SciFi – Matthew Liedke on Film

REVIEW: ‘Replicas’ is a total misfire

Oof. This one was rough.

“Replicas” features Keanu Reeves as Will Foster, a scientist working at a research company, specializing in downloading a person’s mind and digitizing it. The goal is to be able to store the mind and transfer it, should a person’s body become destroyed in an accident, for example.

Unfortunately, that’s just what happens to Will’s family. Stricken by grief, and having access to amazing technology, Will, along with his assistant Ed (Thomas Middleditch), decide to conduct an experiment to clone and recreate the family, and transplant the brain data, as a way to bring them back to life.

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REVIEW: ‘Bumblebee’ is an enjoyable action flick with heart

My goodness, they finally managed to get a “Transformers” movie mostly right.

“Bumblebee” is the fifth movie in the “Transformers” universe. However, it largely stands apart from its Michael Bay-helmed counterparts. The film is actually a prequel and takes place in the 1980s.

Bumblebee is a transformer who, because of a war, is forced to seek refuge on Earth, where he can regroup and form a base for his comrades. Over the course of the film, Bumblebee, who’s damaged from battle, is discovered by Charlie (Hailee Steinfeld), a young woman with an interest in mechanics. After meeting, the two start a friendship

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Avengers: Ranking the Weapons (Written pre-‘Infinity War’)

So this list, to help celebrate the upcoming film “Avengers: Infinity War,” will be a bit less formal. I just wanted to give credit to some of the awesome weapons featured in this film series, and again this will be from “worst to best.” However, I’m sticking with just a few and the rankings don’t mean too terribly much.

With that said, here’s the list.

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REVIEW: ‘Ready Player One’ Is Heavy On Nostalgia, Low On Heart

There’s a section from 2012’s “Avengers” where Captain America very loudly tells the rest of the team that he understood a reference. That’s, more or less, how “Ready Player One” operates.

“Ready Player One” takes place in a rather depressed future. Picking up in 2045, the film is set in a world of mass poverty with humanity facing numerous problems. However, much of the population gets away from these matters by way of a virtual reality gaming platform called the OASIS.

Not only do many people escape their problems by way of the OASIS, though, they also constantly search for a hidden treasure. That treasure is a massive ownership share of the OASIS company, which is valued at multiple billion dollars. In order to find it, the gamers, including the film’s protagonist Wade/Parzival (Tye Sheridan), have to look for clues related to the program’s developer, Halliday (Mark Rylance). This is made difficult, though, because of a corporation which wants to find the treasure to take over the OASIS, and uses many of its employees to search for that treasure.

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REVIEW: ‘The Shape Of Water’ Is A Wonderfully Bizarre Fairy Tale

“The Shape of Water,” or How I Learned to Stop Worrying, and Love the Fish. OK, OK, not a great joke, never claimed to be a comedian.

So here’s the rundown on this great new film from Director Guillermo del Toro. The picture takes place in the 1960s at a government run facility that appears to be used by intelligence personnel. Instead of following scientists or special agents, though, the film explores the life of Elisa (Sally Hawkins), a woman working as a janitor for the base.

It’s let on quite quickly that Elisa’s life is repetitive and lonely, with the only company in her life being a neighbor who works as an artist (Richard Jenkins) and a coworker named Zelda (Octavia Spencer). Her life changes, though, when a captured amphibian humanoid is brought into the facility. Elisa soon learns that the creature is intelligent, contrary to military agents, and can communicate. As a result, the two begin interacting and form a bond.

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REVIEW: ‘Downsizing’ Misfires Because Of Bland Character, Weak Satire

When some men get to the point of a midlife crisis, they may go out and purchase a nice sports car. Matt Damon’s character in “Downsizing,” meanwhile, gets a procedure to become four inches tall.

The title more or less gives a clue as to what the film is about. The picture opens with a new procedure being developed called downsizing which shrinks bodies to roughly four or five inches tall. As a result of the size reduction, the environmental footprint of humanity can be lessened and because of resources becoming more abundant, people can live in luxury.

