cloverfield – Dangerous Universe

2018 Sci-Fi Report

Feature, Movies, TVDecember 19, 2018December 18, 2018

I shouldn’t be surprised when I look back at the year overall, but in terms of sci-fi movies and TV there was a lot going on. Some things weren’t good, but an awful lot were, or at least they were interesting. I keep thinking back to years ago when we’d be lucky to have one or two interesting sci-fi movies a year and a handful of TV shows. Nowadays there seems to be a sci-fi movie coming out once every few weeks, and that’s not including superhero things since while I think they’re sci-fi I’m not counting them here, and there are loads of sci-fi series on TV.

Random thoughts…

BBC America really killed it in 2018 as being the home for all things Doctor Who, The X-Files and classic Star Trek TV.
And let’s give props to TNT/TBS as well for airing marathons of Star Wars every few weeks. Have I see every episode of Star Wars many, many times before? Yep! Do I watch them again every time they show up on TNT/TBS? You bet’cha!
Along those lines… We now live in a world where there is a brand new Star Wars movie being released each and every year, this year was Star Wars: A Solo Story, which is always something to be happy about.
While BBC America was the home for sci-fi in 2018, Syfy, the old SCI-FI Channel, was not. That network which barely airs any sci-fi anymore actually cancelled the one great sci-fi show they had The Expanse.
That being said Amazon Prime picked up The Expanse where it will air a fourth season in alongside The Man in the High Castle, another sci-fi show on that platform.
Netflix released a whole bunch of sci-fi movies in 2018 including good ones like The Cloverfield Paradox and not so good ones like Mute. Hey, they can’t all be winners.
The sci-fi/horror film A Quiet Place did what not a lot of sci-fi/horror movies have done in the past; it was very successful as well as gained lots of critical acclaim.
That being said not everything sci-fi at the box office worked, both Pacific Rim: Uprising and Overlord underperformed here in the US, though Uprising did great business overseas.
While I absolutely did not understand the ending of the second season of Westworld, I have to say that the ride getting there was a lot of fun.
I mentioned that BBC America was the home for all things classic Star Trek, but there’s also new episodes being added to the Trek canon every year with Star Trek: Discovery on CBS All Access.
Okay, okay, okay, I like to rag on Syfy a lot, but I do have to give them props for taking a big chance on the decent ten episode limited sci-fi/horror series Nightflyers a few weeks back. It wasn’t great, but at least it was science fiction.

My 2018 movie rundown

Feature, MoviesDecember 7, 2018December 6, 2018

Even though I watch a couple of movies a week, I don’t watch enough of them. Lemme explain that. The movies I tend to watch are ones I’ve already seen and fall under the same umbrella; sci-fi, horror and action-adventure. So while I might stop and watch Suicide Squad on TNT if I’m flipping around the dial, that also means that I’m not watching other movies of different genres I haven’t seen yet. Other people might go out to the theater and expand their filmic horizons every week, but at best I might venture out to checkout The Predator or stay at home and watch Star Wars for the 900th time.

Regardless, here’s every new movie I saw in 2018.

The Cloverfield Paradox ⭐⭐

In an era when surprise in pop-culture is practically impossible because of the internet and social media, the release of The Cloverfield Paradox on Netflix was a pretty big surprise as the movie was first advertised on the Super Bowl last winter and premiered on the streaming service immediately afterwards.

Mute ⭐

Mute, by writer/director Duncan Jones, takes place in the same cinematic universe as his wonderful Moon film. But whereas I greatly enjoyed Moon, I thought Mute was a bit long and overly serious.

Black Panther ⭐⭐

I dug Black Panther if I didn’t see what all the hype was about. It seemed to me Black Panther was a well-constructed Marvel film that I enjoyed, but I didn’t think it was much different then what had come before. But I was in the minority as the film went onto become one of the most successful movies ever earning more than $1.5 billion at the box office.

Avengers: Infinity War ⭐⭐

I liked Avengers: Infinity War but found it hard to take seriously. I mean the movie (spoilers) features half of the universe being wiped out when evil villain Thanos get all the power in the universe, snaps his fingers and literally makes it so. But does anyone really believe that when the sequel is released next summer in theaters, that by the end of that movie all of this will be undone with order restored with the good-guys winning?

Deadpool 2 ⭐⭐⭐

The movie I had the most fun at last summer was Deadpool 2. While I didn’t think it was as good as the first one, I really dug this sequel that introduced a few of my favorite characters to the Deadpool universe, namely Cable and Domino.

