JRmf Reviews

Top Gun: Maverick (2022)

A worthy sequel, but a military dud...

[8/10 · 17 December 2022]

The movie is a worthy sequel to the 1986 original, it pushes all the right emotional buttons and occasionally brought a lump to my throat. I like the film and would see it again.

But while the flying scenes are thrilling, you could not help get the feeling that something is being rushed or missed here.

The following, which appears elsewhere but is likely to be poorly shared, explains it all:

"While very entertaining to watch, there were several issues with the way the mission was planned and executed that would likely have played out very differently in real life.

In the film, Maverick assesses the operational problem based on a quick survey of some photos and determines the method for destroying the target almost instantly. In real life, an entire cell of joint planners would analyze the problem for days if not weeks and come up with multiple courses of action that could achieve the goal, and the decider for a target such as this would probably be the President (since the enemy is very clearly supposed to be Iran).

Maverick airily assumes away the stealth capability of the F-35 (as well as Air Force assets such as the B-2), and immediately assesses the job can only be done by F/A-18s for reasons unexplained. There is no discussion of using electronic warfare aircraft and/or cyber attack to shut down or at least hinder the enemy's integrated air defense system.

The Navy uses cruise missiles to strike an enemy airfield to keep additional enemy fighters from taking off but does not seem to consider striking the enemy surface-to-air missile systems, radars, and command-and-control nodes by the same method. There is no combat air patrol (CAP) of F-35s to engage enemy fighters and protect the strike aircraft on egress from the target (even if we agree with the basic assumption that F/A-18s were necessary for the strike, F-35s, not more F/A-18s would be the clear choice for the CAP).

There is no reason why the strike aircraft would be loaded exclusively with flare countermeasures instead of chaff when the threat was clearly understood to be radar-guided weapons.

Finally, the strike aircraft were loaded out with laser-guided bombs requiring a diving delivery, high-G pulloff, and spotting of the target with a laser from the wingman; GPS-guided munitions could have hit the target with a higher probability of success and lower-risk level delivery over the target.

All of the above issues added more drama and action onscreen but also severely eroded the military realism."

Fall (I) (2022)

Engrossing, but almost entirely false

[5/10 · 12 December 2022]

Acrophobia of fear of heights is probably _the_ foremost rational fear, compared to things like fear of the dark, spiders, dentists, public speaking... Even a fall from some 10 feet can do you serious harm, let alone 2000. So as the girls perch precariously and try various risky maneuvers at the top of the tower or at the antenna array just below, we justifiably hold out breath.

But they have a rope, the tower is about 3 feet wide, so they could have deployed the rope like a lineman (line-person) uses a leather belt to help to help him/herself up or down a power pole. Latter is only about a foot thick but the same principal applies. The girls need a safe way to lower themselves to the ground, so gravity would do much of the work.

Fling the rope, doubled if possible, around the tower and catch it on the return side, tie yourself securely to it, then jiggle it to slip a little at a time and control your descent as you walk down the tower. Getting past the antenna array would be tricky, but like the top perch, it also has a short ladder section which should make this possible.

These girls are experienced climbers and inventive, so it's incomprehensible in this life-and-death situation that they would not have thought of this. Of course if they had, it would have been a rather shorter, less interesting movie...

JFK Revisited: Through the Looking Glass (2021)

Interesting but...

[6/10 · 2 August 2022]

This is interesting material, but ever since Stone's 4-part 2017 interviews with Putin where he clearly fawned over the autocrat, I can only have doubts about anything Stone presents.

Greenland (2020)

Much preferred Deep Impact

[6/10 · 5 February 2021]

Comparisons of Greenland with the 1998 end-of-the-world thriller Deep Impact are inevitable. In Deep Impact, a comet with a small and large component threatens an ELE Extinction Level Event on planet Earth. The discovery and investigation of the comet are done in great detail (a spaceship called Messiah is sent to destroy it with nukes) and that story is well integrated into happenings on Earth, personal, government & military.

In Greenland, the multi-component comet (from another solar system) and the partial disasters it reigns on various parts of the Earth before its ELE, is done as a back story in fragmentary asides. The main story is clearly the battle of the Garrity family to get to WWII fallout shelters in Greenland and survive, a grim and dark affair.

