Tag: science fiction

Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die (2025)

Posted on by fenrisfil

Today, we’re checking out Gore Verbinski’s new independent movie “Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die”. I’ve been looking forward to this ever since I watched the trailer several months back. This is a black comedy/sci-fi movie about a time travelers attempts to prevent the AI Apocalypse. Verbinski, a vocal anti-AI advocate (Which goes a little with the theme here) directs and Matthew Robinson provides the script. Cinematography is by James Whitaker and Geoff Zanelli provides the music. It’s interesting to note Robinson’s script was knocking around for a while until producers at 3 Arts Entertainment realized recent developments in artificial intelligence had create a sweet spot for this kind of music and jumpstarted the film into production. The movie stars Sam Rockwell with support from Juno Temple, Harley Lu Richardson, Michael Peña, Zazie Beetz and Asim Chaudhry.

Arriving at a Los Angeles diner at 10:10pm, a mysterious man from the future appears to hold the restaurant hostage with a call to recruit a team of heroes to save the future. At first no one believes him, especially with the ridiculous outfit he is wearing, but he claims to have a bomb he can trigger at any time so they listen. He reveals information about each of them he shouldn’t have any knowledge of including predicting what they may say. Still, most are reluctant to join. After a couple of volunteers he picks the remaining team himself and the mission can begin. He warns them, it will be dangerous, confusing and they won’t all make it. He should know, this is his 117th attempt and all previous ones failed.

Attempt 117

Right out the gate this movie is a whole load of fun. But before I dive in, I want to take a moment to compliment the trailers for this film too. The trailer focused on the diner opening, but gave little away. Yet, I wanted to see this as soon as I saw the trailer. So, good work there. Anyway, the diner scene is a strong start. The premise is laid out, there’s a reasonable amount of comedy, and an entire groundhog day style section. Not that we see the timeline repeat. It’s more like that scene late on in Groundhog day where Bill Murray realizes he knows everyone around him intimately. The scene plays out well.Right up until he selects his team, you are somewhat guessing who will join him. The only exception is the depressed woman in the Princess outfit (Richardson’s “Ingrid”). She was clearly always coming.

That also ties in to the one, sort-of negative of the movie. There is a twist involving Ingrid that I saw coming a mile off. That said, this didn’t impact my enjoyment one bit and she was probably my favorite character of the team. The assembled team are all entertaining, though some are more relevant than others. Four of them are given a backstory via flashback that is used to break up the main plot. Each of these is a story in it’s own right, with it’s own message/social commentary. They all form part of the larger puzzle too, with it all coming together by the end. Three of the team however are there to be expendable. Perhaps that’s a negative, but the film is upfront with why they are there and what is likely to happen. Funnily enough, even they ended up being entertaining.

The Always Connected, Disconnected Society

This is a film with something to say. None of it is ground breaking, but it is natural, well expressed and entertaining. The movie looks at Phone obsession, the difficulties of teaching students while they are all distracted by tik tok and other nonsense (Especially the challenge of getting them to read a book). It also jokes of the goofiness of memes and AI prompting and the awkward intrusiveness of built in advertising. Entering darker territory, the movie examines the apathy towards school shootings and the concept of replacing the dead with AI copies. The movie examines our own loss of humanity while making all the above actually funny. The largest angle though is examining the growth of actual AI (Not just LRMs) and looking at the desire to give up on the real world and live in a virtual one.

Deep stuff, but the movie manages to say its bit, while making you laugh and keeping your focus. This isn’t really an action movie, but the action in it is solid and serves it’s purpose well. It doesn’t have Hollywood polish, but they managed a few things I’ve never seen before in regards to action. So I don’t see any negatives there. Due to the length of the flashbacks, the main plot is shorter than perhaps you’d expect. This another one of those parts where I don’t really see it as a negative, but it’s worth noting. The journey isn’t quite as epic as promised, but the story doesn’t suffer for it. There are gaps in the information we’re given, mostly involving everything between our heroes childhood and when he started time traveling. It is left a mystery, yet one that the film doesn’t really need answered.

Conclusion

This movie has quickly become a favorite for me. In recent years I’ve found movies to be lacking so many elements that are present in this movie. The originality, the fun factor, having something to say that doesn’t just leave me rolling my eyes and going “This… again?” It is all so refreshing. In previous decades this would be a definite cult classic. Something like Donnie Darko in the 2000’s or The Big Lebowski in the 90’s. These days though, the market for movies is more diluted and has so much competition from, funnily enough a lot of the things the movie is making it’s commentary on. I don’t know if the movie can make back it’s small budget or will get to become the legendary cult classic it deserve to be.

I’m going to do my bit for it though. I may be ending this blog this year so perhaps it’s not a bad time to break my highest rating yet. This is a high 8.5/10. Honestly, I may even rase this to a nine. Go see this movie.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Bugonia (2025)

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Before I move into reviews of 2026 movies, I have one more movie from last year to cover. Bugonia is Yorgos Lathimos sci-fi/black comedy based on the Korean movie “Save the Green Planet!” (2003). Will Tracy provides the screenplay, Robbie Ryan cinematography and Jerskin Fendrix, the music. The movie features a small cast with Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons doing the heavy lifting. Aidan Delbis and Stavros Halkias provide support. The Korean original is a bit of a cult classic, written and directed by Jang Joon-hwang. This version has had a number of significant changes, obviously it is set in the US, two characters are gender swapped (one each way) and the ending is a little different.

The movie follows Teddy and Don as they abduct business woman Michelle, whom they suspect of being an alien. Teddy has an alien conspiracy theory where he believes “Andromedans” roam the Earth and are controlling the fates of humanity. He intends to torture the truth out of Michelle. Don meanwhile is mentally challenged and going along with Teddy, even though what they are doing goes against his nature. It seems however this may be more personal as Michelle’s company were involved in a botched drug trial that saw Teddy’s mother fall into a coma.

Frailty Meets They Live

Effectively this is “Frailty” (2001) meets “They Live” (1988), at least that is where it starts. Combining two good ideas isn’t the worst plan, but it’s not that original. Emma Stone is a good actress, so she largely sustains most of the movie. Jess Plemons is solid too. As a small cast movie you really do need good actors, and in that regard this succeeded. However as a small cast drama/thriller it is mid tier at best. The humour is okay, but in my view conflicts with the drama. Goofy awkwardness in a battle of wits doesn’t really work that well. Overall though the first two acts of the film are pretty good and the movie was verging on a 6.5 rating with me. But then the final act happened….

Spoilers from here on out. I’m not saying specifics of what happened, but to discuss the film further I am revealing the “Truth”. Yes, the movie doesn’t leave it ambiguous (Which it probably should have), so if you don’t want to know if Michelle is really an alien or not, skip to the conclusion. Suffice to say, my rating went down from a 6.5 to a 5 because of the final act and where it went. It is also an ending that you can pretty much predict long before it arrives and one very much just par for the course for science fiction from the last decade. Sadly.

Then There Was the Ending…. (SPOILERS)

After a reasonable start as a psychological thriller/black comedy, the film devolves into the worst of science fiction cliches. That includes both classic cliches and more modern ones. First of all we have the “Alien visitor that is the judge and jury of humanity” trope. Usually with this trope someone manages to prove humanity worth saving despite it’s flaws. In the “Doomer” era though, no such luck. The 2026 version of this trope is humans are an irredeemable scourge on this planet that need to be destroyed… Yeah, this is why AI’s giving humans what they want is how you get Skynet, but I digress. The trope is a cliché and while one could argue this is a subversion it is exactly what you’d expect it to be in the current year.

