November 4, 2008 - 1:30 am - Posted by Administrator
Maria Lidon directs and co-stars in this Spanish science fiction film (in English) about an expedition to Mars which crash lands on the surface. Faced with certain death, the international crew of astronauts is forced to consider extreme measures.
The script for Stranded is actually quite good save for a few “scientific liberties” which detract from the realism. And the cast includes a few gems including Vincent Gallo[Buffalo ‘66, Goodfellas] as the pessimistic engineer, Maria De Madeiros[Babel, Pulp Fiction] as the determined medical officer, and Joaquim de Almeida[Clear and Present Danger, 24] as the level-headed Fidel Rodrigo. As accomplished actors, they all do a remarkable job with difficult space-oriented terminology. Stranded’s primary downfall is the badly dubbed voices of Director Lidon’s character Susana Sanchez and co-star Daniel Aser’s character Herbert Sagan. I don’t know if they dubbed their own performances or had other voice actors handle it, but they are terrible. The stilted scientific dialog doesn’t ease the task, and it shows. The late Johnny Ramone plays a small part as the co-pilot Lowell who stays behind on the mothership in orbit and actually gives a better performance than Lidon or Aser.
Now lest you think I’m being unduly harsh, I will say this low-budget space flick does a remarkably good job portraying realistic spaceflight scenarios on a severely limited budget. The indoor sets look like they came right off the international space station. The outdoor scenes look a lot like Mars, although the low resolution computer graphics begin to show when we’re subjected to views of the planet from orbit.
The pacing of Stranded can be a little slow at times, the story building from the crew’s initial resignation at their plight, through desperation to survive, and culminating with an amazing discovery on the red planet. It’s that amazing discovery that seems to be the entire purpose of the script, and it takes a while to get there. The time that could have been spent building character definition is ultimately wasted on sequences of petty arguments that prove inconsequential to the outcome.
Personally, I think young directors and writers would benefit the most from viewing Stranded. It’s a textbook low budget science fiction movie that can teach you a few tricks, and most certainly shows a few examples of what to avoid.
December 13, 2007 - 10:23 pm - Posted by Administrator
This movie had the misfortune of being “that other virtual reality movie” at a time when everybody was salivating over The Matrix. Unfortunately, that meant this movie was largely overlooked.
Craig Bierko plays Douglas Hall, a computer scientist working on an intelligent, autonomous computer simulation of 1930’s Los Angeles. Humans can experience and interact with the simulation through virtual reality immersion.
Hall’s boss, Hannon Fuller (Armin Mueller-Stahl), meets an untimely end, and Hall is forced to enter the computer simulation, hunting for clues about the death of his mentor. Gretchen Mol plays Fuller’s daughter, and Vincent D’Onofrio steals scenes as Hall’s long-haired assistant Whitney.
Hall’s investigation leads him to question human existence and the nature of being “alive”. There’s also a small matter regarding what happens if you die while plugged into “the simulation”, but I won’t spoil it for you. This is another science fiction movie with a surprise ending that will knock you out… if you don’t figure it out first.
Mol, Bierko, and D’Onofrio all portray multiple characters in this film, and they all pull it off swimmingly. Recommended viewing. I almost gave it five stars.
December 13, 2007 - 8:06 pm - Posted by Administrator
Soylent Green stars Charlton Heston in another of his 1970’s sci-fi roles. Many people are familiar with this movie via the well-known parody done by Phil Hartman on Saturday Night Live, and Soylent Green is frequently the butt of many jokes by those who would label it low-budget sci-fi schlock.
OK, so maybe it is low-budget sci-fi schlock, but worthy of a look nonetheless. The world of Soylent Green is New York in 2022. The world is hopelessly overpopulated, supplies are short, and food is rationed. Fresh food is nearly non-existent, and millions survive on processed government surplus foods known as “Soylent”. Soylent Green is the newest variety and hyped as the answer to mankind’s hunger.
Much like one of Heston’s other starring sci-fi vehicles, Planet of the Apes, Soylent Green has a surprise ending (which will be spoiled for you if you’ve seen the aforementioned skit from SNL with Phil Hartman, so if you haven’t seen it, try to avoid it until you watch Soylent Green).
Being a sci-fi movie of the seventies, Soylent Green suffers from the same malady as many other flicks of the era - nothing much happens. But the movie is worth a view if for no other reason than to familiarize yourself with one of the most persistent science fiction themes - that of overpopulation and the Earth’s surrender of every natural resource to a ravenous human race.
Soylent Green
