Month: June 2012

Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel

Honestly, when I just read the title I knew I had to watch it. It is one of those movies.

Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel? A British Comedy? Staring my favorite British actor/comedian guy?

Well damn. Don’t have to try so hard, United Kingdom.

Guns
Oh, and this movie involves a gun!

The movie is about three friends at a bar. Ray (Chris O’Dowd) just got fired from his job for making kids cry. His two friends are Toby (Marc Wootton) and Pete (Dean Lennox Kelly), the former a cynical asshole, the latter a fellow nerd who likes to come up with movie ideas and his thoughts on shit (like time travel) in a little notebook.

Well while they are getting drunk and complaining about stuff, Ray goes to the backroom, and when he returns he sees a girl staring at him. Cassie (Anna Faris) is claiming to be a time traveler, and she just came to observe a “Great man” in his past. Can’t tell him why of course, that would fuck up time. But she leaves and Ray just assumes of course that it was a prank. He tells his friends anyways of course until he doesn’t believe him. It isn’t until Mr. Cycnical asshole Toby goes to the bathroom and returns to find the entire bar dead, including himself (with a beard?) that he starts to freak out. He returns to the bathroom and his own time, and the tries to get the group to do everything he did before in the bathroom to try it again.

It doesn’t work. Instead they find themselves in a House in the future. Well fuck.

Obviously things start to get a bit confusing, as they are trying to figure out this time leak going on, with Cassie only ocassionally showing up. They also go into the far future full of destruction, and less far future where they find themselves at a costume party, where everyone is dressed like them from the bar that night. But why? Why are they worshiped? Can they also avoid the people who like to go back in time and kill influential people right after they hit their peak for fun? I’m sure Meredith MacNeill isn’t one of those people.

The gang
Oh the things people must do for science.

I like that the movie is about three “Average guys” or at least nerdy ones. Unless you think nerd is a bad term, in which case “Imagineers”.

This movie is pretty crazy and it is very easy to get confused, especially early on when they don’t even understand what is going on. There aren’t helpful subtitles to say when in time they are, because they don’t know. They are just trying to survive and not break any time travel rules they are aware of. I also thought it was pretty funny, even though most of it was just based on awkward people in extraordinary circumstances.

I heard they originally planned to make a whole series of these low budget comedies, the next one being FAQ About Parallel Universes, staring the same people, and going through these crazy ass adventures. But they had to stop it, which was a shame. The movie is pretty refreshing in terms of topic, how they handled it, and the potential for more. Also, they say fuck you fate/predetermination.

3 out of 4.

Big Miracle

Big Miracle? Some whale movie?

Originally I wasn’t going to watch Big Miracle, but then I remembered I watch everything. “Oh yeah! Might as well watch it asap then,” I thinks to myself.2

This is the best intro I have wrote for a movie.

Bitches
Bitches love whales?

Based off of actual events in the 80s (and thus I don’t know about it), this takes place in a very Northern Alaskan village. Yes, that means Eskimos. For whatever reason, Adam Carlson (John Krasinski) is a reporter in their town reporting on random shit, for the main Alaskan news. People love him there, overall nice guy. He finds one extra report before leaving though, thinking people will love it. Turns out three California Gray Whales are trapped under the ice! The vast water froze quicker this winter, and three whales are sharing a small hole, miles away from the ocean to breath from. Damn, that is sad.

This story gets LOTS of attention. Wildfire amounts. The director of Greenpeace Rachel Kramer (Drew Barrymore) is already around protesting the selling of territory for oil, and of course the guy who bought the land for Oil (Ted Danson). Also tons of media shows up, including Jill Jerard (Kristen Bell) who is willing to take any story to get a leg up. The head reporter at their department (John Michael Higgins) thinks it is silly though.

Fuck, even the government gets involved! Cold War is still looming, and the government gets a Russian ship nearby, made for cracking ice to help. Because they have no idea how to help these things. Initial tries are failing. Even bring in some boys from Minnesota with ice melting technology meant for rinks to try and speed up the process. Eventually they get the only idea that might work. To constantly make holes in the ice a few meters apart, big enough for the whales to come up for breath, and lead them to the ocean, hoping that they follow said holes.

Sounds crazy? Well because it is. All the locals and news reporters end up helping, including Tim Blake Nelson playing some guy from Alaska! The main kid in the movie is played by Ahmaogak Sweeney, as they had a lot of real locals play the appropriate parts. But will the Whales follow? Will the Russians save the day? Will anyone die along the way!?

