Ever since "Prometheus," this viewer has thirsted for more Noomi Rapace, and NFLX's "Close" does not disappoint, with a sort of female Punisher rampaging across North Africa like a shamal (look it up) composed of human flesh. I'm not sure why this is pulling down a 5.6 average on this forum, and frankly, I don't care. "Close" easily outstrips NFLX flaps such as "IO" and "Titan." Stay out of her way, lads.
Reviews
11 Reviews
IO
(2019)
The devil is in the details
22 January 2019
The main theme of this film appealed to me: perseverance, adaptation to one's new environment, and an appreciation for the humanities. And I like the PA genre, so I started out wanting to like the film. Then I was punched in the face with some bizarre science: geothermal power from other planets. Huh? Why not fission? (I know the answer). How does over-industrialization lead to enough ammonia to pollute the lower 1000 feet of Earth's atmosphere? The science was so obnoxious as to knock this film down from an 8/10 to a 5/10 for this viewer.
flirtations with disbelief
18 January 2019
Warning: Spoilers
There's an escape scene that pushed me past suspension of disbelief. Are these the same writers from Season One? This episode and that scene were beyond the pale, which is saying something about an episodic saga derived from a fictional comic book. I hope this installment doesn't continue along that trend, or my defense on the paltry two dollar hike will be withdrawn.
5/10 maybe Castle will break something later on.
The Humanity Bureau
(2017)
Hidden Themes and an Underrated Message
21 December 2018
I like PA fiction, so for me, any film about PA is going to trump a woman having relations with a fish beast, or another Hollywood reboot, or almost any comic book flick. I noticed there was snow on everything... the film accidentally introduces a Global Cooling disaster scenario despite the opening text to the contrary. The sun could take a nap and do more damage to Earth's climate than a thousand human civilizations. The film accidentally captures this message and warning. The writers take some thinly veiled digs at the current President, they even show his picture. Notice how, in the first minutes, the writers portray a man who simply wants to be let alone to live his life; he is a pariah to The System. Students of history will know that it is the Stalinists--not anyone in Trump's orbit--who run the death camps, and the film accidentally captures this as well. The film warns the viewer of the dangers of a run-amok bureaucracy... even the villain seems to run on a sort of clockwork adherence to administrative procedure without scrutinizing his own actions too closely. Secrets must be kept, practices must be followed, the powers-that-be must be supported, without any independent thought. In fact, it is the protagonist who snatches at the loose threads of the powers-that-be to set in motion a Revolution. The truth seeps into this flick, despite the will of the writers, producers, and director. The only detractors I saw were the poorly paced action scenes and the rushed resolution. I saw some parallels to "Equilibrium" in this flick.
7/10
Beware the Sun.
Terminator Salvation
(2009)
Connor gets to do what he was born to do
3 December 2018
Finally, a Terminator film came along that features John Connor dispatching our robot nemesis in batches. The most exciting elements of T1 and T2 were the promise of some epic and existential struggle for mankind's survival... and then for technical or creative reasons, viewers were only shown brief segments of The War. We finally get to see the herculean struggle to put the robots in their place. This film is a non-stop action campaign on an epic scale. 8/10
Cargo
(I) (2017)
Solid and character driven PA
19 May 2018
It's hard to do good PA in an era of "just milk one more season guys" and racking up impersonal body counts, but "Cargo" pulls it off. The characters are strong, the motivations elaborated, and the finale electric. I take off two points because I think the hardy people of ancient Australia would brutally quash any zombie uprising, although the undead downvoters seem to find fertile ground here in the web. Highly recommended.
Lost in Space
(2018–2021)
Poorly thought out, poorly executed
16 April 2018
Warning: Spoilers
This production just slaps you in the face every episode.
It begins in the first moments... a craft on the edge of space, with the computer dutifully reading out the altitude, "three thousand feet!," as the console displays three thousand meters. The adventure takes place "trillions of light years from home" in a universe that is 13 billion light years across. A planetary ecosystem that supposedly regenerates itself after being regularly incinerated by an accident of orbital mechanics (aided by the vacuum's favorite plot device, a black hole).
Sadly, the human element is as disappointing as the technical errors: poorly elaborated motivations for the characters, decisions that do not make sense, cheap suspense shots, equipment malfunctions with perfect timing, the random and senseless termination of the series' most iconic figure, and various sorts of random and chaotic stumbling about on a far off planet.
The only redeeming quality I found was some of the scenes; the artists really did a great job of visualizing a new world. Despite those efforts, the series falls flat. Just go watch Avatar for the twentieth time.
