It is the near future of 1991…three years prior, an alien ship appeared above Los Angeles. It was full of an alien race we nicknamed the Newcomers. Genetically bred for adaption, they adapt quickly to life on earth, forming communities, entering our schools and workforce.
In this world, we meet Detective Matt Sykes. It is quickly established he does not like the Newcomers in any way. He refers to them by the slur Slags and expresses only disdain for their presence. Sykes and his partner Bill interfere with a robbery resulting in Bill’s death. Angry and determined to get back at those responsible, Sykes volunteers to work with the first Newcomer Detective Sam Francisco (Sykes resents the “gag” name and renames Sam as George). What follows is both a personal journey for Sykes and a professional journey for the two detectives as they uncover a dark conspiracy to exploit the weaknesses of Newcomers for great profit.
Science Fiction has always been a vehicle for exploring the human condition and our moral failings. Alien Nation tackles bigotry and xenophobia which can be a rather treacherous territory. Mainly, this is because the aliens are stand ins for…well, not white people. It has been pointed out that one of the problems with the X-Men as the metaphor for bigotry school of thought is that…well…shooting lasers from your eyes is a legit dangerous and deadly power… having black skin is not.
Alien Nation avoids this by an extremely careful world building. The Newcomers are, in many ways, no different from humans, both in virtues and vices. They have some physical differences (two hearts, get drunk on sour milk, cannot process cooked meats and so on) and look different (Newcomers are bald with spotting on the back of their heads)…yet seek to have a better life than the one they left behind.
A lot of what makes the film work beyond the well thought out Newcomer earth based culture is the performances by James Caan and Mandy Patinkin. Using the “Mismatched Buddy Cop” formula allows the story to move at a quick pace. This also can make it easier to ignore certain weaknesses in the metaphor. Sykes overcomes his bigotry in a matter of days, though even at the end, apologizes to George for how awful he will be towards him in the years to come (a moment played for laughs). Truthfully, this is a shortcoming of the film medium, everything needs to occur quickly, so a nuanced journey from bigotry to goodness is not generally in the cards.
Alien Nation is ambitious and largely hits its mark with thoughtful performances, a well thought out world, and good special effects. It feels, in some ways, more timely now than it did in 1988.
In the future, mankind has colonized space, but this has brought fresh dangers. Mankind is at war with a reptilian race called the Draks. During a firefight Earthling pilot, Willis and Drak pilot Jeriba find themselves stranded together on a hostile planet.
Alex Rogan is stuck in a dead end life. He, his mom and little brother live in a run down trailer park. He wants to take his girl friend Maggie and get out…but the options seem to be dwindling. His main outlet for his frustrations is a video game called Starfighter.
Steven Soderbergh retired from directing in 2013. He directed multiple episodes of the Knick after that. He has three more films in the pipeline after this years Logan Lucky. The guy sucks at retirement.
Director of the Fifth Element, Luc Besson, returns to Science Fiction with Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets. Based on the french comics Valerian and Laureline, this is a visual science fiction feast. An early sequence indulges in a beautiful ocean planet that seems to be just ocean and beaches. The alien species are tall slender humanoids of grace and beauty. But it is disrupted by falling ships, which incinerate the planet. We are then introduced to Major Valarian and Sergeant Laureline, who seem to be enjoying a pleasant day at the beach. This is revealed to be a hologram, and they are actually on their way to a special covert mission. And so begins the continuous roller coaster of a story.
Welcome to the Future. It is run down and grimy. And Bruce Willis lives there. And a mysterious object is hurtling towards Earth…a planet…an evil planet. The Government is trying to destroy it, but a religious order is pushing for an alternate plan…
Vee is a young woman who lives life safely. Her friend Sydney pushes her to take a risk. And so she joins an online game called Nerve. In Nerve, there are people who pay to watch, people who pay to play…and the unknown overseers. In the game, participants are given dares and they must complete each one to make it to the end and make a lot of money. At the start, the dares seem to simply push people out of their comfort zones. As you complete a task, money is added to your bank account. If you fail or chicken out, you are dropped from the game.
The Circle asks the question: What if Google Were an Evil All Seeing Corporation?
The Dark Tower has had a long trek to the silver screen. There have been attempts for many years…at one point, there was an announced plan that included A movie and television series, so the story would keep going between films. Very ambitious, but questionable how to make it work. The Dark Tower series by Stephen King is a sprawling epic. There are eight books in the series at this time.
Based on the graphic novel the Coldest City is a spy thriller set days before the fall of the Berlin Wall. Lorraine Broughton is a highly skilled British spy on a mission to collect a dossier that could expose countless deep undercover spies. The problem is, determining who she can trust. Her contact in East Berlin, David Percival, has “gone native” in the punk scene. He is working to get a Russian nicknamed Spyglass to freedom in exchange for the information.
Tripping Through Gateways 