Moon

Moon (2009): This is a reasonably well done, though a bit slow moving, independent science fiction flick with a tour de force performance by Sam Rockwell. The premise of the tale is that a hydrogen 3 source on the moon has ended the energy crisis and is providing clean unlimited power to the Earth. The mining operation is being run by a private corporation (you know, those evil capitalists again) who keep costs down by having the whole mining operation run by one guy who overlooks the harvesters (kind of like robotic strip miners) and who regularly ships the power source back to Earth. Each miner has a three year contract to run the place and has a robot/computer for company. Sam has an accident while nearing the end of his contract and strange things start to happen. He is supposed to be alone but another Sam shows up and the two get into arguments about who is who and what is what. The company sends a rescue ship, the computer/robot acts a little strange and Sam 1 starts to get very sick. The rest of the movie is about solving the mystery and motives of everyone and everything. The movie borrows a little from 2001, Silent Running, Blade Runner and others but these are good movies to borrow from. Overall, this should please most SiFi fans. The full Moon is rated a new Moon R for: Rockwell buns, massive stripping (well, of the Moon that is), red regurgitation, sending in the clones, excessive cloning around, massive ping pong gravity error, lack of driver training on the moon, and for the nasty return shuttle for the workers.

The Substitute

The Substitute (2007): Here is a superior Danish film that, much like the excellent Swedish film “Let the Right One In’, looks at its subject matter from a child’s perspective. The film deals with a class full of junior high types who are having serious problems involving a most unusual substitute teacher brilliantly played by an actress named Paprika Steen. If the nomenclature in this movie isn’t strange enough, her character’s name is Ulla Harm, quite appropriate as it turns out. The class is convinced she is up to no good and tries to get their parents to get rid of her, but she charms them all and has the minister of education visit the school to underwrite his support for her methods. As usual for these types of films, the kids are correct but all get railroaded into taking a bus trip to Paris with the sub, from which they don’t expect to return. The suspense builds and there is also quite a bit of humor in this film. Those expecting a gore fest will be disappointed as this is not a typical horror or suspense film. It is almost an adult children’s movie or possibly can be considered a modern fairy tale. While not original, it should be enjoyable for most folks out there. I recommend watching it with the original Danish soundtrack and English subtitles to get the full joy of Ms. Steen’s turn as the sub. She can change from sweet talk to cajoling to insulting, to threatening or yelling and back to innocent requesting in just a few seconds to get the kids into the shape she wants them. The movie substitutes an R rating for: multiple chickens, chicken eating, feathers flying, abrupt bus stopping, mind reading, bullet proof faculty, shrinking psychologist, Danish oath hurling, and especially for the metallic minister of education.

Mosquitoman

Mosquitoman (2004): Also marketed as just plain Mosquito, this Buglaria shot film about bugs reminded me a bit of those old ‘The Fly’ movies. In those flicks, Jeff Goldblum or Vincent Price, pick your version; slowly convert into a large fly with antisocial tendencies. In these days of short attention spans, Mosquitoman does all that in about 5 minutes and the rest of the movie has the oversized bug pillaging blood from a large fraction of a cities population, eliminating a large part of the local constabulary and searching for a Mosquitowoman to mate with. Now, unless I’m mistaken about mosquitoes, only the females bite so Mosquitoman has a giant technical flaw because this male has a large capacity for the sucking of the blood. In fact, he makes most vampires seem like Vegans by comparison. He also is never seen rubbing his hind legs together as I believe the little critters around here do on occasion but maybe I’m just being picky.
The movie has the usual money grubbing businessman, cops who don’t appear very effective, monsters with a large appetite, and scientists messing with the wrong DNA groups. While not a really good movie, its blood flinging levels should interest the average gore hound out there. The movie transfused an R for: massive blood sucking, massive blood splatter, massive bullet proofed bug, lack of DDT when you really need it, one mutating ingénue, one biting ingénue, one horny skeeter, and for the elimination of most of the police force by one slightly large bullet proof bug.

Pandorum

Pandorum (2009): Here is a somewhat big budget SiFi/action/suspense movie from Germany that while not perfect, does push many of the right buttons for an entertaining evening. Pandorum is the name for a condition caused by spending too much time in the loneliness of deep space which causes the sufferer to become wildly paranoid and dangerous. While it plays a part in the plot, there are bigger and more dangerous fish to fry in this pot boiler. The plot borrows liberally from many SF movies of the past but manages to tie them together into a reasonably coherent plot. It seems in the distant future, Earth has about run out of resources and has built a space ark of sorts to ferry a large population of humans to a new planet found many light years away. The ship is huge and most of the passengers are in a deep sleep condition to allow them to survive the centuries’ long voyage. Part of the crew is awakened to find that things are not as they are supposed to be and there are ‘things’ running around the ship eating the sleeping population. Not only that, but the main power source is not working right and may blow up at any time. The few folks awake must save the ship, avoid being eaten, and figure out what the heck went wrong. This does present a few very tense moments and should keep SF fans happy most of the time. While there are a few plot holes, over all, not a bad effort. The movie is rated R for: multiple heavy metal garbed roving cannibals, claustrophobia, unhelpful boots, rampant paranoia, rampant pandorum, and for the big finale ‘let’s take a walk on the sleeping cannibals’ scene.