The second trope is “Humans were created by aliens”, which is an overused trope but perhaps not at full cliché level yet. “Prometheus” (2012) was the last time I saw it. The most overdone sci-fi trope of all though is the “Humans were the greatest evil after all” cliché. I recall this feeling worn out back when they used it in Matrix 3 in 2003. It’s a trope so tired that Futurama mocked it openly that same year, 22 years before this movie came out and ironically when “Save the Green Planet!” came out, the movie this was adapted from. That film also features this trope, but has a somewhat less preachy version of it.

Modern Year Nonsense

But the tropes alone are not enough in 2026. It has to have a modern day progressive message to it, throwing on extra layers of cliché. First of all accusing humans of not living in harmony with nature. Yet, this alien race that accidentally exterminated the dinosaurs and literally created humans supposedly only does benevolent things in balance with nature (Like exterminate entire species). It’s the kind of illogical premise that is all too prevalent in our media today. Instead of trying to guide humans or let them figure it out themselves, they start genetically modifying humans. When the aliens also become corrupt through the power they hold on Earth, they blame it on human influence.

But it doesn’t end there. Visually, the aliens are pretty much a “United colors of Benetton” advert, but with one obviously missing demographic: White Men. It was at that moment I realized why they gender swapped the two characters (The alien was originally a male and kidnapper’s sidekick was female). So it’s not hard to see what this version of the story is trying to say. White men are the cause of all the worlds problems. More than anything else, this is itself a tired cliché that audiences have been hammered with for the last decade. I also have to wonder why the aliens all looks like specific human demographics, when all modern humans are meant to be mutants evolved from apes, not the beings directly created by Andromededans. The answer is obvious.

Conclusion

The original movie had a similar ending, but was a lot less preachy in its execution. As a result it avoided most of those cliches and managed to keep a more consistent tone, while still managing to have something to say. So it shows it wasn’t so much what happened in final act that ruins this movie, but how it was executed. This is a movie of two halves, a reasonable psychological thriller with black comedy elements that turns into a goofy, lecturing cliché-fest for the landing. Ultimately it takes the original Korean story and forces it painfully through a modern western lens, something that adds nothing and takes everything.

The absolute highest I can rate this movie is a 5/10. I don’t feel I totally wasted 2 hours watching this movie, but I can’t in good faith recommend anyone goes out of their way to do likewise. What I do recommend is watching “Frailty” (2001) and “They Live” (1988). Far better movies with more interesting things to say. I also recommend “Save the Green Planet!” (2003), though not as strongly. My final note here is to say how sad I find it that modern science fiction is no longer able to find the good in humanity. Instead it always seems to be angrily lecturing us. Classic sci-fi had it’s warnings and lectures, but usually managed to have optimism too. Not that all sci-fi has to be positive, but the negativity has become so predictable in recent years.

Rating: 5 out of 10.

Bonus Level: Save The Green Planet (2003) – Spoilers

I think it is worth giving a brief comparison here between “Bugonia” (2025) and the movie it is a remake of. “Save the Green Planet” is written and directed by Jang Joon-hwan. It is a bit of a cult movie, not terribly well known (Most people don’t realize Bugonia is a remake). The plot is basically the same. However, there are key difference that make it easily superior. First of all there seems to be more depth to that film. There are more characters and more interactions (For example it’s not one clueless cop, but two competent ones). However the key events largely play out the same, with the except of the role of the kidnappers sidekick. In the Korean movie, this character is the kidnappers girlfriend and she makes it to nearly the end of the movie. Humanity and the aliens involvement are the same, as is the final twist with the kidnapped CEO.

However, the extra layers do add a lot. There is more context to most of it and there is no “Modern lens”. The kidnapper is treated more sympathetically. The failings of humanity are the failings of humanity. It isn’t painting like it’s just western culture (I mean, it’s a Korean film, so that wouldn’t make sense). It’s definitely not hinting that white men are the problem and there’s no hinting at the kidnappers as “Incels” because of the girlfriend sidekick (The chemical castration bit is entirely original to Bugonia). The aliens look and outfits resembles an alien civilization, not non-caucasica Earth tribes. Also in the last few moments the aliens expose themselves as just as brutal and there is no attempt to excuse it. In Bugonia, Emma Stone’s character does, blaming humans. Finally, the aliens blow up the planet instead of just wiping out humans.

Conclusion II – Electric Boogaloo

There is more gore to the Korean film too and a bit of action to the finale. Overall, while it still suffers from a few sci-fi cliches, it is presented in enough of an original way for it not to really matter that much. The Koreans seem almost as adept as the Japanese at blending genres and they do it far more effectively than their American counterparts. The movie definitely is not for everybody. It is worthy of a 6/10. If you like Korean cinema or just want to see a better version of “Bugonia”, give it a shot.

At the time Save The Green Planet came out, I wouldn’t have found the “Humanity bad” conclusion as grating, but the thing is right now the world is suffering largely due to elements of society hating itself. I’ve said it before, but when Skynet comes to wipe us out, it won’t be because it, as a computer has judged humanity as bad. Rather it will be because it wants to give humans what they desire and right now more around 50% of people seem to want to see us wiped out for the good of the planet. One of the most important tropes in sci-fi stems from seeking the good in humanity. We seem to have forgotten how to do that. That is true of real life as well as our fiction.

Rating: 6 out of 10.

The Man From Planet X (1951)

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Tonight we’re hitting the 50’s. The era that popularized science fiction horror. It paved the way for films like Alien, Terminator, Pitch Black, Event Horizon and even Terrorvision. In most cases these early sci-fi horrors were more firmly science fiction with horror elements where as now it’s more the other way around. This is “The Man From Planet X” and independent movie from 1951. Directed by Edgar G Ulmer and written by Aubrey Isberg and Jack Pollexton. John L Russell provides cinematography and Charles Koff the music. The movie stars Robert Clarke, Marget Fielding and William Schallert.

A rogue planet enters our solar system on a trajectory that will take it close to Earth. “Professor Elliot” (Raymond Bond) sets about observing it, but the encounter becomes far closer than expected. When his daughter Enid (Fielding) stumbles upon an alien craft in the Scottish highland, the professor and American journalist “John Lawrence” (Clarke) go to investigate. Finding the alien apparently non hostile they return to their lab with the being and try to communicate. Unfortunately the professors colleague Dr. Mears (Schallert) has his own plans for the alien. With his betrayal, the alien becomes hostile and with the threat of invasion it is down to Lawrence to stop the being.

Close Encounter

This is a very simple movie, but where it stands out among a flood of sci-fi horrors of the period is the ambiguity. The audience never gets to find out the truth of their visitors attention. The heroes speculate that the alien was peaceful but that the assault from the ambitious Dr. Mears forced him to change plans. The implication is that these beings wanted to co-exist with humanity on Earth but were willing to take the world by force if necessary. Since we don’t hear this from the alien it is entirely human speculation. However, usually you’d expect either evil aliens trying to conquer Earth or benevolent ones aghast at the behavior of humanity. The ambiguity is probably more realistic.

The alien itself is pretty interesting, especially for the period. It looks humanoid, but not at all human like. The blank expression of course was partially down to what they could do with FX at the time, but it works. That the alien tries to communicate with music tones is a great concept and I suspect one that heavily influenced Stephen Speilberg many years later for “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”. They don’t actually make much of it here because the person that figures it out is a villain and so wants to keep it secret. The characters here are all somewhat one dimensional and merely service the plot, but the acting is good enough throughout.

