Clarke_Kent Reviews

Another Life (2019–2021)

Don't waste your time

[1/10 · 10 August 2019]

I feel like I'm just going to repeat what most are saying. As a hardcore SciFi fan I found the premise to be amazing. Add Katie Sackoff (to whom I'm a big fan of) and thought it has to be at least fun.

Sadly she couldn't save it. It's just amazing how bad dialogue can destroy what otherwise could be a good show. The most unrealistic and mismatched dialogue I have ever heard. It was like some teen drama only they were astronauts. Made no sense whatsoever and undermined everything.

It's all fantasy I get it but it was so terrible. The most incredible mission ever, a star ship, and the crew is made up of prom queens, jealous subordinates and outright undermining authority. The most ridiculous thing, I barely made it through the first episode and I was done.

Save the time, don't watch it.

2036 Origin Unknown (2018)

Interesting interpretation of an idea done by others

[6/10 · 14 June 2018]

Despite reading all the bad reviews (and I mean horrific) I saw the movie anyway and was pleasantly surprised to see that it wasn't nearly what so many of these negative reviews. I'm no great writer so I'll just list the biggest and loudest complaints and give my take on them: "CGI is like legos" "Boring, slow" "Horrible special effects" "Bad acting"

The first thing to do is to put expectations in check and have at least a little understanding of what you're watching before making judgements. If you go into this thinking it's Transformers or any of the current Star Trek movies then yes, all of those reviews are absolutely correct. It did not deliver any of that because it is not (nor sold as) that kind of movie.

Now, set the correct expectations in that this is more of a dialogue driven story with a minimal budget and you will find this to be a thought provoking movie that talks about the future of humanity and AI and the idea of what if... There wasn't a long cast of characters. By my count five with actual lines. Two of which were voice only and a handful (like five maybe) of extras with no lines and are shown for about 8 seconds)

So basically it's Katee Sackoff who is charged with investigating a previously manned mission to Mars that resulted in the deaths of her crew, one of which was her father. She is to partner with an A.I. called A.R.T.I., (an onboard A.I.) and together they will remotely land and operate a rover that was sent to Mars, all from a control room. From there the story takes off and throughout the movie it takes you through some tense moments trying to land the rover successfully. Some twists and turns, more tense moments when making discoveries that in turn create more questions than answers. Katee Sackhoff was great, did a great job. The AI was also good, they had good exchanges. It kept an appropriate pace, nothing felt dragged out nor like I was waiting for anything. It had a start, a build up, and ended with something interesting with a twist.

The negatives I read: "CGI is like legos" ---- Nope. Although it was no Avatar it wasn't anywhere the "awful" description some have given it. It was perfectly reasonable and fit the story. I never found myself wondering about the CGI (and I am a big fan of ID4, star trek and and all the huge budget ones) "Boring, slow" --- I didn't find it slow at all. It moved, there was tension throughout and it did keep me guessing "Horrible special effects" ---(see the CGI answer...) "Bad acting" --- By who? There's 3 faces with lines, 95% Katee and how was she bad? I thought she did a great job

I gave it a 6 (and NOT a 1) because overall I liked it and was pleasantly surprised after reading so many bad reviews.

I gave it a 6 and nothing higher because although I liked it, it wasn't anything earth shattering (no pun intended...) and an extremely over played subject done by many. More than anything it seemed like another interpretation of an over done subject. That said I thought they could have done a better job of explaining things. Though very very interesting the ending didn't quite tie things together as well as I would have liked and I found myself a little confused. However I think I got it, (maybe..) Worth a rent (for me)

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Past Life (2018) Season 5, Episode 10

Time Travel = headache

[7/10 · 19 February 2018]

I'm a big fan of the show (have been) but I just hate when they add time travel to everything as I usually end up walking away confused.

Ok so Daisy is torn because she doesn't want to go back to avoid destroying the earth, the surface crew wanted to kill her to make sure she doesn't go back and destroy the earth. So then how is the earth destroyed if she hasn't done it?

Her wanting to stay, them wanting to kill her so that she doesn't destroy the earth yet the earth is destroyed with her travelling forward before it happened...

See this is why I get headaches with time travel story lines. Even using their own flavor of "logic" it still doesn't work lol.

Cashback (2006)

Great take on story that's been done before..