In both movies, the human race (apparently) survives.

Science doesn't seem to go down so well these days, so that maybe why Greenland was as well or better accepted than Deep Impact in current user and critic scores, even though Greenland is done in a rather sketchy way consistent more with a lower-budget, with numerous inconsistencies (see IMDb writeup).

However it's worth noting Deep Impact grossed $334M in 1998, worth about twice that in today's dollars, Greenland so far under $50M.

Ad Astra (2019)

Disappointing

[6/10 · 2 February 2020]

Great sci-fi visual2 and some excitement do not make up for vague storytelling, maddening plot holes (what happened to the other 25 souls on the Mayday ship?), and a story which descends into navel gazing. ET mysteries are not expounded, never mind the threat to Earth.

Magellan (2017)

Good sci-fi with reservations

[5/10 · 13 October 2019]

The fact that this involved relatively realistic scenes and not much in the way of thrills, rather than fantasies like monsters emerging from the target objects didn't bother me. Hard sci-fi movies are not common and welcome if done properly.

However I did wonder: * Why send a married man on a 10 year mission when this is going to create social problems? Good for movie drama no doubt.. * Only _one_ man, the ultimate loner, mental health?? The Chinese team more sensibly involved 3 people * Why does his sample collection box need to be carried in one hand, rather than clipping to his spacesuit somehow - dumb and dumber * Scaling Triton's cliffs in supposed low gravity sure didn't look it - some CGI sorely missing there.

The ending is problematic. Another 34 years in stasis? He sacrifices his Earth life for a supposed hope which might prove in vain.

Sicario: Day of the Soldado (2018)

Not bad, though never quite engages

[7/10 · 23 November 2018]

To fight Mexican cartels sumggling people into the USA, FBI agents hatch a plan to get the cartels at each other throats by kidnapping a boss's teenage daughter while posing as a rival cartel. But some 2 dozen corrupt Mexican police who interfere have to be killed, derailing the whole plan and turning the mission into just getting the girl back safely with her father. In the end, it appears she will have to go into Witness Protection when the cartel group sent to rescue her are all slain.

First Man (2018)

Ultra-first person / anti-engineering perspective spoils film

[5/10 · 16 November 2018]

Quite apart from the extreme shaking shots of Ryan Gosling's head and eyeballs, I was very frustrated by not seeing appropriate clips of the vehicles which did the work. The X-15 rocket plane (seen in background), the Gemini 8 spacecraft (not shown at all), the massive 1 mph Crawler which transported the Saturn 5 from the Vehicle Assembly Building to the launch pad (only views of its tracks are shown), the Atlas Agena docking rocket (tiny view from a very long distance), take-off from the Moon, all come to mind.

Views of some rockets are shown at extreme angles, looking along the hull - no "beauty shots". This is in marked contrast to Apollo 13 where brief but appropriate cutaways to the ship are shown and greatly enhance the storytelling.

The view that "It's about the man, not the machines" is dumb IMHO. Without those machines we would still be navel gazing and howling wistfully at the moon.

Surprisingly the Saturn 5 for Apollo 11 is shown in all its glory during launch. Director could have maintained his anti-engineering stance and only shown ultra-close ups of rocket plumes, ice falling off the body, weird views looking down the body etc. I wonder why he broke his consistency here?

Normally I would add a movie like this to my collection but I found it so frustrating to watch for reasons outlined, I don't think I will...

Occupation (2018)

Popcorn movie, check brain at door

[3/10 · 16 November 2018]

A ragtag bunch of outback Ozzies are really able to mount a credible defense against alien invaders from another star-system? If I were "them" with all their technology, and my aim was to rid the Earth of humans, I would do it form orbit, manufacturing the doomsday virus on one of my ships, then releasing it world-wide. Earthly ships are chemically powered meaning after the initial boost into orbit, they basically "drift", so it would be easy to pick off any offensive ships.

But if for some reason I did want to engage the humans on the Earth, I would probably use an unstoppable insect swarm-like anti-personnel weapon. I would certainly ensure my weapons were bio-locked. Picking off warm-blooded humans from the air would be easy (no hiding under a bedsheet or in a tall field of grass!), I would use a ship which could target 100+ with a single laser shot to the head. I could go on and on but you get the drift.

