sci fi – ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

I.S.S. (Tribeca 2023) – Review by Valerie Kalfrin

June 14, 2023September 4, 2023 Valerie Kalfrin Ariana DeBose, Chris Messina, gabriela cowperthwaite, I.I.S., International Space Station, Masha Mashkova, sci fi, Tribeca 2023

For most of its roughly 90 minutes, the sci-fi thriller I.S.S. creates a meaty, suspenseful story, exploring not aliens from other worlds but the monsters of distrust within ourselves.
The title is an acronym for the International Space Station, a real-life research facility orbiting the Earth where astronauts collaborate on research involving physics, astrobiology, and other disciplines. The station typically has a crew of seven and involves five space agencies from the United States, Russia, Japan, Canada, and Europe.

Reviews

65 – Review by Susan Granger

April 24, 2023April 24, 2023 Susan Granger 65, Adam Drive, Ariana Greenblatt, Prime Video, sci fi

“Before the advent of time – in the infinity of space – a visitor crash landed on Earth.” That’s the introduction to the sci-fi action adventure 65, named because dinosaurs roamed the Earth 65 million years ago. The story begins as Mills (Adam Driver), an astronaut, bids farewell to his wife and very sick daughter. To pay for her medical care, he has agreed to a two-year mission which goes awry when an asteroid shower damages his spaceship, forcing him to crash-land on a mysterious planet inhabited by prehistoric creatures.

Reviews

THE PINK CLOUD – Review by Leslie Combemale

January 7, 2022January 9, 2022 Leslie Combemale brazilian films, Iuli Gerbase, sci fi, the pink cloud

At this point in the pandemic, most of us have become acutely aware of the relative saving graces and limitations of technology as a tool for communication and authentic interaction. We’ve learned isolation can birth intense loneliness and depression. There is no substitute for human physical interaction, and there likely never will be. This truth wound up particularly if unintentionally hitting home in the new Brazilian sci-fi character drama The Pink Cloud. That The Pink Cloud reflects this moment in history makes it heartbreaking and fascinating cinema.

Reviews

NIGHT RAIDERS – Review by Karen Peterson

November 10, 2021November 10, 2021 Karen Peterson Brooklyn Letexier-Hart, Danis Goulet, Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers, Night Raiders, sci fi

Night Raiders fictionalizes the tragic history of Indigenous people and uses it as a condemnation, but also to show survival, hope, and a way forward. Looking deeper, the film uses the specific history of atrocities against Indigenous people from around the world to vanquish the concept that cultural homogeneity and that world of complete unity of language, ideology, religion, etc, destroys society rather than strengthens it. At a time where “groupthink” and echo chambers are valued, Danis Goulet shows us there are better ways to live and work together.

Reviews

SEE – Review by Susan Granger

August 23, 2021August 28, 2021 Susan Granger alfre woodard, apple tv series, Hera Hilmar, jason momoa, sci fi, see, Sylvia Hoeks

This dystopian sci-fi fantasy/drama series begins its second season with a third already in production. The opening credits are a montage of nerve endings that, as the volume increases, form various shapes. As star Alfre Woodward notes: “The characters in season two do not see the past coming to haunt them, but the past coming to be resolved…See has so many parallels with what is going on with the world – or even what could happen. There’s the idea of the masses laying trust in prophetic figures.”

Reviews

THE NEVERS – Review by Susan Granger

May 7, 2021May 8, 2021 Susan Granger ann skelly, Dennis O’Hare, HBO six-episode, Joss Whedon, Laura Donnelly, sci fi, the nevers

Set in London in 1896 during the last years of Queen Victoria’s reign, this new HBO six-episode, sci-fi series revolves around ‘Touched’ people – mostly women – who suddenly manifest an astonishing variety of abnormal abilities. The phenomenon begins with a spectral glow in the overcast sky as glittering particles fall to Earth. Suddenly, young women, many from the lower classes, demonstrate mysterious capabilities – so extraordinary that they’re considered threatening by wealthy, aristocratic men.

Reviews

STOWAWAY – Review by Susan Granger

April 26, 2021April 30, 2021 Susan Granger anna kendrick, daiel dae kim, Joe Penna, netflix, sci fi, stowaway, toni colette

Set sometime in the future when interplanetary travel is possible, Joe Penna’s sci-fi thriller poses provocative moral questions when an accidental stowaway compromises a vessel’s oxygen supply. As the story begins, the Kingfisher crew – working for a company called Hyperion – blasts off for a two-year mission to Mars. Not long after takeoff, they discover a terrified interloper, a launch support engineer who was trapped in an overhead compartment.

Interviews

Lindsey Morgan on SKYLINES, Sci-fi and Soaps – Marina Antunes interviews

December 18, 2020December 19, 2020 Marina Antunes awfj on youtube, beyond skyline, canadian films., general hospital, Liam O’Donnell, lindsey morgan, sci fi, skylines, the 100s

Actress Lindsey Morgan is best known for her turn on TV’s long-running The 100 but the fan favourite is not only concentrating on TV. Skylines, the third instalment in writer/director Liam O’Donnell’s ongoing sci-fi saga, stars Morgan as Rose, an ass-kicking badass who is charged with taking the fight to the alien planet in hopes of saving what’s left of humanity. While quite different from Morgan’s previous roles, Skylines gave the actress the opportunity to mix her passion for kickboxing, something she had been pursuing on her own, with acting; not to mention the opportunity to lead a cast of international stars.

Reviews

PARALLEL – Review by Susan Granger

December 18, 2020December 19, 2020 Susan Granger isaac esban, Kathleen Quinlan, parallel, sci fi

This Canadian sci-fi thriller has a clever premise: four young people discover a portal to multi-universes. In the fantasy prologue, there’s a glimpse of Marissa (Kathleen Quinlan) and her doppleganger. Then in Seattle, faced with an outrageously demanding deadline that’s rapidly approaching, four aspiring techies are living in a rented house so they can work 24/7 on their innovative parking app.

Reviews

LX 2048 – Review by Susan Granger

October 29, 2020October 31, 2020 Susan Granger 0 Comments Anna Brewster, delroy lindo, Guy Moche, James D'Arcy, LX 2048, sci fi

It’s the year 2048 and mankind still hasn’t figured out if there’s life after death. But there is a new insurance program called Premium 3 for parents of three children or more. If you or your spouse dies during child-rearing years, a clone will take your place. Not only will this clone will have all the memories and knowledge to raise your children but the surviving spouse can ‘tailor’ it to preferred specifications – making it “better.”

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