Nailed It
23 February 2017
Last night's episode of "The Expanse" on SyFy brings the show up to the end of the first book, "Leviathan Wakes," and they hit a home run with this production. A well funded, written, and produced long run television series with author involvement is the new standard for bringing epic future fiction to the audience. Even a short and simple book like "Ender's Game" struggles to fit into the two hour big screen format without hugs cuts and annoying compression; it took fifteen 40 minute shows to tell the story of "Leviathan Wakes" adequately. I am looking forward to "Hyperion" with great excitement!
Between
(2015–2016)
A virus is killing people over 21, there's just one problem...
28 May 2015
All the survivors are played by actors that look 25-28.
A mysterious illness is striking the people of Pretty Lake. I can't tell you what country the idyllic small town of Pretty Lake is in cause the show never tells us.
'Between' is basically a festival of cinematic clichés: there's a pregnant teen, we aren't old who the father is, some bad clues can give us a good guess, there's a rich family that easily earns our hate, there's a poor family that is easy to like, there's a hacker--or at least cinema's idea of a hack--complete with fancy graphics on his computer that no one has ever seen, there's the overused motif of an aggressive military cordon--but they let the dude smuggling drugs and weapons pass through the checkpoint. "Here, you'll need these," an ambiguous military person says as he hands the drug smuggler his guns back and releases him into the quarantine zone.
And yet, the above things are believable. What is not believable is a disease that presents no symptoms and then *BANG* a person spits up some blood and keels over in five seconds.
Netflix will be releasing one episode a week... and I cannot wait to not watch them.
A mysterious illness is striking the people of Pretty Lake. I can't tell you what country the idyllic small town of Pretty Lake is in cause the show never tells us.
'Between' is basically a festival of cinematic clichés: there's a pregnant teen, we aren't old who the father is, some bad clues can give us a good guess, there's a rich family that easily earns our hate, there's a poor family that is easy to like, there's a hacker--or at least cinema's idea of a hack--complete with fancy graphics on his computer that no one has ever seen, there's the overused motif of an aggressive military cordon--but they let the dude smuggling drugs and weapons pass through the checkpoint. "Here, you'll need these," an ambiguous military person says as he hands the drug smuggler his guns back and releases him into the quarantine zone.
And yet, the above things are believable. What is not believable is a disease that presents no symptoms and then *BANG* a person spits up some blood and keels over in five seconds.
Netflix will be releasing one episode a week... and I cannot wait to not watch them.
FrackNation
(2013)
Science trumps Emotion
26 April 2015
Phelim McAleer in "FrackNation" provides a well researched, thorough, entertaining, and scientific rebuttal to the emotional pleas provided in Josh Fox's "GasLand."
Opponents of hydraulic fracturing (aka fracking) would have us believe that the human push-and-pull of fueling civilization versus conserving the biosphere is a left-versus-right or climate change supporter versus denier phenomenon; in fact it is a conflict of science versus emotion. This is the genius of "GasLand": we want to get emotionally angry over a cause. "FrackNation," however, tosses some ice onto those smoldering embers with cold facts.
Nothing is more damaging to the platform of "GasLand" supporters than Fox's multiple refusals to answer pointed questions from McAleer:
McAleer: "Isn't it true that decades before fracking started, that there was methane in the water there?" (regarding the flammable tap water)
Fox: "Can you identify yourself?"
McAleer: "My name is Philem McAleer."
Fox: "Okay, where are you from?"
McAleer: "I'm a journalist."
Fox: "Journalist from where?"
McAleer: "From Ireland."
Fox: "From Ireland?"
McAleer: "Yes. Isn't it true..."
Fox: "You're concerned about the fracking going on in Ireland?"
McAleer: "No, I'm concerned about the accuracy of the documentary."
Fox: "You're a journalist for what paper?"
On the surface, a cause's champion refusing to answer the opposition is unsettling but it goes further; Fox's thinly veiled attempts to impugn the credentials of McAleer--even his nationality--and his absolute refusal to respond to challenges to "GasLand's" documentary authenticity leave the watcher mentally ticking off points in McAleer's column. But there's more.
At another point, Fox repeatedly refuses to engage MacAleer in conversation at an event held at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles. Eventually McAleer and his director are ejected from the event... scientific dialog indeed.
Through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, McAleer obtains video from the US Government's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the largest environmental regulatory body in the world. In this video, the Sautner family--the champions of "GasLand"--were presented with the results of an EPA sampling of their well water, demonstrating that the well water was not contaminated. The Sautners react with emotion: the wife storms out, the husband demanding the results are false, and the EPA representative stating "we found no contaminants."
