GUEST POST: Top 5 Underrated Sci-Fi Movies You Need to See Now

I love a good Sci-Fi film, If you're stuck as to which one to watch next then have no fear as guest blogger, Cassie, is here to help with her list of the top 5 underrated Sci-Fi ready to stream now. I hope you enjoy this great post.

Cassie is a blogger and writer who focuses mainly on technology and entertainment. She is a huge Sci-Fi and film fan and hopes that these recommendations will bring some deeper thought and excitement into your life. You can find more of her writing on Secure Thoughts or Culture Coverage. She's also on Twitter: @Cassie_Culture.

Whether we know it or not, science fiction has been the primary influence of most genre films and modern filmmaking. They make up most of our blockbusters, and we are now more than ever able to make our grand dreams reality through the use of computer effects and expert filmmaking.

Some sci-fi films slip through the cracks or are poorly marketed. This does not diminish their quality. Fortunately, however, you can now easily access most movies through streaming websites of one sort or another. There are so many films to get lost in that it’s nearly impossible to know what to watch from a glance.

Here are some movies that you'll want to check out on a rainy day when you want to see some unfamiliar worlds and ideas:

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

If you haven’t heard of this movie, then your expectations of Jim Carrey will not be met. In probably his best role, he plays a man who had his mind erased after a relationship turned out poorly and discovers that the woman had the relationship erased from her mind first. The script is from Charlie Kaufman, whose work is some of the best in the film industry in general and who won an Academy Award for this film. This movie simply doesn't get the attention it deserves.

This is a profoundly intellectual movie, and as a film about the corners of the mind, it is about the standard science fiction fare you would expect. Expect to spend some time thinking about the movie long after you've finished watching it. You probably won't look at relationships and memories the same.

The Day the Earth Stood Still

This is not a new film (the one I'm talking about came out in 1951), but it's readily available on streaming websites, still relevant today and yet still contains the charms of a film that came out over 60 years ago. It is likely you’ve heard the plot (or some variation of it) before, in which an alien lands and tells humanity they must be peaceful or be destroyed by other alien races. It speaks to humanity on a grand scale and takes a high-minded approach to the world’s problems.

While the effects and visuals might be hard to bear for some (the movie shows its age at points), one of the main draws of science fiction are the ideas contained within the work. The ideas are the reason this movie has stood the test of time.

Ex Machina

Ex Machina is one of my favorite films of last year, and it just simply gets the release and hype it deserved. It follows a programmer who wins a contest to spend a weekend at the private estate of his company's brilliant CEO. It turns out the true purpose of the weekend is to test the consciousness of a robot the CEO has been working on. A movie small in scope and large in concept, it tackles the divide between machine and man as well as some of the current debates regarding artificial intelligence today.

An extremely philosophical film, people will either love or hate the third act of the movie based on their expectations. That doesn't stop Oscar Isaac from standing out as tech CEO and genius Nathan Bateman. Alicia Vikander also is amazing as Ava, bringing an almost otherworldly presence to the character. Watching it now will be the best part of your day.

Under the Skin

Under the Skin is a film that will mess with your head and a movie some people won't like. You need to see it for yourself, as you simply can’t call it a standard science fiction film. Scarlett Johansson plays an extraterrestrial “woman” who lures men into fatal situations, and it's hard to decide whether the movie feels real or not.

Johansson is amazing in this role, and you can't help but feel intentionally uncomfortable with her character. You aren't certain of her intentions. You don't know what she wants. There are dozens of theories as to how her character and the film, in general, represent women in our culture (I'll leave it to you to create your own theory). The film tries to trick you. It tries to horrify you and then dares you to understand it. You absolutely need to watch this film.

Serenity

If you've intended to watch Joss Whedon’s masterpiece Firefly, you should probably skip this one for now and go watch the series. If you've already seen it, then you absolutely need to find this movie on your favorite streaming service and watch it. 

In many ways, it picks up right after the series left off, but it still manages to contain a story for people who are watching with you who might not be too interested in the series. The fact that Whedon gets a feature film budget to work with means we get some stunning action sequences within this already excellent universe.

There we have it, enough films for a great day’s worth of streaming. While you might prioritize some over others, know that you’ll most likely appreciate these films more than the numbers give them credit for.

Are there any other science fiction films that you think deserve a watch or are underrated? Have there been any films you watched recently that you think are awesome and want to share with your fellow readers? If so, please leave a comment below.

Thanks for reading!

