I just watched STRANDED and its Bonus Features. I thought it was alright. It could have been more fun and suspenseful, but the concept is pretty good - meteor shower destroys much of a moon base's functionality and communications, leaving 4 astronauts stranded.
The ensemble is pretty good and each character is different from one another. The actors do a decent job with the material and props they have to work with. One example is how they talk into a communicator/holographic recorder, which is actually an auto-folding book light!!! You know it's a book light, but the actors keep a straight face, anyway. Same with some of the dialogue and character motivations (or lack thereof).
The writing and direction is pretty dodgy (from good to lame), but not unexpected from the man who brought you BATTLEFIELD EARTH! For example: There is an Earth-bound scene that could have had some real potential, but shooting it in daylight reveals a recovery team to be only one Hummer and 4 guys! Smoke and flashlights would have worked wonders - you could have used the same 4 guys, and made them look like a whole squad.
What really stood out for me was the use of miniatures over computer graphics. After reading about how cheap and awful this movie was supposed to be, I was pleasantly surprised with the look of the moon base, drilling machines, escape pod, and another ship that looked very good, in a Nostromo-type of landing. There is some CG, but it is appropriately used for heads up displays and holographs.
There are some creepy moments, involving contagion, a birth and clone replication. Some of the makeup effects are nice and gooey! Nothing mind-blowing, but I was happy to see some competent makeup effects. In other words, this isn't a SyFy computer FX fiasco, so points for that! To sum this up, the mainstream audience probably won't like this, but it's a potentially guilty pleasure for sci-fi/horror geeks, like myself. Just don't expect too much.
The ensemble is pretty good and each character is different from one another. The actors do a decent job with the material and props they have to work with. One example is how they talk into a communicator/holographic recorder, which is actually an auto-folding book light!!! You know it's a book light, but the actors keep a straight face, anyway. Same with some of the dialogue and character motivations (or lack thereof).
The writing and direction is pretty dodgy (from good to lame), but not unexpected from the man who brought you BATTLEFIELD EARTH! For example: There is an Earth-bound scene that could have had some real potential, but shooting it in daylight reveals a recovery team to be only one Hummer and 4 guys! Smoke and flashlights would have worked wonders - you could have used the same 4 guys, and made them look like a whole squad.
What really stood out for me was the use of miniatures over computer graphics. After reading about how cheap and awful this movie was supposed to be, I was pleasantly surprised with the look of the moon base, drilling machines, escape pod, and another ship that looked very good, in a Nostromo-type of landing. There is some CG, but it is appropriately used for heads up displays and holographs.
There are some creepy moments, involving contagion, a birth and clone replication. Some of the makeup effects are nice and gooey! Nothing mind-blowing, but I was happy to see some competent makeup effects. In other words, this isn't a SyFy computer FX fiasco, so points for that! To sum this up, the mainstream audience probably won't like this, but it's a potentially guilty pleasure for sci-fi/horror geeks, like myself. Just don't expect too much.