Well, kind of Monster May, abduction April ran over and late, but part of May at least, and maybe some of June, is going to be spent reviewing classic monster films. We kick off with King Kong, but Godzilla will be reviewed and Mark maybe a surprise or two. We also have at least one of recurring guests, friends of the show lined up at least one episode.
Ignore the intro, it is symptom 193, even though I say symptom 192. Dark Skies - it’s an alien abduction movie kind of, if you ignore that it was really a ghost/demonic possession haunting story first. If you just shut your brain off the movie is ok enough, but upon multiple watching’s the flaws will show. However compared to the previous two films we watched this is gold. We also joined by our friend Ruk, who is promoting his awesome crime podcast, Cold Case Chase. It’s always a good show when our friends show up.
This weeks movie, unlike last weeks movie, is just bad, but not an offense to human sensibilities. It also has Christopher Walken, which is about the only redeeming aspect of the film. Communion is in many ways a by the numbers alien abduction film, which follows a man who has been abducted by aliens since he was young, experimented on, marked, and now the aliens have decided to do the same to his son. The film explores many tropes of alien abduction, and is largely boring and poorly acted. It does however let you see Walken in a mindscape scene, allowing him to ratchet the Walken factor up to 11, so there is that.
Communion, its just bad, unlike last movie, which was an abomination.
This week Mark decided to punish us and had us review a horrible film that never should have been made. A film so bad no major streaming service carries it, and after watching it we see why. Progeny is a movie that is poorly acted, but the basics are that a woman is impregnated by aliens, and her husband performs a forced abortion which results in his wife dying, but not before aliens steal the baby back. Also, this description leaves out the worst and most disturbing parts of this film.
This film is horrible and honesty, we recommend you never watch it.
We kick off alien abduction April by reviewing a film whose trailer creeped me (Scott) out so much I didn’t watch this movie until - last week. Fire in the Sky is superb example of the proper use of atmosphere. Everything in this movie is calculated to convey an emotion, fear, hope, terror, despair, anguish, curiosity, and the music, lighting, camera work, all work together to create the atmosphere called for. This one isn’t an action packed romp, and its probably a crock of crap when it comes to being a true story, but as a film, it checks all the boxes a sci-fi horror/drama should.
Side note - the editing of this was a disaster. I apologize in advance for any echo or ghosting effects. Something went wrong and after three days of trying to manually correct it, I had to simply go with what we had.
Dear God, Why.
This month is alien abduction April. We are discussing visitors, travelers, grays, whatever, aliens, kidnapping humans and performing experiments on them. Get ready, because the truth is out there and Sci-Fi Malady will find it. Or something.
We wrap up Malady March with a review of Stephen King’s The Stand. Somehow, I remembered this mini series being better, but maybe that was also my memories of the novel butting in. All in all though, aside from some pacing issues this four part marathon mini series is a faithful retelling of the novel, is well acted and the scenes hold up. Whatever the actual plot was, and why things that happened had to happen are as confusing in this mini series as they are in the book, but hey, its a Stephen King story it isn’t supposed to make sense.
This week we discuss The Andromeda Strain. It’s slow, plodding, and awesome. It is a tribute to old school story telling where you, the viewer, get the story at the same time the main characters do. The film may lack action, of any kind, with the most exciting thing, a plane crash, happening off screen. But it doesn’t matter, because the film tells a coherent, interesting and intriguing story.
I Am Legend is Will Smith at this best. It allows him to show a great deal of his range, action hero, caring father, grieving widow, a man making the best of a rough life, man sliding into insanity, professional military doctor and more. At times witty, at times introspective, shy or outgoing, Will Smith carries this film largely by himself, with only a dog as a costar. It is a testament to his formidable talent as an actor.
The film itself, unlike others we have reviewed recently, is worthy of the performance. I Am Legend is entertaining, thrilling, tear jerking and above all invites to examine the nature of the human soul and what makes life worth living, and what makes a person struggle on when all, literally all that makes a life worth living, is gone.
I Am Legend is simply a good film that entertains, despite some flaws.
We kick off Malady March with Contagion - a film that uses all of the buzz words we have become sick of during COVID19’s reign of terror. This film, while off on some of the science, and lacking any real drama, certainly had it’s terminology down cold. Contagion offers a somewhat realistic, if accelerated look at the role our medical leaders, government and society play in dealing with a global pandemic. For a film that was guessing for the most part, it hit close to the mark in many areas.
For March of 2021 Sci-Fi Malady is exploring movies dealing with pandemic outbreaks. We will explore films like Contagion, The Stand and IAM Legend. Grab your mask and suit up for Malady March.
What can we say about the Space Between Us. It’s a drama, hold the drama about sums it up. Seriously, this film runs away from drama every chance it gets. The result is a two hour tribute to technically superb mediocrity. I guess at some point the story is love over coming distance and obstacles, except no one really suffered anything to overcome these obstacles, at least not that you see, and the love seems lifeless at best. This is a film to watch if you are a like a gamer looking to get 100% complete. If you aren’t trying to see every film ever made, just skip this. I watch it a week ago and I can’t remember one character’s name. The film is lifeless and devoid or heart, passion or feeling, which is a devastating comment for something that is supposed to be a dramatic love story.