Fighting aliens who seemed to have very bad aim and weak armor plus all of the above spoiled my enjoyment of the film as it made me think the director thought I was unintelligent...

The Good Shepherd (2006)

Chilling insight into how the world really is

[6/10 · 26 October 2018]

A grave & serious Matt Damon proceeds about his counter espionage duties with robotic, ruthless efficiency. Only his relationships with women give some insight into a more human, soft side. Traces the beginning of the modern CIA with its "nation first, people are expendable attitude"...

A Perfect Getaway (2009)

Entertaining enough but.

[6/10 · 14 October 2018]

Entertaining enough, three attractive couples amidst the beauty of Hawaii, but the sudden shift in character of Olyphant and Jovovich from rather naïve / innocent to serious / murderous surprises but strains credibility and seems very contrived.

The Titan (2018)

Not bad but...

[7/10 · 1 July 2018]

Flicking through the users who wrote comments, it's clear this was not a crowd-pleaser. However as a professional scientist, I didn't find it so bad.

Why Titan and not Mars? Mars has been done to death as the same people who pooh-poohed "Titan" would be quick to point out. Certainly the idea of populating Titan with humans force-evolved into Homo Titaniens is novel. I think one just has to accept that as a dramatic given. It certainly would not be technically easy, as the movie portrays.

Titan is accurately described, with the inherent difficulties living there implied. Except for one point, how can nitrogen (or its compounds) be used to generate oxygen? That's transmutation, not possible outside of a nuclear reactor. Given the other scientific facts accurately described, this is a surprisingly wrong assertion.

The movie is not without flaws. When Rick's female mate is killed (it's not clear why), I thought, "Oh, oh", how is he going to mate now? There's no mention of how Homo Titaniens procreates, so unless it's asexually, getting a single individual to Titan is not going to solve anything. It's been calculated that the minimum size of a viable human breeding colony is 100, with very careful genetic selection to avoid in-breeding.

Some of the killings by soldiers of H.Titanies towards the end of the movie were given little explanation and don't make a lot of sense. When Collingwood calls for Abi, her son and friend to be killed because Rick would kill them all, I thought the soldiers might turn on him, but the crisis is left hanging and they all escape somehow.

I had no problems with the steady, measured pace of the movie, quite appropriate. Certainly not a perfect sci-fi effort but stylishly done with considerable thought.

Downsizing (2017)

A strange but interesting movie...

[8/10 · 15 April 2018]

I thought this was a great sci-fi movie which cut uncomfortably close to reality. Human overpopulation is what's killing the planet and "Downsizing" provides a way out - though alas an impossible one in reality. It's interesting how even in the movie it doesn't provide the ultimate solution, perhaps because the chief motivation for doing it is selfish, to provide material luxuries inaccessible in one's "big" life, rather than an altruistic desire to save the environment. When the Antarctic methane burst brings the end of the world near, only 3 % of the world has chosen to downsize.

I thought the way "downsizing" was implemented was realistic in timescale and detail - good old-fashioned real-estate project villages, spreading slowly across the globe, as would have to be the case due to the "no going back" nature of the process and the personal commitment required. I liked the attention to detail: When a couple of proponents are introduced to an audience in their small case, they are standing up holding onto vertical rails like you do in a bus, though this is only seen from a distance. The implementation of LeisureLand with its giant net to exclude weather and insects is a thoughtful and essential touch, though in reality the worst thing to fear would be some big person running amok and trying to destroy a small village through some irrational motivation which seems to readily grip humans.

So far so good, but it's the second part of the movie which many seem to be put off by. Hong Chou's character is no doubt meant to be humorous though I found her voice and manner irritating. A meaningful relation should involve both parties supporting and respecting one another, not seeking to dominate (however subtly - though HC is not at all subtle) or "boss", even for good causes. It's funny to see Paul - aka Jason Bourne - acquiesce so meekly.

