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#726 – Alien Weekend (2024)
Alien Weekend (2024)
Film review #726
Director: Taylor King
SYNOPSIS: Four friends stumble upon an alien egg that crash lands onto Earth, and try to protect it from the government, evil aliens, and everybody else…
THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: Alien Weekend is a 2024 sci-fi film. Violet and her three friends witness an alien craft fall to Earth while out on the road. It turns out to contain an alien egg for the last female of their species, and Violet takes it to protect from another race of evil aliens, and the government who want the egg to experiment on. The result is a kind of road trip movie sprinkled with some teenage banter and sci-fi antics that mix comedy with some coming-of-age realisations. Emerging from a humble production and without much of a budget, it’s easy not to expect much from this film; but nevertheless I did have a good time with it. The characters are quickly recognisable as having distinct personalities that fall into very typical roles, but they still provide a clash of personalities and personal dilemmas that mix well. I don’t think there’s anything too unique in the characters or story: any detail is skimmed over that reveal anything too personal, but there’s specific scenes which are dedicated to giving characters emotional moments and development which are nice enough, if a little inorganic, as you can feel the specific objective of the scene over everything else happening within it.
As I said, I felt the film was quite funny: it’s not smart humour, but there’s enough quick one-liners or clapbacks that get a reciprocal quick laugh before moving on. There’s enough of these put together to see the film through the runtime, if nothing else. Some of the supporting characters are a little weak, and there comes a point where I think there’s too many of them to cohesively bring them together; some are fine though. There are points too where characters don’t appear for a good portion of the film, and their purpose gets waylaid. The big thing that would have improved this film is some more direction to bring out more impact from the scenes, as it sometimes feels like the point gets lost amid the purposely inane dialogue. For example, a lot of the camera shots are very straight-on and without any focus, and since a lot of the scenes are empty of in pitch-black, there’s barely anything to focus on. The acting itself isn’t too bad, but I think better direction with it would have had benefits; I can see why people might bounce off the irreverent teenage slang thrown at you at the beginning in vast quantities
But overall, I enjoyed this film more than I expected: it’s fun, silly, and hits enough emotional depth and development of the characters to make it worthwhile taking this journey with them. It’s not able to do anything too exciting with it’s budget, but enough moments to keep things fun until the end.
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#725 – Muppets from Space (1999)
Muppets from Space (1999)
Film review #725
Director: Tim Hill
SYNOPSIS: Gonzo becomes concerned abut who he is and where he came from, when he starts seeing strange messages everywhere. Believing he is being contacted by aliens who are his people, he is imprisoned by a super secret organisation, and the Muppets must work together to free their friend…
THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: Muppets from Space is a 1999 sci-fi film starring (unsurprisingly) The Muppets. The film’s story centres around Gonzo, as he begins to wonder what he is and where he came from. He starts seeing strange messages that he believes are aliens trying to communicate with him, and that they are his lost people. This is the main focus of the story, and while it somewhat makes sense, insofar as Gonzo’s species has always been “whatever,” you never feel like it’s something that ever needed an answer. The issue here is that Gonzo has never, in any of the Muppets previous films or appearances, expressed concerns about his identity or origins: the “whatever” recurring joke has always be enough. To have him start this movie sad and worried about it with no real impetus or motivation doesn’t really fit his character. With the focus on Gonzo, a lot of the other Muppets don’t really get to be a part of the story in any meaningful way: Rizzo, Gonzo’s friend and roommate gets a small side plot, as does Miss Piggy, but they don’t really go anywhere, and Kermit just…doesn’t have anything going on at all. It’s nice that the film focuses on other Muppets for a change, but Kermit really feels like a spare part, along with many of the others.
