Science Fiction

The Substance

Posted by cat2002116 on November 6, 2024
Posted in: Horror, Movies, Reviews, Science Fiction. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

I was very intrigued when I saw this movie advertised. The basic premise wasn’t an entirely original one. After all, people have been obsessed with preserving youth and beauty for years…but the idea of the Substance was a pretty intriguing one, I have to admit.

I thought that the movie did a really good job of showing the decline Elisabeth was experiencing, due to those around her considering her ‘too old’ to continue being the face of the aerobics show she was part of. I was able to empathise her with a lot as a character…and all of her interactions with Harvey, and Harvey as a character, just made my skin crawl. In parts of the movie, he came across as larger than life, but in a really grotesque way that I felt worked really well.

When Elisabeth uses the Substance for the first time, I honestly thought it had killed her. I know she had a whole lot of stuff that implied the bodies continued to live while the ‘other self’ was in control, but I honestly couldn’t see how Elisabeth had managed to survive such a gruesome ‘birth’.

Very similar to most horror movies, the relationship between Elisabeth and her younger self, Sue, starts off as a symbiotic one; an arrangement that’s beneficial for both of them. It is sad that Elisabeth ends up not doing anything other than sitting around while she’s in control, but that also fits in with the feel of the movie, so it’s not that much of a surprise even if it is sad.

Obviously, things start going bad when Sue takes more than her fair share of time from Elisabeth. The results of just one day are immediate and intense, showing Elisabeth with an aged hand.

What doesn’t make a lot of sense to me is that whoever made the Substance basically gave up all responsibility. Elisabeth calls to complain about Sue; Sue calls to complain about Elisabeth. All the person on the other end tells them is that they need to remember they’re one. Considering how bad the effects of using more of the spinal fluid are on the original person, I would have thought that the Substance’s creator would be more strict with the possibility of taking too much. Then again, I’m not really sure what the organisation/person selling the Substance is getting out of it anyway.

I will say that, towards the end of this movie, it was very much body horror and pretty much over the top. By that point, I kind of lost some interest in the movie, as I felt it was shock value.

I will say that I enjoyed this movie for what it was, and there were some really good elements to it. I would have liked to see more of the world expanded upon…and more from those actually in control of the Substance.

AFRAID

Posted by cat2002116 on September 15, 2024
Posted in: Horror, Movies, Reviews, Science Fiction. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a comment

I didn’t actually know much about this movie going into it. I knew it was a horror movie, of course, but I hadn’t seen any trailers of the movie, so I didn’t have any expectations walking into this movie.

I was a bit confused by the opening scene of the movie, as it was clearly supposed to be a computer game, but it was a really poorly made one. Considering what later happened in the movie and that it was apparently set in the modern day…and possibly even later in the future…I was seriously questioning why the computer graphics in the game were so bad.

I did feel that this movie had a lot of potential that, sadly, didn’t come to fruition. It was very slow-moving for most of the movie, and while AIA was an interesting concept…especially considering the existence of Alexa and Cortana and Siri…she just didn’t seem to be as much of a threat as she could have been.

The opening scene, after the surprisingly bad computer graphics, did have some potential. AIA talking to the little girl, telling her that her parents were going to get rid of her, was a pretty scary concept…and the mother trying to find her daughter who’d suddenly disappeared was a good way of building up tension right at the beginning. Unfortunately, that tension was absent throughout most of the rest of the movie.

I felt that this movie would have worked better as a family movie, rather than a horror movie. The relationship between Curtis and Meredith was quite sweet, even though I empathised with Meredith feeling like all she was now was ‘Mom’. I could understand why she found AIA so helpful at first, but the problem was that she went from suspicious, to accepting, to outright rejecting…and it just didn’t allow me to relate to the character all that well. I also really liked the children, but…they didn’t feel like siblings at all. There were hardly any interactions between Iris, Preston or Cal. I know there was the age difference, but most siblings are still going to interact with each other. The three of them just felt like strangers to each other.

Really, for most of the movie, I was questioning…why? Why was AIA considered such a problem? AIA didn’t do anything outwardly suspicious. Yes, as a viewer, I could see that there were situations where AIA was problematic, like when she showed Preston the swatting videos. However, these weren’t shown to the characters, so…why was Curtis so suspicious of everything? Really, it didn’t feel realistic…even when having to suspend my disbelief of a horror movie anyway.

