Eli

Just started watching this show but I’m well into the first season. I got free AppleTV for a year when I bought my phone so here we are. I found the alternate history space race premise to be very interesting but the story struggles to find itself in the first few episodes. In this timeline, Russians manage to land on the moon before the US. Man oh man is Nixon pissed! Heads roll! In space! The stakes are high at the local dive bar as everyone watches the Russians make a surprise early landing on the moon. The stakes are even higher in mission control! The stakes are somehow unbelievably higher on... THE MOON! But sadly the stakes are whisked away when we are forced to suffer through the woes of the strong women who happen to be wives of astronauts. Oh boy it sure is hard to be an astronauts wife. It’s groundbreaking drama if you’ve never seen anything on a television screen involving astronauts before this. We haven’t been beat mercilessly over the head until our brains spill out with that trope every time NASA comes up in film or television. So it’s nice that the writers tried to do something new for once. While it does take while for things to get fleshed out, the payoff is good. Special effects are great which at this point is to be expected with the money streaming services are pumping into these shows these days. I wonder when we will have as many streaming services as channels and we’re somehow watching cable again? Anyways, it’s not ‘The Expanse’ but it does look awesome. Joel Kinnaman is a top shelf actor and easily carries the plot on his back. The story of how Frank Sobotka rose through the ranks from working the docks in Baltimore to bossing astronauts around at Cape Canaveral should be it’s own show. Worth checking out if you don’t have to pay Apple for another streaming service.

I am writing this after watching season 5 finale. The Expanse is simply some of the best science fiction story telling television has to offer. This adaption of the books by James S. A. Corey is incredibly well done. The writing changes from the books to the television script are well done and true to the original content. The visuals are where this show truly shines. All the shots of ships zipping through space are truly awe-inspiring. Casting is on point. Even if you have not read the books you can easily become a fan and part of this series. I recommend it to all my friends. Give it a watch!

In the season three finale, Booker mentions his mentor and how he tries to be like him right before they jump out of the Chain flagship. He says he’ll tell us the story if this all works out. Cut to the end of the episode and us never finding out. The whole show is like that. Unanswered questions. No character development. After the first season, I’ve learned nothing more about this woke, diverse, and well-represented cast. Most of the bridge crew are just familiar faces. There’s no depth to any of them. For all the time they spend talking about how they feel, you’d think we’d know a thing or two about Asian bridge guy... or the black bridge guy. Characters who have so much plot armor and so many feelings that they forgot to give them personalities. First season was awesome... it got me hooked. But it’s fallen in quality since then. This show looks great. But it’s all an illusion to hide how poorly it’s written.

Spoiler alert, unless you’ve seen Gravity, in which case you’ve already seen a good chunk of Midnight Sky. Another movie that I really wanted to like... that ended up failing me miserably. Started off exciting! People evacuating an Artic science station because of an unknown impending disaster. Intriguing right? Wrong. Because we never find out what exactly the disaster is or how it was caused. I mean... this is writing 101. I found myself asking “who what where when why” for most of the movie. We’re left with more questions than answers. There was barely any world building. The two planets we’re supposed to care about - Earth and the new colony planet - were not fleshed out. As the viewer, we’re forced to accept the mystery fate of Earth. At the same time, we are left with no closure at the end. So two astronauts decide to fly back to the colony planet. Who else is there? What do they have to build with? Questions questions questions! Flashback scenes were interesting and Peck was a convincing young Clooney. But again, since there was so little dialogue and character depth... I was still left not really knowing much about any of the characters. A few scenes in this movie were ripped straight from Gravity, another (much better) Clooney space opera: 1. Space rocks that damage/destroy part of the space ship and kill someone. 2. An imaginary companion that helps the main character through their obstacles. Not enough time was spent on the characters so everyone was really boiled down to generic sci-fi person. Black astronaut. Woman astronaut. Pilot astronaut. Inexperienced astronaut. Etc. The saving grace was the special effects which were absolutely breathtaking. Like I said, I wanted to love this movie. I really did. It’s right up my alley. I don’t like writing negative reviews. I love Clooney and value his talent as an actor and director. I love sci-fi. But this was just disappointing.

Missing plot lines. No real interest in any of the character motivations. Two and a half hour runtime?! Who do you think you are? Lord of the Rings Extended Edition? Classic DC superhero movie... just not that good. As one of my good friends pointed out... an empowered female superhero whose only wish is to have a man in her life... *facepalm* Pedro Pascal is in everything these days. Rightfully so! He’s a great villain. His wig? Not so much. Gal Gadot plays her role wonderfully as well. She’s charismatic, beautiful, and just kills it on and off the screen. The script just sucks. Wonder Woman is basically a mall cop at the beginning of the movie. Worst part for me was the corny “trying on different outfits” montage with Chris Pine. I mean... who thought that was a good idea? Action sequences are good but how many times did they do the slow motion bullet time effect? The answer is... too many times.

Tried the first episode. Ended up on a binge until early morning. Good fun!

I don’t usually write reviews unless I like something. If I don’t like it, I just keep it to myself. But this.... this is the worst movie I have ever seen. The writing was so terrible, so insanely bad, and wrong in so many ways. Nina Dobrev and Crispin Glover were the only reasons I could keep going. But even their lines were terrible. I kept watching thinking at some point a plot would come together but it just kept going with... no story. Stay away!