Avengers: Age of Ultron

We've already had the magic and amazement of seeing our comic book heroes team up in 2012's incredible The Avengers, and now, three years later, they're back and bigger than ever. But does their second outing hold up to the first? Read on to find out in my SPOILER FREE review of Avengers: Age of Ultron.

The main Avengers are back and this time they fight off against, Ultron, an A.I set on saving the world by destroying the human race, mo-capped and voiced by James Spader. It's your usual A.I philosophical tale but this time done on huge budget with superheroes. New to the cast of the film is Elizabeth Olsen as Scarlet Witch, Aaron Taylor Johnson as Quicksilver and Paul Bettany as The Vision. The less you know about The Vision the better, just know that he is awesome in every way, steals the show and leaves you wanting more!

Seeing the main characters on screen in the first film truly was an experience, one that is hard to replicate in Age of Ultron. Instead, director Joss Whedon decides to just go full out and show you these characters working as a team from the offset with loads of incredible action and geeky visuals. In fact the who film is made up of insane action scenes, probably the most we have seen in a Marvel film so far. There is never a dull moment and the whole film is well structured and interwoven into a fast paced two hours and twenty minutes thrill ride. This however, is sometimes its flaw, one of the great things about this film is that you get to see these cool characters interact and engage with each other, and although we get this, for me there weren't enough moments where they slowed down and interacted in other ways rather than just fighting. I mean, we do get these scenes, but personally I just wanted more. The film basically goes from one set piece to another, and although these set pieces are incredible, I just needed some more down time every now and then to catch my breath.
There are pretty much ten main characters to deal with here and they all get their time to shine, even if it's for a small amount of said time, I felt Captain America and Thor could have been given more to do, but apart from that it works, every now and then you realise a character hasn't been seen recently but with the amount of cool stuff going on in the mean time, you can let that slide.

Like the first film, there is a lot of comedy, something I think worked better throughout this film than its predecessor. It's really funny and pretty much all the jokes land and I was laughing out loud throughout. There are a few running gags which really do work, especially one which involves most of the team winding Captain America up about a comment he makes early on in the film, it's hilarious. That's not to say that this film doesn't get dark, it's not all fun and games, but it gets the tone right and the jokes never feel out of place like they do in Iron Man 3. There are a few moments that definitely hit me right in the feels. I still think Captain America: The Winter Soldier got the tone perfect and more so than here, but this still walks the line between seriousness and comedy well, but never really packs too much of a punch.

Ultron is very cool, he looks great and is a good match for The Avengers, however I was a little disappointed at the fact that for me, he wasn't as scary or intimidating a character as the trailers made him out to be. I truly thought this would be Marvel's best villain but he didn't blow me away like I thought he would. He's still menacing but at times he just sounds like a robot Joss Whedon. The two new characters Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch however, did surprise me. I wasn't sure what they would be like but I was pleasantly surprised to see how well they fit into the story and their character arcs as a whole, even their Eastern European accents worked. Scarlet Witch turned out to be one of my favourite characters in the film and her powers truly looked awesome on screen, especially her mind manipulation which creates some very cool sequences for the Avengers to deal with. Talking of favourite characters, Black Widow really stood out for me in this film. I found her annoying in the first Avengers film and a little bit better in The Winter Soldier, but in this film I truly enjoyed watching her on screen and her development as a character throughout. Another character who might surprise audiences is Hawkeye, in fact he gets more character development than most and you will enjoy his character as part of the roster a lot more than previously.

There is an emphasis on saving people in this film and it was refreshing to see this within the superhero genre, which has not shown much of this recently. I definitely think the genre has learnt a lesson from the backlash to Man of Steel and I really enjoyed seeing the heroes putting civilian life first before then going to stop the villain. There are still some 9/11 looking destruction that may upset some, but the emphasis on saving civillians was something I really enjoyed about their second outing.

My last little niggle with the film was the music, there wasn't as powerful a score here and the main Avengers theme is only heard a couple of times and didn't really give me the same feeling it did when I first saw The Avengers. This film as whole didn't have that same kind of feeling you got when you first saw the characters assemble on the big screen, but it gives you enough nerdy comic book moments to forget this and just enjoy what was going on.

The film is a comic book come to life, and although it doesn't pack as big a political punch as The Winter Soldier did, it still is one heck of an enjoyable watch. Joss Whedon knows how to make a fun film and although it does lay the seeds for the next instalments, its still its own thing and not just a trailer for Phase 3 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It will be a shame to see Whedon leave the franchise, but with The Russo Brothers helming the next instalment means we should still be in for another great ride.