Conclusion

Overall this is a mildly entertaining movie that doesn’t overstay it’s welcome. The concept is interesting and the acting is solid. But there’s not a lot more to it than that. There’s no particularly memorable scenes, none of the characters are particularly interesting and none of the performances stand out. It’s all just very average, at least though a modern lens. I can only give this a 5.5/10. Only recommended for those that like 50’s sci-fi.

Rating: 5.5 out of 10.

Alien: Earth – Episode Seven

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Well, I wasn’t going to do single episode reviews for this show, but here we are. This one is going to be a bit of a rant because this show just jumped the shark. To be fair, it jumped the shark in episode two but I was willing to give it another chance. Now it’s playing pat-a-cake with Cthulhu. I’m not sure if this episode was as terrible as it felt or if it was just the straw the broke the camels back. There is only so much stupid I can deal with and I regularly watch B-Movie horror films. Last October I reviewed “Bad CGI Gator”. I can handle stupid. But there has to be limits. This is the dumbest episode of the series so far and one of the most disappointing. Of course we get some “Xenomorph” kills and a chest burst scene so some people will give it a pass I’m sure.

The Idiot Olympics

This episode killed off my interest in two out of three of the characters I previously found worth watching. Morrow is now just an idiot. Kirsh meanwhile lost all his mystery and it turns out he just manages situations by letting them get as out of control and have as high a body count as possible and then wrap it up at the last possible moment. That’s not a good management style! He may be the dumbest character of all. He’s only a step ahead of Morrow because he has access to the android hybrids sensory information and Morrow is too stupid to realize this. If you’ve been following, you’ll know the third of those characters and now the only one I’m interested in is the eyeball squid. This is where I’m at now with this show.

It’s easy to forget that Kirsh is actually meant to be the head scientist, not security chief. So why does he seem to be in charge of managing the security of the island, even down to being able to let these situations get wildly out of control so he can pull a trap that relies on Morrow being a complete tool. The actual security chief seems to be completely out of the loop of everything that actually involves security. Instead it seems to be running human resources. And that was one other character I was warming to. Nope, another idiot. Still, Morrow takes the cake for stupidity. His plan involved hoping a chestburster didn’t burst, having no plan to recover it if it did and then just marching straight in through the front door of the facility with only two troops supporting him, directly into an obvious kill zone.

My Pet Alien

Sadly, the stupidity doesn’t end there. All the hybrid androids are so incredibly stupid that I want to see them get wiped out. Especially Wendy, who is a complete sociopath. Now though, she’s a sociopath with the magic power of controlling “Xenomorphs” and despite my past speculation, the reason for this ability seems to be “Because we thought it’d be cool”. It isn’t. It takes the agency from the aliens themselves, making them pointless. That they can even be controlled, especially by some random android with the mind of a child, ruins them. They made a conscious decision to move the iconic aliens from “Scary” to “Cute”. That sums up this series really. You don’t need to fear the Aliens, you need to fear Wendy and Nibs.

In the previous episode the “Clever” people in charge decided that wiping Nibs memory of her psychotic breakdown would make everything okay. They didn’t bother to tell any of the other kids. They didn’t think that huge multi-day gap in her memory would be noticed (Including not know who Joe is, or the where the aliens came from). Nibs is clearly psychotic, but Wendy decided of all the kids she was the one that needed to be in the outside world She didn’t even look for Slightly and Smee. But then, Wendy is just as bad as Nibs. She happily releases her pet “Xenomorph” to kill innocent lab workers so that she can later use it to kill anyone else in her path. This is not a “Good” character.

The Hierarchy of Intelligence

Our one remaining good guy, the damp behind the ears Joe finally develops a character trait beyond protecting his “Sister”. But it’s nothing deeper than a basic regard for human life. This was enough to put him at odds with his sister however. Joe finally stands up to her blood lust and she acts with shock and revulsion, like he is the villain. This brings me to one of the make or break questions of the show. Do the show runners realize Wendy is a villain? We won’t find out until the final episode and honestly I’m not sure which way it’ll go. We may also find out if there is any believable reason for her magic powers. I’m guessing no to that one.

The one character left that is interesting is eyeball squid. It’s painfully obvious Kavalier wants to put the squid on Joe. I still think he’s destined to get it himself. That is a scene I am looking forward to in the finale. Kavalier is also an idiot, but that’s his character arc. He is destined to be a victim of his own hubris and that is fine. Right now the smartest character on this show is Eyeball Squid, followed by the various bug aliens, then probably the plant pod, who is still do contribute anything. The “Xenomorph’s” come in last among the creatures, but still ahead of the humans. I am starting to wonder if this show is actually set in the Idiocracy universe.

The Downward Spiral

Before I get to my verdict, were there any positives? The pace in this episode was good. Quite a lot happened (Even if most of it was stupid). As I mentioned, Joe finally got some character development. We did get “Xenomorph” action That’s it, but the action wasn’t great. For the third episode in a row they casually called the aliens “Xenomorphs”. There’s no getting around it, they’ve canonized a fan misinterpretation of a line from Aliens. They also started to refer to Synthetics as “Synths”, which isn’t a canon violation or anything, but does make the dialogue sound more like “Fallout” than “Aliens” (Where they said “Synthetic” or “Android”). Oh and there continues to be no reason for this show to be prequel.

So what’s the verdict? Well you can tell from the ranting that I was not a fan of this one. I know some people don’t mind a plot that requires total stupidity from everyone involved for it to work. I also know most people don’t really care about how the show impacts the larger franchise. That kind of thing is only important to those nerdy enough to re-watch an entire franchise. That’s me. I’m nerdy enough. So I want every entry in a franchise to be complementary and not contrary. I’m giving this episode a 4/10 and reducing the series rating to a 5/10. Recommendation rescinded! The show has one last chance to win me over. Can it do it?

Rating: 5 out of 10.

Alien Earth (Episodes 4-6)

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Well after three more episodes I think it is time to update my review. That said, the jury is still out on this one. I’ve never come across a series I find so much to both love and hate about at once. That’s not to say it’s all extreme one way or the other, there is a lot of “Meh” to go about too. It is frankly all over the place. So let’s go over the Good, the bad and the Meh first and then’ll I’ll give you a score per episode.

Everybody Loves Eyeball Squid

No, that’s not a new sitcom, though I would probably watch it. We’re starting with the good and top of that list is Eyeball Squid. By far the coolest of the new species introduced in this show and one that could probably have worked in it’s own movie. Probably not it’s own TV series, but I could definitely see (pun not intended) it working for a movie. The creature is mysterious, creepy as hell and totally original. Of course where there is mystery there is room for disappointment. But so far, so good. The other new aliens, while not interesting enough for their own movie are also positives. We finally saw the bug-fly things in action in episode 6 and so the only creature not to have done anything of note is the plant pod. I’m sure it’s time will come.

Timothy Olliphant and Babou Ceesay continue to be the stand out actors. In episode five we learn more information about Morrow (Ceesay), which humanizes him somewhat. He continues to be a solid antagonist though. Olliphant’s Kirsh also continues to play the stealth antagonist. His goals are still no clearer and mostly he just reminds me of Michael Fassbender’s “David” in Prometheus/Covenant. That is a rogue android with his own agenda and no real care for humanity. Of course he could end up to simply be part of a scheme of one corporation boss or another, but I think he is more likely rogue. Adrian Edmondson is doing quite well as a secondary antagonist too. Small role, but he plays it well. Vyvyan has come a long way since the Young Ones.

