
Anyone else catch the pilot episode of The Crossing?

Quite Zeitgeisty in reflecting the growing number of people claiming to be from the future and it held my interest for 45 minutes. I have an awful feeling it could turn into the next Lost though.

https://m.imdb.com/title/tt6461824/

I see the pilot is released online but you have to be a subscriber to certain providers. Is it showing on any TV channel?
 
Quite Zeitgeisty in reflecting the growing number of people claiming to be from the future and it held my interest for 45 minutes. I have an awful feeling it could turn into the next Lost though.

https://m.imdb.com/title/tt6461824/

Know what you mean. There were some stunning visual images, but overall it just felt like they were dusting off the old "Lost" playbook. By the end of the hour, I felt like I had seen it all before. Doubt that I'll watch much more of it. Too bad.
 
The pilot was a bit cumbersome, as it had to set the scene and I do want to watch the first proper episode to see what direction The Crossing is going to take. Will decide whether to stick with it after that.

I watched it on Amazon Prime. Don't know who else is broadcasting it.
 
There aren't really spoilers in this as the reveal comes 15 minutes into the film and is signalled in the trailer.

Orbital 9: Spanish Science Fiction Thriller.. Helena (Clara Lago) has spent her entire life on board a deep space starship, travelling to a new planet orbiting a distant star. Now 20, she will be 40 before she reaches her destination. Three years ago her parents sacrificed themselves after a fault in the oxygen system meant that only one of them could survive long enough for help to reach them.

Alex (Ales Gonzalez), a technician arrives by spacecraft and makes repairs, he seems distant but Helena succeeds in seducing him. When Alex leaves he exits it becomes clear that Helena is in an underground complex rather than a spaceship. The Earth is dying and this is just one of then similar "Orbiters" being used to test the possibility of sending humans to colonise a new world.

Alex now develops feelings for Helena and this will put the entire project at risk. He comes up against the chief scientist at the organisation which runs the installations and to free Helena he will have to take on not just him but literally the international Military-Industrial Complex..

Echoes of Ascension, Capricorn One and Soylent Green mesh in this Dystopia written and directed by Hatem Khraiche. 7/10. On Netflix.
 
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There aren't really spoilers in this as the reveal comes 15 minutes into the film and is signalled in the trailer.

Orbital 9: Spanish Science Fiction Thriller.. etc.

Did she not wonder how another spacecraft managed to catch up with her?
 
Did she not wonder how another spacecraft managed to catch up with her?

I was wondering that myself but she had been in a sealed environment since birth. Some credible (given her circumstances) story had no doubt been related her.
 
This Prospect film is getting some good festival buzz:
Prospect
Published on Mar 6, 2018
A teenage girl and her father travel to a remote alien moon, aiming to strike it rich. They've secured a contract to harvest a large deposit of the elusive gems hidden in the depths of the moon's toxic forest. But there are others roving the wilderness and the job quickly devolves into a fight to survive. Forced to contend not only with the forest's other ruthless inhabitants, but with her own father's greed-addled judgment, the girl finds she must carve her own path to escape. Starring Sophie Thatcher, Pedro Pascal, Jay Duplass, Andre Royo, Sheila Vand, and Anwan Glover. Written and Directed by Zeek Earl and Chris Caldwell. http://www.prospectthefilm.com
 
Beyond Skyline: Alien Invasion sequel. The aliens have bio-mechanical machines, some the size of Jaegers (Pacific Rim) complete with alien humanoid (think of bipedal Alien) pilot, others smaller but still huge have tentacles for sucking out brains. Yes they're after our brains but not to munch on, they put them into their various bio-mechanical Warriors. Apparently including brain snatchers and even the pilots, bit of a loop there. A blue light is used to hypnotise humans and they are then sucked en masse into an alien ship for brain extraction or it's ripped out individually by tentacle.

A new group of humans, led by Mark (Frank Grillo), a detective, are sucked on board an alien vessel and link up with Elaine (Samantha Jean) and Jarrod from Skyline. Jarrod's brain is now in an alien Warrior pilot but somehow he remains aware and saves Mark from a tentacle Warrior. Meanwhile Elaine delivers her baby six months early! The child has absorbed alien DNA. The aliens also want the babies. The struggle to survive ensues. Will we learn the real secret of the aliens? What will happen to alien-human hybrid children?

Written and directed by Liam O'Donnell this is an ok alien invasion movie, the script is a bit uneven in pacing but there are some very good shots of alien vessels crashing and great (albeit gruesome) hand to hand combat between aliens (or rather their bio-mechs) and humans and even Jaeger battles. The alien spaceship interiors are like gothic cathedrals with vistas of organic machinery. Acting won't win Oscars but is passable. 7/10. On Netflix.
 