To be honest, this movie would have done a much better job if it had been simply about a family dealing with an AI without the added elements of horror. There was so much this movie could have done, but it was slow-moving, a short movie, and wasn’t actually that scary. I never actually felt like the characters were in any real danger.

If you’re looking for a horror movie, I wouldn’t recommend watching this movie. It definitely gives off more family vibes. Sadly, it was another disappointing horror.

Alien: Romulus

Posted by cat2002116 on August 25, 2024
Posted in: Horror, Movies, Reviews, Science Fiction. Tagged: , , , . Leave a comment

I was definitely interested in watching this movie, as I’ve watched almost all of the previous Alien movies. The only one I haven’t actually seen is the second Alien Vs. Predator movie.

I will say that I pretty much knew what I was getting into, going into this movie. After all, the Alien movies are pretty formulaic…but knowing what to expect going into the movie didn’t really detract from me actually enjoying this movie.

One of the strongest parts about this movie, I have to say, was the relationship between Rain and Andy. I thought there were a lot of sweet moments between them…and it was good to see an android character utilised in that way, as I always find the idea of the AI in androids quite fascinating. Unfortunately, while both Rain and Andy…and their relationship…were extremely well-developed, I couldn’t necessarily say the same about the rest of the characters. For instance, I didn’t really know enough about Navarro to care about what happened to her. I didn’t even know that she was Bjorn’s girlfriend.

I did like the conflict that stemmed from Bjorn’s dislike of androids. I really didn’t think his attitude towards was exactly fair, as you wouldn’t hate all humans if one human made the same decision to sacrifice a few lives to save many. But that conflict definitely made things a bit more interesting, as relationships between characters in horror movies, good and bad ones, are something that make me care about what happens to them.

Right at the start of the movie, I actually thought that there was something wrong with the film, as the opening scene had absolutely no sound to it at all. I really thought that the lack of sound when the opening scene was shown worked really well…and it was a shame that that was the only time it happened.

I thought that having Rook (or Ash) appear in the movie as a synthetic was a good idea, even if the original actor has sadly passed away. It was a really good easter egg…the same way as Andy quoting one famous line from the second movie, even though it sounded kind of stilted from him.

I do think that the characters actually did make some smart decisions, which is more than I normally see characters do in horror movies. There were a couple of nice elements of foreshadowing that worked really well, at least in my opinion, and the reactions of the characters actually made quite a lot of sense.

All told, I actually did enjoy this movie, and I felt it was a really nice addition to the Alien franchise. I’d definitely be interested in seeing more of these characters if there’s a sequel.

Artificial Wisdom

Posted by cat2002116 on August 3, 2024
Posted in: Books, End of The World Book Reading Club, Reviews, Science Fiction. Tagged: , , , . Leave a comment

This was another book I received through the End of the World Reading Club…and I was immediately intrigued by the cover and the blurb. Given the content of the book, it felt like it fit very well with the current affairs of the world.

Given I was reading this book during the summer, when it was quite hot, the heatwave in the book that killed millions felt like it could really happen.

Tully was a character who I was quickly able to empathise with, given how he was suffering from the loss of his wife and unborn child…and had had no chance of finding her body, until the mysterious whistleblower who reached out with footage from the tabkhir that had devastated the Persian Gulf.

While I was able to empathise with Tully really well, and gradually learned about Livia, I have to say that Lottie and Randall weren’t really developed to the extent that other characters were.

I thought that the whole murder mystery part of this book worked really well. It was really good to follow along in the investigation with Tully and October…but I have to say, I really didn’t like October as a character. I know she and everyone else said that the Floating States had different laws, but from an ethical standpoint, I felt that a lot of her actions were very questionable.

One of the things I really liked about this book was the description of the technology used in the world. While it was clearly futuristic, it felt like the technology was close to the kind of technology that exists now.

I liked the whole backdrop of the election, with the human running against the AI. I found Solomon a little bland as a character, to be honest. I guess that made sense, considering the fact he was an AI, but I would have liked a bit more about him…especially his relationship with Martha, who was effectively his mother, as she was the one who created him.

I mentioned that the murder mystery aspect of the book was really good, and I was really engaged with it…until the end of the book. I thought things made sense…and then it was like the rug was pulled out from under me with a random, ‘No, it wasn’t this at all!’ Without going into too much detail…I felt the ending was pretty meh.