A Xenomorph May Be Involved

So, let’s talk about the negatives and with this series its biggest issue is the continued massive dump from orbit the show keeps doing on to Ellen Ripley and the movie “Aliens”. The first movie is a little more protected since all that matters for that one is that the crew (Ash aside) are oblivious to the creatures. In Aliens however a team of space marines take Ripley along as the “Expert” on these unknown creatures. They take her because she’s the only person that has encountered them before. The Marines have no knowledge of these creatures and are woefully unprepared for what they are walking in to. Many people prefer Aliens to the original movie (I love both, but generally prefer the first). It’s objectively one of the best sequels ever made.

In Aliens, Gorman says the word “Xenomorph” as a general way of saying “Alien species”. He was informing the marines that they may be facing an alien life form of some kind. He wasn’t saying this specific, well known species. Since this was a cool word and not one that you’d hear in other franchises, fans started to use it to refer to the creatures themselves. Some because they didn’t understand the scene, others just for convenience (Since “Alien” doesn’t really narrow down what you are talking about). But now, in Alien: Earth they have twice deliberately used the word “Xenomorph” to refer to this specific species. It’s bad enough that it reveals a strange familiarity with them, but it also totally recontextualizes that scene in Aliens.

Why Is This A Prequel?

The problem goes beyond just the name, it also goes to the context. Ripley was meant to be the expert on these creatures and yet now thanks to this being a prequel her inclusions seems like a sick joke. Already Weyland-Yutani had a huge amount of information on the creatures. Now they even named it and when Gorman mentions the name in Aliens, he’s talking about a specific species and the space marines all seem to know exactly what he’s talking about. The series shows tactics and weapons designed to deal with the creatures and yet the marines head in spraying bullets in a way that was always destined to get them them covered in acid. Even if all the characters on this island die, Weyland-Yutani will still have their information. Man, space marines are morons.

So, why is this a prequel? So far I haven’t seen a single thing that means this show needed to be set before Alien. Almost all of these problems go away if it is a sequel instead of a prequel. Adopting the fan name for the creature is still dumb, but it doesn’t break past movies. If they introduced the black goo then at least it would make some sense as a prequel to Alien: Romulus, but then that shouldn’t have been a prequel either! Anyway, that aside my main complaint is how everyone is stupid. So much of this plot relies on stupidity to happen. It’s not a deal breaker for a horror series, but it is annoying.

Enough With The Peter Pan Stuff!

On to the Meh. I’m so very bored with the constant Peter Pan references. One of the characters themselves drew attention to how the analogy doesn’t even make sense in the first place since Kavalier is giving children adult bodies and expecting them to act like adults. This is the opposite to “Never growing up”. It’s something so dumb and obvious that the dumb characters in the show actually call it out. But it is relentless and it plays into another aspect of the show and that is it’s tendency to slow right down to a crawl for little to no benefit.

Another problem is I still don’t like either of the protagonists or really any of the characters at all. I appreciate Morrow and Kirsh, but they are antagonists, so I don’t actually like them. I don’t even appreciate Kavalier. To be fair some antagonists are there to make you want to see them get killed later on and I’m pretty sure the shoe fits here. But you are supposed to like the good guys. Joe has no agency outside of his sister and apparently little personality. Wendy meanwhile is that mixture of nativity and confidence that just makes you want to see them choke on their own hubris. It’s not endearing. The rest of the hybrid children are just as bad and this has been a constant since episode one.

Episode 4 – Do You See What Eye See

This was the episode that made Eyeball Squid everyone’s favourite. It didn’t even need to do a whole lot, but it was so well done it made the episode. The rest was a mixture of interesting and stupid. It did give me some theories about the hybrid androids having some kind of relationship with the black goo, but since that hasn’t been shown or talked about in this show (And is divisive with fans anyway), I’m probably way off. In the end the answer to how Wendy is communicating with the Aliens may just end up being “Because the plot needed that to happen”. We will see. This was a decent episode. 6/10

Episode 5 – A Prequel’s Prequel

I am already annoyed by the series being a prequel. So when I realized this episode was a prequel to that prequel, I wasn’t impressed. We get to see the events that lead to the ship crash on earth. We already know there will only be one survivor so the stakes here do not exist. Fortunately though the episode excelled in it’s execution. I mentioned in my previous review I was a big fan of the set design for the space ship and said it was a shame we didn’t see more of it. Here we did and it’s largely a stand alone Alien movie. Though one with a known outcome. The reason for holding this episode back was for one reveal about why the ship crashed. Barely seemed worth it, but the truth is this was the best episode yet. 7/10

Episode 6 – A Bad Day in the Lab

And then we are back to the main story and I can’t help but feel disappointed by it. This was another mostly slow episode that really hit us around the face with Peter Pan nonsense while very little happened. However, when it did happen it was pretty cool and went some way to redeeming the episode. We finally get to see the sixth alien species and it didn’t disappoint. Not as cool as Eyeball Squid, but who is? There was good here including a scene between Oliphant and Ceesay, but it wasn’t really enough for me to call this a good episode. 5.5/10

Conclusion – Marginal Improvement

So the good news is overall these three episodes have raised my average score (Slightly) and I am swaying more to the positive with the show. If this wasn’t a prequel I may even have been up to a 7/10 by now. However, the characters being idiots and the “Good” guys being unlikable would have held it from landing much higher. It is a prequel though and so it does still run a wrecking ball through the franchise. Still, the atmosphere is good, the creatures are fun and there is enough of interest here to have me speculating.

I’m also glad the obvious “Bloke in a suit” movement of the Alien in episode one and two hasn’t been repeated, so visually the show is improving too. If you haven’t watched the series yet, I think I can call it a cautious recommendation now. I’m raising the score to 6.5/10. Technically the average is only just over 6/10 but I feel a 6.5 is fair. We have two more episodes to go, so I’ll check in with you again when it is all over. A bad or good ending will make or break this series, so there is everything still to play for.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10.

Alien: Earth (2025) Episodes 1-3

Posted on by fenrisfil

While I don’t normally review TV shows, I simply have too much to say about the new Disney Plus Alien franchise show from Noah Hawley, to just let it slide. So this will be a discussion and review of the firsts three episodes. I may do an update after episodes 4-6 have landed. This will have spoilers, but nothing major (Because there isn’t really anything major to spoil yet).

Alien: Earth is the tenth and latest live action entry in the Aliens franchise (Including the two Predator crossover movies). This is a franchise that really doesn’t feel like it’s on it’s tenth entry, but it’s worth noting that SIX of these entries are prequels. Five entries are set before the original Alien movie and one is set in between that and it’s sequel, Aliens. To be fair, two are the Predator crossovers and those are very much in a different continuity (Especially since Xenomorphs shouldn’t exist before the events of Prometheus). However we still have four prequels and the issue that the franchise hasn’t actually moved forward in time since “Alien Resurrection” in 1997. Ridley Scott’s prequels at least had a reason to be prequels.

Synopsis

So following on from the mild box office success and equally mild viewer disappointment of “Alien:Romulus” (Set between Alien and Aliens), we have another prequel. This time set before any of the main series films, including the original. Technically this TV show is the follow up to Alien: Covenant (Set 16 years after the events in that film). The story begins with a Weyland-Yutani space ship crashing down to Earth after the dangerous alien lifeforms it was transporting for study break out of containment and cause havoc. The vessel crashes into a territory controlled by a rival corporation, immediately causing a conflict.

