I believe that for a science fiction movie to be good, it has to pay careful attention to the science part (duh). Europa Report does that. Water has been discovered in Europa (one of Jupiter’s moons, if you’ve already forgotten high school astronomy) and where there’s water, there’s a high possibility, even probability of life. So a mission has been sent to investigate further. Halfway through, the mission lost all contact with Earth and only recently have the video, audio, and other mission data been received. Yes, this is a “found footage” film. But that is incidental and, anyway, is quite plausible. It gives the movie a documentary feel which suits it just fine. There was definite attention to the detail to the mission, the environment, even in the dynamics of the individuals on how they would behave on a long and dangerous space journey. On a final note, I was going to applaud the movie for using non-traditional life forms but I was a bit disappointed by the final scene :P
Who would have thought that you can make an espionage thriller from an environmentalism theme? I guess you can and this movie pull it off nicely. It’s like Erin Brockovich fictionalized and on steroids. Brit Marling (Arbitrage) was great as Sarah a conflicted private intelligence operative who is infiltrating a shadowy environmentalist anarchist group called “The East”. Her role is well supported by actor Alexander Skarsgård (True Blood) who was equally as good as Benji, the charismatic leader of the group. As Sarah stays longer with the group, she gradually sympathizes and eventually switches sides. But as she doesn’t agree with Benji’s methods she decided to strike out on her own. There’s not much, if any, gunplay or chases but the suspense and the drama is very much there. Well done!
I’ve been playing around a lot with Android and my LG Optimus Black recently so I found myself having to recharge often. And of course, it recharges via microUSB with which I’ve had so many problems. Those plugs are so darn flakey! Maybe I don’t take care of my plugs well enough, maybe I just got some shoddy plugs. But comparing microUSB to Lightning, it’s quite clear that Lightning is so much better. Being a standard doesn’t necessarily mean it’s good and Apple thought different and went ahead with Lightning. It’s these little things that makes Apple great.
A small-town hunter accidentally shoots and kills a woman while hunting in the woods. He also finds a big stash of cash in what appeared to be her camp. Soon after, the woman’s companions, who turn out to be hardened criminals, come around the town looking for her. Somehow it reminded me of No Country For Old Men. But that’s where the similarity ends. A Single Shot is the simpler, easier to watch movie. And yet it delivers fleshed-out genuine characters and a believable story.
I finally discontinued my last Globe account. I’ve been a Globe subscriber for over 10 years but I started discontinuing my accounts starting last year. Then there was the terrible experience I had recently. The last straw was a several days ago when my Tattoo Superstick’s data connection went down for a few days. And as usual I got the “there’s no reported problem in your area” line. But I knew it was the area because when I finally got to bring the Superstick elsewhere, it was fine. GG. Goodbye Globe. It was fun while it lasted. Well, not really.