Big whales
Hopefully none of them decide to jump on the ice. That would suck.

So, in terms of Family movies involving saving animals, this one is actually quite refreshing. True stories can be annoying like in Dolphin Tale, where the just poop on everything that matters and give a random inspirational tale nothing like the real events. But this stuff seems to be a bit more spot on.

First off, the main kid in the movie isn’t even the main character? Everyone seems to play an important role, and it isn’t from a kids point of view, like most “family movies”. That is cool.

Secondly, the oil people arent the bad guys. Literally everyone helps out in this movie. And people don’t even need convincing, all sides actively work together and want to save the whales. Sure, some also enjoy the positive PR, but damn it, there is no one stopping them and reluctantly letting it happen. No, it just happens.

I will note I found it weird that everyone seemed to be against letting the locals kill the whales for meat. Kind of rude. Their logic was sound, and would supply them food for quite awhile. Oh well, we love guilting other cultures into living like us.

But yeah, this touching story actually was a good watch, with mostly believable characters. Had some normal family jokes you would have guessed, but overall was pretty decent.

3 out of 4.

BONUS TEXT!

I wrote this review in June, 2012, the summer before I moved to Iowa. I lived in North Carolina at the time, and Blockbuster I worked at was already closed. So I had even more free time for films, and watched anything I could.

In Iowa, I met my now wife in the summer of 2013. Days after I met her she had to fly out to Alaska to go to the funeral for her uncle, Randy Roosdett. Why is any of this relevant? Well, he apparently was an extra in this film as an oil man. And that is kind of neat.

Friends With Kids

I instantly wanted to see Friends With Kids as soon as I saw the first trailer. Wait no, that’s not right. I wanted to see it as soon as I saw the cast list.

I was so excited to see all these people I liked in it, and then you know, one person I didn’t know. I also noticed that they didn’t really try to advertise this movie at all, outside the week before it came out. That sucks. Oh well, I am sure it isn’t entire cliche based.

Rest of the cast
Hey! I know these people. And none of them are the main people.

Alright, so we got a group of friends, two couples, and two single people. Adam Scott is a successful business man doing something, and Jennifer Westfeldt is also successful at something. They are just friends though. The couple friends at Maya Rudolph and Chris O’Dowd, who are about to have a kid, and Kristen Wiig and Jon Hamm who also are going to have a kid. Well that is weird.

Four years later, their friends are completely different, and also potentially having marital woes. But when you are married you cant just ask for a “break” without it being a big deal. With Jennifer’s biological clock going off and never finding a good guy, Adam thinks they should have a child together! BUt you know, no relationship, just have a baby, raise him separately and maintain their distance and friendship, and thus, no problems! Couldn’t go wrong.

A few years later, they even are seeing people. Well first Adam finds a girl walking a dog in the park, Megan Fox, despite her being way younger than him. This makes Jennifer upset (for some reason?) but she finds an older more experienced guy, Edward Burns, who has interesting stories and knows how to treat a woman and get shit done. As the kid gets older, I don’t expect him to find it weird about his parents situation. Sure their friends do, but come on, this is 2012. Babies probably have their shit together sooner now.

Main people
I was told it was good to acknowledge the main cast in the pictures too. Fineee.

You are probably wondering, “No really who the hell is that main actress? I know everyone else in the movie but her!?”. Well she is the writer and director damn it, and clearly the only woman she knows who can articulate the emotions she wants so she did it her self! That explains it. This is also supposed to be a bit more realistic than your standard RomComs, and I can say that it is. Parents having natural fights and getting through it, and some that don’t. Friends who are honest with each other, and some that drink too much.

But the dialogue between Adam and Jennifer is great and yet not the best part of the movie. Jon Hamm, as he tends to do, steals the show, and you find yourself paying attention to him more so whenever he is on screen, that sly dog.

Despite all this, and a decent plot, it just felt like it was both missing something and too long. The ending comes pretty abruptly, but I like that. Just the build up to it? I don’t like it. It takes a long time to get there (I guess that is a realistic approach?) and there is lots of filler that drags the film way down. More than one montage based scene as well. But it does do a nice job at getting to the point early on at least.

Ehh, its hard to describe. Should have been better than what was on screen.

2 out of 4.