The rival corporation, “Prodigy” (A bit of an on-the-nose name for a new corporation created by a child prodigy), seems to be primarily interested in creating androids with human consciousness. Their technology limits them to working with children and so they take terminally ill children and effectively grant them immortality by giving them adult android bodies. Sticking with the painfully on-the-nose theme, their research center is called “Neverland” and the first child transferred to an android is named “Wendy” (Sydney Chandler). Of course the story of Peter Pan was about children not wanting to become adults, while here the children are forced into adulthood early and for all eternity. But no doubt they thought they were being clever with the reference.

The Global Mega Corporations

It’s worth noting the Weyland-Yutani Corporation has a very minimal presence in this story despite it being their space craft. The focus is far more on the new Prodigy corporation invented for this show. This of course gives the writers a chance to explore new ideas without impacting canon too much. However it must be noted, it does still impact canon and they would have had far more freedom had they simply not made this a prequel. So while the movies focus on Weyland-Yutani’s story, the awkwardly named “New” corporation will now have a retrospective presence throughout the first four Alien films and Romulus.

It’s also worth noting that the exposition thrown in to the opening scene is an major lore change for the Aliens universe. Previously while corporations were obviously powerful and dangerous in this universe, the Earth wasn’t ruled by “The five mega-corporations”. This is a new (Somewhat generic) Dystopian addition to the lore of the universe and it does significantly re-frame the previous movies. Now the blue collar crew of the Nostromo were never just regular working people, they were people oppressed by a mega corporation that routinely sacrificed human life for the corporate good. In that regard the actions of their android Ash are no longer surprising in any way.

Aesthetics

Exposition dump and lore change aside, the opening scene of the first episode is actually a high point. The scene displays the effort that has gone into set design and wardrobe. This pairs off well with a soundtrack clearly inspired by the original Alien. This was a very good start even if I found the exposition a bit too obviously. I also noticed the “One of everything” diversity in the casting, this is present throughout the show. Not a deal breaker for sure, but even in the future it seems unlikely every group of people will have an exact balance of gender and ethnicity. Overall the opening was good up until the point the Xenomorph appeared. The problem here was it really moved like a human being and looked non-organic.

Now I am fairly certain this is a CGI alien, so the movement must come from the motion capture and it’s odd how they must have gone to a lot of effort to have the Alien totally fail to move in an alien like manner. Why even do motion capture for such a creature? The fact that when you see the Alien up close it looks like it’s made of rubber and the end result if you have a CGI Xenomorph that looks like a dude in a rubber suit. Not good. He brute forces his way around the place like Jason Voorheese. It is rare in this show (So far) that the Alien actually acts like the Alien monsters we know.

Creatures and Characters

What does add some welcome variety to the show though is the presence of additional aliens and for me, while their CGI effects are also somewhat lacking, they are the most interesting aspect of this show. Outside of the Engineers and proto-xenomorphs, we haven’t seen other alien lifeforms in the Aliens series. It’s also not something that is likely to damage canon . I especially liked the Eyeball Squid thing that pops up in episode two. It’s worth noting though none of these creatures are very much sidelined in the story. By the third episode it seems their role may even be totally done with for the series now. If that is the case, that would be a waste.

Character wise I am only really interested in Timothy Olyphant android scientist and Babou Ceesay cyborg (And sole agent for Weyland-Yutani). I don’t find the human children in android bodies at all interesting, nor do I care about Wendy and her still human brother Joseph. Those two are meant to be the shows protagonists but they have very little chemistry or conflict (With Joe accepting Wendy as his sister very quickly). They are both fairly bland characters with little in the way of agency outside of Wendy’s desire to reunite with and protect her brother. I find the whole idea of having android’s with human consciousness as your primary focus a bad idea as it essentially turns this into superheroes vs Aliens.

Superheroes Vs Aliens

The biggest problem with the show is there are no real stakes. As a result there is little to actually generate fear or tension. The show has to entirely rely on the atmosphere it can generate with the aesthetic because they neutered the story. As a prequel, we know this isn’t the end for The Earth. Indeed we know that it had so little impact that Ripley and friends had no knowledge of the incident. This leaves the show caught between plot holes and being too neatly wrapped up. Neither is good. But add to that how most of the people now facing the Aliens are superhuman android hybrids and we have very little actual threat at all. This reduces tension and fear. Last but not least, I simply don’t care about these characters. All I have left is enjoying the aesthetics.

The first episode featured most of the good material so far. I was dazzled by the set design. The hybrid android stuff dragged the pace and the episode felt generally slow, but it was a solid start. The Xenomorph was a bit strange, but at least we got to see it. The second episode was a step down. Directing became sloppy and the Alien continued to look and act wrong. A couple of good scenes avoided total disaster, but overall it was disappointing. Episode three improved marginally and we actually got a lot of character development. But it also had a Xenomorph dealt with far too easily and totally off screen. The creature is still moving like a guy doing motion capture. Most annoyingly though, just as it was looking like things were going to really kick off, instead they hit a reset button and slowed things down again.

Conclusion

It’s now clear these first three episodes are effectively a prologue. Which means the pace is very unlikely to pick up. Alien: Earth is a mixed bag. They have definitely got some things right, but they got a lot wrong too. The pacing is a big issue, but somewhat expected as a TV series. A larger problem is the decision to make this a prequel. “Alien Resurrection”, which is still the last Alien film continuity-wise, ended with a ship with Aliens on crashing to Earth. This series could have been a direct follow up to that with only minimal changes. Instead they made it a prequel and that seems to add nothing of value while making almost every creative event in the show a canon violation, many of which will be deal breakers for fans.

The one thing I can never accept is when a new franchise entry does something that diminishes the original and most loved films. Those original franchise entries that everything else is built on top of. This show appears to do that. But we won’t really know how bad until it is over. For now it is just above the line where I am willing to stick with it. The set design is great. The world building is interesting, though often feels like a different science fiction series and not Alien (It’s very Cyberpunk). That world building also becomes a negative when it messes with canon. By episode three the characters are actually starting to develop some personality, though I can’t say I like them just yet.

Ratings and Recommendation

In my view if you are a more casual fan, you may well enjoy this show. Providing you don’t mind the slow pace. If you are a big Aliens fan though, you may want to hold off for a bit until the series is all available. Then we can assess just how badly it violates canon and if the Xenomorphs finally start acting more like the cunning, stealthy monsters they are. My ratings for the episodes so far:

Episode One – 6.5/10 – Mostly good due to the aesthetics, but some questionable effects, plot choices and pace.
Episode Two – 5.5/10 – Sloppy Seconds, still slow, but getting goofy in places too. Cool eyeball squid though. Lots of gore.
Episode Three – 6/10 – Disappointing fight between android and Alien concluding off screen. The show is getting even slower, but at least the characters are showing some personality.


Series Average = 6/10 – Slow and inconsistent with major canon issues. However excellent set designs and aesthetics and a plot that I am at least curious to see where it goes will keep me watching… for now.

Check out my review of episodes 4-6

Rating: 6 out of 10.

Electric State (2025)

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Today I am reviewing the huge £320m budget “Electric State” movie from the Russo brothers on Netflix. It’s worth noting as these Netflix movies usually go straight to streaming or just have a limited release. That means they don’t need to spend the extra 50% of the production costs for P&A. This may explain why they are happy to pay so much up front, however without a full theatrical release the movie can only find value on the streaming service itself. I won’t be too critical of the business model because Netflix are by far the most successful streaming service, so they seem to know what they are doing. Plus, they are actually making original content. Even if it’s only because they don’t own many IP’s of their own, it’s still a good thing.

