Tag Archives: Sci-fi
Review: Ratchet & Clank (2016)
I’m a big fan of Insomniac Games’ RATCHET & CLANK series. I played through them all on the PS2 and grew very attached to the characters, the high-octane action and the knowing sense of humour throughout. This year the original … Continue reading
Review: Star Trek Beyond (2016)
Just a few tweaks is all it takes. The simple act of splitting up the crew and making them think their way around impossible situations keeps the plot of STAR TREK BEYOND loose and fun. The script co-written by Simon … Continue reading
Review: Independence Day: Resurgence (2016)
I wanted Roland Emmerich to bring his unique brand of big, dumb action back to the big screen in 2016. By golly does he deliver it with INDEPENDENCE DAY: RESURGENCE. He also brings painful scripting (courtesy of four writers, no … Continue reading
Review: The Lobster (2015)
Well file this one comfortably (or uncomfortably) under “flawed but fascinating”. THE LOBSTER is a symphony to loneliness, an essay to alienation. It constructs a bizarre and jarring world inhabited by the miserable and the hollow, then asks you to … Continue reading
20 Years On: Independence Day (1996)
Roland Emmerich really does turn massive-scale destruction into an art form. Michael Bay can make things go boom then throw them at you while juggling the camera, but Emmerich really seems to relish his careful construction of sequences and giving … Continue reading
Blade Runner & Inception: “Questions, yes?”
This piece contains spoilers for BLADE RUNNER and INCEPTION. Two of the most iconic Science Fiction films of all time, two distinctive and revolutionary directors putting their vision on screen, two of the biggest questions we as a species can … Continue reading
Review: Midnight Special (2016)
Jeff Nichols has followed up doom-laden psychological horror TAKE SHELTER and big-hearted fable MUD with MIDNIGHT SPECIAL, his biggest film to date. While there’s plenty in it to talk about, it’s admittedly far wonkier than what has come before. A … Continue reading
A Few Thoughts More: The Force Awakens
This piece contains spoilers for THE FORCE AWAKENS, but if you care and haven’t seen it yet then where have you been? There’s also a reference to the twist in IRON MAN 3, just FYI. I’ve seen the seventh STAR … Continue reading
Review: High-Rise (2015/16)
Like all of Brit Wunderkind Ben Wheatley’s films, HIGH RISE is a fascinating concoction. Bold in tone and extremely stylish, it also ends up being his most inconsistent work to date. In a dystopian 1975, Dr Robert Laing (Tom Hiddleston) … Continue reading
Review: The Survivalist (2015/16)
Who needs an expository text dump to establish your film’s world? The state of the future in THE SURVIVALIST is illustrated as simply as it could possibly be with two coloured lines representing oil production and the human population steadily … Continue reading