Beyond Skyline: Alien Invasion sequel. The aliens have bio-mechanical machines, some the size of Jaegers (Pacific Rim) complete with alien humanoid (think of bipedal Alien) pilot, others smaller but still huge have tentacles for sucking out brains. Yes they're after our brains but not to munch on, they put them into their various bio-mechanical Warriors. Apparently including brain snatchers and even the pilots, bit of a loop there. A blue light is used to hypnotise humans and they are then sucked en masse into an alien ship for brain extraction or it's ripped out individually by tentacle.

A new group of humans, led by Mark (Frank Grillo), a detective, are sucked on board an alien vessel and link up with Elaine (Samantha Jean) and Jarrod from Skyline. Jarrod's brain is now in an alien Warrior pilot but somehow he remains aware and saves Mark from a tentacle Warrior. Meanwhile Elaine delivers her baby six months early! The child has absorbed alien DNA. The aliens also want the babies. The struggle to survive ensues. Will we learn the real secret of the aliens? What will happen to alien-human hybrid children?

Written and directed by Liam O'Donnell this is an ok alien invasion movie, the script is a bit uneven in pacing but there are some very good shots of alien vessels crashing and great (albeit gruesome) hand to hand combat between aliens (or rather their bio-mechs) and humans and even Jaeger battles. The alien spaceship interiors are like gothic cathedrals with vistas of organic machinery. Acting won't win Oscars but is passable. 7/10. On Netflix.
I got that on DVD ages ago, but haven't yet watched it.
 
Watched it last night - it was entertainingly gruesome, lifted a level or two by Iko Uwais turning-up.
 
The Darkest Dawn: A sequel to Hungerford, the alien Invasion film. More found footage, filmed by Chloe (Bethan Leadlely) the younger of two sisters in the aftermath of an Alien Apocalypse. The Aliens have devastated cities and can turn humans into psychotic zombies. The women link up with three men who are on a quest and travel first through a London which is in ruins and then head up the Thames into the countryside.

The niceties of civilisation have broken down and this affects group after they are captured by human survivors who are just as monstrous as the Aliens. Rescued by the group leader Adam (Tom Scarlett), Chloe kills the man who was going to enslave her. Some of the resistance to the Aliens is led by religious fanatics, a preacher roars out scripture as the tank he commands fires on an Alien ship.

Alien ships are brought down, humans zapped by rays, humans turned into zombies, ravaging other people. The quests take another turn as a temporary cure for infected humans is found but a permanent one is sought. A surviving military group also protect a mysterious box.

So-so SF thriller. 6/10. On Netflix.
 
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The Darkest Dawn: A sequel to Hungerford, the alien Invasion film. More found footage, filmed by Chloe (Bethan Leadlely) the younger of two sisters in the aftermath of an Alien Apocalypse. The Aliens have devastated cities and can turn humans into psychotic zombies. The women link up with three men who are on a quest and travel first through a London which is in ruins and then head up the Thames into the countryside.

The niceties of civilisation have broken down and this affects group after they are captured by human survivors who are just as monstrous as the Aliens. Rescued by the group leader Adam (Tom Scarlett), Chloe kills the man who was going to enslave her. Some of the resistance to the Aliens is led by religious fanatics, a preacher roars out scripture as the tank he commands fires on an Alien ship.

Alien ships are brought down, humans zapped by rays, humans turned into zombies, ravaging other people. The quests take another turn as a temporary cure for infected humans is found but a permanent one is sought. A surviving military group also protect a mysterious box.

So-so SF thriller. 6/10. On Netflix.

I was put off by the distastefully named first film Hungerford so haven't planned to watch either.
 
I was put off by the distastefully named first film Hungerford so haven't planned to watch either.

That did strike me as an insensitive name... I know a place shouldn't be defined by a single event in its history but when I first saw the publicity around the first movie I assumed it was about Michael Ryan.
 
That did strike me as an insensitive name... I know a place shouldn't be defined by a single event in its history but when I first saw the publicity around the first movie I assumed it was about Michael Ryan.

So did I, but time and things move on.
 
Yeah but it's a cheap way to add publicity to a movie.

Hungerford is completely unremarkable and there are hundreds of places around Britain just like it that they could have used.

Perhaps they didn't, maybe the writer/director Drew Cassonjust wanted to base it there. He's from Hungerford. Perhaps he wanted something else to be attached to the town's name.
 
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