Change Your Image
theonlyrealmeo
Reviews
Moonfall (2022)
Better than many
This is a much better movie than it has been treated as. The story line is classic space opera worthy of the H. L. Gold anthologies and the 40s and 50s pulps, but with excellent FX. Lots of the FX was superb. First rate. And the details of the moon (ship) and the ships within it, and the ancestral worlds and dockyard where beautifully done. OK, it lacked a little compared to something like Avatar, but it has epic scope and captivating action.
The acting is sometimes too shallow - you would like to sense an emotional buy in and the lines are given with enough power for a normal TV series episode, but this is a major work and the directing should have brought out that emotional connection. People under stress, if fear for their lives, existential struggle. That fix would have made it worth at least an 8. Lost potential and overlooked value - worth another look.
I have watched it three times now and a couple of months from now I will watch it again. It is one of those ...
It is way better than a "B" movie.
Anyone that likes good, hard, epic science fiction should be a fan.
Age of Tomorrow (2014)
Had potential. Really needs a sequel.
Look, Asylum? B-Movie territory, usually.
I can't help imagining a lot of leftover SFX people being used to crank these out, and left over from like Stargate and Universe. The SFX quality is way above the directing, way way above the editing, and even the actors all seem to have a lot more to give than the obvious rush to publish.
The writing also has some serious errors in an oblivious to actual science way.
Pulp Fiction, paperbacks from generations past, and a lot of comic-books have been done no better.
That cliffhanger ending left me hoping they might finish the story. Maybe finish better.
The Rig (2023)
Steven King could have done this one.
This was surprisingly well done. It starts off a bit slow while introducing the characters, which is a style that gets you involved. Then it slowly builds tensions. The threat is alien and powerful but is a fresh idea that is credible. It is not a story like a video arcade shoot-em-up, and that is a good thing. I'll watch HALO when I want that. The mystery is only slowly revealed and it keeps you wanting to know more, so as it is revealed you learn just how non-human, non-alien, and non-evil this possible existential threat could be. Or else how it could be a new best friend that can potentially cure all injury and disease and fill in the entire living history of the planet all the way to the beginning. IF. If the narrow minded knee-jerk fear-ruled arrogant high positioned "power elite" don't kill it first or else force it to kill us all.
Nothing in our way except human weakness, narrow minds, power struggles, and the slow learning curve versus a looming limits on time and patience.
I liked that they left so much unsaid and so many plot possibilities open.
Spoiler ahead:
On the rescue copter new questions emerge. Like, just where they were flying to (if 'not home'), how much remains of the human landscape after the new slip(s) and tsunami(s), and did anyone survive on the rig or the families on-shore.
Plenty of openings for a sequel.
It does not look like it should be especially pricey to make and if I am any example there is an audience.
How about it? Any plans yet for a "The Rig 2"?