It's not the best Marvel film but it sure is good still and is definitely a worthy sequel to the first Avengers. I feel it deserves a second viewing (like I did with the first film) to fully solidify my views, but for now this how I feel and I am rating Avengers: Age of Ultron a 3/5.

What did you think of the film? Do you think it was better or worse than than the first? Let me know in the comments below.

Thanks for reading!

Iron Man 3

So yet again I am sorry it has been quite slow recently here on my blog but I am back and ready to review Iron Man 3, you didn't think I'd miss this one out did you? And as always the review is spoiler free! The Avengers made a tonne of money so Marvel can now put more into their solo films making this the biggest Iron Man film to date, but was it the  best? The start of Marvel Phase 2 is here and it kicks off with a bang! After a lacklustre sequel is Iron Man 3 the best film of series so far?

In this instalment we see Tony Stark at his lowest after the event of The Avengers have taken their tole on his mental state and unluckily for him The Mandarin is at large. After series of attacks on America and one that hits too close to home, Tony must go after the worlds biggest terrorist. The story takes some elements of the Extremis story arc in the comics however new director and writer Shane Black only takes elements of this storyline and a few others to make his own piece.

As you may have already guessed Robert Downey Jr once again kicks ass as Tony Stark as does Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts and surprisingly Don Cheadle, who is less annoying this time round as War Machine/Iron Patriot, much better than Iron Man 2 as he was given a bit more to do this time round. New additions to the cast include Ben Kingsley who plays the brilliant role of The Mandarin but a different type of villain to the one you may have seen in the comics. We also get to see Rebecca Hall as scientist Maya Hansen and Guy Pearce playing Aldrich Killian, both great in their roles also.

After a not so great sequel, Iron Man 3 returns to the original by stripping Tony away of everything, no Avengers or S.H.I.E.L.D to help him, allowing us to see the man we saw in a cave in Afghanistan creating the Mark 1 suit. However the threequel does also feel very different to it's predecessors, sometimes this is not always a good thing with the film dipping it's feet in many different genres such as comedy, action, thriller and even at one point it felt like a family movie with the introduction of a child who stays at Stark's side for a short period of the film. Not as annoying as it initially may sound.

There is a lot of cool action in this film and the best of it is not when Tony is suited up, instead it is when

he only has parts of his suit on him or none at all. The full suit action was just as fun, though it does seem that they are a lot more breakable than the other films. The effects as always are pretty awesome and are at their best during a scene where Iron Man must save a bunch of civilians falling out of a plane. The look of the new suits are awesome as well and I am very happy that they decided on revamping War Machine to The Iron Patriot suit.

There are a lot of twists and turns in this film which is great and some really bold moves by Marvel. One twist however will leave the audience in two minds,

you will be either be happily surprised or disappointed  I am yet to make my mind up.

The writing from Shane Black is great and Tony Stark continues his funny streak from The Avengers some jokes may fall flat with some people but I had a blast. My criticisms of the film would be that some sequences were quite predictable and the ending seemed a bit rushed. The soundtrack also lacked the awesome ACDC tracks that I feel really complemented Iron Man in the first two films. The film as whole though is a lot of fun, it was a lot better than Iron Man 2 but failed to blow me away the way the original did. A lot of critics are saying it is better than The Avengers however I do disagree with this, either way this was a very good start to Marvel Phase 2 and I cannot wait to see what the rest of the films have in store and what Joss Whedon has up his sleeve for The Avengers 2! I am giving Iron Man 3 a rating of 4/5.

Remember to stick around after the credits and look out for yet another great cameo from Stan 'The Man' Lee.

Thanks for reading! What did you think of Iron Man 3? Please comment below.

Star Wars Episode 7!?

The news broke this morning that Disney have just bought the Lucas Film company and plan to make a new Star Wars film ready for a 2015 release. This of course sparked Internet outrage and as a massive fan of Star Wars I don't know whether to be excited or annoyed at the prospect of a 7th film in the franchise.

A lot of people are complaining that Disney will ruin the franchise but if you ask any major fans they will probably agree that the image of Star Wars was ruined when they released the first prequel. So why would they know go and make a sequel to the original trilogy?