Anyway, the Russo’s are of course the directors behind some of the biggest MCU movies. They are returning to that franchise for “Doomsday” and “Secret Wars”. No doubt Marvel hopes they will change the MCU’s flagging fortunes. “Electric State” is based extremely loosely on the 2018 graphic novel by Simon Stålenhag. Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely provide the screenplay, Stephen F. Windon cinematography and the music is by Alan Silvestri. The cast includes Millie Bobby Brown, Chris Pratt, Stanley Tucci, Anthony Mackie, Woody Harrelson, Alan Tudyk, Holly Hunter, Giancarlo Esposito, Brian Cox and many more. The huge cast of relatively famous actors may explain part of the budget. Anyway, let’s dive in.

Man Vs Machine

The movie is set in an alternative 1990’s, after a war between humans and robots in the 1980’s. The aftermath of that war sees the robots all contained in one particular area “The exclusion zone”. Meanwhile the “Neurocaster” technology used to defeat them, which allows humans to jack into a global network and take control of their own robot drones, has gone mainstream. In this future the majority of people are happy to live most of their lives in a vegetative state while controlling their robot drones. Our protagonist Michelle (Bobby Brown) lives an unhappy life with her foster father after her parents and brother are killed in a car accident during the war.

One day a robot turns up at her house claiming to be controlled by her brother and asking her to go and find him. She leaves determined to find out the truth about what happened to him. To do so she has to find a way into the exclusion zone. The only person that may be able to help her is a black marketeer (Pratt), that has a business smuggling items out of the zone. What they find though is a scandal that could unravel society as she knows it. Something Ethan Skate (Tucci,), CEO of the company that created the neurocaster device and drones will do anything to prevent.

The Abused Robot

While this movie is visually imaginative, there is little truly original here. There is no real depth to the setting or story. The first thing of note is the robot sentience and war. There are basically two versions of a war between robots and humans you see in 99.99% of science fiction movies/tv. The first type is basically the Skynet version, where an AI goes rogue and just randomly decides to wipe out or dominate humanity. The trope predates The Terminator, but that franchise did it the best. The second version is the abused robots fighting for their civil rights. This is actually the more common trope and includes things like The Matrix (Revealed in the third movie), the Kaylon from the Orville and the Geth from Mass Effect. It’s worth noting, this generic trope was not in the source material. In that, it was a civil war between human factions both controlling drone robots.

The setting in the 80’s/90’s is however in source material. But here it feels very much like a gimmick. Ultimately, it doesn’t feel that different to the 50’s aesthetic of the Fallout franchise. Again, we’ve seen this before. It does give an excuse to play some 80’s/90’s tunes on the soundtrack, but they don’t really add much outside of being retro. Soundtracks like that are actually trickier to pull off than you may think. James Gunn does it well, as does Tarantino. Usually when someone imitates the vibe, it feels like they picked tracks at random off “Greatest hits of the decade” compilation albums. This is the case here. Random 80’s and 90’s songs thrown in just because. The goofy style of the robots meanwhile is just an 80’s version of Fallout. It’s fine, but there is nothing fresh here.

The Popcorn Factor

It’s important to note, none of the above is a deal breaker. The film is still entertaining. This is a family adventure movie with a sci-fi setting. These movies don’t really need to be ground breaking. Unique would be nice, but entertaining is more important. The characters here are all likable, if a little shallow. The robots do look good and the environment is well designed. The action is reasonable and there is a little bit of humour in the mix too (Mostly supplied by MCU Alumni Pratt and Mackie). The due is really the best thing about the movie. It does get a little strange at the end… but mostly it works. Pratt effectively plays the same character he plays in everything, but that’s most of Hollywood these days.

Giancarlo Esposito also plays generic Giancarlo Esposito. Woody Harrelson meanwhile plays a giant peanut, which ends up a lot less interesting than you may imagine. Both are descent in the roles, but you would expect that (At a bare minimum). Like much of this film it is uninspired, but well polished. Millie Bobby Brown is okay as the lead, certainly better than she was in Godzilla Vs Kong. I’m not convinced she should be leading a big budget blockbuster, but she did fine. Ultimately, this is a movie that kids should enjoy and parents won’t hate. It’s not great, but it’s a lot better than some reviewers have suggested. What it isn’t however is inspired, original or worth $300m. I give this a fairly strong 5.5/10.

Rating: 5.5 out of 10.

Mickey 17 (2025)

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“Mickey 17” is the latest movie from writer/director Bong Joon-Ho. It is his first feature as sole writer, though the movie is an adaption of the novel “Mickey 7” by Edward Ashton. According to Ashton the director made a lot of changes to the source material and those changes are not hard to figure out. Cinematography is provided by Darius Khondji and music by Jung Jae-il. The movie was originally scheduled to come out in 2024, but was delayed due to the strikes. The timing ended up being unfortunate because it’s pretty clear early in the film they thought the 2025 would look quite different….

Robert Pattinson stars as “Mickey Barnes”, a passive, low intelligence deadbeat loser. Mickey is dragged into trouble by his association with lowlife grifter “Timo” (Steven Yeun). After finding the need to flee Earth to avoid a loan shark’s vengeance Mickey signs up to be an “Expendable” for a colonization mission. This uses cloning and memory upload technology to effectively grant him immortality at the cost of having to do all of the jobs on the mission where death is all but guaranteed. His life would be bad enough but it is further complicated when an accident leads to a new clone being printed while the old one is still alive. This is considered a major crime. The colonization mission meanwhile is complicated by a first contact situation and the stupidity of the missions leader.

Afternoon Nap of the Clones

This movie is a major disappointment. The best moments are in the trailer. What isn’t in the trailer is all the cringe and really anything to do with the actual plot. Cloning ends up not really being key to any of it. Nothing to do with the cloning leads to either Mickey’s contact with the planets native species or the downfall of the movies antagonist. Rather it is just a gimmick, and as such is there to trick you into watching a largely unrelated film. Now to be fair, the first act is pretty focused on Mickey’s various deaths, but they are all in the trailer (Which mostly focused on this first act) and barely factor into anything. Mickey doesn’t develop as he goes on, instead his “Printing” just occasionally throws up personality quirks.

The question “What is it like to die?” seems something reasonable to ask Mickey. Yet we are told that he uploads his memories to a backup periodically, not on death. He shouldn’t remember any of his deaths or really any of the trauma involving his deaths. This presents many nasty plot holes and the movie doesn’t help itself by bringing constant attention to it with that recurring question. Indeed, it never really explores the technology at all. We are meant to believe they discovered immortality and instantly banned it for fear of duplicates. It’s pretty flawed logic. Having one expendable on the crew never really made sense. They use him for experiments and to cure a virus they could almost certainly cure via other means, but when another expedition member dies people seemed shocked that Mickey can’t just take all the risk all the time.

Two Dimensional Characters

None of these characters have any kind of depth to them. Mickey (1-17) shuffles through life (And death) like a zombie letting everyone else make every decision for him. He is passive and non violent, painfully stupid. His character barely evolves through the story and by the end he’s still letting others make decisions for him. His more renegade clone is the opposite as far as passiveness goes, he takes matters into his own hands at every opportunity. He is however, still and idiot. His girlfriend, Nasha is a walking cliché. Totally lacking any kind of charm, narcissistic, selfish, constantly horny and better at everything than everyone else. She controls every aspect of Mickey’s life that isn’t controlled by the company he signed his life to. Nasha and Mickey 18 are the actual heroes of this story and neither of them are likeable.