Paul Safranek (Matt Damon), an occupational therapist who seems bored with life, figures it’s a good thing to try. As a result, he and his wife make a plan to go through with downsizing. However, as the movie unravels, it shows that this wasn’t the fix-all solution that Paul expected.

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REVIEW: Despite Some Good Moments, ‘The Last Jedi’ As A Whole Is Largely Flawed

The honeymoon appears to be over with the new “Star Wars” trilogy, at least from this reviewer’s perspective.

The latest film in the saga is “The Last Jedi” and it takes place shortly after the events of “The Force Awakens.” The Resistance, a military branch that was created to defend the peaceful republic government, is on the ropes to The First Order, a faction of Imperial remnants. The movie begins with the Resistance evacuating their base and getting chased by large spacecraft from The First Order.

Meanwhile, in another sector of the galaxy, new force user Rey (Daisy Ridley) is pleading with the Jedi Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) for training. The problem, though, is that Luke is more or less retired now. As Rey tries to connect with Skywalker, members of the Resistance Finn (John Boyega) and Rose (Kelly Marie Tran) go on a special mission to help their faction escape. However, the two are on the clock because the last Resistance ships are being chased by larger crafts from the First Order.

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REVIEW: ‘Blade Runner’s’ Return Is Remarkable

There have been a lot of sequels lately that have revisited properties that were long left dormant, including “Jurassic World,” “Mad Max: Fury Road” and “Creed.” This sequel to the 80s cult classic “Blade Runner,” though, might be the best one yet.

The new “Blade Runner” takes place 30 years after the original, hence the title. Replicants, the bioengineered humans that were featured in the original, are once again present in the movie and this time more integrated into society. The main example of this is the movie’s protagonist, K (Ryan Gosling). K is a replicant who works for the Los Angeles Police Department and is tasked with hunting down older replicant models.

In his latest investigation, K discovers a clue that relates to events in the first film. As a result, K is sent down a rabbit hole where he finds out information that could change the entire world.

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REVIEW: Latest ‘Apes’ Film Is A Compelling Piece Of Cinema Worth Seeing

The “Planet of the Apes” franchise that was resurrected in 2011 concludes in marvelous fashion with “War for the Planet of the Apes.” This recent installment isn’t just one of the best movies of this summer, but one of the best films of the entire year so far.

The film’s setting is 15 years after the initial incident where the leader Caesar led a group of intelligent apes away from San Francisco to create their own home. Through a series of events since then, especially those that took place in the 2014 picture, the apes are now in a battle for survival with the remnants of human military personnel.

The film picks up with Caesar (Andy Serkis) extending the olive branch to the military, with the hope that peace can be reached. However, it’s soon learned by Caesar that it’s impossible after the military, led by a man simply known as Colonel (Woody Harrelson), strikes with a devastating attack on the apes’ home. As a result Caesar goes on a quest for revenge while also trying to ensure his peoples’ survival.

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REVIEW: Second ‘Alien’ Prequel Hampered By Foolish Characters, Faux-Intellectualism

Director Ridley Scott has once again ventured into “Alien” prequel territory, but like the 2012 picture “Prometheus,” his new sci-fi “Covenant” has too many flaws and doesn’t come close to the level of the 1979 horror film.

Scott’s latest endeavor in the genre tells the tale of a colony star ship on course to set up a society on a remote planet. Their trip to this new planet, which has been properly vetted and researched to ensure that it’s completely safe, hits a snag, though, when a space phenomenon causes a malfunction.

Not only does this result in awakening the crew from their hyper sleep, it also causes the death of their initial captain. In the immediate aftermath while the crew is checking the status of the ship, which is carrying roughly 2,000 passengers, they discover a signal being sent from a remote planet that’s closer than the one they’re going to that has breathable air and water.

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