January Sci-Fi-athon!

[Skitch]

The horror freaks have their month, and I've decided the sci-fi freaks deserve one as well, so what better than the theater dumping ground month of January! Lets do it. Sorry I started late, but we threw together a last minute vaca and well, its been crazy. I'm trying to make this a thing. January...31 sci-fi flicks in 31 days.

So I've started Mortal Engines...wtf is this? It strikes me as Peter and Fran's Speed Racer. If so, I'm obviously in. But this very much goes with comments I made in other thread about I'd prefer a big swing and maybe not a homerun as opposed to a film by committee.

[Irish]

I'm still working my way through "Lost in Space" season 2. Does that count?

Is this a free-for-all-thread or are you posting about 31 movies you like?

[Skitch]

Yes Lost in Space counts, and it's a free for all thread.

Just got out of Rise of Skywalker. That's #4 for the month.

[Skitch]

Update, Mortal Engines was awful.

Solomon Kane isn't much better, thus far.

[Dukefrukem]

So I just watched the first episode of the Expanse last night. Why don't we have a thread for this??

[Skitch]

I've heard of that. Is it on nf?

[Skitch]

I'm up to 13 flicks for the month btw.

[Dukefrukem]

I've heard of that. Is it on nf?

Amazon Prime.

[Peng]

It used to be on Syfy (US) and Netflix (many non-US countries, including mine), and I watched the first three seasons the latter way. Season 1 is OK, but Season 2-3 knock me sideways, gaining momentum on being one of the pantheon sci-fi series and just great, great TV in general. Haven't gotten around 4 yet, but soon.

[Irish]

I've heard of that. Is it on nf?

Has a huge & dedicated following.

Watch the first episode. You might not dig all the storylines but I think there's one, specifically, that you'll frigging LOVE.

[Dukefrukem]

Whelp, the wife and I are on episode 4 now so it looks like we'll be chugging along. The world building that has occurred so far in 3 episodes is fucking impressive as hell.

[MadMan]

Hmm I'll am woefully behind on my sci-fi viewing these days. Sounds good to me.

[Skitch]

Rewatched Avatar. This is one that the further away from the hype I get...the more forgiving I am. The digital effects are fucking remarkable. It's still not without faults and criticism of aping other stories and themes, but you have to respect the tech.

[Skitch]

Say what you will about Lockout as a movie, but I want MOOOOOOOORE of this Guy Pearce character.

[Dukefrukem]

Say what you will about Lockout as a movie, but I want MOOOOOOOORE of this Guy Pearce character.

Did You watch this recently because I mentioned in the Underwater thread?

[Skitch]

Did You watch this recently because I mentioned in the Underwater thread?

Sorry I didnt see your comment. I just was trolling through my vudu. Ya know that's a pretty fun movie. It would be shit without Pearces charisma.

[Skitch]

Next up, rewatch of Annihilation...my favorite film of 2018. Let's see if it holds up.

[megladon8]

Yesssss.

Annihilation was bloody brilliant. Loved it to death. Its release was a crime.

[Skitch]

Still my favnof 2018. Holy shit was that a fucking great movie.

[Philip J. Fry]

Still my favnof 2018. Holy shit was that a fucking great movie.
Indeed.

[Dukefrukem]

Worst of 2018 for me.

[megladon8]

Worst of 2018 for me.

Why? I didn't see any indication that any of the characters were poor?

[Dukefrukem]

Similarities with Arrival. Over hyped, thinly developed sci-fi horror mystery.

My LB review:

Sophomore slump for Mr. Garland. The mystery is obviously the most intriguing thing about this movie, but boy the payoff is unfulfilling. This plays out like a DTV monster movie in some points; specifically the scene where they are inside the old base, something cuts through the fence, and one of the member's party gets dragged away into the night while the rest of the member's are helplessly trying to figure out what happened, in some really poor editing techniques, almost as if they forgot to shoot some scenes in their entirety.

Then there's the writing of the characters; unconvincing mental capacity. For once (I'm looking at you Alien franchise), I'd like to see a team of explorers and adventurers, NOT crack under pressure. NOT try to defy their leader. NOT try and back stab the rest of the team members. Why would an organize choose such mentally incapable members in such a dangerous exploration operation? I'm also looking at you Alien franchise. Blame it on the shimmer's effect on the body, but there were signs of defiance much earlier than the BearMimic reveal. Very unconvincing.

This plays out like a really bad episode of Lost.

[megladon8]

Damn you didn't like Arrival either?

