Gary Varner
I, Robot Merges Sci-Fi and Noir Beautifully
Will Smith versus a world of robotsI, Robot is one of those rare movies that manages to merge two genres seamlessly: sci-fi and noir. There’s nothing like watching a man solve a mystery, and having robots as suspects can only help matters. If it isn’t obvious already, I enjoy this movie a great deal. The main reason is that the script is tight. I can only think of two potential plot holes — believe me, I tried to think of more — and the writers pull off the red herring trope perfectly. To demonstrate what I mean, let’s dive in. The movie starts with both a dream and some exposition. Robots have entered the world, and they are guided by The Three Laws. The first law Read More ›
Spaceman Review, Part 3
Sometimes you have to leave what you love to go on a missionLast time, we talked about Jakub’s new buddy, a giant spider that may or may not be real. This potential hallucination wants to help the astronaut with his loneliness because his wife, Lenka, has left him. The trouble is that the spider’s idea of helping poor Jakub is forcing him to remember his past. The writer wanted to give Jakub a redemption arch using these flashbacks; however, the astronaut’s memories were shown in a disjointed order, confusing the story and making Lenka look very bad, which made her and Jakub’s relationship difficult to root for. The chaotic flashbacks, mixed with a variety of plot holes, made for a very irritating story. One of the most glaring plot holes arises when Read More ›
Spaceman: Along Came a Spider and Sat Down… Well, Maybe
The spider is an alien with a somewhat complex relationship to people and toiletsSpaceman: World Is Ending. Worse, an Astronaut’s Wife Wants Out
It’s not clear just what role the threatening Chopra Cloud plays and that complexity dogs the storyNetflix recently released a film called Spaceman, starring Adam Sandler. It’s… interesting. The first time I watched it, I hated it. The second time I watched it, I hated it less. I can appreciate what the movie was trying to do, and Adam Sandler puts on a fine performance… most of the time. But there were just too many plot holes and too much meaningless rhetoric for me to really enjoy the story. The movie is based on a 2017 novel, Spaceman of Bohemia by Czech author Jaroslav Kalfař. It begins with a Czech astronaut flying toward a mysterious, purple anomaly called the Chopra Cloud. The Cloud had appeared in the sky a few years previously, with no known reason. Read More ›
Dune, Part Two: A Good Movie But a Bad Set-Up for Part Three
When Paul avenges his father and settles an old feud, the threads of the story start to connectLast Saturday, we talked about how the writers did an excellent job setting up Feyd-Rautha as a worthy adversary for Paul. However, their decision to make Chani a skeptical antagonist—opposing the man she supposedly loves—has already created numerous problems for the story, and those problems continue to stack up. By the time we reach the conclusion of the film, I don’t know how the writers expect to create a Part Three that will be in any way, shape, or form consistent with the source material. In Part Two, Paul and the Fremen finally launch their final assault on the emperor. As in previous retellings of the story, Paul uses his father’s stash of atomic weapons to blow a hole in Read More ›
Dune, Part Two: At Last, Feyd-Rautha Becomes Relevant
The treatment of Feyd in this version is more satisfactory than in any previous one. We are prepared for Paul’s confrontation with himDune, Part Two: Paul Becomes a Hero — Very Reluctantly
Some departures from the book work better than others. The “reluctant hero” trope simplifies a complex political situation but at a costDune Part Two Succeeds Brilliantly — But Dooms Plans for Part III
The difficulty is that the changes made for the film have warped the core story so much that it’s going to be nearly impossible to follow the source material from here on out.Dune 1984 Offers A Strong Finish to a Unique Adaptation
I’d go as far as to say that, while not all of David Lynch’s adaptations worked, the film is, overall, better than the bookDune (1984) vs the Classic Sci-Fi Novel: What Worked, What Didn’t
For some scenes, the film was an improvement on the book; for others, writer David Lynch might better have stuck with the originalLast time we talked about the opening of Dune 1984. The Hollywood Strike has delayed the sequel to the current remake till March but the classic is worth revisiting in the meantime, both for its successes and failures. The 1984 writer, David Lynch, made various changes to the story that gave the viewer a clearer understanding of what was going on than Frank Herbert’s classic 1965 novel did. After the first two scenes, which help establish the situation in the world of Dune, the Reverend Mother flies to Caladan to test Paul Atreides with the painful Gom Jabbar. I’ve agreed with his choices so far. His opening showed the viewer why the Reverend Mother chose to visit Paul when she Read More ›
Where Did Dune 1984 Succeed? Where Did It Fail?
