Tag: SciFi

REVIEW: ‘The Circle’ Is A Directionless Waste Of Talented Performers

It’s always surprising and disappointing seeing a film squander a plethora of talent in its cast. “The Circle” is one of those types of movies.

The picture centers on a young woman named Mae (Emma Watson) who gets a job at the world’s leading computer technology/social networking company, the Circle. Headed by a pair by the names of Bailey (Tom Hanks) and Stenton (Patton Oswalt), the Circle operates at a massive facility that largely provides anything that a person could really want.

As Mae settles into her new role, though, she starts to notice some things that seem off. This thought process is only increased when she comes into contact with a lead developer named Ty (John Boyega), who informs her of some shady operations. At the same time, though, Mae also becomes a person of interest as she starts coming up with new ideas that actually benefit the company.

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REVIEW: ‘Phoenix Forgotten’ Had A Nice Premise, Poor Execution

UFOs, aliens and government cover-ups can all be pretty entertaining stuff. When a film just uses that premise for a rather generic found footage flick, though, it can be rather dull.

“Phoenix Forgotten” is such a film.

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REVIEW: Story Twist In ‘Passengers’ Causes Space Romance To Crash

“Passengers” could have been a good movie, but a lot went wrong here.

In “Passengers,” Chris Pratt plays the character Jim Preston, an engineer and mechanic who’s taking a voyage on the space ship Avalon. The craft, filled with 5,259 people, isn’t making just a day trip, though, as its entire journey from Earth to a new colony is 120 years long. Everyone on the ship are in a state of hibernation, but unfortunately, Jim’s sleeping chamber malfunctions and he wakes up 90 years early.

As a result of this, Jim tries to fix his pod to get back to sleep, but it proves unsuccessful and his efforts to contact any of the crew, also in hibernation, prove futile. His crisis is only deepened by the intense loneliness he feels as the months aboard the ship drag on. That is until he comes in contact with another passenger, Aurora (Jennifer Lawrence) through a series of events.

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REVIEW: ‘Arrival’ Is A Remarkable Sci-Fi Epic Thanks To Its Wonder And Intrigue

Ladies and gentlemen, this is what we like to call a thinker.

“Arrival” stars Amy Adams as Dr. Louise Banks, a professor who is the leading world expert on language studies. Those skills are nearly immediately put to the test in the film’s first act when multiple space crafts come into Earth’s atmosphere and land in random places across the planet.

In response, Banks and another scientist, Ian Donnelly (Jeremy Renner), are brought in by the military to establish communication with the aliens. However, as the two researchers begin doing just that, tensions from world armies begins to increase on how to deal with the UFOs.

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REVIEW: ‘Star Trek’ Series Returns To Form With ‘Beyond’

It looks like third time’s the charm.

“Star Trek: Beyond” takes place about three years after the last film, “Into Darkness.” The USS Enterprise is now three years into a five year mission of exploration. While the ship is functioning and the crew is handling the adventure OK, Captain James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) is starting to grow a bit weary.

His musings on life as a captain in deep space are cut short, though, when the Enterprise responds to a person in distress and in the process, is led into a trap. Ultimately, the ship gets grounded on an unknown planet and the crew is separated.

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REVIEW: ‘Independence Day’ Sequel Doesn’t Capture First Film’s Magic

Talk about jumping the shark.

“Resurgence,” the follow-up to the 1996 mega-blockbuster, takes place 20 years after the events of the first film. By reverse-engineering alien technology, the human race has created new defensive machinery and the nations of the world have united to defend against another attack.

The story picks up around the time of the 20 year anniversary of the first war and audiences are immediately introduced to a new cast of fighter pilots who help Earth’s defenses. At the same time, though, characters from the previous film are featured, like David Levinson (Jeff Goldblum), the tech genius who helped upload a virus on the mother ship and now serves as the expert on all things aliens.

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REVIEW: ’10 Cloverfield Lane’ Highlighted By Acting, Claustrophobic Atmosphere

Since it’s right in the title, I’ll address the elephant in the room first. For those thinking this might be a sequel to the 2008 giant monster movie “Cloverfield,” you’re out of luck. The J.J. Abrams produced “10 Cloverfield Lane” has nothing to do with the creature that attacked New York City and does not serve as a sequel.

Instead, this film acts as a sort of anthology successor, maintaining the same mysterious tone of other Abrams’ pictures while still being its own film.

The movie starts off with a quick introduction of the protagonist, Michelle, played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead, who has decided to leave her fiance. On the way out of town, though, she is caught in a car accident on the highway.

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The Fifth Wave Review

An alien race, only referred to as The Others, has attacked Earth in “The 5th Wave” using different methods to do so. These include cutting off electricity, causing natural disasters and a mega-virus. The film picks up after these first three “waves” with the character Cassie (Chloe Grace Moretz), who is one of the remaining human survivors, along with her father Oliver (Ron Livingston) and her brother Sam (Zackary Arthur).

After an incident at a refugee camp for human survivors, Cassie’s family gets separated and she is sent on the run with the goal of saving her brother. Along the way she begins to learn what the 4th and 5th Waves are, that The Others are using humans as hosts and are tricking other human survivors.

While “The 5th Wave” does use a plot similar to other sci-fi flicks such as “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” and “The Faculty,” it still starts off strong enough. Cassie is introduced as a good protagonist and her tale of survival is engaging and exciting and made the first half or so a solid experience.

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Star Wars: The Force Awakens review

Director:

  • J.J. Abrams

Cast:

  • Daisy Ridley
  • Oscar Isaac
  • John Boyega
  • Adam Driver
  • Domhnal Gleeson
  • Mark Hamill
  • Carrie Fisher
  • Harrison Ford
  • Rated: PG-13

“The Force Awakens” returns audiences to the tales of a galaxy far far away. The movie picks up about 30 years after “Return of the Jedi,” with the remnants of the Empire now grouped into a faction called the New Order and the Rebels which have become the Resistance.

The film’s story is set in motion by a chance encounter between a resistance pilot named Poe (Isaac), who is trying to preserve a map that leads to Luke Skywalker, and a stormtrooper leaving the First Order named Finn (Boyega). Through a series of events (no spoilers), Finn winds up meeting a ship-parts scavenger and the two are forced to team up and bring the map to the resistance.

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