musicmatzes blog

scifi

When I write about Enders Game, I mean the movie published in 2013 based on the science fiction book series that was written by Orson Scott Card. That series started with a short story “Ender's Game” which was published in 1977 by the same author.

I have not read any of these books nor have I read the comic books which were published by Marvel. But I have seen the movie and I want to write about it here, because I really liked it.

Plot

As always, I do not want to spoiler any of you by giving away too many details of the plot.

For a long version of the following, please refer to the wikipedia article on the movie, which is about 700 words. I do not want to give away that much details here, though.

As this is a science-fiction movie, it takes place in the future. In that future, humans want to attack an alien race that previously attacked earth and killed millions. For that attack, the best and most promising individuals are trained from young age, so they can lead the attack as efficiently as possible. “Ender” (Asa Butterfield), which is the main character, is a gifted young student in the battle school. He starts the training more or less as an outsider, although working hard gets him far.

Criticque

I really liked that movie. Wikipedia states) that is was a box-office bomb, grossing only $125.5 million on a $110–115 million budget, though. Rotten tomatoes states that

If it isn't quite as thought-provoking as the book, Ender's Game still manages to offer a commendable number of well-acted, solidly written sci-fi thrills.

averaging at 6.07/10. I would rate it at about 7.5/10.

#movie #scifi #sciencefiction

Altered Carbon is a Sci-Fi/Thriller series (wikipedia says “Cyberpunk”) produced by Netflix. Most Sci-Fi movies that were published in the last years were more or less “meh” (at least the ones from Hollywood). But not this one.

It was the first Sci-Fi series in years that really got me. Two seasons of ten and eigth episodes of pure tension, nice cliff-hangers, awesome spins and really, really nice plot twists. Like, not plot twist were you think “they just did this to keep going” – no, plot twist that one could've seen coming if being attentive, but surprising nonetheless.

I really, really hope that there will be a third season and that they continue with the high level of action, emotions, tension and well-crafted story line.

About the plot: I don't want to spoiler too much, because the plot is rather clear after the pilot episode. Just a few things: Takeshi Kovacs, is a former member of an elite military force of futuristic soldiers, part intelligence operative and part shock trooper, trained to adapt quickly to new bodies and new environments. He was in prison for 250 years, but is pulled back into a body because one of the wealthiest and most powerful men of the settled world wants him to solve his murder.

I guess that's not too much spoilered.


I've also been told that the movies differ greatly from the books. I've not read the books, but I liked the movie a lot and I guess others will to, even if they've read the books.

#movie #scifi #sciencefiction #thriller #action

The TV Series “Away” which premiered on Netflix in 2020. Unfortunately the series was canceled after just one season, although the story was completed.

This is another Sci-Fi Series, but the main focus I want to take here is not the fact that it plays on a space ship, because that is only a circumstance. The real deal with this series is that it is about human emotions, fears and hopes. The series does not have the best rating on, for example, rottentomatoes (6.22/10), still:

Away doesn't reach the stratosphere as a spacetime adventure, but emotional earnestness and a strong cast help make this a compelling enough journey to the stars.

And I wholeheartedly agree with that.

The episodes are not that long either (44 to 57 minutes), so you can watch the whole series on either a weathered weekend or as a bedtime movie!

Despite it not being the typical Sci-Fi action thriller, the series does not lack of a certian tension.

#movie #scifi #sciencefiction #emotional #series #netflix

The first movie I want to talk about is Riddick, actually it is three movies. The main actor is Vin Diesel, which is one of my favourite actors in the action genre. I didn't know that Diesel actually did a fantasy movie, because that's what “Riddick” is – an action+fantasy movie.

I wasn't aware of the Riddick movies until someone told me about them. And I fell in love within the first couple of minutes watching the first one (Pitch Black, 2000).

Diesel, most known for playing Dominic Toretto in Fast & Furious plays Riddick, who is an infamous former mercenary and solider (“antihero”) who is held hostage on a space ship that crashes. Riddick escapes. You might think that the crew of the ship has a problem now, given that Riddick was held hostage and they might get killed by him. Though, Riddick is far from being their biggest problem on the planet they crashed on.

That's how the first movie, Pitch Black, is set up for. The later two movies, “The Chronicles of Riddick”, 2004, and “Riddick”, 2013, follow on that story line and Diesel continues to impress with that roleof Riddick.

The movies are rather dark (both in their theming and in their display of the environment), which is part of the Plot in all three movies. Riddick continues to be an emotionless berserker in all three movies and stays in the role, which I really like. Most multi-part movies tend to give the main character a bit more of emotion in the later parts, weaken the role of the heartless berserker. These movies do not.

I hope the fourth movie, which is not even announced yet, Diesel continues that exact role.

#vindiesel #riddick #movie #scifi #action #fantasy #dark