[7/10 · 8 June 2015]

Started off slow and I almost stopped watching about 15 minutes in...but then it got a bit funny, then it got interesting and before I knew it I was in all the way. Plot line: Without giving it away, the story revolves around a character with a special ability that's been done before, many many times. That said, they did a fantastic job with it. Characters: Sweet, very likable. Nice job of character building and you feel for them. Best part: Purely personal and obviously not for everyone (just letting you know..) but a big part of the story is the complete and utter abundance of strikingly beautiful women (and no, it's not cheap) It works very well. Check it out, it's worth a watch

Charlie Jade (2005)

Sleepfest...

[3/10 · 12 April 2015]

I thought it was a great idea, great premise and certainly plenty to go on. 3 separate universes, all good. However I found it to be very slow paced, somewhat confusing and too subtle on explanations. With the exception of 01 Boxer I found the characters to be boring and not very engaging. I'm a big sci-fi/detective show fan and I hear some people comparing it to Fringe (rotfl) I don't think so...this is a far cry from Fringe. Fringe has everything this show is missing. I got as far as 4 episodes and just couldn't watch anymore as I found myself falling asleep. Shame really as the show had quite a bit of promise and so much to go on :(

Haywire (2011)

Lot's of fun (provided you are a Gina Carano fan..)

[7/10 · 12 April 2015]

Definitely not the movie of the year, nothing we haven't all seen before, I get that. It comes down to this, if you like movies like Columbiana, or the Bourne Identity, Knight and Day, etc. then you will enjoy this. If you hate those kinds of movies, you won't enjoy it at all. Personally I thought the movie was very good. I thought Gina did a great job with the lead (especially since she's not even that experienced as an actor). Plenty of action, good fight scenes, lot's of fun. Good cast, had a great time. Not a movie I would say everyone would like but as I said before if you meet those prerequisites I promise you will enjoy it. It's probably worth 5 stars...I gave it 7 because I really like these movies and I absolutely, positively love Gina Carano (She is the 6th and 7th star lol)

Chris & Don: A Love Story (2007)

Blah....Zzz

[1/10 · 26 March 2014]

Who cares. That's all I kept thinking while watching this. A love story about some random gay couple in the 40's. And? I found it incredibly boring and found nothing about either one of these two guys particularly interesting.

Being gay in those days I will admit was pretty much the only interesting thing about this story otherwise I see them as nothing more than a pair of nerdy guys who are really not worthy of filming an entire documentary about. Not only that but it's just another old story of a couple with a big age difference. Control, dominance and the like. This story falls short mostly because of the lack luster characters, there's just nothing special or engaging about either of them. I just don't see it

Roswell: Meet the Dupes (2000) Season 2, Episode 8

Dupes from NY....

[5/10 · 31 October 2012]

I absolutely love the show but this episode tried to create a NyC "badass" version of them and it was just awful. They should have done a better job with the whole New York thing or just have it all take place elsewhere.. I couldn't get past the horrid NY accents....as a native New Yorker (specifically from NYC/Long Island) these were possibly the WORST New York accents I've ever heard. I found myself cringing every time they tried. Maybe they shot too high. They were trying not only for New York, but for ghetto New York...it was just horrible. In order I would say Jason Behr did the best job (I guess it would be equivalent to the fastest snail) and Kathrine Heigl is tied with Brendon Fehr as the absolute worst sounding Nyc ghetto kids.

Psych: Dual Spires (2010) Season 5, Episode 12

Twin Peaks...sorry, I meant Dual Spires

[7/10 · 27 October 2012]

Mind you I'm not a big Psych fan per say but as far as this episode goes they really knocked it out of the park. For starters they totally nailed the whole Twin Peaks thing. From the plot, to the creepy music, the obsession with donuts and pies, the weird, over the top dramatics (I remember how weirded out I was back in the day from all the insane crying they did in Twin Peaks) and I laughed my head off when they made fun of that in this episode. Bringing back all those old school Twin Peaks actors was just awesome. There was a nuance from that show in every scene. The downside? Well if you've never seen Twin Peaks none of this will make sense and you'll have missed all this cool stuff ;) Without prior knowledge of Twin Peaks this episode will probably come off as strange and disjointed. Outside of that it's still good, the usual result from any given Psych episode (as I said, not a huge fan of the show)