That's it, Duke. I'm not putting out for a week.

[Dukefrukem]

Heh. Yeh mainly at the intentionally misleading flash-forwards. I loathed that film.

[TGM]

I like Arrival, but do think it’s a bit overrated. I’d rank it among the weakest of Villeneuve’s films that I’ve seen.

[MadMan]

I loved Arrival. Annihilation was great but had a lot of flaws and I'm not sure I liked the ending.

[Skitch]

I appreciated the filmmaking in Arrival, I own the blu-ray, and I don't know if I can watch it again. That movie kinda traumatized me, as a parent.

[megladon8]

It certainly plays up the schmaltz and tear jerking, but man, it totally got me.

The visuals were astounding, not only in terms of shot placement and framing, but also in visual design. The aliens their ship, the language...it was kind of brilliant.

[Dukefrukem]

Whelp, the wife and I are on episode 4 now so it looks like we'll be chugging along. The world building that has occurred so far in 3 episodes is fucking impressive as hell.

Fastest we've ever binged through a season (even with the baby). On Episode 6 of Season 2 already.

It's a good show.

The concept is kinda goofy if you can get past it. Like, the human race has advanced in technology to the point where we have humans living in Mars, Earth, the Asteroid Belt and in random space stations across the solar system. And that's the crux of the show; these civilizations have become so patriotic to the point of where Mars would want to declare war on Earth and visa versa.

Though, the advantage of living in any place other than Earth makes little to no sense. There's very little benefit to living in space.

[Dukefrukem]

Fastest we've ever binged through a season (even with the baby). On Episode 6 of Season 2 already.

It's a good show.

The concept is kinda goofy if you can get past it. Like, the human race has advanced in technology to the point where we have humans living in Mars, Earth, the Asteroid Belt and in random space stations across the solar system. And that's the crux of the show; these civilizations have become so patriotic to the point of where Mars would want to declare war on Earth and visa versa.

Though, the advantage of living in any place other than Earth makes little to no sense. There's very little benefit to living in space.

Almost to the end of Season 2 now...

The build they are doing is similar to the whitewalkers in game of thrones. Not much is known. But plenty to fear... which is a hard thing to do in TV.

[Skitch]

Do we have a MC consensus of Disney's The Black Hole? I fucking love this movie.

[Dukefrukem]

Almost to the end of Season 2 now...

The build they are doing is similar to the whitewalkers in game of thrones. Not much is known. But plenty to fear... which is a hard thing to do in TV.

Midway through Season 3 now.

Seriously you guys need to watch this. There's some end of episode cliffhangers that are stingers in the same vein as those epic Breaking Bad episodes.

[Skitch]

Ugh I hated that

[Dukefrukem]

Ugh I hated that

No way...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MybaTnzu9AA

[Skitch]

No way...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MybaTnzu9AA

I wasnt a big fan of the show. Opening of episode was awesome tease, 40 minutes of complaining/arguing with bipolar Skylar, cliffhanger last few minutes. Way too many episodes like that.

[bac0n]

Do we have a MC consensus of Disney's The Black Hole? I fucking love this movie.

You fucking love this movie, I fucking love this movie. That is all the MC Consensus that I need.

[Dukefrukem]

It's on D+.

No way it's better than Flight of the Navigator right?

[megladon8]

I haven't seen The Black Hole since childhood, but goddamn that movie scared the crap out of me.

I also still remember the theme song perfectly.

[bac0n]

It's on D+.

No way it's better than Flight of the Navigator right?

Yes way. Pilot of the Navigator: some punk kid. Pilot of The Palomino: Robert Forster.

[Skitch]

You fucking love this movie, I fucking love this movie. That is all the MC Consensus that I need.

YES

[Skitch]

I haven't seen The Black Hole since childhood, but goddamn that movie scared the crap out of me.

I also still remember the theme song perfectly.

I love films with overtures, and that theme is impossible to not hear at any mention of the film.

The ending is still just dark as all fuck.

