Sci-Fi Archives - From | The | Balcony

Downsizing (2017)

Bill Clark — Thu, 21 Dec 2017 22:42:23 +0000

Movies as crushingly misguided and poorly-executed as Downsizing make me want to paraphrase Roger Ebert’s legendary review of 1994’s North. “I hated this movie. Hated hated hated hated hated this movie. Hated it.” “I have no idea why [Alexander Payne], or anyone else, wanted to make this story into a… Continue reading

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Deadpool (2016)

Bill Clark — Sun, 07 Feb 2016 14:52:42 +0000

Deadpool is just the swift kick to the junk the superhero genre – one that has taken itself entirely too seriously for far too long and gotten away with it – needs. Profane, hyper-violent, and never hesitant to take things a step or two beyond overkill, the film is an interesting and… Continue reading

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Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)

Bill Clark — Thu, 30 Apr 2015 15:18:00 +0000

The law of diminishing returns strikes big-time in Avengers: Age of Ultron, an overstuffed mess of one-note characters, gaudy, incomprehensible CGI, and really, really bad one-liners. It’s so unexpected that you almost forget how fresh The Avengers was three short years ago, and what a welcome reprieve it was from the… Continue reading

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Jupiter Ascending (2015)

Bill Clark — Thu, 05 Feb 2015 14:29:04 +0000

Jupiter Ascending takes the trailer approach to filmmaking, meaning each shot looks perfectly crafted for a two second appearance in a two-minute trailer. When tasked with creating a coherent film from said clips, the results are disastrous. This is one of the more misguided space operas of recent memory, and… Continue reading

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Interstellar (2014)

Bill Clark — Wed, 05 Nov 2014 14:00:52 +0000

Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar is a movie about love. It may travel through black holes, light years, and galaxies, but the basic fact that we, as humans, yearn to take care of and love the ones closest to us is the overarching theme. The film is Nolan’s most ambitious yet and is destined to… Continue reading

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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014)

Bill Clark — Thu, 07 Aug 2014 19:59:26 +0000

Bringing the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to the big screen has been one of the more interesting cinematic case studies of the past twenty-plus years. Whether live action, animation, or, in this case, motion-capture combined with live action, it’s pretty much impossible for the turtles not to be some combination of… Continue reading

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Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

Bill Clark — Thu, 31 Jul 2014 17:24:03 +0000

The superhero genre has become so dark and self-serious, not to mention over-saturated, that it’s rapidly becoming a parody of itself. Guardians of the Galaxy seems aware of this and succeeds as a largely character and script-driven experience. Hardly any of the story is original, right down to the MacGuffin that… Continue reading

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Lucy (2014)

Bill Clark — Thu, 24 Jul 2014 18:00:54 +0000

There are going to be a lot of people wanting to know what kind of hallucinogens writer/director Luc Besson was on when he came up with Lucy. This is one bonkers movie, filled with enough sci-fi concepts for an entire series and just enough grisly action to get by during its… Continue reading

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Edge of Tomorrow (2014)

Bill Clark — Thu, 05 Jun 2014 16:38:26 +0000

Finally, a summer movie. Edge of Tomorrow is an engaging and exciting sci-fi film that has a lot of fun with its premise. It also delivers the goods in terms of visual effects and action, of which the film contains in voluminous amounts. It’s the kind of movie that used… Continue reading

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I, Frankenstein (2014)

Bill Clark — Tue, 03 Jun 2014 18:00:00 +0000

I, Frankenstein is an endlessly silly Blade/Underworld mash-up that somehow never becomes unwatchable, mainly due to some decent action, visual effects, and Bill Nighy’s Billy Mack-gone-Goth routine. Aaron Eckhart stars as Adam, the supposedly horrendous creation of Dr. Frankenstein (he basically looks like a normal dude with some scars) whose… Continue reading

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