The Demolitionist, 1995 - ★★★½

The Demolitionist, 1995 - ★★★½
REVIEWED

"I don't just blow shit up, I create new space"

Explosives Dealer Big Frank (Andre Rosey Brown)

You know the worlds gone to shit when your cities mayor is played by Susan Tyrrell. Robert Kurtzman's The Demolitionist' is a hugely entertaining B-grade action romp, that plagiarises 'Robocop' for all its 1k dollars worth. A futureshock city is torn apart by a criminal gang headed by Maddog (Richard Grieco). When officer Alyssa Lloyd (Nicole Eggert) gets violently slain on duty. The mayor enlists a scientist to bring her back from dead to put an end to the gangs reign.

Its tacky as shit, but such a rewarding and amusing viewing experience. What budget it got is thrown away on ever more massive explosions and guns that fire 10k bullets a pop. The casts a cult movie fans wet dream, its chocked with the likes of Bruce Abbott, Bruce Campbell and Tom Savini, I love Susan Tyrrell she never fails to impress.

[PRFR]
Explosions, boobs, the 3rd rate Snake Plisken, shoot offs, bikes, Grieco body melting and even more explosions. In other words, everything that makes for a rewarding no brainer.

Originally taken from Letterboxd

Dark Skies, 2013 - ★★★½

Dark Skies, 2013 - ★★★½
REVIEWED

"The invasion already happened, no one knows when it happened but they're here."

Edwin Pollard (J.K. Simmons)

Damned solid alien abduction science fiction drama that plays almost like a scene for scene remake of Spielberg/Tobe Hooper's Poltergeist only swapping crazy Injun spirits for child curious Grey's. The Barrett family are made prisoners in their own home, after numerous inexplainable occurrences they're forced to the conclusion that an alien presence is interest in one of their children.

Wow I surprisingly really liked this, of course the subjects been done many times before from various X-Files episodes to Communion. But Dark Skies to its credit is one of those rare entries that tackles its implausible subject with integrity. Sure its slightly hampered by budget restraints but thankfully it never sunk to cheap tactics.

[PRFR]
The cool walkie-talkie banter and characters of the two boys (packed with 80's Spielberg charm). And J.K. Simmons as the alien abduction obsessive crank.

Originally taken from Letterboxd

Between Time and Timbuktu, 1972 - ★★★½

Between Time and Timbuktu, 1972 - ★★★½
REVIEWED

"I think that I'm traveling through my own nightmares... ohh and a few nice dreams too"

Astronaut Stoney Stevenson (William Hickey)

Idiosyncratic and downright surreal made for TV science fiction fantasy & social satire based on various Kurt Vonnegut Jr scribblings. Average American Stoney Stevensen is the not so lucky winner of a fizzy drinks contest that promises to put a man into space. Only the spacecraft Prometheus 5 takes poor Stoney on a voyage of self discovery and to the verge of madness.

The writing and plot is all over the damn place which gives it a very disjointed feel, the only theme that constantly carries from one segment to the next is the anti establishment vibe. The more surreal segments include tropical hippy communes, cryogenic sperm banks hell theres even a little yellow submarine style animated piece thrown in. Age hasn't been so kind but it still makes a great curiosity, sad that modern Television doesn't take risks on material like this anymore.

"I'm not in control of my own destiny... its a miracle I can control my own bladder."

Stoney (William Hickey)

[PRFR: Personal Reasons For Remembering]
The moments Stoney goes crazy, and starts speaking with himself, we even got multiple images of him.

Originally taken from Letterboxd

Na kometě, 1970 - ★★★

Na kometě, 1970 - ★★★
REVIEWED

"Its not a second sun, I think its a second Earth, but where is our continent ?"

Angelika (Magda Vasaryova)

A woman escapes a pirate ship and while swimming back to shore she chance meets a lonely soldier whose jumped from a cliff, at this point they notice that a second sun as appeared. It causes a drastic switch in global events, and everything starts to take a turn for the worse. Can the couple keep their freedom while waring factions including dinosaurs start to battle with each other.

