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Reviews
Calibre (2018)
Good until the ending
Solid story, atmosphere, and cinematography up until the ending. Then they branched away from believable to produce a formulaic sensationalist finale. It's too bad, because there was a lot of potential to do something much better. Still worth over half for its good points, but disappointing.
ARQ (2016)
Surprisingly good
This was my first time watching a Netflix-commissioned title, and I went in with low expectations after reading a lot of the reviews here, but ended up being pleasantly surprised. No, it isn't as good as "Primer", but it's also about time travel and has the same kind of gritty feel. There is a time loop, so people bring up the Groundhog day and Edge of Tomorrow comparisons, but sometimes it's refreshing just to be able to focus on the ideas and characters without all the big budget special effects and star power flying around. There is enough character development in this film to get you engaged, enough idea and plot development to get you thinking, and enough action to be entertaining. If you like scifi with substance and enjoy the purism of lower-budget independent films, then this one is highly recommended.
Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015)
Recycled Retreading Relived Remake
I've always been in the minority that liked I-III. Sure there were the gaffs like Jar-Jar, but on the whole they had a fascinating story to tell and didn't retread over old ground. You can quibble about how the tale of the Jedi, the origins of the Empire, the Storm Troopers, and the Emperor were told, but it was interesting to see all of this fleshed out. And the development of Annakin Skywalker was well conceived and far more believable than I suspect many of the critics could make it if they had a pen, paper, and a hundred years to write. And, now that I've seen Episode VII, I can confidently say that the best is behind us.
Clearly inspiration was gone and the only thought put into producing this movie was to how to remix tried and true formulas in a different enough way that it could be sold as a new episode rather than a remake. I won't bother with the gory details of all the parallels, which would only serve to label this review as containing spoilers and to decrease the internal stability in my digestive tract. Element after element was shamelessly copied from Episode IV. Apparently the idea was not to give the generation that grew up with the originals something more, but to give the latest generation a Star Wars of its own, relying on the elements that Lucas's genius put together the first time around to work again.
And, unsurprisingly, they do. Behold the average rating of the movie, nearly as high as the original. And given the harsh critical response all around to Episodes I-III, who can blame them? Clearly ingenious storywriting, beautiful special effects, and bold venturing into new narrative territory were not rewarded in the modern cinema marketplace. What's going to rake in the money is tired repetition of the same formulas, perhaps with a few more explosions per minute added in.
Interstellar (2014)
Skin-deep masterpiece
Hats off to this film for bringing a beautiful blend of different elements to life. The gritty open spaces of the midwest (a nod to the origins of many of the real world NASA astronauts of the 60's and 70's), the awe-inspiring vistas, thunder, and silences involved in escaping our planet on the tips of rockets, the incredible daring and adventure involved in going further. The soundtrack blending perfectly with the imagery at every turn, heightening the experience.
But all of this focus on atmospherics came at the price of second rate plot and science elements. _2001_ remains the only major example where first rate science fiction talent worked with first rate film talent, and the result relegates films like _Interstellar_ and _Prometheus_ to a second tier. These "B+" films are masterful works on the surface, but do not stand scratching or digging below.
Arthur C. Clarke and Stanley Kubrick went back and forth for months working on the script for _2001_. Clarke created it for the screen -- it was not based on trying to adapt a novel. He rewrote the majority of it several times as the demands of film were brought together with the realities of the projected trajectory of science. In _Interstellar_, by contrast, premise after unreasonable premise must be ignored by the viewer in order to enjoy the story.
Just a few examples. How are things going to be any easier growing crops on another planet if we can't get it fixed on earth? Why are all of these probes able to send only vague data about "presence of organics" without even any timestamps while the next ship with only 10 years later technology can send video communications? How did they determine all of these planets to go to in the first place? Why send only one person to each to be driven crazy by loneliness? Why on earth would landing on the time-zoomed planet even be considered? Why do they need a massive rocket to get off earth but fly off in a Star Wars-like winged lander from a planet with 1.3x earth's gravity? How are giant waves propagating in 8 inches of water? It just goes on and on.
It's depressing that with all the millions spent on making this movie they couldn't spare the time and the resources to put thought into the story. It seems like they just gave up and figured they couldn't make the entertaining, beautiful vision they wanted while keeping the science and the story believable at the same time. But _2001_ proved that wrong 46 years ago (!), and they should have aimed higher.
All of that said, if you're into SF it's a better film than 90% of the stuff coming out, and benefits greatly from the big screen experience, so go see it!
Indien (1993)
True marvel
A gem of simplicity and beauty. Maybe Austrian cultural experience brings more -- but first and foremost this is a HUMAN film, and an absolutely inspiring one at that. It's enjoyable to watch, but it really takes until the very end and then some sinking in after that to look back and become aware of the profound messages that it brings.
For some reason reviews need to be 10 lines of text now, despite all the previous excellent and helpful ones for this film being less. So we write some extra stuff here in hopes that that the kind moderator can remove them in interests of not clogging up the fine, pithy reviews for a fine, pithy film with a lot of unnecessary and burdening words.. :-)