The "cult" going down the hole to a sequestered world where they can ride-out a coming catastrophe is not without potential problems, but the motivation and the reasoning is clear and sound. The world might not end for a few centuries due to climate change (we wish), but it could be over in less than an afternoon if a full blown nuclear war were to erupt. I cannot but feel that most people have forgotten the nuclear Damoclean sword hanging over our heads. Likewise if a rogue AI were to takeover - I know many feel this is impossible - it would be took late to seek cover. The wannacry virus which crippled the UK health service about a year ago was a faint precursor of what might happen. That was just some dumb robot seeking to encrypt as many computers as possible, but what if it advanced to be much more directed - shutdown human society, power stations, banking, all communication - for the ultimate good of "reforming" humanity? Such a being would act at lightning speed and essentially be immortal.

Anyway these are just a few random thoughts on a movie which will probably remain unique...

Only people "down the hole" or perhaps on Mars as Elon Musk is attempting to get-up, would conceivably be safe.

Victoria (II) (2015)

Spectacularly ordinary "real-time" movie with so little to say...

[1/10 · 31 March 2018]

What is it with the 77 % review/critic rating - is it "rent-a-crowd" or "rent-a-critic"?

OK, so well-crafted American movies which compress time so viewers do not spent their precious time watching boring bits of ordinary life (as they do all the way through "Victoria") are passe and banal, but this???

Almost the first hour of this 138 min movie could be compressed into maybe 10 minutes without losing much of the "essential movie". At a party pretty Victoria joins up with a bunch of guys who are such losers they cannot even figure out the car they want to steal is unlocked. They commit petty theft at a convenience store where the elderly attendant is asleep. The others go off and Victoria and Sonne open the bar where she gets paid 4 Euros an hour + tips, though no one comes in. She plays the piano which provides a welcome few minutes of relief from the crushing boredom.

About the one hour mark the others return and take Victoria and Sonne off to meet some thug - and his half a dozen henchmen - who hands out handguns and wants them to rob a bank of a known 50,000 Euro. They do this successfully but soon heavily armed cops are hunting them down in force. In the firefight, a couple of them are fatally shot. Sonne is badly wounded. Victoria & Sonne hole up in an apartment block and "borrow" a baby so they can escape. Strangely, just before hailing a cab to go to a hotel, they ditch the baby - nothing is said in the movie, but it seems to have been dumped on the street somewhere - and go to a very expensive hotel. No check-in (or for that matter, other guests or attendants - very strange..) are seen but they enter a room without problems.

Sonne refuses to go to hospital and soon dies. A tearful Victoria flees the hotel to wander the street, and that's how the movie ends. Hardly a masterpiece...

The Last Scout (2017)

Not bad for budget sci-fi

[7/10 · 20 March 2018]

Movies like this one which are essentially stageplays won't please the crowd looking for spectacular CGI and action sequences. I liked it because the story was mostly logical and credible. CGI was adequate and cutaways to exterior ship views were done appropriately. Some of the acting isn't going to win any Oscars, but it's generally adequate.

Most of us are blissfully ignorant of, or have forgotten the nuclear Damoclean threat which has lain dormant for 73 years, but who knows, 2065 might be the year...

The movie is not without faults: A serious flaw was how the probe was unable to detect an atmosphere full of methane and nitrogen. That could have been detected spectroscopically from orbit, no need even for a probe. Then of course they would not have bothered wasting their precious fuel landing there and picked the other world instead, which turned out to be like Eden. "Hull fractures" which appear at very inconvenient times seem difficult to understand.

Also I didn't understand was why Gerry went berserk and became murderous, especially when one death was explained by the Chinese psycho lurking in the Pegasus. While getting stabbed in the torso by a 4 cm scalpel blade would not be pleasant, I doubt if would really stop a healthy opponent from pulling away and fleeing or fighting back.

If you like sci-fi, you may well like this one.

Never Let Me Go (2010)

A unique movie one will either love or hate

[5/10 · 2 March 2018]

Beautifully shot and with a wonderful music score.. But as always, it's what the movie is about that matters. I didn't read the book, but one can only glean it is about clones who are bred to supply organs so the general population can live long and healthy lives.

The story makes for interesting reading, will grab the attention and make the bestseller list, but is really fantastically unrealistic. The Hailsham "clones" as they mature and become more aware of their fate blithely accept it. There is no outrage, terror or horror. No jackboots or car chases here. Has the survival instinct, utterly embedded in the existence of every being on this planet, and central to evolution, and been utterly suppressed or bred out of them?

