So before the year 2016 is over, I had to send you guys off with a little something. Hoping everyone had a good Christmas, or Holiday. For some reason December has turned into Sci-Fi Month, from Star Wars, to the movie Passengers, to the new Alien trailer. I am not here to talk to you about those things I want to share with you some interesting movies and shows I have recently stumbled across on Netflix. I have been scanning social media from Facebook and Twitter like I normally do when I stumbled across one movie and one show that really intrigued my interest. First off I will talk to you guys about this movie called “Spectral” it is very out there and I will get into more details, and the show I ran across just scrolling down Facebook is called “The OA” I didn’t know what to think of this show when I saw the trailer, but was still very excited to understand what it was about.
I don’t know what it is about December, but for some reason it just turns into all out Sci-Fi this and Sci-Fi that for the last few years, which I am completely with. Since I am a big fan of anything galaxy related, going to different dimensions, as long as there is a good story behind it, and the acting is good. Also hopefully in the near future we see more people of color staring in Intergalactic movies and shows that don’t have stale and old stories, but that is another conversation and another post for another time, lets jump right into it.
Spectral:
Now someone on Facebook posted this trailer, after that I rarely saw any promotion or anything for this movie, which is unusual for Netflix because they usually boost a lot of there original movies and series even if no one really seems interested, but this movie is pretty out there especially looking at that trailer right there. Now my first thoughts going into this movie were I don’t know what the hell to expect this seems like some mutant type of experiment this kicking the military around. Spectral starts with military at war trying to find the enemy, and also trying to find out what has been wiping out so many of there own soldiers, a mysterious ghost figure appears out of nowhere and basically just hurts the soldier who believes nothing is there. This movie is a true kind of Science fiction movie mixed with a war movie, but more so science then war, and also more sci-fi.
Spectral reminds me of Starship troopers a little, simply because of the gear and the type of guns they use to defeat this mysterious figure that is appearing. I will not give away spoilers for this movie, but I do suggest to watch it, it’s entertaining, and filled with some good action scenes, and also some scenes that will make you sad a little. While watching the movie I peeped some other people who were watching the movie and I saw a handful of people who did like the montage of how the weapons were being built so quickly by the scientist who was assigned to this mission. I for one really enjoyed the montages and just the music that went along with how the weapons were being built and what materials they needed to use. I know people want things to be realistic, but its hard to create something like that without losing the audience. Some parts of the movie were just a little slow and could’ve been filled in with more explanation or just more action, but once they explain the basics of this object of what’s going on, you start to see where this is headed. I truly loved the fighting at the end it got so suspenseful and just the combat gear and the huge weapons that were made were so cool.
One thing I will say is we need a Part 2 because they have to show us why this person created or even started this project, and what drove them to do it. Finding out the truth was so messed up, but it would be so interesting to understand the concept of what this scientist was trying to do.
Riceball Rating: 7 out 10.. I think this movie could’ve been way better with the action and just a little more explanation to with what is going on, but definitely watch it and you be the judge.
The OA:
Next up we have another Netflix Original “The OA” now this show is intriguing especially from this trailer, we automatically find out that she was once blind and now she can see. Now I have to say I truly love how this show was made and shot from just the graphics with the different titles of the episodes and just how each scene flows and what the directors did with telling the story. The First episode grabs you almost we meet Prairie and she been away from home for a few years and now she is finally back in her hometown, but she comes back home with information that she has died several times. Her parents still believe she is out of it where she goes on kind of a funny mission to get a wifi connection to where she meets her band of misfits. Prairie finds her band of misfits to tell her story and the last few minutes of the first episode was so amazing like the way the story was told about when she was younger was great.
As the season goes on we see that Prairie was has faced a near death experience, but was explained how people who have died only to live again come back with special gifts like perfect pitch of an instrument or the ability to face more obstacles. I think this was also a metaphor for people who are blind, or have a disability, and how their senses are heightened or how the human body is simply able to enhance the body when something is no longer present. In each episode we follow Steve, Alfonso, Buck VU, Betty (who is the teacher), and Jesse, we see how all of them were kind of apart of there own group of friends in high school until they met Prairie and how she brought all of them together. I saw that someone said this is basically stranger things all grown up. I have to disagree with that because I think Stranger things brought a lot of people who aren’t into Sci-fi into that world, and so anything that makes them think its the same they kind just categorize it as that.
With The OA this show is very different in the aspect of it’s mystery and sci-fi but also deals with the idea of death, and understanding the psyche of the human brain and how traumatic events can truly change someone. This show explains how strangers who would never talk to each other become friends with one goal to help a woman they barely even know just because they are misfits themselves and don’t know what life has in store for them, all dealing with some kind of different struggle. The Only bad thing I have to say with this show is the lackluster ending, there was so much suspense and then the good ole interpretive dancing appeared. There is one small glimpse of an interesting season 2 to happen when we see Steve and everyone running at the end you see they felt a true connection they cannot explain with Prairie. So hopefully they explain more in Season 2.
Honorable Mention:
Sense8 Christmas Special:
I have to give an Honorable to another one of my favorite Netflix shows Sense8, now fans of this show like myself we’ve been dying to hear any kind of news of a season 2 for this show, and Netflix finally blessed us with a Christmas special on December 23rd, but we still have to wait for May 2017 to arrive to fully enjoy season 2. This special was definitely a treat for everyone who has been waiting. If you have never seen this show before I advice you to go binge watch season 1 and to watch the special right after. In the special we catch up with everyone and where they’ve been and it seems like everyone is going through it. Each person is in there own troubled predicament with finding solace within each other. They did an amazing job with the fight scenes and the music in the beginning was great, and just how each scene flowed. I especially loved the birthday scene, when everyone celebrated their birthday together and you could see how each person celebrated different and how they all came together. If you are a fan of this show you will not be disappointed even though we have to wait a few more months for season 2, this truly helps.
I think many fans were scared because we almost didn’t hear any news and its been almost a full year until we heard anything about the show has popped up, which made you feel like am I the only one who really likes this show, what happened to the fan base, did Netflix just chuck the deuces without telling us. I am so happy it is back.
Finally Thoughts: Another Honorable mention is Rogue One: A Star Wars story I will not get into it, but everyone should go see that movie, they did a really great job with it. Thank you to everyone who has been viewing my post and also all the other post on Riceball we truly appreciate it. Join in the conversation, we love talking to you guys, comment, suggest topics, anything you would like to hear. We are here for you guys hope you enjoyed all of our post from 2016 and we hope to post more…. See you in 2017
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