Michaels's Reviews
There is no fate but what there is no fate but what
This film shares striking high level similarities to "Primer" and especially "Coherence". These are all low budget sci-fi films that strike way above their budgets and may require multiple viewings to understand. I get the feeling that this one is not so deep as the other two, but I would need to watch again to know for sure. And that very act would be a bit ironic given the plot, which I understand ties into the theme of another film, "Resolution".
"Resolution" (2012) is sort of the predecessor to this film. Some say to watch that one first, but I have not seen it. "Spring" (2014) is a film in the same universe.
There is no woke here. I'm starting to see a pattern with low budget films and very white casts. There is one black woman, who plays a former druggie, and I guess some Mexicans but I hardly noticed because the setting is near San Diego. There is a hippy commune, but it's not as idealic as it seems on the surface.
If you dig "WTF" sci-fi and hate woke, here you go.
Created: 09-14-2025
Would you like to know more?
I appreciate this film for breaking all the rules of filmmaking. There is no plucky comic relief character. There is no hero who saves the day. There is a cavalry of sorts, but, well, you'll see.
Perhaps I am too jaded by older jingoistic war movies from the 40s and 50s, but I couldn't help wondering what was altered for public consumption. If I knew everything was legit, then I would give it 5/5, but doubt leaves me at 4/5.
Created: 08-17-2025
Woke down under
Although this film is from 1971, Australians are a special breed of stupid when it comes to wokeness, and this film is proof they have been at it a long time. White man bad, white man civilization bad, Aboriginal boy good, nudity of minors good, etc.
Created: 06-24-2025
Who controls the past controls the future
This TV series skillfully immerses you in a 1960s that never was. It is a rewriting of history to promote an agenda.
* No such female world champion of chess.
* Girl boss.
* Her mentors are betas except the janitor.
* Mother tells her how awful men are.
* Director shows mother spoke truthfully.
* Gay and lesbian hook-ups in the 1960s.
* Turned character from the book gay.
* Annoying black female complains of prejudice.
* Annoying black female uses word "cracker".
* Annoying black female is used as mistress by rich white man.
* Annoying black female is deus ex machina savior.
My woke meter has redlined. That said, it's also pretty good if regarded as an alternate timeline. Was the French woman a Soviet spy? My wife, a former Soviet, was instantly suspicious, and I tend to think she was right.
Created: 06-20-2025
When men were men and women were Nancy Kovak
"Marooned" is a surprisingly great film that I hadn't heard about. This 1969 movie came just before the Moon landing. It has great special effects for the time, still mostly tolerable now. It has a moderate amount of "Hollywooding", not the extreme amount you get in more modern films like "Moonfall" or "Armageddon".
Gender roles are traditional. Yet, the characters are not unrealistic ideals but rather flawed in ways that makes us remember they are only human.
For "Star Trek" nerds, note that two of the three astronauts' wives appeared in episodes of the original series. Nancy Kovak played Nora in "A Private Little War" and Mariette Hartley played Zarabeth in "All Our Yesterdays".
The premise is that these astronauts are in space for a very long period as research/training for the impending interplanetary missions. Poignantly, these still haven't occurred in reality. The film explores the psychological effects of extended time in space and low oxygen levels, as their long mission becomes even longer than expected.
Give it a try. I think you can be forgiving of the primitive special effects, given the lack of wokeness.
Created: 05-31-2025
The murderbot is based, but the show is not
The show revolves around the interesting premise of a Blade Runner style replicant breaking free of its security measures. Unfortunately, the purple-haired nonbinary writing staff at Apple TV decided to turn it into a Reddit wet dream. The crew are described as space hippies, so basically commies. There's almost no white male - only the murderbot, who is a slave. There's no white female. A black female is the leader, and her crew consists of an Inuit-looking female, a Persian male, an Indian male, an Asian dyke, and her mulatto wife. In the second episode (I've seen only two), the lesbian couple adds the Indian male into their marriage officially and they immediately proceed to have a threesome, albeit a G-rated one. The murderbot is appalled by this hedonism, the hippy vibes, and the stupid actions of the crew, and he fantasizes about killing them all. I think in the minds of the writers, we are the murderbots.
Edit: Although there is not yet overt male homosexuality, there seems to be some homoerotic tension, with the Persian male interested in whether the murderbot is fully functional. (He's not.)
Created: 05-18-2025
Smack my bitch up
This overlooked gem from 1964 delivers a compelling anti-war statement in nearly every line, yet avoids cringe. Impressively prescient, the film anticipates pilotless aircraft and employs minimalist yet evocative graphics for C&C displays.
No hint of wokeness here. There are whole rooms full of men, with women limited to a twisted seductress symbolizing Death and a hysterical wife of a pilot.
Created: 05-11-2025
Smack my bitch up
It's an amusing film until towards the end, when it goes into a cute Disney style slapstick fest that lasts half an hour. Most tolerate that better than I and rate the film higher.
It's so far from woke that any man behaving today like John Wayne's character might wind up in prison.
Created: 04-23-2025
Anti-commie goodness
The film is based on an autobiographical novel that many historians dispute. It is hard to believe that anyone could escape from a Soviet gulag in Siberia and walk all the way to India. True or not, it makes for a good movie. The beginning and ending scenes are powerful, though in-between it can drag as people slowly starve.
Created: 04-10-2025
The opposite of Hollywood
This is a story set in Estonia during World War II. It's an expression of the deep mental scars the Estonians carry in their national soul as a result of fighting on both the Nazi and Soviet sides against themselves. Nothing woke.
The film starts with a gripping battle sequence. Has there ever been a better one in film? The first half of the film is from the Estonian German army side, while the second half is from the Estonian Red Army perspective. It nevertheless tells a sequential story of tragedy.
The Soviets are painted negatively, even if the individual soldiers are just victims themselves. The Estonian SS get positive portrayals. As Dorothy would say, "Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Hollywood anymore."
Alas, both the English dub and English subtitles are complete garbage. Spend some effort to find a good version. If you can find Estonian subtitles, there are websites and programs that can translate to English, even AI algorithms now but ones based on Google Translate will suffice.
This film gives you great war action and a gripping dramatic story in a historical setting that breaks the Hollywood mold. Highly recommended, even if you have to suffer with bad subtitles.
Created: 03-22-2025