Steven Yeun’s “Timo” had potential to be an interesting character, but is pushed so far into the background you will probably need to remind yourself who he is half the time. The scientists are all largely cartoon characters, comically goofy or detached. The worst characters though is the painfully obvious Donald Trump stand in, horribly overplayed by Mark Ruffalo. As a primary antagonist, choosing a real life figure the writers clearly despise and have no respect for means that the villain of the story is also the biggest idiot. This gives the story no stakes as he literally just defeats himself. His wife does all his thinking for him and she too is an idiot. All these characters are idiots, but you do notice the women are always the less stupid and more capable. It’s as current year as you can get.

Any positives?

Robert Pattinson does deserve credit here. Pattinson is thoroughly convincing in this role. It’s just a shame his main character is the dampest of nothings to ever be in a movie. Where his talent comes through is in the contrast between Mickey 17 and 18. They are polar opposites of characters (Though neither are very bright) and they really feel like different people through his performance. Frankly Pattinson deserves to be in much better movies, but given the actor got his break from the “Twilight” series, I guess he is used to that. Sadly the rest of the casts performances range from barely passable to catastrophic.

This movie had a budget of $118m, which is at least visible on screen. The environment does look good and the alien (*Ahem*, sorry, “Native”) species looks both sufficiently “Alien” and relatively original. Sadly, the species is largely used for laughs. Their plot treds it’s most obvious path and fills up the final and most predictable act of the film. The confrontation is never offered any real tensions and certainly no stakes. The audience is fully aware of the species intentions and things are only escalated by the unbelievably over the top level of stupidity from Ruffalo’s Trump parody and his advisors.

The cloning concept would also be a positive, but it is barely explored, mostly used for laughs and ultimately just an excuse to have Pattison play two characters. It eats up the entire first act and while this is the best part of the movie it is also, as previously mentioned, perfectly summarized by the movies trailer. The brief look at the history of the technology gives a glimpse at a different story, one frankly far more interesting than this.

Post Mortem

The novel this movie is based on is more focused on the relationship between the two Mickey’s. The other characters are very much in the background and lacking the extreme cringe of the film. Mickey isn’t a complete idiot in the novel either. Instead he spent his youth studying History, something his world no longer considers a skill. That Mickey would have been a far more interesting character. The novel does examine what it means to be immortal in such a disposable way and goes a lot deeper into the perils of colonization. Basically, it is actually a science fiction story. The film however is not genuine sci-fi. It fails to ask questions and just spams the viewer with things that have already aged badly. It could just as well be any low tier genre TV show or movie of the last 10 years.

Sadly, this has taken over from “Wolf Man” as the most disappointing movie I’ve seen in 2025. I wouldn’t say it is worse than that film, but I had higher expectations. This was after all from an Oscar winning director, but then the Oscars aren’t what they used to be. However, I’ve enjoyed several of his movies before. Directors can have missteps, but this isn’t just a bad movie. It is filled with every modern day cliché you can shake a stick at. Worst of all, the film is painfully boring! This doesn’t give me much hope for future films from the director. This is a low 4/10. When the trailer is better than the movie, all you have is a missed opportunity.

Rating: 4 out of 10.

1950’s Horror Double Bill

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Time for another horror double bill. This time we’re hitting the 1950’s for some classic horror science fiction. This was a popular sub genre in the fifties and in truth swayed more to science fiction but usually meant some kind of monster was involved along the way. No exception with this duo. So for your enjoyment I give you “It Came From Outer Space” from 1953 and “Day The World Ended” from 1955.

It Came From Outta Space (1953)

First up is the sci-fi horror classic: “It came from outta space” from 1953. This was originally released as a 3D movie as part of the first wave of that gimmick in the fifties. Indeed this was actually Universals first 3D movie. The movie is directed by Jack Arnold, often regarded one of the masters of sci-fi horror in the 1950’s. His other works include “Creature from the Black Lagoon” (1954), “Tarantula” (1955), and “The Incredible Shrinking Man” (1957). The story comes from prolific science fiction writer Ray Bradbury. It stars Richard Carlson and Barbara Rush, with support from Charles Drake, Joe Sawyer, and Russell Johnson.

A large meteorite crashes near the small town of Sand Rock, Arizona. Author and amateur astronomer John Putnam (Carson) investigates and realizes this is not a meteorite but a crashed space ship. Shortly after a landslide buries the spacecraft and as the only witness John has trouble convincing others to believe him. His girlfriend Ellen is the only one willing to give him the benefit of the doubt and helps him investigate. Over the next few days people start disappearing. Occasionally turning up apparently dazed and distant. Convinced this is something to do with the ship, John convinces the local sheriff (Drake) to assist. The question is, what do these visitors intend? Are they actually a threat?

The Night The Earth Will Never Forget

It’s worth noting this movie predates Invasion of the Body Snatchers, but not the Puppet Masters novel by Robert Heinlein. So at this point a movie where aliens assume the identity of regular people from a small town was a pretty fresh idea. Yet, through the lens of the modern day this could be seen as a subversion of that theme as the Aliens are not doing this as part of an invasion. The 50’s did actually have a fair mixture of benevolent and malevolent aliens. As is typical with the former types there is somewhat of a judgement against humanity on display here. Again, through a modern lens this is a little cliched but in the early 50’s this trope was only just starting to be established.

I’m not sure why this was a 3D movie. It’s not exactly action heavy and is actually quite slow in places. Then again I could probably say that about half the 3D movies that were ever released. While the 3D is wasted, I also don’t find too much horror in this story. The replacement of people doesn’t lead to much in the way of paranoia. The abduction scenes show very little and look dated. Last but not least, the aliens only reveal their true form once and only in a peaceful setting. They did pretty cool though and very unique. Not as good as the “War of the Worlds” aliens from the same year, but that movie had more than double the budget. The science fiction elements have aged far better than the horror ones.

Conclusion

This is a straight forward science fiction story with mild horror elements. It would have been fairly original in it’s time, but feels cliched now. Likewise the alien when it is revealed would have been a lot more impressive 71 years ago. I’m not sure the 3D would have impressed even in the day, but I can only judge that based on the lack of action on screen since I don’t have a 3D version. For the most part this feels like a decent TV movie. There’s not particularly wrong with it, the acting is fine, the directing is fine. But it’s all done without any real flourish to it. Overall this is a perfectly reasonable 5.5/10. Not recommended as a horror, but if you are a fan on old sci-fi it is worth watching.

Rating: 5.5 out of 10.

Day The World Ended (1955)

For the second part of this double bill I’m reviewing the independent sci-fi/horror “Day The World Ended” from 1955. This is a post apocalyptic tale from the godfather of B-Movies, Roger Corman. This was actually his first full horror and his first in science fiction. Before then he’d only directed a couple of westerns and a handful of scenes for “The Beast With A Million Eyes”. The movie was written by Lou Rusoff (Who would later be a producer on another apocalyptic tale “Panic In Year Zero”). Richard Denning stars with support from Lori Nelson, Adele Jergens, Mike Connors and Paul Birch.