The Hollywood Strike postponed the release of the sequel to the new film version of Dune until March so, for now, let’s have another look at the 1984 versionAlien Resurrection Part 4: The Good, the Bad, and the… Bizarre
In a single moment, Purvis becomes one of the most heroic characters in the entire franchiseAlien Resurrection (1997) Part 3: Call Up the Reluctant Robot
Amid the harrowing crew escapes, Call survives being shot because she’s a robot. She somehow has sentience and hates being a robotAlien Resurrection, Part 2: Trying to Recover After a Retcon
The writers of the show never seemed to agree on how smart these aliens really are.Alien Resurrection, Part 1: This Movie Pays for the Sins of the Last One
It's better than Aliens 3, but has a host of problems nonetheless.Alien 3 Review, Part 4
Ripley's curtain callIn the third article, Ripley woke up in an all-male prison after surviving a shuttle crash. A parasitic alien tagged along and implanted an embryo in an inmate’s dog. The embryo breaks out of the animal and begins killing people until everyone figures out what’s going on, then they hatched one of the dumbest plans I’ve ever seen in cinema. After that, Ripley begins feeling sick. She goes to her still fully intact cryobed and scans herself. She finds that the parasitic alien has also planted an embryo inside her. The fact that Ripley had an embryo in her the entire time is ridiculous for a number of reasons. As I’ve mentioned in previous articles, her cryobed wasn’t broken, so Read More ›
Alien 3 Review, Part 3
Aliens vs. Looney TunesIn the previous reviews, we talked about how Ripley is once again the sole survivor. Her ship crashed because, somehow, the alien queen she killed in the second movie managed to lay an egg in the five minutes before it died. That egg hatched, attacked Ripley and the other’s cryobeds, and some of its acidic salvia melted its way into the ship’s wiring, causing the spacecraft to crash. To make the situation even more ridiculous, the escape shuttle the cryobeds were moved into crashed as well, and everyone expect Ripley was killed. Ripley wakes up in an all-male prison. Superintendent Harold Andrews is concerned for her safety, so he does his best to keep Ripley in the medical wing. Ripley Read More ›
Alien 3 Review, Part 2
An attack on motherhood and logicLast time, we began with the opening scene, and already, the entire franchise is ruined. In this review, we’ll discuss why. I would recommend reading the previous article for clarity, but for now, I’ll simply list the sequence of events. The alien queen, somehow, managed to lay an egg inside the room where the cryobeds were kept in spite of the fact that she’d never been outside the hull of the ship. The egg hatched and the parasitic alien damaged Newt’s cryobed, then for no apparent reason, abandoned its attempt to latch onto Newt, and latched onto Ripley instead. But here’s the thing. Ripley’s bed wasn’t damaged in anyway. So, how did it break into the bed? Both the ship Read More ›
Alien 3 Review, Part 1
How to destroy a franchise in seven minutesNo sense in burying the lead. This one is awful. But it’s important to understand how and why it’s awful. Alien 3 manages to destroy the entire franchise with remarkable speed. I’ll explain how, as the reviews go on. We start off with a credit sequence, and already things feel off. Ripley and the surviving members of the previous film are still in their cryobeds, but something else is aboard the ship as well: an alien egg. This egg is seen hanging upside down, almost at eye level. Already, we have a plethora of problems, so let’s dive in, shall we? The previous movie, Aliens, established that it takes a queen to lay these eggs. Now, we don’t know exactly Read More ›