LIFE, the movie


Posted On: Saturday - May 27th 2023 4:31PM MST
In Topics: 
  Political Correctness  Movies  Race/Genetics  Science



This isn't about "Life" the bored game - I forget the rules - it must have been boring - and not "Life" the breakfast cereal - this is the one you could get away with if your Mom didn't read the nutrition info, as grains of sugar were kind of hidden in what looked like mini-wheats. We refer to a fairly recent Science Fiction movie ('17 release) titled LIFE. The LIFE referred to with the title is extraterrestrial life, from Mars.

I really try to give these movies a chance, once I get them started. I want to like the movie, so I don't have to start another, and I just hope the thing is not too heavy with PC, now Wokeness. I took a chance on this one, getting beyond the point of no return, so I can write this review anyway.

As a Sci-Fi movie, this one was in the middle as far as the science goes. I see one end, and I'm talking books now, really, as the work of guys like Arthur C. Clark and Isaac Asimov. They spent time trying to picture how the future COULD work based on their knowledge of science. Things were supposed to make sense for those readers who knew some science. The opposite end for me was Ray Bradbury's novels. I mean, you just got out of the rocket and started walking around on Mars. He didn't explain ANYTHING. Still, because Bradbury was such a great writer, I liked his stuff the best of all of them.

LIFE is in the middle on that - nothing too technical is thrown at the viewer, but the space station with its bio-lab seems reasonable. A sample of material from Mars is captured, and this won't spoil it - there is some micro-scale life from the Red Planet in the sample.

OK, now about this crew. Yeah, they are somewhat diverse, but still the 5 or 6 occupants of the station are amazingly comprised of mostly White people, with a Japanese guy in there and half men. (There are no sex scenes, BTW, so not like the old Sci-Fi books I used to read.) Here's pretty much the only reason I'm writing this review at all, since the movie is nothing special:

There's the double-diverse Black! and handicapped bio-lab scientist - he had no use of his legs. OK,look, I know that checks 2 PC boxes at once, but, dammit, this is spaceflight! You can accommodate* the handicapped with ramps and handholds in bathrooms. It costs money, and the former takes room, but it's doable. From the general story of this movie, there's no doubt that space flight is no routine thing in this future. The station has just room for those 5 or 6. When you're trying to lift stuff out of Earth's gravity well, ounces count, bitchez! You can't add 50 or 100 lb of handicapped equipment.



Well, this guy was a crack life scientist. He wore glasses, so he must have been really smart. That's an interesting aspect of this choice of character - I mean, contact lenses have been around for many decades, so they'd have them in the future too, right? Is this guy only wearing glasses so we'd believe he could really be a crack biologist, good enough to be picked for the mission of another who could actually get around in an emergency? That's raciss, man!

Then, I'm pretty sure this scientist did mention in the movie that his handicap had kept him home and away from the usual crowd, so that he'd had the time to become a crack biologist, rather than a crack... errr ... salesman.

OK, fine, I suspended my disbelief in the idea of choosing a handicapped person for a space mission. Here's what shocked me, though. Of all the crew members, this Black! guy was the screw up! Yes, now not to spoil the movie, but it's just possible that he made a mistake in dealing with this Martian life form that would, well, destroy all humanity. Can you do that in the 21st Century? I don't mean destroy humanity, but cast a Black! person as the biggest screw-up in a movie. That's it, Casting Society of America, you'll never work in dis bidness again!

I give LIFE the movie one thumb up for the courage or at least disregard of Wokeness by the screenwriter and the casting company. Also, the story was OK. It's not a date movie, as it could have been with really nasty alien life form, the usual human-sized drooling and dripping insect-like creature who will scare your date enough to where she grabs you a lot. Nah, this life form was kind of amorphous, but it was still going to kick humanity's ass. If it hadn't been for that stupid .... We'd have been better off if he'd been out in the hood with his homies, killing only a small fraction of humanity.



* I don't believe in any mandatory accommodation by government, mind you, as the market could well take care of this. I'm talking voluntary niceness here.