The clones are able to drive and wander freely about the countryside, they feel strong sexual urges and even rage, but are apparently powerless or have no interest in overcoming their sheep-like death march. Wait, even sheep feel terror when they realize they are about to be slaughtered, it's just they were tricked into situations where they become lamb. So I guess on this basis alone one would conclude, these clones are not human.

People who advertise on the Internet that they would love to be cannibalised and eaten are generally considered mad. Japanese Kamakazi cheerfully sacrificed themselves out of hatred for the enemy, but this.. The victims in "The Island" who were tricked into becoming organ donors to the Rich were rightly outraged. At least that was comprehensible, "Never Let Me Go" for all its uniqueness seems utterly contrived...

As Madame of the Art Gallery says to Kathy near the end, "You poor creatures. I wish I could help you."

Professor Marston & the Wonder Women (2017)

Puts 50 Shades firmly in the shade...

[8/10 · 17 February 2018]

Raw, gutsy, confronting, bullsh*t free. 50 Shades teases and promises much but barely touches on core material which here is so openly dealt with.

I'm pretty open-minded, but the very unconventional values depicted here are so frank and honest I would feel awkward watching this with most people who wouldn't be so inclined, and who would almost certainly turn away in disgust.

Marston's advocated DISC Dominance Inducement Submission Compliance theory and used comic book character Wonder Woman with its overtly sadomasochistic themes to portray how women can be powerful. His polyamorous relationship with wife Elizabeth and mistress Olive, and the women with each other, is something which would still not be widely accepted even today.

If you're jaded with most movies and want something to challenge and wake you up, watch this!

Geostorm (2017)

OK climate conspiracy popcorn movie

[6/10 · 15 February 2018]

The sun generates weather on Earth so it's not too far-fetched that someday we will be able to control the weather, "Dutch Boy" style. But maybe not for 500 years or so, if we last that long.. But given that small detail..

Critics hated it - too passe and predictable no doubt - but I thought the movie had reasonable entertainment value, I was expecting far worse. Human elements - father-daughter concern, romance - and some nice glimpses into near-future tech. Conspiracy involving POTUS and biometrics. Our hero (Butler) lives to be be reunited with his daughter and brother against all odds.

Bloopers: The space shuttles (with curved wingtips like modern airliners) still had the big fuel tank adjacent the crew compartment instead of latter being on top like the upcoming Space Launch System. In the car chase scene, a small self-driving car is able to roll a vehicle about twice its mass with little effort.

Disasters are so over the top they do little to encourage credibility. No doubt people would be bored by the pace of real climate-change disasters like glacier retreat, Greenland becoming so very much warmer over the last couple decades. Things like people being frozen in mid-stride by air which would have to be hundreds of degrees below zero, giant multi-funnel tornadoes, tidal waves able to knock down skyscrapers (whereas a real tidal wave is slow and relentless and mabye on 10 m high). Still, similar disasters happened in "The Day After Tomorrow", poster-child of the prestigious and well-regarded (in the scientific community) New Scientist magazine, though perhaps not on such a gaudy scale.

Had to add this to my sci-fi collection :)

Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)

Warning, not for mature viewers

[5/10 · 2 December 2017]

I'll have to disagree with viewers, almost ¼ million gave an average of 7.6 and 51 reviewers who gave an average of 7.2. I guess one could call this "refreshing" as it certainly brings the would-be super hero crashing down to earth multiple times but to the extent that it is irritating and comedic - who is this fool? The original tale with Tobey Macguire is vastly superior IMO and captures Spider-Man's earthy, fallible nature in a dignified way.

I guess it's about what sells, and target audiences. Critical thinking is hardly popular these days - look at POTUS. Yeah, whatever..

A few random thoughts: A much younger and rather sexy Aunt May; a black love-interest, his next will surely be "MJ" the loner. Tom Holland's often 8yo attitudes and behavior made even Tony Stark look mature. Thank god for the adult villains.

All-in-all, spectacular CGI did not compensate for Spidey's asinine, juvenile behavior - I struggled to maintain interest and to refrain from bailing.. 5/10

Sniper: Ultimate Kill (2017)

Engrossing and very entertaining

[8/10 · 5 November 2017]

Not intended to be a blockbuster, but this is a slick production with some quite credible characters. Kate Estrada (Danay Garcia), the agent obsessed with bringing down drug-lord Morales gave a tough, refreshing performance, but equally I enjoyed Brandon Beckett's (Chad Michael Collins) calm, strong portrayal of the good-guy sniper.