Iron Sky

In America, it is Father’s Day. Which means absolutely nothing, really. Most dad’s want the same thing. To be left alone and relax. And thus my movie review for today is Iron Sky, a movie about relaxing.

And not about fathers.

And all about Nazis.

Alll of them
Look at them. Nazing all over the place.

The year is 2018, the future! And the president of the united states looks a lot like Sarah Palin, but she isn’t given a name (Stephanie Paul). Well err, alright. So she had the idea to send man to the moon again, because it would help gain her some positive votes and stuff. Well, when they reached the dark side of the moon, the astronauts found a huge base! And one was shot in the head, the other captured and their shuttle destroyed. The astronaut is James Washington (Christopher Kirby), a model who is also black, and put on the moon with no real experience. His captures? Nazis!

The Nazis are confused by him, because he isn’t even white. What the hell is USA doing? They must have found them out and he must be scouting ahead. But he refuses to give up the information. The head Nazi (Udo Kier) agrees to send Klaus Adler (Gotz Otto) down to earth to speak to the President and potentially find information before war is declared. They have to find out about this new computer technology, allowing James to have a damn phone.

Klaus is sent down to Earth secretly (not discovered?) with a transformed James Washington (they made him Aryan), and also the local teacher snuck aboard as well. Renate Richter (Julia Dietze) knows English, and also might like James, despite his clearly non perfect genetics. They are able to meet with the white house PR lady (Peta Sergeant) who actually uses the Nazi messages of unity and turns them into a campaign for the Presidents upcoming election.

Can these Nazis escape the lavishes of the modern world, and reign destruction? And when the Nazis do come attack full force, can they actually stop them? Also, how the fuck are they living on the moon and shit? Hopefully the answer doesn’t start World War III.

Iron Sky Darkie?
Dude doesn’t even know he is white yet.

This film is actually foreign made, and produced by the Finnish, Austrians, and yes, the German. Germany making fun of their own past? The future is now folks.

The film isn’t a traditional comedy, but more comedic in the unrealistic nature of the whole plot and characters. Some jokes are made, but most of the laughs will just come from how over the top it is. Not only that, but the film is already planning both a pre and a sequel. Ridiculous Europeans.

I did enjoy a lot of the movie, but really can’t see sitting down and watching it again unless it is with a bunch of people who haven’t seen it. I am glad the movie agreed with me, that the USA owns the moon as well. I mean hell, we got there first (well not in the movie’s universe) and put up a flag. Putting up a flag is the universal sign of ownership. Go in knowing what it is, a ridiculous science fiction movie. Yet also entertaining, and better than the bad SyFy movies.

2 out of 4.

A Thousand Words

Based off box office records and IMDB ratings, I am probably the only one who wanted to actually see A Thousand Words. I obviously didn’t know the plot beyond “For whatever reason, this guy will die if he says 1000 more words.”

I’m fine with that. Could be a really good movie, funny, and probably a good message in it. Maybe even be surprisingly super sad, like Click.

Tree
This also means a movie of Eddie Murphy making funny faces at us.

Jack (Murphy) is a PR Rep. So he talks a lot, and talks in circles around people. Always trying to get more money. His house is amazing, although still a bit bachelor pad, which makes his wife (Kerry Washington) a bit mad. They have other relationship problems, and she feels like they have stagnated, but he doesn’t see it. Also a kid, they have one.

His firm is trying to sign Dr. Sinja (Cliff Curtis), a very popular faith/spiritual person in India, to a book deal. If he had a book, it would sell like pancakes. PANCAKES. And make everyone lots of money, and Jack’s boss (Allison Janney) pretty damn happy. After telling Dr. Sinja he is willing to follow his philosophy to make the deal, he is pretty ecstatic.

Somehow though, a tree pops up in his yard. And eventually with the help of Dr. Sinja, he notices that every word he says has a leaf fall off. Logic states that if a tree loses all its leaves, he will die. So he is fucked unless he can figure out how to stop it (he can’t). He is now attached to this tree, which he finds when he tries to knock it down in anger. The only other person he is able to convince is his assistant (Clark Duke) but it takes awhile. Because also writing down the words takes away from it too. And flicking someone off counted as two words. Err.

But can he eventually figure out how to make the tree stop dying, while you know, not losing everything he cares about? Also, why is Jack McBrayer such a bad Starbucks Barista?

Drawing
“When I talk leaves fall down and then I die.” How hard is that!?