The runtime of this film is only eighty minutes (excluding credits sequences), so there’s not really any time to build up any sub-plots, or just have any real fun with the characters. The threat is always mild, and there’s not too much sense of urgency. The Muppets work best when they’ve got something or someone to riff on, and some space for physical comedy, and neither of those things manifest in this film in any meaningful way. The story fulfils its objectives and has a decent amount of charm and fun – as any Muppets film does – but there’s just a lack of any gravity to anything. Even at the end when the aliens arrive, all they do is sing a song and leave again; it’s a pay off that reminds me of the Explorers film. There’s a fair amount of acknowledgement from the people involved that the film wasn’t what they wanted it to be, and it’s hard to disagree: the short runtime and weak motivations don’t give anything a chance to shine. That said; it’s still a Muppets film, and has a lot of the charm and fun you would want from it.
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#724 – Dame Un Poco De Amooor…! (1968)
Dame Un Poco De Amooor…! (1968)
Film review #724
Director: José Maria Forqué
SYNOPSIS: The lead singer of the band Los Bravos is kidnapped by an evil mastermind, who seeks a formula for a potion to control the world. The band try to rescue their singer, along with the daughter of the professor who invented the formula, who believes that he is a superhero.
THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: Dame un Poco de Amooor…! (Bring a Little Loving) is a 1968 film starring the Spanish rock band Los Bravos. In the same vein as films starring 60s bands such as The Beatles (Help!) and the Munkees (Head), this film serves primarily as a vessel for the bands songs and to extend these bands popularity across all media. Mike, the leader of the band, is kidnapped by the evil master mind Chou-Fang, who wants to take over the world using a secret formula for mind control developed by a retired scientist. Sao-Ling, the daughter of the scientist, helps Mike escape, believing him to be a superhero who can help her Father. It’s rather basic and silly stuff, and it’s never taken too seriously: like I say, it’s just a bit of fun to promote the band and make them seem like heroes in a way. As you might expect, the plot is interrupted every few minutes with a performance from the band of one of their songs, and while I’m not familiar with their music, I have to say they’re all catchy, fun songs that fit the times. There’s even a mix of Spanish and English songs. Just one look at the film makes it plain to see it revels in the 1960’s aesthetic of pop art and comic book style, as you would expect, and the whole design and choreography of the film is very nicely done, complete with sets that have a good amount of creativity and expression baked into them.
As mentioned, the story is very silly and never really gets to be taken too seriously: it’s just riffing on b-movie sci-fi plots about scientists and their formulas. The main issue with this film is that there’s a lot of stereotypical portrayals of Southeast Asian culture and people, and the common practice of the time of making people “look” SE-Asian with makeup. Perhaps explains why you won’t see this film around much these days. It’s a product of it’s time for better and worse, and is full of fun and catchy songs to keep things entertaining and to appeal to it’s audience.
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#723 – Nexus 2.341 (1994)
Nexus 2.431 (1994)
Film review #723
Director: José Maria Forqué
SYNOPSIS: In the far future, where the Earth has been all but forgotten and humans has settled on other planets, the daughter of the head of the planet’s government is kidnapped by the evil empire, and only a young man who sees the princess in his dreams, can journey to the faraway planet of the Empire, and start and uprising to rescue her.
THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: Nexus 2.431 (Sometimes just Nexus) is a 1994 Spanish/Czech/United Kingdom co-production. The opening scene tells us that long ago, the Earth was destroyed by its own pollution and the sun blew it up as well or something, and humanity settled on other planets. On one such planet, the daughter of the head of the government is wanted by the head of an evil empire to marry, and when the proposal is rejected, Shaina is kidnapped. The only person who can rescue her is Tarn, a young man who dreams of Shaina for some reason, and heads to the empire’s home planet to lead an uprising. This film clearly wants to be a Star Wars like film; with a young man with magic powers fighting against the evil empire to rescue a Princess. Perhaps it should be easy to follow, but no: it is nigh incomprehensible: there’s too many characters, some people have magic for some reason, and it’s near impossible to tell where scenes are set. The world building is really poor, and there’s no real sense of what things are actually like in this universe outside of the headquarters of the empire, or this isolated camp where Tarn lives. On top of that, I don’t know where a lot of any of the scenes are set; there’s a lot of planet hopping and teleporting, and everything just looks the same. Also if you’re not convinced it’s a Star Wars derivative, the film even has a garbage compactor scene.
