Tag Archives: science fiction

We’re All Gonna Die – Review

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Directed by Matthew Arnold & Freddie Wong, Written by Matthew Arnold, Will Campos & Beth May, starring Ashley Burch & Jordan Rodrigues

With the recent success of the films Obsession and Backrooms some have speculated that a wave of “YouTube Filmmakers” is set to make good in the Hollywood studio system. While it is a net positive that young filmmakers have been able to hone their craft and build an audience on the platform that translates to cinemas, the phenomenon is not entirely new. Freddie Wong built his career demonstrating a deft capacity for visual effects, and while he may not have had a smash hit at the box office, he has built a strong enough reputation to have collaborated with Jordan Peele and Keegan Michael Key as well as Jon Favreau. Since We’re All Gonna Die was released in 2024 it’s a safe bet that many have not even heard of this quaint indie, dark comedy, sci-fi, existential romance, but it stands as early evidence of what the world is now acknowledging: You can learn everything you need to make fine films with a laptop and a willingness to work hard.

In the not-too-distant future (again) an utterly mysterious “thing” has appeared on earth – a mammoth object that looks something like a tentacle falling down to earth from the sky. Periodically it will disappear from its location and reappear elsewhere, causing untold havoc and physics-bending consequences. If that sounds like a hugely intriguing premise then fair warning: it is merely the backdrop against which this relationship dramedy unfolds. Nothing of the nature of this object is ever explored or explained, and apart from serving as the catalyst to the “plot” (which is really just a road trip), this is a story that could have been told without an inexplicable soft sci-fi adjacent hook.
The actual story follow Thalia and Kai (played by Ashley Burch & Jordan Rodrigues) as travelers who are forced into each other’s company when the “Spike” spontaneously displaces Kai’s car and Thalia’s livelihood across the country. As they take the journey to retrieve their stuff, they discover that each is grieving a significant loss, and are forced to confront truths about themselves that they’d rather avoid.

The film is about trauma, which is an increasingly popular theme across film and television, which unfortunately takes some of the sting out of the narrative in this case. Stories built around characters who need to makes healthier choices to deal with their unresolved issues have been done well, and created engaging and insightful art – in the case of We’re All Gonna Die, the beats are very obvious from the moment the characters are introduced. Leaning in to the “quirky comedy” aspect means many of the conversations between the characters need to be amusing, which actually robs the audience of the chance to empathise more fully with the tragedy.
This is not to say that the film is bad – it’s fine. The comic elements are amusing, if rarely laugh-out-loud funny, and there is a genuine sense of intrigue at exploring this world in a quiet, slow apocalypse, where humanity have simply gotten used to this potentially terrible force. The performances of the lead actors – who really have to shoulder the whole film – are great. Frustrating and sympathetic in exactly the right doses, they are also both funny, though it seems as though the comedy comes through Ashley Burch a little more naturally.

At just over 90 minutes it’s a decent ride, though the climax in the final 10 minutes does get a little lost trying to tie the resolution of the character arcs to the metaphysical Spike. It may not be a film for the ages, but it is exactly the kind of project that should be encouraged and supported, as it largely succeeds as an original story. If you don’t tend to lean towards indie films, this won’t win you over. If you’re the type who likes to sample everything from the buffet, this is worth a look.

Review – Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die

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Directed by Gore Verbinski, written by Matthew Robinson, starring Sam Rockwell, Juno Temple, Haley Lu Richardson, Michael Peña, Zazie Beetz & Asmin Chaudry

According to “those who were there” during the filming of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, Gore Verbinski at one point admonished everyone to cherish the experience “because they won’t let us make movies like this anymore.” His words largely proved true, as the era of mega-budget blockbusters, filmed on location with massive sets, intricate costumes, props and casts of thousands is a thing of the past (Christopher Nolan notwithstanding). Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die suggests the filmmaker has a serious axe to grind against the loss of handcraft in filmmaking, and as a particularly venomous screed against the advent of so-called artificial intelligence. The film is a sermon – but an entertaining one.

A man strides into a late-night diner, announces that he has come from the future to save humanity and that he must recruit a specific combination of those currently in the diner to complete his mission.The problem is that he doesn’t know which specific people he needs – he has attempted this one hundred and sixteen times already to no success. It’s a devilishly enjoyable spin on the “Groundhog Day” conceit: the audience experiences interacting with a man who has lived the same day over and over, and have to work out whether he is simply a crazy homeless guy, or if his impressive knowledge of everyone is convincing.
Sci-fi, fantastical premises like this are a dime a dozen, however, and not worth much in any story without a character performance at the centre. Most fortunate then that Sam Rockwell sells the hell out of this role. The whole film, in fact, rises and falls on his performance, and he never fails to be the perfect alchemical mixture of hilarious, sarcastic, manic, obsessive and tortured. The ensemble that surrounds him “this time round” includes troubled couple Michael Peña and Zazie Beetz, a seemingly broken Juno Temple, incredulous Asim Chaudry and a surly Haley Lu Richardson, who stands out as the cast MVP after Rockwell.