Well for one reason we will no longer have George Lucas involved, or at least not in a directorial or producing role.In fact he is only going to be an outside contributor which kind of means he won't have much input. Which means we can get someone new to create a Star Wars film, including making a script which doesn't have bland and crappy dialogue. Now we can get some new fresh ideas to help restart the franchise and hopefully bring back the glory of when the first 3 films were released.

Where they go with Episode 7 is anyone's guess. Will Mark Hamil reprise his role as an older Luke Skywalker? Probably not. But hopefully Luke will play a background role in the new film, perhaps bringing him alive through the technology they used to create another Jeff Bridges in Tron Legacy. Will any of the original cast be back, who knows? I for one am anticipating where they hope to go with the new film.

In terms of who should be directing, I don't have a clue, there are the obvious choices like Joss Whedon and JJ Abrams, but I doubt that will happen. My guess it could be someone like Jon Favreau or Mathew Vaugn (could this be the reason he left the new X-Men film?). Whoever it is though will have a massive amount of pressure on them to create a Star Wars film that fans and critics alike will enjoy. May the force be with them.

When it comes to the script, I say hire one of the guys who wrote the well reviewed Star Wars novels or comics, surely their ideas would make a lot of sense in the development of the series.

I don't really see why making a new Star Wars film is a bad idea, surely this just help make the franchise live longer and hopefully become one of the biggest ever. I for one feel like a child again at the prospect of seeing another Star Wars film. In fact I am even more excited for 2015 as Disney will have hell of year, what with The Avengers 2 and Star Wars Episode 7. They are sure going to make a load of money! Lets hope both films are of excellent quality as well though.

2 and half years until a new Star Wars film, didn't expect to hear that this morning... What are your thoughts on a new film in the franchise? Please comment below.

Thanks for reading!

Ted Review

If you like crude humour then Ted  is right up your street. If you don't then it is not, as my girlfriend found out, who hated this film. Me on the other hand, I rather enjoyed it!

Written, directed and starring Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane, Ted's plot goes like this; 'As the result of a childhood wish, John Bennett's teddy bear, Ted, came to life and has been by John's side ever since - a friendship that's tested when Lori, John's girlfriend of four years, wants more from their relationship.' A pretty straightforward plot, a pretty straightforward film, with quite a few laughs in between.

Actually it is the start of this film that gave me high hopes for this to be an excellent comedy film. It is unfortunately after the first act that the film falls short of that. After the first 30 minutes the jokes start to slow down and become less funny. A hilarious party scene in the middle of the film brings back this hope but unfortunately is let down by a lacklustre third act.

The problem with this film was that the talking teddy bear was the most realistic part of it! The relationship between Mark Wahlberg and Mila Kunis was unbelievable and did not feel real. All of Mila Kunis's lines felt forced, which was such a shame as she is generally a really good actress! Mark Wahlberg is much better in a comedic role as you are actually allowed to laugh at his acting but unfortunately this made most of his more human scenes pretty rubbish, therefore not allowing the audience to become emotionally connected to any of the characters, which pretty much makes the last act fall apart. This is mainly because the third act asks us to worry about these characters when in danger and by this point you couldn't care less.

This film is a comedy film so you shouldn't care about the story too much and just wait for the laughs to come. And there are quite a few really funny ones and there a re quite a few that aren't so much. So you get your fair share but at least it had more laughs then The Sitter did earlier this year!

As I said at the start the jokes are crude and are likely to be about farts or will just offend a few people in the audience. Like Family Guy it can be racist, homophobic and will take the mick out of fat kids but what more do you expect from Seth MacFarlane?

Ted himself looks pretty impressive and thanks to the magic of motion capture I did not once believe I was watching a bear made of CGI, though every now and then thought I was listening to Peter Griffin!

There are some great moments in this film and also some excellent cameos but what it falls short of is emotional connection. But what the hell, it's a comedy! And although its not as good as some this year like 21 Jump Street, it's still on of the better side of the list! If you are a fan of Family Guy then you will probably really enjoy this! Though it wasn't perfect I still enjoyed Ted and had a good laugh. So therefore I am giving Ted a rating of 3/5.


In other news, Joss Whedon has been confirmed to write and direct The Avengers 2!!! This is awesome news! Bring on the next 3 years of anticipation! Joss Whedon is also helping develop a TV show for ABC that will be set in the Marvel cinematic universe. No announcements on what it's about but my guess it will be about the agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. What do you think?

Thanks for reading!

