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The Show (2020)
Alan Moore, what can I say.
Surreal, in the literal sense of the word, because dreams do play quite an important part in this film. Filmed in the entirely fictional town of "Northampton", well at least I hope so, this is the journey of a character looking for... something. Full of fascinating characters from the hitler lookalike lead singer to the ghostly mortuary attendent this is a very engaging movie. Alan himself makes a cameo as... well, Alan Moore really. The highlight for me though was the twelve year old detective who provided his own hardboiled voice over as he interacted with the main character. Lots of witty in jokes and pop references that are not obscure, (I think we all know who Robert Mitchum is).
Very entertaining and very watchable. What more (Moore?) could you ask for.
Small Apartments (2012)
Toenails in the post
This film is impossible to categorise. Adjectives include weird, quirky, unusual and most of all, hilarious. Filmed in less than a month with no budget this film relies on a very good script. Two hollywood superstars, James Caan and Billy Crystal, just phone their parts in and are all the better for it. Matt Lucas, who is very well known to British audiencies, carries this movie along effortlessly. The mishaps and blunders make it borderline slapstick. But with very good dialogue delivered by a very good cast this is witty and intelligent in equal measure. From the toenails in the post to the staged suicide it is difficult to convey how genuinely strange this movie is, but it is well worth a visit.
Alien Code (2018)
Intelligent sf
This is what science fiction is meant to look like. From the opening scene, where the main protagonist finds that the dead body on the floor of his living room is himself, to the open but unambiguous ending this is a very watchable film. Not a spoiler alert but this is NOT a paradox movie (good because I hate them). With a small cast, a few settings and, thankfully, no ridiculous special effects this is a film that does not deserve to be tarred with the label 'low budget'. It is an intelligent and well written film. The actors are convincing with excellent dialogue throughout. As a coder and lifelong sf fan this film hit all the right notes. You will have to keep your wits about you as you follow the plot and listen carefully to the dialogue to make sense of the pan dimensional physics. It will be well worth the effort. More like this please.
The Watch (2020)
In the words of Mavolio Bent...
There are, some like to suggest, an infinite number of universes in order to allow everything that may happen a place to happen in. This is of course nonsense, which we entertain only because we believe words are the same as reality. Now, however, I can prove my point, since in such an infinity of worlds there would have to be one where I would find this series entertaining and, let me assure you on this, infinity is not that big.
Still (2014)
A hidden gem
This is very low budget and very creepy. The bad guys are not your traditional zombies. I get the impression they are based on the Weeping Angels of Doctor Who because they only move when you're not looking at them (hence the Still of the title). Starting off with a very haunting version of That's Alright Mama by Clayton Ballard it just gets stranger and more frightening. The acting is a bit shaky and looks like the stuff produced by a local amateur dramatic society. Also the editing and camera work lack style, but as the series progresses it is getting more and more sophisticated.
And it does have its special moments. The scene with a dead body in the bath talking to the doctor made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
And on a completely unrelated note, Levi has just turned up to work with a Shotgun.
We need more of this.
Star Trek: Lower Decks (2020)
Bullying is not funny
If you thought the ball being pulled every time Charlie Brown tried to take a kick was funny, you will love this. Mariner is a self centered, arrogant, entitled character, who just happens to be related to two of the highest ranking officials in starfleet, Mariner uses that privilege to ruin the life of Boimler, a junior officer whose only crime is working hard and trying to make something of his career. Mariner gets no blow back for this behaviour and we are meant to think this is cute.
Bullying is not humourous, it is abuse.
Bliss (2021)
Not science fiction
In the opening scene Greg uses up all his prescription hydrocodone. The last two tabs he does not swallow, he grinds them up and snorts them. The man is clearly a drug addict. He is also a paranoid schizophrenic. For everybody who was expecting a SF movie (me included) will be disappointed because this is not one. It is a story of a drug addict's descent into mental illness.
It is however a very good movie. We see the world from the point of view of a man with severe schizophrenia. There is no simulation. There is no other world. These are constructs he has created in his own head to make sense of his drug use. We also get to see the borders between his reality and actual reality crack and break. Whilst not a happy ending, it is reassuring.
The closing line did make me tear up a bit 'You are not late Dad, you are here.'