Tag Archives: Alien Invasion

Halo: Sword – TV Review

Posted on by
3

TL;DR – A more contained story that was slightly frustrating until you understood its context.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Paramount+ service that viewed this episode.

The green mountains of Reach.

Halo Review –

We are making a splash with the second of the two-episode opening for Halo’s second season. The first episode showed a bit more focus than we saw in Season One, and that intrigued me. More than anything, I want to see if this was a blip or if this is a new direction for the series.  

So to set the scene, we open with Dr. Catherine Elizabeth Halsey (Natascha McElhone) in a beautiful room, getting all her favourite things, which, of course, means that she is in prison somewhere. It is a nice prison, with pomegranate, but a prison nonetheless. Meanwhile, on Reach, John (Pablo Schreiber) is struggling to find himself now his team has been grounded by Ackerson (Joseph Morgan), and the lies continue to build. On Rubble, Kwan Ha (Yerin Ha) discovers that their precarious position might be even more perilous than they thought. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.

Continue reading →

Halo: Sanctuary – TV Review

Posted on by
2

TL;DR – It’s an intriguing start to the season, even if it flounders a bit in the middle.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Paramount+ service that viewed this episode.

Master Chief gets Cortana removed from his head.

Halo Review –

Back in the first season of Halo, we got an interesting story that actively went in different directions from the Halo series it was adapting. Some of it worked, some of it was a mess. I was not all that attached to the original story, so I didn’t mind the story changes. However, since then, while I might not have a greater love of the story, I have found a great love of the Halo games itself, which made me wonder how they would take the story from there.

So to set the scene, on Sanctuary in the Branta System, a platoon of Spartans are helping with a particularly difficult civilian evacuation. This is made even more so when a Covenant cruiser is spotted on an intercept course. It should be a routine evacuation mission, bar the fact that maybe the Covenant are already on the planet, and maybe Master Chief (Pablo Schreiber) is all by himself outside of comms range. Well, it is a good thing he is a super soldier. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.

Continue reading →

Secret Invasion: Promises – TV Review

Posted on by
3

TL;DR – This episode felt like it was just moving things around to get them ready for the rest of the season

Rating: 3 out of 5.
Gravik stares down the Skrull Council

Secret Invasion Review –

Well, I was not sure how people would take the first episode of Secret Invasion, and wow, did the internet rip them apart. I think part of that was justifiable with those awful AI opening titles, and others less so, given I feel like a lot of it was just a significant tone shift than what people were used to. But after being much stronger on it last week, the follow-up was a bit more disappointing.  

So to set the scene, in 1997, in Brixton, London, two years after the events of Captain Marvel, the Skrulls are back on Earth after finding no home. Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) promises those who had made the trip that if they help him on Earth, he will find them a new home. Thirty years later, we see the aftermath of that broken promise, forgotten in the time of the Snap. As people, including Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders), lies dying in the square after the successful terrorist attack in Moscow and Fury is bundled into an FSB car as the Russians start arresting all those they think carried out the attack. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

Continue reading →

Secret Invasion: Resurrection – TV Review

Posted on by
1

TL;DR – This first episode is a bit of a mood introduction for the series, preparing you for where things will go.  

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Disney+ service that viewed this film.

Fury arrives back on Earth.

Secret Invasion Review –

When people wondered where the MCU could go after Endgame, one of the most mentioned storylines had to be Secret Wars. So you can understand there was quite a reaction when it was finally announced. Even more so, you realise that they have been seeding this story since Captain Marvel and Spider-Man: Far From Home. Now it is here, and we get to see how well this franchise can jump back into the spy/espionage genre.

So to set the scene, we open in Moscow as Agent Ross (Martin Freeman) walks through a night as society starts to fray when he meets an agent Prescott (Richard Dormer), who thinks that Skrulls are trying to take over the Earth with targeted terrorist attacks. With a warning that an attack is coming that “will set the world on fire”, and then Prescott attacks Ross. Flying through the streets of Moscow, Agent Hill (Cobie Smulders) tries to get Ross an evacuation, only to discover all is not what it seems. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

Continue reading →

Planet of Lana – Video Game Review

Posted on by
Reply

TL;DR – A stunningly beautiful game that pulls at the heartstrings as it reveals the world one puzzle at a time.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Game Pass service that viewed this game.

Alien mothership in the distance

Planet of Lana Review –

One of the things that you are always looking for when you boot up a new game is to experience something that pulls on your emotions. Does it build upon strong mechanics and art design to bring a world alive? Today we are looking at a game that does just that as it charms and uplifts you.

So to set the scene, on a planet off somewhere in the galaxy, we meet Lana (Bianca Zoe Mantelli), who lives in a small but friendly fishing village on the coast of a giant sea. Running through the town with her big sister Elo (Rossmary Petruzzelli), they climb up the nearby hillside to visit a place of sadness and to reflect on their bond. But when they get there, they see objects falling from the sky, and soon grand machines capture Elo and take her up into the sky. The village is in ruins by the time Lana can get back, everyone has been taken, but nothing will stop Lana from trying to save her family, where she meets a little animal friend who may be the hope of her salvation.

Continue reading →

Mapping the War of 1996 [Independence Day] – Map-It

Posted on by
1

TL;DR – We map the carnage over four days of July in 1996 on Independence Day.

The Aliens arrive over New York.

Mapping Independence –

Well, I had been feeling off, and when that happens, one of the best remedies is to go back to one of your comfort films. While everyone has their own list of comfort films, mine include Ever After, 10 Things I Hate About You, and today’s focus Independence Day.     

As I was watching the film, I wondered what the global extent of the attack would be because the film’s focus is America, but it was an international event, given what we can see in snippets throughout the film. I went through the original movie with a fine-toothed comb and any references in Independence Day Resurgence to get the locations here. However, this only painted part of the picture, and the novel of the first film differs from the movie in places, so that is an issue.