HER - A story about a man who falls in love with his sapient AI. It’s a high concept story that works due to excellent writing and execution by the actors/actresses and directors. It examines the nature of human love and evolving artificial intelligence and our interaction/treatment of it. Overall this was an excellent effort at exploring the human condition.
Passengers. A movie that features superb acting, wonderful direction, masterful scoring, beautiful sets and cinematography, and script that gets an F minus in creative writing 101. Passengers is what you get when everyone aside from the writer is turning in the performance of a lifetime. It’s really sad too because Star Lord and Mystique really gave a masterclass in acting, supported by a strong performance by Morpheus. All for naught as nothing, and I mean nothing, can overcome the fact that this film is based on multiple idiot premises. Yes, I know idiot premise is a grammatical abomination, ask me how much I care. I like the term.
Passengers - it’s a load of crap and that’s the nicest thing I can say.
In February, well half of February, Sci-Fi Malady has found love. Well maybe, we know Ragemaster hates love stories and has the crew every action reviewed a pure love story? Well, they have now. This can only be great right? Pretty good? Ok? Can we shoot for Ok?
It’s probably going to terrible. Or great. For sure great.
We arrive at our choice for the best episode of Star Trek Deep Space Nine. It may surprise some that it is In the Pale Moonlight, as it is a darker version of trek. This episode however is truly a timeless and near flawless masterpiece. It combines a strong script with excellent acting and direction to tell a story about war, loss and the extremes that good men will go to in order to end the loss of life while preserving freedom and self determination. SIsko sacrifices his principals, but pays a cost. In this case the ends justify his morally questionable means, but even so he will forever pay the cost with a scar on his soul. Our hero shows that he has human weaknesses and is not perfect, and if anything his “failure” in the eyes of trek purists, attached to the Roddenberry vision, makes him more human than he was before. This is not only deep space nine at its best, but Star Trek.
Deep Space Nine at it’s very best? At least in my opinion (Scott) just about. This story shows an alternate future where Sisko doesn’t survive, the Klingons hold the station and drive off the Dominion, and Jake Sisko, spends his entire life trying to rescue his dad from a subspace bubble. Ok, so maybe that doesn’t sound great, but the actual episode is. It examines fatherhood and how the job doesn’t end just because the child turn 18 and goes off to college. It demonstrates dramatically that the role of father is a lifetime job that never ends. It also explores how we deal with loss, or as Jake does, refuse to move with loss and become trapped trying to find a way to undo a tragedy. Jake wastes his entire life by emotionally and mentally trapped in a moment in time and refusing to move forward, never realizing that while he was fixed on the tragedy of his father’s death the moments of only life were passing into oblivion and he was in danger of having lived yet not lived.
The Visitor is a timeless story that will be relevant as long as men and women deal with mortality, so always. It is bold in choice, in that it has a guest star carry the script and it would sink or swim on his talents. Finally it is emotional and engaging and explores questions absolutely central to the human condition. What more can you ask for in science fiction…unless you are Michael Bay, then you want explosions, or if JJ, a mystery box. Thank God they didn’t direct this.
So Avery, what if this sub space real you are in was really a box, with voices in the background belonging to shadowy creatures, maybe its Jake, maybe it’s Dukat, and maybe it a box, and you don’t know how you got in it….
Yes yes JJ, but your literally mystery box should have to be blown up to get Sisko
(Avery) I am not doing this nonsense. Get me a real director and … get…me….one….NOW. Slams table.
Duet is simply one of the best bottle shows in Star Trek history, as well as one of the best episodes of DS9. It examines human emotions from ranging from guilt, remorse, hate, revenge, horror, love and forgiveness and does so in a way that is impactful. Ethan joins us to review Duet.
Making the list at number four for the best episodes of Deep Space Nine is Way of the Warrior. This two parter makes the list for multiple reasons, the most important being that it is the soft reboot of the show and therefore essential viewing to have a proper context of what will follow in seasons four through seven. Beyond that though these episodes are fantastic examples of what DS9 was. This story is about Worf and how he resolves a conflict between his personal code of honor and his cultural code of honor. Placed in a spot where he has no way to choose a third option Worf selects his own personal honor over societal honor, and loses everything by doing so. What is different about DS9 from TOS or TNG is that DS9 simply shows you the moral dilemma and the characters choices, and allows you, the viewer, to decide what was the ethical choice. TNG or TOS would have taken a clear stance on what the only moral action was. Some people prefer the TNG/TOS stance to ethics, however many, myself included, believe that ethics is a fluid and shifting concept and that DS9’s nuanced. realistic and pragmatic approach to ethics is more useful in a discussion of the human condition. It is this approach that really separated DS9 from the other Star Trek iterations, more so than being serialized or having a war narrative. The ability to tell stories that allowed our heroes to act in shades of gray and let the viewer draw a moral conclusion rather than being dictated that conclusion, allowed for more depth of story telling.
RageMaster’s favorite month is Horror Month. Scott’s is Trekkin Into the New Year. If it was up to Scott every month and episode would be about Star Trek. This year we review Scott’s top 4 DS9 Episodes. We will probably get a supplemental or two along the way as well as at least one guest and lots of deep meaning talk.