Bah. One thing that bugged me is that flicking off scene. That counts as two words? Yet the rest of the movie where he does charades and stuff does not count? That’s a sketch grey area.

Film was not as good as it could have been. Funny parts were far in between. The powerful message was a bit more vague and not as heartfelt. There was one whole scene in the movie that could have hinted what the problems in his life were, but it did a poor job. It could have been a powerful message, touching and all, but it just didn’t build it up properly at all. So overall, it was just a big let down.

The last dozen or so leaves had me very interested, and I was getting excited with where it was going. But the last leaves? Bah. What? That’s dumb. Oh well.

1 out of 4.

Meet Bill

About a year and a half ago a local independent rental store was going out of business. Unfortunately I didn’t realize this until the last day, but I was still able to walk away with about twenty movies. Needless to say a lot of them didn’t work.

Including Meet Bill! I was sad. But turns out it does work, and my laptop was just being a little bitch. Good news, everyone! Time for an older review.

Waving Hands
They look so happy too. Finally glad to be noticed.

Bill (Aaron Eckhart) is a loser. He is married to Jess (Elizabeth Banks) and she is hot, but he is kind of lame. Getting out of shape, doing dumb things. He also works for his father in law, in a made up position, so he feels like he doesn’t contribute a thing to society. Thankfully his old private school is starting a mentoring program, where students who are about to graduate get to follow a successful alumni around. And technically Bill is successful.

Well he becomes a bit popular for yelling at a local broadcaster (Timothy Olyphant). WHy? Because his wife was cheating on him, with Tim, and he got it on tape. Doesn’t help that he later assaults him either. Needless to say everyone wants him to be their mentor, but some rich kid (Logan Lerman) wins out, after he already made plans pre anger shenanigans. This kid is also trying to hit on Lucy (Jessica Alba), a worker at a lingerie store, and ends up bringing her along with their sessions.

Needless to say, Bill is going through a mid life crisis, a kind of divorce, and is having to explain to this kid how to be successful. Whoops. Really the only thing he does during this time is think about starting up a “Sweet Sweet” franchise, a donut shop, and has constant arrangements with the owners Jane and Jim Whittmann (Kristen Wiig and Jason Sudeikis).

Alba and Banks
I wouldn’t feel jealous if I was Elizabeth Banks and Alba was in front of me going after my man.
Mmmm, Elizabeth Banks.

I love explaining the plots, it helps me remember the movie and my own thoughts on it. And this movie is a whole lot about nothing. Mid life crisis, yadda yadda.

But I don’t feel like I gained anything after watching it. While watching it, parts were enjoyable, but mostly just okay. Didn’t even care too much about Bill, and I am supposed to be meeting him, damn it.

Oh well, Aaron Eckhart knows he can’t ever reproduce Thank You For Smoking, but by golly is he going to keep trying.

2 out of 4.

Recount

This is going to be one of those slightly different reviews folks.

Not only is it based on true events, but most of us know about it all. Okay, I mean we are aware of the events around it, without knowing both sides and all the problems and complications. I am talking about the Recount of the 2000 Presidential election ballots in Florida, the decision between who would be the next President, Bush or Gore.

Recountsz
This is not Bush and Gore.

Not sure what I am talking about? Here is some light reading (and thus plot review of the movie!).

TL;DR Florida done fucked up. Some of their ballots were confusing, some machines didn’t punch through enough, the sheet had a front and back, etc etc. Bush supposedly won the state and thus the election, but according to AP news the votes was too close to call, and Gore canceled his concession. Then lots of court stuff. Lots of stuff no one understood, but man was making fun of it easier.

And the whole thing is explained in this nice Hollywood rendition! Woo woo! So yeah, fictionalization happens, but the events are roughly correct, if I have been told correctly.

Kevin Spacey plays the main guy, some Democratic guy. I could tell you everyone’s role, but really I don’t remember them much since they are all real election political people. The closest thing to a villain is Laura Dern as a Florida Secretary of State.

We also got roles for other people! Roles everywhere! For Bob Balaban, Ed Begley Jr., Denis Leary, Tom Wilkinson, John Hurt, and more.

Female Evil?
Major woman character is the biggest villain? Don’t blame Hollywood, blame politics in 2000.

Given that I was 11 or so when this Florida stuff happened, I must say I really didn’t understand it at all. I just assumed Gore was being a baby and demanding recounts, I didn’t know what a Chad was. Easy to joke about, and I guess my perceptions were just based on where I lived. I am glad this HBO movie was done as a movie and not a documentary. It made it a lot more exciting and natural feeling to me.

