Passengers (2016)

We liked this sci-fi adventure in which Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence have awoken too early from suspended animation on a 120 year journey to a new planet. The acting is believable and the special effects are great, especially a scary one about halfway through. Pratt was last blogged for Jurassic World and Lawrence for Joy and their chemistry is fun, Michael Sheen (mentioned for his cameo in Nocturnal Animals and linked in Far from the Madding Crowd) and Lawrence Fishburne (blogged in Man of Steel) have small but pivotal roles. No need to link fifth-billed Andy Garcia to his last appearance in this blog since he's on screen literally less than a minute in the final cut.

This is Norwegian director Morten Tyldum's follow-up to The Imitation Game and it's got a very different wow factor. The writer is by Jon Spaihts (co-wrote Doctor Strange) and you can hear him as the voice of "Autodoc." This screenplay was featured in the 2007 Blacklist, the "most liked" unmade scripts of the year. Usually I can identify three acts in a movie but this has four very distinct parts. Richard Brody, writing for the usually spoiler-ridden New Yorker, agrees with me that one plot point should not be revealed  in advance (yet my local newspaper has printed that exact point in its one-line summary of the movie every Thursday--argh--read at your own risk).

The beautiful photography by Rodrigo Prieto (most recently in these pages for The Homesman) is surpassed by the effects and the production design of Guy Hendrix Dyas (nominated by his peers in the Art Directors Guild for this, Superman Returns (2006), Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007), and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008); he won an ADG award for Inception, as well as an Oscar nomination, and also designed Steve Jobs).

Exciting Thomas Newman (last blogged for Spectre) music keeps us engaged and you can stream over an hour of it from this link. Here's a list of songs.

The critics of Rotten Tomatoes are averaging a hateful 31% while its audiences are warmer at 68. We saw it a week ago on a big screen because we like the stars. There are probably better movies to see this awards season but we're not sorry we saw this one.