jaysmith-54204 Reviews

Slingshot (2024)

The astronauts are not believable, and neither is the drama

[4/10 · 18 September 2024]

The script lacks in the science and engineering department, and the characters seem incompetent.

Within the first 20 minutes, we already know the main protagonist is an unreliable narrator who exudes whatever the opposite of confidence and leadership is. His crewmate is similarly unreliable, talking behind the captains back. The captain calls the spaceship an 'aircraft' and handwave-explains 'fatigue and buckling' despite there being no explanation for what would cause cyclic stresses on the structure. We also got in the first 30 minutes that their mission is to reach Titan's methane, to make fuel, to somehow solve climate change. It all just sounds like mumbo-jumbo written by an arts student.

You need something like Andy Weir's 'The Martian' or the upcoming Project Hail Mary adaption; i.e. The best-of-the-best astronauts being actually believable world-class highly trained and skilled experts and problem-solvers. The physics doesn't have to be 100% in a sci-fi (Interstellar worked pretty well throughout bar that one line about love transcending space and time), but for any deviations the characters have to 100% support the narrative for it to be believed by the audience. These astronauts are immediately whispering to each other about mutiny from the start... and keep forgetting that there's audiovideo recording in each room allowing the captain to hear the sceme. I can't believe that these characters are actually astronauts.

Please please please stop with this artificially induced drama hinging on main characters being incompetent, keeping secrets from each other, or scheming against each other for no good reaon. Stop with the secrets which the 3rd party witnesses... It's like where movies have 2 people talk or kiss, for the 3rd jealous person to spot it or to get the wrong impression. It's a frustrating cliche. If the drama would be resolved by one character speaking one sentence to another character, it's weak writing.

With Insterstellar, I felt awe that made my arm hairs stand on end. With Slingshot I just feel frustrated and claustrophobic. Slingshot is weak writing.

Extrapolations: 2070: Ecocide (2023) Season 1, Episode 8

The series has picked up some momentum

[10/10 · 2 June 2023]

By episode 8 we're past the middle of the 21st Century, and CO2 concentration is approaching 600 ppm. Nicholas Bilton is a Billionnaire (or Trillionnaire?) who is on trial at the international court for the alleged crime of 'Ecocide', by profiteering off of CO2, allegedly being both the disease and the medicine, playing both sides of the global tragedy. Whilst he lives a life of luxury, the rest of the world suffers, or opts to basically die and have their likeness uploaded into the cloud.

The series continues the thread of previous episodes, with quite a few callbacks and familiar faces. Whilst episode 1 I felt was clumsy and disorganized, by episode 8 we're in. The only annoyance is the over-reliance on exposition, where at times it sounds like the character is lecturing the audience in no unsubtle way about climate change and the effects of CO2 on temperature. If you make a series 2 (and I really hope you do), please hide the exposition in the background, or remember 'show don't tell'.

Overall I'm really happy with how this series developed. I'm a huge fan of sci-fi, and dystopian films, so this was just about the perfect mix. The sci-fi technology seamlessly fit in, and the effects were great, like watching a blockbuster movie. And as a bonus, it does seem like it could be set in our own timeline; looking at how we have absolutely ignore the warnings of scientists these past 50 years, and failed to meet climate goals. Sobering. Not exactly a feel-good series, but one that does really let you contemplate and reflect.

Extrapolations: 2059: Face of God (2023) Season 1, Episode 4

Geoengineering and Edward Norton: What's not to love?

[10/10 · 10 April 2023]

This series has started to pick up since episode 1. The 4th episode in the series jumps to around 2059 if I recall, where drastic action must be taken to curb global warming, which is on track for 3 degrees above pre-industrial levels by the end of the century. Norton faces off against his ex-wife, where the fate of humanity is at stake... along with his relationship with his son. The characters here are becoming more believable than earlier episodes, and the performance of Norton does not disappoint.

Similar to previous episodes, the characters use exposition and storytelling as analogies for the environmental problems they face, which are no different to the problems that we face, albeit we're looking at the barrel from a distance, and they're staring right down it. Again if you like story-telling, if you like hard sci-fi, and near-future dystopia, this one's for you. But this one actually leaves you looking up with a glimmer of hope.

Extrapolations: 2046: Whale Fall (2023) Season 1, Episode 2

If you could have a personal conversation with the endling of a species, what would you say?

[9/10 · 9 April 2023]

In the second episode of Extrapolations, we follow Rebecca, played by Sienna Miller, and her son Ezra. The story is set around 11 years after the first episode, and shortly after many of Earth's megafauna have gone extinct, after ocean acidification has played out and the krill are all but gone, and the marine ecosystems on top have collapsed.

Rebecca is some sort of conservationist, who communicates with the last individuals of a species. Her son is stricken by a heart condition bought about in the womb by the soot and wildfires which you might recall from Episode 01. Rebecca is tasked with conversing with the last ever female whale as it searches for an elusive mate. Again we see themes of corporate malice, inaction over climate change, and the expectation that the next generation will clean up today's problems.