Continue reading →

The Tomorrow War – Movie Review

Posted on by
Reply

TL;DR – An interesting film with a concept that intrigues you, delights you, and also kind of terrifies you.    

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene

Disclosure – I paid for the Amazon Prime subscription that viewed this film.

The Tomorrow War. Image Credit: Amazon Studios.

The Tomorrow War Review –

The Alien Invasion genre and the Time Travel genre are ones that you would expect to crash into each other more often than they do. But there are times when they crash into each other you get fantastic, weird works like Edge of Tomorrow. Today we get another entry into this world with a war that is coming in the future, but we are fighting it now.   


We open with Dan Forester (Chris Pratt) crashing into a city on fire. War has come to this land and left carnage in its wake. Twenty-eight years earlier, in December 2022, Dan is with his wife Emmy (Betty Gilpin), and daughter Muri (Ryan Kiera Armstrong) are watching the World Cup after Dan lost out to another private-sector job when an explosion happens in the middle of the final match. It was not a bomb, but Lt. Hart (Jasmine Mathews) and her team coming back from the future. They are at war with an Alien force, and humanity is losing. They need people from the past to jump to the future and help them fight, or all humanity is doomed.  

Continue reading →

A Quiet Place Part II – Movie Review

Posted on by
2

TL;DR – It builds upon the world in interesting ways, and when it focuses on Millicent Simmonds and Noah Jupe, it becomes thrilling.     

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene

Disclosure – I paid to see this film

A Quiet Place Part II. Image Credit: Paramount Pictures.

A Quiet Place Part II Review –

The first A Quiet Place was a film that caught me off guard as I got sucked into this world. It is a time where every sound might not be your last, but you need to live as if it could be. Is that twig snap going to get you, or a misplaced nail, or a yelp in pain. It was such an interesting contained film that when I heard they were doing a sequel, I was intrigued about where they could take the story next and a little concerned that they could not strike lightning twice. Now that I have seen it, I don’t think it hits either of those extremes, but when it is good, it is really good.

So to set the scene, we open in on Day 1. Lee Abbott (John Krasinski), his wife Evelyn (Emily Blunt), and daughter Regan (Millicent Simmonds) were out in town on a lovely sunny summers day. They’ve gone to town to watch Marcus (Noah Jupe) play in his big baseball game. But as he goes up to bat, a large comet/meteor/something is seen falling through the sky. The family feel something is off, so they and the rest of the town start making their way home when the alien start their attack. Back at Day 474, we find the family in the immediate aftermath of the first film. However, there is no time to stop and celebrate their win or mourn their loss because the house and farm are destroyed, and they need to find some new shelter before the aliens come to finish them off.       

Continue reading →

Pacific Rim: The Black – Season 1 – TV Review

Posted on by
Reply

TL;DR – This is a show with a lot of potential that would have worked a lot better had it not stumbled in critical places.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Netflix subscription that viewed this series.

Pacific Rim: The Black. Image Credit: Netflix.

Pacific Rim: The Black Review –

When you hear that there will be an American Animation TV Series, done in the style of a Japanese Anime, based in the Pacific Rim universe, and then set in Australia, well, that is an exciting combination if I have ever heard it. Good or bad, you want to see how it works. With that in mind, let’s dive into this fascinating if flawed world.

So to set the scene, we open in the days after chaos erupts across Australia as rifts open up the centre of the continent. After a valiant fight, it becomes clear that Australia is lost, and the call to evacuate is put out. Everyone had five days to reach Brisbane, Darwin, Perth, or Sydney. While trying to help with the evacuation, one Jager team stays back to stop the Kaijus because their children had yet to leave. They tried to get to the evac point, but they were too late. Instead, they took the group of civilians back to their home base Shadow Basin which was also destroyed. The parents left everyone behind in an oasis and leave to go to the coast to get help. Five years later, Hayley (Gideon Adlon) and Taylor (Calum Worthy) have a fractured relationship as their parents never returned. However, one day Hayley fell down a metal hole and discovers that not all of Shadow Basin was destroyed, with the Atlas Destroyer Jaeger and its AI Loa (Erica Lindbeck) still there. But that discovery becomes a beacon for all the danger in the world. Now from here, we will be looking at the season as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.    

Continue reading →

Occupation: Rainfall – Movie Review

Posted on by
5

TL;DR – A sequel that improves on the first in every way, full of action, and a ride from the start till finish

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene

Nominated – Best Australian Film & Fascinating Worldbuilding

Disclosure – I was invited to a screening of this film.

Occupation: Rainfall. Image Credit: Monster Films.

Occupation: Rainfall Review –

A couple of years ago, I got to see this little Australian Science Fiction which was punching far above its weight. It was a movie filmed on a minuscule budget that did more with that budget than those with a much larger purse. It was a good representation of an alien invasion film, and full of some great action set pieces. So it was great to see that it was getting a sequel, and I am glad to say it improves on the first film in every way.       

In the years since the first film Occupation, the resistance movement has fought from the hillside towns and villages down to Sydney’s heart. It is a war of attrition and small hit-and-run operations, trying to take the city back one small section at a time. For Matt Simmons (Dan Ewing), this is a battle of zero compromises because it is a fight for their lives. But for Amelia Chambers (Jet Tranter), she is trying to find a diplomatic answer or try to find a cooperative way to work with the other subjugated aliens. However, when Wing Commander Hayes (Daniel Gillies) calls a retreat, and all hope seems lost, a rumour about a new weapon called Rainfall starts to spread. Rainfall could be their one hope, or humanities final downfall.

Continue reading →