"OK this gets a strong 7.9 on my trait average scale that I just made up, but on an insanely low budget of something around $15,000 dollars, this film deserves everyone's attention. The plot: NASA accidentally solves border security with lightbright octopi from space. In the first 3 minutes of this film we learn that a probe carrying samples of alien life has broken up in reentry showering larges swaths of Mexico with debris that eventually manifests in giant octopus monsters. The militaries of the US and Mexico do their best to contain the "infected zone" and kill the monsters with heavy firepower. The story starts about 6 years after the monsters show up and the battle to keep the aliens at bay rages on. We're introduced to a photographer hoping to snap a picture of one of the monsters up close who gets roped into escorting the boss's daughter to the coast and back to her Fiancé' after she's injured in a monster attack. The pair, played by real-life couple Scoot McNairy and Whitney Able, are stuck south of the infected area on an increasingly lawless overland trip through central America trying to find a way back to the safety of the States. The post-apocalyptic feel of the areas destroyed by the monsters make for some of the most memorable shots in this film. The Director/Writer/DP/VFX Artist, Gareth Edwards has shot a really beautiful film that revels in guerrilla style shooting and constantly shifting focuses helping push the subtle urgency of the travelers' situation. The monster effects are believable and Edwards deserves due credit for some fun visuals but he successfully directs our attention to the human story rather than letting the monsters be the main character. This is not a traditional action sci-fi movie though there are certainly heart-pounding, jaw-dropping scenes of mayhem and military firepower; it's a character driven story set in a sci-fi disaster monster movie and it works. Don't go in thinking it is District 9 or Cloverfield. It was certainly not what I expected, but that turned out to be a good thing in this case.
Facts from the Director Q&A: -Filmed on a Sony EX3 with a Nikon 50 MM Lens -Used almost exclusively natural light except for a couple tiny LED lights for when it was pitch black -Effects were done in Adobe CS4, editing in Premiere -The majority of filming was shot with just a sound guy the director and the 2 main characters -Look for this to come out in Late October via Magnolia Pictures in the US and November in the UK "
Discussion Zen 5 Speculation (EPYC Turin and Strix Point/Granite Ridge - Ryzen 9000)
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