SciFiNow-August2018

Details 18 // 96 mins // 1976 // // Released Out now

Director Alfred Sole Cast Linda Miller, Mildred Clinton, Paula E Sheppard,

Niles McMaster Distributor 88 Films

Details 15 // 91 mins // 2018 // • // Released 30 July

Director David LG Hughes Cast Anna Demetriou, Terence Stamp,

Will Mellor, Martyn Ford, Ian Beattie Distributor 101 Films

Alfred Sole’s

brilliantly-

titled Alice, Sweet

Alice is caught

between schlocky

slasher, Don’t Look Now-inspired

psychological thriller and

Lifetime movie, as estranged

Catherine (Linda Miller) and

Dom Spages (Niles McMaster)

are forced to wonder whether

their daughter Alice (Paula E

Sheppard) is responsible for

murdering her little sister Karen.

Sheppard is fantastic as the

little murder suspect, clearly

enjoying pushing everyone’s

buttons and just creepy enough

to convince as a potential serial

killer, but there’s too much

plodding going on around her.

On the plus side, there are

some great jump scares and the

reveal of the killer is nonsensical

enough to be entertaining.

However, the relationship

between Catherine and Dom

isn’t really interesting and too

much of the drama is conducted

through glass-shattering levels of

screaming. Still, there’s enough

genuine nastiness and eccentric

sleaze to keep it interesting.

Jonathan Hatfull

In the mythical

kingdom of Volsung,

royal orphan

Princess Helle

(Anna Demetriou) is

forced to go into hiding despite

being the rightful heir to the

throne when she is wrongfully

framed for the murder of her

father, the king.

With a band of tyrannical

men on her heels looking to hunt

her down and bring her back,

alive or dead, she seeks out

the Viking god Odin (Terence

Stamp) to guide her through the

training she needs if she is to

stand a chance at taking back

the patriarchal kingdom and

fulfi lling her destiny as Queen.

Of Gods And Warriors could

have been a fun, fantastical

adventure with a lot of heart, but

it takes itself far too seriously. It

was obviously never going to be

the next Lord Of The Rings, but it

has a go anyway and as a result

the end product feels bland.

The world building – locations,

weapons, costumes and all – is

marvellous, but it’s not enough to

support the average characters

and even more average story.

Poppy-Jay Palmer

ALICE,

SWEET ALICE

OF GODS AND

WARRIORS

Who could, killer child? Game of groans

★★★★★ ★★★★★

of the story: it’s far, far, far too long.

That’s not to say it’s not great fun,

though. The characters are fully

formed, which is quite a nice change

from an action blockbuster of this

nature, and the cast is as good as it

gets (also for an action blockbuster).

The CGI is next-level though. The

OASIS itself may feel cluttered

and overwhelming, but no effect

is subpar. The bar has really been

raised here.

Though Ready Player One is all

about the classics, it’s hard to see it

Based on Ernest

Cline’s novel, Ready

Player One is Steven

Spielberg’s latest, and

basically a videogame

that you don’t have to play.

By the year 2045, the Earth’s

cities have been transformed into

slums, overpopulated and packed

with pokey apartments stacked on

top of each other to form unsteady

skyscrapers. Instead of going out,

people like to escape to a virtual

reality universe known as OASIS,

which becomes even more of a

hotspot when its co-creator James

Halliday posthumously reveals

that there’s an Easter egg hidden

somewhere in the OASIS that grants

complete control to the fi rst person

to fi nd it. Wanting to stop mega-

corporation Innovative Online

Industries from getting its hands on

the Easter Egg, 17-year-old Wade

Watts (Tye Sheridan) makes it his

mission to fi nd it fi rst.

Spielberg really went big with

Ready Player One. However, with

a fi lm career like his it gets harder

and harder to please, and it’s hard to

tell whether Ready Player One falls

short because of his gargantuan back

catalogue or if it just falls short on

its own.

The pop culture references that

the fi lm is already famous for are

scattered through every single scene

adding varying levels of nostalgia,

but plenty seem to have been

shoehorned in there just for the sake

of it. The same can be said for some

actually becoming one itself.

Cline’s novel might make it to

‘modern classic’ eventually, but

the fi lm is ultimately forgettable

and makes you want to pop on an

actual Eighties classic immediately

afterwards instead.

Poppy-Jay Palmer

T STEVEN SPIELBERG HAS CITED READY PLAYER ONE AS BEING THE THIRD MOST DIFFICULT FILM HE’S EVER MADE, AFTER JAWS AND SAVING PRIVATE RYAN.

READY PLAYER ONE

Classic Spielberg

Details 15 // 140 mins // 2018 // • • Digital // Released Out now

Director Steven Spielberg Cast Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, Ben Mendelsohn,

Mark Rylance, Simon Pegg Distributor Warner Bros Home Entertainment

Tron

Hacker Jeff Bridges is

trapped in the digital world

and seeks help from a

security program to escape.

★★★★★

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