Solo: A Star Wars Story ⭐⭐⭐⭐

My favorite movie of 2018 had to be Solo: A Star Wars Story. Derided before it was even released, this movie that follows a young Han Solo (Alden Ehrenreich) as he goes from street urchin to intergalactic smuggler is a lot fo fun. Solo is the one movie this year that I’ve actually seen more than once.

Ant-Man and the Wasp ⭐

I really liked the first Ant Man movie, but I really disliked the sequel Ant-Man and the Wasp. There were so many plot-holes here that things started to get to MST3K territory. In fact, I got so sick of this one that towards the end I started fast forwarding just to get through it.

Annihilation ⭐

The movie I was most disappointed with this year was Annihilation. It was written and directed by Alex Garland who also wrote the brilliant 28 Days Later and both wrote and directed Ex Machina, as well as being based on a series of interesting novels by Jeff VanderMeer, I found Annihilation to be dull and confusing. So much so that I didn’t even bother fast forwarding through this one, I turned it off before making it to the end.

Mission: Impossible – Fallout ⭐⭐

Another fun movie was the sixth, and so far most successful, Mission: Impossible – Fallout. I’ll admit this one doesn’t have much going on in the story department, I saw it in the theater and four months later can’t remember the story, but the action scenes in Mission: Impossible – Fallout are worth the price of admission alone.

The Predator ⭐⭐

Here’s what I tell anyone thinking about seeing the latest movie in the Predator franchise — if you’re into sci-fi and movies that feature the Predator, you’re probably going to dig The Predator. If you’re not, then you might want to steer clear of this one.

Direct Beam Comms #136

Direct Beam Comms, Feature, MoviesJuly 15, 2018July 14, 2018

Movies

Here’s everything I’ve seen this year that’s new, or that I missed seeing in 2017.

It: I liked this one a lot and was very happy to see a Stephen King movie that’s horror-related finally get some love. See this one if you love Stranger Things but want more scares with your side of 1980s nostalgia.

Justice League: I still don’t understand the online vitriol against this movie. I liked Justice League. I didn’t think it was the best movie ever but I certainly didn’t think it was bad. See this one if you dig superhero movies and have an open mind.

Movies I’ve seen so far in 2018.

The Cloverfield Paradox: This surprise movie that was announced during the Super Bowl and premiered right after on Netflix is a fun, well-crafted sci-fi yarn about astronauts stuck on a space station fighting the unknown. See this one if you don’t demand that every movie you see be groundbreaking.

Mute: Another Netflix sci-fi flick, Mute takes place in a near-future that’s depressingly a lot like out own. More importantly, it’s a kind’a sort’a sequel to the movie Moon. See this one if you’re ever jonesing for a sci-fi fix.

Black Panther: I liked Black Panther if I thought at times it was a little cluttered in the story department. See this one if… who am I kidding, based on the box office returns you’ve already seen this one.

Avengers: Infinity War: Infinity War is the Marvel team-up movie to top all Marvel team-up movies with all the heroes together to fight a big baddie. See this one if you don’t necessarily always need to know what’s happening on-screen, but like watching things go “boom.”

Deadpool 2: The hilarious sequel to Deadpool both manages to differentiate itself from the original while being just as funny as that first film. See this one if you like to have a good time while watching movies.

Solo: A Star Wars Story: Another movie that was ravaged by online reviews, I quite liked Solo and thought it was a very strong Star Wars movie. See this one because this might be your last chance to see the character of Han Solo on-screen for a while.

Annihilation: Finally a movie this year I didn’t like. I loved the novel this one’s based on and couldn’t wait to check it out but found Annihilation slow and dull. Honestly, I couldn’t make it through this one and shut it off with about 20 minutes left. See this one if you’re looking for an all-natural sleep aid.

Extinction movie trailer

Books & Comics

Go Team Venture! The Art and Making of the Venture Bros.

Out nearly a year after it was originally scheduled to be released — though series creators Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer have a habit of turning in things late — comes Go Team Venture! The Art and Making of the Venture Bros.

From Dark Horse:

Ken Plume sits down with series creators Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer to have a conversation about the creation of every single episode through season 6 and much more. From the earliest sketches of Hank and Dean scribbled in a notebook to pitching the series to Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim, learning the ins and outs of animation, character designs for each season, storyboards, painted backgrounds, and behind-the-scenes recollections of how the show came together–it’s all here.

Frank Miller’s RONIN

This week a brand new edition of the collected RONIN story by Frank Miller is set to be released. Though I’ve read the RONIN story before and own an issue or two of the original comic series, I don’t actually own the collected edition so I might pick this one up.