[Skitch]

FINAL TALLY

1. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
2. Terminator 4: Salvation
3. The Time Machine (2002)
4. Star Wars: Episode 9: Rise of Skywalker
5. Mortal Engines
6. Solomon Kane
7. Halo: Legends
8. Halo: Fall of Reach
9. Cloud Atlas
10. Iron Man 3
11. Aliens of the Deep
12. Capsule
13. Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex: 2nd Gig
14. Starslammer
15. Guardians
16. Avatar
17. Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier
18. The Creamators
19. The Predator
20. Time Walker
21. Dredd
22. Fan4stic
23. Independence Day 2: Resurgence
24. Pacific Rim 2: Uprising
25. Hell Comes to Frogtown
26. Equalizer 2000
27. Lockout
28. Annihilation
29. Splice
30. Apollo 11
31. First Man
32. Wall-E
33. Avengers 2: Age of Ultron
34. Captain America 3: Civil War
35. Ex Machina
36. Looper
37. Def Con 4: Defense Condition
38. Age of Tomorrow
39. Battle L.A.
40. Mongolian Death Worm
41. Dr. Strange
42. The Maze Runner
43. The Shape of Things to Come
44. Ant-Man
45. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
46. Closer to God
47. The Black Holer
48. Spider-Man 6: Homecoming
49. Total Recall (2012)
50. Black Panther
51. Scorpio One
52. Moonbase
53. Terminal Force (aka Galaxis)
54. Avengers 4: Infinity War
55. Avengers 5: Endgame
56. The Stuff
57. Captain Marvel
58. Riddick 3
59. Runaway
60. Terminator 5: Genisys
61. Star Trek 12: Into Darkness
62. Terminator 6: Dark Fate
63. The Sisterhood

All in all, a fun experiment. I think next January we will pick a different genre.

[Ivan Drago]

30. Apollo 11

This was my favorite film of 2019. I can't wait to hear your thoughts on it!

[Peng]

Midway through Season 3 now.

Seriously you guys need to watch this. There's some end of episode cliffhangers that are stingers in the same vein as those epic Breaking Bad episodes.

Don't know if you finished it yet, but I belatedly finished The Expanse season 4. My thoughts, no spoiler: The budget upgrade with the move from Syfy to Amazon really shows, especially with the "planet" setting of the season. After the incredible fast-paced momentum of weaving plot/character/world-building together throughout Season 2 and 3 though, this one slows down considerably, becoming a transition season of sort, with some reset and plot-holding. I think the show's biggest struggle is from having to separate several groups of characters, in which previously each one's plotting still shared the element of living through the protomolecule near-apocalypse together, into entirely different lives of their own, thus the levels of interest aren't the same (I gather from book readers that this is almost the consensus weakest book, to the point that some had hoped it would be done in half a season, so the fact that the quality remains good is promising). Also, after the murky moral dilemma and grey quagmires of seasons past, having a clear-cut traditional villain here, no matter how effective they are written and acted, is kind of a bummer. Still very absorbing and interesting though, with a slew of engaging new characters/situations, and the last few episodes capture the old "everything goes to shit and we need to sci-fi the hell out of these impossibilities immediately" atmosphere quite nicely.

Season 2 (A) > Season 3 (A) >> Season 4 (B+) > Season 1 (B+)

[Dukefrukem]

Don't know if you finished it yet, but I belatedly finished The Expanse season 4. My thoughts, no spoiler: The budget upgrade with the move from Syfy to Amazon really shows, especially with the "planet" setting of the season. After the incredible fast-paced momentum of weaving plot/character/world-building together throughout Season 2 and 3 though, this one slows down considerably, becoming a transition season of sort, with some reset and plot-holding. I think the show's biggest struggle is from having to separate several groups of characters, in which previously each one's plotting still shared the element of living through the protomolecule near-apocalypse together, into entirely different lives of their own, thus the levels of interest aren't the same (I gather from book readers that this is almost the consensus weakest book, to the point that some had hoped it would be done in half a season, so the fact that the quality remains good is promising). Also, after the murky moral dilemma and grey quagmires of seasons past, having a clear-cut traditional villain here, no matter how effective they are written and acted, is kind of a bummer. Still very absorbing and interesting though, with a slew of engaging new characters/situations, and the last few episodes capture the old "everything goes to shit and we need to sci-fi the hell out of these impossibilities immediately" atmosphere quite nicely.

Season 2 (A) > Season 3 (A) >> Season 4 (B+) > Season 1 (B+)

My wife and I put Season 4 on hold during Oscar Season.

But we have finished episode 7 of Season 4 and I agree with everything you've said so far. It's a weird dynamic with Season 4 because the "villain" is someone who is not always very villany. They need to work together in some instances for for good of the camp.

I read a little bit about the books- because I was so confused why Fred Johnson and Jared Harris seemingly disappeared from the stories and replaced with Camina and Klaes. Was this a part of the books? Or was this to save money on the actors?