Gary Varner
Alien: Covenant (2017): A Story Driven by Stupidity, Coincidence
Nothing seems to happen as the natural result of a character’s choices, consistent with personality and motive
Prometheus (2012): In the End Did Dr. Shaw Really Learn Anything?
Elizabeth Shaw’s faith has been challenged throughout the film; for example, she learns that aliens, not God, created humanity. But do her responses make sense?
Prometheus (2012): Oops. Our Alien Creators Now Want to Kill Us
What should have been an awful revelation degenerates into what seems like the dumbest scene ever filmed
Prometheus (2012): Don’t Touch the Aliens’ Stuff!
Upon entering what is described as the Engineers’ “temple,” the crew unleashes strange and deadly perils…
Sci-fi Film Explores Idea That Earth’s Life Was Seeded From Space
Prometheus 2012 offers an intriguing premise: ancient civilizations were told in mysterious ways of a habitable moon in a distant galaxy (Part 1 of 4)
Interstellar 2014, Part 5: Time Travel Saves — But Also Destroys
Time travel solves some problems for planet Earth but it turns out to be no match for human mortality and sundered relationships
Interstellar (2014), Review Part 4: So Who Are “They” Anyway?
Will we at last find out?
Interstellar (2014): Dr Mann Uses Nature to Justify Murder
The awful secret that comes to light while the crew visits Dr. Mann's planet has nothing to do with the planetLast Saturday, we looked at Cooper and his crew landing on the first of three planets that might sustain human life. Humanity’s time on Earth is running out, and Cooper’s crew has been tasked with finding it a new home. The first planet they tried turned out not to be so ideal, and that one trip cost them decades of valuable time thanks to relativity. The planet was too close to a black hole, which meant that it had created a dramatic time shift. On Earth, over twenty years have passed since their mission began. Now the crew is traveling on to the next planet. The extra time spent on the first planet has left them with just enough fuel Read More ›
Interstellar (2014): The Plot Thickens—Well, Relatively…
Aside from adventures and misadventures exploring Miller’s planet, discovery of a dreadful secret awaits the crew
Interstellar (2014): Starting Out at the End of the World
As Earth’s surface is turning to dust, a former NASA pilot is offered another mission, to help find a way to transport humanity to a habitable planet
RoboCop 2014: Murphy Is a Real Boy After All
After his wife confronts him with troubling news about his son, Murphy starts a chain of events that enables him to confront key sources of crime and corruption
Does a Lack of Empathy Make You More Efficient?
Robocop (2014) tests out that thesis when Murphy, now a robocop, is matched against actual robots
Robocop 2014: A Good Movie Hampered by Bad Timing
The 2014 remake of RoboCop is considered a failure by most. I disagree. It has its problems but it is pretty solid in many respects
I, Robot Review, Part 3: Why Must Robots Always Enslave Us?
Even after watching the movie several times when I was younger, I’d still forgotten that Robertson wasn’t the main villainLast time, Spooner’s investigation into Dr. Lanning’s apparent suicide led him to Sonny, the robot who claimed it could dream. It turns out that Sonny’s dream isn’t a dream at all, but an image programmed by Dr. Lanning. It was meant to lead Spooner to a storage area where all the older robots were being kept. Once Spooner finds the exact spot where he was supposed to be standing in Sonny’s dream, he plays the hologram Dr. Lanning recorded before he died. The hologram program is simple. The doctor recorded certain responses that are triggered by the right questions. Spooner begins talking to the hologram until it tells him what he needs to know. Dr. Lanning’s hologram says there’s going Read More ›
Spaceman Review, Part 3: Inside the Chopra Cloud at Last
There has to be a gem inside this film somewhere because, despite all the problems, I still found myself rooting for Jakub and Lenka
I, Robot Review, Part 2: The Ghosts in the Machine
Dr. Lanning describes these ghosts as random segments of code and asks questions like why robots choose to stand together rather than alone when they’re stored in a dark place
I, Robot Merges Sci-Fi and Noir Beautifully
Will Smith versus a world of robots
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 ›