Scientific and methodical thinking people of the entire political spectrum are forced by this film to consider the evidence of the hydraulic fracturing issue and see the opponents reacting with emotional pleas and the supporters providing clear and well documented science.
--oversoul
Opponents of hydraulic fracturing (aka fracking) would have us believe that the human push-and-pull of fueling civilization versus conserving the biosphere is a left-versus-right or climate change supporter versus denier phenomenon; in fact it is a conflict of science versus emotion. This is the genius of "GasLand": we want to get emotionally angry over a cause. "FrackNation," however, tosses some ice onto those smoldering embers with cold facts.
Nothing is more damaging to the platform of "GasLand" supporters than Fox's multiple refusals to answer pointed questions from McAleer:
McAleer: "Isn't it true that decades before fracking started, that there was methane in the water there?" (regarding the flammable tap water)
Fox: "Can you identify yourself?"
McAleer: "My name is Philem McAleer."
Fox: "Okay, where are you from?"
McAleer: "I'm a journalist."
Fox: "Journalist from where?"
McAleer: "From Ireland."
Fox: "From Ireland?"
McAleer: "Yes. Isn't it true..."
Fox: "You're concerned about the fracking going on in Ireland?"
McAleer: "No, I'm concerned about the accuracy of the documentary."
Fox: "You're a journalist for what paper?"
On the surface, a cause's champion refusing to answer the opposition is unsettling but it goes further; Fox's thinly veiled attempts to impugn the credentials of McAleer--even his nationality--and his absolute refusal to respond to challenges to "GasLand's" documentary authenticity leave the watcher mentally ticking off points in McAleer's column. But there's more.
At another point, Fox repeatedly refuses to engage MacAleer in conversation at an event held at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles. Eventually McAleer and his director are ejected from the event... scientific dialog indeed.
Through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, McAleer obtains video from the US Government's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the largest environmental regulatory body in the world. In this video, the Sautner family--the champions of "GasLand"--were presented with the results of an EPA sampling of their well water, demonstrating that the well water was not contaminated. The Sautners react with emotion: the wife storms out, the husband demanding the results are false, and the EPA representative stating "we found no contaminants."
Scientific and methodical thinking people of the entire political spectrum are forced by this film to consider the evidence of the hydraulic fracturing issue and see the opponents reacting with emotional pleas and the supporters providing clear and well documented science.
--oversoul
Important problem, lackluster solution
7 March 2015
My fellow Californian Angela Sun builds a compelling case against the convenience of plastics in modern living. Plastic's stubborn refusal to break down into its component parts mean it is a persistent pollutant. Plastic enters the world's oceans, is broken into tiny bits, and ingested by marine life and birds. It then makes it's way up the food chain, ultimately into humans.
As the film stated, plastic is the third biggest industry in the USA. Can we afford, ecologically or economically, to turn it off or to leave it running? This film takes the position of halting or diminishing plastic consumption...but what if there is another way? One of the challenges humanity will face as it continues to grow, and it's reach expands, is learning to use the finite resources of the planet (the Solar System, the galaxy) in ever more creative, efficient, and ingenious ways. After all, BPA is a discovery of 1930s chemistry.
Why not use 2015 chemical and physical science to find a way to alter plastics into a more degenerative or reusable compound? Our third largest industry and the second order impacts of those jobs would be maintained and contamination of the world's oceans would be reduced or eliminated. Somewhere in the sometimes rocky marriage of science and industry is a savior (for the ecologists) and an invention (for the entrepreneurs). I gave this documentary 7 of 10 for sounding an alarm that needs to be sounded, but was somewhat lacking in exploring solutions.
As the film stated, plastic is the third biggest industry in the USA. Can we afford, ecologically or economically, to turn it off or to leave it running? This film takes the position of halting or diminishing plastic consumption...but what if there is another way? One of the challenges humanity will face as it continues to grow, and it's reach expands, is learning to use the finite resources of the planet (the Solar System, the galaxy) in ever more creative, efficient, and ingenious ways. After all, BPA is a discovery of 1930s chemistry.
Why not use 2015 chemical and physical science to find a way to alter plastics into a more degenerative or reusable compound? Our third largest industry and the second order impacts of those jobs would be maintained and contamination of the world's oceans would be reduced or eliminated. Somewhere in the sometimes rocky marriage of science and industry is a savior (for the ecologists) and an invention (for the entrepreneurs). I gave this documentary 7 of 10 for sounding an alarm that needs to be sounded, but was somewhat lacking in exploring solutions.
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