Get your sci-fi ‘fix’ with these Netflix offerings

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nerdalertIf you’re like me, you turn on Netflix and spend about 10 to 15 minutes browsing through the countless new offerings. You think that this new movie might be good. This show has gotten some good buzz around it. Oh look, there’s another Happy Madison movie! And after an exhaustive search, you finally settle on a show that you’ve already watched 20 times. Admit it, you do it. We all do. Let’s break the cycle and finally watch some new stuff for once. So, here’s some sci-fi stuff on Netflix worth watching right now. You know, if you’re into that stuff.


Extinction TV-MA – July 28, 2018—Netflix

I noticed Extinction while browsing the other night. The trailer got me interested, so I watched it. Now, Extinction isn’t the greatest sci-fi film out there. It’s a bit slow. The actors deliver some rather lackluster performances, but overall it’s not that bad.

The film follows an engineer (Michael Peña), who is plagued by nightmares of what would seem to be an alien invasion or war of some sort. They are extremely vague and limited, so we have a hard time following exactly what is happening. And he does too! Of course, there is a reason for this which we learn later on in the film. No spoilers though! These visions become so bad that they affect his job, his marriage, and his relationship with his children. It’s pretty obvious that these dreams are more than just dreams, so when they actually become reality, we aren’t really surprised. What happens after that though is worth watching. It’s a twist that I did not see coming. The film is entertaining enough and should create some interesting discussion afterwards.

 


Tau – TV-MA – June 29, 2018—Netflix

Tau kind of just dropped into the Netflix lineup without much hype considering it stars Academy Award-winning actor Gary Oldman. Well, it sort of stars him. It’s his voice. Oldman voices Tau, an Artificial Intelligence unit in control of a futuristic high-tech house. I was already sold with Oldman and the rest of the plot made me sit down and give this film a shot.

Tau follows that main character of Julia (Maika Monroe), a twenty-something pickpocket, who is abducted by a creepy, evil robot genius, Alexander (Ed Skrein) and imprisoned in his high-tech house. Alexander’s “job” is to perfect a new form of A.I. by studying the brains of people that interact with the house. Julia is forced to participate in daily ‘tests’ with Tau as Alexander goes off to work. Eventually, Julia and Tau form a bond and Julia starts teaching Tau about the outside world. Of course, Tau is hungry for knowledge and starts to see Julia as a friend. Sometimes you forget that she is just talking to a computer. Of course, Julia is also concerned with escape, so there are some tense moments as she tries multiple times to escape from Alexander the psychopath.

This isn’t the high-brow techno-thriller that it was intended to be, but it’s definitely worth checking out. For me it falls into the “I wouldn’t spend money to see that movie, but it wasn’t that bad” category.

 


Altered Carbon: Season One—TV-MA—February 2, 2018

Altered Carbon is a 10-episode Netflix series based on Richard K. Morgan’s 2002 novel Carbon. The series takes place in the future and, let’s just say, the future doesn’t look too bright, but this series shines. The series shows us the world 500 years in the future, where death is no longer an inevitability. Because of a new technology called “stacks,” people can upload their consciousness and then download it into a new body, or sleeve, when their current sleeve decays or “dies.” Of course, the rich people live forever and the poor people have to struggle to survive or their bodies become sleeves for others. There is a definite capitalistic vibe occurring with this series, but it’s unavoidable at this point in futuristic films and shows.

The series follows Takeshi Kovacs (Joel Kinnaman) a 22nd-century soldier, who is resurrected 250 years after his original body is destroyed and “re-sleeved” in a new body. We learn that Kovacs is now the property of Laurens Bancroft, a very rich man. Bancroft wants Kovacs to investigate who killed him. The fortunate thing for Bancroft is that his consciousness is backed up to a satellite every 48 hours, but ten minutes before his backup, he is killed, or he shoots himself. We don’t know. That’s the basic premise of the series, but there’s so much more going on with it.

This series is gritty, violent, gory, fast-paced and is a definite must-watch. Lucky for us, season two is already on the way, but without Kinnaman as the lead. We’ll just have to wait to see how it all plays out. This is probably the best show on Netflix right now.


 


Jeff Normandin has been a huge nerd for most of his life. He primarily focuses on video games but also enjoys comic books, films, TV shows and quietly building Gundams. He is the co-organizer of Queen City Kamikaze, a local nerd convention, and he is co-owner of NeonBomb at 260 Mammoth Road in Manchester (neonbomb.com). Do you have an event coming up? Do you have a nerdish hobby you are looking to connect with fellow nerds on? Interesting input that you would like to get the word out on? Send it over to jeff@neonbomb.com, subject line: Nerd Alert.

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