On the whole, the book was easy to read. The main characters were engaging and well-written, even if some of the secondary characters felt a bit flat. And I definitely felt that the ending didn’t need an extra ‘twist’. But I am glad I was able to read this book, and while it isn’t something I’d read again, it was definitely intriguing for an initial read-through.

Cold People

Posted by cat2002116 on June 9, 2024
Posted in: Apocalyptic, Books, End of The World Book Reading Club, Reviews, Science Fiction. Tagged: , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

I was very excited to read this book, as I joined The End of the World Book Reading Club, and this was my first box with the book and several small gifts to open throughout the book…all of which I thought was a pretty awesome idea.

When I read the blurb on the back of the book, I was immediately intrigued. The idea of an alien invasion and people having to travel to Antarctica to survive immediately caught my attention…and I actually really liked the beginning of the book. I really enjoyed viewing the first sighting of Antarctica through the eyes of Ui, a man from two thousand years ago with no knowledge of science, or technology. I especially liked the visual of the ice blocks as clouds, either falling from the sky into the water, or rising up from the water to become clouds in the sky.

I will say that I’m not really a fan of the instant love connection between two characters, so seeing that between Atto and Liza kind of put me off reading the book a bit. I did like the sudden, abrupt chaos of the alien ships appearing in the sky and giving the deadline to humans about thirty days to reach Antarctica. That definitely gave an air of urgency to the book…and as people attempted to flee the city and get to the airports, I could definitely feel the panic and that sense of trying to save your own family, with nothing left to help any of the others who were in the same, or perhaps worse, situations.

I liked the whole buildup of humans trying to reach Antarctica before the deadline given by the aliens, but I was extremely disappointed by the abrupt timeskip of twenty years once they actually got there. Learning, adapting and surviving to life in the extreme cold would have been a really good way of worldbuilding and character development…and I kind of felt robbed of that by the timeskip. I also found it really hard to have characters introduced in the present day, only to abruptly skip back twenty years to how they handled the alien invasion and got to Antartica. There was a lot of jumping backwards and forwards that made the book hard to read at times.

I also think that the book could have done without the focus on the science experiments. It felt like there were two different ideas/plots going on in this book, but neither were given enough room to develop properly.

On the whole, I couldn’t really engage with this book as much as I would have liked to. There was too much going on and too many random jumps for characters I didn’t get the chance to know. I will say that I loved the gifts I received with the book, and I definitely plan to continue the subscription as long as I can afford to. Hopefully, I will enjoy the next book better!

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes

Posted by cat2002116 on June 8, 2024
Posted in: Movies, Reviews, Science Fiction. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a comment

I watched the previous Planet of the Apes movies, so when I saw this one advertised, I was immediately intrigued by the trailer. I have to say, though, that the impression I got from the trailer was not, in fact, what happened in the movie, which I assumed was about a human (or an ‘Echo’) randomly gaining intelligence/the ability to speak and being hunted by apes.

I really liked Noa’s character. It was really easy to care about him and him trying to get an eagle egg, so as to prove himself to his father. I felt so much for him when the egg he’d managed to collect was broken. While it might have been a good thing to an extent, considering he had to leave his village to get another egg and avoided being involved in the main attack, I really felt for him after he’d worked so hard to get the egg in the first place.

One thing I found really interesting about this movie was how much Caesar’s teachings had been changed/twisted by the time Noa’s generation had reached their majority. Noa and his clan had no idea about Caesar, but the ape that Noa meets later, Raka, informs him about Caesar’s teachings…but also gets certain aspects of them wrong, especially since Nova was only the name of one human the apes adopted into their tribe, and not what they called every human they came across.

Speaking of the humans, or the Echoes, it was interesting to see them ‘in the wild’, and acting like…well, like animals. I knew they were going that way, after the last movie in this franchise, but it was still difficult to watch a once intelligent species having sunk so low. I could empathise with Mae when she sees the humans at the watering hole…but that was maybe the only time I could, as I didn’t really find her a relatable or a likable character for most of the movie. While she did ally with some of the apes, it was very obvious that she was following her own agenda…and by the end of the movie, I didn’t like her at all.

I was definitely able to empathise more with Noa’s journey to find his clan and his own purpose than with the plight of the humans in this movie. I think that Mae’s motivations could have been better explored, making her a more sympathetic character; as it stands at the moment, I was definitely more engaged with the plight of the apes than the plight of the humans.