No deep plots to overthrow the world here, but the relatively simple linear story-line followed though logically and made sense to my simple brain. Unlike many so-called masterpieces, this is a movie which one can digest in one careful viewing, but it had enough surprises to be interesting.

The hints of advanced projectile systems was something about which I wish more had been said, the few tidbits which were given, tantalized.

8/10 from me, a lot more than the current 5.6.

Colossal (2016)

Director's playground

[4/10 · 6 August 2017]

Any movie where critics give a higher rating (7.0) than viewers (6.2 @ early Aug2017) should be regarded as highly suspect by anyone looking for entertainment and/or escapism.

The poster for this movie shows Hathaway/The Monster scratching her/its head, and indeed after watching the movie, this is likely to be your response.

Clearly not meant to be taken literally, it must be allegorical or "adsurdist". But of what, and for what purpose? Hathaway's Gloria is deeply flawed but, in line with today's political correctness/ expectations, she leads 3 men around by the nose, only having sex with the one of her choosing. Her character acts in a way which deserves a good slapping, the way you would do to someone who insists on walking off the sidewalk into oncoming traffic.

Sudeikis' Oscar seems very helpful, but clearly he has had designs on Gloria all along and his true despicable self soon manifests. NOT - his sudden change of character seems contrived and makes him look as though he has some mental deficiency - perhaps a brain tumor.

Boyfriend Tim has this piercing stare and cutting analysis of Gloria's behavioural flaws - but the poor boy is beholden to the girl and can't give her up, even though she keeps him hanging, sometimes for days.

Austin, the guy who gets the girl - or rather she gets him - well, he's just sad, and behaves like a little boy throughout, an adult on an overdose of something.

If you're like movies which make sense, look elsewhere - stick to "Based on a true story". But if you don't mind spending 2 hours of your life in a Colossal waste of time, having your emotions toyed with for no clear or rewarding end, increasingly feeling WTF..!! as the movie progresses, then be my guest...

Margin Call (2011)

One for the critics, not the masses

[6/10 · 7 July 2017]

Heavily understated and implied reenactment of one unnamed firm's involvement in the 2008 stockmarket crash. I have had a bit to do with share trading (was never too good at it) so I know the background of what is being discussed and enacted, but many wouldn't I believe. Even "Margin Call" is never discussed or explained, and a trading screen is never seen in close-up.

There is a certain tension in the movie, you do sense something big and terrible on a global scale is about to happen, but you never get to actually see it. What you do see is people who would like to do otherwise (like according to conscience) being bought off because of the Almighty Dollar - yeah f#$k, give me a million and I'll write what you like...

6/10

Life (I) (2017)

Not bad but...

[5/10 · 24 June 2017]

So here we have another monster movie with an isolated group being picked off one-by-one by a monster of unbelievable intelligence and physical tenacity. For sci-fi geeks like me, the ISS as context lends appeal, but the movie overall doesn't overly appeal to the intelligence, being rather predictable..

Arguably the most credible scenes are where the monster starts off as a dormant microscopic Martian organism. It always amazes me how such creatures (like in Promethesus) gain strength and size at a rate which beggars belief. At least "Calvin" (the name selected by a school on Earth chosen from among 11,000) is seen to grow by feeding of its human hosts giving some plausibility.

It's survival in airless space is somehow due to its ability (maybe like whales) to store oxygen, and somehow its tissues are durable enough to resist hard vacuum severe enough to pit aluminium.

But the killer for me was the "surprise" ending where David Jordan (Gyllenhaal), sacrificing himself to pilot a lifeboat with the creature into deep space and away from Earth, finds himself suddenly switched with Miranda North (Rebecca Ferguson) who is supposed safely returning to Earth. How the heck could that possibly happen??? Completely illogical and unsatisfying even if it gives the desired ending (Calvin gets to Earth and will presumably devour all humans..).

Great CGI but once again demonstrating that sFX do not the movie make...

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)

Bit disappointing, predictable and not as good as SW7

[5/10 · 1 April 2017]

I found myself falling asleep during the movie (even though I was well rested) which is always a bad sign... Something failing to keep the interest.