The trailer presents the film as being “from a completely unhinged Gore Verbinski” and this claim is a little bit of a stretch. That promise suggests the arthouse like, independent nature of a Jodorowsky film, but it is still very much a film made on the rails of Hollywood storytelling. The bonkers elements in the film’s climax are admittedly bizarre, but have a strong story justification. To speak much about the plot gives away much of what is enjoyable about experiencing the film – suffice to say as the ensemble reveal their own personal stories (largely in flashback sequences) the film has a few things to say about phones, social media, cloning, mental health, gaming and their impact on relationships. Not all of these points land, and the push to include so many ideas in the film can makes the conflict and stakes a little confusing. Verbinski and his team are at pains to point at the spectres of Silicon Valley and say “this is bad!”, but don’t necessarily tie it all together come the end.

The destination, however, is not the point – it is the journey of the film, which is clever, funny, tense and most importantly human enough to sustain two hours and change. It’s too esoteric to enter into The Canon as a classic, and too broad to find a cult following, but it is fun.

Review – Project Hail Mary

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Directed by Phil Lord & Chris Miller, written by Drew Goddard based on the novel by Andy Weir, starring Ryan Gosling, James Ortiz, Sandra Hüller & Lionel Boyce

In previous decades of cinema the release of a film like Project Hail Mary would be a true cultural event: a film on everybody’s mind weeks before the premiere, dominating pop culture conversation for months after leaving theatres, providing high school science teacher a perfect excuse for an class excursion to the movies. A science-fiction drama with a great sense of humour, deftly juggling compelling and richly portrayed characters, a tense, dramatic crisis and an intelligent script. Author Andy Weir has made his mark writing science-fiction that is “fifteen minutes into the future” – so the technology and science is recognisable and almost completely accurate, allowing just enough liberty to be able to engage with the fantastical. This is the kind of film that genre fans would deeply appreciate and be able to talk about it with their more pop-minded friends. It is a true gift, from what can be a cynical industry, that a major studio has put major chips down on a project like this.

Amaze, amaze, amaze!

In the not-too-distant future an inexplicable phenomenon is destroying the sun. The world’s major powers invest authority in Eva Stratt (Sandra Hüller) to coordinate efforts to understand and resolve the crisis. Dr. Ryland Grace (Gosling), a disgraced doctoral candidate turned high school science teacher (the fun type), is recruited by Stratt into an impossible plan…the titular Hail Mary.

Discussion of the film is difficult because while it is structured largely as a disaster film – every answer leads to a new problem, and every solution meets a complication – the plot is unveiled like a mystery. Gosling’s character awakens with no memory – his gradual recovery plays out in the form of flashbacks spliced between his present experience “doing the science stuff.” In a number of cases these flashbacks play out as a major reveal of information that changes the audiences understanding of the situation and characters. Thus any discussion of plot risks “spoiling” some of these moments.The film is not, at heart, a mystery so it does not detract from the viewers experience to be ahead of the reveals in most cases. Does that mean that the flashback structure is actually a complicated and perhaps unnecessary conceit? Possibly. It allows the film to begin on mission, while the exposition is doled out gradually as it makes sense for the characters growth. It can, however, serve as a distraction that pulls the viewer out of the tension of the main mission.
Much like 2015’s The Martian (another Weir adaptation) the film chugs along at its best when science is happening – the meticulously crafted sequences where discoveries are made, new particles are discovered and understood, new technologies are employed and creative solution must be found to unexpected problems. It is smart storytelling without being impenetrable to the layperson nor condescending to the science-minded.
Gosling’s performance is another confirmation of his status as a star in the vein of Tom Hanks – funny, charming, fallible, pitiable; he plays a highly qualified man with remarkably low-status. Playing against him in flashbacks is a stellar Sandra Hüller, whose deadpan troubleshooter comes across as exactly the kind of person that should be in charge when facing the apocalypse. Gosling shares some brief moments of connection with his handler played by Lionel Boyce (The Bear), and has a single inspiring conversation with a Chinese astronaut played by Ken Leung. Gosling really does shoulder this film, and spends a significant amount of time as the only person on screen, but the lack of depth given to any other human makes the world feel oddly empty.

Gosling’s true co-star, as hinted in the film’s trailers, is the Extra Terrestrial he encounters – one who has been dispatched on the same mission by his own world. Dubbed ‘Rocky’ by Goslings scientist, the companion is a remarkable creation brought to life through the combined efforts of Arslan Elver’s team of animators at Framestore, Neal Scanlon and his creature shop, and on-set puppeteer James Ortiz, who provided a voice so good that filmmakers Lord & Miller decided against stunt casting for the final cut. The fully realised character is a masterwork, and a strong argument for a puppetry performance Oscar category. He is funny and a genuine delight on screen, embodying the movie magic that allows the audience to accept the emotional bond that grows between Rocky and Ryland.

