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rachaelov
Reviews
The Last Push (2012)
A good effort
Visually, the special effects, the set itself, and overall film quality was pretty good on what I assume was probably quite a small budget.
In terms of physics I was far less convinced. The finale was wholly unconvincing and impossible, and it was amusing that the diagrams of the trajectory of slingshots were really passbys that would have added little momentum; and then the pointless burn; and that the sun seemed to be completely absent in any calculations or diagrams! Well, you can suspend disbelief, so it wasn't too much of a distraction.
However the writing about the state of mind of the astronaut wasn't very convincing at all, and neither were his decisions at the end of the film. Physically in terms of his body, his hair, his clothes there were no changes or deterioration over what we're to believe is three years. Psychologically there wasn't much in the way of change either. In short I didn't believe this man spent three years in a tiny tin can.
In the end I'd say this is a wholly worthy effort - it isn't dreadful or anything, and I didn't burst out laughing or shout at the screen. But in the end I was unconvinced, and insight into the human condition seems lacking. But I'll be interested to see what he does next.
Love (2011)
good effort, but...
This is a pretty good stab by a new director, but sadly the film just doesn't pull it together. The overall structure is disjointed: while the lives of the cosmonaut, and the civil war officer do echo each other, the echoes back and forth between their experiences aren't really explored beyond the superficial for me.
Then there's the mysterious appearance of the book... and the ending which just doesn't ring true. For a start it relied too much on referencing other films such as 2001 and Contact, rather than having the conviction in its own identity.
There are reviewers and commenter's going on about time machines, and aliens, with such conviction... and I really don't know where they get it all from. And if those assertions were true, it relies on that mind boggling news being concealed for nearly two centuries as some kind of conspiracy. So I'd say ignore those ideas, at least until you've seen it.
Still, the film does evoke a very believable cloying claustrophobia and isolation on the space station, with some very beautiful and effective moments. Eubank's skill as a cinematographer is apparent. But while his ambitions are high - and some sequences would stand on their own as vignettes - in the end his directorial skills are not enough to pull it together into a coherent whole.