SamSam (2020) - Movie Review

Some family films are better described as kids’ films, as they usually end up entertaining the kids but making their chaperones wish they were doing anything else. Some kids’ films are better described as family films, as they manage to give just as much entertainment value for the adults as it does for the kids (sometimes more so for the adults). This film somehow falls right down the middle of those two: It’s an animated film most definitely made for kids, one I can easily see being engaging for little’ins, but is rather inoffensive for adults. Not entertaining, just… inoffensive. And that’s not from lack of trying, just to make things more bizarre.

The Space Between Us (2017) - Movie Review

The plot: In the near-future, NASA has teamed up with Genesis Electronics, led by CEO Nathaniel Shepherd (Gary Oldman), to colonize Mars. Gardner (Asa Butterfield) is the first human to be born on Mars and for the past 16 years, it’s the only life he’s ever known. However, when he decides to leave for Earth, he soon finds himself having to adjust to life on this alien planet. With the help of teenager Tulsa (Britt Robertson), the only Earthling he’s had regular contact with, they set out to find Gardner’s father, his only living relative.

Life (2017) - Movie Review

Just as time loop narratives are currently reaching the point of potential oversaturation, it seems that the same can be said for films involving isolation in space. The Martian, Approaching The Unknown, Star Trek Beyond to a certain extent, even Passengers from earlier this year; we’re certainly not want for stories about how the vastness of space can make the average human feel infinitesimally small. However, as I’ve been making a habit of saying over the last few reviews, preconceptions like “Ugh, another space movie? This is gonna suck.” are made to be broken. Of course, bear in mind that another preconception I had with this film is “With these people attached to it, please don’t suck” so you can see the weird place I’m in before I even watch the bloody thing. So, is this going to fall into the cracks of the sub-genre or is it going to make itself stand out (hopefully, for the right reasons)?

Approaching The Unknown (2016) - Movie Review

The Martian (2015) - Movie Review

To paraphrase one of the more boisterous names in space exploration: “Space: the final frontier”. However, something that is becoming clearer and clearer with every day since that phrase was first uttered is that space will always be the final frontier. Unlike our home planet, there is an infinite amount of, well, space outside of our atmosphere and it is expanding every second. The distance between points of interest (stars, planets, space fog, etc.) is occupied by a vacuum that seems to exist at the exact opposite of our ideal living conditions, and that’s if we even have a vessel that can stay in one piece during all that travel.

Is it any wonder, with all this in mind, that space travel and exploration is frequently used as the setting for dramas and thrillers? Sure, space combat will always be enticing, but the thought of how claustrophobic, hazardous and ultimately liberating leaving Earth for greener pastures can be has produced some truly amazing works of art, particularly in the realm of cinema. So, when director Ridley Scott decided to return to the cold void that yielded him a bona fide sci-fi classic with Alien (and a modest success with Prometheus), how did it turn out considering his last cinematic venture?