Something that maybe stands out is the use of a lot of miniatures for spaceships and scene setting. They’re nice enough, if not too convincing, but again there’s no real sense of scale or location in any of them, so I’m still not sure what is happening. The performances in this are so cheesy and ridiculous; no more so that Tarn who is constantly talking about how he loves Shania even though he has only seen her in these dreams, and is really hamming up any sense of emotion. The dialogue is also so completely unnatural you’re not going to be convinced by anything they say. There’s also the fact that every woman in this film is subject to violence in some way: kidnapping, mutation, getting shot. Clearly a fetishization of women on someone’s part that is barely disguised.
Nexus 2.431 is a mess of a film that fails to establish any kind of setting or stakes beyond the magical whimsy of it’s airheaded protagonist. The failure to tell any kind of coherent story that’s not ripped off from Star Wars makes it dull and confusing, and the whole production fails to impress. While I can appreciate there is some effort in creating all these unique costumes, effects and models, none of these things really help make the movie worthwhile.
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#722 – Fire Maidens from Outer Space (1958)
Fire Maidens from Outer Space (1956)
Film review #722
Director: Cy Roth
SYNOPSIS: A Joint U.S. and U.K. project to travel to Jupiter’s thirteenth moon, which it has been discovered to have a habitable atmosphere, is undertaken in secret. The five scientists arrive on the moon, and find a society composed almost entirely of women. But their society is being attacked by a mysterious monster, who appears to wreak havoc…
THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: Fire Maidens from Outer Space is a 1956 sci-fi film. The opening scene gives us some narration about how the thirteenth moon of Jupiter has been discovered as having a breathable atmosphere. In response, the United States and united Kingdom enact “plan 13,” a joint venture to get a manned crew to the moon by rocket ship. If this conjures up thoughts of the infamous Plan 9 from Outer Space, then that is entirely appropriate for this dull and dire production. The whole film is lifeless and full of tropes that have been done before – and better. The five men that make up the cast look and dress the same, and have more or less than same personalities, meaning there’s no real way or reason to distinguish them. The journey to Jupiter’s moon takes about three weeks; having no real basis in reality, but I wasn’t expecting scientific accuracy in a 1956 b-movie.
When the ship lands on the moon, they find a society comprised of young women: the only man being an elderly “Father,” who plans to keep the men there to mate with the women and produce children. This is a very typical fantasy you get in these films, but this one is full with rampant sexism even more than others. It’s never explained why all the women are young as well, probably as an excuse for the filmmakers to have these young women running around in short skirts. To make matters even more troubling, a monster is roaming around that the Father is hoping the spacemen will deal with (even though it is immune to bullets for some reason. The plot barely goes anywhere; like I say it’s just an excuse to get a bunch of young women on screen and make inappropriate comments to fuel young male fantasies. The whole production is sloppy, with uninspiring scenery, little to no action, and performances from the whole cast which are dreary and without effort: there’s not a moment where I thought anyone really cared about anything they were doing in front of the camera. Fire Maidens from Outer Space has nothing to offer viewers or cinema as a whole, not just a waste of time, but rampant sexism makes it genuinely problematic.
