Saturday, August 30, 2014

AIIW: The History of Future Folk

Note: It’s been a long time since I’ve done a review for this project so in case you’ve forgotten what it’s about, here’s the original post.

Movie Stats:
Released 2012 (USA)
American, in English (minor non-translated Spanish)
Directors - John Mitchell & Jeremy Kipp Walker
Stars - Nils d’Aulaire, Jay Klaitz

Plot Summary:
When his home planet, Hondo, is threatened with total destruction by a comet, General Trius (d’Aulaire) sets out across the galaxy to find a suitable new planet to colonize. He’s been given a deadly virus to release on the unsuspecting current inhabitants of the planet, but when he reaches Earth and discovers music for the first time in his life, Trius finds himself unable to go through with the plan. Klaitz co-stars as Kevin, a fellow Hondonian sent to investigate when no one has heard from Trius for several years.

Warnings:
Extremely minor blue language (I think I heard one or two “bad” words); minor, non-graphic violence (fisticuffs mostly).

Bad Stuff:
This is sci fi lite and therefore requires a significant amount of suspension of disbelief, which I don’t necessarily mind. However, there were some real-world scenarios that played out in a way that had me saying, “Life doesn’t work like that!” and therefore took me out of the scene in question. For example, [SPOILER] I’m incapable of believing that, after breaking into an aerospace museum and setting off a nuclear missile, Trius and Kevin would just be allowed to go back to their regular lives, although it made for a likable ending. [SPOILER]

Some of the acting was a little iffy.

Good Stuff:
As a lover of music myself, I absolutely adore the idea that a person’s mind could be swayed by the power of music. Or, if you want to get more esoteric about it, I like the idea that the art we create is the best reflection of who we are, and that people will respond positively to that reflection. The best scenes in the movie were the ones where Trius and Kevin each discovered music.

I’m sure that this film is low budget but it rarely felt like it was. It looked good, the soundtrack was great, and the writing was pretty tight.

It has Dee Snider (as bar owner Larry)! He seemed like he had a blast filming this.

The Verdict:
I brought my “Adventures in Instant Watch” series out of unintentional retirement (I just didn’t have the mental energy to do it while I was also doing the Best Picture project) in order to showcase this film because it’s so delightful. It’s sweet and charming and light-hearted and fun. I’d kind of been having a bad day when I sat down to watch it and it honestly turned my day around. I grinned the whole way through it. Don’t be turned off by the sci fi aspect of it. It’s not “hard” sci fi at all, so it’s not difficult to follow, and it’s set on Earth, so there’s nothing weird about it. It’s also short (slightly less than 1.5 hours), so it’s not much of a time commitment. If you like to watch movies that make you smile, you should give this one a chance.

I give it 4.25 stars.

2 comments:

Patricia said...

Ah yes, I had forgotten about this series. What a fun new entry. There's nothing like expecting a movie to be mediocre and really, really enjoying it.

balyien said...

I had nearly forgotten this series too! This movie had been on my list for a while and I finally decided to watch it because I wanted something light-hearted, but it was still definitely an unexpected, pleasant delight.