Technically both sides are shown, but it is clear the Democrats (I think) are supposed to be the good side, when both sides had good and bad people in them. Can blame that one on Kevin Spacey probably. But overall it is very informative and entertaining.

Now I feel like I could answer maybe one more question on Jeopardy, thanks to this movie.

3 out of 4.

Snow White and The Huntsman

In case you didn’t know, there has been lots of Snow White things going on. First one released, Once Upon A Time, a tv show with a fairy tale modern village, with a main character being Snow White. Then Mirror, Mirror (review coming soon!) a more comedic approach. Then finally Snow White and The Huntsman. A more serious or dark version of the Snow White fairy tale.

Allegedly.

Kstew
All I’m trying to say is fuck the show and movie producers. No one wants this.

So what do we got here? We got a kingdom, with a great king and queen, and they have a daughter. They are kind of white supremacist, so they name her Snow White (Kristen Stewart). Well, queen dies, king is all sad. King defeats a mysterious phantom armor and finds a woman captured by them (Charlize Theron). King is immediately smitten, marries her the next day, and on their wedding night, she kills him and her army invades the castle. Shit goes crazy, Snow White is captured and put into a tower, while the Duke (Vincent Regan) and his son William (Sam Claflin) escape.

Man years later, castle and kingdom turned to shit. Queen Ravenna’s power is getting weaker. It might be based on whether or not she is the “fairest of them all”. Kind of messy with the details there. Her brother Finn (Sam Spruell) is her servant, and when he accidentally allows Snow White to escape she is furious. Apparently if she took Snow White’s heart, she would keep her power forever and no longer have to suck the souls out of beautiful women. Score!

But yeah, she escapes, into the scary forest too, so they hire a Hunstman (Chris Hemsworth) to fetch her in return for the resurrection of his dead wife. Realizes the lies, helps her escape, and agrees to get her to the Duke’s castle to lead a revolt. Also, stuff like Dwarves (including Nick Frost, Toby Jones, Bob Hoskins, Eddie Marsan, etc), fairies, stags, villages, weird shit. And you know, poisonous apples, true loves kiss, and a revolt.

Covered in Sperm
I don’t even know what is going on here.

The film was inspired by Snow White tale, and then went all sorts of places. I am not mad that it is nothing like Snow White, I am more mad that the designers of the film thought making it a different Snow White was a good thing. Especially with all the Snow White shit. I think this film would have been a lot better if it just tried to make its own fantasy story instead of the kinda Snow White stuff we got.

I read that a sequel is planned. The fuck? Now they will go even further from any source material, making it even worse that the series is a “Snow White” thing.

But that is a minor complaint. The film is also too long, drags, and is kind of lame. They got what feels like the worst person ever to be the Queen’s brother, from everything to acting and costume design. We got vague journeys and scenes, that just seem like Lord of the Rings stuff. Fight plans that don’t make sense, Queen spells and power levels that do not make sense, and a prophecy based on Innocence of a heart, when everything about Kristen Stewart’s character should destroy any “innocence” by the end. Also ends kind of lamely.

Seriously though, the ambush scene involving the fairies and the giant Stag? That scene pissed me off so badly because of how unlikely any of it would have happened. Worst attempt to catch a person ever. For fucking sakes it was stupid.

I think Charlize Theron did decent for what she was given, and Chris Hemsworth as well. But that would be all. I am not a Kristen Stewart hater, but she added roughly nothing to the movie (and it is amazing that she had such nice teeth after being in a tower for 8-10 years! Minor annoyance, since other characters had bad teeth).

1 out of 4.

Take This Waltz

If you have heard of Take This Waltz, there is generally only one reason why.

Because this is the Indie-Canadian movie originally rumored, then confirmed, to have a naked Sarah Silverman. I am sure there is 95% of you that just don’t know the movie, but the other 5%? Yeah, it is because of that reason.

Waltz
To be fair, there is tons of naked women in this movie. All shapes and sizes. Fully. Let this not be the main reason to watch the movie, mmkay?

We got this girl, Margot (Michelle Williams) who is on vacation! Woo, she feels lonely there, but some guy in the tour group keeps joking around. Same guy ends up being next to her on the plane. Same guy ends up leaving “near her” so he can just walk from her house when they share the cab. Dude lives two houses over and across the street. How crazy! (And potentially stalkerish).

