Azarkant: a good-looking sci-fi piece short on plot and character
Andrey Klimov, “Azarkant” (2013) Made as a proof-of-concept piece for a film, “Azarkant” understandably is short on plot and character to the extent that it plays…
Protecting the American Opium Empire: opium as a tool and fuel for US imperialism
Carlton Meyer, “Protecting the American Opium Empire” (Tales of the American Empire, 9 July 2020) For an 11-minute video, this is perhaps a little too far-ranging…
Australian and New Zealand Films, Chinese and Chinese-language Films
The Secret Armada: North Korean ghost ship phenomenon covered in a superficial way
“The Secret Armada” (Foreign Correspondent, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 14 July 2020) Despite the spine-tingling thrill of the episode title, this piece on apparent North Korean fishing…
Australian and New Zealand Films
The Silver Brumby: a subdued and unexciting film of human greed and obsession
John Tatoulis, “The Silver Brumby” (1993) Notable mainly for featuring a very young Russell Crowe near the beginning of his acting career, this film is framed…
Lab Rat: an investigation into what it means to be human
Nour Wazzi, “Lab Rat” (2019) Initially the plot seems familiar to the point of banality: three scientists working for a robotics firm are suddenly trapped in…
Eve: choosing between freedom, compassion and responsibility makes an android more human than humans
Josh Bowman, “Eve” (2019) A character-driven sci-fi story with good acting and a strong visual look with a desert setting doesn’t need a fancy budget or…
Satori [Awakening]: post-apocalypse film very much asleep under character stereotypes and a boring plot
Adam K Batchelor, “Satori [Awakening]” (2020) An original and ambitious idea of an Earth re-engineered by Artificial Intelligence to reverse environmental degradation, combined perhaps with genetic…
End of Decay: pulpy body-horror adaptation of Frankenstein story
Christopher Todd, “End of Decay” (2017) A pulpy body-horror update on Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus” novel, this short film has the sketchy and…
Lucid: horror sci-fi dealing with cyber-addiction, escapism and technology shaping human psychology
Jamie Monahan, “Lucid” (2018) The film’s title refers to so-called lucid dreams in which the dreamer is aware that s/he is dreaming, that the action in…
Australian and New Zealand Films, Northern European Films
The Swedish Model: a shallow and unedifying view of Sweden’s no-lockdown COVID-19 strategy
“The Swedish Model” (Foreign Correspondent, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 30 June 2020) In March 2020, when the SARS-CoV-2 virus had been circulating in Europe for at least…