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#721 – Space Milkshake (2012)
Space Milkshake (2012)
Film review #721
Director: Armen Evrensel
SYNOPSIS: A Space Station brings aboard some salvage, only to find it contains a strange device that activates and causes the population of Earth to disappear. Worse, it also unleashes a transdimensional creature of some form, and so the four crewmembers must somehow band together and stop it…
THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: Space Milkshake is a 2012 sci-fi comedy film. The story centres around the space station Regina, where the four-person crew collects some salvage that turns out to house a time cube that erases all humans on earth, alongside a trans-dimensional monster that threatens to erase the crew too. The film, as a sci-fi comedy, is light-hearted and silly, reminiscent of films such as Dark Star, or an episode of Red Dwarf. The plot as such doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, and there are massive gaps regarding how all humanity disappeared apart from the crew, the origins of the monster etc. This isn’t the focus or particularly necessary, but in place of this worldbuilding and details, you need some strong comedy, satire or characters to hold things together.
While the characters have their own distinct personalities that play off each other, there’s just frighteningly little substance to their interactions. There’s some attempt to set up comedic situations (the whole “keeping to a schedule” thing, the food dispenser only dispensing sandwiches), but they don’t really go anywhere or figure into any of the comedy. The sets are very minimal and cramped, which gives very little room for anything unique to happen, but also the sameness makes the whole movie feel like it doesn’t go anywhere: obviously that’s the point for a film set on a space station, but it doesn’t make interesting storytelling. The effects on the monster (voiced by George Takei) are not particularly great, and a missed opportunity to throw in some physical comedy. Space Milkshake is best defined as “just a bit of fun,” in the sense that nothing is really done with intent; just as the nonsensical title suggests. However, that doesn’t mean that you get to not try to make something of substance, or take time to set up a joke. As such, the film just often feels like a bit of faffing, which doesn’t quite translate into maintaining attention over the length of a film.
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#720 – La Belle Verte (The Green Beautiful) (1995)
La Belle Verte (1996)
Film review #719
Director: Coline Serreau
SYNOPSIS: On a faraway planet, a widow chooses to visit the planet Earth, since that is where her Mother came from. She finds a world disconnected from nature and suffocating under pollution, as she learns about the planet where her Mother was born…
THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: La Belle Verte (The Green Beautiful) is a 1996 French film. The film opens up on an alien planet, where the residents gather for their annual get together, to share news. They remark that they have not sent anyone to Earth, which they believe is still much less advanced than themselves. Mira, a recent widow, volunteers to visit the planet and report on it’s development, partly owing to her Mother being from Earth. the set up is very much your usual ‘fish out of water’ scenario where the main character is transported to modern day earth and all of the quirks that entails. The difference here though is that there’s no real purpose or motivation: there’s no impending catastrophe, big bad villain, nothing. It’s just a trip by a woman with a bit of curiosity. Mira and her people have a special ability to ‘disconnect’ people from society, which removes any sense of societies structures and expectations form their thoughts to allow them to see and feel independent of them. Or something to that effect, it’s difficult to explain.
Mira runs into a doctor named Max, who is in charge of midwifery who treats everyone around him as tools to further his career, and she disconnects him which makes him admit that because he cannot give birth, he compensates by treating everyone else badly. This also allows him to be honest with his family. The film goes through Mira disconnecting a number of different people including at a football match and orchestra performance, which lead to humourous outcomes, as well as Mira’s sons coming to Earth to visit too, but there’s not much of an overall plot as mentioned. What makes this film work is it just feels very warm and genuine: it’s nice and comfortable, and a feel-good film that avoids the pitfalls of similar films by maintaining a down-to-earth sense of humour and style throughout. Even in the over-the-top moments such as the football match and orchestra scene, it still feels genuine. I would have liked to have seen more of people reacting to their disconnection and realisation that society’s structures have clouded their own selves, but we only get that for the Doctor, and everyone else affected are just left pulling funny faces. There’s a humourous scene where Mira recognises Jesus as one of her own people, and seems shocked that he was crucified; it’s little scenes like this that help build enough of a story and atmosphere to settle the viewer into.