Comic Con Documentary & The Pact

Today I have two reviews of films I have just seen. They are very different, one is documentary film about the San Diego Comic Con, and the other is a low budget horror film. Very different in terms of style, genre and quality! Here are my verdicts:


Comic Con Episode IV: A Fan's Hope

Morgan Spurlock has made some great documentaries in the past, the most noteworthy being Super Size Me and 30 Days. He is a master of his art and he has made yet another masterpiece! This time he is not the star, the star is Comic Con. The largest and most famous Comic Con in the world, held annually in San Diego USA. Every nerd in the world wishes they could go to Comic Con, including myself. One day I will go, I will make sure of that and this film just made me more determined!

The film follows several different types of people and their journey throughout the four nerd filled days. One guy's showcasing his portfolio, one girl is designing costumes and another guy is getting ready to propose to his girlfriend at the Kevin Smith Panel. This isn't a documentary about the historical backgrounds of the convention, this is video diary of the events which occurred a couple of years ago.

The great thing about this is that you route for each guy and girl because they are so dedicated and passionate about their trade, you want the guy to draw for Marvel, you want the girl to win best costume and you hope that the guy's girlfriend says yes when he proposes. You even want the grumpy comic book seller to sell some comics! Basically you are routing for the underdog, the people who you usually associate as the nerd or the geek, you are now following and anticipating their journey.

The documentary has a whole load of interviews with some very awesome people like Joss Whedon and Stan lee, who actually produced the film. You also get some really funny antics from Kevin Smith who has you laughing out loud throughout most of his interview. Seth Rogen, Eli Roth, Frank Miller, Harry Knowles, you name it, they are in it! It's a nerd fest and I love it!

Though this isn't just a massive advert for Comic Con, the downside is highlighted. The decrease in comic book sales and how they are no longer the main attraction at the convention. They have been pushed aside for pop culture hits and franchises. Don't let that rain on your parade, you will still be dying to go by the end!

The great thing about this film is that you can show it to family members and they will finally understand your obsession with the place! I watched this with my girlfriend and she enjoyed it, maybe not as much as me, but she now realises why I want to go so much! She knows I want to go to a place where I fit in with the thousands of other nerds and speak about nerdy things! One of the reasons I made this blog was to share my opinions with people who care or have the same interests as my own.

I will be there, one day, dressed as Spider-Man and I will love it. This documentary has reinforced that fact and that is why I am rating it a 5/5.

The Pact

I admire people who write and direct their own films, it's something that I wish to do one day. This was the one thing that interested me about Nicholas McCarthy's first feature film The Pact, based on his previous short film of the same name.

The plot goes like this; 'As a woman struggles to come to grips with her past in the wake of her mother's death, an unsettling presence emerges in her childhood home.'
Though like most horror films, this film falls short of being good. Somebody needs to take the horror genre and take away the bad acting, women running around in underwear and terrible scripts. Something this film has a lot of! I was hoping for something different, something unlike anything we have seen before

The problem with this film, is that it feels as if it's trying to be like Paranormal Activity without the handheld element. Why does every horror film now have some kind of poltergeist haunting a house! Unlike Paranormal Activity this film shows us too much, which just takes away from the scares of which there were only a few. I was only scared about twice in this film, once I had kind of guessed what was happening I felt safe, which isn't something a horror film should make its audience feel.

Lets talk about the acting, it wasn't all that good. Maybe this was because of a pretty bland script or just because the people involved were bad actors. Thankfully the main character played by Caity Lotz isn't too bad but even she has her moments. She also had one green and one blue eye which they kept emphasising on, for no reason what so ever in the end. Apart from Lotz everybody else is pretty terrible or has hardly any screen time to tell.

There is one character in particular who feels very over done which was Stevie played by Hayley Hudson; the creepy girl who talks to ghosts. Although they really went overboard on the make up and she looks more like a ghost then a person, which just seemed like a bad decision.

There were good points to this film, it looked very good. The cinematography was spot on and everything looked good on screen. Also when there were scares they were good, but after that there's not really much else.

Maybe its because I'm not a big fan of the horror genre but I just wasn't into this film, I was hoping for more but it never really delivered. If you enjoy the genre then this might have enough scares to satisfy you but for me it was a bit disappointing. Which is unfortunate and why I'm giving this film a rating of 2/5.

Thanks for reading! Check back again this week for my big Spider-Man blog special! Remember if you have any fan art of Spider-Man it can be used on the post if you send it in to my email alex-moppy@hotmail.com - all who submit any images or art work will get a mention!