Pretty amazing how they never really met. Especially if Daniel’s (Luke Kirby) job is one of those cart things, where people can ride, being pulled by someone running. Probably decent pay, and good for working out. But also, Margot is married. To a Lou (Seth Rogen) who makes cooking books, dealing with chicken recipes. They eat a lot of chicken.

They have been married for five years, but Margot doesn’t feel loved as much. Lou jokes around a lot, and she feels like her advances are being ignored, while he has become complacent. But this neighbor, he is a new, and interesting, and probably can fulfil her sexually. Should she leave her husband for him, or just fool around a bit?

Hos be hoin’.

Take This Rogen
Sarah Silverman is also barely in this movie. Just a sober sister. Michelle Williams is naked way more often.

I was ready to bash this movie so hard. Fucking double standards in film. Women cheating on their spouses tend to be acceptable because they are finding themselves, or something. Men cheating are generally always pigs and bad people. Fuck that. She does try to be open with her emotions, but she does a bad job of it, and apparently “too late” for Seth to see anything as wrong. Generally the best time to deal with problems is not when you are walking out of the door.

But hey, the movie ends up not painting her as some hero figure. (Spoilers?) By the end, turns out she just wanted something new. But eventually new things become old things (a quote from an old black woman in the shower scenes), and she gets bored of it too. She realizes she done fucked up, and she is kind of a horrible person. I loved that ending a lot more.

I’m not saying you have to stay with the one you marry (although it’d be nice). Just you know, try to work shit out. Don’t run away from your problems. Realize that couples can fight. Etc.

In other news, this movie felt very real in the good way. Nice emotions going on, and pretty nice acting. Those Canadians can make some good things people.

3 out of 4.

Prometheus

Prometheus! Such a meaningful word. This movie I had the pleasure of seeing in theaters, which of course means it is automatically a bit better than it might be, so the review could change months later.

Outside of the amazing trailers, of course I knew that Ridley Scott was the director. I had heard originally that they planned on being a prequel to the Alien movies, but it was scrapped when it became so big. Well, it still is pretty much. Not a direct prequel, but same universe, and before Alien at least.

Vase
I’m sure there is nothing ominous about those vases.

Prometheus is the name of the ship, sent to a moon of a very very distant planet. Two archaeologists, Liz Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green) find a bunch of cave paintings, showing old nations worshiping a lager man, and pointing to a very specific star system. It is weird, because none of these nations would have had contact, and are quite old.

So they believe that these beings are inviting them to their planet, and really want to “meet their maker”, and so they convince a trillionaire (Guy Pearce, looking like an old Bill Maher) to finance a ship and crew to do just that. Presumably the ship cost most of the funding, so not all individuals of the crew were the top of their field (on a potentially suicide mission), but still. We got a pilot (Idris Elba), a biologist (Rafe Spall), a geologist (Sean Harris), some sort of high level CEO like figure (Charlize Theron) and an adroid who is fucking fantastic (Michael Fassbender).

Of course other people too, like medics, navigators, security, etc. But eh whatever.

They go to the planet, find the people in question, but they are all dead (OR ARE THEY?). Also, find some nice black ooze. I’m sure after this they go home disappointed and no one dies.

Prom
After unlocking all of the secrets of the universe, of course.

Let me go over some pros first:

Michael Fassbender as an android. So good. So so good.
The visuals and shiny colors.
That basic premise.

Some of the cons?
Well, obviously, this is by far the worst depiction of a geologist I have ever seen in film. Thus my comments on not top of the field. Scientifically, a lot of this film is a travesty. Liz demanding no weapons on a new planet for safety, is pretty dumb, as is having only one “Expert’ on each field. But man, that geologist. It sucked, knowing he would die so fast in the film before I knew his field.

A lot of the characters don’t get as much development as one would like. So when certain self sacrifices are made, emotionally it doesn’t hurt as much because we barely know these people. Other conversations seemed forced (“I can’t have babies!” “Father!” etc) and it almost cringe worthy to see. Also drugs.

If I could rate this just on potential? It would be quite high. A lot of the elements are there but I think a bit too much was left on the cutting room floor. This film with a directors cut would probably be great. There is a lot of implied themes that make this film great as well, with plenty of evidence. Just…not enough for me to call it great.

Give a watch, but maybe wait for a nice Directors cut on Blu-Ray.

2 out of 4.