One of the criticisms you could level against this film is that the aforementioned lack of any real plot makes it feel a bit pointless, but honestly, that also feels like the point: the film is all about confronting societies purpose and structure and how we, as people, are made to be commensurate with it: the purpose of the structure replaces the individual’s purpose, often without us realising. The film does not have a point because it would be antithetical to: the characters can just exist without society’s goals or consumerism to drive them. Even with this, some might still find the film still too “preachy,” critiquing all aspects of society that people might enjoy, but honestly, it never felt like that to me: one, the main character comes from a point of innocence, they’re not really coming in with an agenda or opinion, only to explore the Earth. The beginning showing the aliens talking about Earth as somewhat barbaric still focused on industry and violence might play into that, but it’s not really the point of the film, and doesn’t factor to into it after. Second, the whole film really keeps everything mild and cozy: there’s no big speech or dramatic exposition that is intended to persuade anyone of anything. you’re just meant to sit and bask in the atmosphere and warmth that shines through. Honestly, I like this film a lot: it generates an authentic sense of warmth and friendliness through its characters, and drives its story through a sense of innocence, rather than any point. Not all are going to be convinced by the sheer absence of any real plot or purpose, but I am more than happy with what it pulls off.
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#719 – Ghost in the Shell (2017)
Ghost in the Shell (2017)
Film review #719
Director: Rupert Sanders
SYNOPSIS: In the near future, where humans with cybernetic implants are commonplace, Major Mira Killian and the counter-terrorism unit Section 9 is investigating a series of terrorist attacks by someone known only as Kuze, a vast conspiracy unravels with ties to Mira’s past…
THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: Ghost in the Shell is a 2017 film based on the Ghost in the Shell manga, and a partial remake of the 1995 film. The story revolves around a series of terrorist attacks by an entity known only as Kuze, and the attempts of Section 9 to stop them. This ‘remake’ changes a lot of of the story, and only aims for accuracy in recreating a few of the iconic scenes which, it does, but they’re not really adding anything to them. They are always going to be overshadowed by the original scenes, and you’re never really interested in seeing those moments in live-action. The plot itself is changed a fair amount: pacing and the general strokes are the same with Section 9 pursuing a mysterious terrorist, but the players and details are changed, and a more personal connection to the Major is weaved into it. The story is the weaker element of this film: it constantly feels like it’s been simplified to appeal to a more general (Western) audience, but the lack of depth makes it stall more often than not. The more philosophical and reflective moments are somewhat swapped out with opting to humanise the Major (renamed from Motoko Kusanagi to Mirla Killian) is not able to fill that gap.
The big contention with this film is/was the casting of Scarlett Johansson as the Major, and she…is pretty much Scarlett Johansson. her character is fairly in keeping with the original: cold, distant, focused, but the added story elements that try to humanise her and again a bit muddled. The rest of the characters I think are pretty good, and capture their essence pretty well, even they don’t get too much focus. But yes, I don’t think the casting is this film’s big problem. The aesthetics are in keeping with the original, full of neon-lit skyscrapers and holograms that look nice, but again, while this was cool in 1995, does it really have that same impact in 2017? After films like The Matrix (which was also partly inspired by Ghost in the Shell), this whole cyberpunk, digital aesthetic has evolved, as has our cultural understanding about the effect of these technologies on our humanity, and it feels like this remake just doesn’t really keep up with that. There’s plenty of action scenes that stick close to the original as mentioned, but the CG does show it’s limitations when characters are in motion.
Ghost in the Shell is a decent enough action film with some imagination and invention, but fans of the franchise will feel short-changed by a lack of depth and only the recreation of iconic moments which feels like they’re just being used for their iconography, rather than bringing them to life in a new and exciting way. The story is weak, and doesn’t plunder the depths of the original, and there’s a constant feeling that it isn’t offering anything new or exciting.
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#718 – Ghost in the Shell: The New Movie (2015)
Ghost in the Shell: The New Movie (2015)
Film review #717
Director: Kazuya Nomura
SYNOPSIS: After the Japanese prime minister is assassinated, Major Motoko Kusanagi and her team in Section 9 must unravel the conspiracy surrounding it.
THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: Ghost in the Shell: The New Movie is a 2015 film and a continuation of the Ghost in the Shell: Arise prequel series. Continuing the series, the film revolves around Major Motoko Kusanagi and her team trying to stop the mysterious “Fire Starter” after the Japanese Prime Minister is assassinated. The film works as a stand-alone production, so you don’t really need to see the 10-episode series, but it certainly would help on establishing some of the elements. If you’re familiar with the franchise, you’ll know what to expect with the story being a host of twists and turns and multi-layered conspiracies that is interspersed with plenty of action scenes to balance it out. It fits perfectly into the franchise, but still, the amount of plot and machinations of the various agencies at work can get confusing and difficult to follow if you’re not paying attention. What it does well, as the series does, is also fleshes out the minor characters of the team as well, providing a nice balance between them all.
The film wraps up the Arise series fairly nicely, and also goes straight into the iconic opening scene from the 1995 film (although the two are technically still different universes). I’m not one of the people that thinks every franchise needs prequels or spin-offs that explain every moment before, after, and during the events of it’s most iconic moments, and I think this applies here: it also is never going to be as iconic as the 1995 and will always pale in comparison. I wouldn’t say Arise (and this movie) is the optimal entry into the franchise even being a prequel, but a good addition to it. It’s never going to have the impact that the 1995 had, and doesn’t add anything really new to the franchise, but still packs a punch with plenty of things happening on screen and more of what you would want.
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#717 – Battle of Los Angeles (2011)
Battle of Los Angeles (2011)
Film review #717
Director: Mark Atkins
SYNOPSIS: Aliens have invaded earth, and soldiers at a Los Angeles military base are trying to fight them off. A pilot from 1942 mysteriously arrives, and it is believed he is the key to stopping the invasion…
THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: Battle of Los Angeles is a 2011 film that is a mockbuster (rip-off) of the 2011 film Battle: Los Angeles (yes, it’s easy to confuse the two). Being produced by famed derivative churners The Asylum, you know to expect a cheap knock-off of a popular movie that has recently come out…except that Battle: Los Angeles was hardly successful or well received, which should immediately ring alarm bells.
The film is – in a departure from Battle: Los Angeles – based somewhat upon the supposed events of the air raid by Japanese air forces in 1941; except it was actually aliens, who have now come back to Earth to finish their invasion. The first part of the film gives us some shots of Aliens and fighter jets battling it out in the sky, rendered in not-so-convincing-CG. We see most of the first act take place on an army base, which is clearly the only place the producers could afford, as a bunch of non descript military types shout and panic. Suddenly a pilot from 1942 time travels and turns up out of nowhere, and it is believed he is the key to stopping the invasion. Somehow. This all comes out of nowhere and the film doesn’t get any better with making a cohesive storyline: next a woman with a sword from the shadowy organisation Majestic 12 turns up too, saying they need to get on board the Mothership to take it down, turning the film more into a cheap Independence day knock-off than it already was. This film is desperate to keep your attention by constantly throwing a bunch of unconnected tropes to carry it through to the end, and I suppose that’s what such a low-end production needs: it’s never going to take itself that seriously, but some amount of consistency would be nice.
There’s very little originality going on here: as mentioned, it just devolves into a cheap Independence Day with some extra nonsense to over-complicate it. There’s also not a whole lot of Los Angeles in the film. The characters are all fairly bland, apart from maybe the army sergeant who is the biggest cartoon character ever, firing his revolver at giant alien ships. This film is what it is meant to be: it’s a cheap derivative of another more successful film…that wasn’t successful anyway. It is arguably more interesting because it isn’t shackled by common sense or the necessity for a cohesive storyline. Cinematic slop not worthy of any real attention or beratement, that doesn’t make any real effort to make sense.