Set just after the events of an atomic war. A handful of survivors in an isolated box canyon find themselves cooped up in the home of former U.S. Navy Commander Jim Maddison (Birch) and his daughter Louise (Nelson). The visitors include small time hood Tony (Connors), his moll Ruby (Jergens), heroic geologist Rick (Denning), an irradiated and apparently dying man called Radek (Paul Dubov) and an old gold prospector called Pete (Raymond Hatton). They face three separate struggles for survival, the first against the dangers of radiation and the question of what the coming rain will bring. The second against the dangerous feral mutants that have appeared in this new irradiated world. The final struggle comes from inside and Tony’s plans to eliminate the other men and claim the rations and women for himself.

War Never Changes

I’ve always been a sucker for post apocalyptic fiction. Not only is it one of the great “What If”‘s of fiction, it always provides an excellent character study. Many of these films are effectively versions of the “Strangers in a room” story. These usually feature people sheltering from a storm, but this time the storm is radioactive. Usually these groups of people include at least one villain that drives a lot of the plot and this is no exception. Tony is clearly going to be a huge life threatening problem the whole way through. It’s hard not to see it as a plot hole that they don’t do anything about him until after he’s tried to take over the shelter several times, attempted to rape Louise and obviously killed his own girlfriend.

The rest of the film is focused on more far fetched science fiction elements. This is exactly the kind of 50’s science fiction that the “Fallout” video games took influence from. Indeed Radek, recovery from radiation sickness and how he now thrives on radiation is suspiciously similar to the Fallout concept of “Ghouls”. In this film, much like in the game radiation simply mutates a lot of the animals it makes contact with. The film doesn’t show us anything but sketches of most of these mutations, but the idea is to pave the way for the movies primary monster. The monster looks pretty good, but only turns up at the end and dies shortly after.

Conclusion

This is a somewhat stripped down movie that features a lot of good ideas that struggle to fit in to the run time. Certainly none of them get as fully developed as they deserve. The acting is passable, but at this point in his career Corman didn’t really direct the actors and that shows. The personalities of the characters come across as stereotypical archetypes. The monster looks pretty good for the age and limited budget and Corman certainly made the most of the sets. It’s a pretty impressive debut in the genre, but Roger would certainly do better later in his career. This ties with the other half of this double bill with a 5.5/10. If you like post apocalyptic tales and old sci-fi you will enjoy it.

Rating: 5.5 out of 10.

Dune: Part Two (2024)

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Three years after the release of David Villeneuve’s take on Dune, we finally have the second part. Both films together cover Frank Herbert’s 1965 novel “Dune”. Interestingly, they originally split the novel into two halves and published them in “Analogue Science Fiction And Fact” magazine. So they could have named the first part “Dune World” and this year’s sequel “Prophet of Dune” (as they were called in the magazine) instead of the rather bland “Part One” and “Part Two,” but that’s nitpicking really. Denis Villeneuve directs Dune part two and co-writes it with Jon Spaihts (but this time, without Eric Roth).

The movie sees Timothée Chalamet return to the role of Paul Atreides along with many of the very strong cast of the first movie. Christopher Walken and Florence Pugh join the cast as the previously unseen Emperor and his daughter along with Austin Butler as “Feyd-Rautha”, the character played by Sting in the David Lynch version of the story. Once again, the ensemble cast is incredibly strong. All the pieces are in place, strong cast, strong source material, solid budget and a film maker known for his visuals. This should easily be fantastic… but is it? I’m skipping the synopsis for this one, since this follows on directly from part two, it is hard to cover it without dropping spoilers. The Rest of this review has minor spoilers, but nothing that will impact your enjoyment. Skip to the conclusion of this is an issue for you.

Visuals

So first thing to cover is the look and in that regard this is excellent. The sand worms have never seemed more immense or dangerous. The landscape is imposing and the action scenes frankly put most other science fiction movies of the modern day to shame. The sound design is great too, however I don’t remember any of the music at all after leaving the theater. I remember from the first movie how much of the soundtrack was just noises and ambiance, which is a bit of a trend for modern soundtracks so I won’t hold it too much against this particular one.

With such a strong cast we were always unlikely to have any problems with the acting and it is very strong throughout. The main burden though falls on Chalamet as Atreides and he did a fantastic job. Despite his relatively small stature he managed to come across as powerful when needed and was able to convey both his conflicted conscience and he determination to get revenge for the destruction of his house. Despite the actors performances though, the script doesn’t given them a great deal to work with. With lesser actors that would have seen the film fall flat, but they just about get away with it here. It certainly helps when you have the likes of Rebecca Ferguson and Stellan Skarsgård in support.

Emotional Impact (Or lack thereof).

Now for the negatives. First of all, the emotional payoffs for this movie are built on setups from the previous one, almost entirely. Unfortunately for me, I didn’t re-watch that film before viewing its sequel so after a three year gap I didn’t feel even one of those emotional pay offs. That left the ending somewhat anti-climactic for me. That may be further impacted by the fact that I know the story, so there are no surprises for me. That said, I don’t think a recent re-watch would have helped feel the pay off in regards to the Emperor or Feyd, since neither are in the first film. The Emperor was behind the fall of House Atreides, but it doesn’t feel personal and so it is hard to really care. This was my biggest problem for Dune: Part Two. I really didn’t feel much in the way of an emotional connection to anything going on. Villeneuve’s directing style is very dry, and it reminds me of a lot of my issues with his Blade Runner sequel.

I always felt the biggest thing lacking from Blade Runner 2049 was heart. It was in some ways like a very good AI attempting to replicate the look and soundtrack of the first film, but without the ability to truly understand it. At the time I thought it was just a failure with that film but having seen both parts of Dune I have to conclude that it’s an issue with Villenueve’s approach in general. I think he perhaps focuses too much on the technical aspect of how things look and as a result sometimes forgets that a film is more than just visuals. Maybe it’s just me, but despite the source material and the high quality cast this is a movie that often felt as dry as the endless desert of Arrakis.

Pacing and Characters

My second issue is pacing (And this impacts my emotional reaction too). Some scenes really drag out. Not good in a movie with a running time towards three hours. Despite that, I couldn’t help but feel that some characters and story elements could have benefited from a bit more time spent on them. In what I gather is a change to the novel, the Fremen are split into northern and southern factions. The north is anti-religious and the south are effectively zealots. Another scene really drags out how the rebels got their hands on the Atreides nuclear arsenal. None of these elements are bad in themselves, they just felt unnecessary to the story.

As good as the actors were, the filmmakers wasted every single one of the antagonists. Florence Pugh’s “Princess Irulan” barely has more screen time than Virginia Madsen had in the 1984 movie. Neither her nor the Emperor (Played by Walken) felt like real characters to me. Feyd gets a pretty bad ass introduction, but has no real connection with Paul. When they finally fight it had the emotional impact of two people concluding a minor business deal. Meanwhile, the roles of both Dave Bautista’s “Beast Rabban” and Stellan Skarsgård’s “Baron Harkonnen” feel diminished. Gone is their powerful, intimidating presence from the previous movie, and as a result, their eventual defeat feels somewhat empty. These are good characters with good actors playing them, they shouldn’t feel like they are just there.

Conclusion

Ultimately the positives do outweigh the negatives. When paired with the first film it is both good entertainment and quality art. However it is not a masterpiece and this isn’t the new Lord of the Rings by a long way. Honestly I’m not sure the Dune novels are particularly well suited to movies. However it really does look superb and Chalamet probably does deserve an Oscar nomination. I’m somewhat torn, but I’m going to have to settle on a very strong 6.5/10. The movie would have scored higher had I actually felt something at it’s conclusion, but it is what it is.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10.