From DC:

Frank Miller’s six-issue miniseries RONIN returns in a new trade paperback! It’s the tale of a 13th century samurai who is reborn in a futuristic 21st century New York City with one last chance to regain his honor: he must defeat the reincarnation of his master’s killer, an ancient demon called Agat. This new edition includes promotional art, fold-out pages and more special features.

The Reading & Watch List

Cool Movie & TV Posters of the Week

10 Cloverfield Lane review

Movies, ReviewNovember 29, 2016November 29, 2016

Grade: B-

I have a difficult relationship with the Cloverfield movies. The first movie, about a gigantic monster attacking New York, is something that I think was practically designed to appeal to me but didn’t. I think what hurt that movie the most was all its plot-holes as well as the idea that a character in the movie would film everything that was happening regardless of the consiquences — even to the point where they were about to die. That being said the latest 10 Cloverfield Lane is a better movie than the first Cloverfield, but not by much.

Kind’a Signs meets Silence of the Lambs, in 10 Cloverfield Lane the character of Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) is in a car accident and awakens in a bunker built by Howard (John Goodman) where she also finds Emmett (John Gallagher Jr.) who tells her that the end of the world has come and everyone outside of the bunker is dead. Michelle has a hard time buying this from Howard since he’s a grade-a weirdo, but when Michelle does get a glimpse of the outside world and all the horrors that entails she decides that maybe staying in the bunker with normal and nice Emmett and odd and crazy Howard might not be such a bad idea after all.

Much like with Cloverfield, 10 Cloverfield Lane has its share of plot-holes from a room that controls air filtration that’s cut off from the rest of the bunker and is only accessible via crawling through airshafts (!?) to Emmett and Michelle being able to hide things from Howard in a relatively small bunker. But for whatever reason I don’t think these holes hurt 10 Cloverfield Lane as much as they did in Cloverfield. I think that’s mostly because since Cloverfield was shot in the first person fauxcumentary style and 10 Cloverfield traditionally it made it seem less like the characters were doing things to get the best shot and more like they were behaving somewhat in their own self interest.

I think what hurts 10 Cloverfield Lane the most is that there’s really no mystery with the characters at all. Michelle starts off as a strong woman who’s leaving her boyfriend for one reason or another and ends the movie the same way. Emmett starts off nice and sweet and innocent and ends the movie the same way. Howard starts off as the obvious villain in that he acts so odd and weird and ends the movie the same way.

I think if it weren’t so obvious as to who the characters really were in 10 Cloverfield Lane and what their intentions were right from the start this would have been a much better movie. With the film only really having three characters in it I think we really need to be kept guessing as to who is who and what everyone’s intentions really are. Otherwise there’s no puzzle and when we finally see what’s happening on the outside I think any investment the audience has in the characters of 10 Cloverfield Lane is long gone.

Cloverfield movie review

MoviesNovember 24, 2016

This is a repost of a movie review I made in 2008.

Grade: C

The main conceit of the movie Cloverfield is that you need to suspend your disbelief in the fact that; a gigantic Godzilla-like monster could attack New York City, the average 20-something New Yorker is dumber than a toddler and that the only thing dumber than the average 20-something New Yorker is a group of average 20-something New Yorkers. Trust me, believing that a gigantic monster might one day rise out of the sea and attack New York is much easier to believe than the low level of intelligence and self-preservation on display by the characters of Cloverfield.

In Cloverfield, it’s the night before Rob (Michael Stahl-David) moves to Japan and all his friends have decided to throw him a going-away surprise party. At the party, friend “Hud” (T.J. Miller) is given the task of documenting the event with a home video camera when an earthquake followed by a gigantic explosion rocks Manhattan. What follows next is glimpses of some gigantic “thing” tearing through Manhattan, the destruction that follows and Hud documenting the event first-person on the ground.

Which, admittedly, the whole film being shot through the lens of Hud’s camera, however implausible, is quite effective. Cloverfield makes the audience feel as if they’re at the center of the action, only moments away from the terror of this gigantic monster and inches away from death.

Which is the greatest problem of the movie; while seemingly every other New Yorker wants off the island and away from this creature, the core group of the movie Cloverfield does their best to work their way back into the city to rescue a stranded friend. After seeing the monster destroy bridges, topple buildings, shrug off artillery shells and shear the head off the Statue of Liberty, I’m not sure anyone would have the wits about them to do anything but cover/run rather than actively make their way towards the creature and certain doom.

Tag: cloverfield