Karel Zeman's "Na Komete" is based loosely on Jules Verne celestial journey On the Comet. Visually due to the over use of matte painted landscapes and tinted footage it does look somewhat similar to Terry Gillims animation. But the Czechoslovakian films not nearly as surreal has I'd been made to believe, in fact it plays pretty much like a children's fairy tale or old style Sunday morning matinée serial style ripping yarn. Its hard to know exactly who would love this movie, the stop motion/rubber creature feature fans will be bored senseless, its not artistic enough for the art snobs. Thats not to say its bad or anything, theres loads going on and Magda Vasaryova was mesmerizing as Angelika. Worth checking out for curiousity value.

[PRFR: Personal Reasons For Remembering]
Rubber monsters, matte overkill, tinted skylines & Magda Vasaryova.

Originally taken from Letterboxd

Cloud Atlas, 2012 - ★★★

Cloud Atlas, 2012 - ★★★
REVIEWED

"Ain't no blade can protect you from the True-True..."

Old Georgie (Hugo Weaving)

So the Wachowski's (with aid from Tom Tykwer) finally serve up their new dish minus meat and two veg, and for most part its pure nonsensical self indulgence, but at least its visually rewarding self indulgence. Its a cee gee eye/costume heavy, fantasy morality pantomime. With the simplistic Buddhist message that a selfless kind act can be as important to the grand scale of things than a vicious one, ohh and love never dies. But its drawn out over six stories in six timelines and what felt like several hours.

"Soylent Green are people!"

Timothy Cavendish (Jim Broadbent)

I don't want to be malicious, because its very good in parts, and the Wacko's offer heaps of colour and variety to cinema. Even though I didn't overly like it myself, I'll give it credit for at least trying to do its own thing in a unique way. Typically Wachowski's pay a massive nod to their love of anime, and the future Seoul setting was arguably the best timeline. It was my personal favorite until Neo popped up and it turned into a videogame cutscene. My key problem though was the twee concept of the same actors surfacing again in different guises wore thin fast. I wanted it to just tell its story not force me to play a really fuckin' expensive version of 'Wheres Wally' (or 'WHICH ONES WALLY' in this case).

Originally taken from Letterboxd

Crawlspace, 2013 - ★★

Crawlspace, 2013 - ★★
REVIEWED

"Enough of the fucking bio-babble."

Romeo (Ditch Davey)

Muddled horror tinged slice of claustrophobic science fiction. Set in a futuristic military bases passage sub system. A special task force is sent in to shut down a wayward military experiment with thought implanting and telepaths.

Dull substandard trite, that plays like a poor mans cross between Mimic and Scanners (theres even an head exploding). Acting is OK, the two central characters played by Amber Clayton and Ditch Davey are good, a couple of the other actors performances don't fair so good. The creature and set design was also pretty good, infact visually it looked kinda similar to an episode of Doctor Who (though nowhere near as entertaining).

Originally taken from Letterboxd

Nightflyers, 1987 - ★★

Gates of Heaven, 1978 - ★★★½

"They opened up her head... and took her gifts away"

Jon the ships empath (Jon Winderman)

Badly conceived b-grade adaptation of George R.R. Martin's (Game of Thrones) well regarded science fiction novel (which I'll be honest haven't read or heard of). It follows a space ships hazardous attempt to find a mythical space entity known as Volcryn. Only the ships onboard AI mainframe goes berserk and threatens to destroy their intended mission.

While not the worst science fiction movie ever made, its script is severally incoherent at times. The actings below par and the synthesizer music is abysmal. Its a real shame because theres brief moments the plot threatens to break through and turn it into a worthwhile movie. Visually its not so bad, the digital FX work is primitive but the lighting, sets and prop design are great for its budget. Its shocking how even crappy 80's spacecraft models look better than so much of todays CGI.

Originally taken from Letterboxd