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Reviews
Singularity (2017)
Not, perhaps, as bad as the 11+ pages state?
Aw, Gods! Am I gonna love this! ;) OK! Here goes! There's about 11+ pages of people pouring fire and brimstone over this movie. So... Let's do the easy stuff first.
Yes, CGI is often horrible. There's no matching the background lighting and colors. Sometimes I've seen a lot worse and from, for instance, SYFY.
Acting could have been better. Eileen Grubba isn't too bad as Andrew's mother. And, all likenesses to a certain Katniss Everdeen aside, Jeannine Wacker has potential. Julian Schaffner should, however, attend acting classes more often, though. Being kewt just isn't enough these days. Sorry, kiddo!
Some (most) people complain about John Cusak's and Carmen Argenziano's acting (from bad to worse and WTF) and the fact that there's a city with bright lights on in skyscrapers. Some 97 years after Armageddon.
How 'bout this! Go back to about 4:40 into the movie and hear Kronos say "I will feel you. Do not be afraid" and ponder what that implies. If you still don't get it, fast forward to about 9:20 and watch Elias moving about. Still no response? Well, fast forward again to 36:13 and listen to what Calia says.
Cusak's and Argenziano's acting isn't half bad considering the above. It's like they have no real choice. Still don't get it? Repeat ad nauseum! But, hey, this isn't a movie with outstanding character portraits. It's Sci-Fi!
Yes, there are similarities to Terminator. Of course there are. And I'm not talking about possible dupes of robots. I mean, if an AI reaches singularity and takes over, what would you expect? Humans are, after all, something to be... dealt with. Perhaps Kronos did the right thing after all?
About a year ago, on SciFi-movies.com, the movie "Aurora" popped up. A full length feature by Robert Kouba, a young Swiss short film maker. A bit of investigation gave that crowd funded "Aurora" had been canceled and, thusly, I wrote to Scifi-movies and had it removed. I thought Kouba would be out of the picture. Check out the trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcohH3YG4tM
As you can see from this trailer, it's "Singularity"! So, "Aurora" lived on and became "Singularity". Finally.
Have I seen better movies? Of course I have! Have I seen worse? No doubt about that! So, I actually do rate this a 5 despite all the deficiencies.
Clear your mind and watch it!
Ender's Game (2013)
Just love this one!
I've watched Ender's Game about three or four times now. And it still grows on me.
It isn't just yet one more nice CGI sci-fi story although it's really fantastic as such.
This movie tells us about us. About us as human kind. About our inhumanity and also about our humanity.
So much of this movie is focused on the violence present in our lives, but also on love. Love for thine enemy. And the loathing of violence excessive.
The story focuses on a gangling mid-teen boy after the near apocalypse and his way from cadet to something a lot more. It doesn't deal with his pains of growing up, because he isn't allowed to. It deals with his pains of realizing what monstrosities he is capable of and what he has been forced to become quite against his will. It deals with his capacity for love amidst mayhem and his loyalty with something more than what he has won.
Let us all learn from the example Ender sets.
Prisoners of the Sun (2013)
Oh, dear God!
Take a healthy dollop of Indiana Jones, a substantial amount of Aliens and Predators and some sprinkling of The Mummy - no, not any of the remakes! The original! I take it that John Rhys-Davies and Joss Ackland are short of cash in their dotage...
This pretends to be a mix of old time adventure and some meager sci-fi and it fails.
Acting is OK. There are no more damsels in distress than what is usual today - meaning none. Gender equality-wise, that's good! Women are quite capable by themselves and they really don't need men with hair on their chests to rescue them from anything.
There's no sex and no nudity - tends to get sort of awkward. Comforting! That means we're "down to some serious action". Ahem... Well...
The plot starts out OK, promising actually, but this production doesn't take off and doesn't deliver. It may be comforting to see old faces amongst all the new ones but wrinkles doesn't cut it.
There's neither hero nor heroine in this concoction.
The CGI is good, but with the software available today, who'd flunk it?
See it if you have to. But you don't, do you? No really!