Comments:
The Alarmist
Monday - May 29th 2023 2:49PM MST
PS

On the bright side, Mr G, you’re probably properly conditioned to watch Netflix’s “Cleopatra” and The House of the Devil Mouse’s blackwashed “The Little Mermaid.”
Ganderson
Monday - May 29th 2023 1:29PM MST
PS
I suspected that the Camelot would suck once I saw the ads that said“ book by Aaron Sorkin, based on the books by Alan J Lerner. Already had the tix by then though. My little brother, who is much more normie than I am saw a production of Oklahoma! that was changed in a similar way. He was not pleased.

I noticed, too that the black guy in Funny Girl had also been in A Soldier’s Play- wonder if they’d swap out one of the leads for a white guy in that show!

If one is directing, say, high school shows I don’t mind the occasional negrosity, after all you can’t say to your black pupils, sorry, you can’t go out for the play cuz there are no black roles.

I’m gonna try and get backing for a musical about the civil rights movement- an all white cast featuring Paul Rudd as MLK. I’d have a black guy play James Earl Ray, though. Max Biaystock call your office!
Moderator
Monday - May 29th 2023 11:13AM MST
PS: Mr. Ganderson goes to New York, huh? Are you sure that you were on THE Broadway, or was it possibly Black! Broadway, somewhere in the deepest of the Bronx?

I kid, but I guess one is supposed to put up with this sort of thing even while enjoying (I assume for a decent sum) one of the cultural things NYC is most known for. Would or could you have known there were the 2 Black! cast members (the 1 in each and the one back in Guthrie, MN) beforehand? You'd already gotten the tickets, and I suppose I'd put up with it, if our plans were made around attending the famous Broadway.

Yeah, there must be an unwritten rule among the Drama crowd about this now.

It's been about 6 months now, so I can't remember if there was a Black! actor or actress in those 10 (but we saw only 5) short plays that I discussed in the post "The Oregon Shakespeare Festival, a gay play, and walking out" - - https://www.peakstupidity.com/index.php?post=2590

The same handful of actors were in all the 10, in various permutations. (Not all of them were in EVERY one, but that's who did all 10, the small group.)
Ganderson
Monday - May 29th 2023 6:19AM MST
PS. Saw two shows in New York last week; both revivals; Funny Girl, and Camelot. Funny Girl was quite good, while Camelot, with a completely rewritten book by Aaron Sorkin was not so good. The singing was well done, especially the gal who played Gweniviere in Camelot, but the dialogue- yikes!

One thing that struck me was that there were black guys playing major roles in both- in Funny Girl there was a black guy playing Eddie Ryan, an old song and dance man, and in Camelot a black guy played Sir Lancelot. There must now be a rule that, in all Broadway shoes there must be at least one black character. The last Broadway-type show I saw, Guys and Dolls at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, had a black guy playing Nathan Detroit. Only three data points, but…
Moderator
Sunday - May 28th 2023 1:31PM MST
PS: That was a classic scene than. Getting the audience to jump out of their seats with popcorn flying everywhere has got to make the director feel good about the movie.

I remember a movie called "It's Alive", I think, in which, soon after being born, the baby with fangs and all had already attached and bloodied up all of the medical personnel in the delivery room.
The Alarmist
Sunday - May 28th 2023 7:18AM MST
PS

When the baby alien pops out of Kane’s (John Hurt) abdomen in the middle of dinner. Classic Ridley Scott.
Moderator
Sunday - May 28th 2023 5:48AM MST
PS: I keep up with almost NONE of the Hollywood actors and actresses, Alarmist. There's a Sci-Fi family tradition.

I cannot remember the spaghetti/intestine scene. I only continued to watch subsequent sequels of "Alien" for the short scenes of Sigourney Weaver in here underwear. Other than that... even with that.. they were not worth the buck fifty to me.
The Alarmist
Sunday - May 28th 2023 4:06AM MST
PS

Remember “Alien” and the spaghetti scene? At least I thought that was spaghetti... maybe it was intestine. Anyway, classic. Was I supposed to laugh at that, or be horrified?

Trivia: The character of Lambert was played by Veronica Carwright, older sister of Angela, famous for playing Penny Robinson in “Lost in Space.” I’m sensing a theme here, but it’s not Doe-Reh-Mi.
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