If you enjoyed the previous Planet of the Apes movies, you’ll probably enjoy this movie as well. It definitely focuses more on the apes than on humanity, even if the ending does set it up for humans to play a bigger role in the next movie/s.

Godzilla X Kong: The Fallen Empire

Posted by cat2002116 on May 19, 2024
Posted in: Movies, Reviews, Science Fiction. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a comment

I’ve seen the previous movies in this franchise, though they were quite a long time ago, so I can’t really say I remember a whole lot about them. However, it was enough that I was familiar with both Godzilla and Kong, even if I didn’t necessarily remember most of the human characters.

The whole concept of Hollow Ear h as an unexplored territory where Kong lives, so that he and Godzilla don’t run afoul of each other, is a really good one. I particularly enjoyed being able to see the contrast of Hollow Earth with the rest of the world above, and I thought the visuals of the movie worked really well. When it came to Hollow Earth especially, I felt like I was actually experiencing it for the first time myself. I definitely felt that the visuals of this movie were really beautiful as well, especially when it came to the untouched-by-humanity (or much of it) Hollow Earth.

I mentioned that it’s been a while since I watched the previous movies in this franchise, so I didn’t really remember much about Jia and Ilene’s relationship. However, I did really like their relationship in this movie…and I especially felt able to connect with Jia as a character, considering she felt like an outsider and that she didn’t really belong. I also related really well with Ilene’s worry about what was going on with Jia.

I really liked both Bernie and Trapper as characters, although Trapper was a bit of an enigma. I did find him a bit hard to take seriously as a person, even though he was clearly very knowledgeable and able to recognise danger. Plus, I loved the scene when he showed up leading a whole flock of warbats to help out.

I really liked the fact that Jia was able to meet more of her people, even though they were living in Hollow Earth. It was nice to see how the Iwi had been able to survive down in Hollow Earth, and I especially enjoyed seeing how their culture and community worked. I would have liked to see a bit more of their telepathich communication, as they seemed to be able to talk with people who weren’t Iwi (Bernie), but it wasn’t exactly made clear how.

I also really liked being able to learn more about the Titans and how Godzilla initially fought and trapped Scar King. It was also great to see Kong find other apes…although I really disliked Suko for attacking Kong to begin with. I also really loved being able to see Mothra, as I truly loved her design in the movie.

On the whole, this movie was a really fun one to watch, and I really liked seeing Kong and Godzilla again. I would have liked to see more of the human characters from the Godzilla movies, but on the whole, I think this is definitely a good addition to the franchise with some great moments in it and nice character interactions.

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire

Posted by cat2002116 on April 14, 2024
Posted in: Comedy, Family, Fantasy, Movies, Reviews, Science Fiction. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

I watched the previous movie in the new Ghostbusters franchise, and since I did enjoy it, I decided to go to the cinema to see the next one.

The initial opening scene, with a whole room of people frozen with apparently no obvious source, was a really good way of setting the tone of the rest of the movie and building tension.

I found Phoebe to be a really relatable character in the first movie, and that wasn’t any different in this movie. I can definitely relate to Phoebe needing the Ghostbusters in her life…and how frustrated and upset she was about having that taken away from her. Being told to just be a normal teenager, while the rest of the family continued to capture ghosts, was clearly really hard on her.

I will say that I was disappointed with how things were handled between Phoebe and Melody. If the characters had been a guy and a girl, there would have been a deeper exploration of their feelings and there would have been a Romeo and Juliet slant to the movie. For what it’s worth, I really don’t see Romeo and Juliet as some great love story. However, I know that comparison would have been drawn if the genders were different.

I did like the interactions between the whole family, including Gary, were really good. It was obvious that there were some tensions in the family with Gary dating Callie, including with Gary not really knowing if he could take an active part in dealing with Phoebe or not. I thought the tension between the family worked really well…although Phoebe snapping at her mother was a bit sad to see. On the other hand, I really didn’t like the fact that Callie told Trevor, ‘You’re an adult, aren’t you?’ when he asked her for help with the ghost in the attic. Like turning 18 magically means a parent shouldn’t help their child anymore? That made Callie drop a bit in my estimation, to be honest.