The backdrop includes lots of subtle sci-fi elements, so again if you're interested in near-future sci-fi dystopia, and interested in nature, this might be one for you. However unlike. Say, Black Mirror, this series does feel a little less hyperbolic, more grounded in reality. It seems like we're not looking at a parallel universe; we're looking at our own future. Or at least a single perspective and spyglass on that future. The conversation hints at a message; if we don't change, our trajectory wont change.

The Portable Door (2023)

A fairly entertaining family fantasy

[6/10 · 9 April 2023]

I like original movies. This is a fairly original family fantasy movie.

Starting off strong, the movie seemed to follow in the footsteps of 'The Adjustment Bureau' (2011), with a bureaucratic and somewhat supernatural business entity acting in the shadows, to alter fate and meddle in the romantic affairs of humans. We got the impression that luck and coincidence were going to play a strong theme. Then in short order it changed into a movie about magic and goblins, more akin to Harry Potter or Fantastic Beasts, and with perhaps some absurd elements from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (what really is a stapler, anyway?). But the luck and coincidence aspect seems to fall away, and we don't see too much more of the meddling.

The character motivations were a little muddled; for example the insufferable and drab female colleague quickly turns into the soft and delicate love interest who needs saving. By the end of the second act the main guy is talking about building a house near the sea and living together... a bit soon, is it not?

The main hero goes from not knowing about magic, to barely reacting when he's introduced to magic, to becoming a full-blown uber-magician with a unique power, but there's no arc or struggles in getting there... and no explanation as to why... it just happens. The closest thing he gets to a lesson in magic is a guy telling him to hover his hand over a map without touching it, then pretty instantly he feels the magic. Makes you really wonder how it's possible he's not discovered his latent gift already. But then questions and threads raised in the opening scenes about luck, coincidence and pattern recognition were not returned to.

The McGuffin in this case was a door which transforms into a specific non-door object so as to be difficult to find. I'm not sure if the door is even necessary; if I'm not mistaken I think in this universe it's not the only way to get to where they're going. The door's powers were exploited a bit, like in the movie Looper (2012) to go to Everest, to Giza, and main guy and Love Interest return a few times to that beach.

Later on, we see all the Goblins, and everything starts to feel so small. This universe they've created consists of one office headquarters, a dark hall of doors, a bank and an underground room. We thought we'd be introduced to a whole new world of lore but by the end it still feels like the universe they've created is only local.

I would have much preferred if the goblins were never shown, and the magic were more subtle, and the universe had better world-building, and the plot were more like The Adjustment Bureau. Is this based on a book? Did the author change after the opening chapters?

Inside (I) (2023)

Maybe I'm not artsy enough to appreciate this

[4/10 · 8 April 2023]

The movie sets off looking like it may be a heist flick - the main character, played by Dafoe, starts talking about his childhood, alluding to his motivations as an art thief, and no doubt foreshadowing.

As the movie progresses, we find that it's going to follow a rather predictable path. The set starts off super grating, with a minute of loud sirens, and repeated Macarena, and the set becomes ever more claustrophobic as you realise the character's not going anywhere, and neither are you. The only glimses outside of the apartment are where he's creeping on a cleaner on the security cameras, and occasionally fantasizing about her.

You may get frustrated at his feeble attempts at escaping his prison; for example giving up on dismantling a door; not stopping to try and reconnect or reset the home automation controller, not setting up a good way to collect water, or using many of the hard metal objects around him to chisel and hammer away through a wall.

Some scenes will allow you to see a little more of Dafoe than you perhaps wanted to, in some HD closeups. One scene which comes to mind is watching a drawn out scene where he takes a wizz with the seat down, splashes, and doesn't try to wash his hands; though later we see a water shortage so perhaps that's excusable.

Though throughout I found myself really frustrated by the character's lack of problem-solving abilities, his lack of resourcefulness, but perhaps that's the point all along; that he wasn't made for breaking and entering, and he should have become an artist.

But then why is his sketch-work so terrible? For someone who was fascinated in art his whole life, who revealed to have a sketchbook from an early age, who still carries one with him, why are his lines so bad? In the third act, it comes together briefly as he finally makes some art and perhaps himself becomes the exhibit, marking his final act.

Extrapolations: 2037: A Raven Story (2023) Season 1, Episode 1

A sombre reflection at what's just ahead of us

[9/10 · 8 April 2023]

This series starts with showing us around 2037, with wildfires, floods, water shortage, mass migration and ecosystem collapse. It focuses on a few people; a rabbi and his parents, a billionaire with a celebrity girlfriend trying to capitalize on climate disaster, and policymakers. It does focus on personal stories to bring this to life, but it doesn't really give as much up-close character-building I'd like. The actions and motivations seem a little simplistic.

It's a fair extrapolation, looking at 1.5 °C to 2 °C "with a ceiling of 2.3 °C". So you wont get "The Day After Tomorrow" vibes, and I feel this must have had some fact-checking.

Whilst all this is going on, I particularly like the little sci-fi details like wearables, cloned animals, personal AI assistants, holographic displays and fancy toothbrushes. If you're a fan of dystopian near-future world-building and sci-fi, or a fan of natural history, you might find this quite interesting.