Won't say a lot, while the CGI was great, especially in the latter scenes where a lot is done is broad daylight, open spaces and against a marina background (always looks a lot more realistic when there are real-world backdrops), I thought the plot was very predictable with few surprises. Planet-busting Death Star, rebel scientist forced to build puts flaw in core reactor - spelled out in embarrassing clarity DOH! - must get plans for, and destroy...

Jyn Erso seemed more like a little-girl-lost rather than a feisty Leia - was this deliberate? Stormtroopers always look impressive in their white armour, but how come they fall like tenpins at the first whiff of a blaster? Only at the end does Darth Vader show what Imperial forces should be capable of.

I've long thought that the way battle is conducted in Star Wars movies is very WWII-ish, I don't see much evidence of advanced or futuristic methods, even though the machinery may be different.

How is it that star-cruisers (or even stormtroopers) can't be protected by forcefields, as can an entire planet? Anyway, having one rammed and brought down in rather conventional way sure looks impressive - fans are happy and I guess in the end it's all about keeping the $$$ flowing in.

Getting the Death Star plans out of that assembly looked suspiciously like 20th century storage technology dressed-up, complete with giant floppy/hard-disk... hmmm. Again it makes for the drama but is not very advanced.

As I am a SF nut I will definitely keep this one in my collection if only for the great CGI scenes... too bad about the cerebral lack.

Mars (2016–2018)

A new level of docudrama..

[7/10 · 29 January 2017]

Part dramatic miniseries, part historical documentary, this is not for everyone. As a confirmed science nut I found it enlightening but flawed. It will be good for humanity to settle Mars, but it may just come down to money, as usual, rather than just as a backup against extinction or to push the bounds of human experience, as the documentary parts emphasized. The series placed a good deal of emphasis on the political background and backing to the mission, and often seemed on shaky ground with its backers.

The comparison with Antarctic research bases, which exist for pure science, is well made, however. Mars might ultimately be a base from which the asteroid belt could be mined. Unless humanity has a change of heart and becomes truly altruistic a la Star Trek :)

CGI does not a good miniseries make but clearly the budget was a bit thin. I would have loved to see from the ground, Daedalus or one of the other ships land on Mars (from the ground, looking up), rather than just views of rocket exhaust (presuming it was even possible - see following). To see Olympus Town dome from the inside and the outside, looking up, would have been a great sight, but all one saw was tiny distant, model-like views.

While they had drones, could they not have had some sort of flying vehicles? Zubrin's Mars Direct showed how fuel could be made from simple raw materials (for powering flying vehicles, for example), but there was no mention of this in the series. All power was from solar panels or nuclear fission.

Some technical flaws:

* Why do the EVA suits not have a large backpack (rather than the tiny "bump") supplying oxygen and environmental control? The reason seems clearly to be it would not look very cool if they did.

* Daedalus weighs about 40 tons, might not it have been safer to leave it in orbit and use a series of shuttles to transfer to the ground? Not to mention if landing a rocket that size rear-vertically would be even feasible. I know the ship was supposed to be their home for two years while they located a suitable lava tube, but maybe other arrangements for radiation protection could have been made.

* When Richardson opens the "airlock" door and evacuates and destroys a large part of the base, why does the door open directly to the outside? Why is it not a true airlock with two doors straddling a small room which can be pressure equilibrated with whichever way someone is going, and where at least one door is always be locked?

* Mars atmosphere is thin, about the same as Earth's at 35 km, so drones would need very large blades or rotate extremely fast in order to fly, but the drones in the series seems like terrestrial ones

At times, the pace dragged and things became somewhat introspective, I felt. The point about billion dollar missions hanging on people's psychological stability is well made however.

The crises which arose at regular intervals to pique viewer interest seemed somewhat predictable and contrived. Of course the 215 m cable lowering the explorer into the lava tube almost bottoms out with just a few meters to spare. When Robert is seeking the cable to repair it, the rover can't advance because of the (what looks like flat) terrain, so he must unclip his tether and potentially get lost in the dust storm. I have already commented at length on the "airlock".

Anyway for all that it is certainly worth seeing and one I will be adding to my collection. 7/10.