Though consistently engaging, the film is over three hours long, and it may not have hurt the narrative to trim some of the runtime, particularly in the last twenty minutes, which plays like a series of multiple endings. Despite these few hiccups, Project Hail Mary comes pretty close to being a perfect film – in that it succeeds in being the exact film that Lord & Miller set out to make. That, in itself, was always a long shot.

A Hail Mary.

On a personal note…

My son and I discovered and enjoyed the audiobook together, and were both eagerly anticipating this release. Bringing a friend of his with us on opening night, he proceeded to talk non-stop throughout the whole movie, explaining excitedly to his friend everything that was happening, everything that was being left out from the book, everything that was coming up…

Then came a sequence where Gosling’s character, standing on the hull of his ship before an alien world, “has a moment” when his view shifts to a breathtaking display of light and colour that brought tears to my eyes

and after a little moment of silence, I heard my son whisper “Wow…that’s so beautiful…”

Cash Cows – Firefly

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Creator/Director: Joss Whedon

Writers: Joss Whedon, Tim Minear, Ben Edlund, Jose Molina

Cast: Nathan Fillion, Gina Torres, Adam Baldwin, Summer Glau, Alan Tudyk, Morena Baccarin, Jewel Staite, Sean Maher, Ron Glass

Years: 2002-2005

“…You can’t take the sky from me.”

Let’s hop in the wayback machine. In 1997 a limited-run program titled Sessions at West 54th presented a live performance of an up and coming band calling themselves “Ben Fold Five”. Host Chris Douridas intorduced them with this brilliantly simple statement: “If you’ve heard these guys perform, you’re a fan. If you haven’t, you’re about to be.”

Ladies and gentlemen… Continue reading →

Falling Skies – Sanctuary Part 1 Review

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‘Lt. Terry Clayton of the 7th Mass arrives at the high school with disturbing news that Skitters and Mechs are on their way to attack the 2nd Mass headquarters, Clayton claims to have a plan approved by Porter to lead the children to safety while the adults remain to fend off the attack, but his plan is met with strong resistance by all the parents, including Tom.‘

Falling Skies - Sanctuary Part 1
Falling Skies has been a very hit and miss show from the start, and this episode is no different. While there is a lot of great character interaction on display here, it is punctuated with moments that don’t feel real, and a lack of direction.

The episode opens with a demonstration of Continue reading →

Falling Skies – Silent Kill Review

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‘Hal devises a risky new plan to save the captured teenagers, but pulling it off could put someone in danger. Following a sudden tragedy, Anne makes a discovery that could mean the difference between the success or failure of Hal’s rescue plan.‘

Falling Skies - Silent Kill

Series Website

Now that I’ve caught up with the show, Falling Skies won’t be dominating the blog so much. The reviews will come out once a week as the episodes air. – Al

Once again Falling Skies delivers an episode focused on the rescue of Ben Mason (Connor Jessup) from the aliens without dealing with the overall conflict. While there was a great deal of emotion on display here and some good performances, none of the issues I have with the overall series have been addressed.

I understand that the Masons are Continue reading →

Falling Skies – Grace Review

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‘Tom and Hal lead a team to find more motorcycles for the 2nd Mass after Pope provides details on where they can be found. Back at the high school where they’ve set up base Dr. Harris and Anne disagree over the best tactic to gather more intelligence on the aliens.‘

Falling Skies - Grace

Series Website

This episode should have been a lot more interesting than it was. We started learning more about the aliens and the nature of the harness devices, there was a chance for more action in another resistance raid, and Hal is now dealing with his own guilt over what happened in the previous episode.

They had all of that great Continue reading →

Falling Skies – Prisoner of War Review

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‘The 2nd Mass comes face to face with Skitters and Mechs when Tom and Hal lead a mission to finally attempt rescuing Ben and the other captured teens. Tom’s search for answers to nagging questions could jeopardize the plan to save the teenagers from the harnesses that is presented by the 2nd Mass’ latest recruit Dr. Michael Harris.‘

Falling Skies - Prisoner of War

Series Website

After a less than stellar premiere, I was hoping that the third episode of Falling Skies would be able to get me excited about the show. But unfortunately while I really want to like the show, I can’t look past the many problems it still has.

The biggest problem I have Continue reading →

Falling Skies – Premiere (Live and Learn/The Armory) Review

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‘After an unprovoked and devastating alien invasion of Earth leaves the planet in tatters, the remaining humans must learn to work together and fight the aliens if they are to continue to exist. Former history professor Tom Mason as Second In Command of the 2nd Mass must juggle his duties as leader with his duties as a father to his 3 sons, one of whom is being held captive by the aliens.‘

I’m a big fan of science fiction and I’m always on the lookout for new shows, but I must admit that I hadn’t heard a thing about Falling Skies until it actually came out. While I’m glad that more science fiction is making it to TV, I want it to be quality drama.

Unfortunately, this premiere didn’t Continue reading →