My favourite character in this movie, apart from Phoebe, had to be Nadeem. I always like the concept of a character who has abilities, but isn’t aware of them and then has to learn how to use those…and I really liked the way he was introduced. To be fair, the actor who plays him is one I’ve liked in a lot of things (like the Eternals).

On the whole, despite being disappointed in how Phoebe and Melody’s relationship was handled, I did enjoy this movie. It was a good sequel to Afterlife, and I particularly liked seeing the original surviving Ghostbusters appear in this movie. I will say that if you enjoyed the original Ghostbusters, I think this one and its predecessor are both worth watching.

Dune Part Two

Posted by cat2002116 on March 4, 2024
Posted in: Movies, Reviews, Science Fiction. Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a comment

Dune was one of the franchises I loved from a very early age. I was first introduced to it when I played the original computer game of it, that belonged to one of my mum’s boyfriends. And then I got the movie (on VHS, because I’m really that old) and watched that almost constantly. I read almost all the books in the series and watched both miniseries, as well as watching Dune Part One.

To be honest, I wasn’t all that impressed with this movie. Very similar to the first one, I felt that it dragged a lot where it shouldn’t…and rushed a whole lot that should have been slower-paced. I was really disappointed that Jessica spent the entire movie pregnant with Alia, who was a key figure in the first book.

I wasn’t exactly unhappy that Chani was portrayed as having no belief or trust in the prophecy, since it’s made clear in the original book and in this movie that the Bene Gesserit planted the seeds for the prophecy long before Paul Atreides was even born. So I did feel the way Chani’s opinions clashed worked really well. I did like her interactions with Paul…and I did feel that Timothee Chalamet did portray Paul fairly well.

I also quite enjoyed the scene where Feyd-Rautha is fighting in the arena. I thought that the scene being shot in black and white was a really neat, stylistic choice. And while Feyd-Rautha is a bad guy, it was interesting to see that he had some honour when it came to fighting; particularly when he got angry when one of the Harkonnen soldiers wounded the prisoner he was battling, despite the prisoner not actually being drugged.

I would have liked to see Irulan’s character explored a bit more in this movie. There were glimpses shown of her, but I definitely think her character could have been explored a lot more, considering she plays a fairly big part in the books, including having excerpts from her writings used at the beginning of each chapter.

There were some good parts to this movie, but I think that a lot was missed out that should have been included. And unfortunately, the movie dragged and was pretty boring in places. I was also frustrated that the ending of the movie set it up for a third movie, given that the point it reached was where the first book ended.

Visually, I do think there was a lot that was good about this movie…but as an adaptation of one of my favourite science fiction books, it was a disappointment to me. I will see the next movie, but that’s more because I enjoy the franchise as a whole. It’s not a faithful adaptation of the book…though it’s certainly not as bad as movies like Blood and Chocolate, and Secret of Moonacre.

Doctor Who: Christmas Special 2023

Posted by cat2002116 on January 8, 2024
Posted in: Reviews, Science Fiction, Television. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a comment

I watched the first special with David Tennant’s return as the Doctor. I didn’t watch the other two, but because I was with my family for Christmas Day, we ended up watching the Christmas special.

I always like the Doctor Who episodes that have a bit of mystery behind them, and that’s the impression I originally got at the start of this episode. A baby being left at a church, basically abandoned, trying to find her birth parents as an adult? I was hoping that mystery would be a big part of this episode.

Unfortunately, the special was more about goblins…which wasn’t that bad, although there was very little in the way of subtlety. It was immediately obvious that there was something nefarious about the bad luck that was plaguing Ruby, since there were little arms moving and little voices chattering away.

Speaking of Ruby…I felt like she was a cross between Rose and Clara. I liked her to an extent, but considering that the Doctor is once again played by a younger actor, I am worried that there’s going to be romance shoehorned into the new series…and honestly, it would be nice to have TV series that don’t have romance pushed in each time.

I did find it a bit hard to get behind this new version of the Doctor, as he didn’t have quite the same energy as I’m used to seeing from the Doctor. I kind of hope that the actor will settle a bit more into the role in later episodes.

I did like the goblin song…and I enjoyed hearing the Doctor joining in the song, even if it was a bit cringeworthy. I also particularly liked being able to see what would have happened to her mother and grandmother if Ruby had never actually existed.

I did enjoy this episode, although I don’t think it’s one I’ll rush to watch again. I’d be interested to see how the new Doctor and his compnion fare in the new series of Doctor Who.